Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 317 The Birth of a Hero

"..."

In the center of the noisy council hall, a man wearing a crown sat silently at the head of the table, surrounded by a large group of nobles who were discussing amongst themselves.

They were arguing about how to sentence the two criminals.

Finally, as the sounds faded, at the unanimous suggestion of the nobles, the crowned man raised his hand.

His lips moved slightly as he delivered his final verdict on his niece.

"exile."

……

Waking up from the nightmare again, the Queen covered her head and sat on the bed, the scene still echoing in her mind.

After a long silence, she murmured.

"It shouldn't have been like this."

Alcmene, the Queen, is currently residing in Thebes.

However, she was not the queen of Thebes; in fact, she should have been the queen of Mycenae. This is only theoretical, because she was exiled from her own country.

Her father, Erechtheion, was the King of Mycenae, but in an accident, her husband, Amphitryon, accidentally killed him. Her uncle, Stegneros, then succeeded to the Mycenaean throne.

Because of her husband's crimes, the new king sentenced the two to exile, forbidding them from ever setting foot in Mycenae again.

Ashamed, Amphitryon, with his wife, went to the city of his uncle Creon, King of Thebes, and settled there. Several years passed.

However, Amphitryon was not one to settle for mediocrity; this hospitable prince harbored great ambitions. He was unwilling to remain subservient to his uncle and constantly sought to seize land of his own.

When the Thebes and the Taphs went to war, this brave man saw an opportunity and took the initiative to join the war.

The war lasted a long time, and the women of Thebes were all waiting for their husbands to return, including this queen who had no land of her own.

She longed for her husband's return.

Although the King of Thebes did not mistreat his nephew and provided Alcmene with a good life, he was still living under someone else's roof and the feeling of living cautiously was not pleasant.

As usual, she combed her long hair by the window, gazing out with furrowed brows.

Many times, she would fantasize that her husband would suddenly appear at her window and tell her that he was back. But such expectations would always be dashed from dawn till dusk.

"Amphitryon, my husband, when will you return?"

I closed my eyes and silently prayed.

"It sounds like someone is calling my name."

Just then, a mocking voice rang out from outside the window.

The beautiful woman looked up and was surprised to find a handsome man laughing and watching her from outside the window.

Just as the woman was reunited with her husband after a long separation, an army was returning not far from the city of Thebes.

Riding a tall horse and surrounded by a crowd, the king gazed at the city of Thebes, which was faintly visible on the horizon.

"Alcmene, I'm back."

This prince, who experienced many legendary events in his life and was exiled, finally seized a piece of land in a foreign country and established his own country.

Right now, all he has to do is share his joy of victory with his beloved wife.

However, if Amphitryon is currently outside the city, then who is the person inside the city who is making love with the Queen?

……

The underworld.

Hades, the king of the underworld and the master of the dead, looked at everything on the ground, at the two astonished people in the city, the furious king and the ashamed queen, his cold face unmoved.

"A ridiculous farce."

Hades offered a blunt comment on this scene.

He knew his brother had always been absurd, but he hadn't realized he'd be this absurd. The day before her husband was to return, she impersonated another man's husband and took his wife for herself.

This action can only be described as... leaving him speechless.

But if that were all, it would be fine. However, according to his brother's instructions, he also had to help take care of the child that woman was carrying.

In fact, not only Hades, but also several other hidden gods, including Hermes, the messenger god, received Zeus's order to take care of the unborn child.

Even though he felt that his brother had done something ridiculous again and created such a farce, Hades could only agree.

For the sake of the woman he loved, this god-king once caused the earth to rise into islands and the sea to recede, doing everything according to his own whims. Having a few deities watch over her until her birth was nothing special.

As for this child, Hades only had a vague feeling... this child was probably not ordinary.

"Another offspring chosen by you? Zeus, what are you thinking?" Hades gripped his scepter, turning it unconsciously.

But even Hades was unaware that, besides himself and a few other gods, there was another force also eyeing the city of Thebes.

Beneath the underworld, near the abyss, a city, or rather a civilization, has been established here at some unknown time.

The Snake-Man Civilization: Half-human, half-snake.

Nano City, the center of the snake-people civilization, will be rebuilt no matter how many times it is destroyed.

Mona once again pulled these great serpents' most loyal retinue and offspring back from the brink of destruction. She carefully taught these newborn serpent people civilization and knowledge, instructing them in various steam-powered technologies.

The sages of the Serpent People civilization tirelessly explored the obscure technologies of immortality and the steam power that built the bronze giants. The Serpent Father might not care about these little insects, even though they worshipped him, but the insects always revered him, regardless of whether he responded to them.

At the very heart of this city of Nano, the Serpent Daughter Mona sits high in her palace.

This deity, bearing the features of the dead, gazes at the earth with a pale face, gazing at Alcmene, who is weeping.

The woman herself is not important, but the baby she is carrying is.

Mona was well aware of this.

Although her previous explorations of the future had been hampered by the goddess of fate, limiting her understanding, she now realized that this fetus must be very special, so special that it made her uneasy, even terrified.

The Serpent Daughter, the Eternal Queen of the Serpent People Civilization, gripped her scepter tightly and tapped it on the brass floor.

"Dong dong dong."

Before long, numerous monsters surrounded the Eternal Queen. She looked around and pointed to one of the eagle-shaped monsters.

“Go and wait quietly on that earth for nine months. When the child of man and god is born, take him away. Remember, do not let the gods find out.”

The eagle-like monster cried out, emitting strange cries, and flapped its wings before flying towards the earth.

……

In Thebes.

Whether it was crying, anger, cursing, smashed things, or even helpless acceptance, time still slowly moved forward to nine months later.

The queen's belly grew larger and larger, but this did not make Amphitryon happy, because he did not know whether the child was his own or that of the god who was impersonating him.

Finally, Amphitryon, wanting to avoid seeing it, chose to go hunting outside the city on the day of the birth and ignore the matter.

On the day of her delivery, the queen gave birth to twins amidst excruciating pain.

"Wow……"

The sound of a baby crying could be heard from the delivery room.

Exhausted after giving birth, the queen looked at her newborn twins, who looked quite alike. One cried incessantly, while the other was very quiet, sleeping soundly.

"my child……"

Kissing her child, and recalling the tragic events of her life, the queen couldn't help but shed tears.

The deities who had been tasked with guarding this place exchanged glances. The child had been born, and their responsibilities were fulfilled.

"Hermes, the rest is up to you."

The incarnations of several gods, including Hades, dispersed, leaving only Hermes alone.

Hermes, who was usually just a tool, sighed. But there was nothing he could do. After all, he was known as the fastest among gods and men, and was born to be a gofer.

"But it turns out there wasn't one, there were two."

Hermes gazed thoughtfully at the twins. He had initially thought they would only have one child; it turned out they had two.
However, a certain intuition told him that only one of the two children was the child of a human and a god, while the other was the child of a mortal. But the children had just been born, and their auras were mixed, so he couldn't tell them apart at the moment.

Looking at this and then at that, Hermes couldn't help but wonder in his heart who the child of Zeus and a mortal was.

But this moment of distraction allowed them to seize the opportunity.

"Violent!"

Suddenly, a huge eagle flew out from the shadows under the bed. While Hermes was watching one of the children, the eagle snatched up the other child and flapped its wings to fly out the window.

All of this happened so fast that even the child's mother didn't have time to react before the newborn baby was snatched away by the eagle.

"No!"

The mother screamed in terror, but could only watch helplessly as the eagle snatched away her child.

However, just because mortals can't react in time doesn't mean that gods can't react in time either, especially the fastest god in the world.

"Huh? You want to race me?"

Seeing that a monster dared to snatch the baby right under his nose, Hermes, unusually amused, transformed into a beam of light and gave chase.

(End of this chapter)