Chapter 142 : Go Easy
Chapter 142: Go Easy?
Hera raised her head, her gaze landing on the long-ignored “background.”
That enormous black heart had already completely split open.
A grotesque monster covered in eyes and oozing black slime was struggling to crawl out from within.
It seemed not to have grasped the situation yet.
Seeing two tiny creatures before it, it instinctively opened its enormous mouth—occupying half its face—and let out a demonstrative roar.
“ROAR——!!!”
The foul soundwave stirred a violent gale, whipping Hera’s long hair wildly.
Lilia trembled in fright, hurriedly tightening her grip around Hera’s leg, only daring to peek out with her eyes.
“M-Master… that thing…”
“It seems angry…”
“That’s a legendary Old God Embryo—and it’s even a modified berserk version. Should we retreat first—”
“Retreat?”
Hera raised a brow, as if hearing a joke.
“Making a racket on my territory.”
She slowly raised her right hand.
Within her palm, a pitch-black sphere of terrifying magic—so dark it seemed to devour light itself—was silently rotating and compressing.
The surrounding space began to wail under the strain, fracturing like shattered glass.
That overwhelming pressure made the monster’s arrogant roar choke instantly in its throat.
The madness and bloodlust in its many eyes rapidly faded, replaced by something called “fear.”
Its instincts screamed at it—
Run!
Run now!
The monster shrieked and turned, attempting to burrow underground.
But it was too late.
A cruel smile curved Hera’s lips as she softly uttered two words.
“Die.”
BOOM——!!!
In that instant—
it was completely flattened.
Pressed into an impossibly thin sheet of flesh, tightly plastered against the bottom of the underground cavity.
The world fell silent.
Even the wind outside seemed to stop.
Lilia’s mouth fell open, her jaw nearly hitting the ground.
She looked at the terrifying crater before her, then back at Hera.
What the hell…
That Garrod earlier had been going on about sacrifices and summoning like it was the end of the world.
And this was it?
Hera dusted off her hands as if brushing away nonexistent dirt, then turned to look down at Lilia.
“Too weak.”
“Not even enough for a warm-up.”
After saying that, Hera suddenly bent down, her stunning face drawing close to Lilia’s.
With a dangerous smile, she reached out and pinched Lilia’s chin.
“And you.”
“Had quite a bit of ‘fun’ behind my back, didn’t you?”
“Covered in injuries, making yourself look this miserable.”
Her fingertip lightly traced over a bloodstain Lilia had gotten during the fight.
A gentle red glow flickered at her fingertip—the wound healed instantly, leaving not even a scar.
But Lilia felt a chill shoot straight to her skull.
That tone…
Something was wrong!
This was the prelude to settling accounts after the fact!
“Remember.”
“Your life, your body—even every drop of blood you shed—”
“belongs to me.”
“Without my permission, who gave you the courage to risk your life against others?”
Lilia swallowed, staring into those golden eyes at close range.
Hera’s golden pupils narrowed slightly, an unreadable glint flowing within.
The temperature in the air seemed to plummet to freezing.
The grin that had just been stretching across Lilia’s face from watching her master instantly kill a Hero froze stiff.
Not good.
This feeling was ten thousand times more terrifying than facing Garrod earlier.
It was like sneaking off to an internet café as a child, bragging about a perfect pentakill—only to turn around and see the homeroom teacher standing behind you, smiling as they asked how impressive that play was.
“When we go back, we’ll have a proper talk.”
Hera’s voice was light.
But to Lilia, it sounded like the death knell of the grim reaper.
A talk?
That was like those horror movie killers tying someone to a chair, holding a chainsaw, and saying, “Let’s play a game.”
How exactly were they going to “talk”?
On the bed?
Lilia felt her knees go weak, a phantom pain sweeping across her body.
Especially her waist—and certain indescribable areas.
This morning’s scenes replayed in her mind like a carousel.
If it happened again…
No—if Hera was angered by her unauthorized actions this time, the intensity would definitely be doubled.
She would die.
She would really die!
At that moment, her survival instinct crushed all sense of shame.
Without hesitation, Lilia tightened her arms—already wrapped around Hera’s leg—clinging to her like an unshakable piece of gum.
“Master!”
“I was wrong! Lilia knows she was wrong!”
“Can we… can we talk in another way?”
Looking up, her crimson eyes brimmed with tears as she blinked pitifully at Hera.
She looked exactly like a kitten about to be taken for sterilization.
Hera looked down at the little thing clinging to her leg and acting spoiled.
The coldness in her eyes seemed to soften slightly, but the curve of her lips grew even more dangerous.
“Oh?”
“Now you know fear?”
“When you rushed at someone with two broken blades, why didn’t I see you afraid then?”
Hera extended her hand, her cool fingertips lightly tracing along Lilia’s neck.
The sensation made all of Lilia’s hairs stand on end.
“I-I was doing it to protect Master’s dignity…”
Lilia’s voice grew smaller and smaller, her gaze darting nervously.
“Hmph.”
Hera let out a cold laugh.
“Dignity?”
“If you had been turned into grilled meat skewers by that trash, my dignity would truly have been ruined.”
Though her words were still sharp, Hera didn’t actually tear Lilia off her leg.
She raised her head, her gaze piercing through the already-breached underground cavity toward the distance.
Outside, that massive headless giant was still rampaging.
The deafening roars could be heard clearly even from afar.
“We’ll talk about that when we get back.”
Hera withdrew her gaze and looked at Lilia again.
“First, clean up the trash outside.”
“If you do well…”
She paused, lightly tapping Lilia’s chin with her fingertip.
“I might consider going easy on you.”
Go easy?!
To Lilia, those two words sounded like heavenly music!
It was like having an immediate death sentence changed to a suspended one—she’d still get punished, but at least there was hope of survival!
“Really?!”
Lilia instantly revived on the spot, her eyes shining like searchlights.
“Master keeps her word?!”
“As long as I deal with that big guy outside, we won’t… cough, we won’t ‘talk’ like that when we go back?”
Seeing Lilia’s foolish look as if she had just won the lottery, Hera couldn’t help the faintest upward curl of her lips.
That fleeting charm seemed to brighten even the gloomy underground cavern.
She smiled!
She actually smiled!
Stable! This was stable!
As long as the boss smiled, it meant her anger had dropped by at least fifty percent!
“Depends on your performance.”
Hera didn’t answer directly, merely tossing out that line indifferently.
Then, with a gentle wave of her hand—
the surrounding space twisted instantly.
Lilia felt her vision blur, and the disgusting scene of fleshy walls and blood vessels vanished in an instant.
In its place was the smoke-filled, blood-scented air of Dark Moon Canyon.
“Go.”