Greg remembered that the last time he had watched a silent slapstick comedy was back in primary school, when he saw a Charlie Chaplin movie.
He never expected that after transmigrating to this world, he would have the chance to watch another silent comedy.
Except this time, the actor wasn't Chaplin, but a genuine monster.
"..."
The Thirsting Maw's throat was expanded to its absolute limit, clearly going through the motions of an all-out roar with its gullet violently trembling!
Yet not a single shred of sound could be heard.
The terrifying soundwave energy—capable of tearing space itself apart—struck an invisible wall of silence the instant it was about to burst forth, dissipating completely without a sound.
Instead, because the spell was entirely negated, the monster suffered a severe backlash, its aura instantly collapsing to rock bottom.
A flicker of astonishment flashed through Vivian's ice-blue eyes at this scene.
This sudden, eerie domain had instantly stripped her of all auditory perception of her surroundings, causing her combat instincts to immediately put her on maximum alert.
Immediately after, however, she saw Greg gesture for her to keep attacking, along with the calm expression on his face.
Vivian understood in an instant.
This was yet another one of Greg's methods.
Without a moment's hesitation, she suppressed the surging shock in her heart. Seizing the opportunity while the enemy was completely paralyzed by the spell backlash, she pushed the surging ice magic within her to its absolute limit!
Bringing her hands together in front of her chest and slowly pulling them apart, a two-meter-long spear composed entirely of highly condensed, deep blue ice and lined with exquisite magical patterns rapidly coalesced between her palms!
Like throwing a javelin, she put every ounce of her strength into hurling that Ice Crystal Spear straight at the Thirsting Maw!
"!!!"
This time, it was a solid, devastating impalement!
Carrying terrifyingly low temperatures and immense piercing power, the ice spear slammed in through the opening of its throat and poked slightly out the upper back of its neck, pinning the creature firmly to the stone sculpture base behind it!
Extreme cold spread in an instant, freezing vast swaths of tissue inside the monster's body!
The fifteen-second effect of the Silent Covenant expired right at this moment.
Outside sounds flooded back into her ears, but the first thing to resound was the Thirsting Maw's deathly, bellows-like death rattle.
Its aura was already as weak as a candle in the wind, threatening to extinguish at any moment.
"Time to end this once and for all!"
To finish the battle quickly and prevent any further complications, a cold light flashed in Greg's eyes. Quietly raising his right hand, an extremely subtle wisp of dark mana, like a deadly poisonous snake, silently sank into the core area of the Thirsting Maw that had been pierced by the ice spear.
Void Erosion!
[Target has entered "Sensory Deprivation"!]
Yet the very instant the system notification flashed in Greg's mind—
A sudden change erupted!
The Thirsting Maw, which should have completely lost all ability to resist and simply await death, violently convulsed!
Immediately afterward, its gaze locked dead onto Greg!
"##…#%…!!!"
From its damaged throat, raspy yet unnervingly distinct syllables squeezed out once more, but this time Greg had no time to ask Nightmare what they meant.
Boom—!!
A wave of dark red energy, far more violent than any seen before, erupted from inside its broken body like a volcanic outburst!
It forcibly shattered the Ice Crystal Spear pinning it down and violently blasted back Vivian—who was taking the opportunity to close in for the finishing blow—sending her crashing heavily into a distant wall. Her ice-blue shield instantly filled with cracks, and she let out a muffled groan as blood leaked from the corner of her mouth.
Meanwhile, using the recoil of this self-destructive blast, the Thirsting Maw's massive body lunged toward the headless female stone statue behind it with unbelievable agility and resolve!
Bang—!!
Instead of attacking the statue, it slammed the chest of the stone statue headfirst with its battered body, adopting a posture almost like a bow of worship!
Having endured countless ages, the stone statue shattered under the violent impact!
Its upper body, along with everything above the neck, exploded into countless fragments of stone!
However, inside the shattered statue's torso, it was neither solid nor made of ordinary building material; instead, an irregular stone tablet of an ancient, deep dark red throughout was revealed.
The tablet was densely carved with intricate symbols and patterns, emitting an aura that sent chills through the heart.
Upon seeing this stone tablet, the Thirsting Maw let out a final screech laced with fanatical fervor from its ruined throat. Then, opening its gaping, torn maw wide, it swallowed the entire stone tablet whole in a single gulp!
Gulp...
As if it had swallowed the heaviest, most ominous object in the whole world.
The very next second—
ROAR—!!!!!!
A roar even mightier than before erupted from within the Thirsting Maw!
Its body began to undergo a horrifying mutation!
Its original, twisted humanoid form collapsed completely.
Its limbs twisted and stretched like melting wax, bursting with countless new, wildly flailing dark red tentacles and bone blades.
And its iconic, massive throbbing throat tore open vertically down the middle!
Like a flower blooming, it split into four or five massive, gruesome flesh petals dripping with thick black liquid!
The inner side of every flesh petal was densely lined with even tighter spiral teeth and constantly opening and closing sucker-like mouthparts!
Though its size hadn't grown larger, the aura it emitted was many times more dangerous than before!
A sense of oppression originating from the fundamental level filled the entire hall like solid mercury.
"Phase 2?!"
Nobody in the game or the player community ever mentioned this form! What the hell is this thing?!
Greg's pupils shrank sharply.
This was completely beyond all his expectations!
"Flee, quickly! Right now, it is extremely dangerous! You are by no means its match!"
Nightmare's unprecedented shriek exploded in his mind!
However, it was too late.
Having completed its mutation, the Thirsting Maw's flower-like head of split flesh petals, resembling the gates of hell, snapped toward Greg.
ROAR—!!!
Along with this twisted roar, the space in front of Greg suddenly filled with spiderweb-like cracks as if struck by a heavy sledgehammer, then shattered with a crash!
The Thirsting Maw's mutated body completely ignored the distance of dozens of meters, appearing directly right in front of Greg!
Immediately, the giant flesh petals covered in teeth and suckers, like a hunting man-eating flower, snapped shut toward Greg at the center from all directions, carrying a sickening stench and absolute death!
Under the suppression of this Essence of Fragmentation, neither Shadow-Step nor Insubstantiality could be cast!
Now, the only power he could still mobilize was the dark mana in his body.
At this life-or-death juncture, Greg could no longer care about hiding his power!
A ruthless light burst in his eyes, and the shadow mana originating from Nightmare surged frantically inside him at an unprecedented speed!
"Dark-Erosion Armament!!"
Mana so pitch-black it seemed capable of absorbing all light instantly erupted from the surface of his body, attempting to condense into that terrifying and powerful jet-black armor to protect his vital points.
However, the moment LV2 Dark-Erosion Armament came into contact with the dark red fluctuations emitted by the Thirsting Maw's closing flesh petals—
Crack!
With a soft snap, the jet-black armor—not yet fully formed—shattered inch by inch, dissolving back into raw shadow mana and dissipating from Greg's body.
"What?! Even Dark-Erosion Armament...?!"
For the first time, genuine horror appeared in Greg's eyes.
This was currently his strongest defensive form, yet it couldn't even hold out for a single second?!
The next instant, darkness descended.
The split flesh petals slammed shut with irresistible force, completely swallowing Greg's figure.
Vision was stripped away, sounds were cut off, and even thought began to freeze.
Before his consciousness sank completely into the abyss of void, the last thing Greg heard was a shout echoing from the distance, filled with endless despair and sorrow:
"G—r—e—g—!!!"
Then, absolute silence and darkness.
Rate on N.U.
