Chapter 191

Chapter 191. Underwater Battle, Round Two (6)

When Anagin said they should keep fighting, the fisherman mage's face twisted.

Rage, humiliation, denial, jealousy, hatred...

Every negative emotion a human could possess condensed into a single point.

It wasn't hard to understand.

Right now, not only did Anagin look infuriating to his enemy, the fisherman mage, but even his allies, Sphinx and Horse-head, would have found him obnoxious.

His invitation to fight sounded as carefree as asking someone to play together, and the way he stretched both arms wide as though taking a leisurely stretch seemed to embody limitless confidence and excitement.

That wasn't far from the truth.

Thanks to the blessing bestowed by the subordinate woman, Anagin was overflowing with exhilaration. He felt like he could do anything, and he was genuinely happy.

It reminded him of the excitement he had felt as a child when he got a brand-new toy.

At the very least, he didn't think he could lose to anyone here.

That was why Anagin stopped Sphinx from attempting Spirit-Form Manifestation.

The reason was...

"This time, I'm going to fight with my own strength."

"Brother, I'm not trying to belittle you, but letting your guard down doesn't seem like a good idea."

"I need to do this. Trust me."

Hearing Sphinx's concern, Anagin answered with a seriousness completely unlike the carefree tone he had used moments ago.

After all, who else could teach him how to properly use this blessing?

At least for this moment, the fisherman mage would probably be Anagin's best teacher.

"Yap yap yap... You've been acting arrogant this whole time. You're nothing but a mere human!!"

Fwoosh!

"What are you babbling about? You little vermin."

The moment the fisherman mage shouted, Anagin lightly kicked off the sea, instantly closing the distance.

Using his acceleration, Anagin swung an uppercut toward the fisherman's chin.

Unfortunately, the fisherman mage widened the gap and dodged just like before.

The seawater beneath his feet moved, propelling him at incredible speed.

‘So you can use it like that too…’

As Anagin memorized the technique and immediately tried to imitate it, the fisherman mage pointed a finger and fired a jet of water at him.

In response, Anagin planted the front of his foot onto the surface of the sea and kicked upward.

A towering wave surged up like a wall, canceling out the incoming water jet. The wave then charged forward.

As the fisherman mage prepared to deal with the approaching wave—

Boom!

Anagin punched straight through the wave he had created, shattering it into countless fragments as he emerged.

The distance between Anagin and the fisherman mage vanished.

Anagin pointed his index finger at the fisherman mage.

The fisherman mage's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing fiercely as he pointed his own finger back at Anagin.

Papapapapapapat-!

Anagin and the fisherman mage unleashed countless streams of water at one another.

Naturally, both were struck by the rapidly flying water jets.

As a Gigant, Anagin simply hardened his skin, reducing the damage to little more than scratches.

The fisherman mage, however, wasn't so fortunate.

Even though he had borrowed the sea's power to gain monstrous strength, it couldn't improve the durability of his flesh itself.

Holes were punched clean through his body.

"At this rate, you're the one who's going to get riddled with holes."

Anagin fired another stream of water toward the fisherman's head.

Just as the razor-sharp stream was about to drill a neat hole through his skull—

Whoosh!

The fisherman mage plunged beneath the surface.

Instead of following, Anagin remained above the water and carefully watched his surroundings.

I'm not going underwater just yet.

I only got this blessing a moment ago.

As Anagin remained vigilant, he sensed something unusual beneath the surface.

An instant later, within dozens of meters around him, countless blades, spears, and spikes made entirely of water erupted upward.

Thanks to the blessing he had received from the subordinate woman, Anagin could perceive the flow of the water in extraordinary detail.

The instant the blades erupted, he stepped onto one of them and used it as a foothold to evade.

To think he'd end up copying one of Master's infuriating tricks...

He understood now why Master did it.

It felt good.

It looked stylish, and it was an excellent way to mock your opponent.

"What? That's all you've got?"

Standing atop the densely packed forest of watery blades, Anagin asked.

Almost as if answering his question, the fisherman mage burst out from the forest of blades.

Swinging his prized trident, he shattered every surrounding blade in a single sweep.

Having sharpened his senses while observing his surroundings, Anagin leaped high into the air, escaping the attack.

Fragments of water blades scattered everywhere.

Among them, Anagin floated in midair.

Seizing the opportunity, the fisherman mage created multiple spears and hurled them at Anagin.

Several spears flew toward him as though they possessed wills of their own.

Anagin reached into the air, summoned Longbald, and swung it with all his might.

The pressure generated by the swing knocked the incoming spears aside.

Now that the flames burning within his chest had disappeared and he could freely use Energy(Γι), even something like this had become possible.

It reminded him of Master again.

Back when he had been forced to spar while wearing heavy weights on his arms and legs.

This felt remarkably similar.

‘Thinking about it again... those were some damn awful memories.’

Landing atop the sea once more, Anagin cleared away his wandering thoughts and calmed himself.

Perhaps because of the blessing, he was overflowing with energy.

His mood was unusually good, and his thoughts kept drifting.

‘Focus. Focus.’

Forcing himself to rein in his buoyant emotions, Anagin concentrated on the battle before him.

Getting this excited over something like this was foolish.

He hadn't left the village just to be satisfied with this much.

Besides, he still had promises to keep.

Remembering the goals and responsibilities he had set for himself, Anagin saw the fisherman mage thrusting his trident toward him.

Anagin prepared to swing Longbald.

Once again, they entered a contest of strength.

As though steeling his resolve, the fisherman mage thrust his trident forward.

Anagin responded by pretending to swing Longbald.

Why only pretend?

Because just before swinging it, he deliberately let go of Longbald.

He then reached toward the sea and created a dagger from seawater.

Crude though it was, it had worked.

Raising the dagger toward the incoming trident—

Kagagagagagak-!!

He redirected the trident's path, slipped into the fisherman's guard in a single motion, and stabbed him in the abdomen.

Thud-!

Then he slashed upward from below, splitting open the fisherman's torso.

Rip— Slaaaash!

The fisherman mage split into two.

However, that wasn't the end.

His body suddenly turned into water and collapsed.

It had been nothing more than a water clone.

It wasn't particularly surprising.

Anagin had already noticed.

There had been something subtly different about it compared to a real person.

‘That looks pretty useful too.’

Acknowledging the usefulness of the water clone, Anagin wondered whether he could learn it himself, how he could use it, and how many he might be able to create.

His answer appeared immediately.

Dozens of fisherman mages emerged onto the sea's surface.

"How much practice does it take to learn that?"

Anagin asked.

The fisherman mages answered by charging at him, as though conversation was unnecessary.

There were dozens of mouths.

Yet not one of them replied.

Unable to hide his disappointment, Anagin raised one leg.

Channeling Energy(Γι) into it, he stomped down onto the sea.

[Giant's Foot]

━━━━━━━━━━!!!

Although this was the ocean, a thunderous roar echoed as though the earth itself had split apart.

The sea cracked apart with Anagin at its center, collapsing in every direction.

The fisherman mages charging toward him lost their footing, stumbled, and fell.

More importantly, the fisherman mages hiding beneath the surface were forced into view as well.

‘This stubborn bastard... Not only was he hiding underwater, he even stationed clones down there…’

"Fine then. I'll show you something fun in return."

As he spoke to the fisherman mage who had demonstrated the clone technique, Anagin brought his palms together.

Clap!

Then he rubbed them together as though striking flint.

Scrrrk!

A tiny spark flashed between his palms.

Rather than fading away, the spark continued burning, flames spreading between both of Anagin's hands.

The sudden fire caused every fisherman mage to stare blankly, their eyes wide with shock.

It made no sense.

Receiving a mermaid's blessing shouldn't allow someone to control fire.

Then how in the world...?

But that wasn't the only thing that bothered them.

The flames before them felt strangely ominous.

Like poison.

"It's going to be pretty hot."

As soon as Anagin finished his warning, he spread the flames connected between his palms in every direction.

A fire erupted across the sea.

* * *

“What... in the world... is that?”

Usually composed and always striving to make the right judgment, Horse-head found himself completely speechless as he stared at the scene unfolding before his eyes.

It was just that unbelievable.

Dozens of clones created by the fisherman mage were burning away as though they were melting in the flames Anagin had unleashed.

The sea bubbled violently, while thick clouds of steam rose into the air.

It definitely wasn't ordinary fire.

After all, fire that could burn atop the sea and continue burning stubbornly even underwater could hardly be considered normal.

However, the flames' destructive power wasn't what had left Horse-head dumbfounded.

What truly shocked him was how Anagin was even capable of wielding such flames.

It wasn't as though he had no suspicions.

There was that dreadful flame embedded in Anagin's right chest.

The flame Tramachus had planted within him.

The moment Sphinx saw the flames, she thought of it as well.

Which only made everything even more confusing.

To Anagin, those flames had been closer to a curse than a blessing.

Had there ever been a case of someone making another practitioner's blessing their own?

At the very least, neither Sphinx nor Horse-head had ever seen such a thing.

It went against all reason.

"...Ah."

Then, almost simultaneously, they both let out quiet exclamations.

They had seen something similar before.

It was none other than Anagin himself.

Stealing the Forging of another practitioner and wielding it after giving it the ridiculous name Longbald...

The question they had buried resurfaced once again, and their confusion only deepened.

"Is everyone alright?"

At the sudden third voice, Sphinx and Horse-head whipped their heads around.

A mermaid stood there.

Not that ugly fake.

A true mermaid—the goddess of the sea herself.

It was the subordinate woman.

"Princess!"

Seeing the subordinate woman, who should have been with her younger sisters, Horse-head called out loudly.

"You seem to have recovered."

Having returned to her original appearance, the subordinate woman gently caressed the wound where Horse-head had been struck by the harpoon.

The harpoon, tempered with monster blood, had not only inflicted unbearable pain but had also prevented the wound from healing.

However, Anagin, empowered by the blessing the subordinate woman had given him, had healed it.

"What happened to you?!"

For a moment, Horse-head forgot all etiquette as he raised his voice.

It was that serious.

"Did you... truly... offer him... your blessing?"

His voice trembled as he asked, unable to believe it.

After a brief silence, the subordinate woman answered.

"Don't worry about it."

"What do you mean, don't worry?! If you did that—"

"Hippocampus!"

The subordinate woman raised her voice sharply, cutting Horse-head off.

"It was the best choice. As their older sister... I simply did what I had to do to save my younger sisters. So don't argue about it any further."

Her words carried a stern warning, as though they implied something left unsaid.

She slowly turned her head and looked toward Sphinx.

"You look like you have a rough idea of what's going on..."

The subordinate woman spoke as she noticed the sympathetic look in Sphinx's eyes.

"I don't know the details."

"So... you do know enough."

"That's impressive in itself."

"Are... are you alright?"

Sphinx asked cautiously.

"I'm alright..."

"I just wanted to try it once."

"Try what?"

"I wanted to reject my fate... and do what I truly wanted."

The subordinate woman answered as an older sister who only wished to save her younger sisters.

At that very moment, the flames Anagin had spread across the sea slowly began to die down.