Chapter 5
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: The Crescent Moon and the Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis
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Anyone would be pretty pissed if a random arrow came flying out of nowhere and nearly took their life.
But what if the one who shot that bow was an insanely beautiful girl?
What if she was more stunning than any romance lead you'd ever seen, more beautiful than even the top beauty of the Central Plains?
How long would that anger last?
"Whoa..."
No other exclamation was needed.
Just "whoa."
A woman whose beauty could be summed up in that single word was glaring at me with venomous eyes.
Her skin was so pure white it made the gleaming moon in the sky lose its shine.
Her glossy black hair sparkled mysteriously under the scattered moonlight.
Her dark eyes flashed with an enigmatic light, and her figure—somewhere between girl and woman—radiated a fresh vibrancy.
And the vitality overflowing from her entire body. At a glance, she was clearly born with exceptional bones and muscles.
If this were the martial world, I would've snatched her up immediately, fed her the best food, dressed her in the finest clothes, and taught her every divine technique I knew.
She might be a bit old to start training in martial arts, but a few rolls in the dirt and some beatings would naturally open her meridians—no problem at all.
However, judging by that icy glare reminiscent of the killing intent from the Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace I encountered in the frozen Great Snow Mountains...
Things probably weren't going to end well.
"That arrow—you shot it at me..."
"Insolent wretch! How dare a mere man lay hands on my moonlight and touch my divine power?"
"Whoa..."
That venomous voice drew the exact same exclamation from my lips.
No, even this was the same as the North Sea Palace Lady?
The eerie sense of déjà vu sent chills creeping up my spine.
The Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace, Snow Fairy Baek So-seol.
Her name and epithet evoked blankets of heavy snow, and she was always the talk of the town whenever the martial world's greatest beauties were compared.
The isolated geography of the North Sea Ice Palace stimulated the poets' imaginations.
A few appearances at the Martial Alliance events had turned Snow Fairy's flower-like beauty into the subject of countless poems and witty tales.
And her martial prowess—wielding profound chill from the ancient mystery of the North Sea Ice Palace, the eternal ice crystal passed down through the ages—was so deep that even experts couldn't match it.
The Guixian Scholar even named the North Sea Ice Palace Lady as the biggest wildcard in the Great War between Good and Evil.
And that wildcard had appeared before me, leaving an indelible scar.
It started when the demonic army advancing through Qinghai and Sichuan clashed with an envoy from the Ice Palace to the Martial Alliance—a scheme by the Alliance.
Enraged by the Martial Alliance's one-sided media spin, the shut-in from the North Sea stormed into the Great Snow Mountains in Sichuan, where I was stationed.
'That was real chaos.'
At the time, our front lines against the Martial Alliance were pushing forward steadily. Qinghai and Sichuan had fully fallen into my hands.
The Tang Clan of Sichuan—one of the Five Great Families—had their poison users purged by fire. Most of the Qingcheng Sect's long-nosed fools were annihilated and sealed away. The Emei Sect fractured under the Guixian Scholar's schemes, destroying themselves in infighting.
For me and the Demonic Cult, it couldn't have been better.
While waiting for reinforcements from the church and solidifying control over Sichuan and Qinghai with livelihood policies and absorbing minor sects, I was buried in paperwork.
Then, suddenly, a freak cold snap hit the sweltering Sichuan summer.
I had occupied the Tang Clan's main fortress in the Great Snow Mountains—the heart of the Tang family—and was using the clan head's office as my temporary workspace.
The highest room with the best view: open the large window opposite the desk, and the stunning Great Snow Mountains scenery cleansed the soul.
I was powering through the onslaught of black ink and white paper, bolstered by the mountains' majesty.
But then.
After two weeks of all-nighters, with poison qi and frustration boiling over—even the Guixian Scholar was wary of me—
Just as I was wrapping up the struggle with those white sheets and black ink, imagine every approval document blurring before my eyes.
Two weeks of hellish work, soaking in snow and vanishing into the distance. I thought I was entering devilish possession.
I even half-jokingly wondered if the Zhuge Clan had sent assassins trained in their ancestors' weather manipulation arts.
No more words needed.
Anyway, as I shrieked like a little girl and scrambled to save the snow-ruined documents,
The North Sea Ice Palace shut-in who brought the blizzard strode in through the window and declared to me:
"How dare you defile my sacred realm with your filthy hands. Do you wish to taste my wrath!"
"...Ah, you startled me. Barging in during my flashback."
Not a word off. Same setup, same eyes glaring at me. The goddess's words snapped me back to reality.
"But seriously, this pisses me off."
Whether the Ice Palace's frozen snow bitch or this arrow-slinging huntress, I was the unilateral victim in both cases.
Yet these bitches, who flipped my life upside down with near-silent sneak attacks, acted so damn righteous?
"Look, let's sort this out step by step. You aimed that arrow at me, right?"
"And you're complaining? How dare a filthy man..."
"Second, there wasn't much reason for shooting it?"
"No reason! I was hunting in the forest for my longtime companion, and a man dares appear before me. This is clearly..."
"Third, you're a goddess, right?"
"...Ha! Was your stupidity born of ignorance?"
Years after meeting her, she still boasted the fresh charm of a fifteen-year-old.
Watching Nesneria, the Nereid nymph who wielded all sorts of powers with sea and song, I knew this was the Greece of mythic times I remembered.
In that mythic Greece, only one being could so brazenly claim unparalleled supremacy and childish tantrums.
"Kneel and worship. Guide of wanderers, protector of maidens, eternal hunter.
I am Artemis, mistress of the crescent moon, seated on Olympus's holy throne!"
"..."
Why do gut feelings always hit the mark?
I figured it was a big shot, but a world boss popped out instead.
A beautiful goddess smirking at me with a face full of smug superiority.
But her arrogance and mockery were understandable—she was that beautiful, that exalted.
"Man... Seeing a goddess I've only glimpsed in comics and wiki pages up close."
The Goddess of the Crescent Moon, Artemis.
Goddess of the hunt, worshipped fervently by maidens, huntresses, and male followers with maiden tastes.
The problem? Among Greek gods, she ranked top-tier in trash personality—a legendary psycho bitch.
Worse, the main victims of her drama were unlucky men and gods... or her own followers she'd forcibly toyed with.
And I nearly became one—Poor Orphan No. 1, head blown off by an arrow.
In short, I was fucked.
"Now do you understand? The grave sin you've committed?"
"..."
"If you kneel now, admit your guilt, and beg for mercy, I'll spare you transformation into a deer for my lovely huntresses' sport. Well? What will you..."
Soul-Stealing Secret - Soul-Stealing Timeless Strike
Trajectory altered. Shoulder pierced.
Whoosh—the beautiful silver arrow in her hand spun and streaked through the air like a swallow, silent as ever.
-Slash!
"Urk?!"
The arrow's tip was aimed squarely at the moon goddess's flawless brow as she rambled on.
The complete opposite of when it had flown at me moments ago.
But I'd been born into hardship, living rougher than any arrogant, overpowered god.
I wouldn't waste the thrill of a sneak attack on cheap taunts like this dumb goddess.
"Death whispers, and I strike without hesitation."
Artemis's silver divine power was overwritten by my Ghostless Heart Art's internal energy in the silver arrow. With a flick of my wrist, it arced toward her head.
The sharp moonlight tore into its owner's pristine shoulder.
-Thud!
"Kyaaak!"
They say gods' blood is golden.
Ichors—the immortals' blood—is their divine power, the essence of eternal life.
I bypassed that molten gold blood, plunging into her meridian.
"Quit whining over one little arrow!"
"You... you filthy worm!!"
But my opponent was the Goddess of the Hunt, with thousands of years under her belt.
Even writhing in pain, a massive aura like moonlight surged toward me.
"Yeah, those thousands of years aren't just for show, huh?"
Its form hinted at devastating power, like Snow Fairy's back then. But as energy, to me, it was just delicious meat.
"Alright then, let's see how tasty a virgin goddess's divine power is."
This frail little body was already craving true energy, and here this beauty offers a feast on a silver platter.
Of course I'd devour it properly.
The North Sea goddess Snow Fairy's fierce blizzard was just a refreshing bowl of shaved ice to me. The Solar Palace Lord's solar energy? I slurped it like hot soup, digesting it in my dantian.
Mortals feared it: the Heavenly Demon's right arm housed the arch-nemesis of the Eight Trigrams Divination, the mythic demon that devours all.
Five Aggregates Plague Art - Traveling Plague Devouring All
Devouring silver divine power.
-Shwoooaaah!
A massive maw of gluttony bloomed from my fingertips, greedily swallowing the silver divine power.