An unexpected echo made the figure on the opposite shore visibly startle.
But immediately, a fierce ugliness distorted by rage appeared on that handsome face, and the low voice became densely ominous.
"Then kill him, and won't that position become vacant?"
Those words echoed like a curse, reverberating and swirling within the heart's river, gradually filling the entire heart like the world, becoming the sole undercurrent.
"Artemis? The water isn't ready yet..."
Questions and footsteps approaching from behind were like hot oil poured over a raging flame.
In an instant, the Goddess of the Hunt's hands reached for her back, her body forming an arc.
Almost instantaneously, as Luo En approached the riverbank, a piercing chill surged through his body, and the twelve-sided die in his brain buzzed and trembled wildly.
Danger!
Luo En instinctively lunged forward, instinctively dodging.
"Thwack thwack thwack thwack!"
And just as he lay down, a whizzing arrow narrowly missed his head, piercing through several thick fir trees.
"Boom~~!"
One after another, ancient trees cleaved in half fell to the ground with a crash, kicking up a dense cloud of dust.
Seeing a continuous white trail behind him, Luo En broke out in a cold sweat.
He was so close, so very close to death!
"Artemis!"
Luo En cried out in anger, looking toward the instigator by the riverbank.
As thoughts churned, he instinctively looked around and saw on the distant opposite bank a figure that should have been dead.
—Orion!
At this moment, the face that usually bore a simple and honest expression was stripped bare of its disguise, revealing madness fueled by jealousy at the sight of Luo En.
Damned bug, an outsider with nothing, how dare you compete with me!
"Beautiful goddess, if you kill this troublesome fellow, nothing will stand in our way anymore."
The hunter urged, his revenge-driven madness becoming a twisted joy.
He wanted to see with his own eyes this nuisance who had blocked his way time and time again, to be tortured and killed before him.
He was the one pulling the strings!
The moment Luo En identified the true target, his thoughts raced. A flood of information and clues integrated in his mind, leading him to deduce the real reason behind Artemis's loss of control.
—Power of the God of Love!
Poseidon's plea to Hephaestus on behalf of Aphrodite and Ares wasn't just to court the God of Love!
What he truly desired was the Power of the God of Love bestowed by Aphrodite!
Combine this with the calamity of the beast tide, where Poseidon went to great lengths to fish out the half-dead Orion, and the answer seemed clear.
He wished to claim the whole Crete Island and planned to use his demigod offspring, endowed with exceptional hunting talents, to forge a relationship with Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, forming an alliance, and then dragging her brother Apollo into the water.
If, through Crete Island, he could successfully force Athena into submission.
Then, Poseidon's camp would have Ares, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, and Apollo—five of the Chief Gods, plus himself, nearly half of Olympus's twelve divine seats occupied.
Apart from this, Hephaestus, bound by the Ocean Goddess Thetis's favors, would likely remain neutral, the Agriculture God Demeter was already cold toward Zeus due to her daughter Persephone's situation, the Queen Goddess Hera had long been intolerant of her husband's infidelities, Hestia had already withdrawn from the struggle for divine power, and Hermes was best at trimming his sails to the wind...
In this way, Zeus would be isolated by Poseidon's long-schemed acts.