Chapter 534: Once Again
Once again, after a while, a figure appeared on the road. It was a giant of a man, but so ugly only a mother could love him. He had swine-like features, crooked teeth, and a dull smile that made him look stupid.
It was about to become even more stupid when the giant centipede was running at him at full speed and only came to a halt a few meters before him. As shocked as he was, it didn鈥檛 take long for the meat mountain to regain his composure.
His face warped into an even uglier, sadistic smile. Seth quickly assessed the situation. Although the road was clean, he smelled blood in the air. This situation seemed familiar鈥?
He had just spotted the gut-wrenching sight of an oak tree covered in severed heads when the beast introduced itself.
鈥淭raveler! I am Orbas, the Mighty. I challenge you to a match! Best me in a competition of fist, speed, or wrestling or I won鈥檛 let you pass!鈥?he bellowed confidently.
Was this guy even sane? Didn鈥檛 he see what Seth was riding on? Why would he accept a duel, especially when he had an inkling of what happened to the losers.
The blacksmith had to admit, that Orbas had guts, or he had maxed out his delusion attribute. No matter what it was, he had made a mistake. Maybe the worst of the determinedly short rest of his life.
It wasn鈥檛 picking a fight with Seth. He had introduced himself.
~The audacity! There is only one Mighty in this world. It is I, Puffles, the Mighty!~ The telepathic outrage echoed across the land, making Orbas stumble back and almost fall. The nightmare centipede鈥檚 massive head shot out before the brute had a chance to realize what was going on.
A crunch, a splash, and a headless body fell to the ground. It went so fast, even Seth only realized what the Ivicer was about to do, the moment it happened. The blacksmith felt no sympathy for the murderous highwayman.
He had suffered the same fate as his victims, though it was debatable what was worse. Having your head severed and hung on a tree or having it bitten off and digested by a giant insect. Seth could only shrug his shoulder, he didn鈥檛 know the answer to that.
Before the blacksmith continued he did two things. One was to collect the soul Orbas had dropped after his violent death.
The soul of a competitive person. All physical attributes will slightly increase in a duel or competition 1v1.>
The man was nothing to be admired, but his soul was quite interesting and Seth decided to put it to good use. After collecting his spoils, he went over to the tree.
It fit one of the myths of Apollo. On the tree hang many heads. The bodies of their owners were strewn over the ground in the small thicket behind it. The bodies of travelers and merchants. There were even horses and carts hidden between the trees.
There was not a lot the blacksmith could do for them. He didn鈥檛 have the time to bury them, or the space to collect their corpses. He freed the animals and set their bodies and the oak tree on fire. At least their bodies wouldn鈥檛 be eaten by wild animals this way.
He waited for the pale blue flame to do its work and buried the ashes of the bodies and the oak using earth magic. It was the best he could do with his limited time. When he mounted Puffles again, he halted for just a moment, before also burning the body of orbas.
鈥淲hat?鈥?he exclaimed, seeing he had gotten a title for burning and burying corpses. He didn鈥檛 quite know what it meant and the title didn鈥檛 have any effect. Maybe he would ask Simon or the Princess about it later if he remembered.
鈥?
鈥淲ell, that was anticlimactic,鈥?Seth commented dryly.
鈥淵ou know, if you already lay these little games, you should at least make them a little harder鈥?the god of destruction and chaos mocked Apollo.
At this point, it was clear that the god of sunlight had tweaked a few things to test the little blacksmith. Apollo didn鈥檛 seem fazed by the criticism.
鈥淚t was still kinda fun.鈥?Hermes still supported Apollo.
鈥淵eah, but what was with that title?鈥?Apollo wasn鈥檛 hung up on missing out on watching a fist fight. He was asking the real questions. A bunch of Olympian heads turned to look at a hooded figure who was sitting in the row behind them.
鈥淲hat?鈥?the system god asked disinterestedly. The gods kept staring at him as he shoved a hand full of popcorn into the darkness under his hood.
鈥淚t was on a whim, okay? Stop staring. Don鈥檛 you people see it as barbaric and an offense to the gods, to not bury a body even if it鈥檚 an enemy?鈥?
Of course, after interacting with many worlds, they didn鈥檛 judge anyone for following customs they didn鈥檛 know. Still, despite having long left behind any notion of enforcing such laws on worlds they didn鈥檛 control, they appreciated the system god鈥檚 thought to commemorate following them.
鈥淲ell, it鈥檚 also a funny contrast to his title as a 鈥淏urning Savage鈥?Hephaestus pondered.
The other gods all had expressions of 鈥淪o that was the reason.鈥? while the blacksmith god could feel a piercing glare from behind, drilling into the back of his skull.
Did he expose something he shouldn鈥檛 have? Maybe it would have been better to stay silent鈥?
鈥?
The City of Day was built similar to the city of Dawn. The only exception was that the houses in this place were built mostly from yellow sandstone and other brighter stone.
Since he was already here, Seth once again visited the temple. This time it wasn鈥檛 filled with musicians looking for inspiration. The people sitting around with empty eyes and empty pieces of paper in their hands were poets and writers.
This time the blacksmith was approached by an old man. Again he stated his business and again he was left to wait. At least poets were mostly silent or just quietly mumbling during their practice. The priest came back a few minutes later.
According to him the unrest in the garden of Apollo had already calmed. What did this mean? Did Scorpio settle down? Or did it leave the forest?
Slightly annoyed, the blacksmith thanked the priest and left. He would still have to explore the forest to make sure, but not today. The night was falling, and Seth was tired. So he decided to stay in the city.
Sitting alone in the dining area of the pub slash inn he stared down at the table full of delicious-smelling food.
The sight and smell of these exotic dishes made his mouth water. The food was really good and the ale also tasted great but something was missing. The room around was rowdy with happy people eating and drinking, but Seth felt a bothering silence.
Right, there were no Fin, or Mina, or any of the others. Solitude had never bothered him but somehow, over the past two years, he had gotten used to not being alone. And he wasn鈥檛 just being alone. The hustle and bustle of his life were somewhere out there and possibly in terrible danger.
What if something happened to them while he was stuck here?
~Mom? Are you okay?~ Tatzel asked meekly.
~What? Yeah, of course!~ he chugged the tankard of ale as if to prove to the worried snakelet that everything was fine.
~Don鈥檛 force it. It鈥檚 okay. We will find that thing tomorrow and return post haste. ~ the Ivicer
~Right, it鈥檚 just鈥?I won鈥檛 be able to share this with Mina or compete over it with Fin.~
~Why not, just bring some along and share it with them, when we return.~ Puffles stated the obvious solution.
~You are right! Let鈥檚 do that.~ Seth said in a better mood.
He was a lot happier thinking about what to do when they reunited than worrying about the alternative.
He ordered a lot more and packed most of it in his inventory for later before going to his room for some sleep.
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