Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Boar (2)

Paia, struck by Anagin's foot, staggered back a few steps and clutched his stomach.

"...This is a little embarrassing."

"I'm embarrassed too. I was aiming to send you flying."

Watching Paia withstand the kick, Anagin let out something that was less admiration than disbelief.

He'd meant to send Paia flying far back along with the underlings behind him, but Paia had endured it and stopped after only a few steps.

He seemed pretty strong.

"Or maybe it's the body fat?"

Having pushed Paia back, Anagin turned his gaze away and untied the ropes binding the Old Man's grandson and granddaughter.

The children, who'd been glaring at Anagin like they wanted him dead just moments ago, looked bewildered at the unexpected turn.

Well, of course—they'd been told to curse their own grandfather, so confusion was only natural...

Once Anagin had fully undone the ropes, the grandson and granddaughter quickly seemed to realize the truth. Guilt spread across their faces.

They must have thought he'd lied just to save them.

"Don't make that face. What I said earlier, I meant it."

Anagin spoke up after seeing their expressions, so they wouldn't misunderstand.

He'd meant it when he called the Old Man a fool. A man who treasured his family above all else—why go doing something so pointless and put his kids in... He should have only worried about his family.

Just as the girl was about to work up an angry expression again—

"Talk about a letdown."

Paia said loudly.

"I heard you smashed an Ascetic Family to bits, so I figured you were someone worthwhile. But to be done in by a couple of brats... I'm seriously disappointed."

"That's a relief. Getting praised by a man wrapped in pigskin is just embarrassing."

Anagin stated his honest thoughts without filtering.

There were people in this world whose praise only brought shame, and one example was a man wrapped in pigskin.

"You just threw away a golden opportunity for the sake of two little brats."

"Those two little brats are your parents. And don't get the wrong idea—it's pissing me off."

Anagin rose from his spot and faced Paia.

Not just Paia—all of his underlings had drawn their weapons.

"I never had the slightest intention of joining you from the start. I just tagged along to see what an ascetic method was and what kind of people you are. A bit of idle curiosity."

Anagin revealed the second reason he'd followed the rookie bandit.

He'd followed out of simple curiosity—to find out what this Forest Brotherhood was.

When Ponytail told him about it, he'd gotten a little curious, and when the chance to check for himself came along, he'd simply taken it.

Nothing more, nothing less.

"Now that I've got a rough idea of what kind of people you are, I'm just calling it quits."

"Hah... And what kind of people are we?"

"The same as my first impression. Two-legged beasts hiding in the mountains, preying on others."

"......"

Paia clamped his mouth shut.

He seemed quite displeased.

Then again, despite everything, Paia had thought well of Anagin.

His strength and conduct, single-handedly wrecking the Dolos family. His bold attitude. Cocky as he was, Paia had expected he might be useful.

He'd thought maybe, after so long, the Forest Brotherhood had finally found someone worthy...

That was why he'd bothered mentioning the conditions Peripetes had brought up.

If he truly didn't like Anagin, he could have just ignored him and killed him. The dead tell no tales, after all.

But the brat ignored that kindness and even mocked him.

Anagin drove the nail in further.

"Ah, don't worry too much. I'll figure out the ascetic method you mentioned on my own. Once I've smashed through this Forest Brotherhood or whatever it's called, I'll learn it eventually."

"You think you can walk out of here alive?"

"No, I plan to kill you all and walk out... Hmm, is all of you too many?"

"You insolent little—!"

One of the waiting bandits charged at Anagin with a mace. The other bandits followed, throwing themselves at him.

"Pinku Pinku."

Anagin gently pushed the Old Man's grandson and granddaughter behind him.

Just as the children were about to fall, Sphinx, who'd vanished like the wind, reappeared like the wind and scooped them into her arms.

"I'm leaving them with you."

Anagin said briefly, then charged forward. He drove his fist into a bandit charging at him with a weapon raised.

_Crack!_

The bandit's mace, and his face, were smashed by Anagin's fist.

Not an exaggeration—literally.

His head burst like a red firework, and Anagin grabbed the headless corpse and swung it.

[Human Club]

Shouting the technique's name, Anagin swung the headless body and battered the bandits.

Over a dozen bandits went flying, left in tatters.

Of course, the corpse he was swinging as a club was left in tatters too, but there was no need to worry. Weapons were everywhere.

Anagin grabbed the ankle of a fat bandit collapsed on the ground and hoisted him bodily before slamming him down.

_Splat—!_

With a wet sound, two more bandits were flattened.

"......" "......" "......"

The bandits who'd been charging in excitement suddenly felt the blood drain from their heads.

The brutal sight before their eyes—the fear it stirred had overwhelmed their fury.

"_Fwoosh—!_ You really do fight like a Giant."

Paia, who'd been watching the fight from behind, sounded impressed.

"Overwhelming attacks using monstrous strength. Half-baked ones can't even imitate it, since they don't have the guts."

Paia's words were true.

Giants undoubtedly possessed monstrous strength beyond comparison with ordinary people, but that didn't mean all of them could fight like Anagin.

Making a person burst, spraying blood, tearing entrails apart every which way—doing that with your own hands took more guts and nerve than most people had.

"That's why it's a shame. It would've been fun having you on our side. Would've been even better if you weren't being led around by a couple of brats."

The moment he finished speaking, the bandits hurled arrows, stones, and spears at Anagin. At the same time, several bandits ran toward Sphinx and the children.

They meant to take hostages.

Block those, and he'd be hit by the projectiles. Block the projectiles, and the hostages would be taken.

He was being forced to choose. So he chose.

To do both.

_Thwip, thwip, thwip!_

Anagin used a corpse as a shield to block the incoming projectiles, and kicked a spear blade off the ground, sending it flying into the bandits closing in on Sphinx.

Not stopping there, he threw the corpse he'd been using as a shield at the ones who'd turned their eyes toward Sphinx, crushing them.

The bandit he hit burst like a watermelon, spraying blood everywhere.

"Uuuaaaah..."

The bandits' faces went pale, and one by one they tried to back away from the fight.

Even for bandits, this was too gruesome a sight.

The Master's voice surfaced in his mind.

_'War, combat, a brawl, an argument. In any form of conflict, the ones who get scared first are the ones who lose.'_

_'Is that why you smacked me in the middle of a meal?'_

Just as momentum was about to tilt entirely toward Anagin—

"You can't run."

Paia kicked a retreating underling and sent him flying at Anagin.

The bandit flew at him screaming.

_'So he really is a Giant, then?'_

Anagin thought as he slapped the flying bandit's face.

To kick a grown man and send him flying like that. That took a Giant.

When Anagin's fist met the bandit's face, red blood burst and the bandit flew off again, and then from all sides bandits and women kept flying at him.

Paia was moving quickly, throwing fleeing bandits at Anagin.

Anagin swung his fists and struck them all down, dyeing everything around him red with droplets of blood.

Amid the reddening field of vision, Paia closed in and threw a punch.

"Whoa there."

Anagin stepped back in time with the incoming fist and threw the Harpy Witch's feather.

Paia's punch, having failed to deliver its force properly, didn't land an effective blow, and the feather aimed at Paia's eye was blocked by Paia's open palm.

A drop of blood welled up over the wound the feather had pierced.

"That stings!"

The moment Paia clenched his fist and lunged again, Anagin threw another feather.

_Fwoosh—!_

The target was Paia's eye.

This time Paia blocked with his arm.

The Harpy's feather couldn't pierce the boar-hide cloak wrapped around Paia's arm.

_Fwoosh—!_

Regardless, Anagin threw another Harpy's feather. More precisely, he only pretended to throw.

Paia raised his arm to shield his eyes in case another feather came flying, and Anagin used the brief moment when his vision was blocked to drive his fist into Paia's side.

_Thud!_

He'd aimed to break the ribs, but the boar-hide cloak was sturdier than expected, and the hit felt terribly unsatisfying.

_'Magic armor?'_

Anagin questioned the defense that exceeded his expectations, but—

_'It'll give way if I just keep hitting it.'_

He dropped the question and swung his fists as before.

With more force. Harder.

_Thud! Crash! Wham!_

Naturally, Paia wasn't just standing there taking it.

Paia blocked Anagin's fists and swung his massive arms.

_'He's got the fundamentals. And technique,'_

Anagin thought as he blocked and dodged Paia's punches.

It wasn't just wild swinging—there was a hint of training. But that was all.

Anagin's fists kept landing, while Paia's attacks couldn't deliver an effective blow to Anagin.

After over a dozen exchanges of fists, Paia began to steadily retreat. The balance of the standoff had broken.

Each of Anagin's punches pushed Paia back a step, and with every step his body leaned further.

Just as Paia was about to collapse, Anagin saw it.

The bandits, whose leader was on the verge of falling, showed no sign of defeat on their faces. They had something to rely on.

_Thud._

Soon, what they were relying on revealed itself.

The fist he'd driven at Paia's head made a terribly unsatisfying sound.

Suddenly, it was as if the skin had turned tough and the skull had thickened—the impact of his fist wasn't transmitting properly.

It wasn't just his imagination.

"No wonder... I thought it was strange that the old man went down so easily compared to your skill. So that was it?"

Anagin asked, looking at the boar hide merging into one with Paia's head.

"What's the point of a dead man knowing that?"

---

Paia, merged with the boar hide he wore.

Paia, now a two-legged boar, recovered all his accumulated damage in an instant. Relying on his heightened defense, he began to pressure Anagin.

Abandoning defense entirely, he launched a relentless assault.

He swung his arms wildly, headbutted—pressing Anagin without mercy.

_Grrrrrrrgh!!!_

Paia, transformed into a boar, hadn't just gotten faster—his bulk had nearly doubled, and his strength had grown even more.

How?

"It's Thought Residue!"

Sphinx, watching the fight, shouted.

A magic that placed the yeom of a dead beast into hide to control it.

Now that she mentioned it, the Gi Paia gave off had a strange energy mixed into it.

"You're late to catch on!"

Paia, blocking Anagin's fist with his forehead, grinned and drove his head forward like a charge.

Then a dark red energy poured from the hide Paia wore, blasting Anagin away.

It felt just like being gored by a boar. Truly, a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time.

Anagin, sent flying back, got up quickly and steadied himself, and could see the two-legged boar charging at him.

Taking advantage of the moment Anagin lost his balance, Paia attempted a full-body tackle at tremendous speed.

_Snap!_

Anagin narrowly dodged Paia and grazed his side with an elbow.

The combined force of Paia's charge and Anagin's elbow produced an ominous sound. Paia's ribs had cracked.

An injury taken at the moment he'd thought he had the upper hand was all the more fatal.

Paia felt a pain far greater than he'd anticipated.

A gap opened by the pain.

Just as Anagin was about to close in on Paia—

_[Oink—!]_

Paia let out a pig's squeal.

At the same time, dark red energy poured from the hide he wore, and a translucent boar was summoned, battering Anagin.

Caught off guard by the counterattack, all Anagin could do was block.

The force was stronger than expected, and Anagin was pushed back.

Fortunately, blocking meant he escaped with no fatal wound.

_'And it seems to be a one-use technique.'_

Anagin thought, watching the summoned boar vanish after striking him.

He just needed to close in again and finish Paia off. He'd already seen the technique once, so he could respond.

Just then, Paia concentrated the Gi from his entire body into his hand.

Paia expelled the Gi he'd gathered to the bursting point, and just like that, seized Anagin.

It felt like being gripped by a massive hand.

_'Ekpempein.'_

Anagin recognized the technique immediately.

It was his first time seeing it, but he could tell it was Ekpempein—Ek, for short.

One of the Gi-handling methods the Head of the Dolos family had taught him.

A technique that expelled the Gi inside the body to send it flying, or to seize a distant opponent.

"Hnngh!"

Paia clenched the hand expelling the Gi, crushing Anagin.

_Gggggggh...!_

The Gi's crushing force had certainly grown stronger. But it wasn't at a threatening level.

_'Ah, so expelled Gi loses a lot of efficiency.'_

Despite seeing the technique for the first time, Anagin grasped its weakness by feel.

Well, of course—if you artificially expel the Gi inside your body outward, there was bound to be waste.

_'What's he thinking?'_

Anagin tried to guess why Paia had used Ek.

At this level, it should only be enough to grab his ankle.

Fortunately, he soon learned the reason.

_[Squeee! Squeeeee—!!]_

Paia let out a cry like an incantation.

Then a vast amount of yeom flowed from the boar hide he wore, taking on a single form.

It was a boar. A very large boar, the size of a house.

It seemed like a similar technique to before, but something was different. That was...

"Did you feed it people?"

Sphinx muttered in a shocked voice.

"A mage, are you? Good eye! I raised the boar's Thought Residue myself. With human blood and flesh!"

Paia answered with a laugh, sounding rather proud.

Then he looked at the grandson and granddaughter beside Sphinx and grinned.

"Don't worry, brats. You'll be seeing your old codger soon. In the boar's bell—"

_—Shhk!_

Midway through Paia's gloating, confident he had the upper hand.

The sound of something being cut rang out.

Anagin had cut through the Gi binding him.

By channeling Gi into the Beast Severer.

It wasn't difficult.

Because he could cut Gi with Gi.

A textbook way of dealing with Gi that had been expelled and thus weakened.

No one had taught him, but Anagin had experimented based on his own guess and made it work.

“……”

Paia, who had believed Anagin was bound, was thrown off by the unexpected turn.

His confusion bred impatience, and the result was that he sent his half-summoned boar charging in as it was.

_Kkiiiiiiiiiii—!!_

Fitting for a summoned beast that had consumed most of the yeom dwelling in the hide, the boar radiated an immense momentum as it charged at Anagin. And then...

[Ham Hock Slice]

Its front leg was severed by Anagin's blade.