Chapter 319 (1/2)

Act 4

Apollo was the god in charge of the sun and fire. According to the myth, he was a god that rode on a chariot to guide the sunrise and was a being who was able to manifest anywhere as long as there was a flame burning.

And Phaethon claimed that he was the real son of the sun god Apollo.

“This guy is the son of Lord Apollo? Really?”

At Hercules’s probing stare, Phaethon simply nodded his head. Just like Su-hyeun, the burly demigod was suspicious of this golden-haired young man’s true identity.

Hercules continued, “And how do you intend to prove that claim?”

“Is there a reason for me to prove myself to you?”

The question was countered with another question.

Hercules’s expression crumpled ever so slightly. He uncrossed his arms and stood upright next. “It’s not up to you whether you want to prove it or not.”

Crack—

His joints popped noisily as he clenched his fist tightly. “I’ll be the one to judge you, after all.”

“Oh, so you want to blindly rely on your physical strength once more to solve your problems?”

“Once more, you say? You speak as if you know about me.”

“Of course, I do. This may be our first meeting, but I’ve already heard tales of your many accomplishments. The killing of the Nemean lion, suppressing Cerberus…you relied on your brute physical strength to overcome them.”

“So what about it?”

“There’s a limit to showing off while relying on pure strength alone. Although you are the son of Zeus, in the end, half of your blood comes from a human, does it not?” Phaethon smirked. “Despite your best efforts, you’re still nothing more than a half-blood.”

“You really…wish to die by my…” Hercules’s expression turned truly murderous.

Rumble—

Suddenly, the ground rumbled.

But it wasn’t a natural phenomenon like an earthquake. Hercules was far too familiar with the source of this rumbling. It was the same for Su-hyeun, as he had come to experience it a few times by now as well.

It was coming from the footsteps of the Giants.

“Great timing,” growled Hercules while glaring at Phaethon. “Now, prove it to me. Prove to me that you’re better than me, punk.”

* * *

The Giants were huge—absolutely massive, in fact.

Never mind the fact that one could easily make out their appearances from afar, the intense pressure they gave off when crowded together exceeded anyone’s wildest imaginations.

Tens of thousands of soldiers had come, but this number was meaningless in the presence of the Giants.

It didn’t matter whether the number of tens or hundreds of thousands. When facing a massive “mountain,” whether you were human or ant, you would still come across as tiny and inconsequential in the end.

“U—uwah…”

“T—those…those are the Giants…”

“Aren’t they far bigger than what we’ve been told?!”

“No, it’s as they said. But after seeing it with my own eyes, this is…”

Su-hyeun and Hercules stood around observing the dozens of Giants from a distance. The demigod locked his gaze on a Giant with two eyes visible among the horde and spoke, “Three Gigantes, is it? I see that several fairly tough individuals are here today.”

“The ones you mentioned earlier, they haven’t shown up, right?” Su-hyeun asked.

“If those creatures showed up, I wouldn’t have left these soldiers to their devices. Failing to kill one and letting it slip away would be more than enough to devastate a kingdom in no time, after all.”

Giant, then Gigantes, and finally, Colossus—these three were the different classes of Giants that Hercules had come up with.

The Giants boasted the biggest sizes, while the Gigantes were comparatively smaller but slightly quicker and stronger, and finally, there were the few-in-number but as strong as low-ranked gods, the Colossi.

Although no Colossus had shown up this time, a handful of Gigantes-class giant monsters were mixed in among the invading group.

“How about it, then? Hey, mister son of the sun god, are you still up for it?”

“Watch closely and witness it for yourself.”

Rumble—

Phaethon glanced at Hercules once and then his body transformed into a roaring flame. “Witness what the true descendant of a god is like.”

Shu-wuwu—

After transforming into a flame, Phaethon’s figure then flew directly toward the Giants in the distance. Su-hyeun found the ability to turn into a flame rather mystifying and observed the distancing Phaethon more closely.

“That’s a pretty unique ability, isn’t it?” he said.

“Even then, it’s some lukewarm flame, nothing more,” Hercules retorted with an unimpressed expression on his face.

Lukewarm? While making a dumbfounded expression at the demigod’s reply, Su-hyeun stared at Hercules. Even if the latter wasn’t impressed by Phaethon’s antics, one had to admit that this was well past the level of being “lukewarm” at this point.

Hercules asked Su-hyeun, “And what about you, friend? Are you going to spectate from afar, or—?”

“Well, I’ll spectate from somewhere a bit closer instead.”

Gya-ong—!

Su-hyeun quickly summoned Miru out and finished his preparations to leave and then turned his attention back to Hercules. “Apologies, but Mister Hercules, you are too heavy, and it might be a little difficult for Miru to give you a ride.”

“A dragon, is it? I thought you only commanded the undead, but you also had a summoned creature like this one?”

“If you’re not planning to join in the fun now, I’ll go on ahead first. Let’s go, Miru.”

Gya-ong—

At Su-hyeun’s call, Miru began shooting forward right away. Hercules watched the duo fly like a thunderbolt to catch up to Phaethon, and he began chuckling wryly.

“Looks like I’ve been jumping around with another dude on my back for no reason.”

Boom—!

Hercules then powerfully kicked the ground and leaped high.

And so, Su-hyeun and Hercules began their observation of how Phaethon would fight off the race of the Giants.

* * *

Rumble, ruuumble—

A massive wave of flames blanketed the skies.

A rain of flames in varying shades and sizes descended and burned the bodies of the Giants. Even then, the massive creatures still managed to spot Phaethon’s real body and angrily swung their huge arms at him.

Puh-hwack—

Shu-shushushu—

But just before the huge hand could grab the flame, the flame enveloped the Giant’s hand first instead.

Hiss, sizzle—

Its pale skin turned crimson from the heat, and Phaethon’s flames scorched the Giant’s body pitch-black in no time.

“Burn to ashes, you abominable Giant bastards—!”

Rumbleeeee—