Episode 53/Chapter 2: The pursuers (2)
TL: Tsubak
ED: SlowAsLightning
There were several heroes existing in Olympus, that didn't go through any war after Titanomachy.
Each one of them were existences that possessed outstanding martial arts, courage, wisdom, etc. Strong points of each of them.
But there was always a star that shone more than the others.
Since Zeus climbed to the throne of the king of Gods until now.
There were three named heroes among the countless one.
The strongest great hero of Olympus, Heracles.
The hero killer Achilles.
The hero of wisdom Theseus.
Patroclus had spoken to Tae Ho about Achilles while travelling.
It was to reminisce about his friend that he shared a deep friendship enough that they were able to give their lives to each other but most of all it was to give information about Achilles to Tae Ho that would one day fight with him.
Achilles, who was born between Zeus' hero Peleus and a lesser God of the sea and a nymph Thetis, was born with a really extraordinary fate.
The child of Thetis will become greater than his father.
It was the prophecy of the one that could see the future, Prometheus.
Actually Thetis was so beautiful the God of the sea Poseidon and several others lined up for her but after this prophecy no one could recklessly ask her for marriage.
The strong great Gods feared that a child stronger than them would be born and the normal Gods couldn't approach Thetis because of the interference of the greater Gods that were afraid an existence that was at the same level as them would be born.
In the end, the one Zeus chose was the human hero Peleus.
Thetis was forced to marry and she didn't like the human Peleus but she couldn't do anything about it. It was impossible for a nymph and a lesser God of the sea to go against the will of the greater Gods.
What was fortunate was that Peleus loved Thetis sincerely and that he was simple and devoted even among the human heroes.
Thetis accepted Peleus' feelings not too long after and then had a child with him and that child was the one that would be born with the fate to become greater than his father such as the prophecy of Prometheus, Achilles.
Thethis, who loved Achilles too much, tried to do everything she could for him.
First, she soaked him in the river Styx several times and gave him a body of steel.
She even focused on his education and entrusted him to Chiron, the great master of all the heroes including Heracles.
Achilles mastered the best spearmanship of Olympus under Chiron, participated in the war of Troy that was called the war of heroes, massacred countless heroes and obtained the title of 'hero killer'.
He ended up dying at the end of the war but that was merely a new starting point for Achilles.
The God of kings Zeus retrieved the soul of Achilles when it entered Elysium and accepted him as his own great hero. This was the real start of the great hero Achilles.
"Achilles has two weapons that are especially strong. One is his shield and the other one is his spear. The two of them are weapons forged by Gods directly.
The one that made Achilles' shield was the blacksmithing God that controls fire, Hephaestus.
Hephaestus was chased away from Olympus when he was young with the reason that he had a disorder and the one that picked him up and raised him was Achilles' mother Thetis.
Because of that Thetis was like a mother for Hephaestus and Thetis' child Achilles was like a step brother for him.
Hephaestus received a request from Thetis to make a shield which he worked on for an entire night and this became Achilles' shield.
"The shield of Achilles will never get destroyed. It received the attacks of countless heroes but only a scratch was made on it. In addition, the shield of Achilles can absorb all kinds of attacks. Be it inflicted by a sword or magic."
The spear of Achilles was a weapon made directly from Chiron when he wasn't a God yet.
Chiron gifted Achilles a spear himself as he grew as the most astounding spearman among his disciples and Achilles killed a lot of heroes with that spear.
"That spear was made with a meteorite so it was called as the meteorite spear but it's now called the hero killer spear thanks to Achilles' performance. Just looking at it as a simple spear, you could say that it's the best weapon of Olympus."
A divinity of a demigod.
A body like steel that blades wouldn't work on.
The best spearmanship on Olympus and the fastest feet.
In addition, two special weapons.
There was a reason he was named as a great hero even among the countless heroes.
Not even the pure Gods Deimos or Phobos were a match for him.
Not even the 12 Olympians were able to defeat him if they weren't proficient in battle. That was who Achilles was.
But he was charging right towards him.
The intent of Achilles that had killed countless heroes was really overwhelming. His intent made others kneel down just with charging.
The great hero of Zeus.
The hero killer.
The best spearmanship that could make even Gods kneel down.
'So, what are you lacking in?'
Cuchulainn asked.
He didn't fear Achilles at all. It wasn't because he was the strongest hero that represented Erin.
He wouldn't fall behind him.
To Achilles. Tae Ho wouldn't fall behind the great hero that seemed like he was born with a golden spoon since he was born.
Bathing in the river Styx?
Tae Ho had eaten the apple of youth several times that the Goddess of youth administered. He even ate the peaches that were sent from the Temple.
The greatest master of Olympus?
They had the greatest master of Erin. Scathach's spearmanship didn't fall behind to Chiron's spearmanship at all. No, Cuchulainn rather claimed that it was better.
Weapons made by Gods?
Cuchulainn laughed at that. He could only do so.
'He dares to boast with only two weapons?'
Arondight was retrieved from Tae Ho's hands. And the weapon that he grabbed instead of it was Gae Bolg, the best spear of death of all the spears of Erin.
In addition, several equipment were added to Tae Ho's body.
Each one of them were equipment that had a legend behind it.
Speed setting.
Tae Ho didn't dodge the charging Achilles. He rather faced and charged towards him.
A conspicuous light shone on Achilles' eyes facing Tae Ho. It was because it had been too long since someone charged towards him since Hector, who was equal to him in the war of Troy.
The first meeting was a clash between two spears.
It didn't last too long. They slipped off from each other and the two of them, that had fast speeds that got ahead of the gale, passed each other.
They could know with this attack.
They couldn't completely grasp the abilities of the other but they realized that it wasn't shallow at all.
Achilles moved his feet lightly on the surface where Hermes' divine power still remained and on the place the magic circle disappeared at.
He somewhat understood the situation. He was sure that Hermes took Athena and her group and escaped.
But it wasn't all bad.
He had the man in front of him to thank for that.
He would have regretted it if he missed the man in front of him even if he did catch Athena.
Idun's warrior.
The top ranked warrior of Asgard that was equal to a great hero of Olympus.
Achilles put on a smile at his feelings of wanting to win.
Tae Ho faced him and smiled bitterly.
He had expected it but he wasn't an opponent he could beat easily. That's why he needed a change in plans.
He would forget about Ares.
Also that he was breaking Hades' barrier and that he would have to leave him out from his pursuit.
He just focused on the opponent in front of him. It was no different to the countless battles he had in the tower of shadows.
They clashed once again.
The both of them were really fast. The exchange between spears was so fast it was hard to chase it with your eyes.
The collision didn't ring that much. Achilles' fighting style of holding a spear in one hand and a big round shield in another resembled his father Peleus and it was unexpectedly steady.
The basics were defending by using his shield and the spear was meant for counter attacking after defending.
Because of that Tae Ho attacked more times than Achilles but most of them were being blocked by Achilles' shield.
The shield Hephaestus had forged was special just like Patroclus had said.
They absorbed Tae Ho's attacks and didn't leave any shock. In addition, it even absorbed the sound created by the collision.
Originally, even if you blocked an attack perfectly with your shield, it would still inflict some damage to the defender. But the shield of Achilles was different. Achilles didn't get hurt at all as his shield absorbed all the shock.
After his attack, Achilles' sharp counterattack started. Tae Ho dodged them rather than blocking them and naturally, Achilles attack only tore the air. The loud sound generated when steel clashed against steel didn't ring.
Countless attacks were exchanged in a short time.
Tae Ho grope for a method to defeat Achilles like had always did.
First his shield.
He thought of a strategy and then executed it.
[Saga: The warrior that had a Goddess meet him]
After a turn of attack and defense was exchanged, six Valkyries were summoned next to Tae Ho.
They didn't hold any weapon and charged towards Achilles from different directions.
Sigrun, Gudrun, Hildegarde, Rasgrid, Kaldea, Hrist.
Achilles didn't become perplexed. He executed attacks calmly and removed the fake Valkyries.
It was blindingly fast. It was to the point where three stabs were seen as only one.
Sigrun and Gudrun disappeared even before they could approach him. Hildegarde and Hrist took one more step but that was all.
Achilles swung his shield and grinded Kaldea. The last one, Rasgrid, got near Achilles but she ended up having her chest pierced.
Only one breath.
The six Valkyries disappeared in only one breath of time. And thanks to that, Achilles couldn't react properly.
A bomb exploded.
They were the bombs the fake Valkyries were holding. In the first place, Tae Ho had made the Valkyries charge forward with the intention of blowing them all up.
It wasn't a normal bomb.
If it was just an explosion or magic, it wouldn't be able to pierce through Achilles' shield. Even Achilles' steel like body may be able to endure the explosion.
But what exploded from the bomb was green poison.
The poison of the black dragon Nidhogg.
It was something Nidhogg accumulated and condensed before she lost her hundred meter big body.
Achilles stopped breathing and tried to resist at the poison with his divinity but it wasn't easy.
The wind generated by swinging his spear and shield pushed away the poison at the outside but he couldn't do anything about the poison that exploded close to him.
He took a breath. The poison dug through his skin.
And Tae Ho charged at that moment.
[Arachne's necklace]
[Earring of a poison dragon]
[Regenerating snake skin]
[Waistband of health]
Poison resistance setting.
It was the setting he had prepared when Nidhogg was making the bombs of condensed poison.
Tae Ho reacted immediately at Tae Ho's attack when he passed through the poison but his limbs were out of sync. He could only defend with his shield and not counterattack.
The poison was disappearing. Tae Ho retrieved his spear after one set of attacks and then activated his saga.
[Saga: The warrior that had a Goddess meet him]
This time three fake Valkyries appeared.
Ingrid, Gandur and Reginleif.
They were the three strong Valkyries that had a high completion rate and were especially strong.
Ingrid grabbed Achilles' thighs. Gandur and Reginleif grabbed one arm each.
Originally, Achilles should have been able to shake them off but he was weakened due to Nidhogg's poison. He couldn't help but have his arms spread.
Achilles let out a howl and glared in front of him. He saw Tae Ho and Tae Ho also saw him. He executed a stab at his chest without hesitation.
There was no sound. The shield that left Achilles' arm by its own stopped Tae Ho's attack.
"Uooo!"
Achilles let out a roar behind the shield that was floating in the air. He swung his arms and removed Gandur and Reginleif and then swung his fist with the hand he was grabbing his spear and crushed Ingrid.
But at that moment Tae Ho extended his hand.
What he was aiming for when he made the Valkyries charge towards him was to attack his chest but he was also taking into account this situation.
Tae Ho grabbed Achilles' shield and Achilles looked at that Tae Ho and laughed fiercely. He clenched his left fist as a signal and tried to pull his shield and Tae Ho at the same time.
But Tae Ho was a bit faster.
[Saga: His pocket is connected to a treasure vault]
Achilles' shield disappeared in the air. Achilles opened his eyes widely and Cuchulainn cheered.
'It clearly is a cheat!'
It was impossible to take it and use it for himself right now. Not letting him use it was the best he could do but it was enough with that.
Achilles hurriedly grabbed his spear properly and Tae Ho poured down attacks that were like lightning.
Scathach's style technique.
Lightning stab.
The spear clashed against the spear with sounds like thunder.
< Episode 53 - Legend of a Hero (2) > End
TL note: Thanks for reading~