Anagin Chronicles

Chapter 064. Periphetes the Clubber (1)

“Search everything.”

At Sciron’s single command, the ground rumbled—drd-drd—and tree roots surged up from all sides.

The gigantic, tough roots coiled like living snakes, encircling the entire camp before launching attacks on both the Anti-Forest Brotherhood and the Western Alliance.

“Sinis—!”

Someone shouted loudly at the sight of the roots.

An officer of the Forest Brotherhood and a mage who controlled trees.

Known as Sinis of the Pine, he was an infamous villain who manipulated trees as if they were living creatures, tearing travelers apart, and, like Periphetes the Clubber, a figure requiring extreme caution.

The reason—

Whooong— BANG!!

Hiss!

It was obvious from the way the roots lashed the ground like whips or curved like serpents to skewer people.

Alongside Paia the Boar, Sciron the Fallen Noble, and Periphetes the Clubber, Sinis of the Pine was marked as a major threat because his magic was effective against groups, especially within a forest, where the danger was multiplied.

“Kill them all! Show them who owns this forest!!”

“Waaaah—!”

“Let’s go! Brothers!! Drive out the hypocrites!”

“Die!!”

Beneath the holes torn open by the rising roots—

Swarms of bandits burst out and joined the assault.

Distracted by the tree roots, the Anti-Forest Brotherhood and the Western Alliance suffered numerous injuries as they became entangled with the bandits in a brutal melee.

It was the price of carelessly entering a forest that could be called the enemy’s front yard. However…….

“You bastards…!”

Pwahahahahak!!

A member of the New Argonaut Expedition Team, ‘Tramachus of Flame’, formed fire in his palm and fired it straight ahead.

The intense flames—red and orange intertwined—incinerated the bandits in an instant.

The thick roots that endured the fire were pierced with spearheads and blown apart.

Chijijik— KWAANG!

As the fire-laden spearhead bored into the root, it exploded from within, shattering it into pieces that burned down to ash.

“Did you really think this much was enough to deal with us?!!”

Tramachus roared in fury.

As disciples of Chiron Tower who dreamed of becoming heroes, did they look like they’d be taken down by mere bandits?

Answering his cry, Tramachus’s comrade ‘Thyreos of Reinforcement’ joined the counterattack.

With a massive ironclad shield in one hand and a hammer in the other, he smashed apart the pressing roots one by one.

Each swing of the giant hammer and shield split the roots, and the shattered roots lost their power.

As the number of roots decreased, the pressure eased, and seizing the opening, the Western Alliance’s practitioners focused their counterattack on the bandits swarming in like wild dogs.

The bandits, who had relied on ambush and momentum, began to fall into corpses one by one and gradually retreated.

“Lynceus!”

At that moment, ‘Irida of the Wind’ nocked an arrow and called out to ‘Lynceus of Farsight’.

No need for words.

Activating his blessing, Farsight, Lynceus scanned the surroundings and quickly located Sinis.

“East! One hundred meters!”

Confirming direction and distance, Irida loosed three arrows in a smooth flow, aiming at Sinis from three angles.

From the right, the left, and arcing from above, the three arrows converged on a point one hundred meters to the east—

But just as they were about to reach the target, trees surged up to form a barrier.

“Only one hit! The leg!”

Lynceus shouted the result.

Irida’s arrows were blocked by the trees Sinis controlled—only one of the three struck.

Considering Irida’s perfect accuracy until now, it was a disappointing outcome, but Irida did not despair.

Hunting wasn’t always finished in a single shot. A leg was enough. Enough for the finishing blow.

Thinking so, Irida of the Wind nocked another arrow.

“Let’s see you block this one too!”

This time, only one arrow. Irida concentrated the blessing of wind into that single shaft.

A fierce wind wrapped around the arrow like a vortex, projecting Irida’s will.

The image of piercing through all obstacles and the target alike.

As Irida tried to further amplify its power, bandits rushed in to block the shot, but were stopped by the Western Alliance’s practitioners.

And just as Irida was about to release the string—

“Wait!”

Lynceus of Farsight grabbed Irida and yanked her back.

Pulled suddenly, Irida couldn’t fire, and as she was about to demand an explanation, a spear flew past, grazing her.

Whooong!

Had she remained where she stood, it would have been straight to the skewer.

“Heh, sharp eyes?”

From the direction the spear came—from between the ground pits the bandits had emerged from—a man walked out.

A towering figure, two meters fifty centimeters tall, with a closely shaved head—

Periphetes the Clubber.

An executive of the Forest Brotherhood, and the proponent of founding a bandit state!

Escorted by countless bandits, he appeared with a massive bronze club slung over his shoulder.

“P-Periphetes!!”

Someone recognized him and shouted.

The fear in the voice was as if they had personally witnessed his infamous reputation, beating promising practitioners to death with his club.

“Move.”

Calmly stepping onto the surface, Periphetes focused the Energy into his legs and spoke to the bandit underlings fighting ahead.

Then, without even giving them time to get out of the way, he kicked off the ground with explosive leg power, charging forward as he swung the bronze club on his shoulder in a wide arc.

KWAAANG!!!

The moment the bronze club moved, the Anti-Forest Brotherhood and the Western Alliance fighting the bandits—and the bandits fighting them—were literally pulverized.

Both enemies and allies within the club’s range had flesh torn and bones shattered, flung far away.

Just as the inscription carved into the club declared:

「My club smashes the enemy’s head, and sends it flying.」

“Lord Periphetes fights with us! Press them!!”

Through the opening Periphetes created with his swing, the bandits surged in, shouting.

Whether comrades got caught up or not, winning the fight came first. And it was terrifying to complain to Periphetes.

In any case, with Periphetes’s arrival, the bandits’ morale flared anew.

In response, tree roots once again surged up around them, supporting the bandits.

「My fire, become a wall and block the enemy.」

Just as another chaotic melee was about to erupt, Tramachus of Flame stabbed his burning spear into the ground.

The flames gathered at the spearhead spread beneath the earth, rising to form a massive wall of fire centered on their allies—Irida of the Wind, Lynceus of Farsight, Thyreos of Reinforcement, and the others.

“Take down Sinis first! Cutting off his support comes before anything else!”

Tramachus shouted as he maintained the wall of flames.

Compared to Periphetes right in front of them, he judged Sinis—snaring them from afar—to be the greater danger.

Irida seemed to think the same and nocked her bowstring again, but—

“That won’t do!”

Periphetes infused Energy into his bronze club and smashed it into the wall of fire blocking his way, snuffing it out.

“…!”

A burst of compressed air exploded outward, and the flames went out like candlelight. Tramachus’s eyes widened.

He had never imagined that a mere bandit could so easily break through the wall of fire he had created.

After all, he was a royalty of Calydon, and a disciple of the Great Master Chiron.

He had never once even imagined losing to bandits.

“That’s why young masters are like this.”

Sneering at the stunned Tramachus, Periphetes hurled the bronze club straight at Irida.

Sheltered by the wall of fire and thus off her guard, Irida reacted too slowly, and Lynceus was a beat late as well.

The only one who moved was Thyreos of Reinforcement.

KRAAANG—!

Tasked with protecting his allies, Thyreos alone responded to Periphetes’s attack, blocking the flying bronze club with his massive ironclad shield.

A colossal metallic clash rang out, a deafening roar that threatened to rupture eardrums.

Within that roar, Periphetes the Clubber burst into mad laughter and charged barehanded at Tramachus of Flame.

Panicking, Tramachus thrust out his hand and unleashed flames at Periphetes—

But Periphetes grabbed a nearby person and used them as a human shield, taking the flames head-on.

“AAAAAAGH!!”

The human shield screamed in agony as they burned alive, and in that moment, Periphetes closed the distance to right in front of Tramachus.

Swinging the half-roasted human like a club, Periphetes brought it crashing down.

Tramachus dodged the blow and thrust his spear—

But Periphetes casually evaded, then used his long arms to seize Tramachus by the head and smash forward in a brutal headbutt.

KRAANG—!

Using his height, the downward-driving headbutt delivered a massive impact, leaving Tramachus reeling, his senses scattered.

Periphetes followed up by punching Tramachus square in the face, then mercilessly stomped the fallen man underfoot.

“Hahah! Not getting up?! Come on! Fight back!!”

The sight of Periphetes overwhelming a practitioner of Chiron Tower with his bare hands froze everyone in place.

Only Thyreos of Reinforcement rushed forward to save his comrade.

Raising his massive hammer, Thyreos aimed for Periphetes—

But despite his towering frame, Periphetes nimbly evaded and activated Ek (ἐκ).

Releasing Energy (Γι), he drew back his bronze club—the one he had thrown earlier—pulling it into his grasp.

Snap.

The bronze club settled perfectly into his hand.

Periphetes activated eul (εὐ), the Yul that imbues objects with Energy, reinforcing the bronze club before swinging it at Thyreos.

Thyreos likewise activated eul (εὐ) and the blessing of reinforcement at the same time, strengthening his hammer and swinging back.

────!

When hammer and club collided, a hideous sound rang out—

And Thyreos’s hammer shattered into pieces.

Periphetes’s Energy (Γι) had utterly overwhelmed Thyreos’s Energy and blessing.

For the first time, the normally steady Thyreos showed visible agitation, and Periphetes gripped the bronze club with both hands and swung it in a massive arc.

Thyreos tried to defend with his ironclad shield, but the shield—his very symbol—met the same fate as the hammer.

Crushing inward grotesquely, it failed to stop the blow, and Thyreos’s shoulder was smashed by the bronze club.

Overwhelmed by horrific pain, Thyreos dropped to one knee.

Lynceus of Farsight drew his sword and shield and tried to intervene, but was struck by a casually swung bronze club and sent flying.

A difference in skill that could only be called overwhelming.

The only one still unscathed, Irida of the Wind, tried to provide cover by firing arrows—

But tree roots burst up from beneath the ground, binding Irida and lifting her high into the air.

“What is—?!”

While everyone’s attention was fixed on Periphetes’s rampage, Sinis of the Pine had moved his roots beneath Irida’s feet and snatched her.

As if taking revenge for the arrow that struck his leg, the roots holding Irida relentlessly bored into her body.

“Ggh—!!”

Irida groaned in pain.

The promising practitioners from Chiron Tower were subdued in the blink of an eye.

The bandits, convinced of victory, wore vile grins, and in a moment when it seemed no one could help—

Tadadadak!

Someone dashed swiftly through the bandits and closed in on Periphetes.

Like a wolf aiming for its prey, they swung the Beast Cleaver at Periphetes’s neck.

KAANG!

Just as the cleaver’s teeth were about to bite into his throat, a yellow-brown bronze club intercepted it, sparks flying.

The inscriptions carved into the weapons crossed.

「I strip the hides of beasts, carve their flesh, and cleave their bones.」

「My club smashes the enemy’s head, and sends it flying.」

The Beast Cleaver and the bronze club trembled violently as they locked.

The owners of the weapons faced each other at close range—and exchanged words.

“Shame. I could’ve ended it cleanly.”

“Anagin!”