Chapter 207
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 207
Chapter Title: Re-Sealing
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Fortunately, Despoina was a skilled mage befitting her eccentric life journey.
She grasped the concepts and applications of ley lines and dragon veins in an instant when I explained them, living up to her title as Demeter's daughter.
Through her mana, she detected the Celestial Death Qi that had gone berserk and scattered along Acrocorinth's ley lines.
"Let's see. Is this the last spot?"
We moved to a small valley near Acrocorinth.
It was a modest swamp thick with puddles and underbrush—a place where water, earth, even ley line energy trickled in and gathered due to the terrain.
Naturally, it was perfect for the Celestial Death Qi unleashed by the hotheaded goddess's blunder to flow into.
It seemed Mother Earth herself wouldn't let it spread farther; the work could end here.
"It's about time..."
As I muttered and counted the moments, bubbles began rising from the middle of the swamp's muddy water.
"Pwah! H-Huff... it's done!"
Emerging from the muck was none other than the hotheaded mage—no, hotheaded goddess—Despoina.
Panting heavily yet somehow clawing her way out of the swamp to flop before me, she looked just like an eager puppy.
"H-Huff, heek! I thought I was gonna die..."
"The item?"
"H-Here..."
At my beckoning gesture, her trembling hand raised an amphora about the size of both my fists.
It was one of the magical tools from Despoina's lab, originally a relic said to hold a god's essence.
More precisely, it was an amphora from legend, rumored to seal something away—and that legend must have been true, for it excelled at containing both tangible and intangible energies.
To recover the scattered qi, I needed something to seal it in. Spotting this amphora that oddly absorbed spiritual senses, I tried it out, and it fit perfectly.
"B-But how in the world did you know about it?"
"Hm?"
"I mean, what are you? You recognized a seal from mere legend, fixed it up, and even used it like this."
Up until the third sealing ritual, she'd whined she couldn't, wouldn't do it, so I'd pinned her down and smacked her a few times until she obediently complied.
But toward the end, she seemed to notice my subtle expertise in her field and started watching me carefully.
"No need to know."
"No need? Come on! I knew something was off. Even Hecate wouldn't know magic for handling auras like this. Freely extracting and erasing a person's fateful aura, even resealing scattered remnants..."
Hmm...
Like a dog sniffing its master after a trip to the butcher, Despoina crept closer with a strange look, reaching out slyly.
"Hey!"
"Eek!"
She'd probably tried to grab my ankle and cling. Covered in mud with her brown hair soaked and plastered with grass, she looked exactly like a swamp toad.
And the way she grinned creepily, licking her lips—it sent chills down my spine, making me step back five paces.
"Heh heh heh. If I can gain deeper wisdom... this humiliation is nothing!"
"You're starting to seriously creep me out. Dial it back."
Even as I growled and scolded her, she grinned disgustingly—for some reason thrilled—and meekly retreated.
"Aw~ You're not gonna eat me or wear me out. Why so shy? Come on, spill it all to your big sis~?"
"Isn't the sealing technique I already taught you more than enough?"
By my standards, the gods' spells and sorceries were ancient and of dubious authenticity.
Even the gods could patch similar issues swiftly with their powers, so Hera and Nemesis just found it novel, not particularly thrilling.
But mages were different; Despoina chattered endlessly, eyes sparkling with fascination.
"That was just labor costs! Besides, I rolled off cliffs and dove into swamps myself—gotta pay for using a goddess!"
"If you hadn't pulled all that nonsense to begin with, I wouldn't have had to go through this."
I ignored her whining sprawl on the ground and carefully examined the amphora sealing the Celestial Death Qi.
-Woooooo!
-Kihiiiaak!
"...Ugh. It's bad."
No doubt about it.
Inside the amphora screamed the cosmic maggot I'd seen in Oedipus at the Heroes' Forest—the most horrific fate in human history, unprecedented and unmatched.
"Ugh, it's like Pandora's box. Honestly, it thrashed so much every time I resealed it, I was scared."
As Despoina said, the Celestial Death Qi that had spread throughout Acrocorinth rebelled against sealing, unleashing true calamities.
From rampaging vengeful spirits charging in to landslides and earthquakes—it made me wonder if it'd all go to hell.
If Atalanta and Heracles hadn't dashed around clearing spirits and purifying the tainted streams in other ley lines, the workload would've been tenfold.
"Let's head back to the temple for now."
"Huh? Why?"
"Why? To find a way to finish this properly."
Despoina recoiled, calling it ominous, but facing the qi sealed in this amphora, I felt the divine karma in my heart stirring.
It was almost there.
One more step—just one—and the next realm would unfold, revealing the key to the true divine meridian rooted in this heart.
"Heh heh heh..."
I hadn't recovered to Heavenly Demon Realm, let alone Transcendent Realm, but awakening this divine karma would surely show the next move.
Suppressing my pounding heart of long-awaited growth and anticipation, I grabbed the baggage by the nape and swiftly climbed the mountain.
"Hm..."
"Mm..."
"Urgh..."
"So, what now?"
Even after recovering all the Celestial Death Qi into the amphora and scattering the tainted ley line streams with Sword Gang's destructive power, we remained in this pitch-black darkness.
The swarming spirits were gone, a relief, but being dumped in a space where all sorts of bizarre chaos had just unfolded wasn't exactly pleasant.
Above all, we'd managed to recapture and reseal the culprit, but...
I couldn't think of a way to handle what came next.
"What did Oedipus do last time with the ritual?"
"H-He burned the doll in fire..."
"The final step was completely incinerating the doll used in the ritual for purification. But it went wrong at the end, leaving us scrambling like this."
"...Sheesh. I was about to explain."
"What?"
"Nothing. Hmph!"
Despoina glanced at Heracles and switched to a strangely soft, cajoling tone, incessantly appealing to him.
Sheesh, what a sight.
If she weren't essential manpower for this incident, I'd have chucked her off a cliff.
Flashing through my mind was that pulse-pounding movie kick from my past life.
The backdrop here was Greece, too.
Enough idle thoughts. Put off cleaning up after Miss Hothead for now...
The issue now was what to do with the Celestial Death Qi before my eyes.
Just one step away.
The Transcendent Realm and Heavenly Demon Realm no murim expert had pierced, and beyond to the True Divine Realm—the key dangled right there.
After that long journey, all the chaos, and now blocked at the final step...
"Dianes?"
"..."
"Dianes!"
"Huh, wh-what?"
"You okay?"
Fixated on what to do with the amphora—more precisely, the Celestial Death Qi inside—I hadn't heard Atalanta calling.
Turning at the gentle touch on my shoulder, I saw Atalanta gazing at me with worry.
"Yeah, just concentrating. I'm fine."
"Really? You look anxious."
"...What?"
Anxious?
Me, anxious right now?
Her words jolted me awake like cold water.
"I get Oedipus's issue is serious. But try calming down a bit."
"..."
She sat beside me, gently resting her head on my shoulder.
"If you're fixated on the gain ahead and get hasty, you'll hang yourself on it and miss everything else. Your words, remember?"
"Haha. Eating my own words, huh."
Demonic illusions strike without regard to righteous or demonic paths.
The anxiety and impatience from failing to master one's heart.
Especially in the fierce demonic path, neglecting it manifold invites qi deviation, turning one into a cripple or madman.
And here I was, no novice or second-rate warrior, getting impatient with the next realm in sight?
Wasted all these years.
Realizing that far, a pathetic chuckle escaped me.
"Right. A hero like Dianes should smile like that."
Her radiant smile, reassured, washed away the last traces of impatience—utterly beautiful.
Yeah, no more rushing.
Plenty of time left; I could mull it over carefully.
Can't burn it since it's in an amphora, not a doll.
Far weaker than when it infested Oedipus, so handling it should be easier.
"...Ah?"
Celestial Death Qi that nearly vanished in a human-like doll.
Scattered by a mage's hand, then resealed.
Energy shifting between tangible and intangible, now back in the amphora?
A flash of hypothesis.
Extremely risky, utterly absurd.
Yet an adventure worth attempting.
-Wuuung!
The divine karma seed thrummed too, as if affirming it was right.