The beginning of the Trojan War was absurd, but the process itself was a real war fought with blades and blood.
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War is listed alongside the Argonaut expedition and the Calydonian Boar Hunt as one of the three great heroic epics.
A large number of Greek heroes, stirred by the gods, formed a coalition army to attack Troy.
At their head was the great hero Odysseus, and heroes such as Agamemnon and Achilles also joined. Nearly all the notable heroes of Greece took part.
However, in reality, due to the Argonaut expedition, many of Greece's top-tier warriors had already fallen, and it took a long time for them to recover their former strength.
As a result, the number of powerful fighters Greece could muster now was far inferior to before.
Moreover, quite a few Greek heroes did not buy into the gods' authority. For example, some surviving Argonauts and their descendants chose otherwise.
One of the Argonauts, the divine physician Asclepius, had been invited to serve as the Greek coalition's medic, but after the Argonaut expedition, he had long grown disgusted with the lofty gods. Coupled with the fact that he was the son of Apollo, he not only refused the invitation but instead joined the Trojan side.
In addition, Atalanta, also an Argonaut and a follower of Artemis, joined the Trojans as well, accompanied by Medea and Penthesilea.
As a member of the Amazons who had joined the magic pantheon under Aphrodite, Penthesilea naturally represented the Amazons in supporting the goddess they worshipped.
Another hero who made such a choice was Ajax the Great.
He was the son of Telamon, an Argonaut. Since, after the expedition, the only deity willing to shelter them had been Athena, he now chose to stand with the side she supported, Troy.
However, Achilles, son of Peleus, who had perished during the expedition, still joined the Greek coalition.
Peleus had been one of the Argonauts and also the brother of Telamon. In other words, Achilles was Telamon's nephew and Ajax's cousin.
Logically, he should not have joined the Greek coalition. But unfortunately, Achilles' mother was Thetis, one of the Oceanids.
In order to grant him an invulnerable body, she had immersed him in the River Styx, and now it was time for Achilles to pay the price for that.
And so, with acquaintances on both sides, the war began.
The protracted conflict lasted nearly ten years.
During the war, although the gods did not personally enter the battlefield, they continuously aided their respective sides, sometimes even descending in mortal form to inspire their warriors or unleashing disasters upon the enemy.
The heroes on both sides also displayed their prowess.
On the Greek side, Agamemnon, Achilles, and Ajax the Lesser were top-tier warriors, while on the Trojan side, Ajax the Great and the Trojan prince Hector were no less formidable.
Due to disputes over spoils, internal conflict arose among the Greeks, causing their strongest warrior, Achilles, to refuse to fight.
Taking advantage of this, Hector and Ajax the Great shone on the battlefield, even going so far as to burn the Greek ships, until Hector killed Patroclus, Achilles' close companion, who had gone into battle wearing Achilles' armor.
Stricken with grief, Achilles cast aside his anger and chose to return to battle to kill Hector. To remedy the disadvantage of his side, even Hephaestus forged new armor for him.
The armies clashed once more. Wearing the armor of the fire god and possessing an invulnerable body from the waters of the Styx, Achilles led the Greek forces to defeat the Trojans.
By evening, he had reached the gates of Troy. Chasing Hector around the city three times, he finally engaged him in a decisive duel and slew him.
After Hector's death, Achilles continued to dominate the battlefield.
He even killed Memnon, son of the dawn goddess Eos, and defeated the Amazon warrior Penthesilea, nearly killing her, until, at a critical moment, Atalanta intervened.
With a single arrow, Atalanta forced Achilles back, saving Penthesilea from a fatal blow, and then personally stepped forward to face him.
Although Atalanta was a woman, her fame had spread far and wide due to the Argonaut expedition.
Though the Argonauts had returned in failure, they had at least passed the trials of Colchis, and she was the one among them who completed both trials (albeit as the finisher).
Facing the son of an old acquaintance, Atalanta showed no mercy. Meanwhile, Achilles had long heard from his uncle Telamon that his father Peleus had once been defeated by Atalanta, and he both admired and was fascinated by this huntress.
Thus, he eagerly anticipated their battle.
Having followed Alaric for so long, she was no longer the same as before.
She was fully equipped with powerful magical gear and had been taught techniques akin to the "Priest" and "Paladin" classes from the World of Warcraft universe, though what she wielded was not holy light, but the power of moonlight granted by her goddess.
The power of moonlight granted Atalanta exceptional defense and recovery, even allowing her to enter an invincible state at critical moments.
Meanwhile, her sharp arrows gave Achilles great trouble.
If not for his invulnerability, the great hero would have long since been riddled with arrows.
In the end, even without Alaric's foreknowledge, Atalanta still managed to strike Achilles' heel with a single arrow, killing the great Greek hero.
Even the invincible Achilles had fallen to a Trojan hero, and the Greeks' siege of Troy dragged on without success.
At that point, Odysseus devised the Trojan Horse strategy, hoping to destroy Troy through this plan.
Greek heroes were straightforward warriors. Their greatest tactic was often direct combat, and their schemes rarely went beyond minor tricks.
A plan like the Trojan Horse was something entirely new on the battlefield.
Thus, the Trojans saw the Greek army sail away, leaving behind only a massive wooden horse in their abandoned camp.
The Trojans gathered around it in astonishment, unsure of its purpose. Some suggested dragging it into the city, while others proposed burning it or pushing it into the sea.
At that moment, several shepherds captured a Greek man and brought him before the king of Troy. The man claimed that the horse was an offering to Ares.
But in truth, between Ares and Athena, it was Athena, the goddess of wisdom, who excelled in strategy. How could such a trick escape her notice?
It was only because of the standoff among the gods that she could not expose it.
However, Troy also had capable individuals.
The witch Medea easily detected the hidden Greek soldiers within the horse using magic.
Although she could not openly destroy it due to the gods, she secretly transformed the soldiers inside into frogs.
Thus, that night, as the Trojans celebrated wildly, the Greek spies released their signal beside the horse.
Unfortunately, the Trojan Horse plan became a joke. From within the horse came only a chorus of "croak, croak", where were the hidden soldiers?
When the Greek army crept up to the walls of Troy, they did not find the gates opened for them, instead, they were met with an ambush by the Amazon warriors.
Arrows and javelins rained down from the Amazons. Atalanta's moon-blessed arrows struck down Greek commanders one after another, even the darkness of night could not hinder her vision under the moon goddess's protection.
Meanwhile, Medea's barrage of magic bullets shattered the Greek formation.
At that moment, the Trojans realized what was happening.
They opened the gates and launched a counterattack.
This time, the Greek coalition suffered a true and crushing defeat. Even Agamemnon and Ajax the Lesser fell beneath the city walls.
Thus, this Trojan War ultimately ended in victory for Troy.
And like the ending of a fairy tale, Paris and Apollo went on to live happily ever after.
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