The Athos Mountain Expedition - (2)
The oracle had descended upon every temple of Athena across Greece. Its message was clear: recruit an expedition to join Orion, son of Poseidon, and purge the monsters that had gathered on Athos Mountain. The mustering point was the kingdom of Macedonia, near the foot of the mountain itself.
"They say all the monsters that need to be exterminated have flocked there?"
"The oracle from the goddess Athena said as much, so it must be true. There are apparently hordes of them on Athos Mountain..."
"No wonder I couldn't find any when I went monster hunting. They had all gone there."
Countless warriors who had failed to locate any beasts to slay poured in from every corner of Greece toward Macedonia. They came with the fervent hope that an expedition forged by divine oracle would allow them to achieve glorious feats and become legendary heroes themselves.
"If Poseidon's own son is leading it, we'll surely have the blessing of the sea."
"I heard Orion is recruiting expedition members in Athens! You going?"
"From what I understand, anyone from Thebes' Hero Training School gets in without question. That doesn't sit right with me..."
"Hmph. Is he playing favorites just because they're from the same school?"
The fame of the giant hunter Orion had spread far and wide across Greece, so most heroes accepted him as expedition leader without complaint. After all, his arrows had swept every hunting competition in the land, and it was well known that they never missed. Yet many still grumbled about the policy of automatically accepting anyone from Thebes' Hero Training School.
That discontent finally boiled over when Orion selected a scrawny, frail-looking man simply because he was from the same institution.
"Hey, Orion! Why am I rejected while that scrawny bastard gets in?!"
A bald Spartan warrior covered in black tattoos glared at the towering blue-haired giant with open resentment. Orion, however, brushed it off casually.
"Because that man over there, Perieres, is simply stronger than you. That's all."
"What did you just say?! You I might understand, but that weakling who doesn't even look like he's trained properly?!"
At those words, the man called Perieres stepped forward with a sly grin and replied in a slippery voice. Or rather, he tried to—his words were cut off by a sudden coughing fit.
"My, my. Not trained properly, you say? Have you even fought a real monster before, sir? The Sphin—urk!"
"...What kind of nonsense is this? At least tell us where you're from and what you do."
"Well... I graduated from the Hero Training School, so I was thinking of heading to Messene to play king for a while. After much deliberation, here I am."
His answer drew roaring laughter from the surrounding candidates hoping to join the expedition. Strangely, however, none of the graduates from Thebes' school joined in the mockery.
"Hahaha! Play king? This guy's actually pretty funny."
"Shouldn't he be in a comedy troupe playing the fool instead? Orion, are you really going to accept someone like him?"
"Orion, I think your recruitment standards are flawed."
Faced with the growing resentment from the crowd gathered in Athens, Orion looked slightly troubled as he met Perieres' eyes. The smaller man simply shrugged, then shouted loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"Then how about we settle this cleanly with a pankration match? If I lose, I'll recommend him instead."
"Ha! Pankration? Fine by me. But don't blame me when you meet Thanatos!"
And so, in the middle of recruitment, an impromptu pankration match broke out. Spectators formed a circle around the two men and settled in to watch. Orion, holding a staff, took on the role of referee while the heroes warmed up their bodies.
"Alright, by mutual agreement of both fighters, we'll be using Kato-style pankration! Keep that in mind while you watch!"
Kato-style pankration allowed the fight to continue even if a fighter was knocked to the ground. The moment Orion gave the signal, both men—now stripped naked for the bout—charged at each other.
The Spartan warrior struck first, roaring as he swung a powerful right hook. His massive muscles rippled impressively, adding even more force to the blow. Yet the punch only cut through empty air beside Perieres.
Then came the counterattack.
As a demigod born to the wind god Aeolus, Perieres could command a portion of the winds themselves. His fist, wrapped in gale force, slammed forward like a storm—striking the solar plexus, jaw, and head in rapid succession.
"Kuh... ugh!"
The Spartan was hammered by the relentless barrage and staggered backward. But true to his warrior heritage, he snarled and lashed out with a vicious kick aimed straight at his opponent's face.
Yet once again, the attack failed to connect.
Perieres dodged with effortless grace, his face wearing an incredibly irritating smirk as he taunted his foe.
"Tsk tsk. Charging in so recklessly? If that's how you fight, I couldn't trust you to watch my back even if you joined the expedition."
"Shut your mouth! You bastard! Haaah!"
Fueled by rage from the countless blows he'd taken, the warrior charged again. But something suddenly caught his foot, and the world flipped upside down. Perieres used the tripped man's own momentum to lift and slam him into the ground.
BOOM—
Landing head-first, the Spartan could easily have died from a concussion. Fortunately, his chest still rose and fell faintly. Foaming at the mouth, he was carried off by the crowd to a healer. Orion declared the victor.
"As you all witnessed, the winner is Perieres! If anyone still thinks my judgment is wrong, step forward. I'll take you on myself."
"Wow. That giant went down in an instant."
"He knocked him out without taking a single hit. Just how fast is he...?"
"What kind of training do they do in Thebes?"
"Did that Spartan's ankle get offered to Zeus or something?"
"It didn't break, so probably not."
The fallen warrior had looked impressively muscular, yet compared to the giant hunter who stood twice his size, the crowd quietly backed down. Once no one else dared challenge Orion's decisions, roughly several hundred men were accepted into the expedition. Among them were quite a few heroes from Thebes, but many others as well.
Before departing for Athos Mountain, the group moved to a mountain some distance from the Macedonian kingdom. There, they prepared a special ritual to secure the gods' protection for the coming expedition.
Deer, leopards, birds—dozens of beasts the heroes had hunted were piled high upon a wooden altar. Below it stood rows of armed warriors. Then Orion, leader of the expedition, personally approached with a torch, set the altar ablaze, and declared in a booming voice:
"O gods of Olympus who watch from above the clouds! Bestow your protection upon these brave warriors who seek to hunt monsters!"
CRACKLE—BOOM!
As if in answer to his cry, a blue lightning bolt suddenly struck from the clear sky, engulfing the altar. When the brief but intense strike ended, every animal on the altar had vanished without a trace.
"L-lightning?! Does that mean Zeus is watching over us?"
"Not only the goddess Athena who gave the oracle, but all the Olympian gods are paying attention to this expedition!"
"I knew coming to Athens was the right choice. With this expedition, surely...!"
Believing it to be a divine sign, the heroes erupted in cheers. This was unmistakably an opportunity to win eternal fame. No hero's heart could remain calm when the gods themselves were watching their journey.
Orion raised his voice once more and shouted even louder.
"I vow to hunt every beast and monster that walks the earth and offer them all to the gods of Olympus!"
It was the arrogant—bordering on blasphemous—declaration of a demigod. Yet coming from Orion, Greece's greatest hunter, it seemed almost fitting.
At least until a voice resonated from the very earth itself.
Hunting every beast and monster upon the earth? Child of Poseidon. Can you truly take responsibility for such words?
The heroes froze at the sudden gentle voice. What was this? The overwhelming pressure... It was unmistakably a god. But weren't the Olympians blessing this journey?
"W-who are you?!" Orion demanded of the unidentified goddess.
The heroes hastily drew their weapons. After a brief silence, the majestic yet gentle voice echoed in their ears once more.
I am Gaia, goddess of the earth. You shall pay the price for daring to insult the land.
The earth goddess, Gaia? According to the myths, she was essentially Zeus' grandmother... a Protogenos?! What in the world...?
Their minds raced with wild speculation, but they could think no further. The ground not far away had begun to split open with terrifying suddenness.
Rumble... CRACK.
A massive fissure spread across the earth like an earthquake. The tremors continued for some time, shaking everything around them. The heroes could not hide their panic at this abrupt catastrophe.
But the real terror had only just begun.
From the enormous chasm... countless monsters that should have been on Athos Mountain began crawling up onto the surface.
Grrrr...Bark bark!Hssss—
"G-Golden-sworded Chrysaor! This can't be... Why is the monster born from the severed neck of goddess Medusa here?!"
"Oh gods... A two-headed dog with a serpent's tail... That's Orthrus! Even one of Typhon's children?!"
"Send for reinforcements from the city immediately! We need more troops!"
"Damn it all! Zeus, save us...!"