Chapter 388: The Witch's Temptation
The glowing computer screen displayed a login page.
If one looked closely at the screen, they could faintly see the reflection of an alluring figure—a form that would captivate any ordinary man at first glance.
The owner of this figure, with her slender hand, lazily pressed a single key on the keyboard.
Correction—it wasn't laziness, but rather her body was still weak from having most of her magical power drained all at once.
Still, even without such circumstances, this Witch might have been just as indolent.
Login successful. She entered her email and downloaded the file from a new message.
Ding—the download was complete.
But when she tried to open the file, it required a decryption password. The princess hadn't mentioned what the password was.
However, there was a hint—she was testing her.
Truly a Witch of equal standing, the challenge she posed was anything but ordinary.
After a moment of rapid thought, Lucretia realized what incantation the password was.
She entered it, confirmed it was correct, and began extracting the files. Were these all images?
"What is this?"
She stared at the first photo in slight astonishment. It showed a creature roughly five meters long?
With the lower body of a spider and a demonic upper body?
Upon closer inspection, she could discern features of other creatures as well.
So, what mythological being was this?
No matter how much Lucretia pondered, she couldn't figure out which mythology this creature belonged to.
As she continued browsing, a new image left her stunned—it depicted the monster's body dismembered into several pieces.
The bloody wounds from the dissection were visible, along with internal organs.
This was extraordinary.
Typically, beings originating from mythology wouldn't leave behind corpses after being slain.
Even if remnants remained, it wouldn't be an intact body—only a fragment or two of bones at most.
So, this thing seemed more like a real biological entity rather than something that emerged from mythology?
Could it be that some illegal organization had created such a monster through biological research?
"What do you think this is?"
Lucretia asked the person who had approached behind her. He was eating pizza and drinking a beverage, appearing completely human with no connection to a Heretic God whatsoever.
Thus, her curiosity about his origins grew even stronger.
His adaptation to human living conditions was so natural—it was as if he had genuinely lived among humans his whole life, as one of them.
The reason he was eating pizza and drinking soda was that the lunch prepared by Erica's maid had some issues—it was practically a culinary disaster—so they had ordered fast food instead.
It wasn't that Erica's maid lacked cooking skills; in fact, her craftsmanship was excellent. However, certain dishes she prepared would inexplicably turn out poorly, similar to how she would confuse automatic transmission and manual transmission cars every three days or so while driving.
Of course, it wasn't that Arianna's cooking was inconsistent for the same dishes. The main problems arose with soups, which would mysteriously become terrifying, and any new recipes she experimented with were also prone to such issues.
Today, she had attempted a new dish, and it had gone wrong.
So, after taking one accidental bite, her master's face turned pale.
Erica was aware of her maid's quirks but deliberately didn't warn him—this was her way of expressing displeasure.
The reason for her displeasure was that he had just drained Lucretia's magical power.
After having her power extracted, Lucretia would end up in that wretched state, which was highly stimulating for men. Thus, Erica was unhappy that he seemed somewhat tempted by her allure.
"Is this what that princess sent? She caught this thing?"
Renji, who had sat down nearby, didn't directly answer the seductive Witch whose attire barely covered her vital areas. Instead, he posed a counterquestion.
He studied the images carefully, feeling a sense of familiarity.
This familiarity wasn't because he had seen an identical monster before, but because the creature reminded him of something.
Hmm, it closely resembled those chimeras of Hades.
Although Hades had died during the invasion of another world, he had left a high-ranking death god in charge of overseeing the research institute.
The death god, upon realizing his chief deity had perished, immediately had the research institute recklessly produce chimeras, with different varieties numbering in the thousands.
These creatures were released to wreak havoc across the world, though fortunately most were eliminated.
The entity before them now bore some resemblance to Hades' chimeras.
"She didn't capture it, but she has the authority to handle it. Do you think this belongs to the mythological world?"
As Lucretia answered, she slightly straightened up and leaned toward him, her sensual lips nearly biting into the pizza in his hand.
"Mmph—!"
It was abruptly shoved into her mouth, though not by him—Erica, who had approached, was the one who did it.
"What is this? It can even be dissected?"
Erica, who had been about to pull the witch away, was stunned upon noticing the photo.
The monster in the photo couldn't possibly be any naturally existing creature; in her view, it had to be something that had escaped from mythology.
Yet such a thing could be dissected? Placed on an experimental table?
That was bizarre.
"I don't know. This is a transaction from that princess. If I tell her about the Heretic God in Sardinia, she'll let me participate in the research."
"Princess?"
Erica was taken aback but quickly realized who it was.
It must be that princess from the Council of Wise Men, Lady Alice.
"Shall we go?"
The witch asked her master.
If this man hadn't appeared, she would have been keen to go.
But now, she was more interested in the person before her.
Moreover, she had a premonition that the emergence of that abnormal monster might be related to this master in some way.
So, could that monster also have come from his world?
Was it a demonic creature from the mythology over there?
If so, he should recognize it.
His current reaction seemed unaware—was he pretending, or did he truly not know?
"By the way, this princess is a Witch of the Heavenly Throne and quite suited to be a saint~"
Then she dangled such a temptation.