Chapter 236
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 236
Chapter Title: Hero Jason
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Wolf King's Valley.
Once the domain of the Wolf King, who commanded wolves that spanned the heavens, this place had been subjugated and annexed as a border by the former king of Arcadia, who commissioned the mercenary Tespius to conquer it.
Among the soldiers of Thespiai, the mountain rising in the valley's center and the fortress perched atop it resembled a man's member between a woman's legs, fodder for bawdy jokes and laughter at this strategically vital stronghold.
On one side stretched a wide trade route flanked by mountains and fields; on the other, a wolf's canyon shrouded in dense forest.
The towering fortress at its heart was ideally positioned to repel enemies advancing from any direction.
Having used Aloadai to pin the demigods in Tegea, Tespius seized the valley, confident that no demigod, no matter how renowned, could threaten Thespiai if defenses were solid.
To guard it, he stationed his right-hand man, General Karkis—called the Mercenary King's Shield—granting him full authority over nearby forces and unlimited support.
Karkis faithfully transformed Wolf King's Valley into an impregnable fortress.
Once again, Tespius's scheme enriched and strengthened Thespiai.
As the valley was firmly incorporated into Thespiai's territory and control over the conquered lands solidified,
word arrived that movement had been detected in Arcadia's barely rebuilt scouting network.
"The advancing force... a mere fifty?"
"Y-yes, though a small follow-up contingent trails behind..."
Fifty. Just fifty.
A laughable number to even call a force.
Demigods they might be, heirs to divine blood, but without that pathetic honey trap as their last resort, they'd have withered under Tespius's stratagems.
Once more, relying solely on their brute strength for a reckless advance?
"Hahaha! Fools!"
Karkis had been Tespius's right hand since the Mercenary King's days with a tiny band.
No matter what outlandish powers the demigods displayed, they couldn't breach this domain he held.
"Nepkarus, report their movements but let only a few scouts escape, then withdraw the rest. Tell the soldiers to eat their fill and prepare arrows!"
The enemy had only two paths.
The treacherous wolf's canyon or the flat, open plain route.
"Whichever they choose, they can't avoid this wolf's fortress."
Yet with so few troops, they'd likely slip in under watchful eyes, circle behind like Thespiai's own forces had, and aim for guerrilla warfare.
"Relay to March Warden Kirsius: Set traps in the wolf's canyon and forest with fifty men, and pile oil-soaked straw everywhere!"
If those fake heroes tried infiltrating the fortress under forest cover at night, or sneaking into Thespiai evading them...
"They'll burn in the blazing woods, reduced to ashes without a fight!"
And Thespiai's fame would echo across Greece once more.
Those who dared crown a wench queen and lusted after her pretty demigods would charge Arcadia's plains again.
"Our king has prepared everything. By sending me, Karkis!"
A born mercenary and commander, Karkis had followed Tespius through countless battlefields.
Assaulting castles one day, defending them the next.
Surviving those battles—and learning more—made him the Mercenary King's Shield.
To siege a castle, attackers needed at least twice the defenders for any chance.
This wolf's fortress was ringed by sheer cliffs; besieging the stronghold atop meant surrounding and starving it out, nothing more.
Cliffs had to be scaled before walls, and even if managed, relentless arrow volleys from vigilant defenders left no corpses.
The sole entrance was the ironclad rear, guarded by the perilous wolf's canyon and Tespius's elites. They'd prepared for that too—no one could topple this banner.
"Our grand scheme is underway. We'll behead those fake heroes, use the young queen and her pretty captives as stepping stones, and leap to dominion that shakes even Athens!"
The Mercenary King—or Wolf King—Tespius had confided his vision to his sword and shield.
Today's Greece was a weak world ruled by Athens's braggarts.
Shatter it, let the strong like them reign, guiding the weak—a new nation!
Its name: Sparta.
Heir to Lacedaemon, Perseus's father, land of mighty warriors; a paradise to rival haughty Athens and honor Ares.
That dream drew nearer through these foolish fake demigods.
"Come then, young heroes! This shall be your grave!"
...Karkis had thought that way once.
"General! The enemy has scaled the cliffs and reached the fortress walls!"
"Damn it! Arrows! Loose arrows! Don't hold back—fire everything!!"
"No use! Some sorcery—they dodge every shot without a single hit!"
"Rocks! Logs! We prepared plenty for siege beasts!"
"That's..."
-Boom! Thud!
-Aaaagh!
-Thud! Whoosh!
Shudders rocked the command room floor, crackling blasts echoing.
The Mercenary King's Shield, veteran of sieges and defenses, knew what it meant.
Tall walls, logs and boulders raining down like Demeter's caress.
Even under Artemis's crescent moon, flames outside evoked daylight—proof all defenses fired as planned.
-Monsters! Monsters!
-Aaaagh! Fire's spreading!
-They're hurling fire!!
Yet the voices in his ears weren't soldiers' cheers and roars, but terrified beasts fleeing hunters.
Pale messengers brought impossible reports, confirming the unbelievable.
"With just... just fifty men... a frontal assault on the fortress?"
It defied his common sense.
Worse, reports from all walls made him doubt his eyes...
"Scaling cliffs like flat ground, leaping up walls on foot?"
"Y-yes! We're barely holding the walls, but... honestly, it's only a matter of time...!"
"Damn it!"
Karkis knew demigods boasted absurd feats.
Yet he'd fortified assuming even a tenth held truth.
'Damn... not meant for a mere defense like this...'
"...Is that ready?"
"You mean... no way!"
His aide startled at the grim tone.
Before departing for Wolf King's Valley, a mysterious envoy visited Tespius's palace.
Sent by a neighbor hoping for alliance, hiding origins, he delivered a strange artifact.
Mishandled, it could slay a thousand allies; used right, melt ten thousand foes tracelessly—a magic relic.
Test-fired on a pirate lair: in a day, Thespiai's headache dissolved into bloody puddles.
Thrilled, Tespius gave Karkis several for emergencies. Now was the time.
"We must prepare it now..."
"Prepare what?"
As Karkis rose with resolve,
a chilling voice echoed in the room, empty save him and his aide.
"!?"
-Crack! Crunch!
The ceiling screamed, cracks spiderwebbing.
"Highest watchtower, constant soldier traffic. No need to hunt—convenient."
As cracks widened, neither Karkis nor aide could move.
-Boom!
The ceiling they'd prayed to Olympus would hold collapsed in a blast.
"You... you're...!"
"Karkis, called the Barbarian's Shield?"
Through rubble and dust, a cool smile gleamed at him.
How many soldiers slain?
How much blood soaked?
Black night garb crimson, blade blacker than night dripping gore.
Yet what overwhelmed the battle-hardened Karkis were those eyes.
'W-what eyes...?'
Ferocious, unseen even by him who'd survived countless fields.
Abyssal depths deeper than Styx froze the Mercenary King's Shield.
"Great warrior, shining valor's son Jason, rightful heir of Iolcos. Prince of the slain king, son of the sacrificed mother."
-Drip!
Mocking terrified Karkis, the sword-wielder shook blood from his blade, proclaiming his name.
"Jason. The name that will kill you, slay Tespius, reclaim its throne."
Jason.
The moment he ascended the Golden Generation's ranks, overshadowed no more, resounding across the world.