When that already rickety wooden shack completely collapsed under the hooded man's terrifying strike...
Silvia, who had just barely caught her breath behind a large rock not far away, felt as if her heart had been seized and crushed by an invisible giant hand at that very moment.
Her vision was completely obscured by the dust, wood chips, and gravel that billowed into the air.
After the thunderous roar came a deathly silence, with only the night wind wailing through the ruins, kicking up scattered ashes.
"The... the house... it collapsed... Senior Greg... he's still inside..."
Her pink eyes were instantly submerged in a wave of immense fear and despair.
She slid down the rock and slumped onto the ground, her hands clamped tightly over her mouth to keep a heart-wrenching scream from escaping.
Tears surged like a flood from a broken dam, uncontrollably blurring her vision and tracing burning paths down her cold cheeks.
It was over.
Everything was over.
That back that had looked like a prince from a fairy tale tearing through the darkness, that gentle voice saying "I'll help you," that resolute figure standing before her to face a terrifying enemy... all of it was buried beneath those ruins.
Because of her incompetence, because she was a burden.
"No... please... Senior Greg... I beg you... don't die..."
The extreme grief and self-reproach felt like a cold tide, nearly drowning her.
She wished so much that she could have been more useful, that she possessed greater power—at least... at least so she wouldn't be like this, hiding outside like a piece of trash, watching helplessly as the person who saved her was buried.
Just as despair was about to consume the last of her consciousness and cause her to completely break down—
The wind seemed to pick up.
Under the blowing of the night wind, the thick smoke and dust began to slowly disperse.
In the center of the ruins, in the area where the most debris had accumulated, the dust was pulled aside to both sides like a curtain by an invisible hand.
A figure slowly emerged from the depths of the dust.
At first, it was just a blurry silhouette—upright and resilient, like a spear driven deep into the earth.
As the dust continued to clear, Silvia finally saw the figure clearly.
It was Senior Greg!
He was still alive!
A massive surge of joy hit Silvia like a bolt of lightning, making her breath catch in her throat.
But then, as she took in Greg's current appearance, her heart began to race wildly once again.
Greg stood amidst the ruins, his posture still straight. Though his clothes were torn and covered in dust and dark stains, making him look quite bedraggled.
However, the most eye-catching thing was the... substance covering him.
From his shoulders to his fingertips, from his thighs to his ankles, a more complete and solid set of eerie armor—seemingly cast from the deepest night and flowing ink—tightly covered his limbs.
The moonlight fell sparingly upon this dark armament, yet there was no reflection. Instead, the light seemed to be swallowed by it, making the small area around Greg appear even dimmer.
He stood there quietly at the boundary between the ruins and the moonlight. Half of his figure was bathed in the cold silver glow, while the other half was completely merged into the deep darkness he emitted, creating a scene that was both impactful and unsettlingly eerie.
"Senior Greg... he seems to have become even stronger...?"
Silvia forgot to cry, forgot her fear. She was deeply drawn to that power Greg possessed, staring blankly at his silhouette.
This was a darkness that was pure to the extreme—deep and quiet, yet it commanded an instinctive sense of awe.
And this power was protecting Senior Greg.
"The one who desecrated the Mother Goddess is still alive! But this time, I will tear you to shreds!!"
Like a wounded beast, the hooded man let out a final roar, brandishing his dark battle-axe as he lunged at Greg once more.
Earth-yellow mana condensed on the axe blade again, but the light was dim and chaotic, far inferior to his previous strike.
Greg simply watched him charge with a calm gaze, casually raising his right arm covered in the dark armament.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The rapid sounds of metal clashing rang out, only to vanish into silence an instant later.
The hooded man's storm-like slashes and stabs—every attack imbued with his remaining mana and crazed will—hit Greg's pitch-black arm like mud sinking into the sea.
The surface of the Dark-Erosion Armament only showed slight ripples as it silently swallowed all the impact and mana.
Greg didn't even move his feet. By simply parrying and making minor shifts with his arms, he neutralized every attack with effortless grace.
That composed and relaxed posture formed a cruel contrast to the hooded man's frantic desperation.
Finally, after one of the hooded man's exhausted swings was parried away, a massive opening was exposed.
A cold light flashed in Greg's eyes. He reached out his left hand, covered in the dark armament, and made a light grasping motion toward the hooded man standing inches away.
【Void Erosion LV2】.
Several pitch-black rays suddenly appeared around the hooded man, shooting toward him simultaneously.
The hooded man's pupils shrank. He tried to dodge, but his heavily injured body and the lingering negative status effects made his movements a half-beat too slow.
He could only block with his battle-axe, but the black rays seemed insubstantial, as if they could penetrate anything. They easily bypassed the axe blade and sank into his body once again.
"Aaargh—!!!"
This time, the sound that escaped the hooded man was no longer an angry roar, but a shrill scream of absolute agony!
【Target is afflicted with "Weakness" (Severe)!】
【Target is afflicted with "Blindness" (Severe)!】
【Target is afflicted with "Confusion" (Extreme)!】
【Target is afflicted with "Fear" (Extreme)!】
【Target is afflicted with "Mana Collapse"!】
【Target is afflicted with "Life Drain" (Severe)!】
【Target is afflicted with "Soul Rend"!】
...
The hooded man froze in place, his battle-axe falling to the ground with a loud clang.
He then clutched his head with both hands as if something inside was trying to burst out. His nails sank deep into his flesh, and blood mixed with a dark, pus-like substance gushed from his seven orifices.
The life force within him began to fade rapidly, like a candle flickering in the wind.
Greg didn't move closer; he simply watched coldly.
This was because the last bit of mana in his own body had been completely exhausted by that single cast of 【Void Erosion LV2】.
A strong sense of emptiness and exhaustion swept over him, and the mental backlash from devouring the power of the Mother of Depravity began to flare up faintly.
"Ngh... ga..."
The hooded man struggled, appearing as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, he only made a series of unintelligible rasps. Then, his tall frame swayed and he collapsed backward.
He hit the ground, which was covered in wood chips and dust, with a heavy thud. A small cloud of dust rose as he fell silent forever.
Only then did Greg breathe a slight sigh of relief, his tense nerves finally relaxing.
He forced himself to endure the dizziness and the pain radiating from all over his body, walking slowly, step by step, toward the hooded man's corpse.
The night wind blew, peeling back the torn, blood-stained fabric covering the hooded man's face, revealing the true appearance hidden beneath.
It was the face of a typical male of the Scaled Demon race.
His skin was a dull grayish-green, covered in fine but now lusterless scales. He had high cheekbones, a hawk-like nose, and very thin lips. Even in death, a trace of ferocity and malice remained.
But this face made Greg's heart skip a beat.
Because he recognized this face.
In the original game, this guy's setting was a high-ranking member of the Demon King Cult, a Guardian of considerable status.
More importantly, in the many hidden plotlines, secret lore, and certain special ending fragments of the original game, it was hinted that this Guardian was one of the trusted confidants of the Primary Heroine, Melina Belladonna, often carrying out covert missions on her behalf.
His appearance here meant that this matter was inevitably connected to the Primary Heroine, Melina.
Rate on N.U.
