"Y-You're... you're okay?"
The girl in the black hood had cleanly dispatched more than a dozen Fury Lions. Seemingly wary of something, she did not approach directly.
She stopped beside the campfire, lowered her little head, and spoke in a soft voice. Her downcast eyes remained fixed on the ground, as though she was unwilling to make eye contact.
As the rescued Sumerian traveler climbed out of the pit and stepped forward, the girl instinctively retreated, clearly rather shy around strangers.
However, since she sensed no hostility, she did not wish to be so rude. She could only tense up slightly and remain where she was.
"Thank you! You really saved me, little girl!"
Samael pressed his right fist to his chest and nodded in salute, his tone utterly sincere.
"By the way, could you tell me your name? I need to remember this kindness!"
"Anna..."
After hesitating for a moment, the girl gave a response as faint as a mosquito's buzz. If not for the ancient serpent's sharp senses, he might have thought she had not made a sound at all.
"Anna, right? I'll remember that!"
"The monsters have all been dealt with. There shouldn't be any threats for now. Come, sit over here."
"You saved my life. At least let me find some way to treat you?"
Samael was exceedingly enthusiastic. Without waiting for her answer, he pressed a hand to her shoulder and tried to guide her toward the campfire.
But the child was extremely reserved and at a loss for what to do. Her eyes turned pleadingly toward the outline of a dead tree in the wilderness.
"My, my. It seems I won't be able to keep watching little Anna's shy expression."
Amid a languid, magnetic murmur, a handsome man in white robes adorned with purple ornaments emerged from the darkness, staff in hand. His loose silver hair fell to his shoulders, while his violet eyes brimmed with amusement and dreamy hues.
Samael warily watched this peeping Tom who had appeared from behind the tree without warning. Every muscle in his body tightened in instinctive defense.
"Merlin, go die!"
Beneath the black hood, the Purple Haired Girl frowned and snorted.
The white-haired mage merely smiled unconcernedly. He stepped forward a few paces, bowed slightly, and offered an elegant salute. Every movement carried the air of a courtier.
"Friend, relax. I am merely a kind Big Brother passing by—Merlin."
"Besides, my companion is a little shy around strangers. Too much enthusiasm only makes her uncomfortable."
For some reason, although there was almost nothing to criticize in either his words or gestures, the man exuded an air of laziness from head to toe.
And then there was that smile on his face. It held the detached irreverence of someone who saw through fate itself, making him look exceptionally punchable.
"Of course, if you still wish to express your gratitude up close, this Big Brother wouldn't mind intimate contact with something beautiful."
The white-haired mage chuckled teasingly, trying to ease the atmosphere.
Yeah, those frivolous words that made people want to punch him—this was definitely him.
The ancient serpent twitched the corner of his mouth in the shadows and raised his guard to the highest level against this half-blood descendant of a nightmare from another age.
According to history, once the Triple Goddess Alliance had formed, Uruk had been steadily encroached upon from three directions and was powerless to resist.
Heroic King Gilgamesh was certainly powerful, but even he could not be everywhere at once.
Therefore, to ensure Uruk's survival, he sacrificed his unparalleled combat prowess and instead awakened and solidified his magical potential. Through a secret spirit-summoning ritual, he summoned Seven Heroic Spirits from another time and space.
They were divided into seven classes that ran throughout humanity's mystical history: swordsman, lancer, archer, assassin, rider, mage, and berserker.
Among them, the Heroic Spirit filling the mage position was Great Sage Merlin, the figure from Celtic legend who had trained King Arthur.
It was said that this Flower Magus possessed nightmare blood, and aside from illusions, deception was what he excelled at most.
In a sense, Samael had run into someone in the same line of work.
What was more, Merlin was Gilgamesh's ally in carrying out his plan, as well as his eyes and ears.
If Samael wanted to successfully infiltrate Uruk's ruling class and influence the Heroic King's judgments and decisions,
then crossing blades with the fraud master before him was undoubtedly a test.
At that moment, seeing Anna nod slightly to verify the white-haired man's identity, Samael gradually lowered his outward vigilance and invited them both to rest by the campfire. Yet his thoughts raced within his skull as he carefully weighed his words and actions without showing a trace.
If one considered only the nightmare bloodline, whether Merlin's character was good or bad could be set aside for now.
Historically, this guy had appeared and immediately used illusions to deceive the goddess Tiamat. Later, he had tricked the Feathered Serpent God into abandoning the Triple Goddess Alliance, and in the future, he had even impersonated an online idol to swindle King Solomon's human incarnation.
That string of achievements was enough to prove that Great Sage Merlin was anything but ordinary in terms of intelligence.
When people in the same trade met, they busied themselves stabbing each other in the back.
From the fact that only little Anna had stepped out earlier while the half-dream-demon hid behind the tree and watched, Samael could vaguely tell
that Merlin harbored doubts about him, a traveler who dared to wander the wilderness alone at night.
If he did not want to be taught a lesson by some future youngster with no martial ethics, despite being a venerable senior from the Sumerian era, and then suffer a humiliating defeat that would leave behind a dark history,
then appearing relaxed while remaining tense inside was the most suitable state.
Through conversation, the three briefly got to know one another. On the surface, the atmosphere seemed quite harmonious.
Anna, seated between them, quietly looked at the Sumerian traveler Samael on one side and kind Big Brother Merlin on the other. Her delicate nose wrinkled and subtly twitched.
For some reason, the Purple Haired Girl could faintly smell a similar scent coming from these two men who were chatting away.
If the girl gained more life experience in the future, perhaps she would understand.
It was the smell of pure... utterly pure scumbags.
Just as the probing around the campfire was proceeding in cheerful harmony, dozens of kilometers away atop a mound, grotesque figures crawled closer below, letting out suppressed growls and whimpers.
"Oh? The monsters in a fan-shaped area have lost contact?"
"Direction, distance, range? Be specific!"
A tall figure standing alone in the cold wind remained hidden in the darkness. It lightly brushed the flame-like mane of a Fury Lion and murmured its inquiry.
"Whimper..."
Yet the response from below was full of confusion and uncontrollable agitation.
They craved hunting, craved slaughter, craved blood. They had been created to inflict wounds and destruction upon the world.
Reason and thought were not powers they needed.
"Blindly pursuing quantity led to rapid degradation of the bloodline. What brainless failures!"
"No wonder you haven't managed to breach Uruk's wall even after half a year! Useless trash!"
"I don't know what Mother sees in you!"
The cool, androgynous voice carried a hint of disdain. Deep eyes glowing with emerald radiance turned toward the approximate direction of that fan-shaped area.
"Forget it. I'll go myself and drag out those rats!"
In an instant, the air violently trembled, and a Golden Stream pierced through the night sky.
At that moment, Great Sage Merlin, seated by the campfire, felt his eyelid twitch. He sprang to his feet, grabbed the staff beside him, and his laziness instantly condensed into gravity.
Shortly afterward, Anna, the Purple Haired Girl who reacted a step slower, could not help clutching the Purple Sickle and whispering nervously.
"Merlin, that guy is chasing us again. So fast!"
"That guy is chasing us? What do you mea—"
Samael was slightly stunned. Then, as his gaze fell upon the monster corpses around them, his expression changed.
"A large number of monsters bypassed the Babylonia defense line and gathered at Kutha because of you?!"
Merlin cast a resentful glance at Anna, his ally beside him, who had lowered her head in self-reproach. He helplessly shook his head, then forced a smile and faced the Sumerian traveler with the utmost sincerity.
"It was an accident. Do you believe me?"
Before you continue