Type-Moon, I heard that after death, you can ascend to the Throne of Heroes?.

As Nuoyan said this, he found a huge rock beside the pond and sat down.

He looked up at the bright full moon in the sky, and then lowered his head to go down the mountain.

"Here, even if Meleager wants to catch up, it should take some time."

After saying this, Nuoyan took out a golden apple from his luggage that he had prepared long ago... Themis, the goddess of justice, gave him two, and Clotho, the goddess of fate, gave him one last night.

So now, there are three in total.

At this time, Nuoyan finally took the initiative to eat the golden apples given to him by the goddesses.

Closed his eyes and quietly felt the recovery of his body.

Soon, he opened his eyes again, and his spirit and energy had undoubtedly reached the best moment.

He tilted his head to look at the sword of judgment that had been floating quietly beside him and protecting him.

"Thank you, goddess Themis."

As Nuoyan said this, he stretched out his hand and gently tapped the sword of judgment. The next second it turned back into a canvas and fell into Nuoyan's hands.

Nuoyan put it away, and put aside the hunting bow and arrows on his back.

And picked up the silver harp.

Soon Nuoyan became familiar with the silver harp in his hand.

The corners of his mouth slightly raised, revealing a faint smile.

Nuoyan relaxed himself completely, and slowly closed his eyes again, recalling the teachings of Chiron, the Centaur Sage, and Orpheus, who would move even the gods of the underworld with his music in the future, on the mountain.

Soon, he gently plucked the harp, humming a beautiful melody, letting the sound of the harp gradually sound in the quiet and dark depths of the ancient forest.

"...... So that's it." Athena, who reflected all this in her golden eyes, smiled again.

"His hunting... has begun."

There are pictures here, which can be viewed after the updated version

Chapter 34 Artemis: "Cute~" (6.5k)

In fact, Nuoyan understood better than anyone else that,

under normal hunting conditions, he could not win over Meleager, who had led him for a period of time, and Atalanta, the female hunter who would become famous in ancient Greece in the future.

After all, they are the dazzling stars among humans, and will leave a strong mark in this era and be praised by people in later generations.

So Nuoyan did not intend to use a bow and arrow to complete this hunting from the beginning.

With the buffer of the last day, Nuoyan thought of a better way.

That is to let the prey come to him on its own initiative!

"Hunting?"

Hearing Athena say this, Artemis, the moon goddess sitting on the golden-horned deer, could not help but stay for a moment, pointing to the moonlight, placing her fingers on the piano, closing her eyes and feeling the night breeze in the forest tonight, with the corners of her mouth slightly raised.

Then the boy, who was humming a melodious tune and playing the melodious music with his fingers, couldn't help asking, "You said, this is called hunting?"

"Yeah." Athena smiled lightly, her golden eyes reflecting Nuoyan's figure at this time, seeing through everything, and smiled, "This is the hunting that the child found, which can bring him victory."

"Artemis, you said that it is impossible for him to win the hunting tonight and come to you... Do you still think so now?"

Artemis did not answer immediately.

Her sky-blue eyes also reflected Nuoyan's figure...He didn't look like a hunter, not only Atalanta felt this way, but Artemis naturally felt the same way.

So when Nuoyan closed his eyes and played the silver harp in his hand beside the moonlit pond, deep in the silent ancient forest under the night, this scene did not seem abrupt even in Artemis' eyes, but it should be so.

Looking at him, Artemis couldn't help but glance at Meleager, who was gathering the crowd and treating the wounded. Meleager looked more like a hero.

"...... Of course." So Artemis gave an answer.

"In that case, how about we make a bet?" Athena smiled, not surprised by Artemis' answer.

After all, if it were three months ago, she would definitely make the same choice as Artemis.

Nuoyan, who was so weak that he seemed to be blown to the underworld by the wind, was not a hero no matter how you looked at it.

But it was also because of this that the wise goddess could not help but stop in front of him, and even the goddess of justice Themis took off the white cloth because of him.

Not only because of Nuoyan's pure desire to become a hero without fear of death, but also because of Nuoyan's desire to become a hero so far, he did things that even heroes might not be able to do.

When Athena didn't expect or think about it at all, Nuoyan stood up on the high platform dedicated to Hera.

In that cursed kingdom, in that pure white court, he also completed a trial that the goddess of wisdom had never expected.

"He was abandoned by the goddess of fate, but at the same time he was loved by the goddess of fate, so even the goddess of fate could not arrange a definite future for him."

"The goddess of fate was angry because of his choice, thinking that he despised and disrespected fate, and humiliated her as the goddess of fate, but... fighting against fate, rewriting fate and creating a new fate, isn't it also demonstrating the greatness of fate?"

Athena said something that made Artemis tilt her head and couldn't understand at all.

But she didn't say this to Artemis, but to the goddess of justice Themis beside her.

Athena turned her head to look at Themis and said, "Witness it with me, Themis, just like the most beautiful moment in the pure white court that day."

The goddess of wisdom loves heroes. In fact, to be more precise, she loves the moment when heroes step forward step by step in the seemingly desperate abyss, never give up, look for that ray of hope, and finally jump up.

Standing at the highest point facing the most beautiful sunshine, the moment is extremely dazzling.

Hearing this, the goddess of justice Themis, who was covered with white cloth, suddenly smiled lightly, and then replied faintly: "Really... But I can't see it."

Athena's smile froze instantly, and she glanced at Themis unhappily, and then ignored her, but looked at Artemis and said, "Bet?"

"...Bet!" Finally, the moon goddess looked up and gave an answer.

......

......

I made a mistake that cannot be undone.

I angered the noble gods and hunted her messenger...

In ancient Greek mythology, deer were considered the most sacred animals by Artemis herself, and the golden-horned deer was Artemis's favorite messenger.

One of the twelve trials of Hercules was to hunt the golden-horned deer.

When Hercules' arrow shot through the bronze hoof of the golden-horned deer, he was carrying the huge body of the golden-horned deer to return home. He was greeted by Artemis, the moon god, and Apollo, the sun god. In the end, Athena secretly found Zeus, and Hercules successfully brought the golden-horned deer back home and let it go that night.

So in fact, that day,

when the excited Actaeon chased the golden-horned deer all the way to the holy land of Artemis, he saw Artemis, who had already taken a bath, comforting the golden-horned deer.

And looked at himself with great anger.

Actaeon was first completely attracted by the beauty of Artemis who had just come out of the bath, and then he came to his senses and knew that he was finished.

Guessing Artemis's identity, the panicked Actaeon actually wanted to kneel down and beg for forgiveness on the spot, but Artemis at that time did not give him such a chance at all.

Whether it was his gaze at that time or the harm caused to the golden horned deer, Artemis was completely angry.

So she cursed Actaeon and forced him back with arrows.

Actaeon ran for a long time. At first, he did not notice the changes in his body. Instead, he was glad that he survived the hands of the gods.

Until he ran for a long time, he was tired and thirsty on the way, but stopped by a spring.

Just when he was about to drink the sweet spring water, he finally found that his hands had turned into bronze hooves, and there was a monster reflected in the spring water.

He was frightened and wanted to scream in fear, but the sound was so strange to him. He touched his body in panic, and it took him a long time to finally understand that he had become a monster and the punishment of the god.

So from that day on, Actaeon, who dared not return to the human world, lived in this ancient forest.

And because he was an excellent hunter, he was never discovered by people who came to the mountain, until more than half a month later, when Artemis held this hunting sacrifice.

And with Actaeon's excellent hunting skills, plus all hunters thought it was just an ordinary hunt at the beginning.

Even if it was a night, it might not be possible to find him.

So the reason why he was exposed so quickly was that Actaeon took the initiative to appear... He didn't know what happened. After finding Meleager, his friend, in the crowd, he could no longer hold back his emotions and excitedly appeared in front of him.

He wanted to seek help from Meleager, and wanted to tell Meleager what happened with tears in his eyes, but he could not speak human words and could only roar like a monster, so what greeted him in the end was naturally Meleager's arrows.

And the hunters heard the sound and ran over to encircle him.

In that case, he finally heard the truth from the crowd.

Artemis launched a hunting sacrifice, and the prey was obviously him who had turned into a monster!

Since you like hunting so much, then you become the prey yourself and eventually die in the hunting... There is no doubt that this is the punishment Artemis gave to Actaeon, and even for this, Artemis deliberately retained Actaeon's consciousness.

But because of this, although many hunters were injured, there were no casualties.

Actaeon, who was hiding in panic, was transformed into a monster and his whole body was strengthened. Although he had hidden far away and in the dark, he still heard what Meleager said, and even saw him holding up his sword and pointing it at everyone.

The scene of preparing to attack him.

At this moment, the hunters lit the torch again.

Their flames lit up the silent ancient forest at night, and shortened the space for Actaeon's activities little by little.

In the dark, Actaeon licked his bleeding body.

Watching the flames that represented the driving away of the night and the beasts getting closer and closer to him, Actaeon couldn't help but reveal deep despair in his eyes.

He knew he was going to die.

And... he would die at the hands of his best friend.

Actaeon didn't want to die, so just as he was about to go deeper into the forest, he suddenly remembered what Meleager had just said.

Nuoyan also participated in this hunting sacrifice.

Thinking of him, Actaeon couldn't help but think of Nuoyan's words that he had always said... He would eventually die on the road to becoming a hero with a bang.

It seems that I can't die on the road to becoming a hero with a bang, but I will become a monster that heroes fight against...

At this moment, Actaeon realized more than ever that he had become a monster.

He looked down at his deer body and bronze hooves.

At this moment, despair finally completely overwhelmed him, he lowered his head and gave up resistance.

Until a while, a sudden cry sounded and he was discovered.

Meleager came, he looked at the huge monster in front of him sitting here, closing his scarlet eyes, as if waiting to die, and naturally he was stunned.

Then he hurriedly gathered people and tied him up with ropes from a distance.

Because they had just witnessed the monster's strange power, no one dared to approach him easily.

Just as Actaeon was preparing to quietly welcome his death, his deer ears suddenly moved slightly, he opened his eyes, turned his head, and looked into the depths of the forest in confusion.

He heard a familiar sound of the harp... It was the strings that the Centaur sage Chiron often heard when he taught in the cave of Pyriwen.

The strings of the Centaur Chiron were soft and beautiful, and the melody of Orpheus, the son of Apollo, was magnificent. Only the sound of the harp of Nuoyan was ethereal and changeable. The sound of the harp was melodious like a bell in the wind, and sometimes it was like the sound of the ancient harp, which was loose and distant and cleansed people's hearts.

That weak guy couldn't pull the bow when shooting arrows, couldn't hold the sword steadily, and encountered obstacles everywhere in martial arts, but only in art, he was like being embraced and kissed by the goddess of art. He learned harp, chess, calligraphy and painting faster than the other!

Actaeon noticed that it was Nuoyan's piano music, so he couldn't help but recall the good times when he was studying.

Actaeon naturally wanted to see him, and at the same time...

Since I have become a monster, why not let him... become a real hero who kills monsters under the witness of the goddess Artemis!

What Nuoyan didn't know was that when he was studying under Chiron, he not only left a deep impression on his fellow brothers, but also indirectly influenced them.

After all, in the eyes of Chiron and others, although Nuoyan was weak, he was really working hard, and the dream of becoming a hero that he always talked about was not empty talk. He was not even afraid of death.

When such an idea came to his mind, Actaeon could no longer hold back, and he struggled hard and used all his strength.

This sudden change caught everyone who was gradually relaxing by surprise.

Therefore, Actaeon easily broke free from his restraints, rushed out of the encirclement again, and ran towards the depths of the ancient forest, and this time Atalanta steadily caught up with him.

She fulfilled what she had just said, and this time she would not lose him again.

Atalanta was very fast, and even in the ancient Greek gods, few people could outrun her, which is why there was the story of Atalanta and the golden apple.

But facing Actaeon who had turned into a giant deer, Atalanta almost exhausted all her strength just to chase him, so she could not draw her bow to effectively block him.

After running at full speed for about ten minutes, Atalanta, who had the same sensitive hearing, finally heard the sound of the harp.