From the moment I took off my mask and cloak and set out with Atalanta for my mother's temple, I had to move while keeping out of sight.
Because I'd shown my face to take the shortcut and get there faster, I could still feel eyes on me from all directions. Especially from above... I could sense several lecherous gazes there, but they didn't seem to be doing anything yet.
"A-ah... beautiful...!"
"O-ohhh...! How can someone be this beautiful...!"
Still, it wasn't all bad. My face must have been the kind that could even enchant the gods and weaken their resolve, because the thieves who had been trying to rob us gave up in defeat and stepped aside.
Of course, it wasn't all good either. I knew that well. Because of this face, I'd never once had a proper life... But for me, this was my own way of making sure nobody laid a hand on Atalanta.
I'd heard from the centaurs that they had been ordered to kill Atalanta and me by any means necessary. My old habit of relying on nothing but a single glance had nearly gotten Atalanta killed.
So I kept traveling with my face exposed. To keep anyone from touching Atalanta, I had thrown away my mask and shown my bare face.
"Look over here, you bastards!!!"
"""Huh!?"""
Today, too, we were surrounded by female hunters who seemed to be devotees of Artemis, and just as they drew their bows to fire at us, I forced their attention onto me. The women's faces immediately turned bright red.
One woman collapsed onto the ground, another wore a dazed smile, another stared at me blankly, and another... started touching herself. Well, let's pretend I didn't see that.
And while they were all stunned and off guard, I cut their throats, stabbed through their chests, or severed their breathing so they couldn't move. Since I'd enchanted them with my face, that was the moment to strike. If I didn't finish them here, things would only get more troublesome.
"I-it's over..."
Wiping the blood of Artemis's devotees off my face, I sighed and looked at the corpses scattered around me. No one had laid a hand on Atalanta. I had taken care of all of them.
In the past, I'd tried to avoid fighting whenever possible, but now I didn't have that luxury. Still... I never thought my body would end up drenched in this much blood. And from killing women like this over and over—
No. I can't. I can't soften up or let my heart waver. These bastards submitted to Artemis's "orders." If they weren't attacking of their own will, then they were nothing more than dogs. Dogs can't beat me. And... I can't show them mercy.
"You've waited long enough, haven't you, Atalanta...? Let's go..."
"Grrr..."
I tried to force a smile, but Atalanta looked at me and gave a lower growl than usual. I was grateful she was worried about me, but compared to before, I no longer had even a shred of room to breathe.
There was only one day left. After one more day, we would reach the place where my mother's temple stood. I had to go to the temple and settle things with my mother one-on-one.
"It's almost over now... Almost... almost over...!"
***
To keep Iskios and Atalanta from reaching their destination, Artemis had used every means at her disposal to obstruct Iskios's journey.
Of course, Artemis couldn't simply bring down divine punishment on Iskios directly. It was obvious even at a glance that if she did, Apollo would fly into a rage, and even Athena and Hera were paying attention to Iskios's journey.
She had gotten away with interfering indirectly so far, but if she moved openly, conflict with those two would be unavoidable. So Artemis had been suppressing her frustration and using her devotees and her monsters to obstruct Iskios's journey.
Sometimes she sent bandits. Sometimes she used centaur hunters. And recently, she had even sent maidens who had sworn to preserve their chastity. But none of them succeeded. The moment they saw Iskios's face, they were enchanted, turned into fools, and all ended up in the underworld.
Before long, Iskios would arrive at the temple where Selene had shut herself away. This was the last chance. Knowing that, Artemis pulled out one of her trump cards. She thought it was a waste to use it on nothing more than a single human, but she gritted her teeth and deployed it anyway.
"This is...!"
One of Artemis's treasured pieces was a pack of lycanthropes—creatures half human and half wolf. Iskios had originally been supposed to reach Selene's temple the next day, but when darkness fell along the road, they revealed themselves.
They had no reason, only the single thought of "hunting" in their heads. They had no intellect that would let them fall for Iskios's charm. They were only drooling at the prospect of devouring Iskios and Atalanta's flesh.
Looking at the lycanthropes, Iskios gave a quick glance back at Atalanta behind him, though he made no obvious sign of it.
"We'll be there soon... Just hang on a little longer, Atalanta."
Whether his opponent was a pack of monsters or not, Iskios put on a face that said he wasn't bothered and drew the two swords at his waist. The moment he drew them, the blades shone with a brilliance like the sun. At that light, the lycanthropes bared their fangs and charged all at once.
The pack at the very front, rushing in with their mouths wide open to kill Iskios, didn't realize it. Their own eyes were looking at their bodies, now split into chunks of meat...
"Krr!?"
"Grrraaaah!!!"
As the lycanthropes in the first wave were cut into slabs of meat and dropped to the ground, the others changed tactics without hesitation.
Even as their strategy shifted, Iskios checked on Atalanta behind him, then sprinted toward the left side of the pack that had split in two and cut the ankle of the lycanthrope at the very front.
The speed Iskios had pushed beyond his limits was now beyond anyone's reach. Even if his charm didn't work on the lycanthropes, Iskios had the mobility to easily outpace them, and the stealth to slip past even the gods' notice.
Even for lycanthropes, who hunted in packs at night and were skilled at pursuit, Iskios's mobility was little more than a brisk walk.
"Krrr!?"
After cutting the ankles of the lycanthropes charging at the front, Iskios used the opening to stab and slash at the bodies of the others as they fell. Then he hurried back to where Atalanta was.
Their method of surrounding Iskios and Atalanta, biting them down and devouring them, didn't work. Half of the ones trying to split around them and complete the encirclement had already been taken out.
Cutting down the enemy while protecting Atalanta. Doing both at once was extremely difficult, but Iskios overcame that difficulty by using his legs, his swordsmanship, and the shadows to tear himself through the approaching lycanthropes and kill them.
One by one, as he killed them, a mountain of lycanthrope corpses piled up around Iskios and Atalanta. All except the last one, which had the most unusual appearance of them all.
"What the hell is this guy...?"
In front of Iskios stood a single lycanthrope with white fur, apparently the leader of the pack. It had a wound over its left eye, leaving it one-eyed, but Iskios could tell this lycanthrope was different from the ones he had cut down just now.
Like the others, it stood on two legs, but the fur bristling from its body was raised like spikes, and even in the dead of night its eyes glowed green. As the lycanthrope slowly approached Iskios and Atalanta, Iskios vanished in a movement the others couldn't even perceive.
But Iskios stopped behind the white-furred lycanthrope's neck, then looked at its back with a startled expression. The blade in his hand hadn't even scratched the hide, let alone carved into the flesh.
"I-it's hard...!? Guh—!?"
Seeing Iskios's moment of shock, the white lycanthrope grabbed him from behind the neck and squeezed. But before it could crush him with its hands, Iskios slipped into the white lycanthrope's shadow.
When the white lycanthrope was briefly thrown off by his disappearance, Iskios emerged from the shadow and yanked at the lycanthrope's own shadow. The shadow caught in Iskios's hand stretched like old cloth, then tore far too easily.
The moment he grabbed the shadow and ripped it apart, the white lycanthrope's body—more precisely, its arm—was torn away. But seeing that, Iskios clicked his tongue.
"Tch...! You were human!?"
When he tampered with the lycanthrope's shadow, what was inside it turned out to be nothing other than a human. Where the white lycanthrope's left arm had been torn off, there was a human left arm, unmistakably human no matter how you looked at it. The instant Iskios got distracted by that arm and let his guard down, the lycanthrope seized the chance to counterattack with its right arm.
"Krr—!?"
"Too slow!!!"
No matter how much he had let his guard down, Iskios instantly caught the lycanthrope's hostility. Just by looking at Iskios, his intuition sharpened to the level of precognition, letting him evade any attack aimed at him. And then, counterattack immediately.
"GRAAAAAAAH!!!"
"Let's end this already, please."
Watching the white lycanthrope flail wildly with its right arm, Iskios grimaced and slipped into its embrace. Then, inside that embrace, he grabbed the part of the white lycanthrope's shadow that was lit by moonlight—the part corresponding to its head.
When the white lycanthrope realized Iskios had slipped into its arms and tried to attack, the instant it struck, its remaining right arm and head were torn away. The moment its head and right arm were floating in the air, Iskios's eyes flew wide open.
"Y-you are...!"
"I-Iskios...! Iskios...!"
The instant he saw the white lycanthrope with the wolf's face peeled away, Iskios was shaken by something impossible. At first, he had thought this white lycanthrope had originally been human—and not just any human, but one who knew him well.
Whether it was to settle some grudge against him or not, the man beneath the lycanthrope's form, once the wolf's face was stripped away, glared at Iskios with crazed eyes and shouted in a half-mad voice before lunging at him.
"Why are you..."
"Iskiosssssssssssssss!!!"
Iskios knew the name of the man attacking him. This gaunt young man was someone he had met before.
The man who had once tried to beat Atalanta in the race for marriage by bringing the golden apple, only to get caught by Iskios, grabbed by the collar, and flee in disgrace—Melanion.
***
Melanion, who had been turned into a lycanthrope by Artemis, had been ordered to kill Iskios and Atalanta by any means necessary.
He had been told that if he succeeded, he would be allowed to marry Atalanta.
That was why he had thrown away his reason and come after them.
But the moment he saw Iskios's face, his mind was blown apart by jealousy, humiliation, and obsession. The man who had once been crushed by Iskios's overwhelming beauty now howled like a beast and lunged at him again and again.
"I'll kill you...! I'll kill you and take Atalanta...!"
"You're still saying that?"
Iskios clicked his tongue and moved to finish him off, but Melanion's body suddenly convulsed.
Then, from deep within the forest, a cold voice rang out.
"That's enough."
At that voice, Melanion froze. Iskios also turned his gaze toward the source.
Standing there was a woman with silver hair and a bow in her hand.
Artemis.
"You've done well, Melanion. The rest is mine."
Her eyes were cold as she looked down at Iskios and Atalanta.
"Now then, Iskios. You've come this far, so I'll ask you one thing."
"What is it?"
Artemis smiled faintly.
"Will you abandon Atalanta and come with me?"
"...What?"
For a moment, the forest went silent.
Then Iskios's answer came without hesitation.
"No."
Artemis's smile vanished.
"Then die."
And with that, the moonlit forest erupted into killing intent.