Anagin Chronicles

Chapter 135

The reason Anagin gathered the looters in one place was because they were annoying.Of course, that wasn’t the only one-dimensional reason.

There was also the calculation that it would be dangerous to have such flies tailing him on a long-distance journey lasting a month to a month and a half.

It was better, in many ways, to shake them off all at once.

But there was yet another reason.

That was to test out his newly enhanced magical tools.

Take Pairon, for example.

Despite falling from the 5th floor of Chiron Tower, it still moved just fine—boasting remarkable durability and no small amount of aggressiveness.

The moment Anagin saw that, he judged that Pairon could be used for more than just a convenient Interspatial Bag.

Even if it couldn’t serve as a main weapon, its massive size and durability meant it could be used as a shield in a pinch, or as a versatile weapon against lesser fodder.

And beyond that, he also needed to check the performance of Pigmenes residing within the Beast Devourer.

The best way to confirm that was to use it in real combat.

So Anagin provoked the conveniently appearing looters and gathered them together.

To safely deliver the Coins of Greed and to test the abilities of his newly acquired magical tools.

A win-win. Killing two birds with one stone.

And that plan.

Was more successful than expected.

“Uuuaaaaaaaargh!!”

Pigmenes, clinging to the beast mage, opened its snout as commanded and began to devour the mage’s energy.

Shuuuuuu—!

Just like when it devoured the magic of Grumbal’s magic hammer, it drew out a cluster of light from the beast mage’s body and sucked it into its snout.

As Pigmenes’ belly slowly swelled, the beast mage grew increasingly emaciated.

On top of that, the flames on Pigmenes’ body spread to the beast mage’s fur clothing.

Terrified, the beast mage struggled desperately to push Pigmenes away, but his frail, aged body made it difficult even to shake off a piglet.

Before long, flames began spreading to the palanquin the beast mage was riding, and even the bear carrying it started convulsing and rampaging.

GROOOOOOO—!!

Watching the burning beast mage, Anagin spoke with disdain.

“That’s what you get for crawling out to the front.”

It might have been a bit harsh, but honestly, it was his own fault.

Why would a sick old man recklessly come to the front lines? To act important? What an idiot who couldn’t even act his age.

“Maybe he didn’t have a choice.”

As if unable to ignore a factual inaccuracy, Sphinx corrected him.

“He likely came forward to properly control the beasts. Controlling them from afar requires preparation, and there’s none of that here.”

Sphinx was right.

Beast-controlling magic might seem convenient, but it only works properly at close range.

To control them from afar required preparations like a totem—or multiple mages to share the burden of long-range casting.

But so what?

Anagin didn’t care about any of that.

All that interested him was watching Pigmenes devour the burning old mage’s Yeom. He wondered if something might change.

The old mage belatedly tried to control the beasts to shake Pigmenes off, but it was already too late.

With his concentration faltering, there was no way his magic would function properly.

Before long, the beasts were freed from the magic and retreated far away from Anagin, who held the Beast Devourer.

As if they intended to eat the corpses scattered everywhere once Anagin left.

Well, the corpses here would be quite the nutritious meal.

Anagin didn’t bother driving them away.

There was no need.

At that moment, a massive pillar of flames rose in the distance.

Fwoooosh—!!

Like a wall made of fire.

Having seen it a few times, Anagin immediately recognized it as the combined work of Tramachus and Thyreos.

Tramachus’ flame blessing, enhanced by Thyreos’ strengthening blessing.

‘But why now? And why there?’

Anagin frowned at the oddly timed and placed wall of fire.

He couldn’t understand why it suddenly appeared there. If they were going to intervene, it would’ve been better when the looters were gathering.

Soon, his question was answered.

Beyond the massive wall of fire, the explosions and shockwaves he had seen earlier erupted in succession, neutralizing the flames.

Then came the sounds of a chaotic battle.

It seemed the New Argonaut Expedition Team trio was holding off the treasure hunters and the Gigants mentioned earlier by Sphinx.

Rather than striking from behind when the looters gathered around Anagin, they had chosen to reduce the burden on him.

It wasn’t what Anagin had intended, but he had no complaints.

They had agreed to make their own judgments from the start.

From the perspective of the New Argonaut Expedition Team trio, they must have judged it dangerous if the treasure hunters and Gigants attacked simultaneously.

‘That means they’re strong… those Gigants and treasure hunters.’

Anagin didn’t take the situation lightly. Nor did he relax.

The members of the New Argonaut Expedition Team were skilled and perceptive.

If they judged something to be dangerous, there had to be a reason.

Having assessed the situation, Anagin looked around before moving.

The chaotic melee and the beasts’ brief but intense assault had caused significant casualties, and even more so, the fear effect had thinned out the looters who had filled the area.

It seemed safe to move.

Just as Anagin was about to head toward the rising flames.

Kyaaaahahahaak—!

The beasts that had been cowering in fear suddenly began howling in agony.

Rather than just crying out, something was wriggling inside the beasts' bodies.

Especially the massive bear struggling to shake off the burning palanquin on its back, its insides churned as if it might explode at any moment.

An extremely ominous sight.

As if Anagin wasn’t the only one who felt it, Pigmenes had already returned to his side.figure

Whatever was happening…

Anagin first reverse-summoned the now-bloated Pigmenes.

Then, as he moved to cut down the beasts giving off that ominous aura—

Whoosh—!

Anagin snapped his head to the side.

A bad premonition struck him.

And it proved correct.

Beside him, without a trace of presence or sound, a massive figure had appeared, poised to throw a punch.

Even Anagin was slightly surprised.

Even if his attention had been on the beasts, it was strange that he had allowed something to get this close.

It wasn’t arrogance. He had been ambushed by his master many times before, so he had developed the habit of constantly guarding his surroundings. He had never allowed this much distance to be closed before.

'Ah, is it Kr(κρ)?'

Anagin recalled one of the six methods of using Energy(Γι).

The mental technique Krypto (κρύπτω).

A technique that conceals Energy(Γι), erasing one’s presence entirely.

The reason he thought this was because of the massive amount of Energy(Γι) gathered in one of the hulking figure’s arms.

Reacting instantly, Anagin infused Energy(Γι) into his arms and wing guards to defend.

BOOM!

With a heavy impact, Anagin was sent flying.

Even considering it was a sudden ambush, he had taken a solid hit.

It throbbed quite a bit.

Anagin crashed into a tree and only came to a stop after smashing through several more.

Right after Anagin was sent flying, Pairon rushed at the hulking figure to avenge its master.

But the hulking figure swung its fist again, just as before, and sent Pairon flying as well.

—!

Apparently in real pain, Pairon couldn’t even scream as it flew toward Anagin. Anagin caught it and steadied it.

And without missing that timing, the hulking figure leapt high into the air and clenched its fist once more.

“Oh…”

Anagin let out a sound as he saw the massive amount of Energy(Γι) gathered in the hulking figure’s fist erupt outward, forming a gigantic fist.

Like… a giant’s fist?

Though semi-transparent like a massive clump of light, it undeniably took the shape of a giant’s fist.

It seemed linked to the hulking figure’s own fist, and as the hulking figure swung down, the giant’s fist came crashing toward Anagin.

Fwoooooong—!

With a menacing roar, the giant’s fist descended.

A moment later.

BOOM—!

The giant’s fist struck the ground, causing the earth to sink and a massive cloud of dust to rise.

It looked like everything had been crushed.

But Anagin wasn’t crushed. He had blocked the giant’s fist with the Giant’s Cutting Board.

The hulking figure was visibly surprised.

But Anagin ignored the reaction and asked Sphinx:

“Is that one of those Descendants of Giants or whatever?”

* * *

The moment Anagin saw Pairon come flying back after taking the hulking figure’s punch, he judged that continuing to use it would be dangerous.

No matter how sturdy it was as an Interspatial Bag, it seemed to have its limits. He could feel a considerable amount of accumulated shock in Pairon’s body.

Perhaps it was thanks to his extensive experience hunting boars back in his hometown. At any rate.

More than anything, Pairon itself looked like it wanted to rest now.

Yeah, it’s done enough.

Granting it rest, Anagin instead brought out the Giant’s Cutting Board and used it to block the incoming giant’s fist.

BOOM—!

“Pairon, return to your original form.”

Kkiiek…

Nodding weakly, Pairon followed the command.

With Pairon returned to its original Interspatial Bag form and hanging at his waist, Anagin asked Sphinx.

“Is that one of those Descendants of Giants?”

He had made the guess after seeing how skillfully the hulking figure handled Energy(Γι).

The group Sphinx had mentioned—the Gigant supremacists or whatever.

The reason for his guess was simple. The hulking figure’s control over Energy(Γι) was excellent.

From Kr(κρ), which suppressed Energy(Γι) to erase one’s presence entirely, to forming a giant’s fist using Energy(Γι), it looked like at least two techniques were being used.

Ek (ek), which releases the energy from within the body outward.

Pa (pa), which concentrates that released energy and solidifies it into a form.

Anagin had seen quite a few Gigants since becoming a practitioner, but not many who handled Energy(Γι) this skillfully.

At that level, it was likely one of those so-called Descendants of Giants.

“I’m not sure either, but it feels like it.”

It was a vague answer, but that was enough.

When his punch was blocked by Anagin’s defense, the hulking figure prepared to swing again.

KWAAAAAAANG!!

At that moment, a massive beast made of blood ambushed the hulking figure, aiming for a gap in his stance

For a split second, Anagin wondered what it was—then he noticed the beasts collapsed nearby, completely drained of blood.

Sphinx explained.

“It’s a type of blood magic. A spell that extracts a beast’s blood and uses it as a familiar.”

“Why the hell does something like that exist?”

“After seeing that your blade is especially effective against beasts, they probably decided to just extract the blood instead.”

“So a beast mage can do that too?”

“They’re probably blood mages.”

Sphinx made a guess.

While it was possible to use more than one type of magic with enough effort, that likely wasn’t the case here.

More likely, once the beast mage was neutralized, blood mages had joined the fight.

“If they just extract the blood and control it, they can ignore biological instincts, which gives them an advantage in battle.”

He didn’t need her to spell out what that advantage was.

The hulking figure was clearly struggling against the blood-beast.

After dodging its sudden attack, the hulking figure smashed it with the giant’s fist, but while it broke apart in that instant, it quickly reformed and lunged again.

Well, liquid doesn’t really break.

Anagin got annoyed over something oddly specific.

“Then they should’ve used that from the start.”

“Most blood magic is single-use. It consumes a lot of resources.”

“Ah.”

“Anyway, this is a good opportunity. While they’re fighting—”

“—Agreed.”

Before Sphinx could even finish, Anagin agreed and charged forward.

She had been about to suggest retreating while they were distracted.

But Anagin didn’t care.

With the Giant’s Cutting Board in one hand and the Beast Devourer in the other, he charged straight toward the battling blood-beast and the hulking figure.

The hulking figure tried to grab the blood-beast with the giant’s hand, but the creature liquefied and slipped away, counterattacking.

The hulking figure stepped back and struck it with his fist, shattering it again.

But even when destroyed, the blood-beast kept attacking.

Judging that a direct clash was dangerous, the hulking figure created distance.

In that gap, Anagin swung the Beast Devourer and sliced through the blood-beast.

Surprisingly, perhaps because it had devoured even the blood when it cut Hippomenes’ neck before, the Beast Devourer consumed the blood-beast whole the moment it sliced through it.

With a sinister sound, the Beast Devourer absorbed the blood.

The pig pattern embedded in the blade grew even redder.

Seeing that, the hulking figure looked briefly surprised, then confused.

From a logical standpoint, if Anagin had a sword like that, it would have been more advantageous to strike him first and deal with the blood-beast afterward.

And logically, that was correct.

It’s easier to deal with the stronger opponent first, then clean up the weaker one.

But that didn’t matter to Anagin.

To him, they were both the same.

Whoosh!

Anagin suddenly hurled the Giant’s Cutting Board at the hulking figure.

The hulking figure smashed it away with a giant’s fist.

A look crossed his face—what kind of trick was that?

Then he saw it.

Anagin sheathing the Beast Devourer, and instead condensing Energy(Γι) into one arm and both legs, taking a striking stance.

Sphinx hastily leapt off Anagin’s shoulder.

Anagin kicked off the ground and drove forward, unleashing his energy-condensed fist.

The hulking figure belatedly swung his giant's fist, but—

Anagin smashed through that giant's fist and struck the hulking figure beyond it.

The hulking figure was sent flying even farther than Anagin had been, crashing hard into the ground.

Anagin approached the fallen hulking figure, whose limbs were broken, and spoke:

“Now then… shall you answer my questions?”