That sacred chanting. It had to be said.
When releasing a finishing move, chanting really was what made it spectacular enough.
Greek heroes had no such habit before.
But now, seeing and experiencing for the first time on the battlefield what the charm of chanting a poem could be,
All the heroes, even the gods present, and the beautiful women, were all captivated by that atmosphere-filled scene.
The sight of someone bathed in radiance and the blood of enemies, loudly declaring a firm and noble will.
The heroes: !!!!
What, what is this?
You can do it like this before a finishing move?
The gods' eyes lit up like they discovered a whole new world, as though they witnessed a rare treasure and had a brand new world opened before them. ...!!
Ohhhhh!
The goddesses screamed!!
Artemis herself got thoroughly swept up in it.
And no one present was hit harder than Apollo!
He even noticed that in the middle of such an intense and white-hot battle, Night still did not forget to casually give his sister a boost through the chant.
Apollo at this moment was so sour he was going absolutely mad!
He was the first one who ever experienced the charm and thrill of poem-chanting.
He had just been quietly enjoying it privately and never spread it around.
But now seeing Night's new chant, comparing it against his own version, his felt like the budget version.
How could this not cause Apollo psychological damage?
Ten thousand comet strikes?!
Wait. Wisdom, dignity, power.
Was it not he himself who gave more of those things to Artemis?
Creator of stars and moon!! ...!!
Ahh. Is that not a description that fits him better, the god of light, the sun god, rather than the moon goddess?
This invisible tide of flattery even made Artemis herself blush.
She felt she did not deserve such praise, and yet showed no sign of refusing it at all.
In fact, her expression was one of incomparable happiness.
The feeling of praising yourself and being praised by someone else were completely different.
No matter how excessive someone else's praise was, it was perfectly fine.
And at this moment, while also feeling they did not deserve such a description, the number of male and female gods who showed looks of envy and jealousy was no small number.
The expression of "I want that too" was already written plainly on their faces.
They could barely wait for the battle to end so they could rush down and take that child for themselves, then have him write a brand new set of chant lines custom-paired to each of them, to be recited in various epic battles from then on.
Just imagining that feeling was enough to leave one helplessly excited.
Even...
At this moment no one lifted their heads to look at the God-King Zeus sitting in the highest seat. And some of them were a little...
After all, the gods all had the same nature.
Even the God-King would be no exception.
The envy in Zeus's heart at this moment was practically churning like a tempest!
As God-King his greed and desires were even vaster than any other god.
Whatever someone else had, he had to have it too.
What others lacked, he as God-King was naturally supposed to have regardless.
And this novel approach.
Performing a finishing move in battle with a dazzling declaration, while also giving his own chief goddess a boost of face on the side.
Zeus felt it hit him hard right where his interests lay, like a long-starved veteran gamer in a barren gaming landscape suddenly discovering a generational masterpiece.
He suddenly felt that with a little effort, it might still be worth trying again to poach someone from his daughter.
And he was not the only one having this thought.
Chief gods like Poseidon all had the same idea.
It was like a world where PC games were the norm, and suddenly a fully immersive game on the level of Sword Art Online appeared.
Only the moon goddess got into the closed beta, while everyone else watching the live stream had long since gone mad with envy.
With an opportunity to snatch the only beta access right in front of them, could this group of gods who were thoroughly used to being shameless hold themselves back from fighting over it?
And at this moment...
Back on the battlefield, Night and Hector had already thrown their spears.
When the divine spear that blazed a meteor's path and the greatest throwing technique in all of Greece collided in midair.
That is right. Collided!
Throwing techniques in a mythological world were just that absurd.
What should have been a targeted strike was somehow forced into the shape of two legendary weapons clashing head on, like columns of light crashing into each other.
Terrifying radiance blazed up from the earth and shot straight toward the horizon!
Boom!!
Brilliant cross-shaped light rose into the heavens.
That was the center point where the two divine spears collided.
Then a howling wind swept the hot sand rolling outward to both sides!
And within the sandstorm that covered everything and made the interior invisible to all, a flash of deep blue radiance suddenly blazed!
A holy sword.
The top-tier holy sword that would one day be known as Durandal!
A divine artifact with the same attribute and material as Hector's divine spear, possessing top-tier penetrating properties, broke through the wind and sand and headed toward Night's position under an intense instinctive pull.
Thwack!!
The enormous sword light flashed like the shimmer of a lake's surface, splitting the storm and sandstorm clean in two with a single slash.
People finally saw clearly what was inside.
A massive wound appeared on Night's body, with scalding blood flowing from it.
Boom!!
He fought back with force, drew his sword, and drove Hector back.
But anyone could see that Night had already fallen to the losing side.
"The impervious immortal body was actually..." Odysseus and the other heroes looked at Night's injuries in shock, finding it hard to believe.
That invincible body of steel was actually bleeding.
And Penthesilea, who had at some unknown point awakened from unconsciousness, came to the front with the help of a few of her Amazon warrior guards, and after seeing the state of the battle, suddenly clenched her small fist tight.
The one gaining the advantage was Hector, her ally, so she should have felt happy and excited.
But seeing the man who taught her how to fight with instinct, the man who made her whole heart feel what "strength" meant, was injured!
And moreover, injured by a man other than herself.
A sudden surge of agitation rose in Penthesilea's heart.
She did not want to see Night lose, and even less so did she want to see him die because of it.
Paris was so excited he was one step away from raising a cup in celebration, shouting again and again that his brother was indeed the strongest.
At the same time, he let out a breath of relief inside.
If even his brother lost to that monster, he might truly lose Helen.
Even this entire war might because of that...
"Brother!! Quickly take that kid's head!!" Paris suddenly shouted with vicious and vile intent.
After all, with a monster like that alive...
God only knew what kind of casualties he would inflict on their Trojan side on the battlefield.
One Achilles was already enough of a headache.
The world did not need a second Achilles.
But the moment Paris's words fell, he suddenly drew the ice-cold gaze of Penthesilea, the gaze of a lion or wolf king.
The killing intent that felt like it could crush his throat to pieces instantly silenced Paris.
And Hector on the battlefield was even less likely to actually move to kill Night.
Even the gods in the heavens above grew unable to sit still.
No god could stand by and watch an outstanding hero who struck true at their hearts in almost every way get killed.
Of course...
Hades, the king of the underworld, was possibly the only one who would be happy to watch Night die.
The living were not his concern.
But after death all souls would return to the underworld.
Though he had been silent throughout and watched everything without a word, that did not mean Hades did not appreciate a warrior like this.
He would prefer the underworld not gain yet another outstanding warrior, possibly even one fit for his own personal guard.
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)