Chapter 44
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Forest God
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Gashadokuro .
One of the shinigami yokai of the Kitsune clan, its ability was extremely simple.
Forcibly ejecting the bones of any downed target from their body.
"Scary..."
Aikido, the traditional Japanese martial art built purely on evasion and defense.
Watching Princess Kurumi—who blended that with jujutsu-derived techniques for neutralizing foes and Gashadokuro's power—Lawrence couldn't help but think so.
A woman dancing atop a mountain of bones.
Even for a hunter clan heir, her talent was staggeringly unbelievable.
'Just barely an adult, and her future's so bright...'
But still, she was a rookie at heart.
"Huff... huff...!"
Her stamina looked woefully short for juggling monster summoning and Aikido at once. Past the faltering Princess Kurumi, monsters lunged at civilians...
Crunch.
Craaack.
...and Lawrence's role right now was mopping them all up perfectly, cleanup included.
"Princess. You look beat—want to tag out?"
"I-I'm... fine..."
"...Right."
Maybe at the start.
But as time dragged on and endless monster hordes poured in, faint scratches she couldn't fully redirect began blooming across her body.
Yet she refused to yield the vanguard.
As if she longed to perish honorably, shielding the people right here.
'...! Whatever her game is, leaving her like this means she'll drop dead soon!'
Their original mission was securing the princess, after all.
No matter what, this was getting too risky. Lawrence readied to yank her back by force and take point himself.
But then.
Craack.
"Huh?"
"...Eh?"
The monster hordes he'd figured were swarming only from the amusement park entrance.
Crash!
Shattered the massive dome's ceiling and erupted from the 'sky' like a calamity.
"Fr-from the sky...!"
"Monsters?!"
Bronze-skinned imps—like pint-sized devils fusing bats and goblins, wings unfurled—swarmed the ceiling in seconds.
At the sight, everyone on the ground froze stiff, hunters and civilians alike.
"M-Mom's at the top of the zipline...!"
"Kids are on the hot-air balloons dangling from the ceiling here!"
The sky—supposed safest spot—flipped to deadliest zone in a heartbeat.
"Sky's mine—I can handle it! Everyone, stay calm...!"
Lawrence spun toward the central crowd sinking into panic, fighting to steady their nerves.
He could blast off from his soles and soar, after all.
Monsters zeroed in on clustered massive presences over scattered human scents anyway.
So here, bunching up to hog their focus was key...
"Gr-grandma!"
"Son!!"
...or so it should've been.
"W-Wait, everyone just...!"
"Shut it! I've got three daughters!"
"Grandma's got crippling acrophobia!"
Next to laborers or kids—the prime vulnerable spots.
Untrained civilians snapped the instant monsters popped up beside them.
By the time Lawrence grabbed one, dozens had splintered off, bolting for family.
"...! Damn it! Stick together or my flying's worthless! You morons!!"
Thud.
"...?! Suuuuuaaaah!! This is why I suck at regular hunter gigs!"
And ahead: the princess, knees buckling at her limit, another wave bearing down.
Rescuing kin from air-mobile monsters solo? Needle in a haystack.
Most'd just get nabbed alongside family—eaten midair, feet off ground, gruesome ends.
"No choice—at least the princess...!"
Ground and sky swallowed by freakishly thick monster swarms.
Lawrence had mostly sealed his powers indoors to spare civilian fallout anyway.
Guard duty tapped out; he bolted for the sweat-soaked princess to nab their prime target.
But... his feet halted abrupt.
"...What the."
Not just him.
Imps diving for ride-trapped elders and young.
Folk charging to shield kin.
Even ingress hordes shoving through.
All froze mid-motion, tension coiling universal.
Awaiting 'that' descent.
"...! No friggin' way... Me, Soviet national powerhouse, spooked now...?"
Lawrence clocked it: pure, undiluted fear locked his limbs.
Unbelievable.
He'd frontlined every trial—even national disasters.
Reality felt flat-out wrong.
But then, shredding Princess Kurumi's shadow: a void giant emerging slow.
"...!!"
Witnessing it, Lawrence got it at last.
This dread? Basic physiology—like thirst parching any live throat craving water.
Risking it all for frail humans.
Isn't that the most glorious end for a hunter clan scion?
Remaining days: barely a year.
And that year loomed unbearable.
Better to croak now than drag on, burying what her heart yearned to hold.
Post-Shinwoo split, her zilch life drive had soured to self-erase levels.
'Push like this, exhaustion claims me eventually.'
Battle trance death—unmarked, unmissed.
Bonus: 'hero' who perished saving souls.
"Huff... huff..."
Infinitely nobler than idling till lifespan slurped dry like a chump.
Thus she fought, blood spewing, smile locked to her dying breath—Princess Kurumi.
Crash!
"...?! The sky?!"
Winged fiends punching the dome roof snuffed her last hope flicker.
"U-Uwaaaah!"
"Help!"
Folk splintering for family, picked off piecemeal by monsters.
No souls left to save—despair loomed.
"Bring. Me. Out."
"Then. I'll. Grant. Your. Wish."
"Your... wish?"
"Yes. Your. Wish."
Princess Kurumi's heartfelt wish right now.
A noble demise—the so-called 'honorable death'.
"...The price?"
"Re-main-ing. Life. Span. All."
"...!"
As expected—this thing craved her full lifespan.
Mind guzzling her whole at once, but ancient pact forced sips.
"An-swer?"
Resolve buckled at the brink—fear inevitable.
Death: life's finale.
This beast? Japan's foulest strongest—no Kitsune forebear dared leash it.
No weaseling.
Summoning sealed her doom.
Plus.
"I. Will."
"......"
"Save. You."
"...! Sa-save..."
Devil's tongue dripped honey.
"Free. You. From. Pain-ful. Life."
The god lurking in her soul.
Witness to her every sight, sensation, ordeal.
Thus the 'evil god' play-acted solace, salivating for her self-surrender.
"...Fine."
Ditched by dad.
Sole kin—mom—withered neglected.
Lived mere live fodder as sacrifice till her lone light self-rejected her.
For this Kurumi, poisoned grail held no terror.
"Save everyone in this amusement park."
"......"
"Everything left of me as payment."
Words done, her body's warm life-glow guttered out.
Craack. Craaackle.
It seized most of her dregs.
The primordial void giant—branch-woven like a stockade.
"Hah... hah...!"
Kurumi crumpled gasping; darkness ripped from her shadow.
All life's horrified stares met it emerging full.
Humanoid woven-tree horror.
Devoured ambient light like photosynthesis kickoff—inky dark pooled round it.
Then its back: orb pulsing blinding force, sun-miniaturized, beyond gauging.
Pure nature's deity, solar-backed.
...Nay, nature-devouring 'evil god'. Man's impotent 'natural disaster' incarnate.
"What... the hell is this...!"
"......"
Amaterasu.
Lawrence deadlocked before it.
Impossible.
Strongest foe ever? That inky Korean tourney beast.
This? Leagues beyond—raw 'dimension' gap.
No first-strike impulse dared.
Monster quintessence.
"O, Ooooooo!!"
Wooden arms flung skyward in choral frenzy.
Foot-rooted trunks exploded growth—raging rampant, blanketing park and beyond blink-quick.
Impaled every monster in path—heaven, earth, depths be damned.
"Monsters..."
"Withering...?!"
Trunks thrust gate-beyond, purging Kurumi's pact-foes across dimensions.
All in under a minute spawned.