The Hero Returns

Chapter 446: Chapter 446

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Ka-boooom—!

Pow, popopopow—!

Splaaaash—!

A massive storm raged on and ripped the bodies of the Giants gathering in the sky into bloody pieces. Their blood filled the air while Su-hyeun dug even deeper among them to wield his sword once more.

Whoooosh—

Poooow—!

His sword, which was hacking down amid the Giants, cleanly sliced one of them apart in half. However, the other living Giants were about to extend their hands toward Su-hyeun from behind, but then…

"Strike them…."

FLASH—!

The sky suddenly flashed, and along with it was an earsplitting sound.

"Somersault cloud!"

KA-RUUUMBLE—!

Pazzzzik, bzzzzzik—!

The lightning bolt that came crashing down charred the Giants completely. These creatures that were trying to pounce on Su-hyeun from all directions became utterly paralyzed as their bodies burned away before limply plummeting to the ground below.

Boom, thud—

Thousands of Giants were felled in an instant.

Hercules and Ares witnessed this scene, and after briefly stopping their fight, they began chuckling hollowly.

"He's become a complete monster in the meantime, hasn't he?"

"That kid…Was he originally this insane?"

Hercules, who hadn't seen Su-hyeun in a long time, quietly sighed in admiration, while Ares deeply frowned after recalling their fight a few days ago.

Of the two, the one most surprised right now was Ares.

That fight did end as Su-hyeun's victory, but the gap back then wasn't all that great, so much so that Ares even thought that if only Zeus didn't interfere, maybe…

That was how narrow the gap was back then. That was why if Ares and Su-hyeun fought again in the future, Ares genuinely thought that he might get to win.

But now, the current Su-hyeun was utterly different from the person he met a few days ago.

Gu-wuwuwu…

It was right then that a Giant's figure loomed large behind Su-hyeun. As if it was a Giant even in the eyes of the Giants, this particular creature boasted a physique that must have been several hundreds of times larger than the other Giants.

This Giant was on the level of a Colossus. Even among the ranks of Predators, it was quite a high-tier creature.

Ka-booooom—!

The fist of this Colossus that was the size of a massive mountain slammed straight down on top of Su-hyeun's head.

However, its fist came to a sudden halt right in the middle of its downswing. Another hand had grabbed the creature's arm.

Squeeeeeze—

Su-hyeun's palm had grabbed hold of the descending arm of the Colossus.

A human and an ant—no, wait—the difference in their sizes must have been much more significant than that.

But Su-hyeun still used his grip to hold the creature's arm firmly and lifted it off its feet despite such disparity.

"Fuu-heuph—!"

Lift—

Whoooooooosh—

The creature's colossal figure began spinning in the air. The other Giants were struck by the spinning body and got flung away everywhere.

And so, after spinning the Colossus around several times, Su-hyeun let go, and then…

KA-BOOM—!

The Colossus flew far, far away before crashing deeply into the ground.

"Hey…you think you can do that, too?"

"Maybe," Hercules scratched his head at Ares's question before replying with, "I'm not sure, Lord Ares."

"Hah…"

As far as pure physical strength was concerned, no other gods in Olympus could rival Hercules. Just in the category of physical abilities alone, Hercules was already being evaluated as having inherited Zeus's blood far thicker than even Ares.

"Even so, there are still too many of them here," Ares thought as the number of Giants still kept increasing.

It must have been a really long time since this many Giants had shown up at once. As a matter of fact, Ares couldn't remember the last time he encountered such a number during the long and exhausting war against the Giants, which happened to be still ongoing.

Well, with the sole exception of the very first battle against the Giants that took place so long ago, he could barely remember an instant that reached this degree.

"So, they want to see this through till the end, is that it?"

That first battle, which nearly drove Olympus to the brink of utter destruction, was threatening to repeat itself once more.

This turn of events had been predicted to some degree right after the announcement of Poseidon's passing. Still, now that an army that boasted such a dramatic scale was upon Ares, the impression he was currently getting felt strikingly different.

"How long are you going to stand around spectating, Lord Ares?"

Step—

Hercules walked ahead of Ares. While wielding his heavy club, he leaped high to beat some Giants to death.

Ka-boom—!

Ares witnessed that and quickly shook his head to bring his mind back to reality, "I should not be standing still like this."

There was no time to stay shocked like this. Ares's competitive spirit always had been strong, so merely staying still made him feel like he was losing again.

"Well, then, let's see who gets to kill the most today, and—"

Just as Ares picked up his spear and shield and got ready to charge, a roar so chilling resounded that it even managed to numb Ares.

Kyaaahk, kkyaaaah—!

Not just Ares but even Hercules, who was about to swing his club to swat away a Giant, and Su-hyeun stopped moving and shifted their gazes in the direction of the roar.

Gu-wuwuwu…

A colossal hand descended from the purple-hued sky. However, that lone hand was followed by others. Each one was as large as the torso of a Giant, and dozens of them were descending right now.

Fifty single-eyed heads…

One hundred enormous hands…

"What the…hell is that?"

Gulp—

Hercules audibly gulped down his saliva.

This gigantic and bizarre creature did not just blanket the sky above; it also emitted an aura that made the surrounding atmosphere feel much heavier.

Hercules certainly felt that his body was heavy just then.

Ares, who had encountered this monstrosity in the distant past before, muttered slowly, "Gyges…"

"Just what is that thing?" Su-hyeun asked while walking up to Ares.

He thought that the God of War Ares seemed to know something about this bizarre creature based on his reaction.

This hundred-armed and fifty-headed creature stretched itself the moment it appeared as if it wanted to yawn. Many Giants got sucked up in the creature's movement and got crushed into bloody meat paste.

"That's Gyges, a Giant with a hundred limbs and 50 heads. It is also one of the Ten Great Evils."

"The Ten Great Evils, you say?"

"Out of all the Giants working under Uranus, that creature easily ranks among the top 10. This is also my first time seeing that bastard again after the end of the last Great War…"

"Is that thing dangerous?"

"More than anything else, you have to question why that thing has shown up at this time. During the Great War, that bastard's first appearance happened around the 50th year mark."

The gears in Ares's mind were spinning at a dizzying speed. Despite being a God of War, he wasn't as bright as Athena. Even so, he could still figure out what's going on here without too much trouble.

Ares muttered, "It's an all-out war, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry?"

"These bastards are not planning to take it easy anymore. This creature's presence can only mean that the other strong Giants under Uranus have made their moves as well."

Ares quickly drew up the potential progression of this war in his mind.

The gods thought that this new war had only just begun. They believed that the enemy's first target was Poseidon, and their second would be the netherworld and Hades.

That was what Athena and Ares, as well as the rest of Olympus, thought would be the sequence of the war, but this?

"Their real target is Olympus."

Judging from the current situation, Ares had no choice but to correct that belief.

"This was just a bait. Uranus went to Olympus, instead!"

"Which means that creature—"

"That thing is meant to keep us here. Well, its endurance and defense are insanely great, after all. Back in the previous Great War, even after I combined my strength with Uncle Poseidon, we still failed to kill that thing. Of course, it also couldn't kill us, but still…"

"That thing is here to buy time, is that it?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Uncle Hades disappeared out of the blue. He probably got sneak attacked on his way to the netherworld. And the war commander, me, is now trapped down here, too."

Kya-ruk, kkyaaah—!

Gyges's 50 heads let out all sorts of howls and screeches. Unlike Kali, this creature didn't seem to possess a well-developed ego.

The sound waves from its screeches shook the inside of everyone's head. Su-hyeun frowned deeply and spoke up, "Is it okay for me to take that creature on by myself?"

"Wait, you alone?"

"Didn't you say we should break through together? We will create the path together, then. I will catch up to you as soon as I dealt with that monster," Su-hyeun said confidently.

Originally, Ares would have never agreed to something like this. But when he thought back to how Su-hyeun was fighting earlier, the plan seemed pretty doable. More importantly, Olympus was his priority.

"I'll be the one to break through," Ares said.

Giii-iiing—

Pure-white rays exploded forth from Ares's hand as a gigantic spear materialized there. Its length alone must have been near four meters.

It was none other than the divine artifact representing Ares, the Giant Spear.

"Hercules."

"Yes?"

"The moment I give my signal, follow me and jump. We shall escape from here and return to Olympus."

Hercules's brows furrowed as he listened. He didn't like the sound of this choice. Leaving someone else behind to deal with a battlefield was a concept far too foreign to him.

Even so…

"Alright, I shall follow you."

Even if he didn't like it, the current situation did not permit him to raise objections.

Hercules held his bow and pulled out an arrow from the quiver tied to his back. He nocked an arrow and then pulled at the bowstring hard.

Creak, creaaak—

"We must break through in one go, Lord Ares," said Hercules.

"Having Apollo around in times like these would've been so bloody convenient, don't you think?" Ares followed suit and got ready to throw his spear.

Apollo boasted the most incredible range of abilities among all the Olympian gods. As such, Ares couldn't help but ruefully wonder what would've happened if the Sun God was here, but he didn't dwell on that thought.

Pazzik, pazzzzik—

Along with Su-hyeun's Thunderbolt that formed on his left hand, the weapons of the trio flew toward their targets at the same time.

[Hydra's Poison Arrow]

[Giant Spear]

[Zeus's Thunder Glove - Thunderbolt]

Swiiiiiish, whiiiiish—!

FLASH—!

KA-RUUUUMBLE—!

The fired arrow and spears pierced a giant hole in the sky. In reality, it wasn't as if a hole had opened up in empty air. More correctly, the countless Giants that had filled up the sky above had been vaporized without a trace, making it seem like a hole had opened up.

"Heavenly Steed."

Neiiiigh—!

At Ares's call, the crimson steed they rode on to enter the netherworld, the Heavenly Steed, revealed itself once more.

Ares and Hercules jumped on the steed's back simultaneously, which prompted Gyges's 50 eyes to lock onto them.

Gu-ooooh—

A humongous palm descended to capture the Heavenly Steed, and 100 arms and legs began moving around. Just as Ares grasped the steed's reins, he discovered Gyges's descending palm. But right at that moment…

"Shove that aside—!"

Shu-wuwuwu—

Powerful winds focused in one spot.

"Palm Leaf—!"

Fwhooooosh—!

The wind pressure shoved Gyges's hands aside. Several other hands got pretty close, but even those couldn't win against the wind pressure and got deflected in the opposite direction.

Ares, while holding the steed's reins, discovered that Su-hyeun had activated Leap to jump high.

The God of War addressed him, "I shall leave the aftermath to you."

"Don't worry about me, and go ahead."

The Heavenly Steed rapidly flew away.

Out of Gyges's 50 heads, half of them were staring in the direction of the steed carrying Ares and Hercules. It seemed that this creature had no plans of letting them leave.

As expected, this monstrosity's real purpose was to keep them trapped down here.

"That won't do."

Griiip—

Su-hyeun grabbed Gyges's arm and felt an even greater bulk than when he tossed around that Colossus.

"Why don't you…?"

Gu-wuwuwu…

Crunch, craaack—

He roused up as much strength as he could in his arm and then spun Gyges's body halfway around.

"Stay and entertain me instead!"

KA-BOOOOOOM—!

Crack, spliiit—

The netherworld's terrain filled with boiling lava tumbled and rocked viciously for a little while, all because of Gyges. While it was trying to reach out toward the Heavenly Steed, it had been ungainly thrown down to the ground.

"Fuu-woo…" Su-hyeun exhaled at length after exerting himself. Although the ground rocked quite loudly, there didn't seem to be much of an impact in the end. The creature stood back up unhurt while shaking only a handful of its 50 heads.

Even so…

"I still bought enough time, huh?" Su-hyeun thought.

The Heavenly Steed was no longer in sight. Buying only a moment was already enough, as it turned out.

Su-hyeun scanned his surroundings and found that the army of Giants was still flooding through from the dungeon-like opening.

"Ares and Poseidon couldn't kill you, right?"

Su-hyeun was singularly facing an army of Giants and one of the Ten Great Evils, Gyges.

"In that case, how about me?" Su-hyeun asked, which prompted all of Gyges's eyes to lock their glare on him before it growled menacingly.