Chapter 169 : Swallowed It
Chapter 169: Swallowed It
A few minutes later.
“Bang!”
Lilia crashed onto the floor of the treehouse.
A dull thud followed beside her.
That was Lucy hitting the ground.
Rubbing her backside, which had nearly been smashed into pieces, Lilia bared her teeth and struggled to get up.
“I knew it…”
She muttered under her breath and looked up.
The mature woman exuding a rich charm was sitting on a vine chair, holding a cup of flower tea, her brows slightly raised in surprise.
“Oh?”
Vivian swept her gaze over Lilia, and upon realizing that aside from slightly dirty clothes and messy hair, the little maid didn’t have a single obvious wound on her body—
Even the swamp’s deeply penetrating toxic miasma hadn’t affected her in the slightest.
“You’re still alive?”
Vivian set down her teacup, her dark green eyes shifting to the unconscious Lucy beside her.
When she saw Lucy’s damaged yet still recognizable priest robe, along with the blood-covered sun emblem—
Vivian’s expression turned somewhat strange.
The corner of her mouth even twitched slightly.
“A member of the Church?”
Her fingers lightly tapped the armrest, her tone carrying a hint of amusement.
“You little thing, you’ve got quite the nerve—bringing something reeking of ‘Holy stink’ into my territory.”
Lilia was busy stuffing that ruby staff into her system inventory.
This was loot—she couldn’t let this green-haired woman snatch it away.
Hearing this, she paused.
“Isn’t this part of the mission too?”
Hera didn’t even glance at Lucy on the ground. Her golden eyes fixed directly on Vivian as she extended a slender, pale hand.
“Item.”
Vivian couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“What’s the rush? I never said I wouldn’t give it to you.”
She let out a somewhat pained sigh.
Then, Vivian spread open her palm.
A cluster of emerald-green light slowly gathered in her hand.
In that instant, the life energy within the entire treehouse became overwhelmingly dense—even Lilia felt that her sore backside didn’t hurt as much anymore.
The light faded.
A thumb-sized seed, crystal-clear and translucent, with what seemed like emerald liquid flowing inside it, lay quietly in Vivian’s palm.
Seed of Life.
Lilia’s eyes went wide.
Vivian rubbed the seed reluctantly for a moment, then gritted her teeth and tossed it toward Hera.
“Take it.”
“I don’t know what you want with such a pure life-type treasure.”
Her tone carried a trace of mockery and curiosity.
“Eating that thing will make you explode.”
Hera raised her hand and caught the seed.
The emerald glow reflected against her pale, cold beauty, creating a stark contrast.
She didn’t answer Vivian’s question.
Instead, she turned around and looked at Lilia, who was standing off to the side, staring eagerly at the seed.
Lilia’s heart skipped a beat.
An extremely bad premonition rose within her.
“Um… Master?”
Lilia let out a dry laugh and subconsciously took a step back.
“Now that we’ve got the treasure, shouldn’t we head back? That human girl looks like she’s about to die—we should probably save her quickly…”
Hera ignored her.
Holding the priceless Seed of Life, she walked step by step toward Lilia.
“Open your mouth.”
Hera’s voice was soft, yet carried an unquestionable command.
Lilia: “?”
She was stunned.
She glanced at Hera, then at the glowing seed in her hand.
“Huh?”
Her brain couldn’t quite process it.
What was going on?
This wasn’t how the story was supposed to go, right?
Normally, wouldn’t a god-tier item like this be refined by the boss to gain immense power, crushing the divine realm and kicking down the abyss?
At the very least, it should be planted in the Demon Palace garden to create some kind of “Fountain of Life” spectacle.
Why was she being told to open her mouth?
“M-Master… this thing…”
Lilia swallowed, pointing at the seed, her finger trembling.
“This is the Seed of Life! That green-haired—Vivian just said it’ll make you explode!”
“Look at my tiny body—how could I handle something this powerful?”
“How about you stew it into soup instead? I’ll just drink the broth…”
How could this be eaten casually?
This was like someone handing you a chunk of enriched uranium and saying, “Here, open your mouth, this has a lot of energy—good for your health.”
Was this trying to kill her faster?
However—
Hera gave her no chance to bargain.
She slightly narrowed her eyes, a dangerous glint flashing in her golden pupils.
“Either you eat it yourself.”
Hera brought the seed to Lilia’s tightly shut lips.
Her cool fingertips touched Lilia’s warm lips.
That sensation made goosebumps rise all over Lilia’s body.
“Or I’ll feed you.”
Looking at Hera’s breathtaking face so close to hers, Lilia’s mind instantly conjured a hundred restricted scenarios of being force-fed.
By hand? By mouth?
Either way sounded extremely bad!
Meanwhile, Vivian was completely dumbfounded.
She almost dropped the teacup in her hand.
“Hera? Have you lost your mind?”
Vivian stared at her like she was insane.
“That’s not candy!”
“You’ll blow her apart! She’ll either turn into a tree instantly or explode into a rain of blood!”
Vivian felt like she had never seen something this outrageous in her life.
This was pure waste!
Yet Hera didn’t even turn her head.
She simply stared at Lilia, her gaze so focused it was as if the entire world contained only that one terrified face.
Her fingers applied slight pressure, forcibly prying open Lilia’s teeth.
The Seed of Life, radiating dense life energy, slid straight into Lilia’s mouth.
“Mmph!”
Lilia’s eyes widened. Before she could push it out with her tongue—
The seed melted the instant it entered her mouth!
Like ice cream, it instantly transformed into a warm yet overwhelmingly powerful current, rushing down her throat straight into her stomach.
Without any obstruction.
And even…
A little sweet?
Like mint.
“Gulp.”
Lilia instinctively swallowed.
It was over.
She swallowed it.
Her face turned ashen as she shut her eyes in despair, clutching her stomach with both hands, waiting for the legendary agony of “exploding from within.”
This was it—she was about to become a humanoid potted plant.
If anyone ever asked about the specialty of the Palace of Eternal Night—
Someone would probably point at her and say, “Look, that crooked tree used to be Lady Lilia.”
One second.
Two seconds.
Ten seconds passed.
The expected pain never came.
There wasn’t even a hint of stomachache.
Instead—
An unprecedented sense of comfort spread from her stomach throughout her entire body.
It was like soaking in a perfectly heated hot spring, every pore opening in delight.
The soreness from her fall, the chill she had absorbed in the swamp, even the fatigue accumulated from days of intense work—
All vanished in an instant.
Her body became incredibly light.
Even the small amount of magic power within her now surged wildly, as if injected with stimulants.