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Chapter 162: Hercules' Training

Whoosh-!

The giant Argus’s fist fell from above.

That fist, filled with tremendous power, was not something Ethan could block head-on right now.

Bang-!

Ethan pulled his body back, avoiding Argus’s attack. And simultaneously, he prepared to counterattack.

But Argus hid his body in the darkness again. And covering the eyes that had adjusted to the darkness, he disrupted Ethan’s senses.

Crash-!

At the same time, Argus’s punches continued.

‘I can’t see.’

But it wasn’t that he couldn’t see at all. Whenever his eyes slightly adapted to the darkness, he could see Argus’s glinting eyes.

‘Thanks to the eyes, I can roughly know where he is. But...’

Ironically, those very eyes made it impossible to attack properly.

Flash-!

Argus saw through Ethan’s movements with his thousand eyes. As if knowing exactly what movements Ethan would make, he moved his massive body quickly and attacked.

The attacks came from directions different from what was expected, making it almost impossible to dodge completely.

Thud-!

Ethan twisted his sword with all his might to deflect the fist.

“Huff, huff.”

Ethan breathed heavily. It was really close. He could have died from that single punch just now.

Although he barely deflected it, Ethan’s shoulder ached.

His wrist, which had deflected the attack, was the same.

Here, he could only use Hero’s Breathing, so he couldn’t expect defense or recovery through other abilities.

A single mistake could lead directly to death.

‘This is literally a trial, so I probably won’t really die. But...’

Ethan exhaled briefly.

Hero’s Breathing circulated throughout his body, infusing vigor into his exhausted form.

“Hah.”

Extinction.

To combat that disease, Ethan had acquired numerous skills.

Starting with subscribing to the gods of the New World, he had made efforts to survive in various ways, such as obtaining good classes and equipment.

But that was just an effort to survive, literally.

‘I tried to become stronger, but survival was the priority. I took a safety-first approach.’

It was correct that he was getting stronger, but there were aspects that were lacking because the main purpose was to keep his body healthy and cure the disease.

‘It lacked depth.’

He needed to approach it more deeply.

Learning many skills was important, but understanding and using the learned skills properly was also crucial.

‘I should have taken risks. Without risk, there’s no return. I knew that.’

“Hah.”

Shh-.

Once again, the surroundings darkened, and even Argus’s eyes were no longer visible.

Since he couldn’t see anyway, Ethan just closed his eyes.

‘Focus on other senses.’

Ethan breathed deeply. He forgot about all the other skills he couldn’t use anyway.

Now, he focused solely on this breathing.

Suddenly, the words Hercules had told him flashed through Ethan’s mind.

The words he had said when he first subscribed to his channel.

And the advice he had given before this trial.

“He said that there are always trials on a hero’s path. He also said to abandon reason and act instinctively to overcome this trial.”

Of course, Ethan wasn’t a hero. But it was certain that he had to become close to a hero to meet the Saintess.

Ethan breathed more deeply.

As he focused on his breathing, all sorts of distracting thoughts gradually disappeared. He became a person trying to survive somehow from an unknown hostility.

His body moved automatically, relying solely on senses and instinct.

Crash-!

Once again, Argus’s fist shattered the ground.

“Hn?”

Argus was puzzled when he didn’t see Ethan, who should have been flattened by his fist. It was clearly a timing he shouldn’t have been able to dodge.

[Only subscribed to the right gods] -156 points [NEW!][Plum Blossom Sword Master] – 150 points [1↓][Herculean Strength] – 139 points [2↓]

“It seems other New World subscribers can see this too, it doesn’t feel too bad.”

Ethan smirked and sat down for a moment.

“Phew.”

Argus with a thousand eyes approaching in the darkness.

Ethan realized why this Argus was the first trial.

It’s a high difficulty for the first trial, but in the end, you need to be able to move instinctively here to move on to the next trial.

“Plus, this darkness stimulates survival instincts.”

Thanks to the fear approaching in the darkness further stimulating Ethan’s survival instincts, he could move more easily according to instinct.

“So this is how it felt.”

There were some he couldn’t understand during MePan.

Users who played only instinctively, abandoning reason, were the target.

“I thought they were foolish. What if you lose even the strength to run away doing that? Then it’s all over there.”

But trying it himself, he could realize there was a clear intention in that behavior.

“I could focus more.”

Abandoning reason and moving instinctively didn’t mean fighting mindlessly without thinking.

It meant to momentarily draw out latent wildness and insert reason between that wildness to fight with more immersion.

‘Like becoming Hercules himself.’

If you can have a strong conviction that you can win in battle, there’s no problem in entrusting your body to instinct and fighting.

‘If I use this well, I can become much stronger than now.’

Not just survival, but now he can pursue strength together.

“I was missing something too simple.”

Ethan calmly exhaled and regulated his breathing.

-The second trial will begin.

-Prepare for the trial.

Suddenly, the dark space brightened.

And a cave appeared before his eyes.

-Second Trial: The Man-Eating Lion of Nemean

-Hunt the man-eating lion!

“It should be better than a giant with a thousand eyes.”

Ethan entered the cave.

***

Hercules was preparing something quite meticulously.

“Hmm, he is my premium subscriber after all. If he comes back failing, I should give him tips to succeed along with directly observing his movements.”

Despite being a major god with fame, he only had 10,000 subscribers in New World.

Then he got help from the subscriber [Only subscribed to the right gods], and thanks to that, he was able to grow more than tenfold.

Moreover, that growth trend hadn’t stopped yet.

Hercules was continuously making videos containing various abilities he had and how to use those abilities for sure.

“I should ask him to edit my new videos too.”

This Hercules’ Twelve Trials was created based on the trials Hercules himself experienced.

Therefore, the difficulty was terrifying.

At least five times.

Hercules thought it would take that many attempts to clear it.

It was impossible to succeed in one try.

“I gave advice, but just because you hear the advice doesn’t mean you can do it right away. That subscriber is clearly rational. If you move thinking with your head like that, you can’t win against beasts. They move instinctively first.”

It meant that instinctive speed is much faster than the speed of thought.

“If you lose the speed of thought, it’s over right there.”

You have to deal with beasts in their own way.

“It would be best if you could act instinctively while adding rational thought moment by moment. It’s one of the things you can gain if you pass this trial.”

The [Only subscribed to the right gods] subscriber would surely clear it in three attempts, not even five. And by then, he would be able to move instinctively while thinking rationally.

Rumble-.

At that moment, the door opened and a quite exhausted-looking Ethan returned.

“You look quite tired. But my collaboration content isn’t easy. As the name suggests, it’s a trial. But don’t worry. You have more chances to challenge.”

Looking at Hercules who was patting his own back and comforting him, Ethan said.

“I cleared it.”

Author's Thoughts

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