Chapter 185
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: Galatea, Polyphemus, and Acis
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Galatea, Polyphemus, and Acis.
Through the passage forged by Ares' divine power, the son of the god of shepherds slowly advanced.
The innocent, cave-dwelling eyes that Galatea had adored so fiercely were now as sharp as those of a bird of prey.
The bouncy steps that once skipped like a mountain goat across hills and fields now moved silently, like a leopard stalking its hunt.
But above all, what had changed was his body.
Covered in scars as vivid as those of the gladiators who trained in Antaius' Colosseum, it proclaimed that he was no longer the boy who chased idle dreams.
The three days of hell guided by that black whirlwind, whom he no longer knew what to call.
Three days in name only—the son of the pastoral god, who had already died countless times, wondered if he was dreaming even now.
Perhaps when he opened his eyes, that black reaper would press a blade to his throat and bark at him indifferently to rise.
Such thoughts constantly arose and faded.
At first, he felt overwhelming gratitude and thanks to Dianes for the chance to train in the divine realm blessed by the God of War, Ares.
By the third death, guilt and despair washed over him for his comrades, who had fallen into hell alongside him because of his love (though even without him, Dianes would have dragged those who followed her into that abyss).
After the tenth death, nothing else mattered but that sword.
Always swift, always precise, always ruthless.
It held no monstrous strength like Heracles', no grandeur like Zeus' thunderbolts.
It was simply fast. Simply sharp.
As if to say that was all it took to end a life, to bring a hero to his knees.
That black blade mercilessly severed Acis' throat, pierced Jason's heart, shattered Zetes' wings, and severed Idas' legs.
The heroes writhed in agony such as they'd never known, yet they could not show disgrace in the arena under Ares' watchful gaze—they rose again and again.
During brief meal breaks to catch their breath, they gathered to fiercely analyze the sword's trajectories and the black clone's movements they'd witnessed in death, desperately seeking countermeasures. Even Ares, amused by their fervor, offered a few pointers, and they forgot even their nighttime trysts, devoting all to mastering that blade.
Before they knew it, their own swords began to resemble the black clone's, one by one.
And soon, facing them with an identical blade, the black clone started dying less often.
That was when it began.
They finally understood why Dianes had urged them toward the inefficient weapon called the sword.
Why, in her homeland, the sword was hailed as the king of all weapons.
All of them grasped it at last.
A dangerous, inefficient, cruel, and imperfect weapon.
But precisely because of that, it was the warrior's tool—fierce and blazing hot. Acis and the others realized this truth.
After a reverie that felt both long and fleeting, Acis found himself at the end of the passage.
The thick darkness trailing his halted steps seemed to mock him with the chill of those three hellish days.
Yet that cold was no paralyzing terror gripping heart and body—it was the forge that had cooled the hot-blooded youth and hammered him anew.
"...Let's go."
The three days that had dragged like three hundred—it was time to witness their fruits.
Drawing the black sword Dianes had forged for them all as a commemoration of conquering that hell, Acis finally stepped into the light.
-Wooooaaahhh!!
"The son of the god of shepherds, merry herald Hermes' bloodline, disciple of Chiron—Acis makes his entrance!!"
The great hero Dianes herself had personally asked the Cyclopes to build it in just three days, and now the first gladiator of the flawless new Colosseum appeared.
Going all out, they'd nearly doubled the size of Ares' Colosseum, and it was already packed to the brim.
All the demigods dwelling in the Heroes' Forest filled the stands, while the centaurs stamped their hooves from their exclusive seats.
Karyklo, the forest's mistress, had her nymph sisters bustling about with wine, and the Cyclopes chattered noisily in their giant-sized section.
And among them, the ones drawing the most eyes were...
"What do we do? Oh no, what should we do? Our Acis..."
"S-Sis..."
Galatea, on the verge of fainting at the sight of Acis entering sword in hand far below, and Tethys desperately soothing her.
Behind them, the sea goddesses fidgeted like waves before the tide.
Their first love gained, the first passion tasted, the first rapture known.
"Neri! What is this?! D-Dianes said she'd handle everything!"
Galatea, burning with her first love so fiercely her whole body felt aflame, could only direct her rage at her youngest sister.
"Hehe~ Don't worry~"
While all her sisters fretted, Nesneria alone lounged back leisurely, savoring her wine.
At the sight, Galatea felt a thousand fires raging inside her.
"How can I not worryyy!! You said nothing would happen! And this is nothing?!"
Cyclops Polyphemus.
She knew his power better than anyone.
Why else had she rejected him so coldly despite being Poseidon's daughter? Why had Amphitrite drawn her sword upon hearing Poseidon meant to pair her with him?
Power to rend the heavens' clouds with a single roar, to leap island to island in a bound, to uproot and hurl mountains!
No way her lover Acis could face such a being.
"I can't take it anymore. I'll go get Acis right now!"
Galatea shot to her feet, poised to snatch Acis in her arms and plunge into the sea.
"Please calm down, Lady Galatea."
But a man blocked her path.
"J-Jason..."
"Lady Tethys, it's been too long."
Jason, gently embracing his own lover as he greeted them.
"Zetes! Y-You're okay!?"
"W-What's with that look?! Who hurt our baby!"
"Waaah! Idas! H-How did you get so hurt?!"
And it didn't end there.
Trailing Jason, forty-nine men appeared one by one.
Their lovers, unseen for the past three days.
"Jason... You think I'd let you claim to be Tethys' lover?"
But the sisters' reunions only fanned Galatea's fury higher—alone, her own lover stood far off.
Jason held his beloved in silence, standing firm, while Galatea glared as if ready to drown him in a puddle. Their staring contest dragged on.
-Boom! Boom! Boom!
And in that instant, her calamity—her lover's foe—finally appeared.
"No words needed! Son of Poseidon, warrior of Dionysus! Polyphemus!!"
-Raaarghhh!!
The Cyclops burst from the opposite passage, swinging his stone club.
His fierce single eye flashing, Polyphemus bellowed savagely at the crowd.
"Woooaaahhh!!"
-Polyphemus! Polyphemus! Polyphemus!
His overwhelming presence hit like a physical force.
Even the heroes felt overpowered by the true might befitting Poseidon's son, while his kin and the wild centaurs roared back in cheers.
"Alright! Both gladiators have entered the arena!"
The referee and announcer for this bout was none other than the gods' herald and storyteller, Hermes.
And the gods themselves, unable to miss this thrilling clash of demigod and monster even after Dionysus' feast, surely watched from somewhere.
"Aaaah..."
It's over.
Galatea had even lost her last chance to save Acis.
Even if she rushed now, that Cyclops would never let her and Acis go, and if they fled by some miracle, Acis would wither under the gods' scorn for his dishonor.
-Thud!
"Aaaah...!"
"Sis!"
"A-Are you okay!?"
Unable to bear the reality, Galatea collapsed right there.
Given Polyphemus' brutal nature, he'd never spare a rival lover, and the merciless gods wouldn't show mercy to Acis—mere heir to the pastoral god, not one of the Twelve Olympians' direct line.
After eons of longing, to lose the lover she'd finally found so futilely—tears began streaming from Galatea's eyes.
-Let the match begin!!
"No...!"
Hermes' cheerful tone delivered the ruthless verdict.
His voice tore Galatea's heart into a thousand, ten thousand shreds.
"Acis..."
Despite her anguished call, her tiny lover—dwarfed by the mountain of a Cyclops—leveled his weapon and drew slowly closer.
Twenty paces.
Ten paces.
Five paces.
And one.
In a flash, Polyphemus closed the gap. His massive club crossed with Acis' tiny blade.
-Splash!
Red blood painted the blue sky.