Chapter 180
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: Chapter 180
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Practical Compression Training - 2
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No commands.
No war songs.
No great battles blessed by the gods. No death struggles of honorable warriors.
All that existed here were fifty death row inmates and fifty executioners.
"Hah... huff! Hah!"
Jason spat out ragged breaths as he barely managed to create some distance and stand his ground.
His body was already covered in wounds. He'd narrowly avoided fatal injuries, but that was it.
The savage black sword sliced into his flesh, tore through his muscles, and brought searing pain like fire.
If Jason hadn't undergone grueling training in preparation for the Hero Tournament, he would have long since become a headless corpse sprawled on the ground.
'Damn it! There's a limit to sudden developments!'
Dianes, who had punched Apollo in his jade eyes and thrown Artemis to the ground.
Everyone had wildly differing opinions about what happened to him after being dragged away by Olympus's judge, the righteous Athena.
Some said he'd been dropped into Tartarus by Athena's hand, only for Atalanta to beat that rumor down.
Atalanta, clutching a half-submerged corpse that had crossed the Styx, argued that Dianes was innocent and that Olympus's justice would never allow him to be harmed.
Yet despite that, most people didn't view Dianes's fate positively.
He wasn't just some demigod—he'd attacked two of Olympus's Twelve Gods in front of everyone.
Since Athena, the embodiment of Olympus's order, had taken him away...
Everyone assumed Dianes had committed the great sin of blasphemy, but Athena, out of respect for a hero's honor, had quietly escorted him to the Styx...
Even Atalanta had burst into tears and clung to Chiron upon hearing that Athena had personally escorted him.
However.
'Like hell I'm dead!'
The Black Tyrant, whom everyone thought was dead, was up there happily watching his subordinates get slaughtered one by one by the monsters he'd created.
Clink!
He'd even plopped down in a seat, toasting with the God of War Ares beside him!
"Hey!! Give me back my peace of mind!!"
Finally exploding after holding it in, Jason bellowed at Dianes.
But the price was brutal.
[Get up.]
Thwack!
"Guh?!"
Sudden merciless pain slamming into his abdomen yanked Jason's consciousness back to reality.
"H-How...?"
He was one of the golden generation in the Heroes' Forest.
He knew full well how serious the attack that had pierced his back was.
His spine shattered in one blow, nerves to his lower body severed, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, plus massive blood loss from the bone shards and gashes—he wouldn't last five minutes. A fatal wound.
"H-How?"
Stunned at how he was still alive, Jason lay there rolling only his eyes. The black monster stared down at him with emotionless eyes.
[Total 10 exchanges. Stage 1 passed. Top score.]
"Wh-What...?"
[Stage 2 beginning. Ready your sword.]
"W-Wait?"
[No questions.]
What?
Some magic spell?
Before Jason could puzzle over the strange, unfamiliar language, the black blade lunged for his throat.
'F-Faster?'
No way—the sword that had relentlessly hounded him moments ago could get even faster?
"Eh...?"
But what was even more unbelievable was that he was reflexively dodging the now-faster blade.
And that was just the start.
Clang!
"Ngh... Ah?"
He'd seen the black sword coming—the one he'd barely deflected by feel to avoid vitals before—and blocked it!
"Hahaha...?"
A bizarre growth he couldn't even comprehend himself.
And to his own shock, Jason's sword had grown sharper and faster.
Just like the blade that had severed his spine moments ago.
And Jason wasn't the only one realizing the signs of this rapid growth.
"Kuhahaha! Look! I blocked it! I blocked it!"
"Eek! Didn't hit! Slow! Kuek!"
"Counter! Die!!"
"Raaargh!!"
Jason didn't know it, but the other 49 had already undergone the same near-death experiences dozens of times.
Akis, the instigator, had 72 in total.
The winged twins, children of the storm, had exactly 25 each for the brothers.
Actaeon, whose eyes were now filling with venom, had 12.
The other forty-nine warriors had at least twenty each. They'd had their breath cut by the black swords, collapsed in burning agony, writhed in pain—and endured this hellish purgatory.
Give up? Surrender?
Their assigned black reapers rewarded such weakness with even fiercer slashes.
The silver lining? Not one had dropped to their knees begging for mercy in full view.
Thanks to that, several times they'd tearfully gritted their teeth and picked up their swords again.
And the results were starting to show.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's practical compression training was surprisingly simple.
Die like hell.
Die and die some more, and eventually you won't want to die.
Refuse to die over and over, and you'll have no choice but to grow.
And growth means getting stronger.
The one side effect? Repeated near-death experiences could lead to total despair and giving up.
But these weren't weaklings I'd carefully selected from even the promising sprouts in this newbie forest. A few near-deaths and extreme pain levels wouldn't break them.
Plus, with the real underworld existing here, Greek heroes feared disappointing or offending the gods more than death itself.
Even with a sword through the heart, they'd bounce back like weeds and fight again. It was practically guaranteed.
'This level's actually better than most demon cultists.'
Back in my day, if your bones or heart didn't hold, you died for good. But those with physical bodies in the demon cult couldn't handle even that shock, snapped mentally, and collapsed.
These mythic-era heroes, though? Their mental fortitude and toughness were impressive from the start.
'Good. Perfect.'
Satisfied with the killing intent building in my grad students—no, my prospective Heavenly Demon Divine Cult demon cultists—I grinned.
Then the thuggish big bro next to me poked me insistently.
"Hey, spill it already."
"Spill what? Let me focus for a sec."
"How'd you sweet-talk that sly girl into letting you come back alive and snag the Archon seat?"
"Well..."
Ares's words drew my gaze to the bracelet on my right wrist.
An intricately carved silver owl wing bore the inscription Ατρυτωνη.
"An archon bearing Atrytone's name out of all the divine epithets... Looks like the sly one's finally restarting the Greek cleanup."
"You know your stuff."
Atrytone.
Translated: "The unwearying goddess of the aegis." It symbolized Athena's primordial aspect.
And as her proxy archon, my job was to clean up those disrupting Greece's order.
She'd left the methods entirely to me, but by bestowing her epithet and ordering the purge, there was only one answer.
"Heard there've been all sorts of villains popping up in Greece lately."
"Yeah, it's been overly peaceful since Bellerophon. Typhon’s kids and Gaia’s beasts have gone quiet too."
Ares was right.
According to Hera, the near-divine beasts had entered self-imposed hibernation to guard their territories, leaving Greece in long peace.
But failed demigod heroes had seized the chance, turned to villainy, and rampaged everywhere.
So I'd become the divine proxy to punish them in the gods' stead—the goddess's archon above all Greece's kings.
"Simple: Goddess marks the spot, I go chop off some scum's head."
"Simple's good. That's why you're raising these guys like this?"
"Couldn't do it any other way..."
With my divine duties blooming, Hera's errands were about to get intense.
Now Athena jumping in to work me to the bone too?
The overworked life from my past life—running here and there—flashed before me, giving me a headache.
Watching Polyphemus clash with Akis sparked an idea.
Like Athena said: outsource it!
Have heroes I raised explore Greece in my place, defeating villains under my name!
Thus, the first goal of the New Heavenly Demon Divine Cult project was set, leading to now.
The kids, quicker than expected at noticing their growth, were ramping up their momentum. In response, the black sword wielders escalated to stages 2, 3, 4, and beyond my set limits exponentially.
Ares's Colosseum devolved into utter chaos, a battlefield straight out of hell.
"Ngh... Gonna step out for a bit."
"Where to? Plenty still alive."
"The rumors are more overheated than I thought, bro."
Me plunged into Tartarus, turned into a beast or insect living a fate worse than death...
The rumors Jason shared were shocking.
"Atalanta nearly fainted hearing them."
"Ah... Can't blame her. This okay?"
"On auto, so no worries. If it looks like someone's really gonna break, fish 'em out."
"Don't worry, go on~"
I politely thanked the surprisingly concerned Ares and headed out.
It was already past morning, nearing noon outside.
"Man, Atalanta must be worried."
Remembering the Greek cobra twist from last time I worried her made me shudder.
Ugh.
Atalanta was one of only two peak masters in all Greece.
Extending my ki sense just a bit made finding her presence trivial.
But two presences caught in my ki sense left me speechless.
Two utterly opposing auras facing off in the plaza.
One blazed like fervent crimson flames.
The other swirled like deep, submerging ocean waves.
"Oh, wow..."
Not yet time to clash, yet these two overwhelming auras faced each other, steadily intensifying.
Like they were waiting for someone.
I could only quietly shut my mouth.
Jason still showed promise—maybe watch a bit longer?
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