Chapter 155. Seizing Merit (4)
It wasn’t something he had aimed for from the beginning, but somehow, Anagin had ended up uncovering Orpheus’s blessings one by one.
The ‘long lifespan’ and ‘youth’ he had overheard by chance when they first met.
The ‘physical enhancement’ shown on the way to the Temple of Delphi.
The ‘materialization of melody’ that created barriers and launched slashes.
Then the ‘curse’ and ‘nature manipulation’ he revealed afterward.
And now, even the ‘familiarization’ he had just displayed.
One, two—before he knew it, the blessings he had identified had reached a total of seven.
To be honest, this was an unusual case.
Since blessings were a practitioner’s foundation, they rarely revealed them all. Especially in a first battle, it was even harder to see.
Most lost their lives before all their blessings could even be revealed.
Yet Anagin had already mentioned that he had confirmed seven blessings, and at that, Orpheus belatedly showed a faint hint of surprise.
“......I see.”
A reply that came a beat late, slightly widened pupils, subtly raised eyebrows, slightly parted lips, and facial muscles that paused for a moment—it didn’t seem like mere pretense.
However, as if he had only been slightly surprised in the literal sense, he soon returned to his usual expression.
As though it was something worth being surprised about, yet not all that remarkable.
And yet, what came out of his mouth was something else entirely.
“Impressive.”
"Your expression says otherwise."
“No, I mean it.”
Orpheus denied Anagin’s sarcasm. It really was impressive. Enough to draw admiration.
There had hardly ever been a case where he revealed his foundation (blessings) like this in one place.
No matter how powerful the opponent, most could be neutralized by combining blessings accordingly, so there had never been a need to show them like this.
In that sense, Anagin was indeed impressive.
Orpheus explained this fact to Anagin without holding anything back.
“However.......”
“However?”
“Even if you’ve figured out my blessings, wouldn’t dealing with them be a separate matter?”
Tiring!
Orpheus plucked his lyre.
The Longbald that had been blocking the air was flung far away, and at the same time, he drew moisture from the now-damp air to launch a slash.
Whoosh!
Slower than the air-made slash, but far more vicious in power.
The rock behind Anagin was cleanly cut in two.
“As proof, aren’t you unable to properly respond to me right now?”
Talking about the truth so shamelessly.
Just as Orpheus said, Anagin began darting in all directions to avoid the slashes like before.
The number and speed of the slashes flying according to Orpheus’s melody were simply too much.
Anagin knew this as well. However.......
“You look disappointed?”
While dodging the slashes, Anagin shouted and asked at the same time.
Indeed, just as Anagin said, rather than feeling joy at overwhelming his opponent, Orpheus was feeling disappointed.
After all, Orpheus hadn’t attacked merely to defeat Anagin. Defeating him was only a process to take a step further.
To break free from his current state, blocked at 8-star, and reach the higher 9-star.
Orpheus had thought Anagin would be that opponent, but that belief was gradually wavering.
Though impressive, he no longer seemed like someone who could raise his merit.
Perhaps because of that frustration, Orpheus unknowingly answered.
“A little. I thought you would become a ladder for me, but it seems less and less likely.”
“Listen to this crazy bastard!?”
Orpheus added another melody, moving the surrounding trees to try and bind Anagin’s ankles.
Though many trees had burned, there were still quite a few intact, and some were only partially burned.
“If that offended you, I apologize.”
Orpheus apologized as he launched slashes at Anagin.
Mixing air slashes and water slashes together.
As the fast and heavy slashes flew in combination, Anagin’s defense was pierced, leaving several fairly deep wounds on his body.
Blood dripped down, and his head spun.
“But I hope you understand. Practitioners usually treat others as tools.”
“I like that you’re not pretending!”
Anagin recalled Longbald that Orpheus had flung far away and used it to shatter the trees surrounding him.
Orpheus wasn’t greatly surprised. In the first place, weapons forged from Energy(Γι) were less like real objects and more like another body separated from oneself.
Of course, using someone else’s weapon was a bit hard to understand.......
After clearing away the obstructing trees, Anagin changed his strategy and charged straight toward Orpheus.
He had judged that a prolonged battle like this would put him at a disadvantage.
Orpheus also thought it was a fairly good decision. Though he wondered how Anagin intended to deal with the slashes.
Of course, it wasn’t as if Anagin had no plan.
“Pairon!”
Anagin threw Pairon, which had been hanging at his waist, to the side.
What had seemed like an ordinary Interspatial Bag transformed midair into a massive boar, landing on the ground with a heavy thud!
Orpheus was slightly taken aback.
To think he had been fighting while carrying something that heavy on his waist.
It was both impressive and a bit absurd.
Whether it was confidence or arrogance.
Either way, with his body now lighter, his speed would increase—but whether he could avoid all the slashes was another matter.
Just as Orpheus was about to think that—
Ptoo—!
The boar-transformed Pairon spat out something like a giant bed? a door? a cutting board? and fled far away.
When Anagin said [Bind and Restrain] to the cutting board Pairon had spat out, chains shot out from each corner and tightly wrapped around his arms, pulling him in.
It became a massive shield.
In that state, Anagin charged toward Orpheus, and Orpheus responded by launching slashes of air and water.
Shraaaang-!!
Surprisingly, the object that looked like a mere cutting board defied expectations of being sliced apart and instead stood firm like a fortress wall, blocking Orpheus’s slashes.
The moment he saw that, Orpheus altered the trajectory of his slashes to directly target Anagin behind the board.
However, unfortunately, it wasn’t easy.
The moment the trajectory changed, Anagin increased his speed even further, disrupting the timing, and since he held the board tightly against his body, curved shots couldn’t deal any meaningful damage.
Only grazing hits.
Well, from Orpheus’s perspective, that was enough.
Tiririiing......!
Orpheus plucked his lyre, turning all the ground between him and Anagin into a swamp.
Even with a blessing, this wouldn’t normally be easy, but thanks to the summoned Siren drawing in a massive amount of water, it wasn’t difficult.
Anagin tried to ignore the swamp by applying Energy(Γι) to both legs and accelerating, but it wasn’t easy.
The swamp itself seemed to possess a will, as hands stretched out to grab Anagin’s ankles.
And on top of that.......
Ting—!
Orpheus plucked his lyre again, giving Anagin an additional “gift.”
Following ‘lethargy’ and ‘motion sickness,’ it was a curse that lowered the body’s ‘resistance.’
The curse took effect immediately, halting the recovery of Anagin’s wounds.
More precisely, it slowed the healing speed, but that hardly mattered.
Ting-tiding!
After all, he could simply increase the wounds by launching more slashes.
With the swamp gripping his legs, the relentless barrage of slashes, and even his recovery slowed—
Anagin’s speed gradually decreased as if he could no longer endure.
Even so, it was somewhat admirable that he continued to close the distance, but distance once closed could simply be widened again.
Using his legs enhanced by his blessing, Orpheus stepped back.
Tak!
Tak!
Two overlapping yet distinctly separate footstep sounds.
Orpheus looked toward the source of the sound and met eyes with Anagin, who had already closed in right before him.
[Melody of Lead], which gradually made the body heavier.
[Dulled Nerves], which numbed reactions and senses.
[Dizziness], which induced vertigo and reduced judgment and stamina.
[Lethargy], which drained both body and mind.
[Motion sickness], which inflicted intense nausea to break both body and spirit.
[Degeneration], which hindered the recovery of wounds and illness.
Despite being under multiple curses, Anagin chased after Orpheus with a fierce gaze that was hard to believe.
His entire body was covered in wounds, one hand holding the Giant’s Cutting Board, and the other gripping the Beast Devourer.
A chill ran down his spine......
The moment their eyes met, Orpheus recalled what the Oracle of the Temple of Delphi had said.
A prophecy that when he faced an arrogant one who had rejected the touch of the gods, a new path would open.
As befitting the Oracle of the Temple of Delphi, it was an exceedingly vague expression. And because of that, even as he thought it might not be Anagin, he had still harbored some doubt.
But at this moment, he was certain.
That the one who would resolve his stagnation was none other than Anagin.
The proof was that Orpheus’s heart, which had long been still as if halted by prolonged stagnation, had begun to beat once more.
In the meantime, Anagin gripped the handle of the Beast Devourer with both hands and swung it toward Orpheus.
At that moment, the Siren floating around Orpheus fired a water-made arrow, piercing through Anagin’s shoulder and stopping him.
Normally, it would have been nothing more than a stinging wound, but due to the curse of [Degeneration] that hindered recovery, it did not heal easily.
Perhaps because of that, the wound felt far more painful, but upon closer inspection, it wasn’t just a feeling.
Tiriririiing.......
With the Siren’s help, Orpheus widened the distance again and plucked his lyre, playing a melody that amplified pain, causing the wounds on Anagin’s body to throb with several times the original agony.
Each time his heart pounded, the pain echoed like a reverberation through his wounds.
It felt almost like torture.
Even so, Anagin rose again and spoke.
“So close....... I could’ve finished you.”
This time, Orpheus did not respond like before.
He no longer doubted whether Anagin was someone necessary for his practice. No—even if he wasn’t, he was now an opponent that had to be defeated.
He was dangerous. In many ways.
Rather than simply sending out natural elements to probe him further, Orpheus decided to refine them. To deliver a fatal blow.
He molded the water-soaked soil with melody, creating a giant goat-shaped mud puppet.
Then he inserted the soul of a goat monster he had familiarized into the massive form.
Having gained a vessel for the first time in a long while, the goat monster let out its distinct, unpleasant cry as it charged toward Anagin.
Meeeeeeeeeh—!!!
The plan was to knock away the Giant’s Cutting Board Anagin held with the goat’s powerful headbutt, then follow up with a slash.
However, Orpheus’s plan fell apart from the very start.
Slash!
Instead of defending with the Giant’s Cutting Board, Anagin simply cut the goat in half vertically with the Beast Devourer.
“How?”
Orpheus asked involuntarily in shock.
After all, the goat monster he had familiarized wasn’t just any monster—it was a descendant of a Chimera.
Calling it a goat made it sound trivial, but nearly a hundred practitioners had died at its hands.
And yet it was cut down so easily? A creature whose body was even tougher than when it was alive?
The answer to that question was simpler than expected.
“It’s a beast, after all.”
Anagin, who had cut down the goat monster with the Beast Devourer, spoke as if it were nothing. As if it were only natural.
Of course, Orpheus could not agree.
Though he used a familiarized monster, its body was closer to a golem. Therefore, it couldn’t simply be called a beast.
And yet, Anagin had cut it down.
Orpheus felt a slight collapse in his understanding of common sense, but what he saw next was even more shocking.
Anagin began absorbing the power of the blessing and the soul of the goat monster from the mud goat he had just split apart.
For a moment, he thought, ‘Because it’s the Beast Devourer?’—but regardless, he decided he had to stop it and struck his lyre to reclaim his power.
But then.......
Ting—!
Even as he played the lyre, he couldn’t stop the Beast Devourer’s consumption.
At this phenomenon that defied reason, Orpheus’s eyes filled with even more confusion, and seeing this, Anagin smiled.
“The beast I caught... is mine.”
Slash!
Though he was a musician, Orpheus was still a practitioner.
Moreover, he was a great hero who had gone through countless adventures with the Argonaut Expedition Team.
Like a true practitioner and great hero, instead of trying to understand the incomprehensible phenomenon before him, Orpheus chose to eliminate the threat.
He launched slashes at both of Anagin’s legs to prevent his approach.
Anagin quickly tried to block with the Giant’s Cutting Board, but due to the overlapping curses, he couldn’t react in time, and one of his legs was deeply cut.
Perhaps an artery had been severed, as blood gushed out violently, and the wound showed no sign of recovery.
Even so, Anagin stepped forward again.
Seeing that, Orpheus realized exactly what had been bothering him all this time.
It was the fact that this man, Anagin, simply would not go down.
Despite draining his stamina with natural elements, continuously inflicting wounds to cause bleeding, and layering multiple curses on him...... he did not fall.
He looked like he would collapse at any moment, yet he never did.
Even for a Gigant who inherited the strength of giants, this was unusual.
No, perhaps it was even more absurd for a Gigant.
Because of their innate monstrous strength, Gigants often collapsed easily when faced with a lack of strength or stamina.
Their bodies were strong, but their minds couldn’t always keep up.
Yet Anagin did not fall. Instead, with a clear, unwavering gaze, he advanced toward Orpheus.
At that moment, Orpheus felt a powerful instinct.
An instinct telling him that he must not retreat.
Ting—!
So instead of widening the distance again, he cast another curse.
Widening the distance would clearly have been the wiser choice, but he simply couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Because Orpheus’s goal wasn’t merely to defeat Anagin, it was to defeat him and raise his rank.
And for some reason, he had a strong feeling that if he retreated now, that path would disappear forever.
As the new melody rang out, a change occurred around the wounds on Anagin’s body that had refused to heal.
Pus formed, and a rotten stench began to rise.
It was the melody of [Decay], which went beyond slowing recovery and caused the wounds to rot.
Then, the Siren fired more water arrows, opening additional holes in Anagin’s body.
Anagin raised the Giant’s Cutting Board to defend.
Bang!
But instead of a slash, Orpheus unleashed a shockwave, sending the Giant’s Cutting Board flying far away.
Under normal circumstances, Anagin would have dodged or blocked it with Longbald, but due to the curses, he couldn’t, and just like that, he lost his defensive gear.
While the layers of strategic moves were tightening the noose around Anagin's neck.
Slash!
Orpheus carved a deep wound into the other leg as well, completely eliminating Anagin’s mobility.
With both legs injured, Anagin nearly collapsed to his knees, but he used the Beast Devourer like a cane to barely remain standing.
Orpheus watched him.
There were things he wanted to ask.
Like how he could take another’s forged Energy(Γι), and how he could defy the power of blessings to absorb strength.
Thinking about it again, it was far too strange.
As if it defied the very laws of the world.......
And yet—
Anagin was smiling.
“What’s so funny?”
“That you... are standing your ground instead of running away, even though you’re not in a position to. What kind of nerve is that?”
Just as Orpheus was about to ask what he meant—
Anagin gave a command, his voice filled with strength.
“Pigmenes. Devour it.”
At the words of Anagin, who stood barely supported by Beast Devourer with deep wounds on both legs, the piglet dwelling inside Beast Devourer emerged.
Orpheus wondered what kind of trick this was.
He already knew that the piglet’s power wouldn’t work on him.
Orpheus tried to destroy it immediately with a slash, but the next action of the piglet made him hesitate.
Because the piglet devoured the curses embedded in Anagin’s body.
“You can use it like that?”
Orpheus struck his lyre, trying to stop Pigmenes’s consumption.
But it failed.
The curses implanted in Anagin’s body had slipped beyond Orpheus’s control.
“If it’s on my body, then it’s mine from now on.”
Claiming ownership over the curses, Anagin fed them all to Pigmenes. Like fodder.
The distance he had failed to widen, the large number of curses being devoured, and in proportion to that, Anagin’s body recovering while Pigmenes swelled in size—
Orpheus abandoned his initial plan of asking questions and instead launched slashes from all directions at Anagin.
But he was a step too late.
Because of Pigmenes, which had transformed into a massive form like Hippomenes’s final state.
The enormous Pigmenes appeared, spewing intense flames that scorched the surroundings, and raised a burning blade before thrusting it straight toward Orpheus.