King of Underworld

Chapter 31: Sisyphus… The Story of Thanatos – (2)

Recently, Lady Styx had been subtly avoiding me.

It seemed to be because of the embarrassing incident from last time.

Even while helping with the work of the underworld as if nothing had happened, whenever our conversations dragged on…

“I-I’ll just go check on the river!”

“Ah…”

Her ears, nape, and face would gradually turn red before she slipped away.

Had I tried to stop her? Of course, I had.

“Lady Styx, could we talk for a moment…?”

“Kyaaah!”

“Ah…”

She ran away as if she were a maiden fleeing from Zeus, so there was nothing I could do.

But that wasn’t the end of it…

When I looked at a nearby corner, feeling a gaze on me, I saw Lady Lethe staring at me with dead eyes for some reason.

“Hades…”

Never before had those vacant eyes seemed so terrifying.

It felt as if she was silently reproaching me, and my skin tingled.

Feeling that something was off in our relationship lately, I was staring blankly at a piece of parchment when a soul approached with a desperate expression.

“Lord Hades!”

“…?”

“Souls haven’t been arriving in the underworld for several days now!”

So that was it; this damned underworld couldn’t possibly stay peaceful.

I quickly called for a meeting of the underworld.

Other gods arrived swiftly, having already received reports about the disappearance of death.

“Suddenly, the souls that should have been coming to the underworld disappeared a few days ago!”

“And Lord Thanatos is nowhere to be seen!”

Thanatos, the god who personified death itself.

It was his duty to bring souls to the underworld.

But I had sent him to Olympus at Zeus’s request, something about capturing a criminal.

He was supposed to bring that soul back to the underworld for judgment, but he hadn’t returned yet?

The other gods of the underworld, clearly sensing something amiss, offered their grave opinions.

Even now, Lady Lethe and Lady Styx wore serious expressions.

“Did he perhaps encounter a Gigas while capturing that criminal?”

“If someone wanted to disrupt the cycle of death and life, capturing Lord Thanatos would be the quickest way.”

“Could it be the work of a monster like Typhon?”

Considering the Gigantes seen near Thebes by Cadmus and the possibility that Gaia created a new monster to follow in Typhon’s footsteps, Thanatos could indeed have been attacked.

Although the god Thanatos was powerful, he wasn’t invincible.

It was entirely possible that he had been overwhelmed or captured by monsters.

“For now… let’s contact Olympus and manage the situation on Earth.”

Without Thanatos to oversee death, the other gods would have to work even harder.

The situation on the mortal plane was utter chaos.

“Aaah! A dead chicken is moving!”

“I cut off a cow’s head, but its body is still alive!”

“Damn it! Why won’t this thing die?!”

“And you, you’re still alive with a sword stuck in your head!”

Some gods, like Moros and Keres, who also oversaw death, worked tirelessly to harvest souls,

while Hypnos put the living who should have died into a deep sleep to buy time.

We had no choice but to contact Olympus and ask about Thanatos’s whereabouts.

“Damn it! What a mess because of Thanatos!”

“Isn’t it possible that he’s resting somewhere because the work was too hard?”

“Impossible! Have you ever seen Thanatos rest for days?”

“Come to think of it, never!”

* * *

Meanwhile, at Olympus.

The situation here was no less urgent than in the underworld.

As living beings on Earth no longer met their deaths, countless gods were condemning the supreme god, Zeus.

“Father! People on the battlefield aren’t dying!”

“This… this disrupts the natural cycle of life…”

“Lord Hades of the underworld has strongly protested. What of Lord Thanatos’s whereabouts…”

“No, Thanatos should have gone to capture that demigod, shouldn’t he…?”

Yet even the supreme god Zeus couldn’t grasp the situation properly.

Athena, whom he often consulted, was absent from the meeting due to other matters.

“How could that wretch possibly defeat Thanatos?!”

To Zeus, Sisyphus appeared only to have cunning, not any special powers.

Then Pan, the god of nature, added a remark that strengthened Zeus’s suspicion.

“Lord Zeus… could it be that a monster like Typhon or a Gigas ambushed him?”

“You might be right. It’s likely that he was attacked while on his way to capture Sisyphus!”

Convinced by this reasoning, Zeus immediately called for Ares.

If the god of war were involved, even a monster capable of defeating Thanatos wouldn’t be a problem.

“Ares! It’s time to show the same valor you displayed when you swung your sword to save me!”

“Oh! You’ve heard of my exploits, Father!”

“Thanatos must have been ambushed by a monster on his way to capture that detestable human. Rescue Thanatos and deliver death to that human!”

“Understood! You can count on me!”

Ares grinned fiercely, imagining a creature strong enough to defeat Thanatos must be of Typhon’s bloodline or a Gigas.

Remembering the exhilarating battle with Typhon, Ares donned his armor,

drew the sword Hephaestus had forged for him after the last rebellion ended,

and prepared for battle.

The monster (?) that attacked Thanatos would meet its end at the hands of the god of war.

* * *

Ares, driving his chariot, arrived confidently at Corinth.

He intended to investigate since it was here that Thanatos’s trail went cold.

However, no matter how hard he searched, there were no signs that Thanatos had been dragged off by a monster.

Sensing something was wrong, Ares entered the palace of Sisyphus, the human Zeus had mentioned.

He planned to interrogate the man Thanatos had originally been sent after to see if he had seen the god with black wings.

Since he was a king, he might have also noticed any signs of a monster appearing nearby.

“Intruder! Strike with your spears!”

“Who are you?! This is the royal palace!”

Ares glanced around at the Corinthian soldiers surrounding him.

There was no one with special armor.

No gods or heroes were present.

There were no monsters that could pose a threat to him.

Hmm, there was nothing to worry about at all.

The god of war ignored everything and strode deeper into the palace.

The pitiful soldiers pointed their spears and swords at him, but they couldn’t harm a god, especially one of the twelve Olympians.

“Argh! Stop him!”

“N-no! My spear broke!”

“The sword doesn’t work either! Run!!”

The mortals shouted, but Ares paid no attention to them and continued searching for King Sisyphus.

If he just went a bit deeper into the palace, down to the lower levels…

Ah, there he was, in a flashy robe and crown, holding a club, ready to strike.

The half-man, half-god swung the wooden club and shouted something.

“Zeus sent you to kill me! But this oak club…”

At that moment, something in the deep recesses of the palace caught Ares’s attention.

Ignoring the club swinging toward his head, Ares extended his divine senses to widen his awareness.

From below, from the underground, he felt the distinct aura of death.

Crunch. Crackle.

“W-what! The club broke when I hit him?”

This criminal no longer needed his attention.

If Thanatos was moving below, Sisyphus would be captured and taken to the underworld.

Ares dashed to the door leading to the basement and threw it open.

Why was Thanatos’s power emanating from underground? Had he been injured by a monster?

Snoring- Snore-

What Ares saw after descending into the basement…

Was the old god with black wings, who easily broke free from his bonds, spread out and sleeping soundly.

Thanatos, who seemed to be having a very peaceful rest, was scratching his belly with one hand as he snored, only to open his eyes and…

Make eye contact with Ares, who stood there, dumbfounded.

* * *

Though Ares was violent and straightforward,

it was because his godhood symbolized brutal war, not because he was unintelligent.

He was often outwitted by Athena, but that was because his opponent was the goddess of wisdom.

Memories began to resurface in the god of war’s mind, particularly of the time he was tricked by Athena during the Great Flood and ended up working in the underworld…

“Damn it! Why are these damned souls so…”

“Huff… Is that you, Ares?! Could you help line up those souls over there!”

“Today, even more of my wing feathers are falling out… Is this alopecia, or rather, alo-wing-cia?”

Thanatos had dispatched countless avatars to the mortal realm, working tirelessly day and night.

He was probably the busiest god in the entire world, not just the underworld.

And that was when he wasn’t even taking a break.

Ares, if he were in Thanatos’s position, would have desperately needed some rest.

The suspicion grew, and more evidence began to align.

1. Thanatos had broken free from his bonds and was snoring away.

2. It wasn’t sleep induced by an external factor like Hypnos’s power; he was just resting.

3. There were no signs of any monster that could have overpowered Thanatos nearby.

4. The strength radiating from Thanatos’s body was the same; there were no signs of weakness.

Thanatos, who had been nervously watching

Ares’s increasingly grim expression, spoke in a voice hoarse from sleep.

“Ares?! You’ve come to save me after I was caught off guard by a mortal!”

“Haa…”

First, wipe that drool from your mouth before lying, Thanatos.

Ares quietly rubbed his forehead.