Chapter 100

“Raise your weapon. Or will you choose to die with bare hands?”

I briefly pondered, smiling faintly at the goddess’s spear aimed precisely at me.

“A spear? A spear, huh…”

This fight was not just an ordinary brawl.

It was a time to adjust the subtle discrepancies between the highly evolved body and senses of the Supreme Demon, like tuning a newly upgraded car.

Using the Supreme Fighting Demon Technique without any external energy, I had completely calibrated my reflexes, strength, and speed, and checked their peaks and limits.

Now was the time to test the demonic and divine powers I had briefly stirred up.

‘And the perfect test subject has come to me on her own.’

Moreover.

I would thoroughly crush this arrogant Goddess of Purity so she would never dare to lift her head and challenge me again.

I wanted to instill such fear into her that just the thought of me would make her shudder, even at the sight of my own black hair.

I didn’t know for certain if gods could die, but unless I was absolutely sure I could eliminate her risk, I’d settle for a state where it was as if she were dead—or worse.

‘It’s quite fun to think about what that state could be.’

The flowers atop a high mountain are always worth plucking, and the harder the oyster is to open, the sweeter its flesh.

Smiling darkly, I reached out and summoned my divine power.

-Whoooo!

With the unique sound of the air that occurs when divine power is activated, the black divine power that arose in my hand wavered and soon transformed into a single spear.

The entire thing, from blade to shaft, was pitch black—a black spear about 180 centimeters long.

When I gave it a light swing, it flexed smoothly and snapped back like a spring.

“Good elasticity.”

“A spear? Ha! You want to duel with a spear now? Even if Chiron tested you for it, I am someone who has been wielding a spear since before you were born…”

Then, at the moment when the leaves blowing in the wind covered Artemis’s lips.

-Swoosh!

The spear blade shot out like the wind, piercing through it and stopping just before Artemis’s lips.

“This should be enough to pass.”

Artemis’s beauty, which had been twisted with anger, turned cold.

The distance between the tip of the swiftly flown spear and her petal-like lips was just the thickness of a leaf.

It was a blatant provocation and a clear mockery.

But she couldn’t miss the warning that surged beneath it.

“How is it, Goddess? For something made by a novice demigod, it’s pretty well-crafted, isn’t it?”

This arrogant goddess had one misconception even after coming all this way.

She assumed she was the hunter, and I was the prey.

She believed that, no matter how well I performed, I was still in the palm of her hand, waiting to be caught and toyed with.

She was already imagining how she’d torture me to death, so I decided to correct that assumption from the outset, leaving no room for self-justification later.

“Listen well, to me, you are just a mere distraction, nothing more. Earlier, when your sibling was running through the sky, I had the most fun I’ve had in ages, so much that I felt like my stomach would burst.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

That thrilling and exciting fight still sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.

Receiving head-on the full power of the ancient great hero that I had brought to bloom with my own hands, and the authority of lightning that reminded me of the Supreme God Zeus.

That battle, where I wielded Asura’s fighting spirit drawn from a distant past or an unfathomable future without reservation, was one of the most enjoyable fights in both my past and present lives.

How much did I like it to decide, for the first time, to pass on genuine divine techniques?

As a result, no matter if she was a god from the twelve seats of Olympus or the notorious Goddess of the Crescent Moon in history, judging by the power shown so far, no matter how much she flew or crawled, she couldn’t impress me like Hercules, who awakened his divine power.

However, since her level wasn’t low, I also leisurely engaged in the battle, as if enjoying a full-course meal and wine to test my physical body.

“Even if you can’t give me the thrill he did, you’d better fight with everything you’ve got. Otherwise, killing you will be utterly boring.”

“……”

As I wiped the smile from my face and growled out the words, finally, it seemed like Artemis began to grasp the situation.

Her mouth slowly closed, and her eyes gleamed with fear, confusion, and a hint of dread.

The emotions I wanted my enemies to feel when they looked at me began to show in her gaze, and it filled me with a dark satisfaction.

“If you want to be more than just a mere snack or an after-meal dessert, you’d better brace yourself from now on. If you don’t impress me, I’ll make you a bloody mess and send you back to Olympus, purity and all.”

I’d make sure to send the heads of her little hunting pack as a parting gift.

A small service from me.

“What… ugh?!”

-Kaang!

The jet-black spear swung unexpectedly.

As if drawing a pitch-black afterimage across the void, Artemis hurriedly blocked the horizontal strike, but her slender body couldn’t withstand the impact and was sent flying far away.

“Kyaa?!”

Still, perhaps the title of the Eternal Huntress was not for naught, as she did not commit the error of going to fight close range.

Her hands, gripping the silver spear, trembled uncontrollably from the shock she had received.

Watching this, a smirk crept onto my face as I lifted my head to survey the surroundings.

An empty clearing in the middle of a forest that had been hollowed out.

The resilient stream, covered by the soil I had scattered, flowed heavily.

Trees swayed eerily, and the weak ones trembled, hiding under the forest’s shadow.

The sharp crescent moon in the sky shone brightly, illuminating the black demon and the pure goddess like a spotlight on stage.

“What a truly magnificent land. A land where myths and legends live and breathe. Even a ghoul drunk on blood would become a poet and sing of the beautiful scenery.”

“Kuh…”

I stood proudly, leisurely swinging my spear.

The goddess looked at me with eyes filled with humiliation and fear.

Humming a poem, I stared at the goddess, my excitement and anger rising naturally.

If I had the leisure, I would enjoy reciting poetry with a clear glass of wine, but something even more delightful awaited me.

Shall I begin with the first verse?

“Yes, that night too, the crescent moon was out. Do you remember?”

“Wh-what are you talking about…?”

Sigh, how disappointing.

It was the night I first met the goddess upon my reincarnation into this world, unable to contain my admiration for the blindingly beautiful huntress.

“I was still young, looking up at the beautiful goddess before me. I said something like… what was it?”

What did I say?

Ah, that’s right!

“If you don’t come to me, I’ll come to you.”

Swish.

Under the moonlight, the demon from the hellscape smirked maliciously, and the pure goddess of the moon could not tolerate the insult.

“Uaaah!!”

-Swoosh!

Artemis charged at me, trailing the brilliant echo of moonlight.

Elegant as an enraged leopard, swift as a deer in the forest, a beautiful attack.

It was a sharp assault befitting the Goddess of the Hunt, who had hunted beasts and monsters for ages.

In contrast, my movement was simple.

Just half a step.

Neither more nor less, just a precise half-step back, drawing a circle with the tip of my spear.

-Clang!!

In an instant, our black and white spear blades intertwined.

The silver spear tried desperately to pierce through the black circle and strike me, while the black spear gripped and shook the silver one like a venomous snake, creating a symphony that shook the entire forest.

-Screeeech!

The sound of metal was like the wailing of a vengeful spirit.

With the sound of war that I dearly love, Artemis’s spear blade couldn’t withstand the spin and flew high into the sky.

-Clang!

“Th-this!”

“The most basic of spear techniques: don’t thrust unless it’s a sure moment to bring you the win.”

If you get deflected like this, your body will be exposed, making you vulnerable to counterattacks.

The Crazy Wind Spear Technique said this as he aimed for a single strike and struck the back of my head.

“When finishing with a thrust, you thrust like this.”

“Argh!”

Artemis hastily tried to bring her spear down on my head.

But my black spear was already mirroring her movements.

Just like she had attempted, I now felt victory within my grasp as I thrust my spear forward, imagining the beautiful sight of golden blood splattering through the air.

“Huh?!”

-Boom!

This time, it was my turn to be surprised and bewildered.

It was clearly an unavoidable, unstoppable attack, so what was this hollow feeling?

In the moment I grimaced at the sudden surge of moonlight and the hollow sensation tearing through the air, as if answering my question, a silver figure charged through the moonlight’s fury.

“Growl!”

“What the…?!”

It was a huge leopard.

Its beautiful, silver fur glistened, and its pitch-black eyes burned with killing intent and poison.

Its white, sharp teeth and claws blazed with silver flames, aiming for my neck.

“Ha!”

This time, it was my turn to be astonished and amazed.

The beast with those venomous black eyes must be Artemis.

In an instant, she transformed from a beautiful goddess who could captivate any man’s heart to a divine beast that anyone would marvel at.

“So this is what it’s like to fight gods!”

This was a completely different thrill compared to when I had fought Hercules—human combat was no match for the sheer unpredictability of battling a god.

-Crunch!

“Growl?!”

However, the silver leopard’s teeth and claws did not draw my blood.

What she tore apart was the afterimage of the Phantom Step, and I had already retreated and aimed my spear.

“Is this a one-on-one now?”

As I aimed my spear, the crouching Artemis growled and spoke with intensity.

[You, you use strange sorcery. Is it the blessing of the Goddess Hera?]

“Growl!”

“No, I mean, it’s not magic, not a gift from the goddess… forget it. Let’s not talk like this.”

This was a technique with a completely different mechanism from magic, a truly superior power, the culmination of ten thousand years of martial arts history, cultivated by sages and demons who trained until they coughed up blood…

Even Hercules, who faced the Thunder Splitting River Technique, and Atalanta, who saw me use my qi techniques, initially claimed it was all magic or sorcery, but eventually, they just gave up and accepted it.

“Sigh.”

[Hmph, even if you borrowed the power of the gods, one must acknowledge what needs to be acknowledged. If you were born a woman, I would have surely made you join my hunting party. Truly, what a waste of talent.]

Artemis expressed her admiration, smacking her lips, as she never expected me to dodge her transformation attack.

Usually, if the enemy curses you out, it means you did quite well. If they even acknowledge it, it means you played a really good game.

I found it simply amusing that Artemis, confident she had regained the upper hand, was boasting.

“A transformation? I was a little surprised since I hadn’t seen that trick before, but don’t get ahead of yourself.”

When I retorted in disbelief, the silver leopard snorted and arrogantly lifted her chin.

[Hmph, you are ignorant of the full extent of divine power. You have seen only a fragment and thus speak so impudently to me. Though I refrained from revealing my divine status to punish a mere human, from now on, I will make you repent for your blasphemy in agony for daring to pierce my heart.]

“My, my. Look at you, all lively and feisty. My room’s pretty spacious. As long as you don’t make a mess, I could make space for a pet leopard.”

Regaining her composure, Artemis, in the form of a silver leopard, shook her shoulders as I prepared for the hunt.

The joyous second round was about to begin.