The Feast of Giants
"Hahaha! Drink! Drink up!"
"Bring out all the wine! Roast every cow and pig we have!"
"It’s a festival! A festival!"
Every god and demigod in Erytheia celebrated this day with one heart and one mind. Some lined up with papyrus in hand, hoping to trace the massive scars left in the arena as a memento of this day. Others swarmed around me, desperate to exchange even a single word, causing quite the commotion.
Antaios, who had appeared with bandages wrapped around his arms and chest, was also busy laughing and chatting with his brothers.
Well, it was to be expected.
They had truly been waiting for thousands of years. Before the twelve constellations of Olympus were even filled, they were the gods who should have ascended to those seats, and the divine generals who should have followed them to glory. But upon realizing that the radiance of the heavens was merely a thin coat of paint over hypocrisy and madness, they had fallen into regret, degenerating into mere villains and monsters. That was thousands of years ago.
Sometimes, even I feel dizzy when I look back on my own three lifetimes. For these people, who had endured and waited while the world was rebuilt and crumbled hundreds of times, the end of their long wait was finally in sight. It was only natural that they would all be thoroughly intoxicated.
"Uhehehe..."
"And why are you so wasted?"
I couldn't help but laugh at the fragrant scent of the sea tickling my nose, mixed with the smell of alcohol. My lover, her fair face flushed a deep red, was clinging to my neck from behind, letting out a sloppy, uncharacteristic giggle. She was a sea goddess, after all—the same one who could down every drink offered by nymphs and black-hearted bastards in the Hero’s Forest without a single change in her complexion. To see her this drunk was a sight to behold.
"Uhehehe~"
"You really have no middle ground when it comes to your tolerance, do you?"
Seeing Neri giggling, unable to even string a sentence together, I felt a sudden urge to tease her. I poked her soft, white cheek.
"Uhit! Ehit! Hehit!"
She flinched at the tickle, but she just kept laughing, clearly enjoying herself.
"You've grown in body, but the inside is still the same."
"Uung~ Right there..."
As I gently scratched her white chin with my index finger, like petting a puppy, I witnessed the bizarre phenomenon of her fair face sagging like goat cheese.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I’d ever seen Neri drunk.
"Ugh. Dia. My stomach..."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Ugh... I'm dizzy..."
"Want some water?"
I reached for the water bottle I’d kept on standby just in case, but Neri only shook her head silently.
"Hieuu..."
"I don't know what to do with you."
Deciding she needed to be more comfortable, I unwound her arms from my neck and carefully took her into my arms, laying her down with her head on my lap.
"Hehe, hehehe..."
Nesneria laughed, seemingly relieved. I couldn't tell if I was babysitting a child or watching over a drunk lover.
"It seems Lady Nesneria is in high spirits."
"Antaios."
Antaios, who had sat down beside me with extreme caution so as not to wake Neri with his footsteps, looked incredibly refreshed despite the bandages wrapped around his torso.
"Are you and Nesneria acquainted?"
"Of course. She is the only goddess permitted to board my father's chariot."
Come to think of it, Poseidon had said the same thing—that Neri was the only daughter allowed to ride the chariot of waves he steered. I had thought it meant she was simply well-loved by Poseidon and his wife, but one question remained.
"...What about Amphitrite?"
"According to my father, if he ever entrusted the chariot to Lady Amphitrite, two or three of Greece's largest islands would vanish into the sea."
"Gods, honestly..."
They were truly living natural disasters. It sounded ridiculous now, but I wasn't being careful about getting along with them for no reason. If they got offended by something trivial, I could handle it, but I didn't know what kind of chaos might erupt around me.
"Truly, you are a peculiar demigod."
"Huh? What's this all of a sudden?"
Antaios, who had been laughing heartily while pouring wine into a massive goblet, stared at it without any intention of drinking, then suddenly replied.
"You neither fear nor revere the gods, yet you do not let your guard down entirely, and you call out to them with a longing I cannot fathom."
"...Hah."
Come to think of it, Antaios was a god in his own right. It was my turn to offer a bitter smile at his sharp intuition.
"And yet, one moment you show the madness of Ares in battle, and the next, you cherish the lover in your arms more than even Aphrodite could envy."
"And your point is?"
"Only that a man like you is someone we can trust and follow. That is all I think. If we were to stake everything on following you wherever you go, it would mean you are not the type of man to treat that devotion lightly."
"....Hmm."
At those words, my gaze naturally drifted toward the arena below, where giants, demigods, and strange races were holding their own feasts. Each one of them possessed power that could easily rival a major sect in the Murim world. Seeing them cheer and toast to me was a sight I had often seen in my past life, but this time, it was filled with a joy and ecstasy I had never found back then.
"My shoulders are suddenly feeling heavy."
"Doesn't look like you're struggling with the weight, though?"
"Everything is a burden anyway, but I enjoy it regardless."
The agony and suffering that come with it, too. Of course. A heavy sense of responsibility like this brings life to life far more vividly than empty, hollow wealth and power. How could I not gladly bear it?
"Anyway, since we settled here in Erytheia, this is the first time a celebration for a new victor has been held, rather than an initiation ceremony for a new member."
"It was quite a hassle, thanks to that. Everyone had so many questions..."
Even if their loyalty was freely given, it was my philosophy that loyalty always required a corresponding price. In the end, I accepted their wine and meat as tribute and offered each of them a brief piece of advice in return. But I had prepared something else specifically for them.
"Here, take this."
"This is...?"
It was none other than the secret manuals for the *Heavenly Demon Arts* and the *Heavenly Demon Steps* that I had taught Atalanta. One of the perks of becoming a god was that I could freely create simple objects using divine power. It had been a grueling task when I made the manuals for Asclepius, but now, I could conjure one with a flick of my wrist.
The book I handed over was quite large for Antaios, and I worried he might have trouble reading it, but that was a useless concern. He possessed the vision of a god, capable of seeing the antennae of an ant picking up crumbs on the ground far away.
"These are, by any chance...?"
Antaios, who had placed them on his palm with extreme care as if they might tear, flipped through the pages with his pinky nail and looked at me with wide eyes.
"That's right. It's the martial art I displayed when I sparred with you, and the footwork that goes with it. It is also what my lover, Atalanta, the Queen of Arcadia, has mastered."
The *Heavenly Demon Arts*, which begins with external strength and guides the practitioner toward enlightenment by adjusting its form as they reach higher realms. For the gods and demigods of this land, who wielded divine power directly without any internal cultivation methods, the *Heavenly Demon Arts* was an excellent choice.
'Above all, if they are fellow disciples who have mastered the same martial arts, Antaios and the giants below won't be able to look down on each other even if I’m away.'
There was also the reason of guarding against the gods and demigods of this era, who possessed potential beyond my expectations.
Asclepius, to whom I had only taught light Taoist gymnastics and breathing techniques. Heracles, who would be obsessed with the *Hwangbo Clan's* internal arts, forgetting to eat or sleep. Aside from those two, I hadn't taught internal energy cultivation to Atalanta either. I feared what kind of monster might be born and what kind of havoc they would wreak if these demigods of this era, who were as hot and tempered as forged steel, were to properly cultivate their internal energy and reach enlightenment.
'Asclepius has a good foundation and is focused on medicine, so I'm not worried. Heracles is a guy who causes trouble even without internal energy, so it's better for him to cultivate self-control and patience.'
More than anything, whether it's demonic arts or divine arts, internal energy cultivation is so sensitive that it requires my personal guidance unless the practitioner has the talent and durability of those two. Since I was too busy to spare the time, Atalanta hadn't received internal cultivation methods from me either.
And today, I had discovered a martial artist with talent and durability that surpassed them both...
"And this one. It is for you alone."
"W-what did you say?!"
The third and final manual, which I had crafted with even more care than the other two. The supreme martial art of the *Peerless Heavenly Demon*, which had never been left behind in any manual or oral tradition in the previous Murim world. It was the manual for the *Heaven-Shattering Heavenly Demon Arts*.
"D-don't tell me, is this the one you showed at the very end...?"
"That's right. The first three chapters explain how to efficiently handle and protect the divine power boiling within you, and the rest summarizes how to unfold martial arts using that power."
Honestly, it sounds simple when I put it that way. But even when I was taught the *Heaven-Shattering Arts* by the *Peerless Heavenly Demon* himself, it was so profound and sensory that I had no choice but to learn it by literally taking the hits with my body. Translating this into Greek, rather than Chinese or Korean, and presenting it was an incredibly difficult task, even for someone who had ascended to the rank of a god.
"....Poseidon have mercy."
Antaios, who had walked the path of a reader for so long, was a martial artist who had been as desperate for a guide as I was when I realized the *True God Realm* in this era. To have a path appear before him—not just a small lantern, but a high-speed train to his destination—it was no wonder he was so moved.
Antaios stood frozen in the posture of receiving the manual, unable to even speak for a moment. Then, as if it were a newborn baby, he carefully placed the three volumes down in front of him.
He immediately corrected his posture, knelt before me, and bowed his head.
"I, Antaios, dare to swear upon the Styx: until the day this world ends, I shall be your spear and your shield."
"...."
-Rumble!!
The Styx of the Underworld never sleeps, faithfully performing its divine duty. As a massive wave of energy, accompanied by the familiar heartbeat, wrapped around me and vanished, I had no choice but to ask.
"Even if I do not contend with Olympus?"
"Even if you do! Until the day my sister regains her freedom and our clan finally makes its name known not just to the sea, but to the entire world! I, Antaios, swear my loyalty!"
Heh.
What a shrewd giant. Since it was already half-certain that I would clash with Olympus, he was sharply securing his own real interests and wishes.
"I won't ask for your loyalty. Just decide for yourself."
With that, I turned my head away quietly.
Usually, it's more effective to leave a gap like this than to demand loyalty.
"Huuuh...!"
Look at that. The look of awe on that blue giant's face.
As I was about to share a drink with Antaios while cradling Neri on my lap, a commotion suddenly erupted at the entrance of the Colosseum.
"Lord Antaios! Lord Dianes!"
"What is the meaning of this!"
"T-that is..."
A harpy, a half-human, half-bird creature, flew in breathlessly and shouted urgently.
"Lord Geryon of the Great Pasture... Lord Geryon is...!"
"Geryon? What about Geryon!"
Antaios jumped up as his cousin's name was mentioned, and I, too, carefully laid Neri down and rose to follow.
"Antaios, we must hurry."
"W-why, what is happening?"
I sharpened my senses to examine the scene of the commotion. There, a giant with a bizarre form—three bodies and two legs—lay collapsed, drenched in blood and unconscious.