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Chapter 303 part 1

Despite the situation, Gwandan was both appalled and somewhat impressed by the sight of Thanatos.

According to the memories of Dran, Gwandan’s original persona, Thanatos was a beautiful figure in men’s attire, radiating a pale luminescence akin to the moon in the night sky. Seeing her now, unchanged in her black hair and golden eyes, but dressed as a maid, was a novel sight indeed.

Perhaps due to a light touch of makeup, the current Thanatos possessed a feminine allure that would captivate anyone who laid eyes on her.

However, this intrusion was as unexpected as it could be…

Observing Gwandan’s somewhat deflated demeanor, Galilius mulled over how to interpret the situation. After rolling the words on his tongue and swallowing them several times, he finally voiced his thoughts.

「Is this individual an acquaintance of yours? It doesn’t seem like she was a hidden trump card.」

What eventually came out was so mundane that even Galilius felt like smiling wryly.

「Hm, an old acquaintance, yes. But I hadn’t the slightest inkling she’d come here. It’s left me quite surprised.」

Galilius wore a look of serious concern as he contemplated his next actions while watching Thanatos, who from his perspective, was an enigmatic maid who had disrupted his perfect chance to sever his lingering affections by intervening in his battle with Gwandan, his most formidable enemy to date.

From his point of view, Thanatos was an unidentified maid who interfered with his battle with Gwandan, the most wonderful enemy he had ever had, and disrupted the perfect opportunity to get rid of his unfulfilled love.

What Galilius felt was anger and shame at himself for engaging in a battle that allowed for the intervention of a third party. He was acutely aware of the painful fact that Gwandan had been fighting with a reserve, while he had put his entire soul into the battle.

If only he had been strong enough to strip Gwandan of his complacency and force him to exert his full power, the maid would not have been able to intervene. He could only blame and feel ashamed of his own immaturity.

As if reading Galilius’s mind, Thanatos silently and softly landed beside Gwandan, who was struggling with choosing his words.

「It’s been a long time. And perhaps this is our first meeting, Mr. Gwandan?」

In response to Thanatos, whose voice couldn’t hide his joy, Gwandan refrained from mentioning Thanatos’s name before replying.

Galilius’s fighting spirit hadn’t faded yet. Perhaps sensing the threat of Thanatos, the foremost god of death, he seemed unable to find the right moment to advance.

「Hmm, meeting you as Gwandan is indeed a first. I was aware that you were accompanying Muchan and the Lord, but I didn’t know you had come here.」

「I have received His Majesty’s permission.」

「You could have stayed there, but if you were coming to see me, the tower would have been much closer.」

The tower Gwandan referred to was Dreissen, who was active as an Explorer. Dreissen, as a movable reserve force, was waiting at Caravis Tower.

「There are already many people over there, including your sister, so my help wasn’t much needed. I thought I could be of more use here.」

On Dran’s side, there were extraordinary forces like Christina, Dramina, Selina, and Diadora, along with the eyes of other territories.

As for Dreissen, he was accompanied by the Ancient-Celestial Dragon, Earth Mother Goddess, and, though subordinate, the Goddess of Time, with the potential addition of nearly a thousand Dragon-Succubi and Dragon-Incubi Goddesses.

In comparison, Gwandan’s party, consisting of three maid sisters, a hapless samurai, and a bungling kunoichi, was greatly outmatched in strength, and it was likely that Thanatos’s intervention would be more pertinent.

「I suppose half of it was to catch your attention, and the other half was that you yourself wanted my attention.」

Gwandan’s observation hit precisely on what Thanatos found embarrassing. The desire to meet Gwandan, and by extension Dran, had led Thanatos, a great god, to become a maid.

「I am embarrassed to admit, but you are correct. Now, as I stated earlier, eliminating obstacles to my master is the quintessential duty of a servant, the obligation of a maid.」

Thanatos, changing his innocent, childlike demeanor towards Gwandan, faced Galilius squarely.

Now manifested in the earthly world, Thanatos, like other great gods such as Mylal and Aldeath, faced significant limitations on her divinity and abilities.

Therefore, although Galilius would normally be but a small soldier in Thanatos’s eyes, on Earth, he becomes a formidable enemy – a harsh reality.

However, to Thanatos, this level of reality seemed nothing to be concerned about. The cold and stern gleam in Thanatos’s eyes as she looked at Galilius was akin to the very radiance of death itself.

Recognizing Galilius as an obstacle to be removed, Gwandan inwardly sighed, feeling unable to intervene in the battle.

「We did not begin this battle with a one-on-one agreement, did we? Galilius, from now on, this maid… hmm, her name?」

It wouldn’t be wise to use the name of Thanatos, a goddess known to many, in such a straightforward manner, especially since she was planning to operate alongside Gwandan, active in the Romal Empire. The answer to Gwandan’s question was quite simple.

「Turner.」

「That makes sense.」

It was easy to understand and remember since it was merely an elongation of the first two syllables of Thanatos.

「In any case, while an unexpected visitor, Turner will be your opponent from now on. You may have objections or reservations, but if you wish to insist on your way, you must show the strength to do so. Old and fierce goblin warrior.」

Galilius did not counter Gwandan’s selfish and arrogant declaration. He understood that if he truly wished to fight Gwandan one-on-one, he would need to overcome Thanatos by force.

At the same time, he felt frustration and anger at Gwandan’s lack of obsession with their fight. He was tormented by his inability to make Gwandan as dedicated to the battle as he was, a fault of his own immaturity and incompetence.

Fundamentally, Galilius did not enjoy combat, nor did he take pleasure in battles with the mighty. This was the essence of Galilius, a warrior who did not console himself with the notion that he had no choice, nor did he make excuses.

「Then, I shall do whatever it takes to defeat that maid and challenge you. However, it seems your maid is as extraordinary as you. The world beyond the wilderness harbors many dangerous individuals.」

Galilius spoke with such sincerity that Gwandan had to suppress an urge to burst out laughing. Perhaps it was necessary to clarify that this anomaly was specific to Gwandan’s surroundings.

Galilius, Gwandan, and Thanatos, now known as Turner, decided further conversation was unnecessary. After a brief pause, Galilius and Thanatos made their moves.

Gwandan, while feeling apologetic towards Galilius, was also quite curious to see how Thanatos would fight on Earth. When she had interrupted their battle earlier, she had thrown daggers. But had this goddess always been a dagger-wielder, or even the type to engage in weapon-based combat?

Though it’s unlikely this question was directly answered, Thanatos conjured eight black and purple daggers between the fingers of both hands. She hurled them at Galilius while charging toward him. The precision of her throw, targeting Galilius’s forehead and throat with four daggers each, and her graceful movement across the deck was impressive. However, Galilius was not a foe to be bested by mere grace.

Under Gwandan’s watchful eye, Galilius swung his Ganaghiya, deflecting the daggers. His skill, capable of downing Lynette and Kyrlinne in battle with a single swing, would easily handle this challenge, even blindfolded and with ears plugged.

The golden short spear shattered the black and purple daggers upon contact. After breaking the second one, Galilius chose to leap aside, evading the remaining six.

「Hmm, I thought they were magical daggers since they were made on the spot, but indeed, I’d want to avoid those too.」

Gwandan observed Galilius’s cold sweat and involuntary bodily reactions as he landed on the railing, and continued to watch the ensuing battle with understanding.

Thanatos paused, creating a rope instead of daggers in her hands. She held several loops in her left hand and the end in her right.

Galilius’s exaggerated reaction was indeed due to Thanatos being the god of death. While gods and their kin are greatly limited on Earth, they can still exercise a fragment of their power. If Thanatos used her fragment, it would mean the embodiment of death and a temporary rewrite of the existing laws of death.

The daggers Thanatos created were an embodiment of the law, “If touched, one dies,” limited to a very short time and extremely localized. The rope she now wielded was a similar no-compromise instant death attack.

Galilius’s body’s overreaction was natural. Death, which always accompanies life and sometimes arrives unnoticed, was different from being threatened with a weapon on the battlefield. Visible death, tangible death, imposes an immense pressure on the living.

Galilius, trying to ascertain the true identity of the maid before him, based on his body and soul’s reactions, did not have to wait long.

Thanatos casually released the rope from her right hand. This rope, seemingly a noose but actually a form of death and part of Thanatos, flew through the air as if it had its own will and life.

「This chill, this fear, it’s the fear of death. Could this be a follower blessed by the god of death?」

Galilius shot down the approaching rope with his Ganaghiya. The rope, touched by the golden light emanating from the divine spear, disintegrated into fine dust, a black-purple powder carried away by the wind.

Thanatos’s instant-death attacks, seemingly invincible at first glance, had the weakness of being extremely fragile. However, they would bestow death upon anything they touched upon breaking. The Ganaghiya, being a weapon of divine origin, was an exception capable of resisting Thanatos’s significantly limited powers.

「No, could a mere follower blessed by a god exert such strain on the Ganaghiya? And to feel death to this extent… Could she be a direct descendant of a death deity?」

Thanatos’s right hand, now devoid of the rope, swung up towards her left shoulder and came down with force. A gust that would usually stir only a gentle breeze now carried the wind of death.

The new law of death, tinged with black-purple, approached Ganaghiya from Thanatos in a storm-like wind of death, dyed in black and purple.

「What a terrifying maid exists in this world.」

Galilius’s fighting spirit and battle aura, in a moment, were concentrated in the Ganaghiya. The power, amplified by the divine energy infused during forging, emitted a bright golden light, as if the sun itself had descended.

The sunlight seemed to hold back the spreading wind of death across the world – a magnificent sight.

「Shine, Ganaghiya!」

The divine energy, heightened to the utmost, transformed into a golden torrent from the tip of the Ganaghiya, colliding with the winds of death.

The expanding golden light, unable to be contained on the deck of Ras Lomar, was proof that the Ganaghiya’s divine energy had penetrated and completely neutralized Thanatos’s wind of death.

Anticipating the danger of another death attack, Galilius moved to thrust his Ganaghiya into Thanatos’s heart, shattering the railing with his step. Immediately afterward, he supported his collapsing, blood-gushing body with the Ganaghiya.

「Urgh, nuuh, was I a moment too late?」