Chapter 186
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 186
Chapter Title: Qualifications of a Rival
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Like the wine offered to the gods, blood staining the blue sky poured down onto the earth in a sudden downpour.
Having crossed weapons one step apart, the hero and the monster now stood back-to-back, another step away.
The blood that dyed the ground red.
The place where that blood fell was on that sword—so small and insignificant compared to its enemy.
It was the tip of that single blade.
-Urk!
Precisely at the wrist.
Under the sunlight, a gash sliced by the sword gleamed red on the Cyclops's wrist, blood flowing freely.
The moment its owner realized the wound's existence, blood erupted as if announcing it to the world.
Regardless of era or status, the giant's tendons—essential for anyone with muscles and meridians to wield a weapon—had been severed in an instant.
Everyone had anticipated Polyphemus's overwhelming victory, Acis's heroic death, Galatea's heartbroken tears. The tragic funeral procession they all expected and predicted had been utterly betrayed the moment a hero of lowly blood felled the son of a great deity.
"Hah... hah...!!"
In the moment the vast Colosseum fell silent in shock.
The man who had captured the eyes of gods and heroes alike began to move again.
"Y-You little rat!"
The Cyclops, who never dreamed he'd bleed to a demigod smaller than his palm, ground his teeth and swung his club.
That arm was thicker and larger than any grown man's, and the club he gripped was carved from a boulder the size of a house.
-Whoosh!
The moment that massive bludgeon swept through the front.
Everything in its path was crushed and screamed.
Amid the violently erupting dust, the upturned earth, and the wail-like whoosh of air, everyone foresaw the fragile Acis's end.
But once again, the son of the pastoral god defied all expectations.
"Huh? W-Where'd he go?"
Polyphemus's single eye frantically rolled, searching for the insignificant being he thought would've been smashed into a bloody pulp amid the dust.
But nowhere in the devastated Colosseum from his attack could he find that red blood or pained groans.
Just the tiniest footsteps—tap, tap!—and...
"Hoo..."
A small exhale tickling the Cyclops's ears.
-Slash!
"Ack?!"
Not a sound heard by the ears, but a chilling tear of flesh reverberating through bones from within.
The demigod of immense strength, heir to the blood of the sea's king Poseidon, shuddered at a sound—and a chill—he'd never heard before.
Lowering his head to where the sound echoed and a sharp pain began to throb, he saw his own ankle spurting blood like a fountain.
"Hoo..."
And turning at the low breath once more, the lowly-blooded demigod stood aiming his sword at him, slowly widening the distance.
From that pitch-black blade, red blood—identical to what gushed from his wounds—dripped drop by drop.
"...You slippery bastard!!"
Polyphemus was cruel.
And he possessed the power to make others acknowledge that cruelty.
He was one who flaunted such immense backing that even his atrocities were accepted.
Yet Polyphemus was not foolish.
Though blinded by love and maddened by his rival's existence, he was undeniably of Poseidon's bloodline.
Knowing the weight of the blood he bore and its power allowed him, despite his monstrous form, to serve honorably as Dionysus's bodyguard.
'This... this goat bastard. What the hell happened in just three days?'
Twice the son of Poseidon had bled, and all he'd sensed were tiny footsteps and the enemy's breaths.
Moreover, the wounds he'd taken were fatal blows that would've felled anyone else instantly.
At this point, even Polyphemus had no choice but to rethink things.
Not even ten minutes ago, before entering the Colosseum, he'd seen this as a one-sided execution.
But somehow, it had become the heroic saga of the hero Acis hunting the monster Polyphemus.
"...Kuhuhu, kuahaha!"
Polyphemus laughed.
Blood pouring from his hand and foot, facing the sword dripping his own blood.
Even as the demigod of insignificant blood he'd scorned sought to trample him and become a hero.
Even before his revered father, the deputy Poseidon, and the Galatea he adored, shaming himself.
The one-eyed demigod burst into loud laughter at whatever amused him so.
As his laughter gradually subsided and his quieted single eye met Acis's, the entire Colosseum held its breath in silence.
The brutal, violent, arrogant, cruel Cyclops Polyphemus.
But now, not a trace of madness or even the slightest anger remained in that eye—the complete transformation in the monster's aura overwhelming everyone.
"Heh heh heh... Yes. Fledgling. This Polyphemus was foolish."
-Boom!
Suddenly, he reversed the club in his hand and slammed it into the ground.
"Foolish indeed. Utterly foolish."
The single eye that had glared at Acis as if vowing never to let him escape now turned to the stands.
There, Galatea—who had set his heart ablaze like hellfire—watched them with trembling eyes.
"Beautiful Galatea. Wise Galatea. The one courting her couldn't possibly be just some pretty boy."
Smiling at Galatea, who flinched shyly(?) at his gaze, Polyphemus lifted his eyes higher.
Above her stood the relief of the Twelve Gods, perfectly sculpted by the Cyclops brothers' power.
His father, the king of the seas, looked down upon him trident in hand.
"Father Poseidon must surely be watching from on high. To show such disgrace in this sacred festival!"
Truly foolish.
A disgrace worthy of vomiting up and clutching his navel after swallowing even Erysichthon, who gnawed at his own body.
"Son of the pastoral god Pan, Acis."
With a low voice naming his rival, the club embedded in the ground began to twist and wail.
"I acknowledge you as my rival, as Galatea's suitor."
Polyphemus's voice, calm like the stillness before a storm, declared this, and Acis felt as if a boulder crushed his chest, choking his breath.
"Great Pilgrim, he who died twice and lived twice, the ecstatic Dionysus bestowed wine upon me and made your sword his own..."
-Grind!
As his massive fist clenched the club, cracks spread until it exploded outward.
-Boom!
Everyone hid their bewilderment at the sight of him shattering his own weapon—something far from facing an acknowledged rival head-on.
But Acis, witnessing it up close, swallowed dryly at the shadow flickering amid the debris.
"Polyphemus, blood of Poseidon, prince of the sea kings, gladly offers that sword and shall shatter all that blocks that pilgrimage."
-Whoosh!
From the shattered club emerged a massive greatsword gleaming with heft.
With one swing dispersing the dust, Polyphemus—forcing back the bleeding by tensing his muscles—raised the house-sized greatsword and aimed it at Acis.
"Antitorpius (αντιτορπιλικέας). The name of the man who will slay you and claim Galatea."
Antitorpius, the Destroyer.
In the age of heroes and gods, it was the divine name bestowed upon him by Dionysus and the epithet of a monstrous demigod hero forgotten amid Zeus's champions.
"I was burning with rage that the bastard playing around behind Galatea's back was some worthless pretty face with nothing else to offer..."
Since Ares and Aphrodite had blessed Greece with their divine works, warriors staking their lives over a beauty was a most honorable and glorious history.
And Polyphemus believed himself supremely qualified to wed Oceanus's daughter.
Wealth that could achieve anything in Greece if she desired it.
Power to protect her even if Typhon returned.
And the feat of guiding Dionysus through fantastical adventures.
Even in distant lands still worshiping the Leaea goddess, places feared and revered him as he ruled the seas and swung his sword.
Though not widely known, he was a warrior among warriors, rivaling any king or hero.
Yet the man vying for Galatea's heart alongside him was the son of a minor god, handsome but nothing more.
To think a fledgling with no feats to exalt her, no wealth to comfort her, no strength to safeguard her was seducing his fiancée into secret trysts.
This was an intolerable humiliation even for Polyphemus himself.
But to discover his rival was in fact a worthy foe transcending bloodlines...
"Yes, that's how it should be. Only then are you qualified to court Oceanus's daughter alongside this Polyphemus."
-Crunch!
Staining the massive greatsword with his own blood, Polyphemus lowered his stance and focused every nerve on Acis.
"Brace yourself, hated rival. The giant who became Dionysus's warrior, the legendary giant who stirred distant seas—that is Polyphemus. Antitorpius (the Destroyer). Polyphemus!!"
-Boom!
Declaring his full commitment against the once-scorned foe, Polyphemus's colossal frame kicked off the ground. That enormous, long arm and the greatsword sweeping without flaw were a calamity incarnate.
The majesty of a warrior befitting the name bestowed by Dionysus: the Destroyer.