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Not knowing how long had passed, a slight prickling pain at the back of her neck roused linoe from the chaos of unconsciousness.
"Where is this?"
She shook her slightly sore head and looked blankly at the sowhat unfamiliar stone walls above her.
"Still in Arima Cave, but we've already left the Netherworld,"
a deep voice ca. Luo En, who was sitting at the entrance nibbling on a wild fruit, turned his head to look at his foster sister waking up leisurely on the grass mat, a look of disdain on his face.
"After releasing the Suppression Spell, you actually fainted for two hours, you're really too weak, aren't you?"
Flooded with fragnted mories that gradually pieced together into a complete image, linoe glared hatefully at the shaless scoundrel making snide remarks nearby, her teeth itching with irritation.
"It was you who attacked sneakily! How can you still be so self-righteous? Shaless!"
"Sa goes for you."
Luo En gave linoe an indifferent glance, snorted coldly.
"I just tried on you what you wanted to do to the night before."
Being called out on her undercover antics, linoe was montarily at a loss for words.
However, she quickly straightened her neck and argued, "But I didn't go through with it, did I?"
"So, you just fainted and had a good sleep," Luo En dropped the fruit pit, stood up, and the disdain in his eyes deepened, "Otherwise, I would have beat you up long ago!"
Realizing she couldn't outplay her cunning guardian, linoe reluctantly closed her mouth.
Seeing he had successfully deflected the topic and intimidated the conspiring Goddess of Conspiracy, who was inherently restless at heart, Luo En then presented a leaf wrapped with wild fruits, stretching his hand to pass it over.
"Eat sothing, then we can hit the road."
linoe took the fruits, began tasting a few subconsciously, and the sweet and sour flavor brightened her eyes, she quickly sped up her eating.
After devouring the mortal world's food like the wind sweeping through leaves, linoe's somber expression improved, and she casually inquired.
"Where to?"
Luo En smiled and didn't directly answer, instead, he asked with keen interest,
"Being defeated by so many tis, you must be quite frustrated, aren't you?"
"Not! Isn't all that for my own good?"
linoe's face showed a flicker of wariness as she shook her head vigorously with forced smiles, fearing that this was another ruse by a certain scoundrel to trap and deceive her.
Seeing her reaction, Luo En mockingly taunted, "Can't even admit it when you feel wronged, can you show a little backbone as the Goddess of Conspiracy?"
linoe, being in her rebellious phase, naturally couldn't stand the instigation and quickly blushed, assuming the attitude of throwing caution to the wind.
"Yes, I am frustrated, so what?"
"Always being suppressed by feels unbearable?"
"Yes!"
"Really want to hit soone?"
"Exactly! I even wish to give you a couple of good punches!"
Looking at that smiling face, linoe clenched her fists and asked impatiently,
"What do you want to say exactly, if you're going to fight, just do it! Don't think I'm afraid of you!"
"How about I take you sowhere to vent your anger?"
In linoe's half-suspicious, half-delighted eyes, Luo En took out a snake scale that he had been gifted by Echidna, the Mother of Serpents, with a grin.
~~
Several days later, on the eastern side of the Arcadian Mountains.
"Roar!"
The tumultuous roar resounded over the Nean wilderness, vast and flat. A colossal male lion, draped in tawny fur and asuring dozens of ters in length, sporting nurous Cursed Ropes on its body, pounced towards the shadowy bushes.
"Still not behaving? Beat it!"
At the command, several different figures leaped out from the bushes, encircling the charging lion.
A dazzlingly white fox, over half a ter tall and swift as lightning, took the initiative to strike, slapping its paw towards the lion's forehead.
However, upon contact, a grating sound of clashing tals rang out, and the giant white fox, with its paws chipped, wailed as it was sent flying backward.
The lion's charge was not only undiminished but not a single hair seed out of place.
Clearly, the hide was harder than steel.
Watching the enraged lion rush towards the white fox struggling up from the ground, a strange divine beast with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and a tail made of a serpent, surged from the side, forcibly deflecting the lion's charge.
Thunderous booms like muffled thunder rumbled as the two powerful forces collided.
The odd divine monster, with three heads, was no match for the lion's colossal strength and defense and was thrown far away.
"Hiss, this big oaf is still so tough to beat," hissed the snake head that acted as the tail.
"And its strength is even greater than mine," grumbled the lion head at the front.
"But man, it still acts so brainless, such a dumbass! Could it be that over the years, all it's been eating was just for building up muscles?" speculated the goat head on its back malignantly.
"Definitely!" The three heads seed to reach an agreent, nodding together, jeeringly looking towards the lion on the wilderness, shaking its head as it rose from the ground.
"Bang!"
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anwhile, a divine monster with a lion's body and a human's face, cape-like wings, and disheveled hair, didn't wait for the male lion to regain its footing before pouncing again, toppling it over. The face that greatly resembled a sorrowful woman neared the lion's face, muttering incessantly.
"What has legs but is unknown to man, stands taller than the trees, reaching up to the skies, yet will never grow taller?"
"It devours everything, worms, fish, birds, beasts, flowers, grass, and trees; bites through solid iron, eats through diamond-hard steel; turns rocks to flying ash; kills Kings, wipes out towns, transforms seas into mulberry fields, and mountains into plains."
"The answer, the answer, what is it?"
The male lion, dazed and confused, roared angrily at the sowhat neurotic creature baring its teeth at him.
"Roar!"
"Oops, wrong answer! Wrong answer!"
The female divine monster with the body of a lion and the face of a human let out a triumphant cheer and then raised its claws to wildly puml the male lion's head.
"The Sphinx, that madwoman, has gone berserk again."
"Fight, fight!"
"Yes, yes, just like that, beat it up!"
Amid the nearby tall grasses, a creature with a goat's head licked its lips while chuckling, a snake's head wriggled as it hissed, and a lion's head roared excitedly. The three-headed divine monster watched the fray with glee, cheerfully egging on the chaos without any intention of intervening.
Soon, the male lion ca to his senses. With extraordinary brute strength, he flung off the Sphinx scratching and clawing at him and charged furiously towards the silver-haired youth in the grass.
The beast's instincts told it that this individual posed the greatest threat.
According to the laws of divine monsters, if the strongest "King" is defeated, all his vassals will disperse like birds and beasts.
"Hee hee, the big dummy is in for it now!"
Young female heads and bodies with long hair, bird wings, and four bronze bird claws—the humanoid divine monsters—circled the battlefield, giggling and cackling in schadenfreude.
The Harpies, also known as Harpyiae, were the four daughters of the Demon Ancestor Typhon and Echidna—Aello (stormy), Celaeno (dark storm), Okypete (swift-winged), and Podarge (fleet-foot)—and that was their collective na. As spirits of the wind, they sotis acted as ssengers for Hades, the God of the Underworld, and were responsible for escorting the souls of the dead to the Netherworld.
However, their divine monster natures made them seem overly lively and raucous.
anwhile, Luo En in the grasses watched with a smile as the male lion charged directly at him. He stood his ground, neither dodging nor avoiding and slowly raised his right hand.
Then, he slamd it down with force.
"Boom!"
Accompanied by an almost imperceptible bull's lowing, the lion, which was struck on the head, crashed like struck by lightning, burying its head in the ground as its limbs twitched unconsciously.
No sooner had it fallen to the ground than a petite dark-haired girl exuding a strong scent of death leaped out from behind the silver-haired man. She eagerly jumped onto the lion's back, raised her fists wrapped in gloves, and began to pound its head wildly.
"So you're called the Nean lion, huh? Fierce my ass!"
"Roar!"
"Dare to roar at ? I'll beat you until you submit!"
With a fist raised, linoe punched the lion sprawled on the ground with the ferocity of a storm, the gloom and dissatisfaction that once clouded her face completely vanished, replaced by a sheer exhilarating excitent.
Aweso! So aweso!
The thought of the experiences of the past few days caused the Netherworld princess's eyes to narrow into crescent moons.
After erging from Arima Cave, she had assud she would be escorted to so hidden location to lead a wary and cautious life, possibly being bossed around under the guise of "protection" by soone all day long.
Unexpectedly, their first outing was to pick a fight.
And the target was a group of divine monsters that seed powerful and deserving of a beating.
Reportedly, these creatures were likely the offspring of Demon Ancestor Typhon, each dominating their own territory, acting tyrannically.
But that reputation was just against ordinary humans, demigods, and deities. Once they t her and that guy's combination, dragons had to coil, lions had to lie down, and even eagles flying overhead had to leave three feathers as a toll.
Hence, the two of them walked and fought along the way, exclusively curing any disobedience, subduing Typhon's offspring into submission.
Teussian Fox, the three-headed King of Monsters Chira, and the man-faced lion beast Sphinx, and the winged Harpies... these Typhon's offspring, acting as lackeys surrounding them, were the fruits of their journey.
And now, they were dealing with a mber of Typhon's offspring nad the Nean lion.
It had to be said, this thick-skinned fellow was not only resistant to beatings but also was more bestial than intellectual, making even simple communication difficult; they had to beat it down before considering how to ta it.
As linoe thought about her falling fists, she added more divine power, trying to subdue the lion's head by herself.
However, the Nean lion, known for its impressive defensive abilities, was not taken down but, instead, its aggression was fully ignited by the relentless beatings.
The Nean lion managed to pull out its head and shook its body, flinging the unprepared linoe aside then roared in defiance all around.
Seeing the desperate state of the lion, the nearby Typhon's offspring with intellect and wisdom imdiately halted their advance.
Luo En yawned lazily and spoke calmly.
"Let's all attack together, it's getting dark, and we need to finish this quickly. Anyone slacking off will go without dinner tonight."
Upon hearing these words, the nearby Typhon's offspring imdiately stiffened, and then, they surged forward together to confront the Nean lion on the ground.
The three-headed King of Monsters Chira spewed flas, the four Harpies flapped their wings creating a piercing Aether Storm, the Sphinx murmured wearying divine chants, the Teussian Fox glared with its glowing eyes causing ntal interference, and the Netherworld princess linoe pulled out two poisoned daggers for a dishonorable sneak attack...
Soon, the once mighty Nean lion let out a mournful roar in this utterly inhumane group assault and fell thunderously to the ground.
Upon seeing this, linoe quickly stepped forward and cast a series of Suppression Spells, curses of unconsciousness and binding on the unconscious Nean lion before she finally relaxed. She took out so ropes braided from the tendons of two-legged dragons to thoroughly bind the unfortunate giant orange cat on the ground, securing it tightly before clapping her hands contentedly, finished with the task.
"Done!"
Luo En looked at linoe's operation, which could be described as textbook perfect, and felt a deep sense of satisfaction.
Such a teachable child!
He then took out a piece of parchnt and crossed out the na of the Nean lion. Guided by the cover of night, he led Typhon's offspring into the vast mountains of Arcadia to rest and recuperate.
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