Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 344 The Reincarnators' Scheme

After leaving Athens, the great hero planned to visit Atalanta, the woman who had killed the Calydonian Boar. He admired Atalanta's skill and wanted to test his archery skills against her.

But as he prepared to depart, he learned that after Atalanta killed the Calydon Boar, this huntress who had sworn to remain a virgin attracted many suitors. The tireless huntress made bets with her rivals: whoever could beat her in a race would marry her, and the loser would be killed by her.

The hunter hoped this would scare away suitors, and many were mercilessly killed by her after losing the race. However, one suitor, emboldened by the magic of the golden apple, managed to hinder her. Drawn to the apple, the hunter, seeing it while running, instinctively tried to pick it up, thus falling behind.

Later, it is said that the couple committed blasphemy in the temple of the nature goddess Sybri. As punishment, they were transformed into a pair of lions and disappeared without a trace.

This was the case in the time when God existed. God might not always be watching your behavior, but once you angered God, the consequences would be tragic.

The regretful hero had no choice but to go directly to Eurystheus to complete his fifth task.

“Oh, Hercules, great demigod, your next task is…”

The smiling king, however, had eyes filled with horror.

As Hercules' uncle, he thought that every task he assigned to the great hero was a death sentence, but in the end, the hero completed them one by one.

Look, the lion that fell from the moon, the immortal hydra, the prey of the goddess of hunting... each one is a challenge that mortals cannot reach and heroes must fear, yet the man in front of me has accomplished them all.

Years ago, he casually remarked that he would relinquish the throne if the great hero completed ten of his tasks, and the great hero, for some reason, actually agreed. But now, four of the ten tasks are complete, and six remain…

Calm down, I still have six chances. Besides, these four missions have already taken him almost ten years, so the remaining six missions are just as good...

Looking at the incredibly powerful man before him, the king smiled, trying to comfort himself, and maliciously fantasizing about using time to slowly wear him down.

"Your next task is simple: clean my cowshed and remove all the cow dung within a day."

The king smiled, but his words made the surrounding servants and nobles burst into laughter.

This hardly qualifies as a task, even though Eurystheus possessed vast wealth, his cowshed was enormous and difficult to clean, and a day was indeed far too short. The real problem with this task was the humiliation it would inflict on a great hero; no hero would stoop to cleaning cow dung.

Yes, that's humiliation.

Eurystheus wanted people to know that this powerful hero was forced to bow down and clean cow dung under his orders, eventually becoming covered in stench like a slave.

Does such a person deserve to seize my throne?

The king smiled, but his mission was fraught with malice.

The great hero sensed the malice in the king's expression. His brow furrowed slightly, but the long adventure had somewhat softened the rage within him. He gave the king a deep look, gave his consent, and then turned to leave.

When the great hero left, he only went to the cowshed for a quick look.

It was indeed a very large cowshed, housing thousands of cows. The cow dung had not been cleaned for years and was difficult to remove. Even if a hundred people spent a month, they might not be able to clean it properly, let alone one person in a day.

The attendant beside him, barely suppressing a laugh, bowed deeply to the great hero and said, "My lord, would you like me to prepare cleaning tools for you?"

It's truly bizarre that a noble demigod would personally clean up cow dung in a cowshed.

The great hero snorted, turned around and grabbed a shovel, but instead of shoveling away cow dung, he dug a long ditch next to the cowshed.

No one understood what he was trying to do, because the great hero dug the ditch all the way to a riverbank, and then began to call out from the river.

"River God, appear! The son of Zeus is calling you from here."

After calling out three times, a creature that was half dragon and half human emerged from the river; that was the river god of this great river.

"Demigod, what do you demand?"

"I beg you to do me a favor and fill this ditch with river water so I can clean up a cowshed not far away."

The river god was enraged by the demigod's request.

“Demigod, I’m not some cleaning servant. Go find someone else to help you…”

Before the words were finished and before the river god could react, the great hero leaped forward and captured it.

The river god tried to wrestle with the great hero. The river churned and swirled, and the huge whirlpool tried to drag the great hero down, but the great hero's arms were as hard as iron and stone, and he could not break free no matter what he did.

Finally, the river god, exhausted, had no choice but to plead, "Alright, demigod, I promise to help you. Please let go of my hand."

When the demigod hero released his grip, the river god caused the mighty river water to surge into the ditch, directly washing and cleaning the entire cowshed.

Then, the river god immediately disappeared into the river and was never seen again. For many years afterward, the river god refused to show himself again.

Thus, the great hero did not tarnish his glory and completed this humiliating task in a clever way.

The stunned king could not accept this reality. He racked his brains trying to find fault, and finally refused to acknowledge the task, arguing that the great hero had asked others for help.

"It's fine if you don't admit it, then just assign me a new task."

The demigod snorted and said arrogantly.

The king's forehead was covered in sweat as he frantically pondered what new task he should assign to this demigod.

Regardless of what Eurystheus's final task for the great hero was, at this very moment, on a plain somewhere in the world, three people were trudging along with great difficulty.

"White mist! Are you sure that centaur is here?"

Braving the gusts of wind, the reincarnator known as Lao Jiu shouted loudly.

In the four-person team, the deceased Greedy Wolf was skilled in martial arts; combat, infiltration, and reconnaissance were all his forte. The Swordsman was adept at killing enemies, capable of slaying thousands of soldiers without a second thought. Old Nine was the team leader, and he was mainly responsible for planning the team's operations.

White Mist is the only woman among the four. She appears gentle and frail, but anyone who underestimates her will surely suffer a great loss. She is proficient in many spells, having learned various spells in Dungeons & Dragons, The Lord of the Rings, and even Type-Moon. Prophecy is also one of her specialties.

According to Lao Jiu and Bai Wu, the cause of death of characters in the story world is always related to the original source material, and the closer it is to the source material, the easier it is to succeed.

For example, Godzilla's nemesis is King Ghidorah, and Superman's adversary is Batman, and so on.

Hercules' ultimate fate was to die from the venom of the Hydra, so theoretically, utilizing the Hydra's venom would have been the best option. Unfortunately, whether by coincidence or not, they entered this world precisely at the time Hercules was killing the Hydra.

The venom of the Hydra is now only on Hercules; it is nowhere else.

Although they had considered stealing, after staking out the site for six months, they finally realized there was no hope. Stealing from Hercules was not much different from defeating him.

If stealing doesn't work, then we have to find another way.

So Bailu suggested that they go find the centaur that indirectly caused Hercules' death.

In the original myth, Heracles' wife Deianella wanted to cross a river but couldn't swim. So a centaur who made a living by helping people cross rivers offered to carry Deianella across on his back.

Midway through the journey, the centaur, captivated by Ianella's beauty, attempted to abduct her. Ianella cried out for help, and Hercules, seeing this from the shore, immediately shot the centaur dead with an arrow.

However, before dying, the centaur told Deianila that the blood from his arrow wound was a magic potion that could restore love, and urged her to accept it. Deianila believed him and secretly kept it in a bottle.

When Heracles later captured Iole, Deianira saw this beautiful woman as a rival in love. This poor woman tried to use the "love potion" left behind by the centaurs to save her marriage, but ultimately it led to Heracles' death.

The white mist, skilled in magic, believed that the centaur was the true culprit in Hercules's death from a mystical perspective. Perhaps finding the centaur was more likely than finding the venom of the Hydra to discover a way to kill Hercules.

Guided by the magic of the white mist, the three spent nearly a year traveling and searching, finally determining the approximate area.

“That’s right, the centaur should be around here. All we need to do is find the river.”

Bai Wu had unwavering faith in his magic and insisted.

She looked around at her surroundings, her pupils gleaming with gold.

This is a dojutsu she learned while trading with other reincarnators. Originating from the Naruto world, it greatly increases the range of her vision. Later, after incorporating the Mystic Eyes from the Type-Moon world, it gained even more wonderful uses.

Under the gaze of those golden eyes, she finally found a clue.

"Quick! I see it, it's right there."

Bai Wu excitedly called out to his companions, and the three of them quickly headed in the direction Bai Wu had indicated.

There was indeed a river not far away, a winding and difficult-to-cross river, strewn with strange rocks, making it impossible to even sail. Beside the river, a centaur was leisurely strolling.

(End of this chapter)