The Villain of Ancient Greece

Seven days later, the doors of the temple of Artemis slowly swung open.

Lorne, having finished his work of reporting, stepped across the threshold of the dimly lit hall and out onto the stone steps, stretching his limbs with lazy ease as he bathed in the long-missed sunlight.

Boom.

The moment a certain someone crossed the threshold, the temple doors slammed shut.

Several defensive inscriptions lit up on the other side.

Whoever was inside seemed to be building a fortress, trying to hide from some kind of rampaging disaster.

Lorne turned at the loud sound behind him, and through the crack in the doors caught sight of a figure lying face-down on the velvet rug, buttocks swollen impressively, both legs trembling.

The corners of his mouth curved upward with quiet satisfaction.

The desire of the Goat, combined with the stamina of the Warrior, the love goddess power of the Rose, and the life restoration of the Crown.

Four avatars used in rotation.

Faced with that particular combination, even the wildest goddess in all of Greece had lasted only five days before she pressed her hands against her ass and lay flat on the ground asking for mercy.

The remaining two days after that didn’t go to waste either.

Lorne raised a hand and reached forward.

A longbow with a black handle inlaid with gold and silver patterns fell into his grip.

”Its source is light, its form is flame.

O immortal sun, grant me your blazing steed, bring the golden radiance, pierce through the stars. Punish sin with punishment, grant life its death!”

As the bowstring drew taut,

Lorne chanted the sacred words in a deep, measured voice.

The golden wheel appeared behind him, the indicator moving to the ninth position.

A magnificent white horse reared and let out a long cry, then shot like an arrow from a bow straight into the sun hanging overhead.

In an instant, the eastern sky blazed with overwhelming light.

The morning sun, which had not long climbed above the horizon, became blinding and ferocious.

The sunlight that had previously been formless transformed into solid streams of flame, condensing along the drawn bowstring and taking shape as a brilliant golden arrow.

Lorne drew the string to its full limit.

At the moment when his presence reached its peak intensity, he released the five fingers of his right hand and declared with solemn gravity.

”You are the gold that pierces through the stars.”

Hmmm!

The arrow split the air. Heaven and earth resonated together.

Golden fire swept up a terrifying blazing wind and struck a distant hillside.

Boom.

The earth shook and the mountain trembled.

Golden radiance pierced straight through the belly of the entire hill.

The fires of judgment erupted outward, melting the surrounding rock into nothing.

The mountain continued to crack and crumble.

Red-black magma poured from the terrible wound in the hillside and rolled outward, consuming and burning every living thing in its path, leaving only dead ash in its wake.

Watching the forest fire roaring to life in the distance, Lorne raised his hand slightly.

The water-blue great whale manifested behind him, rose up, gathered the moisture from the rivers and waterways along the way, and poured it down over the burning area, quickly smothering the disaster before it could spread further.

Even so, what had been a hilltop nearly a hundred meters high was now sheared cleanly in half, and the pit carved out where the arrow struck still steamed with rising heat.

What destructive power.

Lorne let out a quiet breath of admiration, then tilted his head slightly to look at the white horse rearing in the ninth position of the golden wheel, and at the tightly shut temple doors behind him, a faint, amused smile crossing his face.

This was the result of the last two days he and Artemis had spent working together.

The Ninth Avatar, the White Horse.

Drawing on the concept of the sun chariot, it called upon the white horse that carried the sun’s power, either amplifying his attacks or bringing the sun’s fire directly down upon a target from a distance.

The destructive power was remarkable, but the drawbacks were equally obvious.

This (incantation) avatar could essentially only be used in clear daylight. Without those conditions, it could barely produce a fraction of its normal output.

By the same logic, his Fourth Avatar, the Boar, which carried the divine nature of the moon and the hunt, had the same limitation in reverse.

It reached its greatest strength in the night and in mountain forests.

That said, the number of divine (incantations) avatars he now possessed had jumped to nine.

He had many cards in hand, and the restrictions on any single avatar mattered less and less to the overall picture.

And beyond all of that, there was still the Phanes avatar, the Primordial One, his ultimate trump card.

It could call upon and fuse multiple divine avatars at once, which meant running out of options in a fight was no longer something he needed to worry about.

While Lorne was quietly thinking this through, a green figure leapt and wove between the branches, darting out of the dense forest with swift agility and landing lightly in front of the temple doors.

”Master, you are out? All done with the report?”

”Mm.”

Lorne looked at Atalanta landing before him and gave a warm, small nod.

Atalanta then turned her head and stared at the hillside in the distance that had been sheared apart by a single arrow, her eyes wide with shock.”Just now. Was that you?”

”Yes. With this bow.”

Lorne answered with a smile, giving the black-backed, gold-threaded longbow in his hand a small raise.

”That is incredible!”

Atalanta’s admiration was completely sincere.

Her green eyes fixed on the longbow in her master’s hand, its distinctive shape and appearance drawing open envy.

She was an expert in rapid fire, but she had never seen archery produce destruction on this scale.

To draw out power capable of splitting stars and severing mountains, the archer’s own ability certainly mattered, but a bow capable of bearing that kind of force had to be a divine weapon of exceptional quality.

”Here. Take it.”

Just as the huntress was turning this over in her mind, Lorne raised his hand and tossed the longbow toward his student.

Atalanta caught the divine bow on instinct, and then, registering what had just happened, blinked in mild confusion.

”This is...”

”For you, obviously. Archery is not exactly what I do best.”

Lorne answered with an easy smile, then explained the origin of the bow.

”It is called the Tauropolos, the Bow of the Celestial Vault. Artemis and I spent these days in the temple consecrating it together. It has two modes.

First, it can guide an arrow’s path through magical control.

Combined with your rapid-fire technique, it will bring out considerably greater combat power.

Second, when drawn to full tension the arrow’s destructive force increases.

If magical energy continues to be channeled in after that, the destructive capacity keeps rising.

With a specific method of charged release, it can reach the point of splitting metal, shattering stone, and piercing through a divine body.”

Atalanta listened quietly, cradling the divine bow with obvious reluctance to put it down, and pointed at the severed mountain peak in the distance with barely contained excitement.

”Like what you just did?”

”Yes. The technique is called Gold That Pierces the Stars.

The opposite of the quick and agile Silver of Rapid Fire, it belongs to the category of charged heavy strikes. Artemis and I developed it recently.”

Lorne stated the origin, then shifted direction.

”That said, considering that your current level is not yet sufficient to bring out the full power of the Tauropolos, I added a few supporting functions to the weapon.”

”What kind?”

”See the gold thread and silver thread along the back of the bow?

I embedded part of mine and Lady Artemis’s divine nature inside them. They can call on the corresponding power of the sun and the power of the moon, reducing your magical consumption during combat.

And normally, because of the divine power mine and Lady Artemis’s presence provides, the bow can gather the sun’s radiance during the day and absorb the moon’s divine power at night, accumulating magical energy steadily over time for whenever it is needed.”

”It does all of that?”

”Of course. Making you a weapon that genuinely suits you took no small amount of effort and energy from me, and Lady Artemis even contributed the battle bow she herself once used as the original foundation.”

Hearing her master’s explanation, Atalanta felt something stir deeply in her chest.

The Tauropolos in her hands suddenly became more precious to her than anything.

”The original foundation was a bow Lady Artemis used herself? Where is she? I want to thank her in person.”

Watching the cat-eared girl sidestep him and make a beeline for the temple doors in excited anticipation, Lorne’s eye twitched, as he reached out and pulled her back immediately.

”All right. Lady Artemis heard your thanks. She is a little tired right now and needs to rest properly.”

”Oh. Then when do we leave?”

”Right away.”

”Should we not say goodbye to Lady Artemis first?”

”No need.”

Seeing Atalanta reach for the temple doors a second time, Lorne grabbed the now thoroughly curious cat-girl by the arm and dragged her away without further discussion.

(End of Chapter)