Chapter 127: Perseus (19)
While Poseidon faced the consequences of his indifference,
Perseus was locked in a fierce battle.
Sizzle.
The spot Perseus had just vacated melted away with purple smoke.
By now, Diogenes had shed half his human form—lizard-like skin, reptilian pupils, and two extra pairs of arms sprouting from his back.
“Grr. What the hell did you contract with?”
As if proving those arms belonged to some grotesque creature, they stretched like rubber, zigzagging toward Perseus.
Perseus created ice discs in mid-air, acrobatically grabbing and leaping from them to evade Diogenes’s arms.
The arms immediately changed direction, pursuing him.
Perseus had no choice but to block the incoming magic and poison with the Aegis while tearing Diogenes’s rubbery arms with his harpoon.
But choosing to block rather than dodge the poison and magic was Perseus’s mistake.
Guh!
Various poisons and spells exploited the brief opening, piercing the Aegis and damaging Perseus.
No matter how impenetrable Athena’s shield was—never breached even once—if the user’s power was insufficient, it couldn’t exert its full strength.
Above all, whatever being Diogenes had contracted with, the poison he produced was vicious in a way different from the bronze cannon’s destructive force.
Just seeing the poison dropped on the ground melt the floor and spread like an infection made it clear.
***
“Hahaha, what’s wrong? Confused that your mysterious defense can’t block the poison? Of course you are. Once you know whose poison this is—even gods fear it—what can a brat like you do?”
Diogenes mocked Perseus endlessly while producing more poison.
The poison’s power was simple yet overwhelming.
It kept Diogenes and his group from being pushed back even as Perseus began actively using divine weapons and Poseidon’s authority.
Currently, when Perseus tried to close in, he was checked by the endlessly regenerating pairs of arms from Diogenes’s back.
When he attacked with Poseidon’s authority, everything melted before the ceaseless poison.
Even attempting evasive maneuvers with the talaria was hindered by the thick poison covering everywhere.
Somehow—though he didn’t know how—the winged sandals of Hermes were slowing as if poisoned.
In short, Perseus was being unilaterally toyed with.
All attacks involving water and ice—basic authorities of a Poseidon priest—were blocked.
Huff. I’ve taken down about thirty so far. The problem is over fifty still remain…
Even throwing Dictys’s harpoon to break through their attacks, Diogenes sacrificed his arms to block it.
Perseus created countless weapons from ice and water—whips, swords, spears, arrows, maces, hidden blades—and sent them piercing, exploding, slashing, and tearing through the poison, but Diogenes calmly blocked with his body.
As if he could regenerate endlessly.
Though Harpe’s blade suppressed regeneration, it wasn’t very effective.
As if facing something beyond his abilities…
Through this battle, Perseus deeply realized how powerful the combination of overwhelming regeneration and potent poison was.
Huff!
Blocking incoming magic with the Aegis shield and enduring the leaking poison damage, Perseus once again thrust the harpoon and slashed with Harpe at the bastard’s heart and throat…
Sizzle.
With a sound, the heart and wounded neck regenerated instantly.
“Khehehe. Foolish brat. Did you think you could overcome the regeneration bestowed by that one?”
Regenerating in moments despite Perseus’s attacks, Diogenes ridiculed him.
Time was on his side, and by now he was certain the brat had no attacks left that threatened him.
Moreover, the idiot had sent away his greatest asset—the mage—to help worthless weaklings.
Prioritizing the lives of such insignificant scum over his own—what could be stupider?
Those kinds of people were merely offerings for the god he served when needed. Tools to be managed by numbers, like a savings jar to draw from anytime.
“Kihihihi. That’s why you can’t win. Those people are nothing but sacrifices for the god I serve. And tools that must sacrifice their lives for me forever. Look at yourself. If that mage were here, you wouldn’t be about to die. You’re going to die soon, aren’t you!”
Perseus did not respond to Diogenes’s mockery.
He merely mechanically dodged or blocked the poison fired at him.
But unlike his calm face, with every word from Diogenes, Perseus stacked rage upon rage.
To definitely cut the throat of that repulsive pig.
‘Let’s think calmly. What would Priest Dictys do in this situation? Or Njord?’
If it were Priest Dictys, he would have handled the authority far more expertly.
He would have flooded the entire mansion with water and forced a one-sided assault. Or frozen them at a rate regeneration couldn’t keep up with.
Then what about Njord…
“Neither is much of a reference.”
He would probably have turned the whole mansion into an ice sculpture garden.
Two people worth referencing—one crushed with pure power, the other with style. Both impossible with his current strength.
Perseus deflected Diogenes’s attacks—using his subordinates like a wheel formation while endlessly spewing poison—with ice crystals, enduring to the end while observing them as much as possible.
If there was no one to reference, he had no choice but to find a way himself before dying.
***
Once, when Perseus was learning about priestly duties and the power they wielded from Dictys,
Dictys had always emphasized a saying from the merfolk: a mind of myōkyōshisui—clear mirror, still water.
That calm water flows everywhere in the world, and the starting point for feeling it is a mind of clear mirror, still water.
It was far from the original merfolk saying, but Dictys taught Perseus that way.
With the thought, ‘Would the merfolk even know I’m teaching my disciple and son-like figure this way?’
In any case, that strange teaching was now shining.
“Back then and now, I couldn’t do it… and in this situation, it’s the only way… Master, I should have listened to you then. I never imagined this would happen.”
Perseus focused, imagining Dictys beside him chuckling, ‘As expected, every teaching becomes blood and bone.’
***
As Perseus calmed and settled his mind, concentrating to recall Dictys’s teaching,
Diogenes stared at his infuriating enemy with an incredulous expression.
“Is he looking down on me? Or has he gone mad?”
Though he hated to admit it, Diogenes had to acknowledge Perseus to some degree. The brat was the first to survive after seeing a form he never wanted shown.
Yet that worthy foe was now closing his eyes as if giving up everything, muttering as if seeking enlightenment—how absurd?
“Pour it on more. We must end that arrogant brat’s life. Show him the world isn’t a children’s fairy tale!”
Diogenes commanded his subordinates while preparing the next step.
Growing in the middle of battle? How could that be possible? Even gods or the one he served couldn’t do that.
‘The brat will self-destruct on his own. I need to prepare for the rest. I can’t let it leak that I contracted with Hydra—a monster among fantastic creatures.’
True to his vile nature, once he felt victory in grasp, Diogenes immediately prepared to massacre the others.
Precisely, to offer all his subordinates as sacrifices to Hydra.
He had used more power than necessary fighting Perseus, and Hydra—who usually showed little interest in humans—was taking interest in the brat.
Offer the brat as sacrifice and the others as Hydra’s food, and this time even greater authority would be granted.
Hydra was clear about merit and demerit.
‘Kekeke, at this rate, that brat might actually be a lucky charm. I can feel power enough to offset all today’s losses being granted.’
Diogenes began preparing, already imagining a happy future after killing Perseus.
***
Fantastic creatures referred to monsters like Hydra—who had contracted with Diogenes—rulers of the land with power equal to gods.
Above all, each individual was a monster capable of facing chief gods.
Moreover, since their roots were the same as the gods’, they could even be called one and the same.
But the decisive reason relations between gods and fantastic creatures were poor was their scarce numbers compared to gods on mountains, and crucially, their attitude toward divinity.
Normally, gods—like Dionysus ascending—were born with a seed of divinity, sprouted it, and ultimately built a single world like mages.
Fantastic creatures called monsters were like knights or mercenaries in human terms. Rather than sprouting the seed, they devoured and digested it to gain powerful strength directly.
In modern terms, the difference between a mage and an esper?
In any case, because of this, relations between gods and fantastic creatures had been poor since ancient times.
Representative examples were Echidna, the Gorgon sisters, and the Graeae sisters.
Born from the union of Protogenoi Gaia and Pontus—children of Ceto and Phorcys—they should clearly have been of the same generation as Olympian gods, yet in the original myth, they received ambiguous treatment between god and monster.
Along with being used by gods’ schemes as trumpeters announcing heroes’ births or sacrificial lambs.
It was a case showing how poor relations were between monsters and gods.
Moreover, nearly all children born to Echidna lost their lives to Greece’s greatest heroes…
From that perspective, Diogenes contracting with Hydra and becoming its apostle was indeed something worth hiding.
Currently, Zeus did not acknowledge fantastic creatures, and humans generally harbored great fear toward them—monsters that devoured or harmed them as a matter of course.
“You all shall become offerings to Lord Hydra, the fantastic creature of poison and regeneration—along with that priest of Poseidon.”
Diogenes wore a sinister smile and let out a chilling laugh.
Hehehehehehe.
***
Meanwhile, unaware of Diogenes’s sinister intentions, his subordinates pushed Perseus to their utmost.
“Hey! Mage, cast faster! If we just drag this out, Lord Diogenes will be furious.”
“Damn it, stop rushing me, you idiot mercenary. Magic isn’t something you spam recklessly!”
“Tsk, this is why working with half-wits is no good—whether mercenaries or mages. Support me! I’ll go in directly.”
Knights, mercenaries, mages—the highest-level armed group under Diogenes in Athens—gave their all.
Yet somehow, Perseus showed no sign of faltering; instead, the range of hits he took gradually decreased.
Part of it was Diogenes no longer being aggressive, but clearly Perseus’s movements and power were becoming more concise—changing in real time.
As if growing mid-battle.
“No way… is he actually growing right now…?”
“Damn it! A human like that really exists!!”
“No matter how great Lord Diogenes is, hasn’t he gone too far? What the hell did he poke!!!”
Unlike Diogenes—who was momentarily distracted—the ones facing Perseus body-to-body felt it.
Something straight out of a fairy tale was about to happen.
The one-sided assault began balancing out.
Knights coordinating to swing swords simultaneously at head and legs—Perseus blocked the lower with ice crystals and the upper with an instantly formed ice dagger.
Naturally, the still-insufficiently strong ice shattered, but Perseus had already shifted his trajectory.
Magic and explosion spells from mages—he interfered directly with the magic circles, frosting them to slow their speed, overlapping their paths with crossbow bolts from mercenaries to detonate them.
At the same time, he created thick water-rope streams to blast away the knights around him.
Though it didn’t deal massive damage to the knights, it at least continuously created space and breathing room for Perseus.
And all this exchange of blows continued relentlessly within 1–2 seconds.
Even seasoned humans handling magic would collapse from such an onslaught—yet Perseus endured it alone.
The human who moments ago seemed struggling just to dodge was now gradually gaining composure.
From his subordinates’ perspective, it was maddening.
They had been promised rewards from Diogenes for dealing with Perseus.
If they finished this job well, they were to receive autonomy over Salamis and Eleusis—satellite cities where Diogenes’s influence was strongest in Attica.
Yet with the priest growing in real time and gradually overwhelming them, it felt like fire had fallen on their feet.
“You idiot knights, how do you miss that!”
“You mercenaries don’t even step forward—just safely shooting arrows from behind while talking big!!”
“Tsk tsk, this is why you shouldn’t work with morons.”
““What!!!”””
5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes.
As time passed, they grew anxious and impatient, while Perseus became increasingly composed and calm.
Now the noise of battle itself was barely audible—so profound was his tranquility.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Imagining water droplets falling one by one onto a surface.
His mind turned the atmosphere into that surface, creating ripples like droplets.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
The imagined droplets increased.
Along with them, ripples spread widely through the real atmosphere as the surface.
The ripples made everything approaching Perseus—magic, arrows, poison, hidden weapons, bombs, swords, spears—feel as if swung and unfolded underwater.
Slowed by the powerful resistance of water.
‘Ah! This is how Priest Dictys could dodge all my attacks.’
With that sensation, Perseus finally fully digested the enlightenment about ‘myōkyōshisui’ that Dictys had spoken of.
Before his eyes now stretched a vast sea.
A vast expanse of blue world unfolded.
“Aaah!! Master, I’ve finally understood your teaching!!!”
Perseus shouted with joy filled with enlightenment.
Though… whether that enlightenment was truly Dictys’s teaching would need to be asked of him.
If Dictys had seen this sight, he would have said,
“What the… that’s scary…”
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