Goddess of Beauty is a Bitch

After a few seconds of chaos, a few seconds which felt like an eternity to Byron, the sounds of rocks falling over others died and the spinning of his head that had blurred his sight stopped. Even the dust cloud that had been making his breathing unsteady was replaced by somewhat of fresh air.

'Am I really still alive, or this is a new body I'm inhabiting?'

Considering how deadly the fall was, Byron didn't believe he was still in... what was the place he was in? It was 'Down the cliff near Drumline castle, right?' Byron didn't believe he was still in Downthecliff.

'If I have transimigrated into a new body, this better be a young master or a perverted pampered prince of the most peaceful and lustful empire where people live enjoying each other peacefully.'

A few seconds after this weird thought, he coughed blood and let out a cracked laughter, laughing at his stupidity. He really was stupid to think that he had maybe transimigrated into another world when he was still hearing the howlings from the other Infected Monsters.

'It's not stupid, buddy! You needed to bring yourself back to reality, right?'

With that, Byron rose to his feet.

Wobbling, he focused his blurred gaze at the swarm of Infected Monsters approaching him with inhuman speed. Because the big guy was bigger and faster than his surbodinates, when he went crazy, he put in a large interval between him and them. That's why Byron still had a minute or two to regain his footing.

Unfortunately, when he took a step, it was almost impossible due to the pain and damage. When the bastard went crazy, Byron had tried to get to the behind part so the impact of the collision would not affect him that much. However, before burying the big guy's head, some stones had managed to go astray and knock on Byron's body.

With his body in that condition, he could tell he stood no chance in the fight against the three-eyed-guy's surbodinates.

'I have refused to die. I have refused!'

A painful smile appeared on his face as he took steady steps toward the big guy's front. There, lying immovable, the mountain of a monster still looked so scary like before, the difference being only that its head was completely buried under the stones which fell onto it the second it collided with the cliff.

Byron was there to retrieve his jade binyeo that he had banked into one of its eyes. When he found out that the head was buried under tons and tons of stones, he sighed dejectedly and turned around to face the swarm of monsters.

Now he didn't have any weapon. How was he going to fight? What of he had it? What would he use it when he couldn't even walk, let alone run?

'I'm sure as dead!'

He stepped backwards, leaned against the big guy and assumed a position for a picture that would be made a cover if this was a movie.

He closed his eyes and waited for the Infected Monsters to come and devour him. After what felt like an eternity, he opened his eyes to check on why the bastards were keeping him waiting.

What he saw, made him shudder. The bastards were already mere inches away from him.

'Why did I open my eyes?'

If he kept his eyes shut, he would have just felt pain the being devoured. But, now that his eyes were open, there was gong to be fear, pain then death.

'Shut them! Shut!'

Instead of shutting, they went wide. How could he close his eyes when death was approaching him? This was not a movie or what. It was his life. His new precious life. He had to keep watching for the foes.

'I hate this feeling!'

Goosebumps shroudered his body, a few hairs he had stood straight, then the first Infected Monster to reach him opened its wide long maw, revealing rows of jagged fangs.

'Time to die twice a day. What a record!'

Before any of the fangs could reach his body, everything went black. Like the time the Goddess of Beauty released green smokes to envelope him, Byron felt something pulling him apart. It was as if he was ground, turned into several small particles, then pulled by some kind of magnetic force.

'What's happening to me?'

Not long after, Goddess of Beauty's voice reverberated into his ears.

[Congratulations! You have completed Trial Quest.]

[You will receive a Droplet of Desires and the Dreadful Dagger.]

Were his ears deceiving him, or the Goddess of Beauty's voice sounded a bit automated? Uh... a system notification?

No way!

'What kind of a sick joke is this?'

A swirl of questions flooded into his mind. What was that droplet and that dagger? Were they rewards? What did they do? Money in that world?

Byron didn't want to ask himself more questions. Because, when things finally came to normal, he heard a familiar voice once again, this time not automated.

"Oh Darling! What a spectacular performance! I expected you to stab at least once at one of the smaller monsters before others could devour you. But, not only you reached at the big guy, you even rode him like a horse, stabbed him more than thrice and finally killed him. Impressive!"

What was Goddess of Beauty blabbling?

Wait!

As if reminded of something, Byron opened his eyes and wandered them. Goddess of Beauty stood beside her luxurious bed, staring at Byron in admiration.

"What the hell are you talking about? How am I even..."

Goddess of Beauty pressed her right hand on his chest so he would not be able to lift himself up.

"Darling, take it easy! Though your battle was an illusion, your soul is tired. You need some rest, don't you think?"

An illusion?

Byron was confused.

"Don't tell me you..."

Goddess of Beauty placed her hand on his mouth to muffle him.

"I told you you need some rest."

She was right. Even keeping his eyes open was so painful. However, he didn't give a damn. He wanted some things explained because confusion was not doing him good either.

"I don't care if I need rest or not. If you are concerned about me, explain what just happened. The monsters, the battle, the... everything. I want explanation."

"OK, tough guy! I will tell you."

She put her hand over his eyes.

"But, can you please close your eyes, drew in a big breath and just relax? I will tell you once you do that. It will be depressing to lose you after knowing your potential, don't you think?"

If that could make her explain everything to him, Byron had no choice but to obey. He closed his eyes, drew in a big breath like she said and then tried hard to show her he had relaxed.

"Good boy!"

With that exclamation, the Goddess of Beauty started explaining.

"Actually, you're at Drumline Castle. You have not went down the cliff as you thought. That's why you don't even have a scratch on your body. When Kyron shot at you, they have managed to save you after you fell unconscious while falling."

Byron felt like believing her words. Because, come to think of it, if had fell, there is no way he could have survived such a deadly fall, let alone unscratched.

Goddess of Beauty was still talking.

"That's when I entered your Soul Sea and started interacting with your conscious."

"What do you mean my Soul Sea?"

"I'm inside your mind. Let's put it like that."

"Then what..."

As if Goddess of Beauty knew what he wanted to ask, she cut him short and said, "The monsters were an illusion. I made it the first quest of my system because I didn't want a weakhearted host who would put me in danger."

At this point, Byron couldn't help but narrow his eyes. He stared at her, all the pain, fear and...

'Gods! Why?'

Why would she play with his mind as if he was a marionette?

Byron felt like punching her but knew better not to do something he would regret. Instead, he pushed her hand off his eyes and bombarded her with questions.

"What danger? How can you..."

She didn't allow him to finish.

"Darling, why don't you let me finish? All your questions will be answered along the way, okay?"

"You better hurry up then. I don't like curiosity."

She chuckled, bit her lower lip and increased the level of admiration in her eyes.

"I didn't know you're a bad boy. But I understand. That was really... really not kind of me to push you into such pain. However, I didn't have any other choice. I want someone who I can give God of Desires blood. Who can kill all Venomous Beauties or collected all the shards they have. Someone strong to help me fight the Goddess of Misery so I can finally bring beauty to the whole world. So I can freely do what my existence demands. I want to see flowers blooming. I want forests and rivers to..."

This time Byron was the one who didn't allow Goddess of Beauty to finish.

"You put me through such pain only because you want to see flowers blooming? You're selfish."

She gave him a strange look and replied, "The system is called satisfy me, don't you remember? I made it so I can be happy. That's why everything the host will do will be in line of satisfying my desires."

Byron wanted to call her a bitch, but he knew better not to say it aloud.

Meanwhile, goddess of Beauty burst out laughing.

"Ha ha! You can say it aloud if you want because I have already heard it."

Now Byron had right to say whatever he wanted.

"Oh!"

He chuckled.

"I have forgotten that you can read my mind, you bitch. You're a bitch. How can you play with my mind as if I'm your puppet?"