The Villain of Ancient Greece

Crete Island, Coastal Fortress.

After constructing a solid defensive line composed of clay, volcanic ash, granite, and rubble, and layering it densely with defensive spell formations, a burly young man clad in bronze armor, with a typical Greek face and brown-black curly hair, stood atop it.

He calmly issued orders while gazing out over the sea, where a tide of beasts advanced under a rain of arrows and long-range magical beams.

”Distance 800 meters, archers and crossbowmen fall back to reload! Spellcasters, move forward to suppress!”

With that resonant command transmitted throughout the army via resonance magic formations, male priests and female priestesses stationed along the narrow defensive line began organizing themselves in an orderly fashion.

Some chanted in ancient Hermes language, constructing the foundational arrays for offensive and interference spells; others recited ceremonial incantations written in divine speech, praying to their goddesses and using spiritual faith to gain divine blessings and protection for the entire army.

In that instant, interwoven halos of light began to shine throughout the readied military formations.

Ether magic elements gathered in a frenzied surge, transforming into magic projectiles, flames, wind blades, rock spears, and more, raining down like a meteor shower onto the area where the sea met the shore.

”Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

In a flash, the first wave of sea beasts that had landed were blown into flying limbs and scattering flesh before they could even let out a scream.

Crimson blood gathered into streams, while mangled body parts were strewn across the ground.

However, this initial victory did not make the remaining sea beasts retreat. Instead, the overwhelming scent of blood only further incited their savagery.

More monsters, driven by hunger, bloodlust, and a desire to kill, surged onto the small island under the command of the sea-blooded divine kin.

They trampled the corpses of their kin and charged forward through the bombardment of magic and divine arts, toward the now-visible outline of the coastal defense line.

Gradually, the priests and priestesses began to falter under the massive toll of spiritual and magical exertion, and their attacks visibly decreased in frequency.

Within just a quarter of an hour, many sea beasts had broken past the concentrated fire of the spellcasters, dragging their blood-soaked, slippery bodies as they charged the coastal fortress.

The brown-black-haired youth in command held his breath and focused intently, keeping his eyes locked on the monsters’ advance, silently counting the distance.

700 meters, 600 meters, 500 meters…!

”Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

As the beasts reached within 500 meters of the front shore, the preset magical traps were triggered one after another.

Thousands of deep-sea monsters were thrown into the air by violent explosions, and their tightly packed formations plunged into chaos.

A chance!

The brown-black-haired youth’s gaze sharpened at the sight.

Raising his arm high, he swung it down heavily and roared with authority.

”Spearmen, release!”

Over five hundred brawny warriors with broad shoulders and long, powerful arms leaned their bodies back under the blessing of ceremonial incantations.

Their torsos stretched into exaggerated curves, like taut longbows.

Then, once fully charged with potential energy, they violently hurled their javelins forward in unison.

”Puh-puh-puh-puh!”

Each spear traced a chilling arc through the air, whistling sharply as it plunged toward the earth, nailing the bizarre front-line sea beasts to the ground one by one.

Immediately after, the embedded spears flickered with dark red glowing runes, then erupted with thunderous force, transforming into a shower of dense metallic shrapnel that blasted outward in every direction.

In an instant, the sea beasts attempting to step over their comrades’ corpses and press forward were torn apart by the sudden hail of metal.

Too brutal…

At that moment, the short-haired young man with brown-black hair, acting as the commander, silently muttered to himself as he looked upon the gory battlefield ahead, now a mess of crimson flesh and shattered organs.

He couldn’t help but glance back at a certain silver-haired, violet-eyed scribe among the spellcasters.

It was that very person who had taught him the technique of inscribing explosive runes onto javelins, timing their activation precisely, and using the resulting shrapnel to inflict secondary damage on nearby enemies.

Just then, Lorne, sensing the gaze upon him, lifted his head and gave the short-haired commander a tight-lipped smile.

Combined with his handsome, fair face, it gave off a harmless and innocent air.

Thanks to the assistance of the Atlantis royal guards back then, Lorne had directly or indirectly developed quite a few underhanded new tactics.

As the saying goes, a drop of grace (or vengeance) should be repaid with a spring.

To thank the selfless sacrifice and contributions of the ocean folk along the way, these hard-won techniques were naturally being used on them first.

Looking at the battlefield ahead, strewn with torn flesh, and at the sea beasts who had already suffered heavy losses after three successive waves, without even touching the outer wall of the defense line, Lorne felt a strange satisfaction well up in his heart.

A subtle trace of schadenfreude even crept across his face.

Well, perhaps owing to his fine family tradition, he didn’t exactly have the most generous heart.

At last, after sacrificing thousands of sea beasts, the amphibious deep-sea monsters finally used the corpses of their comrades to forcibly pave a bloody path toward the towering coastal fortress.

However, after several waves of devastation, their numbers were pitifully low, and almost all were wounded—slow and stiff in movement.

”City garrison, raise shields and ready spears—prepare for contact!”

As the orders shifted, rows of sturdy shields rose along the walls, and long spears jabbed out through the gaps, stabbing the few beasts that managed to climb the walls, one by one, into sieves.

At once, the monsters, already at the end of their strength, couldn’t resist anymore.

With mournful cries, they dropped from the walls like dumplings, splattering into pulp on the ground below.

Seeing how easily this grand beast tide had been halted before the fortress, the once-anxious soldiers were now visibly relieved, with faint smiles breaking across their faces.

Watching the enemy’s momentum slow and even begin to retreat before the front lines, the brown-black-haired young commander also secretly let out a breath of relief, slowly unclenching his tightly gripped fists.

In the rear, Lorne silently observed the young man’s outstanding performance on the battlefield and nodded to himself.

—Androgeos.

He was the eldest son of King Minos, the designated heir to Crete.

Though he lacked the spiritual talent of his younger sister, who served as high priestess, he was quite capable in leadership and governance...at rhe same time, he was one of the few sons King Minos could barely show off.

Faced with such a massive beast tide and the existential crisis of Crete, the king naturally had no time for power plays or keeping his sons in check.

He decisively entrusted military command to his eldest son.

The other two relatively competent sons, Catreus and Lycastus, had been stationed on the flanks, under the command of their elder brother, Androgeos.

Although, given their father’s violent rise to power and the lessons he left them, the princes had long engaged in both open conflict and underhanded schemes.

But with the enemy pressing at the gates and the basic truth that ”no egg remains intact under a toppled nest,” they at least understood the necessity of unity.

Thus, the brothers who went into battle together managed to work in good coordination and secured the first victory.

However…

Lorne’s gaze swept past the three princes amid the military ranks and finally landed on the crown prince, Androgeos.

A faint, nearly imperceptible trace of melancholy flickered in his eyes.

This crown prince did have ability, but it seemed luck was not on his side.

(End of Chapter)

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