When the already teetering, dilapidated wooden hut completely collapsed under the hooded man's terrifying attack...
Hiding behind a giant rock not far away, Silvia had just barely caught her breath when she felt as though her heart had been fiercely squeezed and crushed by an invisible, colossal hand at that very moment.
Her vision was completely obscured by the soaring dust, wood fragments, and gravel.
After the loud boom came a dead silence, with only the night wind whimpering as it passed through the ruins, stirring up scattered ashes.
"The house... the house... collapsed... Senior Greg... is still inside..."
Her pink eyes were instantly flooded with overwhelming fear and despair.
Limp, she slid down against the rock onto the ground, covering her mouth tightly with both hands to keep that heart-wrenching scream from bursting out.
Tears gushed uncontrolled like a broken dam, blurring her vision as they coursed hot down her cold cheeks.
It was over.
Everything was over.
That back like a prince descended to rip through the darkness in a fairy tale, that gentle voice saying "I'll help you," that resolute figure standing in front of her to face a terrifying enemy head-on... were all buried beneath those ruins.
Because of her incompetence, because she was a drag on him.
"No... don't... Senior Greg... please... don't die..."
Extreme grief and self-reproach rushed over her like cold tides, threatening to drown her completely.
How she wished she could be just a little more useful, possess greater strength, at least... at least so she wouldn't be like this right now, hiding outside like a useless trash, helplessly watching the person who saved her get buried.
Just at the moment when despair was about to swallow her last shred of consciousness and break her completely—
The wind seemed to grow stronger.
Blown by the night wind, the pervasive smoke and dust began to slowly disperse.
In the center of the ruins, in the area piled highest with debris, the dust was drawn aside to both sides like a curtain by an invisible hand.
A figure slowly emerged from deep within the dust.
At first, it was only a blurred outline—upright and resilient, like a spear driven into the earth.
As the dust continued to clear, Silvia finally saw the figure clearly.
It was Senior Greg!
He was alive!
A surge of profound joy struck Silvia like lightning, making her almost stop breathing.
But right after, as she saw Greg's current appearance, her heart began pounding wildly again.
Greg stood among the ruins, his figure still straight and tall, despite his clothes being ruined and covered in dirt and dark stains, making him look quite wretched.
However, the most striking thing was that layer of... stuff covering him.
From shoulders to fingertips, from thighs to ankles, a more complete and solid bizarre armor, seemingly forged from the deepest night and flowing ink, tightly covered his limbs.
The moonlight spilled stingily over this dark armament, yet it reflected no light at all. Instead, it seemed to be swallowed up, causing the light in the small area surrounding Greg to dim by a fraction.
He stood quietly at the boundary between the ruins and the moonlight, half his figure bathed in cool silver radiance and half completely merged into the deep darkness emanating from himself, forming an extraordinarily impactful and eerily chilling scene.
"Senior Greg... seems to have become even stronger again...?"
Silvia forgot to cry and forgot her fear. Deeply drawn in by that power of Greg's, she stared blankly at his figure.
It was a darkness pure to the absolute extreme—deep and quiet, yet instilling an instinctive awe.
And this power was protecting Senior Greg.
"The bastard who desecrated the Mother Goddess is actually not dead yet! But this time, I will definitely tear you to shreds!!"
Like a trapped beast, the hooded man let out a final roar and lunged at Greg again, swinging that dark battle-axe.
Pale yellow mana gathered on the axe blade once more, but its light was dim and chaotic, far inferior to the previous attack.
Greg merely watched him charge over with composure, casually raising his right arm covered by the dark armament.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Explosive metallic clashes rang out in rapid succession, only to fall silent in an instant.
The hooded man's tempestuous slashes and thrusts—every attack carrying his remaining mana and frantic will—struck Greg's pitch-black arms as silently as stone sinking into the sea.
Ripples merely flickered across the surface of Dark-Erosion Armament before swallowing all impact and mana without a sound.
Greg didn't even shift his footing; relying solely on arm blocks and subtle deflections, he effortlessly neutralized every offensive move.
That easy, effortless posture formed a cruel contrast with the hooded man's desperate madness.
Finally, after one exhausted slash was knocked aside, a massive opening appeared on the hooded man.
A cold glint flashed in Greg's eyes. Raising his dark-armored left hand toward the hooded man right in front of him, he lightly clenched his fist.
【Void Erosion LV2】
Several pitch-black rays suddenly appeared around the hooded man, shooting toward him simultaneously.
The hooded man's pupils shrank as he tried to dodge, but his heavily injured body and lingering negative status effects made his movements half a beat too slow.
Thus, he could only block with his battle-axe, but the pitch-black rays seemed formless—or capable of piercing all matter—effortlessly bypassing the axe blade to sink into his body once more.
"Ugh... AAAAAHHH—!!!"
This time, what issued from the hooded man was no longer a roar of anger, but a bloodcurdling shriek of utter agony!
【Target has fallen into "Weakness" (Severe)!】
【Target has fallen into "Blindness" (Severe)!】
【Target has fallen into "Confusion" (Extreme)!】
【Target has fallen into "Fear" (Extreme)!】
【Target has fallen into "Mana Collapse"!】
【Target has fallen into "Life Drain" (Severe)!】
【Target has fallen into "Soul Rend"!】
...
The hooded man froze in place as the battle-axe fell from his hand with a clang.
Then, he grabbed his head tightly with both hands as if something inside were about to burst out. His nails dug deep into his flesh, and blood mixed with dark, pus-like liquid gushed from his seven orifices.
The aura of life about him rapidly withered like a candle in the wind.
Greg didn't step closer, merely watching coldly.
Because the final shred of mana in his own body was completely spent with that casting of 【Void Erosion LV2】.
An intense wave of emptiness and exhaustion swept through his body, while the spiritual backlash caused by devouring the power of the Mother of Depravity also began to throb ominously.
"Ngh... gah..."
The hooded man struggled, seeming to want to say something, but ultimately produced only a series of meaningless rasping noises. Then, his tall frame swayed and crashed backward.
He hit the dust and wood-strewn ground heavily, kicking up a small cloud of dust, dead.
Only now did Greg let out a small breath, his taut nerves relaxing slightly.
Forcing down the dizziness and the pain echoing through his body, step by step, he walked slowly to the hooded man's corpse.
The night wind blew past, lifting the tattered, blood-stained fabric covering the hooded man's face to reveal his true features underneath.
It was a face typical of a male Scaled Demon.
His skin was a dull greenish-gray, covered in fine yet lusterless scales. High cheekbones, a hooked nose, and thin lips—even in death, a trace of ferocity and malice lingered.
Yet this face caused Greg's heart to skip a beat.
Because he recognized this face.
In the original game, this guy was set as a high-ranking member of the Demon King Cult, a Guardian of quite elevated status.
More crucially, in the original game's numerous hidden storylines, secret plots, and fragmented information from certain special endings, this Guardian was hinted to be one of Primary Heroine Melina Belladonna's trusted confidants, frequently executing secret missions on her behalf.
His presence here meant that this matter was inevitably connected to Primary Heroine Melina.
Rate on N.U.
