Chapter 157: A Thank You Gift for Athena
That unprecedented power had allowed the Grand Prince to experience what it truly meant to be strong, but that feeling was fleeting.
The sudden disappearance of that power, the resulting emptiness, made him tremble with fear.
Perhaps due to the Evil God’s aura, the Grand Prince displayed astonishing vitality. Even though he no longer had a human form, reduced to a mass of rotting flesh with a twisted face, he was still alive.
But for the Grand Prince, living was worse than death.
At least if he died quickly, he wouldn’t have to let others see him in this clownish state.
Pathetic, filthy, disgusting… For the Grand Prince of the Auville Empire to be reduced to this state, it was truly tragic.
He continued to plead, hoping that the being wouldn’t leave him, wouldn’t abandon him…
His appearance made Wadsworth frown. He couldn’t stand to see his son so disgraced. “Shut up, you unfilial son!” he snapped.
His father’s harsh voice subconsciously made the Grand Prince stop pleading. He looked around blankly, and suddenly, a spark ignited in his eyes.
He saw Loseweisse.
The rotting flesh quivered with excitement, like a giant, pulsating jelly.
His appearance frightened Loseweisse, and she instinctively hid behind Qin Chu, clutching his sleeve. Her touch made Qin Chu feel a twinge of disgust, but he didn’t shake her off.
What a vicious woman, Qin Chu thought. The Grand Prince is in this state, and you’re still provoking him?
A deep sadness filled the Grand Prince’s gray eyes.
In the end, Loseweisse still wouldn’t look at him.
“You scoundrel, look at what you’ve become! You’ve disgraced the Aberchian family!” Wadsworth scolded sharply.
Although he was only using his son as a pawn, seeing him like this still made Wadsworth feel ashamed.
The duel proposed by the Grand Prince had attracted a large number of nobles, but who would have thought that a sacred duel would turn into a hellish scene, with countless casualties?
Thinking about the trouble he would face, Wadsworth felt a headache.
Especially since many of these nobles were high-ranking and influential.
The Grand Prince didn’t understand what his father meant. He had lost, but it wasn’t that bad… Suddenly, his eyes rolled, and he realized that something was wrong with his vision. Why did the people in front of him seem so tall?
He rolled his eyes and saw his reflection in a shard of broken glass. A mass of dark red, rotting flesh covered in bumps. His body seemed to be melting, a sticky liquid oozing from him.
The rotting flesh trembled violently, then suddenly became still.
“So, this is what I’ve become?”
His voice was filled with sorrow and loneliness.
No wonder Loseweisse was so scared when he lunged at her.
She didn’t hate him, she was just frightened by his appearance.
He had truly done something terrible.
His eyes suddenly turned to Qin Chu, the man he had hated so much. The hatred in his heart inexplicably diminished. This man stood tall and proud before him, while he was so pathetic:
“Hero,” he rasped, “I entrust Loseweisse to you. Please protect her…”
This man was still thinking about Loseweisse even now?
A smile touched Qin Chu’s lips. “Don’t worry,” he said, “I will definitely take good care of her… with everything I have.”
The Grand Prince seemed relieved and sighed. “One last request,” he whispered, “Kill me. Let me die as a knight in this duel.”
This was the last shred of dignity the Grand Prince sought.
But Qin Chu shook his head and refused. The Grand Prince didn’t need him to do it personally.
The Grand Prince’s gaze and voice seemed to dim. “Do you even find it disgusting to kill me?”
Wadsworth impatiently interrupted his son’s self-pity, “Tell me, what was that thing just now?”
If the true form of that eerie being had appeared, not even Wadsworth alone, but even the four of them together, wouldn’t be a match for it. Recalling that monster, Wadsworth shuddered. He had to understand that thing…
“I… I don’t know…” Confusion filled the Grand Prince’s eyes.
That mysterious being had suddenly appeared before him. Now that he thought about it, he knew almost nothing about it.
“Useless waste…”
Wadsworth cursed in a low voice.
This was the last thing the Grand Prince heard in this world.
His father casually waved his hand, and a powerful force struck the mass of rotting flesh. With a bang, the flesh exploded into pieces. For him to exist in this world for even a second longer was a disgrace to the Aberchian family. Wadsworth even ordered his third son, Bernard, to burn the remaining flesh and bone to ashes.
The last trace of the Grand Prince in this world completely disappeared.
This man, who had laughed the loudest when Qin Chu was executed in the first playthrough, ended his life in despair and sorrow.
The duel ended tragically.
Augustus, Saint Monique, and Wadsworth all had many things to deal with.
The Church’s losses, the Empire’s losses, the nobles’ losses.
Although they still had countless questions in their hearts, now wasn’t the time to discuss them, especially not in front of Qin Chu.
Qin Chu was also happy for the peace and quiet. If anyone asked about his sudden increase in strength and the matter of the goddess, he would have to make up lies.
Moreover, Qin Chu was also very worried about Karen in the residence.
After separating from the others, Qin Chu immediately returned.
Fortunately, because the residence was close to the commoner district, the impact it suffered was relatively small. Anastasia’s four guards had been staying in the residence. When the chaos broke out, they immediately took Karen to the basement of the residence, avoiding the disaster outside.
After confirming that Karen wasn’t injured, Qin Chu was finally relieved.
After calming down, Qin Chu began to think about the hint the goddess had given him when he risked his consciousness to connect with hers: Witches.
What did this mean?
Could it be that he was supposed to gather all the Witches? There were too many of them, Qin Chu was worried that his kidneys might not be able to handle it.
Just kidding, the goddess couldn’t be that absurd.
When he saw Violet beside him, Qin Chu suddenly had an idea… Did the goddess actually mean for him to collect the Divine Authorities possessed by the Witches?
However, according to Violet, most of the Witches were insane. It wouldn’t be easy to collect Divine Authorities from them.
Moreover, he didn’t even know where those Witches were, how could he find them? Because of the Church’s hostility, most Witches were hiding very deep.
“I know some of the Witches’ locations…” Shaye always appeared at the right time, her languid body draped over Qin Chu’s back, her chin resting on his head, her voice alluring and lazy.
Her snow-white arms rested on Qin Chu’s chest, swaying gently, “The closest one should be the Flame Witch!”
…
For the next week, Qin Chu stayed in the residence to recuperate, which didn’t arouse any suspicion from Wadsworth or Augustus. After all, Qin Chu had used special means to forcefully increase his strength. It would be unbelievable if there weren’t any side effects.
Wadsworth was busy dealing with the deaths of many nobles and appeasing their families.
Saint Monique and Augustus were dealing with the damage to the temples and the deaths of the clerics. During the previous descent of the Evil God, both temples had suffered heavy casualties.
Zimmerman returned to Sage Mountain, bringing out all the ancient texts he had collected, trying to figure out the identity of that Evil God.
As for the arena owner, he directly filed for bankruptcy.
The entire arena had been destroyed. It would be faster to rebuild it than to repair it. Most importantly, many nobles had died in the arena. Although it was caused by the Grand Prince, the Grand Prince had been personally executed by Wadsworth. Few dared to trouble the Emperor, so most of the nobles could only vent their anger on the arena owner. The compensation alone was a considerable sum.
As for the 100 million Mana Qin Chu had bet, it was naturally impossible to pay him according to the odds of 1 to 30. The owner simply didn’t have that much money. But the owner didn’t dare to default on the Hero’s money either. He scraped together everything he had, squeezing out the last drop of water from the sponge, and managed to gather 700 million for Qin Chu. Qin Chu’s wealth had reached 1 billion Mana, making him a small fortune in the Heavenly Continent.
Of course, money was just a number to Qin Chu. He didn’t care about money, really.
The training grounds of the residence were occupied by Angelica and Anastasia. Since Qin Chu’s duel with the Grand Prince, both girls had truly felt their own weakness, and they also wanted to become stronger.
They wanted to stay by Qin Chu’s side as a support he could rely on, not just survive under his protection.
Angelica was learning magic from Violet. Anastasia also wanted to learn magic from the Storm Witch, but she was dragged away by Anthea to learn martial skills and Battle Qi. According to Anthea, the women of the Maysfield family had considerable talent in both magic and Battle Qi.
As for Qin Chu, he was lying on the sofa, studying information about the Flame Witch.
There was relatively more information about the Flame Witch.
It was said that the Flame Witch lived in a place located at the border between human territory and Demon Beast territory. There was a continuous mountain range there, almost all of which was the Flame Witch’s territory.
Like other Witches, she almost never appeared before humans or other Demon Beasts.
However, that mountain was a very famous mine in the Heavenly Continent, rich in high-quality copper ore, which was very important to the Auville Empire. The Auville Imperial Army, together with the Holy See and the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess, had once formed an army of over 30,000, led by a Valkyrie, a Grand Mage, and a Master Thief, to attack the Flame Witch.
But the result was almost a complete annihilation.
The three strongest, who returned from the expedition, claimed that the place had become a hell, with flames burning everything. When the Flame Witch appeared, a second sun even appeared in the sky, its scorching heat turning everything to ashes.
However, the Flame Witch only killed those who invaded her territory and didn’t pursue those who fled.
Since then, that mountain had another name: Flame Mountain…
At the same time, Flame Mountain was also a very important strategic location for the Demon Beasts to attack humans. Directly crossing Flame Mountain could save a lot of time, so the Demon Beasts had also tried to conquer it. Unfortunately, an Abyssal Demon General, leading 70,000 Demon Beasts, left behind the ashes of over 50,000 corpses at Flame Mountain and retreated in defeat.
This Flame Witch seemed to have a much more fiery temper than Violet. It seemed that it wouldn’t be easy to obtain Divine Authority from her.
As Qin Chu pondered, he heard footsteps.
He looked over and saw Athena approaching.
Today, Athena wasn’t wearing her usual dark mage robe, but a casual outfit.
She wore a beige knitted dress that accentuated her graceful figure, instantly attracting Qin Chu’s gaze. Her long, fair legs were exposed beneath the skirt, alluring with every movement.
Her delicate feet were in simple slippers, her round toes peeking out playfully.
Athena stretched lazily, her already perfect figure even more breathtaking, the knitted dress seemingly about to burst.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing, just some history books about the Heavenly Continent,” Qin Chu shrugged and replied casually, “After all, I know too little about this world.”
After a slight pause, Qin Chu continued, “By the way, I haven’t properly thanked you for your magic guidance before.”
A blush crept up Athena’s fair cheeks, and she rolled her eyes at Qin Chu. Of course, she knew what he meant by “guidance.” He had obtained a large amount of Mana from her, through a special method.
Three days and three nights… Athena didn’t know how she had endured it. If it weren’t for her devotion to Lord Jie Luo, she wouldn’t have been able to hold on.
But the effect seemed to be quite good. The dense cracks on Lord Jie Luo’s soul fragment had almost completely disappeared. It seemed that Lord Jie Luo had recovered quite well during that time.
As long as Lord Jie Luo could recover, all her sacrifices were worth it.
Athena’s heart was filled with warmth.
Of course, she wouldn’t reveal her true thoughts to Qin Chu. She just said with feigned annoyance, “Actually, even without my guidance, you would have been fine, right? After all, your strength suddenly increased dramatically, and you even summoned a mysterious being…”
“Actually, I have a hidden ability that can’t be publicly displayed. The effect of this ability is to greatly increase my strength for three minutes… But you’ve seen the consequences. I’ve been resting for a week, and my head still hurts,” Qin Chu said with a wry smile. “As for that phantom you mentioned… Honestly, I don’t even understand what kind of being it is.”
“It seems to have been stimulated by the Evil God summoned by the Grand Prince, and it just appeared out of nowhere.”
Qin Chu scratched his head, his face filled with confusion.
Athena basically believed Qin Chu’s words. After all, in her opinion, their relationship was already very close. There was no reason for Qin Chu to lie to her.
Most importantly, Athena didn’t know much about that mysterious phantom either and could only make some speculations.
“Why did you suddenly stop the Grand Prince at that time? Was it for Loseweisse?” Athena asked.
Qin Chu blushed, his gaze shifting to the side, “How… How could that be… I just didn’t want that Evil God to cause too much damage, it has nothing to do with… the Saintess.”
Sigh…
This man was really easy to understand.
From the expression on his face and the tone of his voice, it was clearly for Loseweisse.
He really liked Loseweisse. But it was understandable. That woman Loseweisse was really good at pretending, her feigned purity and innocence were extremely lethal to men.
It was normal for Qin Chu to fall for Loseweisse.
Even that guy, the Grand Prince, was like that. He was almost dead, yet he was still begging Qin Chu to take care of Loseweisse, and Qin Chu actually agreed…
These foolish men didn’t know what kind of woman she was, how dark and dirty she was beneath her innocent and pure exterior.
Athena mocked him inwardly and said casually, “You said you wanted to thank me, you wouldn’t just say that casually, would you?”
“How could that be? Of course, I’ve prepared a suitable gift for you. I think you’ll be satisfied…” Qin Chu said with a smile, then took out a bag from his spatial ring and handed it to Athena.
Looking at the small bag, Athena was a little puzzled. What was inside?
Could it be some kind of accessory?
She didn’t really like those shiny, jingling trinkets.
Frowning, Athena opened the small bag. When she saw the contents, she was speechless. It was actually a pair of black pantyhose…
“My dear Hero, is this your so-called thank you gift?” Holding the black fabric in her hand, Athena was almost amused.
“Don’t underestimate this. I bought it from a luxury store in the noble district. This alone costs 8000 Mana. I think it will suit you very well…” Qin Chu muttered.
Athena spat angrily, “Tell me, what did you go out to do yesterday? You dirty-minded guy…”
Then, a charming expression suddenly appeared on Athena’s face, her eyes alluring, “Then, my dear Hero, do you want me to put them on now?”
Lord Jie Luo hadn’t recovered for seven days, and Athena was getting impatient.
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