"Poseidon, you piece of trash!"
A low, furious roar echoed across the sea. On the deck, Lorne's expression was dark and sinister as he brought his blade down.
"Bang!"
In an instant, blood splashed, and a fish head with eyes open rolled from the side of the ship into the surging waves.
[Ding! Today's Blasphemy Mission completed: Bronze Token 1.]
Along with a chanical voice resonating within the ocean of his consciousness, the glowing three pips on the dodecahedron in Lorne's mind faded out as a bronze badge dropped into his hand.
"Co on, co on, give Poseidon—or Hers!"
Muttering like a madman, Lorne tossed the bronze badge into the altar of bronze, transford from the Wheel of Hecate as the previously still dodecahedron began to spin once again, eventually halting on a face marked by three ripple lines.
[Congratulations, you've received Poseidon's Blessing: 'Abundant Fish Tide.']
The expectation and excitent that had just surfaced on Lorne's face froze in an instant.
Gritting his teeth, he swung the kitchen knife, aggressively descaling and gutting the headless fish in his hand. His sinister expression held a tinge of very personal spite.
Fish, fish, fish! Eat your mother's—goddamn gacha! Goddamn Poseidon!
The blaspher on the sea cursed under his breath, sketching in the air the triangular Hers rune representing fla.
A burst of fiery light ignited, and he held out his short sword, skewered fish sizzling in the heat.
The whole process was smooth as flowing water.
After all, he'd been drifting at sea for seven days and nights—he'd eaten nothing but fish for an entire week.
As the stench of fish surged from his churning gut up his throat, Lorne grimaced and ntally cursed at the dodecahedron in his head.
You've sucked up so many of my tokens and still no pity system? One of these days, I'm tearing you apart!
"Bzzz…"
The twelve-sided die on the altar emitted a faint hum, as if it had understood its master's complaints. It began spinning again, radiating a faint sense of glee, before activating three silver-gray divine trials.
[Trial One: Steal a golden relic from Hers' temple. Mock the god renowned for thievery.
Trial Two: Sabotage a marriage. Arouse the wrath of Hera, protector of unions.
Trial Three: Bring dusa to pray at the temple of Athena. Defile the sanctuary of the goddess of wisdom.]
Co on! If you're a real man, face head-on!
As the updated weekly missions materialized in his mind, Lorne bared his teeth and his liver ached just thinking about it.
In the process of constantly accepting and completing tasks, his toxic relationship with the twelve-sided dice in his mind beca deeper and deeper.
The thing even seed to be evolving. After absorbing so of Lorne's professional gaming knowledge, it had started upgrading itself in the sa way, becoming increasingly systematized and even user-friendly.
Of course, considering the lack of integrity shown by that gambling-addicted goddess behind it, Lorne had seriously considered destroying the thing to avoid future problems.
But no matter how much he burned it, drowned it, slashed it, or struck it with lightning, he couldn't chip even a flake off its rocky surface.
Even when he hurled it into the sea and fled far, far away, it still found its way back to him, dragging him headfirst into suicidal stunts in the realm of the gods.
I'm being held hostage by a dice. Who the hell would believe that?
Grumbling, Lorne examined the three newly refreshed weekly trials and grew even more frustrated.
These missions were way worse than the last set.
Just finding the temples of three Olympian gods out here in the middle of nowhere was a nightmare.
Let alone the second and third tasks—becoming a howrecker under Hera's watch and tainting Athena's holy grounds? That was practically begging for divine retribution.
He had every reason to suspect that this cursed die was intentionally targeting him with these quests.
Luckily, he'd completed two weekly missions in one go previously, so he had two weeks of protection from new penalties.
At least for a short ti, he didn't have to bite the bullet and take the initiative to hang around in front of the Olympian gods.
But even if these hellish weekly missions were postponed, he had other problems to deal with right now.
As the fish at, which ca with its own salt, gradually beca crispy on the outside and tender on the inside under the scorching flas, with both sides golden brown, Lorne ca back to his senses as he sighed, scooped the perfectly grilled fish into a bowl, turned, pulled open the cabin divider, and set the utensils down on the floor.
"It's ti to eat. "
As soon as these words were spoken, the faint sound of rustling drifted through the air from a corner.
Monts later, a young girl about 1.3 ters tall, with purple hair tied back by a black headband, shuffled forward with her head down.
She was draped in an oversized linen robe that didn't fit her at all, her entire presence radiating an aura of cold indifference, like she belonged to the darkness itself, unapproachable and steeped in gloom.
"Fish again?"
The purple-haired girl's soft voice broke the silence as her ghostly eyes fell on the plate of grilled fish, and she paused in place.
"It's the only thing we've got out here on the sea. Just deal with it,"
Lorne said with a shrug, clearly just as fed up with the sa al.
The purple-haired girl reluctantly took the plate, staring at the al that made her stomach churn. She bit her lip and raised her tense little face.
"I want to go ho…"
Lorne rolled his eyes at the purple-haired girl opposite him, sat cross-legged on the floor, and answered unhappily.
"What a coincidence, too."
Suddenly, the girl perked up as a visible glint of excitent lit up her previously gloomy face.
"Then let's go now!"
"Go? Go where?"
"Your sister's map cannon has blasted the ship to so unknown place, we've got no idea where the ship is anymore, or even what direction we're facing. What are we supposed to navigate with, vibes?"
Lorne's face was as black as the bottom of a pot as his pointed at the vast sea and accused, while his dark eyes fell on the purple-haired girl in front of him.
dusa, the youngest of the Gorgon sisters, and the only one with a mortal body.
At the sa ti, she was the spark that ignited the bloodbath on the Isle of the Unseen.
As for how this infamous snake-haired girl ended up on his ship…well that was a complete accident.
If you want to trace the source and sort out the ins and outs, you have to ntion the Hertic demigod Xuster.
How to put it…?
The guy really lived up to his Hers heritage—a natural-born thief.
When the Serifos fleet arrived at the Isle of the Unseen and started searching for the Gorgon sisters, Xuster happened to dig up a massive fleshy cocoon hidden beneath a ruined temple—one that contained little dusa.
Technically, he should have reported this kind of thing.
But the greed in his blood told him otherwise.
Of course, in Xuster's mind, he just thought he'd stumbled upon a "Gorgon egg" or sothing.
At worst, he figured he could extract a little divine Gorgon blood, make so quick coin, and live it up for a while.
But he didn't expect that the three Gorgon banshees happened to enter the stage of transformation of their demonic bodies and divinity.
Well, sothing akin to a snake shedding its skin to ascend.
So, like the klepto he was, Xuster snuck the cocoon onto his little private smuggling boat and buried it among other stolen goods.
The rest was history—at least, history as Lorne knew it.
First, he got chased to the Isle of the Unseen by Atlantis' royal guard.
Then, he ran into the Serifos scavengers who were ransacking the temples.
One thing led to another, and with a few words of well-placed mischief, Lorne got the two factions to turn on each other.
Soon, the blood spilled and the concentration of magic around the ruins surged to a peak, awakening the other two Gorgon sisters from their slumber beneath the island.
And when the two found out that their little sister was missing and saw the mass of intruders swarming the place, they went berserk.
In their complete monstrous forms, they unleashed hell, nearly wiping out every outsider on the island.
And Lorne, who was just watching the show on the sea, also suffered an unfortunate disaster. He was fired upon by the two Gorgons who noticed sothing, and he almost beca the sa as the unlucky guy, Xuster, becoming a heroic fragnt on the ground.
Thinking back on all this, Lorne, one of the many unlucky collateral victims, couldn't help but start silently raging again.
"I told you before, I was just passing by! Totally innocent! Why the hell did your sisters single out for annihilation?!"
"Anyone who can make it onto the island… doesn't exactly scream 'innocent,' you know?"
Little dusa lifted her head, her clear violet eyes silently fixing on the man claiming injustice.
That piercing gaze seed to bore right into his soul, and Lorne couldn't help but avert his eyes, muttering inwardly.
'I didn't even do anything that bad.'
Didn't he just explode a wave of gold coins of his teacher Circe, took out a hundred or so sea monsters and kill Poseidon's illegitimate son...
Then pissed off a whole team of Atlantis Royal Guard, held a Hers bloodline descendant hostage, blew up the Serifos ship, and tricked them into a war with Atlantis…
And in the end, the two awakened Gorgons saw those clowns fighting at their doorstep and mistook them for looters… wiped them all out…
At this mont, after simply reviewing his actions in his mind, the originally righteous Lorne couldn't help but sweat a little.
Okay… maybe "completely innocent" was pushing it.
He might not be evil, per se… but that rap sheet was starting to look biblical.
Of course, if he also knew he had indirectly screwed over Ares and Aphrodite, sparking yet another round of divine family drama on Olympus, his already dark-as-hell karma score might've gotten even "shinier."
Thankfully, dusa, who just asked this question, didn't notice the shift in his expression.
She was quietly gnawing on grilled fish as she mumbled.
"When are you taking ho?"
"Don't worry. I'll get you back… when there is a chance."
Lorne promised solemnly on the surface, but he did not give any real commitnt.
Take her back? Yeah, right.
Things have co to this point, and he is almost confird to be suspected of kidnapping a young girl.
And who the hell knew what the Gorgon sisters would do if they saw him again?
Those two monsters with such explosive power could tear him in half just by looking at him sideways.
Even a fully-geared, endga-level Perseus would be better off running, what chance did he stand?
Instead of gambling whether the Gorgon sisters will listen to his excuses, it was better to be safe and have a good relationship with dusa, the only one who could prove his innocence.
Either that, or wait until he was strong enough to defend himself before even thinking about stepping foot on the Isle of the Unseen again.
Sure, keeping her around ca with its own dangers… but all things considered, it was still the safest option.
As Lorne analyzed his situation while reminiscing on his ever-growing list of "heroic" deeds, a sudden realization hit him.
To be exact, the Gorgons were heirs of Pontus, the primordial sea god.
Circe was the granddaughter of Oceanus, the second-generation sea deity.
The Cyclops he killed was a son of Poseidon, third-generation sea god.
'Oh, great. I've managed to piss off the entire divine food chain.'
New gods. Old gods. Every major player in the oceanic pantheon—he'd managed to screw them all over, directly or indirectly.
Note to self: stay the hell away from the sea. Seriously.
He needed to get back on land, fast.
Right now, with a swarm of vengeful sea gods, demigods, and monsters on his tail, Lorne could only pray that a port city, or any goddamn coastline, really, would show up soon so he could sneak ashore and disappear.
(End of Chapter)
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