Chapter 48

“Even though you’re of the same sea clan, if you had behaved quietly, you wouldn’t have been hurt!”

All of this was because this insignificant nymph brought it upon herself.

Just as Orion, roaring with fury, was about to grab Nesneria’s white neck with his hand larger than her head…

“Don’t touch me.”

“What?”

With a voice cold enough to be unrecognizable from the nymph, who had been acting like a child just moments ago, Nesneria stepped back and burrowed into his embrace.

And then…

-Swish!

“What?”

As if by some magic, the white shadow that darted into his embrace suddenly made Orion realize that his body was floating in the air.

His legs were flailing in the air, and the ground was inexplicably above his head.

And in a fleeting moment, he caught sight of a pebble embedded in the ground falling towards his head.

“What is this…?”

-Crash!

Before Orion could even scream out, an immense pain, as if a star had fallen, struck his head.

“?!”

A perfectly executed shoulder throw, as if drawn in a picture.

The strength in his legs that had been pushing forward and his massive weight turned into a crushing pain on his head.

The lightning-like pain that started in his head struck directly at his neck and spine, and his limbs trembled uncontrollably amidst his convulsions. Cold, shining blue eyes looked down at him as he writhed on the ground.

“Amazing, right? Dianes said it’s a martial art where a small person can kill a giant. What was it called… uh… shoulder throw? Over-the-shoulder throw?”

A perfect counterattack technique, the kind you’d see in the pankration games of the Olympian festival.

But the fact that it was this pretty nymph who executed it on him made Orion grit his teeth.

“You… You…!”

“Got it? There’s only one man who can touch my body.”

“What… what did you say?”

The blue eyes that crouched beside his head, looking down at him with a chin resting on a hand, still sparkled innocently.

But the innocence reflected pure cruelty rather than goodwill and happiness.

“What’s this smell? This stench of stagnant water that neither flows nor surges, rotting away pathetically? You’re trying to get this smell on me? Dianes will hate it.”

Nesneria covered her nose with her hand, frowning as if in disgust.

Orion writhed in pain at the unprecedented insult, grinding his teeth as he glared at her.

“Sh-shut up! You dare compare me to a mongrel with unknown lineage?!”

“What?”

Nesneria was puzzled, wondering if she had heard correctly.

What is this idiot saying right now?

“Dianes, what do you mean by that? Are you saying that Nesneria will get her hands bloody?”

“What? Blood?”

Puhahaha!

I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

Are all the heroes in this land of Greece blind with their eyes wide open?

Being astonished at the idea of a nymph killing a hero, as if it were an incredible revelation.

“Hercules, do you remember the energy that pierced your body during the morning spar?”

“Ugh…! It was no joke. Look at this.”

Hercules lifted his shirt to reveal a chest still tightly bound with drug-soaked bandages.

“Since we’re on the topic, what exactly is that? Magic?”

“You guys lump everything beyond punching and swordplay into magic.”

I knew a bit about magic as well.

The magicians and alchemists from beyond the West that I met at the Heavenly Demon Cult.

I had the opportunity to learn somewhat about magic from them.

Magic and martial arts were different from their very roots.

“Magic is about twisting the flow to manifest it according to one’s will.”

Magic blocks rivers, builds dikes, and raises dams to control and manage the flow.

“Qi or energy arts twist that flow to make it run according to one’s will.”

Energy opens a channel to create new currents and achieves its purpose within the flow.

“Then here is the question.”

Streams, springs, rivers.

And the source of all the water they reach.

What if one realized how to adjust the flow and achieve their purpose as the embodiment of the oldest and largest water source?

-….

The four gathered here witnessed it firsthand.

The small gesture that put the young hero, sent down by the gods, into a critical state a moment ago.

If I had acted more ruthlessly, Hercules might not have been here to land a blow on me.

But what if such an act were to be replicated by another hand, and that too, by the delicate hand of a nymph?

I could also guess the picture they were drawing.

And so, after wetting my dry mouth with several sips of wine, I continued.

“For her, the flow is just everyday life. Whether it’s the ocean currents, river streams, or even the bloodstream within a human body.”

“No way. Are you saying…?”

Asclepius, who had learned about blood flow and pulses from me, seemed to realize what I was implying.

“Yes, a nymph? Just a nymph? A pitiful and beautiful nymph?”

Hahaha…

I could only let out a dry laugh.

“Just by listening to my heartbeat, she can see and replicate all my flows, as an eternal embodiment of the sea.”

The first time I fell into this world, the first time I trembled at the mysteries beyond recognition, the pure white waves.

I cherished that innocent nymph who made me realize what humanity was once again.

However, when the pure white waves embraced me, blushing at my heartbeat and meeting my eyes, I used to peek at the deep black sea swaying beneath those waves.

“Purity, innocence. Yes, Nesneria. That beautiful nymph is innocent. Like a clear spring, like white waves.”

But that purity could sometimes be more cruel and ruthless than any malice.

Like a tidal wave sweeping through all creation without distinguishing good and evil.

Like an earthquake devouring all directions without thinking of karma.

“And pure will does not permit any malice that it has not allowed to approach itself.”

And the conclusion of that unpermitted malice.

No one here, except me, could even guess.

The trio, except for Hercules, looked at each other with tense, stiff faces, perhaps understanding my words now.

“Th-then shouldn’t we go quickly and stop them, even in another sense?”

“Stop them? Why?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

I tilted my head at Jason’s absurd suggestion as he stuttered.

“No! Even if it’s the scoundrel Orion and his gang, someone might die…”

Ah. This Jason guy. He acts tough, but he’s surprisingly soft-hearted.

But I shook my head and forcibly sat Jason back down as he tried to get up.

“Whoa?! Wh-what strength….more importantly, why?”

“Stop talking nonsense and sit down. Unless you want to be swallowed instead of those guys.”

“Dianes is right. The price of recklessness should be paid by them alone.”

“Hercules! Even you!”

There’s a saying that while fire leaves ashes behind, water leaves nothing in its wake.

Jason, that fool, suggested we go die trying to save the idiots swept away because they ignored the tidal wave warning.

If I went, I could probably subdue Neri even if she went berserk, but the problem was, I couldn’t think of a single reason to bother.

“Sometimes, even Neri needs a change of pace.”

I picked up a sizzling meat skewer from the grill and dipped it lightly in white yogurt sauce.

The savory oil, chewy texture of the meat, and spicy seasoning harmonized perfectly with the tangy sauce.

“It’s cooked well, right? When Nesneria brings back the mushrooms, let’s skewer them together and grill them. The taste will be incredible.”

“Hmm, it’s delicious. But you might have to give up on the mushrooms Neri brings.”

“What do you mean by that?”

What do you think…?

For Neri, collecting was a game of picking things that looked fun and pretty.

“It’d be a miracle if we don’t end up visiting the afterlife after eating them.”

Let’s see…

If I put the new meat on now, would it be perfectly cooked by the time Neri arrives?

Imagining Neri munching on the skewers with a bright smile, I grinned contentedly and started grilling the meat with Hercules.

Nereid nymphs.

Those who sing of all the currents in the world, born from the pure water that first quenched all life.

If you listen closely, the streams flowing through the land and forests would whisper songs to them.

She would often press her ear to her beloved’s chest and blush at the warm blood flow coursing through his heart.

From the deep sea, where even Apollo’s sunlight couldn’t reach, to the white waves crashing on the shore, they freely traversed light and darkness.

Thus, she could understand.

Dianes.

The black gem deeply embedded in her chest was incomparable to this vile demigod that had incurred the wrath of her sister Amphitrite.

When they first met.

When she reached out to his jet-black hair, as dark as the sky on that moonless night.

Nereid nymph, Nesneria, could understand.

The flow raging in his blood was deeper than the currents of the deepest sea.

The scent emanating from his body was richer than the fragrance of the deepest midnight.

His heart was a gem that had risen from the depths of a place not of this earth.

His soul was a gift that came from a distant place, not from this night.

In this vast expanse of Greece, only she cherished the secret—a secret even he didn’t know.

If that old centaur hadn’t taken him out of Passos, Nesneria would have cherished his secret alone, monopolizing his time.

As time passed and his body ripened and aged, falling into her arms, Nesneria would have taken him to the deep sea.

When the ocean currents stripped away his cumbersome body, the pure and beautiful essence she glimpsed in his heartbeat would have been greeted by the white bride.

“Yes, in the end, any night sky just sinks below the sea.”

Sister Amphitrite said so.

To keep a man, you must not just bind him.

After all, the human body was but a fleeting moment compared to their time, and eventually, the sunken black night would be embraced in her arms.

They say it’s the eternal lovers’ consideration to let him enjoy this world, even if just for a moment.

“But you, who have inherited even a part of the sea’s eyes, cannot see it because of your own filth.”

How pitiful.

Pity or mockery?

In a tone that couldn’t be distinguished, the pure white nymph finished speaking and stood up as if she had lost interest.

“You’re being cheeky!”

“Nymphs should just lie down quietly and sing!”

“She’s using strange magic! Hecateris, bind her!”

“Ah, understood!”

The gang, which had been momentarily frozen when their leader was swiftly defeated,

finally came to their senses and attacked her.

The son of an unknown minor god tried to bind her with vines.

Despite planning to capture a nymph, the three thugs attacked her with bare hands, unarmed.

One hand reached for her snowy white hair.

Another hand aimed to grasp her soft neck.

But the daughter of the sea had no intention of allowing them anything.

Even if she was the Sister of the Thousand Waves that embraced the vast ocean, they were too vile to be accepted by even a ripple.

“Dianess… did it like this?”

Tap, tap, tap.

A light, fleeting sound, like water droplets bouncing.

It was the sound of her snowy white fingers brushing past the hands that tried to violate her.

“What?”

“Wh-What’s happening?”

“Ugh… Aaaah!”

Have you ever seen water droplets dance merrily in a deep ballroom over fire?

From springs and rivers, reaching the flames, they gradually rise into the air, bubbling and singing cheerfully.

Nesneria enjoyed watching the dance of the water droplets over the fire with Dianes.

And just as much as those moments by the fire, Nesneria loved the dance Dianes performed, embodying the flow of all things.

“So, I tried combining something fun with something I love at once.”

Like this!

The pure white nymph burst into an innocent laugh.

The three beasts surrounding her clutched their boiling arms and began to dance, using their screams as accompaniment.

“Aaaah! It’s hot, hot!!”

“Save me. I was wrong!”

“Kyaaak! Kyaaah….”

The dance of water that began with the touch of the snow-white fingers of the girl soon spread to their entire bodies.

A fierce pain as if the blood in their bodies had turned into boiling oil.

In agony that far exceeded the limits of their flesh, the three sinners fell to the ground, twitching like deflated pig bladders, forgetting even to scream.

Orion, who still couldn’t rise due to the shock that struck his entire body, and the trembling magician, who forgot to cast spells, could only blankly watch the end of their comrades.

And amidst such madness, only the chatter of the snow-white nymph echoed.

“What was it…? There was something that Dianes worked hard to prepare for me, like Hecate’s alchemists…”

What was it?

Nesneria tilted her head with an innocent face, as if she couldn’t remember.

However, she soon opened her eyes with a sparkle and clapped her hands with a laugh.

“Oh, right! It was supposed to be fireworks, wasn’t it?”

As if her clapping was a signal, a cheerful explosion echoed within the magician’s barrier that had been cast to conceal their misdeeds.