Anagin Chronicles

Chapter 121

After the death of Hippomenes.There were only differences of degree, but everyone’s tension loosened.

Even beasts that lived in the wild would relax the moment a hunt ended, so it could be said this was unavoidable.

A kind of physical reaction that naturally followed.

Was that why?

Even after seeing the head of Isos, King of the Kingdom of Arcadia, rolling across the ground. And even after seeing the person presumed to have cut that head off.

No one present reacted properly.

Right after the tension broke, their brains failed to respond in time to a reality too unbelievable to accept.

One second, two seconds, three seconds....... A silence settled in, as if the world had stopped—very short if you called it short, long if you called it long.

And in that gap.

Tak!

The unidentified woodcutter holding a silver axe kicked off the ground and closed the distance in an instant.

Hwoong-!

The woodcutter poured a massive amount of Energy(Γι) into the silver axe and used Ek (ἐκ).

Its formal name was Ekpémpein.

A technique that releases Energy(Γι) outside the body to throw it or expand an attack’s range.

Centering on the silver axe, the woodcutter released Energy(Γι) in the shape of an axe and swung a gigantic axe in a wide arc.

If they had stayed still, everyone would have been struck by the axe and hacked to pieces.

But fortunately, that did not happen.

Whatever the case, everyone here reacted to the woodcutter’s attack, living up to the fact that they were all veterans who had survived a battle with Hippomenes.

Anagin leaned his body back to evade the strike, Meleager jumped, and Thyreos blocked with his shield, though he was pushed back.

Most of the others, including Tramachus and Lynceus, ducked or stepped backward to avoid it.

Ah, there was exactly one person who failed to react properly.

It was Irida, the daughter of the head rolling on the ground over there.

She was so fixated on Isos’s head that she failed to respond in time.

If her older sister Atalanta hadn’t grabbed her and pulled her back, she would have been struck by the axe.

“Get a hold of yourself!”

Atalanta shouted at her younger sister.

In the meantime, Anagin, still leaning back, swung the Beast Devourer toward the woodcutter, and Meleager, suspended in midair, hurled his spear.

A swift counterattack of blade and spear.

Using the inertia of his swung silver axe, the woodcutter blocked everything and retreated.

‘He’s no ordinary opponent.’

Everyone, including Anagin, sensed it at once.

Not only was his axe technique impressive, but just from how he used Energy(Γι), it was obvious.

Not just Yul (εὐ), which strengthens weapons, but Ek (ἐκ), which releases Energy(Γι). On top of that, he even used Pl (πλ), forging the released Energy into the shape of an axe.

The woodcutter not only possessed a considerable amount of Energy(Γι) but seemed capable of handling it with remarkable precision.

No—before even that, regardless of the commotion, the mere act of cutting off a king’s head was proof enough of his skill.

‘But still, so what?’

That was that, and this was this.

As a reply to the woodcutter who had attacked out of nowhere, Anagin swung the Beast Devourer.

Releasing Energy with Ek (ἐκ), shaping the blade with Pl (πλ).

He had roughly gotten the hang of it while butchering Hippomenes. The technique’s name was.......

[Blade Extension]

Anagin’s attack flew toward the woodcutter, who had opened some distance.

Clang!

The woodcutter naturally blocked it by swinging his axe.

However, in that brief instant, two spears appeared behind the woodcutter.

A strike by Meleager, who had aimed for an opening.

Just as the spears were about to pierce the woodcutter’s back, he slammed the end of his axe handle into the ground, causing wood to surge upward and block them.

But Meleager did not give up and threw a spear directly.

Infused with Energy and thrown by hand, the spear was so powerful that it flew as if it would pierce through most obstacles.

In response, the woodcutter.......

[Weapon Break]

With a precise swing of his axe from bottom to top, he shattered Meleager’s spear into pieces.

“.......”

After several exchanges, silence fell, and both sides stared at each other wordlessly.

After a long moment like that, Lynceus cautiously opened his mouth.

“That’s him. He’s the one who guarded the boar statue Hippomenes brought.”

The reason Lynceus spoke was that when Hippomenes had been rampaging, the one guarding the boar statue was that woodcutter.

So just as everyone was thinking he must be a remnant of the Barbaroi Cult—

“You’re one of Erysichthon’s men, aren’t you?”

Anagin asked, not so much guessing as confirming the woodcutter’s identity.

“So what if I am?”

The woodcutter answered far more readily than expected, as if it didn’t matter whether he told them. As if to say, what are you going to do even if you know.......

In any case, that made it certain.

This woodcutter was an assassin sent by Erysichthon.

The one they had completely forgotten about for a moment, distracted by Hippomenes.

Originally, he was the reason they had come here, but since he was nowhere to be seen, they had thought he hadn’t come. Never would they have imagined he was disguised as a woodcutter.

‘And he even took the king’s head in the middle of the chaos.’

The tension that had loosened after defeating Hippomenes tightened again.

“Did Erysichthon...... tell you to kill the King of the Kingdom of Arcadia?”

Meleager asked on behalf of the group.

The woodcutter shook his head.

“No. He just told me to play around a bit. Cutting off the head was my own call. I don’t like the sort that call themselves kings.”

“How dare you murder a King of Hellas....... Do you even know how insane a thing you’ve done?”

“What, why are you acting so angry? Honestly, you wanted this guy dead as soon as possible, too, didn’t you?”

The woodcutter slowly stepped on Isos’s head lying on the ground.

“A guy who was practically a walking corpse, strutting around just because he was king. You didn’t like him either, did you?”

Whether he was just spouting nonsense or speaking with some knowledge, it was hard to tell—but a few people flinched.

Anagin himself felt nothing at all about Isos’s death.

To be even more honest, he thought it was good that he died. He hadn’t liked him. A living corpse using his own children as bargaining chips, it's disgusting to look at.

And the others likely weren’t much different.

Atalanta herself, her younger sister Irida, and their friends. However.......

Claang-!

Irida fired an arrow at the woodcutter.

“It’s none of your business!”

“Actually, I don’t care either.”

The woodcutter caught the flying arrow with his bare hand and continued.

“I just came to finish my job. You.”

“Me?”

Anagin asked back as he looked at the woodcutter pointing at him with his axe.

“Yes, you. I have a proposal. Are you interested in joining us?”

It was a sudden remark, but Anagin remained calm.

“Who is 'us'?”

“The Traitors.”

The Traitors.

At that word, the air sank cold.

Along with the Barbaroi Cult that worshipped barbarian gods, they were one of the few factions openly hostile to the gods.

Much about them was hidden, and little was known, but according to some rumors, their ultimate goal was to kill the gods.

Because the goal was so absurd, some mocked them—but they were never a trivial organization.

Just the stories of practitioners who went to take down Erysichthon, only to be killed instead, were proof enough.

And now, those traitors were extending a hand to Anagin.

Some were shocked, others showed open wariness. Especially those who didn’t know Anagin looked at him with undisguised suspicion.

In the subtly shifting air.......

“Ah, forget it. I’m not interested.”

Anagin waved his hand, making his refusal clear.

“I don’t want to belong anywhere to begin with, and I’m even less interested in hanging around with someone who sides with bandits.”

“That’s a shame. I’m a bandit too.”

It seemed the woodcutter was also one of the Forest Brotherhood.

Anagin reacted just as expected.

“Ah, figures. No wonder I didn’t like you from the moment we met. Then do me a favor and tell Erysichthon to go to hell for me, will you?”

“Sorry, but the one who made you the offer wasn’t Lord Erysichthon. It was someone else.”

“Someone else?”

Anagin frowned.

He wondered if there was anyone besides Erysichthon who even knew him.

He thought it over carefully, but no one came to mind. If he forced himself to guess.......

“Who is it?”

“There’s no reason for me to answer that. If my business is done, I’ll just head back.”

Anagin raised the Beast Devourer.

“I don’t plan on just letting you go.”

“I don’t plan on leaving quietly either.”

Taking the woodcutter’s reply as a signal, everyone moved at once.

Atalanta and Irida nocked arrows to their bowstrings and drew them back.

Meleager and Tramachus pulled out their spears.

Lynceus took up a sword and hammer.

The royal guards and the other practitioners joined in as well.

With such an overwhelming numerical advantage, there was honestly no strong sense of danger.

While he acknowledged that the woodcutter was no ordinary expert, their side’s combat power was also considerable.

That was why Anagin felt even more uneasy.

As a rule, when things went too smoothly, or an opponent’s weakness was too openly exposed, it was often a trap.

Rather than charging at the woodcutter, Anagin trusted his instincts and turned to look behind him.

As expected, there was nothing. He sensed no hidden presence anywhere behind them or nearby.

Even so, the unease didn’t fade, and Anagin lifted his head to look at the sky.

This time too, he thought there would be nothing—but he was wrong.

“Huh?”

There was a person standing in the sky.

Not flying, but standing.

As if standing on an invisible stretch of land.

Was that a blessing as well?

But more surprising than that fact was who it was.

It was too high up to be recognized clearly without careful observation, but Anagin could see it distinctly.

Standing high in the sky was the woodcutter.

Not someone similar, but an identical woodcutter.

The only difference was that the axe in his hand was a golden axe.

For a moment, the word twins flashed through Anagin’s mind.

Then, the golden-axe woodcutter in the sky raised his axe.

He poured a massive amount of Energy into it.

Receiving that Energy, the golden axe grew in size.

Large enough to cleave the Arcadian royal palace in two.

Those who sensed something wrong finally looked up at the sky like Anagin had, and at that exact moment, the woodcutter above brought the golden axe down.

[Firewood Splitting]

─────────!!

The golden axe, enormous in size and mass, slammed into the ground.

Everyone who had been about to attack the woodcutter immediately stopped and retreated for now. The released Energy and its destructive power were on an entirely different level from before.

When the golden axe struck the ground, an indescribable roar spread out, the earth split in two, and the shockwave shoved the surrounding area sideways, turning it into utter devastation.

The ground flipped over, trees were ripped out by the roots, structures were shoved aside, and even part of the royal palace collapsed and cracked severely.

On top of that, a massive cloud of dust shot up, reaching the sky.

“Cough! Cough!”

It wasn’t ordinary dust. It didn’t just block vision—it interfered with the senses.

Strangely, it reduced the sound, the sense of direction was numbed, and even nearby presences were smothered.

As everyone caught in the dust cloud scattered in confusion—

The silver-axe woodcutter burst through the dust, charged at Anagin, and swung his axe.

Kkaang-!

Silver axe and Beast Devourer collided, sparks flying.

“Oh, you’ve got good instincts.”

“I’m not the only one.”

Anagin replied to the woodcutter’s mocking tone.

Then spears and arrows pierced through the dust cloud and impaled the silver-axe woodcutter.

Even the sense-dulling dust couldn’t completely suppress the senses of Meleager and Atalanta.

Yet the silver-axe woodcutter, his body pierced by spear and arrow, showed no sign of pain, nor even a hint of panic.

His body simply melted away, like dripping candle wax.

“You guys seem closer than I thought?”

The woodcutter holding the golden axe spoke from behind Anagin, at some distance.

Instead of attacking right away, Anagin answered—since it looked like the man might flee.

“Are you twins?”

“Who knows?”

Despite how obvious it was, the woodcutter dodged the answer.

Before he knew it, both golden axe and silver axe were in the woodcutter’s hands.

They seemed to be weapons forged from Energy.

As far as Anagin knew, magical tools or divine weapons bestowed upon practitioner families by the gods couldn’t be retrieved like that.

‘Either way, it looks like those axes create the clones.......’

“So it’s just like I heard. You act like you don’t care about anything, but you slyly read your opponent.”

“Who did you hear that from?”

“Now that you’re asking, I feel even less like telling you.”

“Then I’ll make you feel like telling me.”

“I’d like to do that too, but.......”

Puk—! Puuk!!

Meleager’s spear and Atalanta’s arrow pierced straight through the woodcutter’s body.

Once again, his body flowed down like melting wax, and with his dissolving mouth, he kept on talking.

“Since today isn't the day. I’ll deal with you properly next time, so wait. Of course, that’s if there is a next time.”

Leaving behind those cryptic words, the woodcutter completely melted away and vanished. Along with both the golden axe and the silver axe.

“So this was fake too?”

Meleager muttered as he looked at where the woodcutter had disappeared.

And with that, everything was over.

Leaving behind only the ruined royal palace and Isos’s head, the fact that Hippomenes had been defeated faded into insignificance.