-Vol 6: Dusk of An Era-

-Preparation for the battle-

Chiba stared at Murata with an inexplicable expression. She didn’t expect to hear a story like this. She thought of hearing some witchcraft tales from the old man but in its place what she heard was a heart-touching backstory of a lonely god. For some reason, Chiba felt for this so-called god.

“Mr. Murata, can you tell me more about this god?” Chiba who found herself suddenly interested in this Atub asked with an eager expression. she wanted to know more about why this god doing this, why did he resort to something as low as taking revenge. In her opinion, this will only make people hate him more.

“Atub, according to words of our ancestors, was the illegitimate son of a very powerful deity. Due to his western heritage, he wasn’t accepted by the Shinto faction and was treated as an outcast by the other gods. Growing up as a social pariah, he always craved friendship.

Our ancestors encountered him when they were searching for a new land after getting separated from their tribe. He blessed their land with high yield and in return, they have to build him a temple where they share their happiness and sadness with each other. In a way, he wanted their companionship in return for his blessing.

This continued for many years until broken by us. Therefore, he was very angry with us and is trying to take revenge by sending these people into an isolated place.” Murata finished the story as he took in a deep breath of a sigh. he felt tired after this long-winded explanation. Then he looked at Chiba and said, “girly, how about I take you to the temple of Atub?”

“Huh? Temple of the very deity who probably responsible for kidnapping? Wouldn’t it be like myself walking into the trap with a smile on my face?” Chiba asked weirdly, looking at the old man as if he was an idiot.

“Ha-ha! Don’t worry girly. Atub only hates the people of the village who broke their vow. Not strangers.” The old man laughed shaking his head at Chiba’s question.

“Why are you so sure of this?” Chiba again asked suspiciously.

“Girly, you guys aren’t the first group to appear here. many before you also here. Have you ever heard a case of a hunter’s disappearance?” Murata asked rhetorically. He also smiled at the speechless expression of Chiba.

“But, they are hunters. Probably the deity couldn’t do anything to them therefore no news of hunters being affected.” Chiba asked. She wanted to be clear of everything about this deity and his alignment. She wasn’t some naïve protagonist to believe everything in its face value. What if the innocent pitiful god she thought turned out to be an evil one? This was one of the lessons she had learned from Kenshin.

Hence, even though she was curious, ultimately, she decided against going to Atub’s temple. Despite knowing of the danger, she didn’t want to make a dumb decision. The old man looked at Chiba when she declined his offer with mild hostility before hiding it carefully. Although Chiba didn’t notice it, Ena who was hidden quite a distance away sensed this burst of negative emotions directed towards Chiba. She became even more careful and got herself ready in case something sudden happens.

…

“Where are we going Kenshin?” Joy asked as they traversed through the village while mindful of not coming into anyone’s line of sight. To be more precise this Murata’s sight. There was a reason why Kenshin became defensive of this Murata.

“This Murata said all the remaining villagers were inside their houses. But I just looked up and found not a single living soul. There’s no one inside this village, only this weird Murata.” Kenshin hummed while replying ever so lightly.

“Oh… then where are we going now?” Joy asked once again because Kenshin didn’t answer him directly.

“Are you dumb? Of course, it’s to confront the source of this incident. I want to complete these 50 missions as soon as possible.” of course this was just a wordplay, what he wanted was to save those people who were abducted by the mad deity. He just didn’t want to be teased by Joy, so he came up with this lame excuse. Fortunately, Joy wasn’t smart enough to read in between the lines.

“Indeed, we should hurry up and finish these annoying chores so that we could be freed to do whatever we want.” Joy nodded in agreement and Kenshin sighed discreetly thinking ‘thank god this Joy was an idiot sometimes.’

“Be careful though. This enemy we are going to face is a manifestation of a deity proficient in mental manipulation. Don’t let your guard down and no matter what don’t fall to its hallucinations. Don’t forget the humiliation we suffered at the hands of that Sylph bastard, let us not repeated the same mistake again.” forget about Joy even Kenshin was affected in a very negative way after that incident. His confidence was torn asunder, and he even suffered a mild trauma.

At the mention of that incident, Joy gritted his teeth and angrily fist his hands. His eyes turn red as veins became visible on his forehead. A wave of formless aura swirled around him before taking the shape of an ape that bit its chest and roared to the skies. His Intent was on the verge of fully manifesting. Joy calmed down after a second as he sighed, “don’t worry. I have vowed to never let myself be humiliated like that. Not ever, not again. this deity will be my steppingstone to become truly powerful one day.”

‘This Joy… his intent is already on the verge of full manifestation. That day seems to have a huge impact on his psyche.’ Narrowing his eyes Kenshin observed Joy’s back silently. contrary to his sword and shield, Joy’s manifestation resembled an animal and a strong one at that. probably it was the mythic king-Kong.

‘As expected of this gorilla, even his Intent his taking the shape of one!’ Kenshin snickered.

“what are you doing?” Joy saw Kenshin’s snicker and asked weirdly, thinking about why he was laughing suddenly when they were having this important conversation. Shaking his head to dispel these thoughts, he decided to stay focused. Unlike Kenshin, he didn’t have many weird skills to save and turn around tables instantly. He must do everything with the only skill allowed to him. He ought to be creative with his [Overdrive] in order to make it even more powerful than before.

Good thing was that he had almost unlimited access to health potion and magic potion. Also, with the new armguard, knee guard, and thunder gauntlet he was wearing, defeat was not an option. This battle will become a debut run for these new equips he bought through Kenshin.

“I wonder if this Atub is powerful or that Dilong!” suddenly Joy asked a weird question which stopped Kenshin in his tracks. He started to think carefully. Dilong was a mythological creature and its power was overwhelming back then. A god was also on the same level as a mythological creature, so it will not be worse than the Dilong. If so, then perhaps this opponent will be a good challenge for them both.

“I hope he is… I want to grind my skills.”