At that moment, on the mountain path behind them, Skadi, the Winter God of Jotunheim, stood with frost on her face and a slight furrow between her brows.
Ahead on the path, Scáthach, Queen of the Land of Shadows, leaned against her crimson magic spear, wearing a teasing half-smile.
And on the cliff to the side, Medusa, the Greek goddess of serpents, stood with her arms crossed, looking deeply displeased.
Six meaningful gazes converged on the scene of the crime. Invisible divine might pressed inward from three sides in a triangular formation. Tamamo-no-Mae broke out in a cold sweat despite herself, quietly putting a little distance between herself and Samael as her eyes wandered and she let out a dry laugh.
"When did you all…"
"We were here the whole time."
Skadi answered flatly, her voice carrying a faint, displeased nasal tone.
The fake smile on Tamamo-no-Mae's face froze. As she recalled all her declarations and performances from just now, her expression stiffened.
"Then everything just now…"
"We heard it all. It was bolder than expected, and quite entertaining. After all, I don't dislike people who face their own nature honestly."
Scáthach spun her magic spear and gave an impartial evaluation, like a teacher watching a play. If anything, she seemed to have wanted more.
Tamamo-no-Mae's face darkened another shade, and her voice grew even drier.
"Didn't you go to the Argo…"
"They never got on the ship. They just sent me a signal."
Ana puffed out her cheeks and snorted softly. Her slit-pupiled eyes opened and narrowed as she glared at the fox in displeasure, her gaze full of hostility. The scythe in her hand flashed with ill intent.
"I'm warning you. Don't you dare lay another hand on Samael, or I'll cut you down!"
But little Ana's angry threat had already gone in one of Tamamo-no-Mae's ears and out the other.
At that moment, the fox spirit trapped in the center of the triangular formation looked at the three goddesses eyeing her like prey. She faintly sensed that something was strange, yet could not pinpoint what was wrong. Unable to figure it out, her mind turned into a muddled mess.
"Still don't understand? In the hundreds of duels between us, I have never lost, and he has never won…"
Scáthach lightly wiped her magic spear and laughed openly, her tone full of meaning.
"I hate warm things. He would never prepare heated mead for me…"
Skadi raised a slender brow and glanced at Samael, her smooth chin lifting with a touch of pride. The three exchanged a look, sharing a silent understanding.
"So…"
Tamamo-no-Mae suddenly remembered the conversation before the three of them parted ways. Realization dawned, and she instinctively turned to look at Samael, who was slumped in front of the boulder.
"Snakes are even more cunning than foxes. You knew a wounded person shouldn't be left alone, so how could I have forgotten?"
Samael curled his lip and snorted irritably, completely unlike the bewitched look he had shown earlier.
"You tricked me! And here I was, so worried about your injuries!"
Realizing that she was the one who had fallen into the pit, Tamamo-no-Mae put on a tearful expression and accused the instigator from the position of the victim.
"Tricked you, my foot!"
Before Tamamo-no-Mae could work up any tragic grief or indignation, Samael darkened his face and knocked her on the head.
"This wasn't meant to bait you at all! Ever since we arrived at Thermopylae, I've beaten down every hero the Persians recruited, but that god Mithra, who supposedly descended into their army, still hasn't shown himself. So I wanted to see if I could lure him out.
"To be safe, I went to all the trouble of separating from them, having Scáthach and Skadi contact reinforcements, call Ana over, and hurry here to rendezvous with me…"
At this point, Samael's expression was as dark as storm clouds. He gave the pitiful-looking Tamamo-no-Mae a gloomy glance, his teeth itching with irritation, then raised his hand and knocked that fluffy head again.
"I sensed a trace of danger near the battlefield earlier and thought Mithra had taken the bait. How was I supposed to know you were the one who jumped into the pit?"
Tamamo-no-Mae clutched her head and cried out in pain, then crouched nearby in grievance, drawing circles on the ground.
"Forget it. Looks like Mithra won't be showing up this time."
Samael rose and looked toward the blood-red setting sun and the battlefield where the smoke was gradually dying away. He shook his head helplessly, announcing the failure of the ambush with little enthusiasm.
Beside him, Tamamo-no-Mae, having adjusted her mood, grew somewhat indignant and could not help complaining.
"If they were all here, then why didn't you say so earlier?"
"You were so absorbed in your performance that I figured I might as well play along a little. It would've been awkward if the scene went cold…"
The Ancient Serpent glanced at the rotten fox who was blaming the victim first and answered with a teasing smile.
"…"
Tamamo-no-Mae's expression stiffened. Thinking back to how she had acted like a lunatic in full view of everyone, she felt as though tens of thousands of alpacas were stampeding through her mind.
The shame, nearly enough to kill her socially, made the facial muscles of this rotten fox who specialized in playing with people's emotions twitch violently. She ground her pearly teeth and looked darkly at a certain bad thing beside her.
"So, the separation was fake, the fear was fake, even being moved was fake. You even acted injured so convincingly, and I was so worried! This is outright fraud! You toyed with my feelings. You're awful!"
"Pfft!"
With tears welling in her eyes, Tamamo-no-Mae hammered Samael's chest to vent her anger. But the Ancient Serpent's face turned deathly pale, and he immediately vomited a mouthful of dark purple-black blood before collapsing backward, stiff as a board.
Realizing something was wrong, the rotten fox turned pale in fright and hurriedly caught Samael, whose face had gone as white as gold paper.
"The… injury was real…"
The Ancient Serpent coughed violently and gave the rotten fox who had almost knocked the breath out of him a resentful look before forcing out the answer.
To deceive the enemy, one must first deceive oneself.
Marduk's caution was famous. It could even be called cowardice taken to the extreme.
Whether he wanted to lure out the god Mithra from the Persian army or draw out the true mastermind, Marduk, a simple act of pretending to be injured would never fool the other side.
So after the Flaming Demon Sword went out of control and Samael suffered heavy injuries, the situation should have been extremely unfavorable.
But as a veteran old schemer, the Ancient Serpent simply used that point to turn disadvantage into advantage. He showed weakness to the enemy, used himself as bait, and prepared to lure Marduk out of the Persian army so he could strike here.
To be safe, Scáthach and Skadi had already contacted the others. Ana, Fenrir, and the Argonauts, the top combat forces he trusted most, were all ambush troops Samael had prepared.
Together with the grand altar that had already been mostly completed, any god-level opponent who came here would lose a layer of skin even if they did not die.
He just had not expected that, in what should have been a flawless plan, Marduk would not jump out first. Instead, a certain rotten fox who had been sneaking along behind him and licking her paws had fallen into the pit first.
Incidentally, thanks to Tamamo-no-Mae's claw just now, his injuries had flared up again.
At that moment, the goddesses realized something was wrong and gathered around him.
Riiip!
Tamamo-no-Mae's nostrils twitched, and she was the first to tear open the cloth over Samael's chest. Looking down, she could not help drawing in a sharp breath.
The skin that should have been as white as marble was covered in red-black flame-like markings. Twisted characters radiated the utmost malice, and filthy patterns like flowing mud continued to spread and crawl toward Samael's neck.
This was… a curse! Its power was enough to curse a god to death!
No wonder the Flaming Demon Sword had gone out of control. His own body had already been severely corroded by the curse.
"Until I wake up, hold Thermopylae. I might need to… sleep for a little while…"
Samael gave everyone a reassuring look, then curled up in Tamamo-no-Mae's arms. His eyes gently closed, and his voice gradually faded. He fell asleep like an infant, though his brows remained faintly drawn together.
What a pity… I couldn't take this chance to kill the newly descended god hiding inside the Persian army…