Chapter 59: Dionysus (3)
Dionysus couldn’t wrap his head around why Gaia was suddenly in the picture.
Even for these lunatics, screwing with the Earth Mother seemed impossible.
“That’s bullshit! No matter how crazy we are, we’d never mess with Lady Gaia!”
“Ampelos, calm the hell down. We’re not certain it’s Gaia’s curse yet.”
Silenus calmed the panicking Ampelos and continued.
“If it was Gaia’s curse, the satyr race would already be extinct.
If she just wanted suffering, she’d have hit every satyr on the planet.”
Shudder
Ampelos instantly cooled off.
The thought of pissing off a goddess who could casually wipe out an entire species scared the shit out of him.
“Plus, I got word: satyrs elsewhere are fine.”
Ampelos let out a huge sigh of relief.
In that short moment, his mind had run through every worst-case scenario.
He collapsed on the ground, drained.
Whew…
Seeing him relax, Dionysus turned to his mentor.
“Then who cursed them?”
“Hmm… only elves learned curses directly from Gaia, as far as I know. Or maybe sea nymphs loyal to Poseidon… But these idiots couldn’t possibly have met high-ranking sea nymphs…”
Dionysus nodded.
“So, elves.”
“Most likely. But the quality of the curse is way too high. That’s why I mentioned Circe or Iris.”
Dionysus’ brain kicked into overdrive.
Elf-related, Circe/Iris-level, hates satyrs, forest-related…
His blood ran cold.
“No way… Lady Artemis.”
Not Gaia was not the good news. Artemis was the kind of goddess who’d skin satyrs alive and hang them for fun.
“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!”
Ampelos, equally panicked, frantically tried to remember.
“Uh… had fun on the mountain, played with fire, hunted, had more fun, wrestled, then left Nysa and—”
SMACK
Dionysus face-palmed hard before he finished.
“Master, if these morons wandered off Nysa into Artemis’ mountain—that explains it.”
“Hmm…”
“You’re probably right, Dionysus.
Your nymph nannies might forgive them because of you…
But if they did that on Artemis’ mountain…”
Silenus couldn’t even finish the sentence; the thought was horrifying.
Even if it was just a guess, it was nightmare fuel.
Dionysus wanted to beat every cursed satyr senseless.
“Should’ve just died there, you idiots.”
“…”
Ampelos wisely shut up.
One wrong word and Dionysus would pulverize him.
‘I was drunk… I don’t even remember if I was there… yeah, bury that…’
Luckily for Ampelos, Dionysus had bigger problems than his memory-lapsed dumbass friend.
The real urgency was the cursed satyrs lying there.
Sure, they were kill-worthy, but they’d grown up with him—kinda like brothers.
‘Not brothers. Embarrassing brothers.’
“Master, any cure?”
“Giving up might be the best option.”
“SILENUS!!”
“You little shit! You did this and you’re yelling?!”
“It’s Artemis, you moron. Be grateful you’re alive. You’re not a full satyr, so you probably dodged the curse.”
“…Ugh.”
Ampelos, realizing he’d yelled for nothing, looked to Dionysus as his last hope.
“Master, we need to meet Artemis and hear the full story.”
Ampelos nodded frantically, eyes gleaming with hope.
“Yeah! You’re Zeus’ son; she’s your sister! She’ll totally forgive us!”
Dionysus and Silenus answered in unison:
“No, she won’t.”
Dionysus was now heading to the forest Ampelos had mentioned.
He’d normally drag Ampelos too, but knowing Artemis’ personality, the guy would be dead on arrival.
“I was planning to move only after fully ascending as a god…”
Right now, Dionysus was in-between: not quite human, not quite god.
Most demigods had more human blood and were classified as mortal.
But Dionysus? 80% divine.
Just a trigger away from full godhood.
Walking for a while, he suddenly felt the atmosphere shift at a certain boundary.
ZAP
‘So this is a god’s domain… doesn’t feel welcoming at all.’
It was ominous, but no choice.
Even ignoring the satyr idiots, Silenus said the longer Artemis’ rage grew, the more likely she’d wipe out all of Nysa.
‘And I agree. The Hyades nannies always warned me: Artemis is dangerous.’
The forest felt like the whole world hated him.
A bit further in, Dionysus stopped.
He was surrounded.
The gloomy, oppressive shift when he entered had masked them until now.
He couldn’t see where they were, what weapons they held, or what they looked like;
They blended perfectly with the forest.
If he weren’t a powerful mage with thick Zeus-blood,
He wouldn’t have sensed the killing intent and presence at all.
Dionysus was stunned that he’d only just now sensed them.
Back on Nysa, he’d never faced anything like this.
‘The world really is huge.’
“I’ve come to speak with Lady Artemis. Tell her Dionysus, son of Zeus, is here.”
― …
No response.
Dionysus didn’t know what to do.
Attacking outright? Too many risks.
Persuasion? Looked impossible.
Hmm…
WHOOSH.
An arrow whizzed past his head and thunked into a tree.
THUD!
A note was tied to it.
Dionysus realized: they weren’t killing him yet—still a chance.
But the note said only:
> Only death awaits.
“…Well, shit. This is worse than I thought.”
Only one option left: overwhelming persuasion.
“Sorry, but I have to talk to you. Bear with me.”
No choice. He forced his still-immature divine power, activating one of his specialties: poison generation.
His poison glowed a vivid, beautiful purple, just like the wine he brewed.
“I can’t control it yet—everyone will go mad or lose reason. Be careful.”
He even shouted a warning out of kindness, shaping the poison into round orbs and scattering them.
As the orbs spread in every direction, the hidden figures had to reveal themselves.
HISS
The forest began melting where the poison touched, thick purple mist filling the air like fog.
“Use Gaia’s Breath!”
“Don’t treat him like a normal enemy.”
“That bastard’s here to toy with us!”
Sadly, his kindness was twisted, but they were elite hunters and mages.
They quickly enchanted their bows and arrows with powerful spells and drew.
Spells like [Artemis’ True Aim], [Demeter’s Pierce], [Poseidon’s Rampage]—famous for never stopping until they hit and killed.
SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH
Countless arrows flew. Dionysus stayed calm, summoning floating poison shields to block.
‘Stronger than expected. Didn’t bring enough pre-made poison… Gotta melt their magic first.’
Only enchanted arrows could pierce his skin—and they were melting on contact.
HISS
Magic fizzled out, arrows dropped one by one.
His shields shrank in proportion.
‘Half of them still hidden—can’t attack properly…’
Stalemate = bad for him.
Decision made. He cast [Hermes’ Sky-Running Wings] on his legs and blitzed.
A spell invented by a Hermes-worshipping thief; used to space-jump out of a king’s vault when caught.
It let you leap space in any direction—front, back, left, right—creating escape routes.
Dionysus couldn’t cast it perfectly, but…
‘Still effective.’
He blinked across the forest, stomping trees.
His attackers faltered.
“Cease fire! Cease fire! There’s a chance of friendly casualties!”
“Switch spells!”
But they were pros—mercenaries in wars.
Their response flowed like water.
Even Dionysus was impressed.
“Wow. Worlds apart from satyrs.
But… still not enough power.”
He wasn’t waiting for their next move.
― Madman’s Feast (Τρελὸ συμπόσιο)
He unleashed his strongest illusion-chaos spell.
Using the poison mist already in the air, it created god-fooling hallucinations while stoking drunken impulses: rage, lust, joy, sleep.
― W-What the…
“Too late.”
Dionysus seized control.
The purple mist turned crimson, driving the forest guardians mad.
― Argh!
“Hold it! Healers, purify now!”
Stronger than expected, they started collapsing one by one.
Dionysus was winning—
Until a silver arrow flew from afar.
It carried no power, yet pierced his magic like glass.
CRASH!
Like shattering crystal, it absorbed all his poison and mist in an instant.
“Who dares cause trouble in my forest?
“So it was you defiling my forest… a bastard child, no less.”