The Mysterious Great Hero (1)
"Huff, huff." The hero gasped for air. His helmet, adorned with ornate crests, and his chainmail, heavy with seals, were of the finest quality. The longsword in his hand was so polished he could see his own face reflected in the blade. At a glance, he was clearly a hero of significant caliber. Yet, all that flashy gear was useless; hiding behind a rock to cling to life was the only survival strategy currently available to him.
'Damn it, this is bad.' The hero, Perseus, gritted his teeth. He was a rookie from a small island polis called Seriphos, a young talent who had risen to the rank of B-class hero in the blink of an eye. He had been raised by a single mother. Since he was born with the innate ability to manipulate mana, he had often wondered if his father might have been a god, but the truth remained a mystery. Still, if a man could wield mana, he was destined to hunt monsters. Choosing the path of a hero had been a natural progression.
'Why on earth did I decide to take on a disaster-class subjugation!' But his own exceptional skill had become his poison. His overconfidence had invited disaster.
―Slither.
A chilling sound of massive scales scraping against the ground passed just behind him. Medusa. It had been a grave miscalculation to lead a large party of twenty, full of arrogance, to hunt a monster officially classified as 'disaster-class.'
It had been fine when they set out. At least, it seemed fine then.
"Hey, Perseus. Are you already aiming for an A-class promotion?"
"To challenge that monster! Truly impressive! Ah, youth is a wonderful thing."
"The bounty on that thing is astronomical. Let's have a feast when we get back!"
He had been arrogant. He had forgotten the fundamental truth that a single defeat in battle against a monster could mean death.
Perseus held his breath, praying the monster wouldn't discover him.
'I knew it was a monster that petrified anyone who met its gaze.' Medusa was a notorious beast. It had appeared years ago, destroyed several poleis, and retreated here into the Gorgon's Lair. Its hair consisted of thousands of lethal snakes, and its body was that of a massive serpent—a creature of extreme danger. The guild had posted a massive bounty for Medusa's subjugation, but due to the location and the difficulty of the encounter, countless heroes had lost their lives.
'The authority is the problem.' Medusa possessed the authority of the Curse of Petrification. It was an instant-cast curse that didn't even require drawing a magic circle. They said that merely meeting the monster's eyes would turn one's body to stone.
Perseus had underestimated this 'petrification.' There were several mage-heroes who could use petrification magic. Perseus had even been hit by it before. It was a curse that slowed the body down, but as long as you cut the monster down before you were completely solidified, it was manageable.
'This thing is on a different level.'
The rock Perseus was hiding behind wasn't a natural formation. The waves on the beach where they fought were fierce. Such large boulders were unnatural. They were all the remains of the heroes who had challenged Medusa and truly become stone.
'To turn the whole body to stone just by looking... this isn't petrification, it's instant death...!' Out of the twenty party members who had come together, sixteen had already become statues, their fates sealed.
―Rustle.
"Ssssss!"
"Eek!"
In the distance, one of his companions was discovered by Medusa. The hero couldn't even flee before turning to stone.
Boom!
The statue was shattered by Medusa's violent tail swipe.
'Is this where my fate ends, too?' Perseus squeezed his eyes shut. But a moment later, he opened them again as sunlight reflected off something with a flash. In his hand, he held a large bronze shield.
'Aegis.' It was a legendary-grade shield he had purchased from the guild by emptying out all the gold he had saved for this very subjugation. It was said to have been used by Athena, the Goddess of War herself. It was polished so smooth he could see his own face clearly.
'I intended to use this shield to track Medusa's movements and fight.' Since the curse of petrification was an authority originating from Medusa's magic eyes, he had calculated that he could bypass it by not looking directly into them. It was an era before mirrors had been developed. Bronze mirrors existed, but one couldn't carry such cumbersome items during battle. A shield that acted as a mirror. He had thought it was a perfect strategy, but...
―Sssss!
Fast. It was too fast. Perseus had underestimated the speed of the serpent's body. Tracking its movements with a mirror that didn't even have great reflectivity, and then swinging a sword at it—it wasn't easy. It was even harder to land his own mana-based techniques by judging through the mirror's reflection. The operation was a failure. He was at a dead end.
"Arghhh!"
Just as he was agonizing over what to do, another companion was taken down.
"Hoo, hoo." Perseus held his breath and carefully surveyed the situation with his shield. The numerical advantage was already gone. Now that even those valiant heroes had been struck down helplessly, what should he do? Should he flee like this? Should he die as a hero? As he thought about rushing in blindly, the image of his mother left behind in his hometown flickered in his mind.
While scanning the surroundings, Perseus noticed that one hero had approached near him. It was a mage with a robe pulled deep over her face. She was a mysterious female mage of unknown origin. Her rank was C (Gamma). He had brought her along because no one else would accept her into their party due to her unknown background, but seeing that she hadn't fled yet, she was a hero of considerable spirit. She must have had her own reasons for drifting here and desperately trying to subjugate the monster. Perseus exchanged a look with the mage. He nodded. He steeled himself with the resolve that even if he died here, he would make one final, desperate charge.
Three, two, one. He signaled.
"Yaaaaahhh!!"
Just as they leaped out simultaneously to attack Medusa...
"?"
"?"
Perseus and the mage stopped in their tracks at a bizarre sight. Medusa, the disaster-class monster that had been hunting the heroes one by one until just a moment ago—that monster was ignoring them entirely, turning its back to them and staring at something else.
Stomp, stomp.
A figure was walking toward them.
"A hero...?"
"No, that's impossible. This Gorgon's domain is at the end of the world. Who else could have found us besides our expedition?"
Perseus and the mage were thrown into confusion. The man walking toward the disaster-class monster without a hint of fear looked so disheveled that they doubted he was even human. Tattered clothes. Messy hair and a beard that looked like they hadn't been groomed for hundreds of years. The glimpses of his toned body left them unsure if he was a hero or not. Perseus shouted, veins bulging in his neck.
"Get out of there immediately! That monster has the authority to turn you to stone if you meet its gaze!"
The man didn't stop walking, as if he hadn't heard Perseus at all.
"―Ssssss!"
It was expected that Medusa would threaten the man and charge. The man glared at the monster with his black eyes and said,
"Medusa, you were a priestess of Athena, weren't you? Good timing."
He walked straight toward the monster and shouted,
"Hey, where are the gods?"
"Sssss!"
Flash!
Medusa's eyes glowed.
'This is bad.' Perseus clicked his tongue inwardly. That man had radiated the aura of an extraordinary hero; it would have been great if they could have cooperated to subjugate the monster. But he had looked directly into the magic eyes, so it was over. He would turn into a statue in an instant. That was the natural course of events.
However, what Perseus expected did not happen.
"Petrification, is it?"
The man muttered briefly, then,
"Hmph."
He exerted a light force into his body.
―Crack!
Then, as if a shell were falling off, stone dust shattered and scattered from his hardening body.
"?!"
Perseus and the mage stood with their mouths agape at the unbelievable sight. No matter how strong a hero's mana was, no one could resist those eyes of petrification. How on earth had he escaped it?
"I shook it off by vibrating my muscles at a super-frequency."
"Super-fre... what?"
It was hard to notice because it was so subtle, but if one looked closely, the man's body was trembling violently. It was a frequency so intense that if you got close, your hand would be sliced off.
"Ssss...aaaaa!"
Medusa, flustered, fired off another petrification beam and swung her tail at him.
"Burpee position."
Whoosh!
The man instantly flattened his body against the ground to dodge the attack.
"Keeeeek!"
In the split second he had looked away, he was already on Medusa's back, choking her neck. Thousands of snake-hairs threatened the man, baring their fangs. The man grabbed one of them firmly.
"Hey. Where are the gods?"
"Ssssss!"
No answer came. The man, apparently deciding it was a waste of time, tied the snake into a butterfly knot. Snap. He grabbed the next snake.
"Where are the gods?"
"Ssssss!"
"Next. Where are the gods?"
"Sssssssss!"
"Next."
The man tied every single one of them into knots. By the time his questioning was over, Medusa looked like she had gotten a perm.
"Ssssss, ssssss!"
Perhaps displeased with her new hairstyle, the monster thrashed wildly and escaped the man's grip. Medusa retreated, hiding among the statues to regroup.
Thud!
The man landed on the ground. Brushing the dirt off his clothes, he complained,
"Why don't monsters ever answer questions?"
Why are you asking a monster questions? Perseus swallowed the question that had risen to his throat. He had a much more important question to ask. A man who was fine even after taking a disaster-class monster's curse point-blank, possessed an indomitable spirit that didn't take a single step back, and showed overwhelming superiority in a test of strength. Who on earth was this valiant hero?
'Could he be... an S-class hero?'
He had heard rumors. This was an era now called the Age of Great Heroes, a time when the number of heroes had increased exponentially. One could say that humanity had reached a new phase, from the Age of Bronze to the Age of Heroes. As the population grew with the development of civilization, the number of descendants of gods and heroes had naturally multiplied. Unlike the past, when heroes were considered noble and honorable, the competition had become so fierce that these days, D-class heroes struggled to make a living just from requests.
But S-class heroes were still different. They were the true heroes among heroes. Even he, a B-class, sometimes had to take on the guild's annoying requests just to maintain his rank. But S-class heroes received special treatment from the guild, traveled wherever they wanted, and were welcomed in any polis they visited. It was said that among the S-class, there were many who were unknown to the public because they preferred to keep a low profile.
'It must be...!' That ease, picking his nose while fighting a disaster-class monster. The aura that only the strong could possess. Perseus approached the man, knelt on his right knee to show his loyalty, and said,
"I am Perseus, a Beta-class hero from Seriphos, son of Dictys. I am honored to meet a great hero. May I ask the name of such an honorable person?"
The man briefly wore a look that said, 'What is this?' but soon returned to an indifferent attitude, as if he had no interest. He answered shortly.
"Sisyphus."