Episode 133

As Atalanta prepared for the upcoming battle, she felt something changing within herself.
Every time she swung her fist or stomped on the ground, a strange sensation began in her lower abdomen, enveloped her heart, and spread throughout her body along her blood vessels.
When she performed martial arts following the flow of this spreading aura, its power became much stronger.
It was as if the mighty punch that Dianes had shown, which seemed capable of shattering a mountain, was glimpsed in her own fists.

As she grew day by day, her confidence gradually increased.
She was confident that, even if she were to face Dianes, she wouldn’t be easily defeated like on any other training day.

However, when she saw her lover and teacher walking out of the forest after about a month, the emotion that arose in Atalanta’s heart was not joy but overwhelming awe.
Her senses, which had grown beyond recognition in nearly a month, and the strange energy that awakened her sixth sense from her lower abdomen.
All her senses were screaming and warning her.

It felt as if a tidal wave the size of a house or a massive storm was approaching.

No matter how strong a warrior, no matter how great a god’s child, it was a colossal calamity that reminded her that she was merely a powerless mortal.
Dianes, her lover, the teacher who taught her, was such an existence.

“That’s why I said—a mere landslide is nothing!”

The warrior who had cleaved the landslide with her fists roared and charged toward her opponent.
Her adversary, however, merely smiled as he watched her approach.
It wasn’t mocking a clueless rookie, nor a chuckle at a lover’s trivial antics.

If anything, it was the joy of a teacher pleased with a student’s growth, or the cheers of a father shedding tears at his daughter’s coming of age.

“Hyaaaah!”

“Huuuu…!”

The thought was fleeting, and the distance between the two converged to zero in an instant.
Atalanta and Dianes were so close that they could hear each other’s rough breaths.

‘Can I do it?’

‘Can you really do it?’

‘I have to.’

‘Just do it without thinking.’

‘What good would it do to hesitate; just attack!’

Crushing the fleeting distractions in her mind, Atalanta’s attack landed squarely.

“Uraaaaah!”

-Boom!

The punch she was about to launch with force was a feint.
Just before Dianes’s fist could reach her, she lowered her upper body and used all her weight and strength to grab his waist and push forward.
Like an enraged bull, she entered with an unstoppable and powerful tackle, her specialty pankration.

“?!”

“Haha, it’s not just your body that has improved, huh?”

However, Atalanta was shocked by the sight of Dianes, who, despite the impact, only slightly wavered as if hit by a massive log and didn’t move an inch.

Her full-power tackle, supported by the strength in her legs that no one in the forest dared to match, and the energy rising from her lower abdomen, had even sent flying the next best female warrior, Pessilenia, in one hit.
Despite putting all her strength into the tackle, Dianes was not shocked but merely smiled as if amazed.

Still, this outcome was within her expectations.
Though she hadn’t imagined he’d remain entirely unshaken, a warrior must always account for every possibility.

-Swoosh!

“Now!!”

She immediately changed her stance, entwining Dianes with the flexibility reminiscent of a snake.
And at the same time, her prepared warriors moved.
The place where Atalanta and Dianes were clashing was not an arena but a battlefield. To face the adversary of a lifetime, not a beloved lover, Atalanta mobilized everything.

-Swoosh!

In an instant, arrows flew across the sky, but they were not aimed at Dianes.

“Atalanta, are you seriously planning a suicide attack?”

“Just wait and see!”

Dianes furrowed his brows, wondering if she intended to drag him into mutual destruction using herself as bait.
Atalanta twisted her body, pressing Dianes, unfazed by the flying arrows.

“Heup!”

“Where are you going?!”

In an instant, she flipped her body, and Atalanta’s leg swung, aiming for his chin.
Of course, Dianes skillfully dodged, but that was exactly what she intended.

-Thud thud thud!

At the moment when arrows, throwing stones, and nets densely covered the sky and poured down on Dianes, Atalanta narrowly withdrew.

“Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”

She narrowly escaped the bombardment, flipping several times as if performing acrobatics.
However, Dianes, who was entangled in her hands, took the brunt of the bombardment…

-Thud thud thud!

In succession, as she dodged, slightly dizzy, Atalanta heard something fiercely ricochet near her ear.

“Commander! Are you okay?!”

“Hey, hey, I don’t think she’s the problem right now.”

“What? Pessilenia, what are you talking about—”

“No, she’s right.”

Among them, the pink-haired adjutant Erainea, whom Dianes had described as having eye-straining hair, tilted her head.
Atalanta staggered to her feet and pointed at the enemy.

“As soon as the bombardment ends, we charge straight in. If we’re even a moment late, it’s over.”

At the tip of her pointing finger, an unbelievable martial prowess was unfolding.

-Tudududu!

Like a torrential downpour, the bombardment of arrows rained down incessantly.
Among them, special arrows crafted by the forest’s magicians and alchemists were mixed in abundance.
Explosive arrows that detonated upon impact, net arrows that tangled and formed nets in midair, and elemental arrows designed for primal injuries like lightning, frost, poison, and so on.

These were their masterpieces, designed to strike fear into even the fools of Theseus’s army.

However, the movements of the man who single-handedly blocked the baptism of weapons intended for an army left them entranced despite rendering their efforts futile.

Like a bird spreading its wings, arrows shattered and flew away with each swing of his fluttering sleeves, and nets crumbled into pieces at his gesture, scattering into the air.

-Kwaang!

The remnants of the explosion that embroidered the sky above the warriors, who recoiled at the roar, fearing another avalanche-like attack, soared far into the distance.

“Ha…”

Others stood dazed, wondering what had just happened to the vanishing rain of arrows.
But Atalanta saw it.
Dianes snatched a fire arrow out of the air and, with a swing of his arm, threw it.
And as the trajectory of the flying arrows changed, the deflected arrow ignited the bomb arrow, with the redirected arrows also setting fire to the bombs.

“That’s what makes Dianes terrifying.”

An overwhelming accuracy and instant judgment that makes overturning a mountain look trivial.
And Atalanta had been disgracefully defeated several times by that perfect physique executing it precisely.

“The arrows are done, right?”

“For reference, the magicians also used up their strength on protection spells and arrow blessings earlier.”

Atalanta glanced back at the camp at Erainea’s words and saw archers with empty quivers and exhausted magicians sprawled on the ground, being hurriedly carried away.

“Erainea, you?”

“I’m fine with this much, no problem.”

Once rivals who would snarl at each other on sight, Atalanta and the magician Erenia now stood back-to-back as trusted partners.
Raising their fists high, they rallied the remaining warriors.

“I’ll lead the way! Charge!!”

“I’m casting blessings! Don’t worry about the River Styx!”

Following the boast of the strongest warrior and the wisest magician, the warriors charged.

When lions go hunting, the strongest and fastest lioness leads, capturing the prey’s neck, while the following lionesses surround and pressure the prey.

“Dianes!!!”

“Yes, I’m here.”

Despite scattering that overwhelming barrage of arrows single-handedly, and even showcasing acrobatics that stunned Atalanta, there was still not a single drop of sweat on Dianes’s face.
Even the bravest soldiers were stunned by the sight of him smiling leisurely, as if on a stroll, while facing the charge of fearsome warriors.

“Heh, I thought he wouldn’t be an ordinary madman since he’s your lover!!”

“With that handsome face, he’s quite fiery! I like him!”

Some in Atalanta’s army were daunted, while others were impressed, but only Atalanta in front of him laughed joyfully with the same eyes.

“Hahaha!”

This moment was shared only by him and her, a moment neither the annoying princess of the sea nor any other woman who coveted him could dare to share.
Her entire body was covered in dirt, her heart was pounding as if it would burst at any moment, and her hair, loosened at some point, clung to her sweat-drenched body.
Yet, Atalanta was incredibly happy at this moment.
Those black eyes looking at her were filled with pride and admiration that were never there before.
This moment, realizing that everything about him was directed at her and that she was recognized by him, became a treasure she couldn’t trade for anything in the world.

“Dianes!”

She called out to him.
With love, with resentment.
She looked at him.
With affection, with determination.

Each time, her steps quickened, and a fiery red aura began to surge in her fists, spreading throughout her body.

“Ah…!”

The energy that had always surged through her, strengthening her body, was now rising beyond its usual limits.
Where it had previously faltered as if blocked by an unseen barrier, it now surged, growing in intensity.

‘Thump! Thump! Thump!’

“Ahhh!”

The energy, coursing like a raging bull or a wildfire carried by the wind, slammed relentlessly against the barrier that had always held it back.

One step, another step.
With every step towards him, the energy struck the wall more vigorously.

And when she reached Dianes…

-Bang!

The wall blocking her path shattered, and a crimson aura blazed over her entire body like flames.

“Uaaaaah!”

“HAHAHAHAHA!”

Like a brilliant meteor, Atalanta charged towards Dianes.
Dianes, unable to hide his delight at her appearance, faced her head-on.

-Boom!!

The black veil and the red meteor collided.
The waves of the night rippled in all directions, entwined with the red meteor, neither yielding an inch.

For the first time in Greek history.
It was the moment the female warrior awakened the aura, the true symbol of a demigod, a mark of the warriors.