King of Underworld

Chapter 90

Zeus approached me, leaving Tantalus lying stunned on the ground.

Flames and lightning flashed with every step, and thunder continued to crash in the sky above.

“I'm sorry, brother. I never thought Tantalus would do such a thing.”

“...That madman should be thrown into Tartarus.”

“Since he killed his own son and turned him into food, it's only fitting that he suffers eternal hunger.”

Should we call upon Limos, the goddess of hunger, to help us?

No... That madman deserves to suffer for a long time. There's no need to have Limos waste her power.

Once upon a time, there was a madman, a contemporary of Sisyphus who imprisoned Thanatos.

His name was Erysichthon, and he swung his axe at Demeter's sacred oak tree.@@@@

Crack. Thud!

“Blood from the oak!”

“Lord Erysichthon, please stop swinging your axe, even now!”

"I will have my revenge on you... human."

The oak bled from the spot where it had been cut and vowed revenge, but he did not care and chopped it down.

Having thus incurred the wrath of Demeter, Erysichthon was visited by a goddess sent by her...

“Food! Bring more food! Sell everything and buy more food!”

“Father... You've already eaten more than sixty portions...”

“I'm... still hungry! Hurry!”

At Demeter's request, the goddess cast Erysichthon into an insatiable hunger,

causing him to squander all his wealth and eventually eat himself to death.

That goddess was Limos, the Goddess of Hunger.

Zeus glanced at the pile of human flesh Demeter was holding and spoke.

The king of the gods had lived for many millennia, but even he couldn’t hide his shock at such madness from a mortal.

“Demeter. I should go to the Moirai, the three goddesses of fate, and revive this poor soul.”

“Perhaps if we reshape his body, we can restore him.”

“...Then we’ll have to return the soul that’s already come to the Underworld.”

Just then, the sound of wings fluttered in the sky.

With blood in their eyes and snakes for hair, the three goddesses appeared.

Bronze wings and torches in their hands,

the Furies sent their avatars toward Tantalus.

"A FATHER, KILLING HIS OWN SON?"

"YOU SHALL SUFFER ETERNALLY."

"YOUR SINS WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN."

These were apparitions sent by the Furies, visible only to the guilty.

Tantalus would be haunted by them eternally—until his death.

Wait... if he’s haunted only until he dies, he’ll be free of them when dead.

Poseidon, seeming to reach the same realization, looked at me.

“Hades, why not imprison that wretch alive in Tartarus?”

That was an excellent idea.

Tantalus broke out in a cold sweat and opened his eyes wide.

Wasn't he dead for deceiving the gods? Surely the entire palace had been destroyed by Zeus's wrath...

Is this the afterlife?

Tantalus tried to move, but his body was bound tightly with ropes.

He struggled to lift his head and saw a cave-like scene.

"Awake, Tantalus?"

It was then that Tantalus realized his mistake.

He had tried to appeal to Pluto’s mercy, without even considering his son.

"Th-That’s..."

"If you had stolen only ambrosia and nectar, you would have spent decades in servitude here. If you had merely died for deceiving the gods, your punishment would have been relatively light."

"Ah..."

"But you never once mentioned the murder of your son. There is not a single hint of guilt. Your sentence is decided."

Tantalus tried to protest, but his voice failed him.

As he struggled to speak, Pluto delivered the verdict with cold finality.

"Murder is a grave sin. Killing your own son is a capital offense. Worse still, you tried to feed his flesh to your kin."

"......!"

"You cannot atone for this crime, even after tens of thousands of years. Therefore, you will be sent to Tartarus..."

"......!!!"

"And you will suffer eternal hunger, and Cerberus will periodically feast on your entrails."

Tantalus thrashed in vain as the wraiths dragged him away.

But there was no escaping the punishment for his sins.

The madman who had cooked his own son was now receiving his just reward.

I watched as Tantalus was dragged away by the dead.

Like the eagle that tore at Prometheus' liver, Cerberus was allowed to feed on Tantalus' entrails periodically.

It's not the most pleasant meal, but it'll keep Cerberus, who is always hungry and drooling, well-fed.

Tantalus won’t die, but will regenerate, even as his innards are continuously torn out by the gatekeeper of the Underworld. Thanatos will not claim his soul, and I will keep him alive.

But why did the gods agree to attend a banquet hosted by Tantalus, who had stolen ambrosia and nectar? Perhaps they expected him to commit further blasphemy during the feast, giving them a clear reason to punish Atlas’s son-in-law harshly...

Perhaps it was an indirect warning, a way to show the remaining Titan gods that the balance of power in the world had definitively shifted... He’s also the son of Zeus, so maybe it’s safe to say they punished him while suppressing any grief.

...No. I shouldn’t overthink it.

I didn’t ask Zeus directly, so this might all just be my speculation.

"I've never seen a man like that... never before," Mente said, still in shock.

"Don't be so surprised, Mente. When you've lived as long as we have, you'll see all sorts of things."

Mente stared at the spot where Tantalus had been taken, completely dumbfounded.

Of course she was shocked—after all, she was a Naiad who had once led a quiet life along a river.

When she was my priestess, the humans revered her, but since becoming a goddess, she mostly spread mint and did administrative work, so a sight like this must be entirely new to her.

She didn’t even attend many trials of the dead, so her exposure to such madness was limited.

Still, in Tantalus’s case... he truly was insane.

“Humans like that... they really exist...” Mente muttered, shaking her head in disgust.

Ugh... this isn’t good. I can’t let her develop a prejudice based on Tantalus’s actions.

Seeing her shake her head gloomily, I decided to speak up.

Since I’d already visited the mortal realm with Styx and Lethe, I thought perhaps I should take Mente out as well, to lift her spirits.

"Mente. How about we visit Thebes again, after all this time?"

“...?!”

"Remember? The last time we tried, we were interrupted by the Gigas attack."

She looked up again, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Her previously melancholic turquoise eyes now glistened with anticipation.

“P-Po-san! At last, it’s my turn to go on a walk with you! Just like Styx-sama and Lethe-sama...!”

“...How did you even know about that?”

“Of course! Everyone in the Underworld talks about it! Lately, the gossip around here is all about who will become Hades-sama’s consort...”

I wish everyone would stop prying into my love life...