Chapter 844: [Blessing of the Goddess of Life]

At this moment, the entire reception hall fell silent.

Everyone stared blankly at the enchanting sorceress who walked in holding Lilith’s hand, all of them stunned.

Including Harvis and Capeline.

Including Elise, Oz, and Maeve.

Naturally, also including Rockto, Tilly, Carol, Jenom, Riley, Vivian, and the others.

The newcomer was Shafney.

“Why are you here?”

Seeing this situation, Shien’s lips twitched slightly.

Shafney, as if she hadn’t seen anything, smiled sweetly.

“You all seem to be talking about something interesting, so I came to take a look.”

Ignoring the impact her smile had on others, Shafney released Lilith’s hand and sat down next to Shien.

Lilith immediately and cheerfully threw herself into Shien’s arms and was embraced by him.

“G-Goddess Lilith…!”

Elise finally reacted, looking at Lilith, who had jumped into Shien’s arms, and subconsciously stood up.

Oz and Maeve also stiffened.

To them, Lilith wasn’t a stranger.

As the Evil God who had destroyed Cosmos and been guarded by the beastmen for a thousand years, seeing Lilith again naturally made the three of them nervous.

Thanks to this, the others also came back to their senses.

“…Unexpected to see you here, Your Highness Shafney.”

Sophie, one of the very few who hadn’t been stunned by Shafney’s appearance, finally stood up after a moment of silence and bowed to Shafney.

After all, it wasn’t the first time she had met Shafney.

“G-greetings, Your Highness the Succubus!”

Leia and Nia also hurriedly bowed.

As heroes who had participated in the final battle a thousand years ago and lived for thousands of years, they naturally couldn’t have not met Shafney, who was once their enemy.

Therefore, although they couldn’t avoid some emotional fluctuations upon seeing Shafney, they were the first to react, breaking free from her charm.

“Phew…”

Carol quickly took a deep breath and lowered her head, not daring to look at Shafney again.

“She…”

Jenom was still in a daze.

As for Harvis, Rockto, and the others, there was no need to mention it; they were completely stunned.

“Brother!”

“Father!”

Capeline and Tilly broke free first, then quickly tugged at Harvis and Rockto, bringing them back to their senses.

“S-she… she’s the Succubus Shafney?”

Rockto looked at Shafney with shock in his eyes.

“So beautiful…”

Harvis murmured, staring intently at Shafney.

Riley and Vivian subconsciously took a step back.

They had originally been standing behind Shien.

Now, with Shafney sitting beside Shien, although they were closest to her, they could only see her back.

Even though Shafney’s back was alluring and enticing, not seeing her face lessened the impact.

Therefore, after a brief daze, Riley and Vivian successfully recovered, stepping back while looking at Shafney’s back with lingering fear.

Under such circumstances, Shafney ignored the reactions of others and looked at Sophie and the elves.

“Long time no see, daughters of Nadue.” Shafney said with a smile. “I heard that a child in your race is qualified to receive Nadue’s blessing. Congratulations.”

Hearing this, Leia and Nia didn’t dare to breathe.

Only Sophie smiled wryly.

“Melika has indeed changed. Being able to become the blessed one of Goddess Nadue is indeed a joyous occasion for our Elven Race.” Sophie pursed her lips and said, “But, just a blessed one, compared to Your Highness, whom even Goddess Nadue admits to being inferior to, she’s still not quite up to par.”

It seemed Sophie understood Shafney’s personality somewhat.

She knew how playful Shafney was and what kind of beings she would be interested in.

Therefore, to prevent Melika from being targeted by Shafney in the future, Sophie provided some cover for her.

Unfortunately, this approach didn’t work on Shafney.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to her.” Shafney said with a smirk. “After all, that child seems to have a close relationship with my Hero.”

Saying this, Shafney glanced at Shien.

“(ˉ￣~)~~(sizzle)”

Shien curled his lip, not responding to this woman’s words at all.

On the contrary, after hearing Shafney’s words, the others’ eyes subtly changed.

“My Hero… is it?”

Everyone glanced at Shien, who was sitting side by side with Shafney.

Upon closer inspection, there was almost no distance between Shien and Shafney; their arms and shoulders were practically touching.

This sense of closeness revealed a lot.

Sophie and Capeline couldn’t help but worry.

(Could it be that even the Hero is interested in this Succubus…?)

The two of them couldn’t help but glance at Shien.

However, what they saw was Shien with a normal expression, not affected by the beauty beside him at all, still playing with Lilith.

This told everyone that Shien hadn’t fallen for the charm of this Succubus, whose beauty was rumored to be enough to topple nations.

This made Sophie and Capeline unconsciously relieved.

Of course, their reasons were different.

Sophie was purely worried that Shien would become obsessed with Shafney, just like those men who had met her in the past.

If that happened, his life would be ruined.

Furthermore, Nadue had always thought highly of Shien, and Melika had a close relationship with him. Sophie didn’t want to see the Hero completely taken in by the Demon Race, which was why she couldn’t help but worry.

As for Capeline, she simply became unconfident after seeing Shafney.

This was unavoidable.

The difference in level was too great. Even someone as confident as Capeline didn’t think she could win against Shafney in terms of charm.

Now, seeing Shien’s normal expression, Capeline was naturally relieved.

Elise felt the same way as Capeline.

This beastmen Saintess had been staring at the almost non-existent distance between Shien and Shafney since earlier, the jealousy in her eyes impossible to conceal.

“He really is a womanizer…”

Elise couldn’t help but mutter.

This mutter was heard by everyone.

“Oh?”

Shafney also looked at Elise, and her eyebrows immediately raised.

“What are you doing?” Shien saw Shafney’s expression and said irritably, “Are you targeting that little girl again?”

Hearing this, Shafney rolled her eyes at Shien.

“Whether I’m targeting that little girl or not is yet to be determined.” Shafney said meaningfully, “But that little girl has definitely targeted you, that much is certain.”

“What?” Shien was stunned.

“I… I haven’t!” Elise’s face instantly flushed red, and she jumped up.

Her agitated appearance made everyone present look at each other strangely.

Especially Oz, who no longer paid attention to Shafney, staring at Elise’s blushing face, veins bulging on his forehead.

“Alright, I’ll stop teasing you.” Shafney smiled slightly and said casually, “Don’t worry, I’m just surprised that Anima’s blessed one has also appeared.”

These words stunned everyone.

“T-the blessed one of Goddess Anima?”

Sophie and the others looked at Elise in astonishment.

The others did the same.

Including Shien, who looked at Elise in surprise.

“Have you become Anima’s blessed one?”

Shien asked in astonishment.

Elise’s face was still slightly red, as if angered by embarrassment. She glared at Shien, but stammered a reply.

“Yes, after meeting Goddess Anima in Cosmos last time, she started paying attention to me and decided to take me as her blessed one, granting me—[Blessing of the Goddess of Life].”

Speaking of this matter, it was thanks to Shien.

After some consideration, Maeve chose to reveal this.

“Originally, Lady Elise wasn’t qualified to receive Goddess Anima’s blessing and become her blessed one.”

Although Elise was a Saintess, there were Saintesses every year, but the blessed ones of the three goddesses were rare.

Apart from the Hero, among the natives of Omnipotence, there were very few who were qualified to receive blessings from the three goddesses in person.

Nadue’s blessing had only appeared a few times among the elves, each time separated by at least several thousand years.

The same was true for Anima’s blessing. Even though the beastmen population was comparable to the most fertile humans, those geniuses who could attract Anima’s attention numbered less than ten so far.

Naturally, the same was true for humans.

Therefore, in this era, for Lildas to have two blessed ones at the same time was unprecedented, which was also why Anima and Nadue envied her before.

However, after that, Melika’s appearance allowed Nadue to joyfully gain a blessed one.

And Anima was also fortunate to discover Elise’s abilities.

Originally, Elise wasn’t qualified to receive Anima’s blessing.

Otherwise, Elise would have been Anima’s blessed one from birth, not waiting until now.

However, after the Cosmos incident, Elise’s constitution had changed somewhat.

“Before, whenever Lady Elise borrowed the power of the Goddess of Life, her body would bear a certain burden and suffer damage.”

Maeve explained.

“Thanks to Mr. Shien, the damage within Lady Elise’s body was healed.”

In Cosmos, Shien had used [Breath of the Stars] to heal Elise.

It was that healing that cured the damage within Elise’s body, restoring her health.

In fact, every time Elise borrowed the power of the Goddess of Life, besides accumulating damage and burden, she also gradually developed some adaptability to life force.

This adaptability erupted all at once when Elise’s body was healed.

Anima discovered this at that time and decided to nurture Elise.

“Originally, after the Cosmos incident ended, we accompanied Lady Elise to search for the missing Princess Capeline, but Goddess Anima summoned Lady Elise to the Divine Realm midway, specifically cultivating her adaptability to life force, ultimately giving her a constitution perfectly suited to life force, and thus, she was also blessed by Goddess Anima, becoming her blessed one.”

Just like that, Elise transformed from a Saintess into a close aide of the Goddess of Life, her status among the beastmen soaring.

Now, Elise, just like Melika, Lucy, and Diere, was a blessed one of the three goddesses, bearing the blessing of the Goddess of Life.

“No wonder…”

Shien suddenly understood.

In fact, after reuniting with Elise, Shien noticed that her life aura seemed completely different from before.

Initially, Shien thought this was a natural change for a Saintess and didn’t pay much attention to it.

Now it seemed that this change wasn’t a natural occurrence but a genuine transformation for Elise.

With a constitution perfectly suited to life force and the guidance of the [Blessing of the Goddess of Life], Elise could probably borrow more and stronger power from the Goddess of Life at will now.

Perhaps, she already possessed strength no less than a Legendary Level expert, even approaching Limit Level.

“How interesting.”

Shafney chuckled with amusement.

“The Goddess of Fate, the Goddess of Life, the Goddess of Nature, the three goddesses of the Divine Race all have their own blessed ones now. This has never happened before, has it?”

The blessed ones of the three goddesses were too rare, and it was naturally impossible for them to appear simultaneously in the same generation.

Even the Hero, who was guaranteed to receive blessings from the three goddesses, could only obtain the blessing of one goddess.

Yet, in this era, the blessed ones of the three goddesses had all appeared, and among them, Lildas, the Goddess of Fate, even had two blessed ones. It was truly incredible.

Of course…

(Even more incredible blessings have appeared, so it doesn’t matter if the mere blessed ones of the three goddesses have appeared.)

Shafney glanced at Shien discreetly.

This was what she thought.

(But, this era is indeed special.)

Shafney further confirmed this fact.

Therefore, Shafney returned to the original topic.

“You don’t have to worry too much about this Hero’s safety.” Shafney said with a smile. “With me around, nothing will happen to him.”

The implication in these words was very strong.

“Your Highness Shafney, what do you mean…?”

Sophie frowned.

Clearly, she was surprised that Shafney would say this.

Shafney shrugged.

“You just need to know that we demons value this Hero greatly and will never let anything happen to him.”

This was how Shafney put it.

But Sophie, Elise, and even Capeline, Riley, and the others couldn’t help but feel apprehensive.

Was this a declaration of the Demon Race’s stance?

The Demon Race was indeed planning to win over the Hero, weren’t they?

If they succeeded, would the Hero still belong to the Divine Race, belong to the Human Race?

Thinking of this, these individuals with considerable status in the human world became somewhat worried.