Chapter 22
Chapter 022. Decision (1)
Clack. Clack. Clack....
A mellow evening after sunset.
A group of people approached.
As they drew nearer, their appearance became clear.
Fifty-four in total. All armed with spears.
The sudden appearance of armed men might have been startling, but the robed woman did not seem surprised.
Anagin likewise drank some water, rose from his seat, and stood calmly.
“Stop.”
Once they were at a distance where faces could be seen, Anagin spoke.
The fifty-four—no, fifty-five people with spears all halted.
“That’s the one!”
“That’s the one who refused to cooperate with the inspection!”
Some of the men among the armed forces pointed at Anagin and cried out.
They were the same perverts who had been checking women’s faces on the road earlier.
“Greetings.”
A man wearing a helmet with a red feather stepped forward and bowed to Anagin.
He looked like the captain at a glance.
Anagin returned the greeting.
“Greetings. What business do you have with me?”
“We’re chasing a thief. We heard she might have passed this way and came to confirm with our own eyes…. Please cooperate for a moment.”
At that signal, the spearmen moved as if to approach Anagin.
Anagin raised his hand to stop them.
“I’ll hit you if you come closer. So don’t approach.”
Anagin warned them.
A single man with only a sword at his waist, facing over fifty soldiers.
It was absurd, yet oddly, the fifty-plus soldiers hesitated at his words.
His audacious attitude—far beyond common sense—raised suspicion that there might be more to him.
Of course, it wasn’t only a gut feeling.
They had already heard that Anagin’s strength was no ordinary thing, so they were cautious.
Judging by the power that could crush a wrist, he wasn’t a common fighter—he might even be a Gigant.
The fact that such a large force had been mobilized in the first place was itself a sign of caution.
“Why won’t you cooperate? If you refuse, we can’t help but be suspicious.”
The man with the red-feathered helmet pressed him with logic.
“Suspicion or not, how am I supposed to believe you? We just met today…. How do I know you’re really after a thief and not bandits posing as guards? Why should I trust you?”
“...We only want to check her face. It’s not a difficult request, is it?”
When his words didn’t land, the red-feathered captain tried a different approach.
Just let us look at her face once. It wasn’t a hard favor to ask. Still….
“All right. I’ll agree to that, on one condition.”
“A condition?”
“Tell me, all at once, what the thief stole.”
…!
The men were startled. Anagin loosened his stance and continued.
“I don’t know which village you’re from, but if so many people gathered and marched here like this, it probably wasn’t something trivial that was stolen. Tell me what was taken. It shouldn’t be a difficult thing to say, right?”
The red-feathered captain, the spearmen, even the men who had been doing the earlier inspection—no one could answer.
Naturally, they had nothing to say. They weren’t really searching for a thief.
Even the wealthiest village has limits on how many people it can spare. People must work to eat, after all.
No matter how affluent, a village can spare at most seven or eight able-bodied men.
But to mobilize fifty-five people and hand them spears? Nonsense.
Even if it were possible, recruiting such numbers just to catch a single thief was strange.
Anagin sneered.
“You don’t even know what was stolen?”
“…Everyone, prepare to attack.”
The red-feathered captain ordered his men.
He was effectively admitting that everything he’d said was nonsense.
Obeying the command, the soldiers raised their long spears and charged at Anagin.
Or rather, they tried to charge.
They stopped in their tracks when they saw Anagin uproot a tree.
Crack…!
“Hi—Hiiiik!”
“W-What the hell?!!”
“The t-tree?!!”
The soldiers charging toward Anagin froze in place, overcome with terror.
This was beyond mere strength. It was Gigant-level—the power of a being who wielded the might of giants.
Their morale was shattered instantly.
Anagin swung the massive tree he’d ripped from the ground.
Whooosh—!
The tree swept across the ground, scattering dirt and debris, hurling every soldier within its range far into the air.
Like dust brushed away by a broom.
Even those who hadn’t been struck felt the overwhelming difference in strength and immediately turned to flee.
“It’s impossible…!”
“How are we supposed to fight that monster?!”
“Even if it’s under the Witch’s orders…!!”
Amid the screams, a certain word caught Anagin’s ear clearly—Witch.
A robed woman who could use magic, and a witch who gave the order to chase her this far…
‘So there’s more of them.’
Anagin pieced the clues together, and his guess proved right.
“Guh…!”
“Grk!!”
“C-Can’t… breathe?!”
The fleeing soldiers clutched their throats, gasping in pain before collapsing to the ground.
A sudden, unnatural phenomenon.
Then, the air around Anagin distorted—thin, transparent cords materialized from nowhere, binding him tight in an instant.
Kwaaak…!
Even with his immense strength, the ropes forced him to drop the tree.
Thud. Thud.
Someone emerged from the shadows. Someone who had been hiding their presence behind eighty-four soldiers…
“Are you a mage?”
Anagin asked the man who appeared.
The man, confident in his victory after binding Anagin, smirked.
“Heh, quite perceptive.”
“I am. If I were any dumber, I’d have just thought you were some lunatic dressed like that.”
The mage hesitated, his face twisting in offense—but Anagin hadn’t said it just to insult him. The mage’s outfit was, indeed, insane.
A black cloak that covered his whole body was one thing, but the black feathers he wore like a crown made him look like someone who’d lost his mind.
If he hadn’t used magic, Anagin would’ve thought he was just some sickly old man.
“Honestly, you look pretty messed up, too.”
A hunched back like an old man, sunken cheeks, a hooked nose, and eyes far too large—
nothing about the mage looked normal.
But the mage didn’t seem to think so. Grinding his teeth, he raised his bony hand.
Clatter!
The bracelet on his wrist rattled, and the transparent ropes around Anagin tightened even more.
“You’ve got no manners, boy. Even while captured, you still dare run that insolent mouth.”
Crack…!
The invisible cords squeezed tighter, nearly crushing Anagin’s body. A normal man would’ve been torn in half by that pressure.
The soldiers, who had scattered earlier, turned back when they saw Anagin restrained.
The mage clicked his tongue at them.
“Tsk, useless fools! What are you doing?! Go capture that ungrateful wench, now!!”
Terrified by the shout, the soldiers scrambled toward the robed woman.
Just as she was wondering what to do, Anagin spoke—calm, but sharp.
“I’ll warn you once more. Don’t come closer. I will hit you.”
Even bound by invisible ropes, Anagin’s tone hadn’t changed a bit.
The soldiers flinched, remembering how he’d uprooted a tree. But the mage only laughed mockingly.
“Hahaha! Gigants, still so arrogant even on the verge of death!”
“Oh? You seem to know a lot about Gigants.”
“Of course! You think it’s my first time dealing with one like you?”
His tone was insufferably smug, but it didn’t sound like a lie.
“Brutes born lucky with strength—strutting around like gods, pretending they’re something special…!!”
“Ah, well, I can’t really deny that,” Anagin replied casually.
Delighted at what he thought was agreement, the mage’s voice grew more excited.
“Right!? Hahaha! But it’s too late! If you’d just cooperated, I might’ve spared you! But now, you’ll pay for your insolence—”
Snap!!
With a flex of his arms, Anagin shattered the translucent cords binding him.
Pure brute strength.
“…!!”
The mage staggered back, blood spurting from his nose, a backlash from his broken spell.
“I think you’ve misunderstood something. I am a brute, sure. But not because of you. Your tricks are fun, but that’s all they are—fun.”
Anagin walked toward the mage, picking up a fallen spear from the ground—one dropped by a soldier who’d been blown away earlier.
“H-How…?”
The mage stammered, clutching his bleeding nose. He looked utterly shaken.
Anagin explained simply.
“I used more strength.”
“Lies! Magic is the power of higher intellect! It cannot be undone by lowly physical force!”
‘This idiot… I knew it the moment I saw he used people as reagents.’
Anagin recalled his master’s words.
He didn’t remember them perfectly, but he remembered one thing clearly:
There was no hierarchy between magic and Gigants.
As the fool mage had said, magic drew from the mind, and Gigants from the body—but in the end, the stronger one won.
Those who argued otherwise were idiots.
To prove it, Anagin snapped the spear in half.
The sturdy shaft broke easily, and the mage flinched, raising a hand into the air.
“Ghhh…!”
A soldier in the direction of the mage’s hand suddenly cried out in pain.
The man’s life force drained away, his body collapsing.
Crack!
Anagin hurled the broken spear haft, striking the mage’s arm dead-on.
“Gyaaaaaah!!”
The mage screamed, clutching his dangling arm—it was clearly broken.
“Ghhhk… Wh-what are you doing?! Protect me!! If I die, your village will never—”
THWACK!!
Before the mage could finish, Anagin threw the other half of the spear.
It pierced straight through the mage’s mouth.
The impact was so strong that the spearhead burst out the back of his skull.
The soldiers stood frozen, horrified at the gruesome sight.
Even Anagin hadn’t intended to go that far—but he hadn’t had a choice.
“Too much talk.”
There was too much talking.
* * *
“Alright. Let me make sure I understood correctly.”
After stabbing the mage through the mouth with a spear, Anagin drank some water and asked the red-feathered helmet man to explain what was going on.
The man, staring dumbfounded at the mage’s corpse, gave up and told the whole story without resistance.
“You’re from the village ruled by a witch, and that mage was the witch’s disciple?”
The red-feathered man nodded.
He and the others here were all natives whose ancestors had settled in this part of Anapik long before Hellas asserted control. Their forebears had asked a nearby witch for protection to survive the harsh Anapik, and in return pledged to follow her orders.
They offered food, cloth, liquor, medicinal herbs, and did menial jobs like capturing runaway disciples, in exchange for safety.
“So that’s why she could use magic,” Anagin murmured, glancing at the woman he’d been calling the robed woman.
“Mmm, I could always use magic, mister.”
“Then why did you become the witch’s disciple and cause all this trouble?”
“I thought I’d learn something greater.”
“And why did you run away?”
“There was nothing to learn. Plus, they were constantly trying to devour me.”
“Devour you? Why?”
“I don’t know, maybe she wanted to rejuvenate herself. The witch has gotten very old and sensitive lately.”
The robed woman joked, but the red-feathered captain and his soldiers couldn’t laugh. As she said, the witch—odd and cantankerous for as long as anyone could remember—had only grown more unpredictable.
Rumors spread: she’s ill, she’s gone mad, and her rule has become increasingly harsh.
Then one of the witch’s disciples died.
That was a calamity.
If only the disciple had died, perhaps it might have been forgiven, but failing a mission was another matter. The people involved in this mission—and the village itself—would surely be punished. They had to complete the task no matter what.
‘But…’
The red-feathered man muttered to himself as he looked at Anagin.
He couldn’t envision carrying out the mission now.
How could they defeat a monster that uproots trees with bare hands and can break a spell with sheer strength?
The image of Anagin skewering the mage’s mouth with a spear still made his skin crawl. He was certain Anagin could kill them all if he wanted.
‘Oh, or… should I ask for help?’
The captain seriously pondered the idea.
The witch protected the village, but she also demanded heavy taxes and forced labor.
Lately, she had shown more of the tyrannical side. They were almost tempted to eradicate her… the problem was whether they could succeed and whether Anagin would agree to help.
Would he, the man who just beat us up, lend us a hand—?
“All right. I’ve decided.”
“...?”
“Decided what?”
“To take down that witch.”
“…Why?”
The robed woman’s eyes widened in confusion and disbelief.
Anagin explained simply and clearly.
“It seems like she’s going to keep chasing us, and that’s annoying. I’d rather just go and take her down.”