Chapter 102
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Like This?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Like this, right?
As she unleashed her divinity and pressed him with her true power, the blasphemer's face—who had been smirking so leisurely—slowly grew rigid.
She was the spear of moonlight piercing from the heavens, the silver-antlered doe upheaving the earth, a single falcon beguiling the eye and a sacred leopard tearing into the prey's throat.
The crescent moon's hunting ground, which obeyed her will, shrouded the impious eyes with wind at her command, bound his feet with thrusting roots, and the moonlight spreading in all directions transformed into her clones, nocking arrows at the fool's neck.
Her avatar, the crescent moon rising high in the sky, was a sharp trap devouring the prey, a noose tightening around the neck. Every time that moonlight shimmered, the black-clad blasphemer's eyes bulged, unable to hide his growing anxiety.
Her momentum only swelled higher, the overwhelming presence from moments ago—when she'd obliterated the massive explosion and slain the hunters—now vanished. The blasphemer, frantic to block with his spear, could only stagger backward step by step.
'I've won!'
It was only natural.
The very notion that she might lose felt foolish now. Artemis was utterly convinced of her victory.
"Hahaha! What's wrong? Has the might of a god—the authority of a goddess ascended to Olympus's throne—finally stirred your heart to beg for mercy?!"
"...."
The mouth that had dared disrupt her mood clamped shut, and the spear that had so insolently sought her lips now grew frantic.
The goddess of the hunt couldn't suppress her ecstatic laughter.
"Hahahaha! You look just like a deer cornered in a trap!"
Ah, yes! She should transform him into a deer!
Cover that annoyingly handsome face with the elongated mask of a stag, drape the hide of a beast over this rough, filthy blasphemer's body, and let him be chased through this eternal night by her hunters and hounds, trembling in terror.
Cruel ecstasy and satisfaction surged deep in her chest. Laughter overflowed from Artemis as the moonlight pervading every direction gathered in her hand, gleaming brightly.
"I command you: obey."
⟨ Divine Command ⟩
This was her hunting ground.
A sacred sanctuary permitted only to her and her hunters, the land of the crescent moon where her avatars dwelled.
Every force in the earth that realized her will now stirred to manifest it.
-Shraaak!
The stones and tree roots beneath the blasphemer's feet bound the hands and legs that had toyed with her.
-Whoooosh!
The shaking winds blinded his black eyes and sealed his breath.
-Whirrlik!
Unable to keep up with the sudden turn, the blasphemer froze—and in that instant, the noose and shackles of moonlight strangled his neck and bound his limbs.
In a flash, the black-haired blasphemer was rendered utterly immobile. In a flash, his life now hung by a thread in his own hands.
"A prey caught in the trap."
The savage goddess gazed down at the foolish hero bound to the earth, beautifully mocking his blunder.
"Your blunder will spread far and wide across this Greece."
"How the hero who trusted only in his own talents and a goddess's backing dared challenge this Artemis—and met such a pathetic end."
Artemis slowly looked down at the firmly bound sinner, then descended to stand before him.
Her opponent was already captured prey.
The three-inch tongue that dared mock the virgin goddess, the eyes that lusted over her form, the hands that threatened her, the legs that toyed with her.
From head to toe, this sinner was steeped in crimes and insolence against her. A simple death would be mercy indeed.
"Hmph... How truly regrettable. Utterly tragic."
She slowly traced her bound prey with her eyes, whispering softly.
Whether he was desperately hiding his emotions or had abandoned all resistance, the quiet eyes and subdued demeanor of the blasphemer ignited a dark satisfaction and thrill deep in the goddess of the hunt's chest.
This man was her captured prey, a pitiful loser who needed her permission even to breathe.
Just like in the distant past when she and her twin had hunted the giant serpent Python that tormented their mother, the joy of capturing a strong, swift prey alive—and the ecstasy of seizing a weakness in her tormentor, the ewe Hera—sent shivers racing up her spine.
"Rough and crude... but I can see it. Truly a magnificent body."
Artemis loathed all males save her father and brother, yet even by her aesthetic standards, this captured beast was a shame to waste.
"Dianes, was it? How truly regrettable."
The goddess of the hunt, who had lived as a hunter through her long divine life, slaying countless beasts, demonic creatures, and even heroes oblivious to their place who lusted after her.
Artemis could tell just how exceptional the body of the warrior before her was.
"To possess such a sleek, resilient form. To wield wisdom in borrowing a goddess's power, only to commit the folly of insulting and mocking me."
A bizarre speed that even her eyes—which could chase the world's swiftest bird—had been fooled by.
The strength that pierced Python's eyes and shattered its scales with a silver arrow.
Beneath the black cloak gleamed a flawless white body, unmarked by wounds, yet pulsing with vitality like a volcano on the verge of eruption—vivid muscles that were the epitome of an ideal warrior.
"Had you shown even a shred of piety, refrained from mocking me under Hera's prestige... I would have granted you a merciful, painless death..."
But a blasphemer who challenged Olympus's glory, a brigand who dared touch the virgin goddess, could never be forgiven.
Silver divine power gathered in her hand, gleaming venomously as it morphed into a curse.
"Foolish hound, don the beast's mask and repent your sins."
⟨ Beast's Curse ⟩
The curse in her hand was the brand she favored for marking prey.
The heavenly punishment that should have been meted out back in Pashos, when he dared interfere with her hunt and seize her arrow—now delivered belatedly.
Once the curse burrowed into the blasphemer's heart and her divine power twisted this body, the time of her and her hunters would begin.
"You shall have a mouth but not speak as a man, legs but only to flee, a human soul but end your days as a beast."
The goddess's lovely lips whispered punishment into the sinner's ear amid a sweet fragrance, her cursed hand slowly advancing toward the hero's heart.
"...Any last words?"
-Nod.
The impious hero gazed at her approach with eerily serene eyes.
The delightful hunt was about to begin, and this blasphemer's fate was sealed.
Out of divine mercy, Artemis allowed his final words.
"I'll grant you my final mercy. Speak your dying breath."
What would he say?
Repent his sins and beg for mercy? Thrash about pathetically in rage?
Grovel with absurd flattery? Kiss her feet in submission?
Without hiding her sneering mockery and cruel thrill, the beautiful goddess dispersed the wind that had sealed his lips.
"Hoo... So..."
"So? Spare my life? Begging for mercy?"
"So... Pfft!"
"....?"
The black eyes staring blankly at her wavered aimlessly, then his head drooped, trembling.
Too terrified to even breathe? As Artemis's lips curled in amusement,
"Pffthahahahaha! Krhahahahaha!"
Shattering all her expectations, the now-freed prisoner burst into hearty, joyous laughter.
"Have you lost your mind?"
The laughter utterly mismatched his dire plight, and Artemis muttered in disdain.
But the blasphemer just shook his black hair wildly, chortling away.
"Pffhuhu... Ah, hold on. Can't... Pfthahahaha!!"
Ignoring the goddess's scorn, he roared with laughter as if he simply couldn't hold it in. Her hunters stirred silently,
and even Artemis raised her voice in inexplicable unease.
"W-What?! What's so damn funny! You're on the verge of a gruesome half-death in this Artemis's hands!!"
Be they kings of mighty realms, heroes of renown that shook the skies, or behemoths that ravaged the earth.
All wept and begged mercy when her arrow aimed and moonlight fell upon their necks.
The fallen sight of once-mighty men kneeling before her, pleading—that was her greatest amusement. Subjugating and miserably slaying those who claimed to rule the world was her supreme pleasure.
Yet this man, Hera's lackey who would be one of her greatest preys in her long divine life, showed not a flicker of fear before her. He simply laughed.
The contrast to how she'd been overwhelmed by his momentum earlier filled her with humiliation, flushing the goddess's cheeks red.
"Pffhuhu... Ah, sorry sorry, so what I mean is..."
"Yes, what is it? Out with it! Beg to be spared, lick my feet, cling and plead for mercy!!"
In some inexplicable urgency, Artemis bizarrely pleaded for his submission.
Her hunters were baffled, and Artemis herself confused, when he finally spoke.
"So... like this, right?"
"What?"
A venomous breath sliced the air.
In the blink of an eye, the spot where moonlight and vines had bound the sinner stood empty.
The goddess panicked, momentarily bewildered, unaware that in the gap of her thoughts, something pitch-black lunged for her nape.
-Kwach!
"Kyaaak!?"
The black body coiled around her neck and chest like a rope, binding her limbs, and a sharp pain pierced her snowy throat. Artemis screamed.
It was a colossal serpent.
Clad in scales black as the new moon sky that rejects even the moon, its eyes flickering with crimson flames—a massive snake.
The giant black serpent that had violated the goddess's neck in an instant drove its fangs deeper, and the bizarre energy coursing along those long teeth made her shudder.
"W-What is this...? Grk?! S-Stop! Krhaaang!?"
As if searing flames invaded her veins, a dizzying sensation arched her body like a bow in spasm.
A chill of dread swept her spine; her body twitched and bent sporadically, beyond her control.
Like electricity surging through her, the uncanny feeling made her instincts scream in alarm as she huddled tight.
This foreboding that disaster loomed if she stayed spurred Artemis to muster all her strength and shake off the snake.
"Grraaah... Let, let go!"
Regaining her senses, she unleashed divine power to repel it. Surprisingly, the serpent eased off her body and shifted form.
"Y-You worm...!"
"How was it? I learned it all from you just now—I'm a quick study, aren't I?"
Looking down at the goddess trembling like a newborn fawn, the demon who had reached the pinnacle of demonic arts grinned merrily.