Chapter 193: She-demon

In the forest.

Whoosh~ whoosh~

The sea breeze gently brushed the leaves and branches, producing a pleasant sound; morning light slipped through gaps between leaves, like shafts of light pouring into the forest.

Seeing this, Artemis, who was responsible for leading the way, felt conflicted.

If, before falling into a drowse, it saw this island morning scene that made it happy, it would be quite interested in riding a Cerynitian hind, taking up its hunting bow, and, accompanied by the joyful voices of a group of spirits, roam freely through the forest.

But…

Artemis, with a sorrowful expression, unconsciously glanced behind with the corner of its eye and saw that its hunting bow, which originally belonged to it, was now hung on Shengjilesi's waist.

Although wearing the helmet of the OriginalBody powered armor prevented it from seeing Shengjilesi's current expression, Artemis remembered that Sui Bian had personally handed the hunting bow to Shengjilesi in its presence.

It understood best the feeling of receiving its father's affirmation, accepting his praise, and thus revealing an undisguisable joy.

Although its father Zeus had a tumultuous love life, he doted on this daughter of his; unfortunately, it could not learn where its father, nor the other gods, had gone.

Artemis had already learned from Sui Bian that its brother Ares had fallen, and, calculating in human time units, it had slept for at least ten thousand years.

From the morning of July 22 to today, July 30, Artemis had made up for the events of those ten thousand years.

It understood that humanity now truly ruled Earth, that the era of the gods, including Olympus, had long become history, and even the existence of those gods was being questioned.

Besides these, it learned that there were ten OriginalBodies like Leon and Shengjilesi.

Even though Sui Bian clearly stated that he and the OriginalBodies, as well as the Astates, were human, it still gave Artemis a sense that a 'new god' was rising.

As for the hunting bow…

Although Artemis felt displeased, it knew that, having lost its divine power, it could no longer use the bow, so it ceased to dwell on it.

What it now needed to consider was to cooperate as much as possible with Sui Bian and Umbrella, focusing its efforts on finding its other brother, the fire and forge god Hephestus.

After all, if it cooperated willingly, it still retained a certain degree of freedom, and the servant spirits and its pet Cerynitian hind were likewise unimpeded.

Soon.

Artemis led two OriginalBodies and eight Astates out of the forest to the eastern foothills of Santorini Volcano.

Here everything was cooled and solidified volcanic rock.

Bare rock faces, in the cracks, still held tenacious wild grasses, and there were also many ancient ruins.

Collapsed houses, damaged statues, buried plazas all indicated that this place had undergone a devastating catastrophe.

Walking among the ruins, observing the surroundings, Artemis could not help but feel pity.

It had once witnessed this place's prosperity, and also seen the devout, simple, and passionate residents who worshipped the gods; now they had all vanished, becoming memories.

Not long after, the group passed through the ruins, proceeded south along the mountain base, and eventually reached the southern end of the cliff.

Below the cliff lay a rocky shore battered by waves, while the flat ground on which the group stood, up on the cliff, opposite the mountain base, had a collapsed temple.

Due to the difficult terrain and its complete lack of scenic value, this temple had not been developed by the island's inhabitants into a tourist attraction.

But the true way to reach the volcano's interior was not this already collapsed temple, but the rocky shore at the base of the cliff.

All that could be seen was Artemis walking to the cliff edge, leaping forward, and lightly landing on a larger rock.

In contrast, the OriginalBodies and Astates…

Thud! Thud!

Their extremely heavy bodies all fell in free fall, directly shattering the rocks' 'stable' landing.

"…" Artemis was rather speechless.

But it did not voice any opinion, merely continuing to lead everyone to the cliff base, entering a fissure similar to that leading to an underground garden, delving into the cliff, and advancing toward the interior of Santorini Volcano.

The fissure first narrow then wide, but here no luminous moss grew; only at its end did a faint red point of light flicker.

Darkness posed no obstacle for the OriginalBodies and Astates.

Artemis was the same; losing divine power did not make it mortal, it needed no night-vision equipment and could see its surroundings clearly,

After advancing for about ten minutes, the 'red point' became increasingly clear, and the surroundings gradually grew bright.

Finally emerging from the fissure, it reached a man-made tunnel just as spacious but suffused with red light.

Upon slight observation, it discovered that the light source came from a crack on the tunnel's right side.

A dark angel stepped to the edge of the fissure and looked down, seeing that the bottom was a rolling, scorching 'river of magma'.

Meanwhile, Artemis kept its brows tightly furrowed, seeming to dislike this place.

Because of the magma, the entire tunnel was filled with a pungent rotten-egg smell, toxic to humans.

Artemis did not need to breathe, but could smell the odor; if not compelled by necessity, it would absolutely not come to seek Hephestus, who dwelt here.

On the other hand, the powered armor of the two OriginalBodies and the dark and holy angels could automatically filter the air, sparing them the unbearable smell.

Continue forward.

Not having gone far, Artemis's demeanor was no longer disgust but solemn.

Because numerous 'human statues' were scattered throughout the tunnel.

The statues' facial features were exquisitely lifelike, their clothing, hairstyles, and poses extremely realistic, except that all were male.

Upon close inspection, however, each statue showed a terrified expression, making a motion as if trying to turn and flee.

"Everyone pay attention." At this moment, Artemis, using somewhat unfamiliar modern language, reminded everyone:

"Medusa seems to be nearby; you are all male, and if you meet its gaze directly, you will turn into a lifeless stone statue."

In fact, upon seeing the statues, the OriginalBodies and Astates immediately guessed that it was the Medusa of myth.

They therefore directly switched their helmet displays to pulse-scan the surroundings, rendering object outlines on the screen, so as to avoid observing anything beyond the helmet with the naked eye.

"Thanks for the reminder." Nevertheless, the courteous Shengjilesi still habitually voiced his thanks.

Having made preparations and gone deeper, Artemis increasingly felt something was wrong.

Leon and Shengjilesi likewise felt a strong sense of familiarity, thinking it resembled the blood demon they had once dealt with.

When the group passed the right-angle turn of the tunnel, they saw a group…

That's right, they are a group of snake-haired women.

Their lower bodies are snake torsos with purple scales; their upper bodies resemble human females, their skin likewise pale purple, their appearance bewitching, and their heads are covered with dense living small snakes serving as hair.

The snake-haired women were originally teasing each other, or using the statues to pass the time.

However, the snake-haired women are now very interested in Lai Ang, Shengjilesi, and the Astate.

Hiss~.

They spat out their purple tongues, writhing their seductive forms as they swiftly attacked.

(End of chapter)