King of Underworld-Chapter 173

However, the two other commanders, who appeared to be middle-aged, were a different matter.

One of them, unarmored and unarmed, was charging through the Trojan army with nothing but his bare hands.

"Ugh… What the…"

"Insane! Isn’t that pankration?!"

"This is a battlefield! A battlefield! How is an unarmed man…"

Thwack. Crack.

"Now, now. Don’t be reckless with dangerous things like this."

The left flank of Troy’s army was being pushed back by a single man throwing punches with his bare hands.

Arrows aimed at him missed entirely, and spears and swords were either caught or snapped in two. Was this truly the strength of a mortal?

The situation wasn’t any better elsewhere. On Troy’s right flank, a veteran warrior wielding a sword moved like a ghost, pushing back the troops.

With no divine armor like that of Achilles, only an old, weathered blade, the warrior cut through the battlefield like an unstoppable force.

Whoosh. Slice.

"Aaaaah!"

"You can’t even block this? Were soldiers these days trained properly at all? My goodness."

Hector quickly deduced their identities.

There was no way any ordinary mortal could display such martial prowess. These had to be legendary heroes from the previous generation—men who had fought against monsters and surpassed the limits of humanity.

It was plain to see: Troy’s finest warriors were being cut down one after another.

"You must be Penthesilea, the Amazon queen and daughter of Ares, correct?"

"Urgh…"

"I owe a debt to the god of war, so I will spare your life."

Smack!

Even as Troy’s greatest warrior, Hector knew that he could not stand against these heroes, who had become monsters themselves to defeat monsters.

The left flank had fallen.

The right flank had collapsed.

In the center, Achilles continued his rampage.

Grinding his teeth, Hector raised his voice in a desperate shout.

"All troops! Retreat! Do not engage with them any longer—fall back into the walls of Troy!"

In a head-on battle, Troy’s forces could not stand against the Greek army with those heroes in their ranks.

At the request of Agamemnon, the supreme commander of the Greek coalition, Nestor entered the battlefield.

He swung his sword with a disinterested expression, making minimal effort.

Nestor was ranked among the mid-to-upper tier heroes of the Argonaut expedition.

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Now, however, age had dulled his abilities, and he lacked the drive to summon his full combat spirit or exert the overwhelming force he once wielded against mythical monsters.

The armor and sword he wore were old, worn-out relics from his time in the Underworld’s training grounds.

Clang! Slash!

"Huff… Huff… Urgh."

"I couldn’t even see his blade move. Is this the power of a god?"

"What kind of blessing makes all our attacks miss like this?"

Even so, no Trojan commander could withstand his swordsmanship.

Attempts were made to stop him: arrows were loosed with divine blessings, and mists obscured his vision, but…

Whoosh! Swish!

‘Is this Ares’ power? Tch. Even with our ties in the Underworld, he doesn’t show mercy, huh.’

None of it affected him.

This was a man who had fought against gigas that rivaled gods and survived the flames of the dragon that burned Colchis.

Unless a god directly invoked divine punishment to kill him, there was no way to stop such a hero on a mortal battlefield.

"All troops! Retreat! Do not engage with them any longer—fall back into the walls of Troy!"

"Woohoo! The Trojans are fleeing back to their walls!"

"Let’s take the city! Bring the ladders!"

"We have heroes on our side! Charge! Strike the retreating Trojans from behind!"

As Hector gave the order to retreat, the Trojans fled the battlefield, and the Greeks began their pursuit.

Nestor watched as the coalition soldiers chased down the panicked Trojans, thrusting spears into their backs, and shook his head in disapproval.

"Nestor. Do you see that?"

A man covered in blood approached him, fists stained red—Polydeuces.

Once, in Colchis, Polydeuces had only been able to serve as a distraction against the dragon due to his fists being ineffective. Now, on a battlefield of mortals, his prowess in pankration had proven devastating.

Like Nestor, his body bore no signs of injury.

His overwhelming strength had allowed him to cut through the enemy ranks with ease.

"The walls of Troy? Of course I see them."

"I’ve heard that Apollo and Poseidon built those walls together. Even if we get there, we won’t be able to tear them down."

"Heh… The gods themselves, huh?"

As the Greek coalition neared the city, ladders were brought forward, and soldiers began climbing toward the walls.

The siege had begun. Although the defending Trojans prevented anyone from breaching the walls, if Polydeuces and Nestor got involved…

"So, do we climb the ladders? How much are we supposed to do here? What a bother."

"Well, we promised Agamemnon to take the city. If we overstep, the gods will stop us, won’t they?"

"True. That makes sense."

Exchanging glances, the two nodded and began climbing a ladder.

The sight of these legendary heroes scaling the walls sent a chill through the Trojans.

"Eek! Those two…!"

"Pour all the boiling water on them! Archers, fire…!"

"Throw rocks down on them!"

Ssssplash!

"Aaaagh!"

"Hot… So hot! Aaargh!"

As boiling water was poured onto the Greeks scaling the walls, many soldiers screamed and fell.

But the flames of a dragon had failed to harm these heroes, and so the scalding water was meaningless to them.

As Polydeuces neared the top of the wall, a Trojan soldier appeared above him.

The soldier looked down at them with faint irritation in his cold, dark eyes.

But instead of attacking with his spear or trying to push them off the ladder, the soldier merely muttered, as if annoyed.

"Go back down."

"...?"

What was this man?

Polydeuces, startled, threw a punch at the Trojan soldier before him.

The devastating power of Greece’s greatest pankration master, aimed squarely at the soldier’s face…

Thunk.

"What?!"

…was caught effortlessly.

Only then did Polydeuces notice the soldier’s eyes.

Where there should have been human pupils, there was only swirling blackness—an abyss.

The presence was overwhelming, far beyond mortal

… comprehension, and unmistakably divine.

This was a god. A high deity who had descended to briefly inhabit the body of a mortal. And this cold, oppressive aura…

It was the same terrifying energy they had felt countless times in the training grounds of the Underworld.

Though Chiron had explained that the spring goddess had tempered the Underworld’s power in that place, the fear they endured during training was primal. It was the presence of death itself, and now it was standing before him.

The god’s identity was obvious.

"How dare you raise your fists against me?"

"Are you… Lord Pluto?!"

"Correct. Son of Zeus. And Nestor, who is just below… both of you, listen well."

"Y-yes, my lord! We’re listening!"

Polydeuces and Nestor, their faces pale, nodded fervently.

Why was one of the three great gods here, and on the side of Troy no less?

Of all the gods, why had the lord of the Underworld descended onto the battlefield?

Was he here to drag all the mortals he found displeasing straight to the Underworld?

Had they done something to provoke him? Sure, the Trojans worshiped Pluto, but for him to directly manifest…

"I brought you to the Underworld and trained you to fight monsters. And now, you use that power to slaughter other mortals?"

"T-that’s… well, this is war…"

"Do you think I assigned Chiron to you so you could commit mass murder? Have you lost yourselves in the glory of conquest?"

"N-no, my lord! We wouldn’t dare!"

Faced with the anger of the god of the Underworld, the seasoned heroes had no choice but to cower.

Whether the soldiers below noticed the unusual situation or the Trojans suspected something strange, none of it mattered to the two. All they could see was Pluto.

After glaring down at them for a moment, the god pointed a finger toward the ground.

"Get down immediately. If you withdraw from the war now, I will consider showing some leniency."

"Haha… Of course, my lord! Let’s climb down, Nestor!"

"Ahem! It is an honor to have met you in person, Lord Pluto!"

Whoosh!

To obey the god’s command, the two immediately released the ladder and leapt down to the ground.