Chapter 212
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 212
Chapter Title: Private Meeting with Aphrodite
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“Guh?!”
It was a horrific feeling.
A putrid stench wafted from every inch of my body, and a sticky grime clung to my skin like I'd been doused in filth. On top of that, the acrid rot of bile surging up from my throat threatened to make me hurl.
“Ugh... my, my head...”
But the worst by far was my head.
It felt like a massive nail was being hammered straight into my eye socket with a sledgehammer.
Something happened. Something happened.
The one who sent me to this Greece.
The being I'd called mother for the first time across three lifetimes.
The primordial night mother, Nyx.
The goddess whom even Zeus feared had gazed down at me with that ever-relaxed smile, clearly changing the subject and hastily sending me back to keep me away from something.
And at the end.
Whether I'd been launched upward or sucked downward—it was ambiguous.
But something had definitely swirled around Nyx as she waved me off.
Something denser than the pitch-black darkness enveloping her, something that had lived longer than the oldest stars.
“Argh!”
Every time I tried to dredge up memories of it, my eyes burned like they were aflame, and my head throbbed with agony as if set ablaze from within.
“Kuh... krrgh...”
Just seeing it, remembering it, trying to recall it was enough to trigger a violent rejection from my body?
As if this weren't some horror novel, how could that even be possible...
-Throb!
“Grrraaah...!”
Was this the price for trying to resurrect the memories I'd barely suppressed?
As my vision spun in torment, my body toppled sideways in the lotus position.
-Thud!
“Hoo, hoo... huuu...”
Like eyes naturally tracking a crawling insect, I forcibly reined in my head as it strained to replay the source of this nightmare, calming my raging qi with inner arts.
One wrong move, and I'd have fallen into qi deviation from a single memory.
What the hell had that thing been?
After exhausting every ounce of strength to soothe my head and qi, I finally managed to stand and lean back against the shrine's wall.
I couldn't gauge how much time had passed, but sunlight flickering through the door crack opposite suggested the nearby crisis had been resolved without incident.
“Hoo... thought I was a goner.”
Once my body finally settled, the tension drained away, leaving my arms and legs splayed out limp.
It felt just like the time I'd taken a direct hit from that Pawi Guoma bastard's plague art during his so-called “experience session,” blasting me with Plague Scattering Heaven.
“For now... let's rest a bit...”
A beautiful cosmos cradling galaxies in its arms, eternity in its gaze.
The proto-genos Nyx, who called herself my mother and made such a fuss.
Up until I'd swallowed that vile heavenly death of hers, questions had risen and fallen in waves.
Why send me here?
How did she find me?
What did she want from me?
How could I preserve memories across three lives?
How does one attain divine power and deeds?
And so on.
Not just me—anyone granted audience with a goddess existing before history began would have endless questions.
Yet standing before her, awed by her majestic divinity and the utter goofiness of her motherly antics, I'd stood dumbfounded, mouth agape, only to end up sent back like this.
And that indescribable, hazy presence...
“Kuh!”
Even brushing against the memory stabbed my brain like a spike.
What the hell was it?
My body rejecting it as if I weren't yet permitted to behold it—it was frightening enough to instill real fear.
-Knock knock knock!
“...?”
As I lay limp, wrestling uncontrollable memories, an unfamiliar knock called to me.
[Are you in~?]
With that, a pair of blue eyes suddenly appeared in the hole I'd made in the door.
[Ah! There you are! All done with your business? Then I'm coming in~]
Our eyes met, and the owner of those crescent-moon eyes, grinning like it was the best fun ever, flung the door wide open without hesitation.
“Ahaha! Long time no see, little cousin!”
“...”
The moment she stepped through the door, the whole area lit up like daylight.
Her golden hair, tinged with pink, shimmered like jewels strand by strand, and her sapphire eyes, gazing at me with an enigmatic glow, stole the breath from anyone who looked.
Even in my daze, her name slipped naturally from my lips.
“Aphrodite...”
“That's right! Praise me! Worship me! The flower of Olympus, arbiter of beauty and love, the goddess of endless passion has come to meet you herself!”
She struck a dramatic pose like an actress, arms flung wide, her myriad jewels at wrists, waist, neck, and even ankles jingling merrily.
Normally, such heavy adornment would seem excessive, but on her—who outshone every gem—she looked perfect.
The saying “clothes make the woman” didn't apply; here was a goddess whose face was wings themselves.
“Ha. Haha... long time no see.”
An uninvited guest barging in at my most vulnerable moment would normally earn scowls from any martial artist, noble or base.
But when that guest was a beauty—no, a divine beauty—who lifted moods just by existing, things changed.
“Hmm~ youuu...”
Aphrodite approached step by playful step, then flashed a knowing smile... only to suddenly grimace.
“You. Stink.”
...Ah.
Yeah, my current state was undeniably wretched.
While my head and qi still churned, my body felt oddly light.
Seems chugging Oedipus's heavenly death on a whim had been the right call.
Now I needed to assess my condition properly...
“When was the last time you bathed...? Ugh! It's foul!”
Ah, right.
This was Aphrodite's temple, wasn't it?
The goddess of beauty despised ugliness and loathed filth.
She saw bringing such into her domain as an insult.
If visiting Aphrodite's temple, always bathe thoroughly and dress cleanly.
Especially if you didn't want to wake up as a donkey or pig the next day!
Chiron's practical theology lesson flashed through my mind.
“You! Get up right now! With that filth on you, defiling my shrine...”
-Squelch!
Beneath the beautiful foot of the charging Aphrodite, eyes flashing with fury, came the sound of something squishy being stepped on.
“...This is.”
The lump of dead blood I'd vomited up earlier.
Rotten gore and organ bits clumped from the rampaging heavenly death, now crushed beneath the goddess's sacred foot.
“...”
“...”
Aphrodite's lovely face hardened in an instant.
I shut my mouth, feeling the chill myself.
[Get. Out. Now.]
* * *
The fuming Aphrodite teleported us straight to the bathhouse.
True to her grand temple, the towering ceiling bore a mural of Aphrodite riding a clamshell across the sea.
Gigantic marble pillars ringed the pool—big as a small arena—holding it all aloft in majestic splendor.
Compared to the vast bath, the dozen or so patrons were all Aphrodite devotees, each a renowned beauty across Greece.
-Scrub scrub!
-Squeak squeak!
“...I can wash myself.”
By the time I came to, I was naked, surrounded by dozens of beauties tending to my bath.
“No, Lord Dianes!”
“It's our honor to serve the hero who guards the sanctuary!”
Every direction offered blissful feminine forms: flawless porcelain skin glistening with water, exotic bronzed curves.
Lush or lithe, every variety converged on perfect beauty as they attended me.
Pure luxury.
“How is it? The ecstasy bestowed by Aphrodite's lovely priestesses?”
Aphrodite lounged on a chaise, watching me leisurely.
She couldn't tear her eyes away, clearly amused by my predicament in the priestesses' grasp.
“Better than expected... no, way more.”
To be precise, her gaze lingered elsewhere...
With my exhausted body barely suppressing qi deviation, I lacked the strength to resist.
...Honestly, it's nice.
Any man would struggle to refuse earnestly.
I'd been wary just yesterday, but now it was unavoidable—and besides, the world's top goddess lived up to the hype; stunningly gorgeous.
How long did I surrender to the priestesses' touch?
“That's enough. Withdraw.”
At Aphrodite's command, the priestesses vanished in perfect order.
Left in the vast, steaming bath were just me, soaking comfortably, and Aphrodite, reclining to face me.