As Yuri shouted, everyone clung to the monster’s legs. The creature thrashed violently, but not a single person let go.
The monster’s thrashing grew more intense, tearing up the ground all around them.
“D-Do we just have to hold on for now?”
“Yes!”
“It’s shaking way too much!”
“Keep attacking!”
Yuri, having climbed up to the monster’s knees, immediately plunged his Guilty sword in.
“If we hit it, it’ll calm down!”
Then, he cast the Whirling Vortex blade technique, spinning mana from inside the monster’s body.
An endlessly repeating fractal whirl tore the monster’s legs to shreds.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Shaking the soaked hair from his face, Yuri shouted again.
“We need to buy time!”
A little distance away, Moyongchan, who was hanging on, also attacked the monster. A crimson sword aura spread out, tearing chunks of flesh from the beast.
Everyone left here was a skilled fighter, so the response was instantaneous.
Blood pooled on the ground, forming puddles that splashed outward as the monster flared with rage. The earth around them was stained a deep crimson.
“Everyone, be careful!”
Suddenly, one of the Eastern warriors was struck hard by the monster and violently thrown back.
His body crashed into the ground, limbs torn apart, entrails spilling out.
It was a gruesome sight. The Eastern warriors shut their eyes tightly.
Yuri shouted.
“Stay calm! Master, please say something in Eastern tongue to encourage them!”
Moyongchan spoke words of comfort in their language.
Though there were sacrifices, most were still holding on.
Soon, the retreating Anti-Empire Alliance returned.
Among them was the person Yuri had been waiting for—Inariel.
His body was weak, and he was practically being carried by Ainger, his expression twisted in displeasure at the awkward position.
Yuri felt guilty asking Inariel for help again, but there was no other choice.
“Inariel! I’m sorry! Please, we need your help!”
With dispel magic blocking all around, only he could use magic now.
Seeing Inariel click his tongue, Yuri gave a thumbs-up. Then, as the monster’s movements grew more violent, he grabbed one of its tentacles and held on.
The view flipped upside down and right side up.
“Ugh…”
For a moment, Yuri felt guilty hearing Inariel’s faint cough, but then he saw magical light flickering just outside his vision.
“There!”
Yuri shouted.
“Jump through there!”
A passage wide enough for several adults had opened in the ground.
It was a teleportation magic circle that Inariel had squeezed out of his mana.
Though it couldn’t transport them very far, moving a small group within visible range was no problem for a mage of Inariel’s caliber.
Yuri was the first to leap.
A tentacle chased after him, but he swung his Guilty sword midair, cutting them all down.
“This way!”
Roland and Jared jumped without hesitation, followed by the others. The Eastern warriors also fell into the magic circle behind Yuri.
The moment they passed through the passage, their entire vision was flooded with countless colors.
It was as if they were crossing through a world made of light.
Then, suddenly, the open sky appeared.
They were above the monster’s head.
After falling through the ground and passing the magic circle, they had actually appeared atop the monster’s head.
Prepared in advance, Yuri gripped Guilty in reverse and dropped down onto the monster’s crown.
Awakened to his sixth sense, Yuri transcended the realm of the soul and could see the monster’s true form.
He also spotted its fatal weak point.
A crack.
The otherworldly god Cedric had summoned was incomplete.
The proof was spread out before Yuri’s eyes.
As Cedric had said, the monster was a collection of humanity’s ugliest parts. Grief and screams accumulated over an unknown span of time, coalescing into a visible form so corrupting that just witnessing it tainted the mind.
But there was definitely a crack.
That fact was a weapon for Yuri.
“Ah…”
Those falling from the sky after Yuri momentarily lost their composure.
Though they looked down from above, just catching a glimpse of the monster’s face was enough to shock them.
“Get a grip!”
Yuri shouted sharply and slashed deeper with Guilty.
Finally, his sword struck the crack.
Thrust.
His sword energy cut through the monster’s crown and pierced inside.
The monster’s aura surged up the blade.
Yuri’s mind turned a deep crimson. He unleashed the Soul Slash and fortified his body and soul with chaotic power.
His energy shook the monster’s head violently.
“Focus and attack!”
Yuri’s shout snapped the others out of their daze.
“What the hell was that just now…?”
“What is that thing?”
Yuri said.
“Don’t try to look at it on purpose. Don’t face it head-on.”
He withdrew his sword and stepped back, and the others settled on the monster’s shoulders.
The monster spun its head around, seemingly without joint limits, staring at them one by one.
But no one dared meet its gaze, heeding Yuri’s warning.
Avoiding eye contact didn’t completely dispel the evil aura, but since Yuri had stabbed his sword into the monster’s head and damaged its demonic core, its threat was weakened compared to before.
Now, even glimpsing the monster’s face wouldn’t immediately shatter their minds.
Still, an uneasy silence fell here and there.
It was a being no human wanted to face.
“Let’s destroy its head!”
They concentrated their firepower. The warriors, strong enough to topple fortress walls, now united to destroy the monster’s head.
Sword auras of every color flew toward the monster’s face with the sound of shattering stone.
The monster shook its head violently, swaying its massive body up and down.
A huge palm rose and slammed down on its own shoulder.
The sound of earth crumbling echoed.
Some fell to the ground, others were caught in the attack and injured.
But the assault on the monster’s head did not stop.
“I’ll help!”
Not only that, but knights crossed over through Inariel’s still-open magic circle, attacking the monster as they fell.
Yet their strength was insufficient.
Though they piled attacks on the monster’s head, they couldn’t protect themselves.
Most of the newly arrived knights were smashed by the monster’s fists or fell to their deaths.
They were building a river of corpses as they advanced.
Yuri gritted his teeth.
He couldn’t let their sacrifices be in vain. So many had already bled.
He had to do whatever he could.
As Yuri clenched his sword tightly, Hose shouted.
“Let’s break it!”
With a shout, his sword energy poured down like a broken dam.
It was a reckless, all-out attack with no regard for what was behind.
His will spread, and everyone desperately targeted the monster’s head.
Gradually, wounds appeared on its head, and the darkness lurking inside began to leak out.
Yuri was about to unleash the Soul Slash.
“Kill it!”
“Don’t look!”
“Take that bastard down!”
Suddenly, something flickered.
The monster’s face.
It was looking at him.
The surrounding noise faded, and everything outside his focus blurred.
It felt as if only he and the monster’s face staring back were the entire world.
That horrific visage wasn’t as repulsive as before.
Instead, he felt compelled to observe something within it closely.
Yuri leaned in and looked carefully.
Something moved.
And then, in an instant—
Yuri found himself standing in an empty space.
There was nothing.
No oxygen, no atmospheric components—just emptiness.
Void.
And darkness.
He was at its center.
He raised his eyes and saw the core of darkness.
Something flowed within.
Something undefinable, indescribable, slithering like a serpent, watching him from every direction.
Yuri felt he knew the owner of this space.
“The otherworldly god.”
The being Cedric had summoned was there.
Yuri reached out politely, as if to a human.
The entity in the darkness, silently watching him, suddenly took the form of a hand and brushed across Yuri’s palm.
It was a strange kind of handshake.
“What’s your name?”
[…….]
It said something, but Yuri couldn’t understand.
It wasn’t just a difference in vocal organs. Their very modes of existence were different, so Yuri couldn’t grasp its name.
“Did you call me?”
Using his heightened senses and the realm of the soul, Yuri understood that the origin of the monster Cedric summoned was half black magic, half otherworldly power.
And between them was a crack.
What he had seen through the monster’s face was utterly horrifying, but within it was also a faintly untainted form.
It was fragile, as if about to vanish, but it never did.
It couldn’t be Cedric. That was obvious.
The otherworldly god.
He had not fully merged with Cedric.
“Why did you call me?”
The otherworldly god remained silent, then conveyed its will again.
[…….]
Something like a concept flowed into Yuri’s mind.
He couldn’t fully understand, but he vaguely sensed it was curious about what had been given to it.
“Show me that.”
The otherworldly god transmitted that something to Yuri.
Yuri chuckled dryly.
“Do you think you’ll understand just because I say it…?”
He asked in a more relaxed tone.
“What’s happening outside?”
The otherworldly god was surprisingly kind. As Yuri requested, it conveyed the situation of the others through images.
The world was frozen.
Not completely stopped, but flowing at a speed infinitely close to stillness.
He and the god of the otherworld lingered in the rift of time.
“Thank you. Now, I’ll answer your question,” Yuri said, conveying her response to the god.
Then, the darkness trembled.
The movement was ominous—like it could crush Yuri, trapped in this space, at any moment.
From the folds where darkness overlapped, a blood-red mist began to rise.
Red and black.
The two colors filled the surroundings.
Yuri raised Guilty and unleashed the Soul Slash.
The darkness recoiled.
Even the god of the otherworld reacted violently to the energy Yuri radiated.
Like a once-docile dog suddenly baring its teeth and growling, the air around them began to vibrate.
A smirk tugged at Yuri’s lips.
“Why are you so afraid?”
[…….]
“It’s already too late. It’s seeped into you.”
[…….]
“I think differently.”
[…….]
“If that’s what you call corruption, then you’re already corrupted. It’s over.”
The god of the otherworld seethed with rage. The darkness surged forward like a serpent aiming for Yuri.
But Yuri didn’t stand still.
Swinging Guilty, she deflected the attack.
The darkness split apart, spilling an abyssal void from within.
The god retreated once more, moving as if caught off guard.
Yuri stepped forward.
“You’re not the kind to reason with, so I guess this ends in a fight.”
From the start, the god had only drawn Yuri in out of curiosity—not as a friendly gesture.
And hearing her answer only fueled its anger.
Yuri glanced around.
The space the god inhabited was filled with its minions—an overwhelmingly hostile battlefield.
There was no way she could fight here.
At least, not for an ordinary person.
A sly smile curved Yuri’s lips.
Dragging her into this space would be the god’s mistake.
She gripped Guilty tighter, drawing the sword’s spiritual energy even higher.
“This sword’s name is Soul Slash—心魂斬. It means to cut through both heart and soul.”
A blade etched with sin.
A sword technique that severs heart and soul.
And herself—Yuri Briole—struggling in chaos but never surrendering her will.
She had everything she needed to kill this otherworldly being.
[…….]
The god conveyed its intent.
Yuri nodded.
“Go ahead. Try to kill me. I’ll kill you too.”
In the void where time and space were severed,
He and the god of the otherworld began their battle.