Chapter 28: 24 Friends, 2 More Chances Left
The Sea of Okeanos, a nighttime hue like water poured onto the sea's surface, stirring up shimmering ripples.
On a desolate small island with sparse vegetation grew haphazardly, faint stifled groans could be heard from a rocky cave veiled by dry vines.
"Clang~~"
Accompanied by the crisp sound of metal, two deformed golden-bronze arrowheads fell to the ground, their sharp conical blades still dripping with torn flesh.
Luo En, leaning against the cave wall, spat out the piece of wood he had bitten through, wiping the beading sweat off his forehead as he endured piercing pain.
Sucking in a deep breath, he tremblingly applied medicine to his wounded left shoulder and right leg, casting his gaze towards the broken metal arrow shaft on the ground, exquisitely engraved with wave patterns and with a broken tip that seemed to flicker with starlight, and he silently cursed.
Orichalcum! A bunch of wasteful bastards!
The so-called "Orichalcum", also known as "Mountain Copper", is a type of mythical metal extensively mined in the legends of Atlantis, boasting superior hardness, toughness, and magic conductivity, making it an excellent material to craft magical weapons, and even divine armaments.
In Homer's epics, it is mentioned that the crown and earrings of Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and beauty, were forged from this very orichalcum.
In mysticism, wizards and enchantresses often refer to it alongside "mithril" and "crystal" as the "three great magic minerals", which, if utilized well, can exert great power, even capable of injuring a divine body, let alone demigods.
It was during this month-long sea pursuit that Luo En was wounded by arrows made of specially crafted orichalcum from the Atlantean Guard.
They chased me for over half a month, using orichalcum arrows worth as much as gold to shoot at me; is it really necessary?
Is it just because I sacrificed over a hundred sea beasts with divine blood and killed a bastard demigod son of Poseidon, and along the way killed…
Let me count…
1…4…5…7…uh…8 gold-rank, and seriously injured one demigod deputy captain?
After carefully tallying his own achievements, Luo En couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, feeling somewhat guilty.
Alright, I did go a bit overboard.
But it was unavoidable, who asked those Atlanteans to chase after him like hounds on a rabbit, relentlessly refusing to let go.
In a life-or-death struggle, with his own life on the line, how could he afford to show mercy, hoping that the other party would remember to be kind?
Tsk, looks like there's no room for negotiation here.
Luo En murmured in gloom, tearing off some clean pieces of cloth to bandage his slowly healing wounds, closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, entering meditation to recover his magic power and stamina. At the same time, his thoughts raced as he reminisced about the harrowing events of the last half month.
Initially, he decided to trust that woman Hecate's suggestion.
After all, she could only enjoy the show if he stayed alive.
Therefore, Luo En took his ship and made a run for it to the west, before the Atlanteans could completely encircle him.
But to outpace those Atlanteans blessed by the God of the Sea in the Sea of Okeanos was nothing short of delusional.
Within just three days, he was caught up by the Atlantean Imperial Guard hot on his heels.
Forced into a corner, Luo En had no choice but to fight and retreat simultaneously, exhausting nearly all his tricks, and even sacrificing his ship before he managed to tear through the Atlantean cordon and make a narrow escape.
However, out in the vast Sea of Okeanos without a vessel, his mobility was severely reduced.
It didn't take long before he was cornered again on a deserted island by those relentless Atlanteans.
This time, Luo En wasn't so lucky.
After he quietly took down three gold-rank Atlantean Guard members by using the favorable terrain and pre-set magic traps, he was first chased all over the mountains by those rabid dogs, then hit by two arrows, and ultimately had to jump into the sea and detonate the entire deserted island in order to escape amidst the chaos.
Fortunately, the secret ritual of Ascension to Demigod status allowed him to indirectly gain some decent underwater abilities while absorbing the Divinity of hundreds of Divine Blood Sea Beasts.
Moreover, the oceans of ancient Greece were dotted with numerous islands, large and small.
Thus, Luo En was able to find a remote and desolate island nearby to take a brief rest and catch his breath.
But this peace would certainly not last long.
The group of mad dogs hell-bent on his life, after searching the vicinity, would sooner or later find him.
So, what kind of gambling was this? It was clearly betting with one's life!
As Luo En cursed a certain gambling goddess through gritted teeth, the waning moon rose to its zenith under the night sky, and the crisp sound of dice rolling thrice echoed in his mind with the arrival of midnight.
Floating up alongside them were three divine oracles on the bronze altar, each corresponding to the emblem of the deity revealed by the three tosses of the dice.
"Mission one, commit one act of sacrilege against Apollo."
"Mission two, commit one act of sacrilege against Zeus."
"Mission three, commit one act of sacrilege against Hera."
Here we go again...
Luo En listlessly raised his hand and tapped the second shadowy figure that had appeared before him, while cursing through clenched teeth,
"Zeus you deceitful trash, shameless trickster, nothing but a seed-sowing beast, I curse you to walk hugging the walls, to spit blood in your sputum..."
Before he could continue his barrage of insults, the second divine oracle burst into scattered points of light and disintegrated.
At the same time, a bronze badge bearing the Ouroboros, the serpent eating its own tail, emerged from the void and fell into Luo En's hand.
Luo En didn't even glance at it, sketching a few lines of Hermes Script with a flick of his hand and tossing the object into the forming Magic Array.
Water, fire, earth, and air were the essential elements of the world, and thus the Hermes Script, which contained such properties, could also use the Magic Array to construct a similar small independent space, serving as a convenient tool for mages to store their personal belongings.
At this moment, as the bronze badge Luo En held was thrown into the Magic Array, a series of crisp metallic clinks followed, as dozens of identical bronze badges appeared, all tucked away gathering dust within it.
A pile of junk...
Luo En glanced at them without much interest.
After all, these lowest-level chips dropped from the Daily Chapter could only be used for friendly matches on the gambling table, offering no help to his current predicament.
Instead of wasting energy on these trinkets, it would be better to see if the Weekly Book could drop something useful.
Muttering in annoyance, Luo En reached out his hand, and the twelve-sided die that had been on the bronze altar fell into his palm.
Three divine oracles shimmering with silver light then appeared before his eyes.
"Trial one: Secure victory in a battle, complete one act of sacrilege against the God of War's authority (Completed)."
"Trial two: Hunt down a Divine Blood Sea Beast, complete one act of sacrilege against the God of the Sea's authority (Completed)."
"Trial three: Destroy a piece of Demigod weaponry, complete one act of sacrilege against the God of Craftsmanship's authority (Not Completed)."
At the same time, the first two divine oracles dissipated into stardust, turning into two similarly styled silver badges.
With two silver badges in hand, a hint of pleasure finally surfaced on Luo En's somber face.
Now, at last, he had some capital to draw another two cards.