Chapter 1340

Chapter 1340

The day came when Goddess of War Athena reached the Western Continents and met with the elite troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

Athena was not sly like Zeus or arrogant like Ares. Instead, she was wise and benevolent and fully intended to do the job she was tasked to complete. It did not cross her mind to belittle, mock, hate, or ignore them just because they were people from a different continent.

Park was a soldier who grew to be a knight and eventually became the commander of thousands of knights. He stood at the forefront and saluted Athena.

To be honest, the elite troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire were fascinated by the mere sight of Goddess of War Athena.

‘So beautiful...’

‘So this is the Goddess of War from the legends.’

‘It’s not just because she’s beautiful, I truly think she’s a commander we can trust and follow.’

There was only one reason Zeus sent Athena here, even though she was infinitely weaker than Ares in power and strength. Unlike Ares, Athena possessed various skills that allowed her to win the soldiers' favor and help them grow. One of these skills was the Commander of Trust.

[Commander of Trust.]

[Those who have met you will have great faith and trust in you.]

[They will have respect and trust in you even though they have only met you.]

The Commander of Trust was just the tip of the iceberg.

‘This must be why Lord Zeus sent me here,’

Athena grumbled, displeased at the fact that she was being used to deal with the person Zeus had a grudge with.

However, she was a woman with a goal. This time, she aimed to train as many troops as she could and make them stronger and better than before. Although Zeus had told her to ensure she could take them away and increase the Gaia Continent's status, Athena thought giving them the right to follow the commander they wanted to follow and believe in would be better. Wouldn’t they be happier if they followed her, the Goddess of War? Nonetheless, for the time being, she had to ensure they would experience significant growth first.

Athena had brought Ares’ training manual for this event. As she flipped through the manual, she thought,

‘Ares is obviously a nutcase.’

Ares raised his men with brute force and power, while Athena embraced the army with benevolence and wisdom. In her eyes, Ares’ training manual was far too harsh.

‘They can only sleep for five hours a day? Not only that, but they also have to carry ten-kilogram backpacks while climbing mountains or running for three straight hours?’

If that was all they had to do, Athena would not say anything. After all, humans usually marched for training. But Ares made it so they had to march a hundred kilometers, then run at full speed right after with weights totaling forty kilograms on their limbs.

‘Running at full speed...’

Athena was sure that no regular army would be able to take this.

‘However, this gave power to Ares’ indomitable army.’

Perhaps that was why Ares’ troops endured his harsh training daily. Of course, Athena had also experienced many situations like this.

Athena stepped forward and said, “From now on, every soldier will wear sandbags on each limb and run around the empire at full speed for two hours. The total weight of the sandbags should be twenty kilograms.”

“Yes?”

“That... uhm...”

“Hoho.”

Everyone sounded as if they could not understand what Athena was saying. Athena thought that this was only natural.

“Wasn’t the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s army the best army in the West? Are you saying that you can’t do this much...”

“That’s not it. It’s just... the weights are a bit too light.”

“???” Athena looked at them in confusion.

At that moment, Park removed the sandbags wrapped around his wrists. Hidden underneath his armor, the sandbags fell to the ground.

Thud!

“These alone are twenty kilograms, you see?”

“...?” Athena was both flustered and taken aback. “As... as expected of the commander. You’re different from the rest. You carry sandbags weighing twenty kilograms on your wrists alone. If that’s the case, then you’re carrying sandbags with a total weight of eighty kilograms? But that’s only natural. Since you’re the commander, you must carry more weight than your soldiers...”

“Our youngest can carry a total of a hundred kilograms.”

“Is he a tiger...?” Athena mumbled, her eyes blinking blankly as the soldiers waved their hands and showed off the sandbags tied around their wrists.

‘What the hell? Are they all nuts?’

“I... I see. What a great army. Th-then... Just keep on the weights that you’re used to and run at full speed...” Athena swallowed her words back into her stomach.

‘How can they run at full speed if they’re carrying sandbags weighing eighty kilograms?’

Park just shouted, “Prepare to run! Ready!”

At Park’s cry, everyone went into position and got ready to run.

“Go!” Park shouted as he took the lead to run. But before the entire army could run at full speed, Park paused and looked back. “Commander, aren’t you running with us?”

“What? Eh? No. Why should I...?”

The entire army, which had already run a few meters away, stopped simultaneously and turned to look at her. Their gaze seemed to scream,

‘You’re not going to run with us, Lady Athena?’

“But... His Majesty Minhyuk always runs with us?”

“...?”

‘No. He’s the emperor. Why is he running with you?’

“Is he the only one who runs with you?”

“No? Spear God Ben also runs with us?”

They were speaking as if it were a natural occurrence.

“Your commanders always run with you?”

“Of course not? Love, Hope, and Happiness will also run with us in the mornings.”

“Who’s Love, Hope, and Happiness?”

“The dog our Beyond the Heavens Empire is raising.”

“Roaaaaar!”

“Graaaaaaa!”

“Grrrr!”

As if on cue, a Cerberus appeared from a distance. It was apparent that it was running excitedly toward them.

“How is that a dog?!”

“Anyway, you’re saying you’re not running with us?”

The tens of thousands of troops looked at her as if asking her why she was not running with them.

Athena looked at them in disbelief. She thought,

‘No. What the hell is this? Why are the emperor and his commander-level vassals running with their soldiers?! Are they trying to make fun of me...?’

“Hoho. Should I go for a run today? Huh? Why do you guys seem to be a bit lax today?”

“We greet the commander!”

Spear God Ben appeared with a hearty laugh. He smiled at Athena with a kind and warm smile, as if he were saying that the world had gotten better these days.

“Wait, don’t you always run with a fifty-kilogram tire tied to your waist every morning?”

“Ah. The training commander arrived today. So, things are a bit lighter than normal.”

‘But that’s the hellish training that Ares’ army has to go through...’

“Hoho. You guys. If you slack off because the training commander is new, I’ll tie a hundred-kilogram tire on you!” Spear God Ben said, sincerity clear in his voice. Then, he turned to look at Athena with a gaze that clearly said,

‘Aren’t you going to run with us?’

“...?”

Then, someone appeared again.

“Conir! Conir will run too!” Conir shouted.

The boy, who liked to run with the soldiers, turned to look at Athena.

‘You’re not running with us?’

“Conir! Herakel will run with you!” Herakel declared as he turned to look at Athena.

‘You’re not coming with us?’

One by one, the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire appeared. They all turned to look at Athena with a gaze that said,

‘Hey. We’re all running here. Aren’t you going to run with us?’

They did not hide their gazes. They stared at her as if they were willing her to answer their unspoken question.

Athena did not want to run and tried to struggle to decline somehow. In the end, she could only timidly say, “I... I’ll run with you too!”

This was the first time that she had seen something like this. The commanders were running together with their army? Wasn’t this as explosive as Zeus and Hades doing physical training together?!

Park kindly approached Athena. Then, he wrapped her wrists and ankles with sandbags and said, “Lady Athena, I think you forgot about these!”

‘No. I did not forget.’

Finally, Athena began to run with them.

‘Are they doing this to test me? Because this is my first time here?’

Athena was convinced that doing something like this for daily training was preposterous. She believed that this was not something that they usually did every day. However, she thought they had forgotten one thing. Athena was the Goddess of War. She had various stats and skills that could help her do training that was beyond common sense.

Then, to her shock, they all started running at full speed.

Swoosh!

Fwoosh!

Even the youngest soldier, a seventeen-year-old boy, ran at full speed! And because they were running like crazy, Athena had no choice but to follow their pace and run like crazy, too.

‘It-it’s heavy!’

The sandbags wrapped tightly around her wrists and ankles were dragging her down and tormenting her, but she could not lose her face. She gritted her teeth and continued to run. Athena vowed in her heart that she would show them how great and outstanding the Goddess of War was.

‘How dare you try and test me?!’

With her outstanding mental power, Athena accompanied the troops and ran at full speed for two hours. She wanted to give up many times, but persevered and ran until the end. She would never fall apart in this stupid test!

Finally, the training was over.

‘Did you see that? This kind of training is too easy for me...’

“Run for another thirty minutes!” Park cried loudly.

“Yes, sir!”

Swoosh!

Fwoosh!

“...?”

At Park’s words, the entire army continued to run. It was as if they weren’t even tired.

Meanwhile, Park approached Athena, whose legs were trembling, and asked, “Are you not coming?”

“N-no... I...”

The soldiers running from a distance looked back at her.

‘You’re not going to run when we’re still running?’

Athena had no choice but to grit her teeth and run with them.

‘This time, it’s really the end...’

“One more hour!”

Fwoosh!

‘No. This is really the end...’

“Thirty more minutes!”

Fwoosh!

‘Woah. For sure, this is the end...’

“Bonus! Twenty more minutes!”

“All of you are nuts! Enough!”

“...?”

“...?”

“...?”

The entire troop stared at her in confusion. Despite the tears blurring her eyes, Athena could still see the question in their gazes.

‘So, you’re not going to run with us anymore?’

In the end, Athena still ran with them.

***

After the run was over.

“Ha! We did not run that much today.”

“I know, right? If His Majesty Minhyuk’s here, we would probably have run for six hours.”

“I feel like my body is still not warmed up today.”

“You too? Yeah. I feel like I need to warm up more.”

The Goddess of War's beautifully cascading hair was like a symbol. Her hair, like that in the

Delastine

[1] commercial, could attract the attention of many soldiers. Alas, that was nowhere to be seen now. Right now, Athena was breathing roughly, sitting uncharacteristically on the ground, soaked in sweat.

Once again, the soldiers looked at Athena.

‘Are we not going to do the next part of the training?’

Seeing their gazes, Athena stretched her trembling hands and took out Ares’ training manual. She said, “Th... the next part of the training is the vertical fall training. You will ride on drakes and fly to the highest point in the sky. Then, without any safety equipment, you will jump to the ground. The mages will stop your descent once you’re near the ground...”

At that moment, Athena saw their gazes asking her,

‘You’re not going to join us?’

“...”

***

Ten minutes later...

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!” Athena screamed as she jumped from the highest point in the sky without any safety equipment.

“The next part of the training is push-ups. You have to do push-ups while carrying a ninety-kilogram weight on your back and do it for an hour without any breaks...”

‘You’re not doing it with us?’

Athena did push-ups.

“Th-the next part of the training...”

‘You’re not doing it with us?’

‘You’re not doing it with us?’

‘You’re not going?’

‘Why are you not doing it when we’re all doing it?’

Eventually, Athena burst out in tears. Why? Because she was forced to endure this hellish training that she was supposed to monitor and conduct.

“I’m not doing it anymore! Waaaaah! What kind of crazy training is this?! You’re all crazy! How can you train like this?!”

Athena had never seen such crazy nut jobs like these in her life.

‘If you’re going to do it, then just do it! Why do you have to ask me to do it with you?!’

But Athena could not understand their reaction. It seemed as if the entire Beyond the Heavens Empire treated this scenario as a given, like they were used to it.

“I’m your commander! Why do I have to run with you? I won’t do it anymore!!!”

Athena had never felt so aggrieved in her life before. And the soldiers? They just stared at her, crying her heart out in confusion. And the same was true for Park.

Flustered by her reaction, Park stepped forward and tried to appease her. He said, “Lady Athena, you’ve had it hard, huh? Don’t cry. You’re alright. Stop crying and stand up now.”

Park gently and kindly helped Athena up. Then, the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire said...

“Lady Athena, don’t cry!”

“Seeing the commander cry is making our hearts ache!”

Athena seemed to realize that none of the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire were evil at heart. Just now, she had shown them how incompetent she was as the commander. Yet, they still consoled her. Finally coming back to her senses, Athena put on a stern expression.

Park looked at her gently. With a slight smile, he asked, “Are you done crying?”

His question calmed Athena’s heart a bit. She could tell that they understood her and were considerate of her despite her ugly performance.

When Park saw that she had returned to her senses, he smiled sweetly and said, “Then, what’s the next part of the training?”

“...?”

‘These f*cking bastards are obviously crazy for training!’

1. parody of Elastine ☜