The Three-Bodied Herdsman, Geryon
Geryon, or Geryones.
I had heard that name mentioned often enough back in Messenia. The sheep and cattle supplied to the Hero’s Forest all came from his pastures, and the quality of the meat was so exceptional that in Greece, the beef and mutton from the Red Pastures of Erytheia were considered a luxury reserved only for kings. Rumor also had it that he was a bizarre giant with three bodies, a single waist, and two legs—a point of constant debate among scholars as to whether it was literal truth or merely a metaphor used by the ancients.
Having already felt the jarring gap between the myths I’d heard and the reality of this Greek world, I was curious to see what kind of man this poor herdsman—who was eventually slaughtered by Heracles, Zeus’s personal monster-butcher—really was.
By the time Antaios rushed in, carrying the giant on his back as guided by a subordinate, the infirmary was already prepared. Since most of the residents here were giants of massive stature, the beds were already large enough for Neri and me to lie side-by-side with room to spare. Even so, Antaios had to push three of those massive beds together to accommodate Poseidon’s grandson.
“Ugh…”
“Urgh…”
“Ughhh…”
“…Still a shocking sight, no matter how many times I see it.”
It was truly astonishing. The Republic of Korea’s mandatory reading material—a chaotic, nonsensical, and trope-filled mess that spanned thousands of years—had actually been surprisingly accurate in its historical research.
He possessed three sets of muscular torsos, each one 1.5 times larger than the average Laestrygonian giant, yet all three faces were twisted in the same expression of agony, mirroring a salaryman suffering from extreme exhaustion. And yet, below the waist, he had only two legs, just like any other giant.
To think I’d actually witness a Samdu-yukbi—three heads and six arms—in the flesh.
‘…Just how strong must his core be to support all that?’
As I naturally began calculating the sheer strength required in his spine, waist, and legs to support three such bodies, the medics who had rushed over carefully cut away the emergency bandages to inspect the wounds.
“Good heavens…”
“Why, why do you look like that? Is it life-threatening?!”
The medics couldn't help but groan at the gruesome scars revealed beneath the bandages. Antaios paced back and forth, urging them on, but…
“A beast. And a massive one at that, was hunting him.”
“Dianes?!”
The scars ravaging his three bodies were all violently torn, clawed, and bitten. Looking at the defensive wounds on his forearms and chests, as well as the gashes across his backs and shoulders—all sustained while he was being hunted—it was clear this wasn't just some wild animal. It had hunted him with terrifying intelligence.
“In other words, this wasn't the work of a transformed human or a god.”
The wounds were too savage for a human with intellect, yet too calculated for a mere wild beast. It was the work of a Spirit Beast—a massive, supernatural creature capable of overwhelming even this giant.
“First, we need to stop the bleeding.”
I took off my outer robe, handed it to Antaios, and climbed onto the bed to examine Geryon. Given the size of the bed and the patient, I had no other choice.
“Hmm…”
Man, looking at him up close, it makes even less sense. How is this anatomically possible? No matter how sturdy his lumbar vertebrae are, the load on his waist should be so immense that his body would collapse before he even turned ten, no matter how much he trained…
‘Is it because of his divine DNA?’
According to Cariclo’s economics lecture, Geryon was the grandson of Poseidon and also the grandson of the famous Medusa. Considering most of their descendants were giants with unique histories, perhaps Geryon wasn't so surprising after all…
‘Focus. Let’s focus.’
If I wanted to study this unique physiology, I first had to save this giant from dying of blood loss.
“Fortunately, his hyul-do (acupuncture points) aren't that different from a normal human’s.”
Wounds torn by teeth and claws are far more troublesome than those from weapons. Because beasts don’t just slice or stab, but rip and tear, simple pressure isn't enough to stop the bleeding. If I didn't seal the flow, no medicine in the world would save him.
-Tap, tap-tap.
‘Wait, did he have steel rods implanted in his meridians?’
I performed the Jeom-hyeol (pressure point sealing) technique, which I must have done thousands of times, but I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh at the unexpected sensation. Every time my finger touched his meridian, it felt like snapping a glow stick. Furthermore, his pressure points were as thick and tough as industrial piping, requiring me to press down with significant force.
“To think I’d actually… break a sweat while performing Jeom-hyeol…”
-Tap! Tap! Tap-tap!
How long had I been at it? When the bleeding visibly stopped and the wounds began to stabilize, gasps of awe erupted from the surrounding crowd.
“Ohhh…! The bleeding is stopping!”
“What are you all doing! Bring the ointment and bandages, quickly!”
“Hot water! Is the hot water ready yet!”
The skeptics who had been full of doubt when I first climbed onto the bed were now stunned, watching the blood cease its flow every time my fingers touched Geryon.
‘But these scars, could it be?’
The claw marks and lacerations were one thing, but the bite marks lined up side-by-side caught my attention.
‘He was bitten by two things at once.’
The claw marks were all identical in size, meaning the attacker was clearly a single beast. But the bite marks were from two different sources. It was a bizarre situation.
‘Looks like there’s more trouble brewing.’
I had a feeling this wouldn't end with just a simple puppy adoption. With that premonition, I finished the treatment.
Once the bleeding stopped, the medics applied the ointment and changed the bandages. I channeled my Divine Power to boost his vitality, and the three-headed giant’s eyes snapped open in an instant.
“Urgh… A-Antaios?”
“Ugh… B-Boss…”
“Ugh… B-Brother…”
“Geryon! What happened to you!”
Antaios stopped Geryon, who was swaying as he tried to sit up, and laid him back down.
“T-This is no time for this!!”
“That bastard Orthrus!”
“He’s completely lost his mind!”
“We have to go back, quickly!”
“If we don’t go right now, the pasture and the dog…!”
“They’ll all be dead for sure!”
“C-Calm down, Geryon! You need to rest first!”
“H-Have to go…”
As soon as he regained consciousness, Geryon fell into a panic and began to convulse. Antaios tried to hold him down, but it was futile. The patient was a critically injured giant, and he was effectively three times the size of Antaios.
“Tsk.”
In the end, I had to step in.
“Jeom-hyeol isn't exactly my specialty, you know.”
But since he was a witness closely related to my task, I had no choice but to roll up my sleeves again.
-Ting!
Since the opponent was who he was, I infused a significant amount of Naegong into my Tanji-gong (finger flick technique). It should have been silent, but because he was a giant with tendons like steel cables, the force and speed of the strike resulted in a sound like a coin being flicked against metal.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
“Ack!”
“Huh? G-Geryon?”
In an instant, his Ma-hyeol (paralysis points) were sealed, and Geryon went limp, his eyes rolling back as he collapsed. As Antaios and the medics turned to look at me, I simply took a sip of the wine a servant had brought.
“Calm down. Are you feeling a bit better now?”
“D-Dianes? Was this your doing?”
“Nothing to be surprised about. It’s just… a bit of magic to stop your movement for a moment.”
Explaining Jeom-hyeol would require teaching him about meridians, the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, and even the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams. It was better to just pass it off as magic.
“Shall we start with introductions? My name is Dianes…”
-Blink.
-Blink.
-Blink.
“I suppose I don’t need your name.”
I gestured, and Antaios, who had been standing there blankly, rushed to bring a chair.
“Thanks.”
“N-Not at all…”
Sitting in the chair, watching Geryon lying on the bed in his paralyzed state, I noticed his body twitching and his fingers tapping as he tried to break the seal.
“Ha, so he really is Poseidon’s grandson.”
-!!
As I let out a light exclamation, six pairs of eyes widened in shock, staring at me.
What, why?
He might be a revered ancestor and a great sea god to you lot. To me, he’s just the eldest brother-in-law who gets nagged by his wife every single day.
“Let’s skip the small talk. I’ll ask directly. The two-headed divine hound, Orthrus. Did he do this to you? If so, blink twice.”
-Blink-blink.
-Blink-blink.
-Blink-blink.
…Ugh.
Six pairs of giant eyes, each the size of a baby’s fist, blinking at me was more grotesque than I had imagined. I felt like I was developing trypophobia.
“Excuse me, Dianes. Could you perhaps release the magic on Geryon first?”
“Hmm… are you calm now?”
Seeing that sanity had returned to all twelve of Geryon’s eyes following Antaios’s cautious suggestion, I released the Ma-hyeol.
“W-Who on earth are you…”
“W-Who on earth are you…”
“W-Who on earth are you…”
“Oh, right. When answering, only one representative. Only one head answers.”
I thought I was speaking quietly, but the gravelly voices forming a trio were enough to make the infirmary tremble.
“No, that is…”
“No, that is…”
“No, that…”
“Words? A reply?”
“…T-Then, this Geryon will answer.”
“Good.”
As expected, even if he looked bizarre, he was the sharpest businessman in Greece. Geryon—the one in the middle—caught on immediately that I wanted to skip the useless pleasantries and summarized the situation briefly.
“My friend, Orthrus, has had his madness flare up again. But this time, the intensity was far greater.”
“Madness?”
“This… didn’t you say he was doing better lately?”
“That’s what I said, Antaios! He usually disappears quietly on his own, so I thought he’d come back once he calmed down…”
“But he didn’t return even after two weeks, and then he suddenly appeared at the pasture and went on a rampage!”
“Geryones and Geryoneus are right. Boss.”
Orthrus’s madness? I pricked up my ears at the ominous term and handed him the wine. The middle torso took a drink and began his story.
“Ahem, thank you. You seem to know who we are, but you don’t seem to know much about Orthrus.”
“I’ve only been in Erytheia for half a day. Anyway, what’s the problem with Orthrus?”
“Wait, who are you to ask about Orthrus…”
“Is this really the time to be picky?”
I frowned at the sign of a pointless, long-winded story. The atmosphere shifted, and the color drained from Geryon’s faces.
“W-Who on earth are you…”
“In this situation, I’m the only one who can decide whether to kill or spare Orthrus. So, speak.”
“Ugh…”
The most important thing was that Orthrus, who was tied to my task, was the problem. I threatened them with a touch of Divine Power, and Geryon began to spill the situation with a stiff face.