Chapter 50

“Oh! Dianes!”

“Neri?”

While I was busily sprinting between the trees, a familiar voice suddenly called out to me from below.

I hastily stopped and looked down to find Oceanus’s beautiful youngest daughter gesturing and jumping towards me.

…Covered head to toe in blood.

With a sigh, I descended to the ground, and this reckless girl eagerly rushed to embrace me.

“Diiiiaaaneees~ I was so scared~”

“How can you lie without batting an eye? Didn’t I tell you not to come at me covered in blood?!”

As she happily tried to hug me, I grabbed her forehead and firmly pushed her away to avoid getting blood all over myself.

Was this some kind of comedy? Even I found it absurd, but it was still much better for the ruffians who tried to hurt Neri to die than for her to get hurt, so I could catch my breath for now.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No!”

“What about the ones who tried to hurt you?”

“No?”

“…Who’s dead?”

“About three?”

“Where are the bodies?”

“None.”

“Who’s alive?”

“About two? They ran that way.”

Hmm, really?

Then it’s best to have as few mouths to talk as possible.

“Well done, but it would have been better if you handled it a bit more cleanly.”

The law is faint, and violence and rogues prevail even more in this world.

In such a world, asking a delicate and beautiful nymph to live with mercy despite having power was rather making her vulnerable.

I told her that if she had to take action, she should do it thoroughly, without any hesitation, so that they would never think of touching her or any of the Nereid nymphs again.

“That was when I was teaching Grasping Hand and Fist Hit…”

Judging by this sight, at least those who died didn’t die peacefully.

It just so happened that this Nereid nymph took from me the Five Yin Pseudo Destorying Art, a bizarre and terrifying art created from the secret techniques of the Indian and Podalap Palace esoteric schools.

“Well, at least you’re not hurt.”

“Hehehe… Thanks for worrying about me.”

“How about dealing with that blood first? It’s a bit disturbing to look at.”

“Oh right! Silly me, wait a moment!”

-Clap, clap!

As Neri clapped lightly, the groundwater that sprang up at her feet slowly enveloped her, swiftly absorbing the blood and flesh before disappearing into the ground.

“Ta-da!”

“Whenever I see it, it’s truly amazing.”

Even though she was a nymph of the sea, didn’t her mother say she was the goddess of clear water?

Maybe that was why Neri could freely handle groundwater and spring water like this.

Anyway, since Neri’s hygiene had improved, let’s move on. The important thing now wasn’t that.

“Neri, have you seen anything strange lately?”

“Something strange?”

“How should I put it…? A woman with a color that looks like an overdose of dye. Or a goddess with bat-like wings. Things like that.”

“I’m not sure? After blowing up those three earlier, Dianes appeared while I was playing tag with the other two.”

“Really?”

I definitely didn’t see it wrong.

Was it just a passing god by chance?

“Let’s get out of here for now.”

“Huh? Why?! I haven’t even gathered all the mushrooms yet!”

“Exactly, I flew all the way here, yet you don’t want to say hello?”

Trying to distance ourselves from any incidents or accidents, I pressed Neri’s shoulders firmly.

For some reason, there was a strange voice naturally joining our conversation.

“…Huh?”

“Ha… damn.”

I muttered a curse quietly, sensing a bad premonition that another incident had captured me.

A voice full of mischief and laughter echoed above my head.

I didn’t want to see it.

The already long day was finally ending, but it was clear that this voice, dying to have fun, would make the night even longer.

“Oh my? Why the reaction? Weren’t you chasing after this pretty sister, mesmerized by her beauty?”

“Pretty sister? Dia. Is it another woman?”

“What are you talking about again?”

I clutched my forehead in response to Neri’s reaction, who couldn’t read the atmosphere at all.

Long hair reminiscent of strawberry milk suddenly filled my vision.

“Hello~ Our youngest~?”

Blood-red eyes sparkling with curiosity, interest, and fun.

Pink hair that stood out even from a distance and bat wings reminiscent of Dracula.

And a beautiful woman with a seductive appearance, holding a sinister smile as if plotting a mischievous prank.

Whether in my previous life, the life before that, or even in this life, she was a woman with such a striking impression that I would never forget if I had even brushed past her once. She was hanging upside down in mid-air, waving at me.

But what did this goddess just call me?

“Excuse me, do you know me?”

“No? It’s our first meeting, our first meeting.”

“Right?”

I was flustered by a title that I had never heard in my three lifetimes and felt completely unrelated to me, while Neri was tugging at my clothes from behind.

“D-Dia…”

“Neri?”

For some reason, Neri was bowing her head deeply and clinging to me, trembling.

Did this strawberry milk woman do something?

As I slowly stepped back and created a barrier with divine magic to protect Neri, she finally stopped trembling.

“Oh~ Are you already using Mother’s divine power like that? Impressive!”

“What the hell…? What did you do to her?”

No matter where she went, even when facing a bear as big as a house, the usually cheerful Nereid nymph suddenly becoming so terrified was unusual.

I cautiously raised my divine magic and qi, wary that it might be some kind of mental attack or trick.

“Hahaha! Calm down~ It’s just that the child is a bit sensitive and overreacting to my divine power.”

“Are you blaming the child? Isn’t it a problem that you can’t even control your own energy and let it spill all over the place? If you don’t step back right now… hmm?”

“Oh my?”

I unintentionally blurted out a strong remark as I faced the woman who had spun around and stood right in front of me.

‘Something’s wrong!’

As soon as I made eye contact with this woman, I felt something bubbling and boiling inside me.

It felt like I was facing an enemy, if not a mortal enemy, then at least someone with whom I had a bad fate, making me feel a surge of repulsion and anger.

When I saw her blood-red eyes watching me with keen interest, it became clear that my current state was not due to myself but because of the woman in front of me.

As the calculations quickly concluded, I shifted my focus from the intimidating Godly Demonic Qi to the calming Martial Spirit Cultivation and began to concentrate on my breathing and qi.

“Phew…”

In an instant, the bewilderment and anger that filled my head dissipated, and my pounding heart, driven by fury and rejection, returned to its normal rhythm.

“…Wow.”

The pink-haired woman, evidently surprised by my actions, let out an exclamation in astonishment.

“Neri, are you okay?”

“Ugh… Dia, my head hurts…”

“Where? How does it hurt? Is it a stabbing pain?”

Neri’s condition improved as I blocked the woman’s influence with my qi barrier, but she still showed some aftereffects, collapsing and groaning in place.

“Argh…!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Just hang in there a little longer.”

What kind of god could she be to make such a lively child so drained just by appearing in front of her?

Even while raising my guard inside, I thought it best to move Neri first, so I picked her up.

“Huh? Uh, uh? Go, go?”

“First off, the child’s condition isn’t good. What would you even want to talk about? Besides, starting with trickery right from our first meeting? It’s really unpleasant.”

“Ha, do you know who I am?”

“Should I know who you are?”

Given that she had suddenly appeared and struck first, it felt all too familiar that she might indeed be a goddess.

I was even contemplating just confronting her, considering how she provoked my temper earlier.

“You were the one who used tricks without even revealing your name first, so if you have business, let’s move this child first.”

“Neri… was it? A pet name, huh? You must really adore her. A lover?”

I ground my teeth at the clear provocation involving Neri.

“…If you cross the line any further, god or whatever, you won’t like what happens.”

Anger surged instantly at the sight of those blood-red eyes shifting their interest from me to Neri.

Challenging me was fine.

Provoking me was fine.

Each crisis, each moment of peril, was an opportunity for me, and as long as I practiced dark arts and followed the law of the strong, hardships and criticisms were not to be avoided but faced head-on.

But if anyone tried to harm someone else besides me, I was always ready to see blood.

Even if it meant my own blood might spill.

It was the same when I was the Heavenly Demon.

Those who challenged and schemed against me were welcome, but the cowards who targeted those around me had to be eradicated.

“I’m sick of connections that follow uninvited and disappear unannounced.”

-Whoooosh!!

Matching my emotions, the divine energy wrapped around me like a massive flame and roared.

It would become a shield to protect me and a spear to pierce my enemies.

Eventually, it would become a great calamity that burns all worldly matters to ashes, according to my will.

At my intense reaction, the unnamed pink goddess momentarily stiffened in surprise.

Then she tilted her head mockingly, smirking at me.

“Oh… if you put it that way… I’m even more jealous and can’t back off now.”

She really doesn’t get it, doesn’t she?

“Then, I guess blood will be seen.”

-Slash!

A gigantic sword of black flames soared, cleaving the sky.