Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 351 The Immortal Hero

After the great hero defeated the god of war, he came to Lake Stymphalos. There, flocks of powerful, man-eating birds roamed, and the entire lake was filled with the corpses and blood of the dead, a truly terrifying sight.

He tried to catch up with the strange birds, but whenever the great hero got close, the birds would take flight and shoot out their iron-hard feathers like arrows, forcing the great hero to dodge in a sorry state.

The strange bird circled in the air, mocking the great hero and the mortals on the ground.

Even the great hero who could defeat the god of war couldn't help but worry. And then, Athena appeared.

"Alcides, it looks like you're in trouble."

A beautiful goddess dressed in military armor appeared out of thin air behind the great hero and smiled.

The surprised hero turned around, looked at Athena with delight, and then bowed.

"Athena, I salute you."

Since his birth and throughout the years, Athena had helped him several times. The great hero was proud and arrogant, but he would never forget those who had helped him.

“You fought Ares, you gouged out one of his eyes, and you died in the wilderness, leaving him in a sorry state. Ares is furious now.”

Athena said seriously.

News of the war between gods and men spread rapidly throughout Mount Olympus. Some gods were astonished by the great hero's fighting prowess, while others gloated over Ares's miserable state.

As for Athena? She didn't seem to have any feelings for Ares.

Although Ares is her brother in terms of birth order, their relationship is more like that of siblings and sworn enemies (on one side). Athena views her brother as if he were a naughty child.

"So what? Is he going to take revenge on me?"

The great hero curled his lip.

Athena replied.

"Ares is proud and arrogant, so he wouldn't do that, but he has a strong competitive spirit and will come looking for revenge on you sooner or later."

"There's nothing left to discuss between me and that war god. Even if he wants revenge, I'll accept it. Right now, all I'm thinking about is how to kill those strange birds."

As he spoke, the great hero turned around, looked at the lake full of corpses, and frowned.

Athena smiled.

"That's very much in line with your personality, Alcides. But I'm here to help you this time."

As she spoke, two gongs appeared in Athena's hands, and then she said to the great hero.

"With just one strike of these two gongs, the sound is as loud as thunder, enough to shake these strange birds down."

The great hero happily accepted the pair of gongs and drums.

Just as the goddess had said, the sound of the mere touch was like a thunderclap. The strange birds in the sky fell like rain amidst their wailing cries, and the great hero effortlessly killed them all.

After slaying all the strange birds, the great hero wanted to thank the goddess, but she had already vanished. Regretting this, the hero carried the many strange birds on his back and began his journey home.

In a place unseen by mortals, the serpent goddess, accompanied by the goddess of wisdom, watches the departing hero.

"Athena, you are very fond of Alcides?"

The serpent goddess named Mona inquired.

Athena, dressed in military attire, smiled knowingly.

"Don't you think he has a very special quality? Hmm... the quality that your father was most afraid of."

"Athena."

Mona frowned and emphasized her words.

Long ago, this serpent goddess was granted immortality by her father, becoming an eternal corpse, but in return, she was stripped of her emotions.

Therefore, she always spoke calmly, but her tone would fluctuate only on a very few occasions.

Athena smiled, then looked in the direction the great hero had gone and nodded.

"But you're right, I really like this child."

"Can a goddess who is unaware of love also fall in love?"

Mona asked.

Athena shook her head, denying it.

"It's not love, but... respect. I've been by the side of these heroes, as their companion and friend, and I can feel something very special about them, a quality that even the gods have never possessed, and probably never will."

"what do you mean?"

Athena laughed, stretched out her hand, and held a petal that had fallen from the sky with her slender fingers.

The goddess, clad in military attire, lowered her head, gazing at the petals on her fingertips, revealing a gentle and serene beauty.

"Mona, these heroes are not as powerful as the gods. Unlike the gods, who are immortal, eternally young, these mortals are vulnerable to many things in this world." "They can be injured, they can grow old, they can die—they can die from a cup of poison, from illness and weakness, from the tusks of wild boars, the claws of lions, from drowning in rivers, from falling to their deaths from city walls..."

Looking at the beautiful but fleeting petal in her hand, the goddess's fingers drooped, and the petal drifted down and fell into the mud.

"But because of this, these short-lived mortals actively try to seize everything, wanting to make the greatest achievements in their most limited lives and create their own legendary stories."

“Mona, this kind of will is something that the gods do not possess. Perhaps... this is the very quality that your father feared.”

Athena shared her insights.

Among the gods, Athena is closest to mortal heroes, often helping them in times of crisis, and is therefore revered by mortals as the "Friend of Heroes."

During this long period of contact, Athena realized something that the other gods could not understand: why those heroes were called heroes.

These heroes differed in character, some good, some evil, but all strived to accomplish what ordinary people could not. They drove away beasts, defeated dragons, climbed insurmountable peaks, conquered vast territories, and created countless stories that would be sung by the world…

A mortal with a lifespan of less than a hundred years ultimately accomplished what many immortal gods could not, and thus people revered them as heroes.

"Immortal gods, mortal heroes?"

Mona simply commented on this.

"maybe."

Athena said casually.

Then she looked into the distance and suddenly said something.

"But perhaps soon, we will welcome an immortal hero? Who knows?"

Immediately, the goddess in military uniform vanished from her spot, and Mona, after a moment's thought, also disappeared.

The road to becoming a hero is not easy.

……

Meanwhile, high atop the sacred mountain, Ares's agonizing cries broke the heart of the Queen of the Goddess.

"Ares, my child, who has caused you so much pain?"

The one-eyed war god covered his injured eye and stumbled back to the sacred mountain, his voice low and painful, like that of a wounded lion.

After inquiring about the matter, the Empress Dowager quickly went to see her child, accompanied by many maids.

Despite the Queen's concern, Ares angrily pushed his mother away, shouting as he did so.

“That mortal, that damned bastard! I will kill him! I must kill him… Ah, my eyes.”

Golden divine blood spilled from the socket of his missing eye. The war god, writhing in agony, pounded his head against the earth, causing the mountains to tremble. The enormous commotion alarmed the gods, who all inquired what had happened, initially believing that the giants and titans from the underworld had stormed the sacred mountain.

Ordinary wounds are insignificant to the gods. They are incapable of injury, and any injury they suffer is merely an illusion; their true divine bodies remain unchanged. Otherwise, Hephaestus, the god of fire, wouldn't have had to constantly drag himself along his lame leg.

But if a god's body is damaged, it's a different story. If the god of war's eye is gouged out, it's truly gone. Unless he can find his eye in the wilderness, he will live forever with only one eye.

"That mortal? Is it Alcides?"

The surprised diva immediately realized what had happened and quickly asked.

Ares covered his aching eye socket and gasped for breath.

"Yes, my mother, your Hercules, your glory."

Hercules, meaning the glory of Hera.

Hera did not discover the true identity of the child in the wilderness. Out of the Queen of Gods' mercy, she bestowed upon him the glorious name of Hera. A name promised by the gods possesses a unique magic, and this name destined the child to achieve great things in the future.

But life is so absurd; the child turned out to be Zeus's illegitimate son, and Hera herself bestowed upon the child born of her husband's infidelity a glorious name...

Over the years, Hera has never forgotten this immense humiliation.

She drove the great hero mad, causing him to kill his wife and children, making him atone for his mistakes, and forcing him to serve hard labor under a mortal king, which slightly alleviated her unhappiness.

But now, this illegitimate child has turned against his beloved child and even gouged out his eyes?
"My poor child, I won't let you suffer this humiliation. I will avenge you."

Holding her child's head and kissing his hair, Hera, the Queen of the Gods, gently comforted him. Ares, who had been furious because of his injury, finally calmed down in front of his mother.

As for Ares' missing eye, Hera simply covered his eye socket with her hand, and soon Ares felt that the pain had stopped.

After retracting his hand that day, Ares was surprised to find that his eyes had healed.

The diva rarely displays her divine power, but this does not mean she is weak; it is simply because there is no need for her to do so.

"Mother, I will kill that mortal."

Ares gritted his teeth.

Queen Hera gazed at Ares and slowly nodded.

"it is good."