Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 295 Uh Oh

"I, Orpheus, am merely a human in search of love. And if the two of you will get in the way of that…

…then I shall sing you your last song."

"Commander…" Rhys backed away and whispered to Olga, "...We need to retrieve and take Eurydice away from him."

"Agreed. Let's—!!!"

"Zeus decided to climb…"

And with that as their only plan, a trickle of lightning started to spark right in front of Olga as Orpheus seemingly started to sing and hum. Olga did not really waste any time, as she just brashly grabbed Rhys by the head and back before just running while pushing him.

"Tch…" Olga glanced back, only to see the lightning rapidly extend; cracking the air as it separated into numerous paths as it chased her to the other end of the hall; fortunately, it chased her no further.

"Hmn…" Rhys slightly cleared his throat as he did not expect to just suddenly be dragged away. He knew that the danger was approaching and he was actually ready to doge the lightning before it even happened due to his increased reflex and senses, but Olga beat him to it — before the two could even relax, however, the bard started to sing again.

"...but he fell down, again, again."

Rhys and Olga felt the ground beneath them tremble, causing the two of them to just split up — fortunately before the floor caved in and swallowed them.

"The Titans, they pull him down~" Orpheus strummed his guitar, causing a pair of hands to emerge from the hole he made; a pair of hands that immediately tried to grab Rhys and Olga. Olga was able to easily escape…

…Rhys, however, was slapped by the large hand straight through the ground. Orpheus did not seem to care, however, as he just continued to sing and play his guitar — he wasn't even looking at Olga at all and yet each time he opened his mouth, Olga had to just evade something random.

Just what sort of ability does Orpheus have, exactly? For the very surrounding itself to bend in his will just by his voice — can this not be considered an act of god?

Olga did not really have much time to think, however, as she saw Rhys slowly emerging from the shadows behind the incubator where Eurydice was being kept. And so, Olga just continued to run; this time rushing toward Orpheus; tilting her entire torso back as soon as she felt a sharp pain on the topmost upper surface of her skin.

And it was a good thing she did so, as Orpheus let out another invisible attack. It did not feel like a blade at all; Olga was fast enough to dodge a bullet even if its tip had already touched her skin, and she had felt all sorts of projectiles and weapons barely miss her — and from how it felt, it wasn't an invisible blade like Talia but a more common ability.

Wind.

Olga squinted her eyes as she was now only a meter away from Orpheus. Orpheus was not bedding reality with his will at all; everything he has been doing… was controlling the elements, all of it.

Olga then retrieved two serrated knives from her waist; vibrating them at an insane speed and then swung both of them at the same time at Orpheus, cutting through him like he was smoke. That was supposed to happen; after all, Olga had already cut several monsters and people just like so and they offered little to no resistance to her blades.

What is not supposed to happen, however, was Orpheus truly turning into smoke before flying toward the back of the incubator where Rhys was about to get Eurydice.

"Well, 'tis a fine effort," Orpheus let out a soft and rhythmic chuckle, "But do you really think that one such as you would thwart the pure love between Eurydice and—"

And before Orpheus could finish his words, the veins around Rhys's eyes protruded and his eyes started to glow; gritting his teeth as he glared at Orpheus's head.

Orpheus's cheek cracked as it turned gray — but with just a single hum escaping his curling lips; his face that was turning into stone just completely turned to normal.

"You are very, very surprising," Orpheus continued to hum, "But you can not curse someone who has already been cursed. It is—"

Rhys did not allow himself to get surprised as he just suddenly pulled his arm and did not let Orpheus finish his words again — causing the threads he had actually laid beforehand to all just fly around and wrap themselves onto Orpheus's ankles; pulling him back and causing him to fall. This was meant to just completely shatter Orpheus once he was turned into stone — but tripping him would do.

But like with Olga's attempt, Orpheus just suddenly turned into mist before he could actually fall to the ground. But as soon as he did so, however, Rhys gritted his teeth, stretching his arms to the side before clapping as hard as he could — a technique he learned from Ayesha.

The shockwave from his clap was loud enough to cause the entire hall to tremble, unfortunately, it was also strong enough to destroy the wooden hand that Aengela gifted to him.

But fortunately, it seemed to have worked as intended as the cloud that Orpheus turned into scattered back. Rhys did not waste any time at all in carefully breaking the incubator and grabbing Eurydice before handing her to Aengela, who was tightly hanging from his belt.

Aengela then quickly flew away, quickly covering her and Eurydice in a ball of earth; compressing it until it was completely smooth. And then, it fell with a heavy thud that was enough to crack the floor.

"No!" Orpheus let out a harmonious scream as soon as he was whole again. And without even heeding Olga and Rhys and mind anymore, he started strumming his guitar wildly; causing the heavy ball to bounce and tremble — but aside from a few scratches, Orpheus was not able to break the ball at all.

"Hey, hey. It's alright," Rhys raised his remaining palm as he very carefully approached the frenzied Orpheus. Olga tried to stop him, but Rhys shook his head and just continued, "She is safe, okay? Safe — we're not going to do anything to Eurydice, we are just taking her someplace else. Because the rest of the nymphs might already be on their way here, and then all of us will die."

"I could just end you," Orpheus turned to look at Rhys.

"You could. We could fight," Rhys shook his head, "You might even win against us. You are very strong — but if you kill me, Aengela will never let Eurydice go. She only listens to me."

"Listen to you…?" Orpheus looked Rhys in the eyes with his dead eyes, "Why would they listen to you when you yourself do not listen to anyone? You interrupted my son, even though I have already told you that the love Eurydice and I have for each other is true — it surpasses this pantheon and all of its tragedy and curses."

"W—"

"Begone!"

Orpheus strummed his guitar again, causing the ground beneath him to turn into hundreds of circular saws which all crawled toward Rhys and Olga. Olga was about to dodge, but Rhys just clicked his tongue and then slammed his fist on the ground; completely crushing it and just obliterating the saw.

But as he did so, however, Orpheus strummed his guitar again — and this time, the circular saws surrounded the entire hall.

"We're just going to tire each other out — I don't get tired," Rhys shook his head.

"I too, do not get tired," Orpheus smirked, "A bard must sing all day, every day — but the lady by your side, however, clearly has her limits."

"You do not have to worry about me, Commander," Olga shook her head, "I am not familiar with a battle of attrition."

"No," Rhys whispered, "Since we already got Eurydice… I am going to try and open a path down to the Underworld; it's possible. And then you… take them down there.

"...I'm not going to leave you here, Commander," Olga shook her head, "And I am still in charge of this mission. And what you are doing is suicide, that man is already strong enough to deal with us at the same time — how will you deal with him with your back turned against him?"

"That is why your safety is the priority, Commander," Rhys glanced back.

"Your plan is not going to work," Olga shook her head again, "In the first place, someone needs to distract him."

"If it's a distraction…" Rhys glanced at Olga, "...Then I might just have the right woman for the job."

"Huh?"

"Do you see how I am not interrupting the two of you?" Orpheus then stretched his arms to the side, "That is called proper etiquette."

"Thank you," Rhys raised his foot, "I'm doing it now."

Rhys was about to slam his foot on the ground, but before he could do so, the heavy ball where Aengela sealed herself and Eurydice started to shake. Rhys, Olga, and Orpheus all turned to look at the ball… only to see a small crack crawl on the surface of the ball.

And soon, this small crack scattered like a web until the ball just withered and crumbled like sand.

And there, Aengela was still holding Eurydice… but Eurydice was also holding her now; both of her arms, pierced through Aengela's chest.

"Oh…" Olga blinked a couple of times as she watched as Eurydice just pulled her arms away before calmly flying toward Orpheus. She wanted to run and just kill her there and then — but she found her feet completely bound to the ground. And judging by the way Eurydice was glaring at her, she was the one who did it,

"...I think we're fucked."