Chapter 203: Something’s Off With Athena Lately (Part 3)
Obey him, protect him, follow his will!
Obey him, protect him, follow his will…
Saintess Inas’s gaze became increasingly vacant and dull.
Her eyes were like those of a corpse, devoid of light.
A strange, eerie voice echoed in her ears, in the depths of her mind, like a brand, deepening the mark upon her soul.
Her own aura seemed to vanish completely.
She became like a beautiful, lifeless puppet.
After about a minute, Saint Son O’Niens’s long journey finally ended.
He snapped the neck of the fawning nun beneath him, tidied his clothes, and a twisted smile appeared on his face.
What a shameless woman, he thought, she actually said he was better than other men!
Several nuns had mysteriously disappeared from the Earth Knights in recent days. The Church of the Earth Mother Goddess claimed they had simply returned to the Imperial City, unable to bear the hardships of the wilderness.
Now, the truth was revealed.
These nuns had been killed by O’Niens, their bodies stored in his spatial ring.
Athena and Sylph, clearly shocked, hadn’t expected this.
A spark ignited in Inas’s eyes.
Obey him, protect him, follow his will.
Protect him!
What O’Niens had done absolutely couldn’t be exposed. A Saint Son consorting with nuns, and then murdering them…
If this were revealed, he would not only lose his position but also face severe punishment.
Inas silently lunged towards Qin Chu, her right hand outstretched, her fingers spread, her nails suddenly extending into sharp claws.
Like a musician playing a harp, her fingers swept towards Qin Chu’s back.
Inas was nominally a mage, practicing the traditional Earth magic of the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess.
But she had also cultivated the Battle Qi passed down for thousands of years within the Church, even earning a title and becoming an Earth Knight.
Her strength was greater than she appeared.
Qin Chu, Sylph, and Athena had witnessed the Saint Son’s actions. They couldn’t be allowed to live.
Just as Inas’s fingers were about to touch Qin Chu’s back, her sharp claws tore through the air with a hissing sound.
It seemed that Qin Chu’s heart would be ripped out in the next second.
Athena and Sylph finally snapped out of their shock. O’Niens’s actions had been so horrifying that they had been completely captivated, forgetting about Inas beside them.
Now, even if they saw it, it was too late to stop her. They could only watch helplessly as her sharp claws got closer and closer to Qin Chu’s back…
Bang…
Just as Qin Chu was about to be eviscerated, a dark red light flashed on his back.
Inas’s attack was blocked just inches away.
It was Anthea.
Sylph and Athena might be distracted, but Anthea never was.
In her mind, Qin Chu’s safety was always the top priority. After all, there was no place more comfortable for her than his body.
But Anthea was also very careful. She only blocked Inas’s attack, her presence remaining hidden.
Sylph, Athena, and even Inas all thought that it was Qin Chu’s own instinctive reaction. No one noticed Anthea.
The three women looked at Qin Chu in surprise. They hadn’t expected him to be so strong, able to easily intercept such a swift attack.
The force of the impact sent a flush to Inas’s face, her chest heaving. Her right arm went numb, and she stumbled backwards, barely managing to regain her balance.
Her eyes narrowed, a hint of madness flickering within them.
Sylph and Athena, snapping out of their shock, were also ready to attack… Qin Chu was very important to both of them.
In Athena’s eyes, he housed Jie Luo’s remnant soul.
In Sylph’s eyes, he was her only savior.
Neither would allow him to be harmed.
Qin Chu placed his hands on their shoulders.
He smiled and shook his head, then looked at Inas, who was crouching slightly like a leopard, “Saintess, that wasn’t very honorable, attacking me like that.”
His voice was calm, without a hint of anger or tension.
It was as if two old friends were casually chatting.
Inas tensed, her fingers curled into claws, her lips pursed. Her heart pounded.
The Second Hero was stronger than she had imagined. And with Sylph and Athena here, she was definitely no match for them. Could it be that she couldn’t protect O’Niens?
“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to spread the word about what happened here…”
“Please believe me, I only suspect that O’Niens has been corrupted by a sinister power. If you don’t think so, Miss Inas, I don’t mind. After all, it’s the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess who will suffer the consequences, not me.”
“I’ll just treat O’Niens as a good test subject and observe his condition along the way.”
Inas’s gaze was still fierce. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because you have no other choice. Or do you really want to fight me here and now?” Qin Chu shook his head, “Miss Inas, you don’t want to do that, trust me.”
“Huh? What are you doing here?” At this moment, O’Niens, sensing something, floated up into the air.
He found this combination of Qin Chu, Inas, Sylph, and Athena very strange. Then, as if he suddenly realized something, he rushed towards Qin Chu with a ferocious expression, about to grab him by the collar, but Sylph blocked his way.
O’Niens was forced to stop abruptly.
Both Sylph and Ekaterina terrified O’Niens. He could only stand there, pointing at Qin Chu and roaring angrily, “Damn it! Did you ignore my warning?”
“I warned you, stay away from Inas…”
“Inas is mine!”
Qin Chu shrugged lazily, “My dear Saint Son, you’re overthinking it. I just wanted to invite you to a small banquet I’m hosting.”
“It would be my honor if the noble Saint Son could attend my banquet.”
O’Niens’s face twitched. This damned guy didn’t even flinch when he lied. He had finished his gathering with those women and only then came to invite him?
“If I remember correctly, your gathering has already ended,” O’Niens said with a gloomy face.
Qin Chu didn’t even bat an eye. “The second round. You know, it will be a purely masculine gathering.”
O’Niens’s lips twitched. A purely masculine gathering?
“Not interested.”
“That’s a pity. In that case, I’ll take my leave.”
Qin Chu bowed gracefully to Inas and O’Niens and turned to leave. Faintly, he could still hear O’Niens’s curses behind him.
This guy seemed to be less and less concerned about decorum.
After returning to his tent, Qin Chu was alone, Shaye perched on his shoulder, unseen by ordinary people.
“How do you feel?” Shaye asked.
“Slaughter, desire… these are human instincts. Everyone has impulses they don’t want others to see, a dark side. It seems that the effect of that thread is to amplify this dark side without limit.”
“That’s why this usually self-disciplined Saint Son is acting so impulsively.”
“It’s precisely because of the amplification of his dark side that O’Niens is pursuing women he would normally disdain, and then killing them mercilessly afterwards to prevent his actions from being exposed.”
Qin Chu’s own dark side was revenge… So when he touched the thread with his consciousness, he felt a strong urge for violence, slaughter, and destruction.
“O’Niens has already started to change. It’s certain that his complete transformation is inevitable, but it might take a long time.”
Shaye tilted her head, smiling like a little devil, “Then what are you going to do? You still have one thread. Are you going to put it into O’Niens’s body too?”
“If I have the chance, I really want to see what the effect of two threads would be.”
“But there’s no rush. I’m more interested in Sylph’s situation.”
“Just one thread has already caused such a rapid change in O’Niens. Why can Sylph, with twenty-six threads in her body, still maintain her sanity?”
“I don’t think Sylph has the ability or the willpower to resist the corruption.”
“This is indeed suspicious. Perhaps there’s something special about Sylph’s body, something we don’t know, that allows her to suppress the corruption?”
“Or conversely, could the true purpose of these threads be to suppress Sylph’s special qualities?”
Shaye proposed several hypotheses, each one seemingly plausible.
The only way to find out the truth was to extract all those threads from Sylph’s body one by one. This wouldn’t be easy, it would be a long process.
Qin Chu suddenly realized that the threads within Sylph were actually very sharp weapons, weapons that could give him a legitimate reason to kill someone.
If he put a thread into one of his enemies’ bodies, that person would soon mutate, become a monster, their reputation ruined, and then Qin Chu could purify them in the name of justice.
Killing his enemies and gaining fame, a win-win situation.
“Is anyone watching us?”
“Athena is pacing around the tent, seemingly wanting to come in, but she’s still hesitating,” Shaye sensed her surroundings and said, “I didn’t detect any Mana fluctuations from her.”
Athena’s behavior had been strange lately.
She would often linger around Qin Chu, seemingly wanting to approach him, but then she would back away due to some unknown fear or concern.
Could it be that she had realized that the so-called Jie Luo was just him in disguise?
This wasn’t a good sign.
Qin Chu had thought he could maintain this charade for longer. It seemed that Athena was smarter than he had imagined.
Such an intelligent woman was definitely not a good thing for him. Perhaps it was time to deal with her.
The image of Candice appeared in Qin Chu’s mind. She was still in the Demon Beast territory, acting as an intermediary between him and the Seventh Prince Lomond:
“Candice, inform Lomond. Three days from now, under the full moon, we’ll make the trade in the Pipes Forest.”
“Be careful!”
After the brief communication, Qin Chu immediately ended the connection.
In the Seventh Prince’s palace, Candice pouted.
Although she understood that Lord Horus was under constant surveillance, making it very difficult for them to meet or communicate, and that every contact had to be brief, she still felt a little disappointed.
But his last words, “Be careful,” warmed her heart.
A smile flickered across her face before she quickly composed herself and turned to the Seventh Prince Lomond, “Your Highness, that mysterious gentleman has sent a message.”
“He said that the trade will take place three days from now, at midnight, in the Pipes Forest.”
Lomond’s eyes lit up, his heart filled with excitement.
With the capture of Ronald, a member of the Hero Squad, and the widespread publicity within his territory, a large number of Demon Beasts had come to see this executioner who had slaughtered hundreds of thousands of their brethren.
Lomond’s prestige had skyrocketed, almost catching up to the Second and First Princes.
The number of Demon Beasts who had come to pledge their allegiance to him had more than doubled in this short time, and even some leaders of mid-sized factions had come to negotiate, hoping to gain his acceptance and protection.
This made Lomond feel a bit giddy.
He enjoyed this feeling, the flattery intoxicating him.
But Lomond knew very well that he was still far, very far, from becoming the true Demon King…
He stood up, deciding to personally observe Ronald’s situation. He was an important bargaining chip and couldn’t be allowed to be killed by those crude Demon Beasts.
He knew how savage his subordinates could be.
At the Goblin Chieftain’s suggestion, Lomond had set up a large exhibition hall… or rather, a flat area enclosed by a wooden fence.
In the center was a large wooden frame, Ronald’s arms tied to it, his body forced to kneel.
The Goblin Chieftain, who had proposed this idea, was also in charge of the exhibition hall.
“My dear Goblin, how is the situation?”
The Goblin Chieftain looked up at the towering Lomond, opened his mouth wide, and tried to speak in a loud voice, “Reporting to Your Highness, my brothers are very satisfied!”
“But for Ronald, there’s probably only pain!”
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