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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 61
Unlike the Hydra, which they could gather information about from nearby sources, there was absolutely no information available regarding the Golden-Horned Deer of Ceryneia.
“The Golden-Horned Deer? Doesn’t it live on Mount Ceryneia?”
“I’ve heard it occasionally wanders off the mountain... but I’m not really sure.”
—The Golden-Horned Deer? Heehee! I saw it once when I was a child! It ran away really fast!
No one knew where the Deer was, whether it was alive, dead, or even if it still existed.
That only meant Taygete had been hiding herself with great care.
She had to be especially cautious not to be discovered by Zeus.
“There’s no choice. We’ll have to search all of Mount Ceryneia.”
Even Hercules mentioned this because of how meticulous Taygete had been in covering her tracks.
He seemed determined to scour every inch of the mountain until he found her.
In the original myths, Hercules spent an entire year capturing Taygete using this very method.
And now, he was about to rely on the same approach again until…
“That won’t be necessary.”
“?”
“I have a way to find the Golden-Horned Deer.”
“You do? But there’s no lead to follow.”
“Yes.”
Hercules furrowed his brows in confusion.
It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to search; rather, there were simply no clues regarding Taygete’s whereabouts anywhere.
But I didn’t need clues.
After all...
“My ability allows me to track divine beings.”
Wuuuung—
In a single moment, a gentle silver light, like moonlight, shimmered around Hercules.
Startled, he looked down to find a faint lunar glow nestled on his chest.
[Holy Hunt has been activated]
==
[Mark of Moonlight]
–-Moonlight never fades, even in the darkest of nights.
==
Once the Holy Hunt is activated, any divine being I designate becomes marked with moonlight.
Once moonlight has taken hold, no matter who they are, they can no longer easily escape from me.
The moonlight is a mark indicating that Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, has claimed to be prey.
And a divine mark once carved cannot be erased by any means.
==
[Waxing Moon]
—As the moon waxes, the strength of the mark increases. Once it becomes a full moon, the prey can no longer escape the hunt.
※ The moon only waxes while within the domain of the Holy Hunt.
※ If the prey leaves the domain before the full moon, the mark fades over time, but once they return, the moon resumes waxing from where it left off.
※ The prey receives a 20% boost to all attributes while marked, which increases further as the moon waxes. Upon reaching the full moon, all attributes are boosted by 100%.
==
Even a faint touch of moonlight begins as a crescent, then gradually becomes a half moon, and continues to grow stronger with time.
The more the moon waxes, the more powerful my tracking becomes until, once it becomes a full moon, the prey can never escape me.
As long as the moon remains in the sky, they will always be within my reach.
Of course, the moon could never truly vanish so once someone was marked, the only way to escape before the full moon was to leave the domain of the Holy Hunt entirely.
‘Still... the mark seems to linger quite a while.’
Even if they fled the domain, as long as the moonlight mark remained, the target couldn’t fully escape the hunt.
More importantly, since I myself would be pursuing them, it was safe to say that escaping the domain at all would be near impossible.
In short, against divine beings, this ability was practically a guaranteed pursuit and an absurdly overpowered gift.
“This must be Artemis’s blessing.”
“I offered prayers at her altar the day before, and Lady Artemis granted me her favor.”
I looked out toward Mount Ceryneia.
From the central peak to the twelve jagged ridges rising along the coastline, it formed a vast mountainous terrain.
You could almost call it a small mountain range.
With such a wide expanse, finding Taygete in one go would be incredibly difficult.
“Let’s start circling the peaks. If we check all twelve, we should find her eventually.”
I took a step toward the first peak in sight.
But then…
“No need to walk.”
“Pardon?”
Before I could question further, Hercules hoisted me onto his back like a sack of supplies.
His back was solid like a boulder.
It felt like riding atop a mountain giant.
“Iolaus, keep an eye out in case the Deer leaves the mountain.”
“Yes, Lord Hercules.”
After giving his command to Iolaus, Hercules slowly bent his knees.
Then…
Wuuuuung—
Golden energy began to surge toward Hercules’s feet, a tremendous power gathering in his legs.
‘Wait… no way…’
Just as I had a horrible realization Hercules unbent his knees.
And then…
BOOOOOM!
I shot into the sky like a rocket.
The ground shrank beneath us, and even the massive form of Iolaus became a mere dot below.
Still, we kept rising.
‘How high are we going?’
Just as anxiety began to settle in, Hercules stopped midair.
And then, we fell.
Whoooosh—
Wind screamed past my ears.
We were free-falling under the pull of gravity, with no net, no safeguard.
It felt like skydiving without a parachute.
As the massive silhouette of Mount Ceryneia rapidly approached below, I managed to regain my focus and quickly activated Holy Hunt once more.
[Holy Hunt has been activated]
A Holy Hunting domain unfolding from midair.
A single mountain peak now lay within the domain of the Holy Hunt.
However, not a trace of moonlight could be found.
And then—
BOOOOOM—!
Hercules landed.
The spot where he touched down bore a fresh crater, as if a comet had struck the earth.
Fortunately, his golden aura of divine energy had enveloped me, softening the impact.
Though my body was intact, my mind… was not.
Hercules had just leapt nearly halfway up a mountain in a single bound.
That was, without a doubt, the most spectacular moment of my entire life.
“Did you find her?”
“She’s not here. We’ll have to try the next peak.”
“Hold on tight.”
“……”
Once again, Hercules bent his knees.
***
What followed was a wild blur of divine athletics.
Hercules bounded across eight more peaks, leaping like a meteor from summit to summit, leaving cratered footprints in each one.
And then, as we approached the eighth—
Moonlight appeared within the hunting domain, spreading faintly through the sky.
Once we returned to the ground, I turned to Hercules.
“We’ve found her, Hercules.”
A faint crescent shimmered on the back of my right hand the emblem of Artemis, goddess of the moon.
That pale moonlight extended like a thread, guiding us through the mountain range.
We followed where it led.
Soon, a broad lakeside vista opened up before us.
“There she is.”
A massive Deer with golden antlers stood by the lake, lowering its head to drink.
The moonlight from my hand flowed toward its neck confirming the connection.
That Deer… was none other than Taygete, one of the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades, and a goddess who had once fled from Zeus.
***
Finding Taygete had been relatively easy.
Capturing her, however, was anything but.
As a native goddess of Mount Taygete, she possessed divine speed that even Hercules couldn’t easily match.
She bounded across mountaintops faster than the eye could follow; she even dashed across the surface of the lake and, at one point, breathed fire at Hercules during the chase.
To make matters worse, we couldn’t just catch her, we had to capture her without harm.
Even with Vanessa's help, sneaking up on her proved futile. Taygete had sharp instincts and escaped instantly.
In the end, Hercules had no choice but to pursue her relentlessly until she tired herself out.
He chased her for three days straight, without rest.
Only when Taygete finally collapsed from exhaustion in a field was he able to catch her.
Or so I heard I didn’t actually witness it.
By the time Hercules returned with her, I was back at the trading post, playing poker with Iolaus, Vanessa, and Jeanne.
“Lord Hercules. You’re back.”
“Caught her.”
In one hand, he held Taygete’s golden antlers. The goddess was fast asleep, utterly spent.
I stared at Hercules, utterly stunned by his stamina.
“Three days without rest... You really are unbelievable, Lord Hercules.”
“He really takes after his father, doesn’t he.”
“……”
At Vanessa’s quiet remark, I scratched my cheek.
It was a reference to Hercules inheriting his father Zeus’s relentless persistence.
‘Well… she’s not wrong.’
If a strange man chased me for three days and nights without sleep or food, I’d be terrified too.
Especially if that man was a monster like Hercules.
In truth, Hercules had an even more notorious reputation as a womanizer than Zeus himself. Vanessa’s comment about like father, like son couldn’t have been more accurate.
“Jeanne.”
“Yes.”
Jeanne moved to heal the exhausted Taygete.
Blessed by Jeanne’s sacred power, Taygete soon regained her strength and opened her eyes.
But with Hercules holding her fast, there was no more room for escape.
And then—
─────
Suddenly, the crescent moon on the back of my hand began to glow, casting a gentle silver light outward.
“?”
I hadn’t even activated the Holy Hunt, so I was puzzled by the unexpected radiance.
The moonlight gathered, condensing in one spot until it formed a shape.
Hair the color of forest leaves. Eyes like the open sky.
A braid cascading over one shoulder, ending in a small crescent moon that hung like an ornament from the night.
She was a vision of nature itself graceful, serene, and divine.
“You’ve brought Taygete to me without injury.”
With a soft smile illuminated by moonlight, the woman stepped forward.
The goddess of the moon—Artemis.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 61
