Chapter 167. Disguise (5)
The horse-headed one had come to rescue the captured woman, a subordinate of the Barbaroi Cult.
The exact reason was unknown, but that much was certain.
Just by looking at the direction it had been running and the way its eyes were fixed on the subordinate woman, it was obvious.
Anagin grew curious about the true identity of the subordinate woman.
From the start, her vaguely suspicious air that was hard to explain, and her impudent attitude despite being a captive, had been bothering him, but now he was genuinely curious about who she really was.
She didn’t seem like a woman who had lived in a fishing village, as she claimed.
‘Well, that’s something I can figure out later.’
Anagin ended his brief monologue and decided to focus on what was in front of him for now.
That was giving a solid blow to the horse-headed bastard who had cowardly launched a sneak attack to punch a hole in Anagin’s face.
So he exposed the creature’s purpose and promised to interfere with it. Just to piss it off.
The intention hit home.
The moment it heard Anagin’s words, the horse-head snorted hot breath from its nostrils.
Not missing that opening, Anagin drew the Beast Devourer and swung it at the horse-head.
It was made of seawater, but with a horse’s head, so Anagin judged it to be a beast as well.
Tak!
However, perhaps it wasn’t horse-brained to that extent—no sooner had Anagin drawn the Beast Devourer than the horse-head released the trident it was holding and swiftly put distance between them.
It was a remarkably good decision.
Though disappointed that the attack had failed, Anagin decided to be satisfied in his own way.
He had taken away the horse-head’s weapon, so that was a gain—
Or so he thought.
Cha-ak.
The trident in Anagin’s hand reverted to its original liquid form.
Then the horse-head pulled a new trident out of its own body.
‘What the hell is that thing?’
Anagin stared at the horse-head with genuine curiosity.
A creature with a horse’s head on a human body made of seawater.
No—he even doubted whether it was truly a living being at all.
It didn’t feel like something made by the Barbaroi Cult, and it felt different from the fish-men.
As he was thinking that—
“Hey! Who told you to go out on your own!!”
One of the people riding atop the giant monster crab shouted at the horse-head, asking why he was acting independently.
“.......”
The horse-head ignored him as if it hadn’t heard, and at that, the man on the monster crab yelled even louder in irritation.
Judging by appearances, they were definitely on the same side, but they didn’t seem friendly or trusting toward each other.
‘This side or that side, it’s all a mess.’
Anagin felt a strange sense of shared misery.
He already knew the situation was complicated, but it seemed far more tangled than he had thought.
Still, it wasn’t all bad.
At least he had gained one thing.
That woman, the Magno mages had captured, seemed to be far more important than expected.
Judging by the other side’s mood, they didn’t look like they would give up on her easily.
‘Ah, but this is a bit troublesome.’
Anagin worried at the now more complicated enemy lineup.
A giant crab and an unidentified horse-head.......
They were far more troublesome opponents than the hundreds of fish-men from earlier.
The fish-men had only numbers—they were slow, their attacks were simple, and easy to block—but the monster crab and the horse-head were different.
If the massive, heavy monster crab pushed forward while the horse-head slipped in through openings, even Anagin would be hard-pressed.
Especially if their goal was to snatch the subordinate woman away, he couldn’t confidently say he could stop them for sure.
A pincer of size and speed was inherently powerful, and protecting something was never easy.
He even considered whether it might be better to share information with the mages and use the subordinate woman as a hostage.
It felt like a waste to give up potentially useful information so easily, but it seemed better than having her taken away.
Even so, it was a bit regrettable.
If those mage bastards were just a little more helpful, he wouldn’t have to tell them anything, but at the level Anagin had seen, they didn’t seem capable of handling either that monster crab or the horse-head.
While Anagin was thinking all this, the monster crab and the horse-head, having finished their argument, began moving again.
To make matters worse, new fish-men and other sea-creature men began rising from beneath the night sea.
Just as Anagin was about to make a decision, the fisherman mage spoke up first.
“That elemental... can you stop it?”
He asked Anagin whether he could stop the horse-head.
So that thing is an elemental.......
Anagin engraved the new information into his mind and replied.
“Well, if it’s just that one, I can handle it perfectly.”
“Then I’ll handle the crab.”
The fisherman mage said so, then gathered the surrounding moisture together, formed a path with the water, and leapt straight into the sea.
Into the sea filled with fish-men.
For a moment, Anagin wondered what the hell he was doing.
Then the spot where the fisherman mage had dived bulged upward, and soon, a giant made of seawater rose to its feet.
A size that didn’t lose out to the monster crab.
Splaaaaaaash—!!
Water droplets sprayed in all directions.
Even the fish-men were startled by the sight, and the people riding atop the monster crab showed shocked expressions.
Of course, Anagin was surprised too.
He thought the man only fired streams of water, but to think he had such magic as well.
‘Is that really magic?’
He was briefly confused, but decided to think of it as magic.
The mage had used it, so it must be magic.
More importantly, Anagin looked at the fisherman mage’s companions.
They didn’t seem particularly shocked.
They were surprised by the scale of the magic, but not by the magic itself.
As if they already knew such magic existed.
As expected, those guys had been hiding their cards as well.
Boom!
Soon after, the giant monster crab and the sea giant began to clash.
With the battle, water splashed everywhere.
Quite a few fish-men were swept away by the clash of the two massive bodies and the churning seawater, and those who weren’t swept away charged toward Anagin.
Anagin watched the charging fish-men, then suddenly ran in a completely different direction and brought down the Beast Devourer.
The horse-head narrowly avoided the blade by a hair’s breadth and glared at Anagin.
“I told you I’d block you with everything I’ve got.”
“.......”
* * *
The fisherman mage traded blows with the monster crab, while the other mages held back the charging fish-men.
Perhaps because the fights were divided better than expected, everyone handled their opponents without much trouble.
And Anagin, too, was holding his own against the horse-head.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Realizing that he had to deal with Anagin first, the horse-head swung its trident at him, and Anagin answered with a grin, swinging the Beast Devourer in return.
“Hahaha! You look pretty impatient?”
In the midst of exchanging blows that left more than a dozen afterimages, Anagin spoke to the horse-head.
“.......”
The horse-head did not respond coldly, only swinging its trident with even greater ferocity.
Clang—!
Blocking the sweeping trident, Anagin spoke again.
"Can't you speak? Is it because your head is a horse?"
“.......”
"If you keep staying quiet, I think I'll tell everyone how hard you're trying to save that woman."
“...You noisy bastard!”
Whether Anagin's threat worked or not, the horse-head, who had maintained silence, finally opened its mouth
However, it seemed to have no intention of conversing, as it put even more strength into both hands.
Trying to overpower Anagin with sheer force.
Anagin tilted the Beast Devourer diagonally, deflected the trident, and tried to cut the horse-head down, but the horse-head quickly retreated backward.
Then it formed four droplets of water in midair and hurled them at Anagin.
Aiming for both his arms and legs.
To avoid the four-directional attack flying in at once, Anagin leapt up briefly, and the horse-head seized that moment to charge, thrusting the trident with the added acceleration.
Not at Anagin himself, but at the Beast Devourer in his hand.
The intention was to deal with the annoying object first.
Clang!
A sharp sound of metal colliding rang out, and Anagin’s elbow smashed into the horse-head’s face.
He had aimed for the moment the horse-head targeted the Beast Devourer and struck with his elbow.
But then.
Though the horse-head’s face shattered from the blow, it didn’t look like it had taken any real damage.
As if to prove it, despite its face being broken, the horse-head still took up an attacking stance against Anagin.
In response, Anagin, still suspended in midair, focused Energy(Γι) into one leg, rotated his body, and delivered a kick to the horse-head’s face.
Bam!
Just like when he struck with his elbow, the horse-head’s face shattered again, but this time, it was different.
He felt the impact land properly.
His guess—that attacking while infusing Energy(Γι) would work—had been correct.
Perhaps because the hit landed cleanly, Anagin felt his body heat up for a moment.
'I shouldn't get excited yet.'
While the horse-head hesitated in pain, Anagin reached out into the air and summoned Longbald.
Then he brought it down on the horse-head, applying a moderate amount of force.
‘It’d be nice if you blocked this.’
Kooong!
A heavy sound rang out as the horse-head barely managed to block Longbald with its trident.
Though it was forced down onto one knee
‘If I’d swung with Energy(Γι) in it, it would’ve shattered to pieces.’
That wouldn’t have been bad either, but since it wasn’t what he wanted, he decided to put it off for now.
Holding the horse-head pinned down, Anagin whispered softly.
“Hey.”
"This aura...?"
Staring at Longbald—the club forged with the Energy(Γι) of Periphetes—the horse-head muttered something incomprehensible.
“How did you get this...?”
Whatever it meant, it looked quite shocked.
Honestly, Anagin was curious about why it was reacting like this, but time was limited, so he got to the urgent matter first.
"Focus on my words, you horse-head."
“.......”
At the warning, the horse-head snapped back to attention, and Anagin continued his question.
“Tell me where the Barbaroi Cult’s priest is going to show up.”
This was precisely why Anagin had struck with Longbald only lightly instead of smashing down with full force.
Why had he gone around the villages demanding information?
To catch the Barbaroi Cult priest.
But he hadn’t obtained any particularly useful information.
At best, he’d learned that they had invested quite a bit in this area.
And then he encountered someone who was on the same side as the Barbaroi Cult, but not exactly friendly with them. Killing it outright would have been a waste.
He needed to squeeze out as much information as possible.
“Answer me. Where will the priest appear.... Who knows? If you cooperate, that woman might just live.”
Anagin threatened it by bringing up the subordinate woman held captive by the mages.
“You...! You bastard......!”
Enraged, the horse-head put strength into the arm blocking Longbald.
The arm that had been trembling just to hold it back slowly began to push Longbald away.
Maybe because its head was a horse’s, it didn’t seem to understand what really mattered.
Anagin tightened his grip on Longbald again, pressing down once more.
And just as he was about to hammer reality home and repeat the question—
Fwoosh!
A burning pain flared up in Anagin’s right chest.
The spot where he had been struck by Tramachus’s spear.
It ignited once more.
* * *
“So you didn’t treat him properly?”
Inside the leader's tent of the Pebble Traveling Troupe.
There, Midas and Uma sat facing each other, engaged in conversation.
At first glance, it was an odd pairing, but the conversation flowed more smoothly than expected.
“No. It’s not that I didn’t treat him—it’s that I couldn’t.”
“Ah, my mistake. You couldn’t treat him?”
"Yes, it was a far more tenacious blessing than I anticipated. It's a fire that burns in response to a mage's magic, a giant's Energy(Γι), and even human will and vitality... It’s almost like a venomous flame."
Uma explained the newly bestowed blessing of Tramachus.
Its instantaneous power wasn’t particularly high, but it clung on like a filthy stain that refused to fade.
“So even with my abilities, I couldn’t remove it completely. Well… I was also curious to see how your disciple would overcome it.”
Uma said this shamelessly, even though she had just admitted she failed to heal Anagin properly. At that point, it practically meant she hadn’t tried very hard at all.
However, Uma seemed unconcerned, her expression practically saying, "So what if I did?".
"You aren't offended, by any chance, are you?"
“I’m not.”
Midas replied more breezily than expected.
Perhaps it was unexpected—Uma showed a hint of disappointment.
"My, you're so composed that it's actually a bit of a letdown. I thought you treasured your disciple?"
Unlike Erysichthon, who readily took in anyone with even a hint of promise as a disciple or patronized them, Midas never accepted disciples.
He merely supported Erysichthon financially.
So when Uma first heard that Midas had finally taken on a disciple, her curiosity flared, and that was why she hadn’t fully treated Anagin.
She wanted to see how Midas’s disciple would endure it.
“I do treasure him.”
“You’re not denying it, then.”
“At my age, why would I hide something like that? Ah, wait, you're older than me, aren't you?
“Oh, shut up.”
“Hahahaha—!”
Having unintentionally poked at Uma’s sensitive spot, Midas laughed with delight.
Bringing up a woman’s age was always entertaining. The way they bristled was exquisite.
But knowing she would get genuinely angry if he laughed too much, Midas returned to the main point.
“Still, isn’t it said that the more you love a child, the less you should spare the rod? Tender sprouts must be trampled to grow tall.”
“That’s an anachronistic way of teaching. What if the sprout just breaks and dies?”
“Then it was only ever worth that much to begin with. Nothing to regret.”
Uma caught a glimpse of Midas’s peculiar madness.
“Haa… I think I understand now why Anagin turned out so crooked.”
“That bastard was crooked to begin with! I’m the one who straightened him out, if anything!”
Midas snapped, bristling at the implication that Anagin’s personality was his fault. He looked genuinely wronged.
They traded idle chatter for quite some time.
Then Midas asked a casual question—not important, just something asked out of courtesy.
“How long do you plan on staying here?”
“Sounds like you have something you want me to do?”
Midas didn’t deny it.
"To be honest, I'm not sure when I'll be able to move either. Thanks to a certain someone, it’s become difficult to move right now."
“Isn’t that Anagin’s fault?”
The reason the practitioners of the Festival Village were tearing the place apart was because of Anagin’s fight with Orpheus.
More precisely, the traces of a violent clash in an already unstable time.
"No, you lent a hand in that, too, Lord Midas. Suddenly, Orpheus and the New Argonaut Expedition Team left this place as if they were fleeing... What did you do to them?"
“Not much. Just exchanged a few words. They’re not my responsibility.”
“If they go around spreading stories, your disciple could get a headache. Doesn’t that worry you?”
“That’s his fate to deal with.”
“Oh my, how strict… What are you thinking so hard about?”
Uma asked, watching Midas sink into thought.
"I feel a bit bored. Ending things like this.”
“…What?”
Uma tilted her head.
When words like that came out of Midas’s mouth, it never ended quietly.
Just look at how the gold of greed had scattered blood across Hellas.
One only had to look at how he had scattered blood within Hellas using the Coins of Greed. For such a man to say he was bored, ending it like this? She could already practically smell the scent of blood.
"Out of nowhere, what... Well, what are you going to do?"
"I’ve heard. It seems the reason that Festival Village is acting that way isn't solely because of me... Didn't you say the Oracle saw some ominous future?"
"Yes, that’s true, but... surely you don't mean?"
Midas stood up from his seat and declared.
"Wouldn't it be interesting if that ominous dream became a reality?"
He intended to attack the Temple of Delphi by himself.
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