I don't want to be a heroic spirit

Under Hercules' violent attack, Artoria suddenly disappeared from the spot.

Hercules, who was dominated by rage, had not yet understood the current situation when a huge force came from below and hit his chin hard, knocking his upper body backwards.

Retracting her left hand that had been punching, Artoria grasped the sword with both hands and poured the enormous cursed power in her body into the holy sword.

The blood-red and ominous divine patterns on the sword seemed to be ignited and began to flicker violently, releasing an even more dazzling light. Just as the light was about to reach its peak, the rich black light swallowed up the blood-red and wrapped the entire sword in a vortex of pure darkness.

This dark light is so deep that it seems to be able to swallow up all hope and light, plunging this earth into eternal despair and destruction.

"Disappear."

The dark sword of light pierced Hercules' shoulder, and the surging and roaring flames continued to burn his flesh until his figure was completely engulfed.

The dark light faded, revealing the starry night spread across the sky.

Before they knew it, Artoria and Hercules had been fighting from day to night.

Altria let out a long breath, and the hand holding the sword dropped limply.

"Ah... my left hand hurts so much... I feel like the bone fracture is getting worse..."

Because she was enjoying the fight so much and concentrating on it, Artoria even forgot that her left arm was injured. Now that she relaxed, the piercing pain came back immediately.

After all, Hercules' body was really hard. It was already abnormally hard when he was still a heroic god. After using the twelfth power to turn into a monster, it became even harder. She almost couldn't cut it.

Even among all the heroic gods of steel, Hercules is probably one of the more powerful ones.

At least Nuada, St. George, and Siegfried, whom Altria had met before, were all significantly different from Hercules.

The battle with Hercules had exhausted Artoria quite a bit, and her face was clearly showing signs of fatigue.

Fortunately, after defeating such a powerful God of Steel, I should be able to gain a significant boost...

"Huh? Why..."

Altria suddenly showed a confused expression, as if something unusual had happened.

At this moment, a spiritual voice sounded from nowhere, echoing between heaven and earth.

"Wander! Get lost! Howl! And then die! This is the hero's tomb where monsters lurk, and anyone who steps foot inside will get lost!"

Whether it is the sky or the ocean, whether it is clouds or the wind.

Whether it is tangible or intangible.

At this moment, everything becomes material to build a huge maze that makes people lose themselves.

And Artoria was trapped in this maze.

390

Chapter 390: How to kill King Arthur.

At this moment, Artoria was in a huge maze.

The sky, the ocean, the air currents and the clouds are all part of this maze.

Altria stood there without moving, just looking at the huge maze.

Just then, a voice sounded from behind her.

"This aura... is it Minos?"

Hearing the familiar voice, there was no surprise on Altria's face. She turned her head calmly and looked at the tall figure.

"Sure enough, you are not dead yet."

"To be precise, I did 'die once'."

Hercules reached up and scratched the back of his head, smiling.

"I see. The power of resurrection... It's rare, but if it's you, it's understandable."

Altria looked at Hercules and asked curiously, "Is this also the ability gained from your twelfth trial?"

However, Hercules shook his head.

"No, this is my fourth power, representing the fourth trial of the Erymanthian Boar."

Having said that, he paused for a moment, and his eyes, which had turned golden again after regaining his sanity, revealed some complicated emotions.

"In the myth, I was on my way to Erymanthos when I drank some wine at the home of my friend Pholus. The aroma of the wine attracted many greedy centaurs. To protect my friend, I shot them with arrows laced with the poisonous blood of the nine-headed serpent Hydra, chasing them all the way to the Agate River... That's where my mentor Chiron lived."

"To escape my pursuit, the Centaurs sought refuge with Chiron. In the myth, I accidentally shot Chiron with an arrow. The Hydra poison continued to erode Chiron's body. The extreme pain and suffering caused Chiron to voluntarily give up his immortality and hand it over to Prometheus."

"This is my fourth power, the immortality of my mentor Chiron, which allows me to be resurrected once."

After realizing that she had not become stronger, Artoria guessed that Hercules was not completely dead.

The power of resurrection is possessed by the Marquis de Vauban, and so is the protagonist of the original novel.

Artoria pointed to her feet, her smile a bit playful as she stared at Hercules.

"How is it? Does this maze feel familiar?"

The power [Great Labyrinth] was the power that Alexander usurped from Minos, the god of the earth and the labyrinth.

The seventh trial of Heracles was to help Minos subdue the mad bull, so of course it would feel familiar.

In Greek mythology, Poseidon not only cursed the bull to make it mad, but also made Minos' wife Pasiphae fall hopelessly in love with the bull. Later, Pasiphae gave birth to a half-human, half-bull child named Asterios. This child was the famous Minotaur in mythology, which means "Bull of Minos".

In order to prevent the existence of the Minotaur from being known to everyone, Minos asked Daedalus and Daedalus' son Icarus to build a very large and complicated labyrinth to lock the Minotaur inside. He also wanted to get rid of the Minotaur and lock Daedalus and his son in as well.

It is said that the image of the Minotaur came from the god-king Mekal, who was worshipped by the Phoenicians. Mekal's other name was Baal, who also had the image of a human body with the head of a bull.

After all, the cow is one of the earliest totems of mankind, representing strength and abundance. In Homer's two epics that have been passed down to this day, the word "cow-eyed" is often used to describe gods and demigods on the battlefield.

What is more interesting is that Mercal is also one of the prototypes of Hercules. The image of "a strong man holding a stick" comes from Mercal, so Hercules also has some relationship with the Minotaur.

Therefore, this labyrinth has a deep connection with Hercules. Both Minos who ordered its construction and the Minotaur who was imprisoned in the labyrinth have a relationship with Hercules.

Relying on this power, Alexander can use everything around him as materials to create a huge maze to trap the enemy inside. He is the controller of this maze and can freely control everything in the maze.

At this moment, Alexander was not far away, quietly observing Artoria and Hercules.

The reason why the two people didn't realize it was him was because he used his ability to control the maze to hide himself perfectly.

[Great Maze] This power can only be used once a month, and the long CD also means that its effect is extraordinary.

Everything in the maze is under Alexander's control. He can set traps, change the terrain, and create monsters.

Moreover, most of Alexander's powers have very harsh conditions for use and require time to prepare. It is his usual method to trap the enemy in a maze and then prepare for other powers.

"The disobedient Hercules wasn't killed? The power of resurrection... He's truly the greatest hero in Greek mythology."

"However, after all, he was killed head-on and completely reduced to ashes. Even if he was resurrected, he would probably be very weak."

Although he could not usurp the power of the Goddess of Disobedience by defeating her when she was weak, Alexander vowed to use all means to defeat the goddess, no matter how dishonorable the means were.

Alexander came here this time with a mission.

It was a pleasant surprise that the goddess who looked like King Arthur and the disobedient Hercules were so weak. If they could all be defeated today, everyone would be happy. Even if they failed, it didn't matter. Alexander was not arrogant enough to think that he could defeat someone of that level alone.

Alexander was a very cautious man. He was good at collecting clues during the battle and liked to make adequate preparations before the battle. This was also the reason why he actively studied myths and legends from all over the world.

From the day he initially determined that the powerful and abnormal goddess was King Arthur, he had already begun to make preparations.

He planned to start with mythology and use the legend of King Arthur being killed.

As long as they can use secret methods to reproduce the weapon of the rebellious knight Mordred, even if it is just a one-time fake, they can use this sword to kill King Arthur!

All the materials have been prepared, except for the most critical one.

The rebellious knight Mordred is the son of King Arthur and his sister Morgause, a pawn created by Morgause to destroy King Arthur's Britain. (King Arthur had three sisters: Morgause, who gave birth to Gawain, Aggawirn, and Mordred; Morgan le Fay, who stole King Arthur's scabbard; and Elaine, who is less well-known. Perhaps due to the high similarity in their names and personalities, the Type-Moon world considers Morgause and Morgan to be the same person.)

Therefore, if Alexander wanted to create a counterfeit of Mordred's sword, he had to get King Arthur's blood.

This is because this sword is the sword that killed King Arthur and is stained with King Arthur's blood, and also because the owner of this sword is King Arthur's son and has King Arthur's blood.

391

Chapter 391 You dare to hold back?!

The great labyrinth that once imprisoned the Minotaur has buried countless heroes who had courage but no ability.

Even the hero Theseus was able to walk out alive with the help of others.

However, neither Artoria nor Hercules cared much about being trapped.

Even now they are in a weak state.

"How about I help you out?"

Hercules suddenly spoke, facing Altria, and said, "If I use that power, I should be able to directly break this maze and let you out."

Upon hearing this, Artoria opened her eyes slightly and fell into a daze.

Then, he shouted angrily at Hercules.

"Power enough to break this maze? You mean you still have powerful powers that you're not using? You held back in your battle with me again?!"

"No! No! I really fought you with all my might! I didn't hold back!"

Seeing that the sword wrapped in black flames was about to split Hercules in half again, Hercules hurriedly began to explain.

"This power of mine can only be used against large objects to its full potential, which is why I didn't use it in the battle with you. If my opponent were you, my twelfth power would have been the strongest...though I was still defeated by you."

After being killed by Artoria once, Hercules became much kinder and his madness as a god of disobedience was reduced a lot.

"Furthermore, once I use this power, my entire body will completely collapse, rendering me completely incapable of movement... If I use this move in battle with you and miss, I'm doomed. After all, your speed is truly terrifying."

Artoria put down her sword, accepting Hercules' explanation, but her expression still showed some displeasure.

"Hmph! I don't need you to worry about it. It's just destroying a broken maze. I can do it too."

"But the God Slayer who created this maze must still be nearby. If you truly destroy this maze on your own, will you still have enough energy left to deal with the God Slayer who's been waiting?"

In Hercules' opinion, Artoria's condition at this moment should be better than his own who had died once, but not much better. There was only about 20% of the cursed power left in her body.

He didn't want the warrior he respected to defeat him and then die at the hands of some other despicable person.

Then, Artoria turned around and glanced at Hercules with a strange look.

"...Is that what you think?"

"Ok?"

The corners of Altria's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a rather vicious smile.

"If those godslayers had the same idea as you...it would be very interesting."

As for cursed energy, Artoria can replenish it at any time.

As long as she absorbs the essence from the earth, she can not only replenish her own magical power, but also recover from her injuries and strengthen her strength.

If those godslayers really regarded her as a disabled person and attacked her... then she would not hold back and would kill them all.

Therefore, Artoria can be said to be fearless now.

After walking around, Altria touched her chin and suddenly had an idea.

"Here, Hercules, let me see that power you just mentioned."

The call made Hercules turn his head and look, which confused Hercules.

You clearly said before that you didn't need his help, why do you suddenly want him to use it?

"but……"

Altria stopped not far in front of Hercules, put one hand on her hip and said, "You have to shoot in my direction."

"what?"

Hercules was stunned for a moment.

"No, didn't I explain it to you? If that's your goal..."

"I'm not deaf nor do I have any memory or comprehension problems, so I don't need you to repeat yourself."

Altria frowned slightly, then added, "Your power can only be fully exerted when targeting a large object like this maze, so you only need to hit the wall behind me."

Artoria shrugged as Hercules stared at her.

"And I'm just standing in front of your real target. It shouldn't have any impact, right?"