The world-devouring dragon

The gradually mature hero walked into the bustling crowd and said loudly.

"Does anyone want the big boar I'm wearing?"

After shouting several times, the huge wild boar soon caught the attention of the merchants. These well-dressed businessmen looked at the big wild boar on the hero's shoulders, with its sharp and long tusks and ferocious huge head. The businessmen were surprised by its size and asked.

"Where did you hunt this wild boar from?"

"It's in the valley not far away."

The hero said casually, and his answer caused the merchants to exclaim.

It's the man-eating boar in the valley of Lampea!

They loudly discussed this ferocious man-eating wild boar, its strong fur and sharp teeth, and the many young warriors who wanted to hunt but were killed by the wild boar.

"Young hero, please tell us your name."

The businessman bowed respectfully, and the hero said.

"I am Hercules of Thebes."

The hero's name once again aroused exclamations from the surroundings. Compared with the wild boar, the great hero who was famous throughout Greece for hunting down the Nemean lion and the Hydra was now more famous.

Legend has it that this great hero conquered Greece and was so powerful that he strangled the invulnerable Nemean Lion with his hands and cut off all the heads of the immortal Hydra with his sword.

Wherever he walks, many monsters are hunted by this great hero.

Many young warriors and famous heroes around were talking quietly. Some people looked at this famous Greek hero with fear, while others were eager to try, their eyes full of the desire to challenge.

However, there are still people who get excited when they hear the name of Hercules...

"Huh? It's Hercules?!"

Not far away, a voice suddenly came. Then, the owner of the voice, wearing leather armor, knocked away everyone in front of him, and then jumped in front of the hero.

"Plop..."

Jumping in front of Hercules from a high place, the hero raised a violent dust, and the hero couldn't help but frown and take a step back.

What appeared in the dust was a young and handsome young man with slightly curly black hair and bright eyes.

He looked at the tall hero in front of him curiously, then showed a look of joy, stepped forward directly, grasped Hercules' hand with a warm hand, shook it vigorously, and said urgently.

"Are you Heracles? My name is Theseus, Theseus from Athens. Great hero, I am your biggest admirer! I have heard all your stories, especially the one about you fighting with your bare hands. I've heard the bards tell the story about the dead lion forty-two times, and I never get tired of hearing it every time. It's amazing! Oh, oh, oh, that's right, that's the skin of the Nemean lion, too It’s beautiful! I’ve heard of its name a long time ago, but I didn’t expect to be able to see the real thing now. I heard that it’s invulnerable, invulnerable to water and fire, and can’t be penetrated by anything. Is this true..."

The young man who called himself Theseus was so excited that he couldn't help himself when he saw Heracles. He talked eloquently, his tone was urgent, and his eyes were full of infinite enthusiasm.

Heracles frowned. He had seen many admirers like this. As he has made more and more achievements, he will have many admirers wherever he goes, but it is rare to see them as enthusiastic as a young man.

"You are... Theseus, right?"

Hercules pondered, and then said.

"Yes! My name is Theseus!"

As soon as he heard his idol mention his name, the eyes of the young man named Theseus lit up and he said excitedly.

"However, although Theseus is my name, I have adopted Hercules as my alias. Because my goal is to become the second Hercules, and I want to achieve the same feats as you !”

The young man named Theseus puffed up his chest and spoke proudly.

Hearing the young man's wish, the hero was slightly surprised and looked at him carefully. The warrior's experience and instinct made the hero aware of the abnormality of the young man.

The young man who looks as handsome as a girl has strong and well-proportioned muscles hidden under his leather armor. There are traces of years of practice on his fingers, wrists, and feet.

His keen intuition told Hercules that the young man in front of him was not simple.

"It's not easy to be like me."

The hero said casually.

The young man was not convinced. He blushed and muttered.

"I... I have defeated many bandits since I left home... By the way, there was also the Minotaur of Crete. This powerful tyrant was killed by me myself!"

When the Minotaur was mentioned, Theseus, who was originally lacking in confidence, suddenly felt inexplicable confidence and showed off to his idol.

"Minotaurs?"

The hero said in surprise.

He knew the name and was said to be the king of Crete.

This king had a sad birth.

His father got a beautiful white bull. Poseidon, the god of the sea, took a fancy to the bull and wanted the previous king of Crete to sacrifice it to him. The king of Crete couldn't bear to part with the beautiful white bull, so he secretly replaced it with another bull.

Poseidon was furious and cursed the king's wife, making her suffer from zoophilia.

The king had to make the shape of a cow out of wood and let his wife get into it. The white bull was attracted to the wooden cow, made peace with it, and the queen became pregnant and gave birth to the miserable half-man, half-ox monster.

Because of this tragic birth, the half-man, half-ox king of Crete loved cannibalism, so he forced nearby residents to pay him tribute of boys and girls.

Many heroic warriors wanted to kill this half-man, half-bull monster tyrant. But the cunning king built a huge maze that only he could enter and exit freely, while everyone else would be trapped in the maze and unable to get out. Many heroes were trapped and died in this endless maze.

Hercules knew that there was such a monster, and he planned to destroy the monster tyrant in a while. Unexpectedly, he was beaten to the throne by the young man in front of him?

"How did you solve the maze?"

Hercules couldn't help asking.

The labyrinth built by the half-man, half-bull tyrant is full of illusions and has many terrible dangers. No matter how powerful the hero is, it will be difficult to escape from it. Even Hercules himself found it difficult to deal with it. He was curious about how the young man in front of him solved it.

But faced with this question, the young man hesitated, scratched his head, and then showed a shy blush.

"Actually...it's not entirely my fault. Because...that is, the daughter of the Minotaur liked me, and she taught me how to come out."

The young man hesitated before telling the truth.

It turned out that Minotaurus had a beautiful daughter. This charming and beautiful princess was attracted by the handsome Theseus. Princess Ariadne gave him a ball of gold thread and asked him to tie a section of the thread to the exit, and then he took the ball of gold thread deep into the labyrinth, so that he could finally crack the Minotaur's labyrinth.

"Theseus!"

Just then, a crisp voice sounded.

The young man and Hercules looked together and saw a beautiful girl standing among the crowd not far away. The girl looked at Theseus angrily.

"You ran away secretly again. Didn't you promise to wait for me where you are?"

Theseus suddenly realized this, punched his fist, and shouted.

"Yes, no wonder I seem to have forgotten something... Ah, I'm sorry, Ariadne, I forgot again..."

Facing the girl who walked in, the young man kept apologizing.

At this time, the girl also realized the tall hero in front of Theseus and asked.

"This is……"

"This is Hercules, the greatest hero in all Greece that I have been telling you about!"

Facing the girl's confusion, Theseus hurriedly introduced, his tone full of pride.

It suddenly dawned on the girl that she had obviously heard of Hercules' name, but she was not as enthusiastic as Theseus, but instead bowed gracefully.

"Hello, great hero from Thebes, I am Ariadne of Crete."

"I am Huai... Huaidra..."

Behind the girl, a timid voice suddenly sounded.

When the hero heard the news, he saw a little girl of five or six years old hiding behind the girl's skirt.

The shy little girl held the hem of the girl's skirt and only dared to look at the tall hero secretly. Then, as if frightened by the hero's height, he exclaimed and threw himself into the girl's skirt again, refusing to show his face.

"This is my sister."

Ariadne explained.

"Hercules of Thebes."

The hero nodded and simply said his name, which was considered acquaintance.

At this moment, another burst of music suddenly sounded.

"Cheng..."

The crisp and high-pitched sound of the strings is also accompanied by a smiling singing voice.

"The gathering of heroes is like the interweaving of thunder, like the power of the gods, which makes people tremble, but how can these thunder and thunderbolts be as beautiful as delicate flowers..."

"Extraordinary flowers, so stunning and dazzling, why do they come to this dangerous place?"

Listening to this song, several people saw a piano player sitting on a wooden railing not far away. The elegant and calm piano player was looking at them with a smile.

Ariadne frowned and took a step back calmly, approaching Theseus beside her.

"I am Theseus' fiancée, and of course I will accompany him. Strange player, who are you?"

After hearing that the beauty in front of him was someone else's fiancée, the violinist was stunned for a moment and then answered with a smile.

"Then please forgive me for being presumptuous. I just saw how popular you are and don't feel like ordinary people, so I came to talk to you."

"Of course, brother Theseus is very powerful!"

The little girl who was hiding behind the girl stuck her head out and said in a childish voice. Then she saw the violinist looking at her, and she hid behind her sister with another timid cry.

Listening to Theseus's name, the violinist thought thoughtfully, and then smiled.

"Is it actually Theseus who destroyed the tyrant of Crete? I heard he was a rare young hero. When I saw him today, it turned out to be true."

When Theseus heard someone praising and flattering him, especially in front of his idol, he immediately became happy and his face was filled with more praise.

But the next moment, the violinist pondered.

"But... alas..."

As he said that, the violinist shook his head and sighed deliberately.

It was a simple strategy, but the young and energetic Theseus couldn't stand this strategy and couldn't help but ask.

"But what?"

"I see that although Mr. Theseus is strong, he can't outrun the slowest turtle."

A sly smile appeared on the violinist's face.