He casually tossed aside the fork that had been bent in half and walked past Livia.

Just after brushing past her frozen form, he turned back and spoke.

“Please, don’t disappoint me. Move diligently. I can’t guarantee you’ll survive the second trial. So, shouldn’t you either kill me or ruin me before then?”

The expressionless face looking at her held a hint of contempt and boredom, which made Livia even more uneasy.

No, I can’t. This is a chance I’ve worked so hard to get.

It was because he looked down on her and found her interesting that she had even gotten this close to attack. But if his interest waned… she would likely be killed without mercy.

He might just rip out the arm where the golden dagger was hidden, and perhaps even her eyes that seemed to show some interest.

She hadn’t been awake long since passing the first trial, but her heart was already impatient. It felt as though she had to act immediately.

Livia gritted her teeth and glared at the arched passage where Triton had disappeared.

The crumpled fork lying at her feet, having lost its shape, seemed as pitiful as her own situation.

***

The witch hid within the black seaweed, staring at the radiant temple of Triton.

The sanctuary of the gods existed deep in the sea, yet it could rise like an island at any time.

It absorbed sunlight to store light, the seawater drifting around the sanctuary was as light as air, and it was the most secretive place, never fading.

A natural paradise beneath the sea, the mysterious and distant utopia that humans longed for.

Atlantis.

The witch’s purple eyes, gazing at it, sank deeply.

‘That place should have been mine.’

She had wanted to become the owner of that beautiful temple. She thought she could. No, she believed she should, naturally.

But Triton not only ignored and trampled her; he tore her apart and cast her into Rubedike’s labyrinth. Just for being greedy, Echidna was pushed into a wretched state, into a darkness reminiscent of an end.

Wasn’t it said by his old followers?

That it was a generous act since he didn’t kill her? No, it was a fate worse than death, the most terrible end. Echidna lost everything that made her shine.

And so, all she could rely on was Medusa’s blood running through her veins, Hecate’s magic, and the mercy of the goddess she had worshipped for so long.

“Even a very small clue is fine; please tell me the fate of Triton, who shares my blood.”

“Anything is fine! Even the tiniest thread, please, please…!”

Recalling the past, Echidna’s wrinkled chin trembled. As she ran a powerless hand over her face, her ragged skin scraped against her palm.

Hiding among the worthless seaweed, this pitiful state felt truly miserable. It was indescribably wretched and filled her with resentment.

When her bloodshot eyes glared at the sanctuary, a transparent jellyfish fluttered over from afar and circled around her.

“You’ve come!”

As Echidna reached out with a relieved smile, the jellyfish slowly climbed onto her hand.

Two of the jellyfish’s more than twenty tentacles pierced Echidna’s eyes. A green light shone brightly from her trembling gaze.

Through her closed eyes, all the sensations this small creature saw and felt with its 24 eyes were transmitted directly to her.

‘…Fortunately, that human woman is still alive.’

As she scanned the information the jellyfish provided, Echidna opened her eyes with relief. It would be a lie to say she hadn’t hoped, but she had also considered the possibility of failure.

The red-haired human shedding tears would split the heart of the sea in two.

The goddess Tyche had only mentioned a red-haired human woman, without providing any clues. This meant she couldn’t be sure if the red-haired woman she spoke of was the same human she had picked up.

But Echidna trusted her instincts.

“Goddess of vengeance, I pray with this woman’s life as a sacrifice; please let this poor shepherd avenge her enemy!”

Her eyes shone purely with madness, her desperate cries filled with the courage to not fear her.

Even if she wasn’t the woman Tyche spoke of, those eyes that seemed capable of doing anything were quite trustworthy.

Thus, today, Echidna’s belief turned into certainty. The fact that the human woman stayed by Triton’s side was proof of that.

However, what puzzled her was how that human woman managed to remain by his side.

When that clumsy attack was blocked and she was captured by Triton, that human woman was definitely dead. She hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, but she felt it for sure.

“……”

Echidna rubbed the black scar connected to Livia. She knew the golden dagger had left this world.

But as she had promised that woman, there was a way to bring her back. It wasn’t easy, but the ‘helper’ there would assist her.

Echidna, who had watched the storm Triton raised from afar, waited to pick up the abandoned human corpse once he left.

But when the storm subsided, there was nothing left— not even the human corpse.

‘Why? Did he take the corpse to get the golden dagger?’

But it was unnecessary.

If he wanted the dagger, he could have simply cut off the arm. Or, using divine power, he might have tried to break the imprint on the soul and take it. Of course, whichever method was used, the golden dagger would have returned to Echidna.

Triton took the human woman’s corpse. Not only that, it was confirmed that he still kept her alive.

Why was that? Human, what method did you use?

The effects of her blood must have vanished from that body that died and came back to life, so how was it possible for her to remain in that palace with just a normal human body?

No matter how much she pondered, there was only one answer.

‘Triton accepted her. That red-haired woman.’

Echidna’s wrinkled lips slowly curled into a smile. Huddled among the seaweed, she burst into silent laughter.

My intuition was right! That woman was definitely the human Tyche mentioned!

If that was the case, the only thing left was Triton’s downfall.

Triton.

Triton.

Oh, Triton!!

“Hehehe, hehehaha! That damned fool! Hahaha, hehe! Hahaha!”

Her coarse laughter, which scratched at her throat, was hard to distinguish from sobbing. The witch buried her face in her hands, laughing uncontrollably before suddenly starting to cry.

“Boohoo! Wahh! Hic, hick! Hic… hick…”

Poor Echidna. How did it come to this?

She only wanted one thing.

Wasn’t she also a descendant of the great god? Her father was born holding a golden dagger.

With the greatness that flowed through her bloodline, she thought there was no reason she couldn’t hold a piece of the sea.

And so, she believed there was no reason she couldn’t stand beside that radiant man.

She acted because she wanted it, and because she was desperate, her actions were just a bit hasty.

Weren’t the gods just rolling around anyway? Why was it wrong to desire him, and why did it make her so miserable?

Damn gods!

It was absurd that when they violated and took humans, it was nothing, but as soon as the roles were reversed, it became a sin.

From the moment she was rejected by Triton, they pushed her down this far because her greed was deemed disgusting! Truly selfish beings, those gods.

It wasn’t just Triton who made Echidna this way.

“Selene!”

When Echidna’s limbs were torn apart, it was the goddess of the moon who stripped her of her beauty and turned her into an eternal old woman.

Therefore, Echidna’s revenge was not limited to Triton alone.

I won’t let myself fall alone. If I’m to be called vile, then you should also learn what vileness truly is.

“Echidna, why shouldn’t we have it?”

When she wandered in darkness worse than death, the place she reached was the bottom of the underworld.

The reason why those lost in the labyrinth never returned.

It was because the end of the labyrinth was connected to the cesspool of Tartarus. The one who pulled her up, who should have become nourishment for hell, was her father, who had long departed in death.

“Doesn’t the blood of the father god flow in us? My mother didn’t die because she defiled the temple of the goddess Athena.”

The old man whispered to his daughter, whom he had pulled up from the pit of Tartarus.

“It was because she was weak.”

Echidna deeply agreed with her father’s words. Perhaps fate also desired Triton’s downfall.

The fact that she met her father in hell and returned might have been for that very reason.

If that’s the case, then I must follow.

If that’s the case…

Then I shall gladly bring down the most beautiful and strong one in the sea.

Echidna rubbed her reddened eyes, bit her finger, and spat it out with a “ptooey.”