Chapter 416: Hermes's Holy War

“Even so, please don’t just disappear without saying a word.”

Asfi’s anger hadn’t diminished in the slightest. Her chest heaved heavily, making it obvious she had accumulated a tremendous amount of stress and fury. Hermes frantically winked in Aiden’s direction as she scolded him.

“Asfi, please forgive Hermes.” Artemis stepped forward after calming her own Familia members, speaking softly to bail him out.

“Lady Artemis…” Faced with the Goddess of the Moon, Asfi’s attitude immediately grew much more respectful, though the lingering anger on her face hadn’t entirely dissipated.

“Asfi,” Hermes said, instantly dropping his playful grin. His expression grew more serious than they had ever seen it. “How is the situation?”

Asfi pushed up the glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, her eyes grave behind the lenses. “The situation is getting worse. The corruption in the forest is expanding at an alarming rate, the monsters are continuously multiplying, and numerous nearby villages have already been destroyed.”

“And the attacks on the ruins?” Hermes pressed.

A look of exhausted resignation flashed across Asfi’s face. “They all ended in failure. We were completely blocked by that door and the endless swarm of monsters.”

“Door?” Aiden sharply caught the keyword.

“Yes.” Artemis crossed her arms, her voice carrying a trace of frustration. Surprisingly, she displayed a hint of feminine vulnerability. “An insurmountable door. Because of it, we can’t even get close to Antares. With our current strength, defeating it is out of the question—we can’t even reach it.”

“We shouldn’t stay here long.” Asfi vigilantly scanned their surroundings. The distant shrieks seemed to be growing denser again. “Let’s return to our temporary camp first.”

The group nodded in agreement. This land, radiating an ominous aura of death, was indeed no place to linger. The nauseating stench of rot was growing thicker by the second, accompanied by the gathering roars of monsters.

“It’s relatively normal here for now, but at this rate of corruption, it won’t be long before this area is entirely consumed.” Asfi’s voice was laced with exhaustion.

She led the group through a forest path that still retained some of its greenery, eventually arriving at a brightly lit camp. This was clearly a temporary stronghold, bustling with a large number of adventurers operating in the vicinity.

Bonfires crackled everywhere amidst the noisy chatter. The harsh scraping of whetstones against metal, the resonant thrum of Elves tuning their bowstrings, and the hushed conversations of people blended together, painting a tense yet vivid picture unique to the eve of battle. Most of the adventurers appeared to possess average strength; only a sparse few exuded the steady auras of high-tier Level 2 adventurers.

“We’ve been using this place as our base of operations and have launched several attacks on the ruins,” Asfi explained.

Throughout the camp, adventurers could be seen meticulously wiping down their equipment, their faces etched with solemnity and fatigue.

“You all must be exhausted from the long journey. There’s a spring not too far ahead where you can bathe,” a Prum girl holding a magic staff from the Hermes Familia said with a warm smile.

“That’s wonderful! I’m completely covered in sticky sweat, I can’t take it anymore.” Daphne’s eyes instantly lit up, and Robin, Tifa, and the others’ faces lit up with pleasant surprise.

After a grueling journey filled with combat, nothing washed away fatigue quite like a hot bath. Soon, Robin and the rest of the female members grouped up and headed in the direction of the spring.

Aiden was left to wander around the camp by himself.

“Hey, Aiden!”

Suddenly, a sneaky voice echoed from a nearby patch of grass. Aiden followed the sound and saw Hermes hiding in a waist-high thicket. The god only poked half his head out, waving frantically at him.

“Lord Hermes, what are you doing?” Aiden walked over, his face full of confusion. What crooked scheme was this thrill-seeking god plotting now?

“Shh—” Hermes pressed an index finger to his lips, a profoundly sleazy grin spreading across his face. “The holy war has begun.”

On a much more concealed forest path, moonlight filtered through the sparse branches, casting mottled spots of light on the ground. Hermes stood with his back to the moonlight, his expression as solemn and majestic as a king about to deliver a monumental address.

Sitting rigidly before him were over a dozen male adventurers. They were completely focused, ranging from burly Beast Persons to humans, diminutive Prums, and even a stern-faced Elf.

Aiden leaned against a nearby tree trunk out of sheer boredom, waiting to see what kind of absurd stunt Hermes was pulling.

“From today onward, you shall become legends.” Hermes extended his right hand, his tone incredibly earnest.

The adventurers held their breath, staring at him unblinking, as if receiving a divine revelation.

“Alright, listen closely.” Hermes lowered his voice, pointing toward the small path leading deeper into the woods behind him. “Just ahead is the maiden’s paradise. Lante and Asfi are bathing in the spring in their pure, newborn forms.”

Hearing this, the assembled adventurers simultaneously swallowed hard, a strange light beginning to gleam in their eyes.

Aiden looked up at the sky in speechless exasperation.

“And that’s not all.” Hermes’s voice grew even more impassioned. “There is also Artemis, one of the Three Great Virgin Goddesses. To this day, no one has ever seen her entirely unclothed. Not even the gods of Heaven…”

He suddenly feigned a look of deep regret, slowly clenching his right fist. “My dreams were once shattered because of this. But my heart screamed! I refused to give up! And now… now, I have all of you, my like-minded comrades!”

Moved by his “true feelings,” tears of sheer emotion actually began to well up in some of the adventurers’ eyes.

“What stands before us is a monumental challenge! But once we overcome it, your names will echo through eternity!” Hermes spread his arms wide, his pitch rising fervently. “Stand up, young men! Become true heroes!”

He raised his right hand high, burning with passion.

“Ohhhhh—!”

Every single adventurer was completely fired up. They leapt to their feet, thrusting their fists into the air, their fighting spirit soaring to unimaginable heights.

Aiden’s mouth twitched involuntarily.

“Heavens, grant us victory! Bless your glorious warriors! Follow me!” Hermes took the lead like a charging general, sprinting madly toward the spring.

The adventurers behind him let out a deafening roar, matching his pace step for step. That overwhelming momentum, those eyes that looked upon death with absolute fearlessness—without a doubt, this was an army of absolute bravery.

Aiden shook his head helplessly, though he wasn’t exactly worried these idiots would actually succeed in peeping. Did they really think a group of battle-hardened female adventurers would be caught completely off guard?

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