[Greek Mythology] The Demons Under My Command - Chapter 33

Li Jia agreed to the System’s suggestion for auxiliary functions, but the System did not tell her what kind of assistance it would provide.

The System only told her that the secrets of heaven could not be revealed, and that it had its own brilliant plan.

At night, Li Jia was drawn by a scent, one that was identical to the one on her wrist. She climbed out of bed, finding the space to her left empty.

She had gone out.

After waiting for a while and seeing no sign of her return, Li Jia, with a hint of pique, put on her shoes and shawl and followed the scent out the door.

The closer she got, the stronger the fragrance became. Li Jia’s mind was already starting to fail her, turning into a muddle, and her body felt increasingly uncomfortable and restless.

She desperately clung to her consciousness, searching for the source of the scent, but couldn’t find it no matter how hard she looked. Before she knew it, she had walked to the light vortex at the top of Lan Du, where the fragrance was emanating from.

Li Jia saw a little mermaid girl, who swam up to her and sweetly said, “Sister, can you do me a favor?”

Li Jia felt her body getting hotter and hotter, and the little girl also smelled wonderfully fragrant. Her words made Li Jia nod without realizing it, and she asked, “What do you need me to help you with?”

“Help me fasten this cap-stud onto the light vortex, because I was playing and accidentally twisted one of the light ring’s cap-studs loose. If it isn’t put back on, the light ring will fall down, and the entire Lan Du will be plunged into darkness.”

As she spoke, the little girl started to cry in fear. Li Jia wanted to ask her why she didn’t look for her parents or other merfolk to help, but there was no one else around; she was the only person here.

“Alright then. Give me the item, and I’ll go fasten it for you, but I can’t guarantee I can fully secure it.”

Li Jia soothed the little girl, took the white cap-stud from her hand, and walked towards the center of the light vortex.

The light ring at the center of the vortex was soft but contained immense energy. As Li Jia approached, her skin felt a slight tingling sensation, but the strange, internal heat seemed even more intense, overriding the discomfort.

Li Jia gripped the ice-cold, clear white cap-stud in her hand and, following the direction the little girl pointed, searched for the supposed “loose” connection.

The structure of the light ring was complex, with countless nodes flickering on and off as the light flowed.

Li Jia’s consciousness was growing dimmer, relying entirely on instinct and the guidance of the scent.

She fumbled around and finally found a subtle gap on the edge of a vortex stream where the light seemed slightly dimmer.

“Is it here?”

She turned her head to ask, only to find that the little mermaid girl had retreated some distance away, hidden in the waters where the light ring’s illumination was slightly weaker. Her small face carried a look of tension and anticipation that was inappropriate for her age.

Li Jia had no time to think deeply; the burning anxiety inside her urged her to complete the task quickly.

She stood on her tiptoes, stretched out her hand, and tried to align the cap-stud with the gap.

Just as the cap-stud was about to touch the light vortex, the white cap-stud suddenly erupted in an intense, chillingly cold light.

At the same time, the light vortex itself seemed to sense this external, malevolent energy. The normally soft light suddenly became blinding, emitting a deep, booming sound like an angry roar.

A tremendous repulsive force violently erupted from the center of the light vortex, fiercely throwing Li Jia backward!

“Bang!”

Li Jia crashed heavily onto the cold water surface. Her chest churned with surging blood and qi, and the fragrance on her wrist seemed to have been slightly weakened by the impact, bringing a momentary clarity to her chaotic mind.

She watched in horror as the cap-stud, like a living thing, pressed its tip against the light vortex’s barrier, relentlessly trying to drill in. The chilling light it emitted fiercely battled the light vortex’s own golden glow, creating a grating, sizzling sound.

The small area of the light vortex being attacked was visibly destabilizing at a rapid pace, flickering on and off, with faint cracks even starting to spread.

This was not repair at all!

This was destruction!

Li Jia suddenly turned to look at the little mermaid girl.

The sweet, pitiful expression on the little girl’s face was completely gone, replaced by a smile of perverse excitement that came from a successful plot.

Her figure began to blur and distort in the rippling water, as if she were merely a phantom.

“You…”

Li Jia instantly realized she had been tricked. The little girl had successfully used her hands to disrupt the order of the light vortex.

Anger and fear instantly overwhelmed Li Jia, causing her to ignore her body’s strange discomfort.

Just then, a cold and familiar voice abruptly sounded in her mind, carrying a hint of elusive…

Satisfaction?

「System: Auxiliary function activated. Crisis data has been generated. Please, Host, wait patiently for the target of the strategy to arrive.」

Wait? Crisis data?

「Yes, to create a deeper bond between the Host and the strategy target, this was the only viable option ovo」

The System even put on an adorable façade after speaking.

Li Jia: …

This is your so-called “assistance”?

The System didn’t tell her the auxiliary content directly but led her step-by-step into the data plot, making her follow the narrative flow.

The bizarre cap-stud continued its assault on the light vortex.

The light vortex’s buzzing grew louder and louder, and the lighting across the entire Lan Du began to flicker erratically.

Finally, there was the sound of urgent splashing and angry shouts. Clearly, the commotion had finally alarmed the guards of Lan Du.

And the phantom of the little mermaid girl gave Li Jia a look of malicious mockery before completely dissolving into the water.

Li Jia sat alone on the cold ground, the light vortex being destroyed in front of her, and the unresolved heat and surging blood inside her.

It was over, everything was over.

In the distance, the guards were approaching. Now, she had hundreds of mouths but no way to explain herself.

The System’s “assistance” had thrown her into the center of an even deeper whirlpool.

What should she do?

She was in a situation where she was utterly unable to justify herself.

The approaching shark guards made Li Jia tremble all over. The evidence was right in front of them; no one would believe her.

The Mermaid Chief saw the damaged light vortex and the diminishing light that was about to disappear. His rage echoed through the empty waters, carrying an unmistakable severity: “Guest from afar, what have you done to the light vortex?”

“It wasn’t…”

“I…”

The communicator on her wrist suddenly vibrated—it was Hera.

Li Jia took the communicator and put it to her mouth, her voice trembling: “Your Majesty, I’m at the center of the light vortex. The light vortex cracked… and I’m the only one here…”

Hera quickly understood the meaning on the other end, and the sound of hurried footsteps followed. She reassured her, “Don’t panic, I’ll be there right away.”

A minute later, the slender figure with golden hair and crimson eyes bypassed the guards surrounding her.

Hera had returned to her divine attire, exuding a cold and arrogant aura. Her gaze swept over the crowd, finally landing on Li Jia’s pale face.

The woman walked straight towards her, taking her hand in hers. The scorching temperature instantly calmed her down.

It was a sense of security and dependence Li Jia had never felt before.

“I am this girl’s guardian; she is my only attendant.”

Hera waved her divine power. Divine markings flickered on Li Jia’s collarbone and hers—the most direct and effective proof of their relationship.

Hera’s tone was as steady as ice: “Until the matter is resolved, no one has the right to question my attendant over me.”

The Mermaid Chief was stunned: “Your Majesty, the evidence is right before us. Who else could it be but her?”

A shark guard, seeing the light vortex gradually dimming and the entire Lan Du about to descend into darkness, furiously shouted, “So what if you are the God of Marriage! Can a deity shield a criminal!”

“Are you questioning me?”

The divine whisper was like a viper hissing.

The air suddenly solidified, the sea curtain inverted, and scarlet liquid seeped from the eyes of the central stone statue in Lan Du.

The divine pressure transformed into an invisible hand clutching the questioner’s throat. It struggled, suffocating. Its fins dug into the stone slabs, and it collapsed to its knees, breaking all its vertebrae.

The deity’s voice penetrated every pore, turning into thousands of ice shards piercing the bones. The questioner’s scales began to peel off one by one, revealing the festering flesh beneath.

“I said.”

“It was not her.”

The scene was immediately gruesome and sickening. It was only then that Li Jia realized that the person who had accompanied her day and night was not an ordinary person, but a devil with absolute power to interfere with the life and death of others.

For some unknown reason, Li Jia felt inexplicably sad, even collapsing to the ground and retching.

As someone educated in modern society, Li Jia could not accept why one could arbitrarily harm the body of others or other beings just because of a word or an incident.

If the person was wrong or guilty, they should be punished by legal means, not have their right to live directly stripped away.

Hera could not understand why Li Jia was so afraid. During this time, she had been as calm as still water. In the past, according to her nature, any suspected blasphemous act would have resulted in the lightest punishment of exposing the bones and treading on the entrails.

But she couldn’t question Li Jia in front of others, so she merely shielded her behind her back, using her shadow to cover her completely, preventing her from being seen in her state of distress.

The merfolk, seeing the fate of that one merperson, were all terrified. All questions and suspicions were shattered, and no one dared to utter a sound.

The power of speech is always in the hands of the strong—this is an immutable law throughout the ages.

“God of Marriage, please save Lan Du. The light of Lan Du cannot be extinguished.”

The Mermaid Chief realized that Hera was an omnipotent deity. He immediately bowed his head and pleaded with Hera.

Hera’s eyes trembled slightly. She stretched out her hand, and deep crimson divine power drilled into the broken part of the light vortex. Within a short time, the cracks in the light vortex healed and reset, showing no sign of change.

Seeing the light vortex heal, the merfolk cheered with joy. Hera’s gaze was not on them. She crouched down and took Li Jia into her arms, finding that she was frighteningly hot, like a stove.

Having been startled, she was utterly bewildered and disoriented, curled into a ball. Hera stroked Li Jia’s back: “What’s wrong?”

“I, I feel uncomfortable…”

Li Jia’s tears suddenly rolled down. She couldn’t tell north from south, nor could she distinguish who was holding her. That familiar scent rushed into her nostrils.

She felt like she knew this person, and she felt safe, unconditionally allowing herself to be held.

“I’m so uncomfortable…” The little one’s voice was already whimpering: “I want to go home, I want to go home…”

Li Jia felt her body was being roasted and fried over a flame, with bloody pieces of flesh being roasted alongside her. Waves of fishy odor made her nauseous.

A searing heat, painful to the core, spread from her lower abdomen to her limbs and jawbone. Li Jia gasped sharply, and her body went limp.

Her mind didn’t give her much choice. Her consciousness plunged into darkness with the pain. The only thing she remembered was seeing a strand of golden hair through a gap as she closed her eyes, dazzling like the sun.

It made her lose herself.

The Mermaid Chief deliberated. Hera had repaired the light vortex for the merfolk, which made her a benefactor to him.

Seeing her so worried about the girl in her arms, he felt it necessary to reveal the merfolk’s secret to Hera.

“Your Majesty, she is in ‘Heat’.”

“‘Heat’?”

The light vortex of the merfolk is the source of the merfolk’s lineage. The light vortex concerns whether all the merfolk young can grow up successfully; offspring are the future of a race.

To protect this future, the merfolk ancestors sacrificed their own flesh and blood in exchange for the perpetual burning of the merfolk’s wax wick at the center of the light vortex.

The ancestor placed something inside the wax wick. Damaging the light vortex would immediately release the Siren Nectar within, which emits the merfolk’s unique seductive fragrance and stimulates the deepest, most primal desires. Only by mating and satisfying this deadly desire will it stop.

“And if she cannot?”

“If it cannot be satisfied, the Nectar will wander through the internal organs, burning the flesh. That pain is unbearable for a mortal, and in the end, she will be burned to a pile of ash.”

“Your Majesty, she is just an ordinary person. You could easily find someone else to…”

Before the Mermaid Chief could finish, the person had vanished.

Li Jia lay naked on the bed. Moonlight streamed through the shell-laden window frame, illuminating her sweat-beaded skin. Her entire being was covered in a layer of fractured, faint light.

The girl’s eyes were tightly shut, but her long eyelashes trembled violently from the unbearable pain. Her brow was furrowed deeply. Her lips were white from being bitten by her teeth.

Her bones ached, and even her breathing was accompanied by sharp pain. Each inhale was like swallowing a scorching branding iron.

So hot.

“So uncomfortable…”

By the bed, Hera had been staring at her face for a long time. Her fingertips nearly touched Li Jia’s sweat-dampened hair, but she managed to stop at the very last moment.

Crossing that line would only lead to eternal damnation for her.

But losing her would be more painful than eternal damnation.

Finally, she took off her own clothes. The two of them were naked, facing each other. Hera turned Li Jia’s face towards her, leaning against her earlobe.

“Li Jia.”

She called her name softly, her voice deep and hoarse, carrying a hint of imperceptible tremor: “Who am I?”

Li Jia was encircled by a body that was cold all over. The desert had met an oasis, and naturally, she was reluctant to let go. She tightly wrapped herself around her, just to gain a moment’s relief.

The surging lust in her blood gradually receded like a tide, and the burning, excruciating pain was soothed into a fine itch by the jade-like caress of the fingers.

Before Li Jia could clearly see the outlines around her, the clear female voice sounded again behind her: “Who am I?”

“Who… are you…” A delicate sob escaped the girl’s throat. Li Jia’s body was curled up in her arms.

The air quieted. A low chuckle suddenly drifted over. The next second, the deep voice pressed incredibly close, as if carried by the wind and drilling into her ear, with the warm breath brushing against her auricle: “Li Jia, you know.”

“I know…”

Li Jia struggled to raise her head, only to crash into a pair of bottomless, deep crimson eyes. A shadow fell over her.

Before she could react, her lips were covered by a warm sensation, carrying a hint of urgency that instantly drove away the heat from her lips.

The tip of her tongue lightly grazed her soft palate, icy and cool. It exchanged a few breaths with her, indescribably wonderful.

Li Jia wanted to refuse, but she was utterly powerless. The two were unclothed, and she only dared to grip Hera’s hair, trembling slightly.

Hera seemed to notice her stiffness and softened the force of the kiss. Her nose nudged against Li Jia’s sweaty temples, her breath carrying a suppressed raspiness: “Don’t be afraid. It can make you feel better.”

“Until you permit me, I will not force you.”

As the words fell, her kiss returned, dense and utterly possessive. Once Li Jia tasted the sweetness, she began to respond to her actively.

Fine, fragmented moans escaped the room, mixed with heavy breathing, remarkably clear in the silent night.

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