Chapter: 91
Schlorp.
Blood gushed out from the ripped clothes, patching the hole as if by magic. The blood shimmered and then turned black, morphing into a fabric-like substance.
Even the visible signs of the attack vanished. If it weren’t for the blood smeared at the corners of his mouth, it might seem like he had dodged the attack completely.
“Ha, haha… My attack was totally useless?”
Potensian, looking as pale as a ghost, let out a hollow laugh and covered his face with his fingers, which had turned inky black at the tips.
“This can’t… Something’s definitely wrong!”
Potensian’s voice wobbled; he seemed on the brink of tears or perhaps screaming in despair.
Just as Lian considered whether to take the first swing, the cursed sword piped up urgently.
[Just because he stole our line doesn’t mean we should stoop down to that level!]
The cursed sword delivered a quote about not sinking to the enemy’s level, sounding like something out of a badly scripted movie. It suddenly seemed quite proud of itself and repeated the same line a couple more times.
While Lian listened to this nonsense, Potensian, floating in mid-air, called out in a small voice,
“Hamulina.”
The moment he uttered Hamulina’s name, Hamulina shot out from Potensian’s pocket like a rocket.
[You sure you won’t live to regret this?]
Hamul was just a fragment now, but he undeniably belonged to ‘Him.’ He already had a clue about what Potensian wanted.
“I’d rather become part of ‘Him’ than die as a mere weakling.”
[Heehee, rad choice!]
A chilling voice echoed, and Hamulina, who looked like he might fall apart any second, swelled up like dried cotton soaking up water. He grew large enough to swallow Potensian whole without breaking a sweat.
Hamul’s appearance resembled a sinister black mist or a bizarre flow of air. Faced with the now-massive Hamulina, Potensian, with blood gushing from his nose and tears from his eyes, said,
“Ahhh… God!”
Crunch!
And that was Potensian’s final line.
Crack, splurt!
“Um, is it okay to just leave that creep alone?”
[Heh, attacking someone while they’re evolving? Only a noob would do that!]
Lian thought the cursed sword’s words sounded like the self-righteous ramblings of the strong but didn’t bother correcting it.
Potensian’s blood rained down like a storm, and the ominous sound of something getting devoured echoed menacingly. In less than a minute, Potensian disappeared without a trace.
The black mist hovering in the sky suddenly began to thrash wildly.
[Aaaah.]
The unsettling movements of the black mist coincided with a strange voice that sounded neither male nor female.
It was a bizarre sound, impossible to describe correctly.
[Your servant offers a sacrifice!]
In a voice filled with mania, Potensian’s tone resonated clearly. Simultaneously, the black mist came together, taking on a perfect shape.
‘Looks like a villain who just hit rock bottom and got a power-up.’
Although he looked just like Potensian, his clothes and aura projected a general vibe of tragic corruption.
[Ugh… Partner, think we should try something like that too?]
‘What?’
[Never mind that! To pull off that stunt, we need to set the stage for corruption first—]
Seemingly ignoring the cursed sword’s ramblings, Lian watched Potensian, who raised his hands dramatically to the heavens.
‘Did he get hit so hard he lost his marbles?’
Creaking, as if he sensed Lian’s trail of thought, Potensian slowly turned his monstrous face towards Lian.
It was… even more grotesque than before. Eyes were on his chin, lips on his cheeks, and a tongue flopped out from where his actual eyes should be. The only thing that seemed to be in place was his nose.
[I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer. I offer.]
An unsettling screech, like nails on a chalkboard, roared through the air, echoing like thunder, and suddenly, Potensian vanished from view.
“…!”
Suddenly right in front of him, as if he’d been stabbed in the stomach with a spear, Potensian got way too close for comfort.
Chrrk!
A long, vertical line slashed across Potensian’s face, splitting it open horizontally. Through the gap, dozens of eyes focused in on Lian.
‘That,’ could only be described as a bizarre monstrosity, charged straight at Lian.
“Whoa?!”
It was as if a black hole had formed in Lian’s head and was pulling Hamulina right into his body. Startled, Lian stumbled back and instinctively started groping his head.
“What, what was that?!”
Thinking he’d sprouted a hole, he felt around, but all he found was his soft hair.
“Hey, Gargandoa, do I seem any different?”
[Umm, nothing looks off. What’s that attack all about? A dramatic exit?]
“I guess…”
That was pretty much the best explanation he could come up with for the crazy situation.
“Ah! But that’s not the important thing right now! Noah and the kids… huh?”
As he spoke, Lian noticed everything in his vision beginning to blur together.
“Why is everything so…?”
Thunk.
He stabbed the cursed sword into the ground to keep from collapsing but felt like he could topple over at any moment.
[Why, why is this happening? Partner!]
The cursed sword shouted in a panicky tone, fearing Lian might meet the same fate he had experienced in the arena but, amid the chaos spinning in his mind, Lian couldn’t respond.
Thud, thud.
Just then, urgent footsteps rushed towards Lian.
“Lian!”
Noah, barely managing to cut through the monsters Potensian had released, sprinted to Lian’s aid. Noah screamed Lian’s name as soon as he came into view.
Thud.
Before Noah’s voice could even reach him, Lian collapsed.
*
At that moment, inside Lian’s head, Hamulina.
[What’s going on?]
Hamul was taken aback by the unexpected scenery.
[What on earth? Why is it so empty?]
He didn’t ambush Lian to make a dramatic exit like the cursed sword suggested; quite the opposite.
By offering Potensian as a prime sacrifice, Hamulina had tapped into immense power from ‘Him.’
No matter how strong Lian’s mind was, it was likely like a firefly dancing in front of the blazing sun when faced with ‘His’ power.
Hamul planned to repay the humiliation Lian had dealt him by invading Lian’s mind, smashing his psyche, and scattering his soul as an offering to ‘Him.’
But—what should have been there was nowhere to be found.
[Could it be that he’s not human? A fancy golem?]
The mental realm that should exist within a human was devoid of life and filled solely with shadows. As Hamul peered into that darkness, he trembled slightly.
It was unnerving.
A flash of thought raced through Hamul’s mind. He chuckled and shook his head. For him, who borrowed ‘His’ power, feeling spooked by a human’s empty mind was utterly ridiculous.
[Does some of Potensian’s mind still linger?]
While grinding Potensian into bits for ‘Him,’ maybe a part of him had stuck around in Hamul’s body.
[Ha, if it’s come to this, I’ll have to blow him up from the inside out.]
Using ‘His’ power, Hamul could meddle with Lian’s body as well as his mind. He began summoning tremendous power, black and sticky energy gathering in his hands.
Just looking at it was enough to drive a person insane. The dreadful energy glowed softly at Hamul’s fingertips.
For some unknown reason, the surroundings took on a gray hue.
Boom, crash!
As the energy exploded from Hamul’s fingertips, a portion of the black void lit up as if a torch had been thrown into a bottomless pit.
Since nothing existed in Lian’s mental world, he aimed to break through the barrier of the mind and deal damage to his body. Hamul chuckled mischievously.
[Hehe, I wonder what face his friends will make when I blow his body apart and skedaddle?]
Hamul trembled in excitement, thrilled by the thought of sinking his teeth into Lian’s despair-fueled companions.
[Once I break out, I’ll snag his soul and make sure he witnesses their horrific slaughter—]
Just as Hamul was musing about using Lian’s dead soul to watch his friends become mincemeat,
Whoosh.
The seething attack, which had been ripping forward like a tempest, was extinguished like a flame before a gale when it met ‘something.’
[…?]
Hamul lifted his gaze toward ▉.
▉ stared back at Hamul.
[Oh.]
The instant Hamul recognized ▉, everything got sucked in. The body granted by ‘Him’ and even his mind, which traversed dimensions—everything.
Only ▉ remained in the black void of Lian’s psyche.
*
Pop! Boing!
“Come on, do better, you dumb birdbrain!”
The god of the gag world stomped on a white-eyed bird’s head with a stocking-clad foot while clutching a game controller. The bird screeched loudly in protest.
“Animal abuse, boohoo!”
Whether he’d forgotten his divine purpose or had really lost his mind to become a birdbrain, the god of dark fantasy dropped his game controller, streaming tears like glass beads while letting out a wail.
“Agh! I died… urgh!”
The god of the gag world, irritated by the game over screen, was caught off guard by an unexpected belch.
“Huh? What’s going on? I haven’t even eaten anything, meow?”
Smacking his lips at the weird taste, he tilted his head and quickly grabbed the white-eyed bird trying to escape.
“What’s the deal? Next round starts right now, meow!”
“Please spare meow…”
End of Chapter.
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