CHAPTER 398: CHAPTER 394: THE WAGER WITH APOLLO

Nezha felt this was just like selling watermelons—if you weren’t a seasoned expert, you could never judge its quality just by looking or tapping on it.

So, the only option was to use other methods, like cutting off a small piece to see what’s really inside.

As Nezha cautiously pried open a small section of the Hydra’s scales with his blade, the Hydra instantly felt an excruciating pain coursing through its body. If one had to make a comparison, it was like a human having their fingernails slowly peeled off.

The unbearable agony caused the Hydra to thrash violently. It really wanted to roll over and take a bite out of this pesky human, but thought better of it and refrained.

Meanwhile, Nezha, knife in hand, planned to carve a neat triangle out of the Hydra’s scales to display his culinary expertise. However, the serpent’s thrashing caused him to press too hard, leaving a jagged cut instead.

"Stay still!"

With that, Nezha smacked the Hydra hard with the flat of his blade. The terrifying blow made the Hydra’s body convulse before it froze in place, completely rigid. Satisfied, Nezha picked up his knife again and carefully carved out a triangular piece to inspect the quality of the flesh inside.

Even though the pain remained unbearable, the Hydra held itself perfectly still, not daring to move an inch. Nezha repeated the slicing at four or five different spots, concluding that the meat seemed the same throughout.

Clang!

Two flashes of the blade later, the Hydra’s body was carved into three segments. Nezha picked up the smallest middle section and tossed it directly into a pot of boiling water. Turning to Oulistros, he said, "Just watch—this time, there’s no way it’ll go wrong."

Oulistros, staring at the pitiful Hydra, broke into a cold sweat, unable to tell which one was the true beast.

The Hydra, now drenched in blood, didn’t dare make the slightest movement. It could only watch helplessly as a segment of its snake body was thrown into the bubbling pot, its eighteen eyes glazed over with despair.

"My old man Typhon might call himself the Demon Ancestor, but compared to this human, he’s nothing but a rookie! I’ve never seen food expected to behave submissively while being cooked!"

On the other side, Nezha tasted a piece of the snake meat. "Hmm... it tastes like chicken. Maybe a bit more tender, but the flavor is pretty bland."

"So, how’s my cooking? Last time, it was purely an issue with the ingredients—nothing to do with my skills."

Oulistros took a few bites and admitted that, ignoring the gruesome preparation process, the snake meat was actually not bad.

"It’s pretty good, to be honest. If only your cooking methods were a bit more... civilized."

He glanced at the pitiful Hydra lying nearby.

Nezha, however, had no sympathy for such a menace. Now that his cooking prowess was proven, he grabbed the Big Blade from the table and swung it at the Hydra, producing a gleaming arc of white blade light.

Sensing imminent danger, the Hydra gave up its act of playing dead and struggled desperately to save at least a few of its heads. Alas, the force of the blade’s arc swept across, and all nine heads fell cleanly to the ground.

The Hydra’s wildly twitching body suddenly froze before collapsing lifelessly to the ground. The legendary Hydra, known for its endlessly regenerating heads, thus met its end in a single careless strike.

Nezha had already figured out the Hydra’s secrets. The other eight heads were merely auxiliary, with the largest central head being the true core. As long as all nine heads were severed at the same time, the Hydra would perish. Without the command of its main brain, its regeneration power had no chance to activate.

Seeing the Hydra truly dead, Oulistros finally breathed a sigh of relief. After all, if this thing had survived, and with Hercules absent, it might’ve made a meal out of him instead.

Though he didn’t consider himself very clever, he could clearly see the deep malice in the Hydra’s enormous eyes.

And so, the two of them spent the rest of the night eating and drinking. The next day, Eurymedon issued the next mission: to bring back the hind from Chryneia Mountain.

Worried that Hercules might charge in recklessly as usual, he warned, "Hercules, this one’s different from the others. The hind on Chryneia Mountain is Artemis’s pet—you absolutely must avoid a conflict with her."

Nezha stood up and waved dismissively. "Please, I’m an expert in divine relations. Just watch me talk circles around her and have her hand over the hind personally."

By now, Oulistros had grown accustomed to Nezha’s baffling statements. Seeing the confidence on Hercules’s face, he couldn’t help but set his worries aside.

"Hey, what are we eating when you get back this time?"

"Mooncakes."

Departing from Mycenae, Nezha set off for Chryneia Mountain in search of the legendary golden hind.

According to legend, near the Anoluo River in Thessaly lived five red hinds, larger than bulls or horses, with golden antlers and bronze hooves. Swift as arrows leaving a bow, they were said to be impossible to catch.

In her youth, Artemis had stumbled upon them and immediately fallen in love. She managed to capture four of them to pull her chariot, leaving only one that escaped. This lone hind had a habit of sneaking into other people’s vineyards to snack, eventually leading Teget to swear it as an offering to Artemis.

Capturing the hind wouldn’t be difficult for Nezha, but convincing the Moon God to allow him to take it was the real challenge—though, when it came to women, their tastes hadn’t changed much throughout history.

Shiny and precious gemstones, luxurious and beautiful clothes, and dashing and wealthy men—Nezha happened to have all three.

Upon arriving at Chryneia, Nezha spotted the red divine hind from afar. It was leisurely drinking at a riverside. Noticing Nezha observing it, the hind provocatively shook its antlers.

Nezha: ...

"Feisty little thing, aren’t you?"

Taking out the massive bow and bone arrow he had crafted using Hydra sinews and bones from other Fierce Beasts, Nezha aimed and fired. The bone arrow exploded through the air with a thunderous crack, piercing cleanly between the hind’s antlers before embedding itself into a distant hillside.