Chapter 213
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 213
Chapter Title: Aphrodite's Temptation
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"Ughhh.... I'm melting..."
Rose-strewn hot spring bath.
The water was drawn straight from an underground spring, and rose petals were scattered lavishly, making it feel like sinking into a bed of roses.
'How much could I sell this water for if I bottled it?'
Just soaking languidly healed the swollen qi and blood, mending muscles and bones.
For any ordinary martial artist, this was the height of extravagance—using even a single drop of leyline water from a major meridian for a bath would be unthinkable; they'd build secret training chambers to hoard it.
A god's bath was another level entirely, it seemed.
"...But why are you undressing?"
Aphrodite lounged loosely before a massive mural depicting him reclining amid a rose field.
The goddess, who had been eyeing his body with keen interest, suddenly descended the stairs.
And with it, she began stripping off her clothes one by one.
"The man who defended Aphrodite's sanctuary is naked—should the lady of the house stay dressed to greet him?"
The goddess of beauty approached slowly, her allure impossible to refuse.
Save for soft hair teasingly, precariously veiling her form and glittering jewelry chiming sweetly, she was pristine white nudity.
Just like in the mural behind her, riding the clamshell—utterly bare, the goddess dipped her foot into the bath.
"Ha..."
The naked form of a woman—and not just any, but one of history's most breathtaking beauties, the self-proclaimed epitome of lewdness.
Even in the forest gathering of youths, tales of her mythical nudity often arose, yet it wasn't vulgar or obscene as imagined.
What struck him upon beholding that flawless body was pure awe.
No artist could dare approximate it on canvas, no sculptor mimic it—the pinnacle of beauty lay before his eyes.
Aphrodite slipped into the bath without a hint of shame, settling beside him with dreamlike grace.
"Phew~ Feel honored? This is the sanctum within the sanctuary, accessible only to me and my chosen priests."
Leaning against the tub's edge, she stretched languidly, her snowy breasts swaying naturally atop the water.
Bearing the sad fate of manhood, his gaze was inevitably stolen by those temptingly jiggling white orbs.
'...At least Atalanta or Artemis level. Hera's league?'
Boasting the heft of watermelons or melons, yet perfectly balanced without sag or disproportion.
Truly divine-tier... ahem.
"Uhuhuhu..."
Having long noticed his stare, Aphrodite smirked triumphantly, and he couldn't help but chuckle.
"What? Laughing?"
"We're way past the age of blushing and getting shy over this, aren't we?"
She was the well-seasoned goddess of revelry, bedding all gods save Zeus.
He wasn't some innocent playing celibate—his romantic entanglements were substantial.
Neri and Atalanta had even said it didn't matter if he brought home a few more.
'...Gotta treat the two of them right.'
With that resolve, he eased his raised body back down slowly.
"How is it? Your thoughts on facing the world's most beautiful goddess in the nude?"
"Honestly, it's an honor. You've given me prime drinking fodder now."
No falsehood there—pure truth.
But only that much.
The awe of beholding something divine faded quickly.
Gazing at the delectable feminine form stirred fierce lust, tempered by greater wariness; suppressing a sigh, he sank deeper into the water.
"Oh? Holding back isn't good for the body, you know?"
"If I just swung along with every urge, what sets me apart from a beast?"
"Tch, why so reserved, you vigorous young hero—younger than my trinkets?"
She sidled closer, pressing his shoulder, shoving that sacred body against him firmly.
Heavenly silk texture, the exquisite warmth stirring any man, those viciously soft, warm white breasts mashed against arm and elbow.
"Hahaha... Eros is the source of life itself. Love, the origin of all things. Restraint is mere cumbersome garb."
"Know this honor. I am Aphrodite. Countless heroes pined for a single touch from me. Noble gods kneel, begging my affection."
A snowy arm coiled softly around his neck, a honeyed, melting whisper brushing his ear.
"[You are beautiful and strong. You deserve to seize love freely, indulge eros to the fullest.]"
"[This is my reward to the hero who guarded my temple. Entrust your body, your heart—pursue love, surrender all to me...]"
So sweet, so seductive, it melted his brain; a voice he yearned to hear forever.
So endearing, so arrogant—it begged to pin her down and make her scream.
Now he was certain.
This goddess was a venomous mire.
Sweet poison drawing in gods and heroes, captives dissolving slowly within, lost to her scent and hue.
Unwittingly, without reflection, ensnared by the love and lust she offered, sinking inexorably.
"You are love itself."
[Huhuhu~]
Seductive eyes gleamed, melting beauty smiled at him.
Her soft hair, warm body, breath, voice—all enchanting sorcery.
Soul-binding arts? Aphrodisiac scents?
Trifles unworthy of her.
She dwelt not in human tricks, but as the origin of instinctual love incarnate.
Love manifested—the very essence.
Her affection, desire, venom, cruelty—all facets of love.
The most perilous emotion, which once scarred even that emperor-defying demoness, now tempted him directly.
"Forgive my rudeness."
"Huh?"
He gently grasped the arm Aphrodite had looped around his neck.
-Splash!
"Wha-what?!"
With a light splash, when the goddess opened her eyes, their positions were reversed.
Bewildered, as if unsure what happened, Aphrodite met his gaze from below.
"To be frank... even for me, this is no easy choice."
The body was a vessel for the soul.
Thus, identity remained unchanged regardless of form.
Yet the heart swayed with the vessel.
Not his demon-like body, but this overflowing youthful vigor—faced with such beauty, his lower abdomen burned madly.
But entanglement here was certain doom.
Great or small, she'd bind his path and realm endlessly.
Like that woman he still couldn't forget.
"You..."
Sensing the refusal in his words, her lovely face twisted.
But seizing her hand and kneeling, she eyed him curiously.
"Please don't take it as insult. In true awe and fear of you, forgive me restraining my desire and withdrawing."
"...Ha!"
Her refined features softened at his words, then she snorted in resignation, leaning loosely against the wall.
"Hmph, bold fool. Think such a chance comes twice?"
"Then I'll dream of today's memory eternally as treasure. Regrettable, yet this moment beautiful still."
Worth attending every lecture from Emperor Mountain's academy, theology, and Greece's great sage Chiron.
"Such an endless spring of words, sweet as a nightingale."
Aphrodite, slightly miffed at first, fully relaxed.
No worries of later grudges or misfortune befalling Neri or Atalanta.
Social life was brutally tough.
To reject a seductress proposing sex while sweet-talking to avert backlash.
"But is this okay right now?"
"What do you mean?"
At his puzzled retort to her out-of-left-field remark, she laughed amusedly.
"I invited you first for cleanliness... but unaware of the chaos erupting on the land you're preparing for your lovers?"
With a casual gesture, rose petals parted from the water's surface, revealing a scene.
"That's...!"
It was unmistakably Tegea and the Taygetos Mountains, recently traversed with Atalanta and Heracles.
Yet two giants ravaged the vast plains and peaks, crushing all; familiar shadows surrounded them.
And two shooting stars raced urgently toward the fray.