Chapter 73
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: How Hollow
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Cough!
Eleanor, who had collapsed on the ground, coughed violently as she pushed herself up.
"Seriously... I almost died."
The Ghoul Hag's sorcery—Two Strikes, Kill Three, Die Four.
Two Strikes, Kill Three, Die Four
The blades of the three illusory warriors had sliced through Eleanor's throat, heart, and abdomen. But they held no physical form.
Instead, a potent curse had paralyzed her bodily functions.
Her breath had stopped, her heart slowed to a crawl, and excruciating pain from her gut had numbed her brain.
"Hoo..."
Even so, Eleanor had charged forward—thanks entirely to her staff.
And...
The mysterious mage named Jun.
The moment the sorcery struck her, Eleanor recalled the advice Jun had given her in the past.
—Let me explain simply. This staff has the property of [Conversion]. It draws in external energy and transmutes it into another form of power.
If that was true, couldn't she transmute the hag's energy into holy power?
—At least from what I know, that staff has no limit to the energy it can absorb.
That was what the mage had said.
The staff had no limit to the energy it could take in.
So if it could freely adapt to the form of incoming energy...
Her plan wasn't entirely impossible.
So she converted it.
The Ghoul Hag's energy—into holy power.
On top of that, she squeezed out every ounce of her own holy power to complete the divine spell.
[Spear of Light]
A sphere of holy light materialized before Eleanor.
It was the same purifying orb she had used in the Black Forest before.
But that wasn't the end.
Eleanor absorbed the purifying sphere into her staff.
Then, she transmuted it once more.
Transforming that gentle, sunbeam-like power into the searing blaze of the midday sun.
It banished the darkness.
His power scattered.
The Slaughter Monk's accumulated strength from countless killings melted away like snow under the holy power blazing like the desert sun.
The Slaughter Monk looked down at his hands. His blood-red skin was gradually returning to a normal hue.
In that moment, Bern moved with swift precision.
Unlike before, when he had only blocked with his shield, now he swung his massive battle hammer.
Boom!
The impact roared like thunder—not sounding like it came from a human arm at all.
At the same time—
Crack!
The Slaughter Monk's arm caved in deeply, blood spraying everywhere.
"Urgh!"
The Slaughter Monk retreated hastily and glanced at his arm.
He had protected his right arm, but the left—struck directly by the hammer—had its bones piercing through flesh.
Still, a level 7 physique would heal such a wound in no time.
The real issue was how to continue the fight from here.
"Well now."
He had boasted confidently about dragging things out, only to end up like this.
The Slaughter Monk was already worrying about what to tell the Ghoul Hag later.
"No choice. Layman, I leave the cleanup to you."
The Slaughter Monk had no intention of admitting defeat just yet.
His expression grew even more solemn than before as he eyed Bern and the party behind him.
"Layman. May I ask your name?"
"Bern."
"Bern. I shall remember that name."
At the same moment, the Slaughter Monk's aura shifted.
There was a risk of rampage, but it beat letting the plan fall apart completely.
The Slaughter Monk released all restrictions on his [Blood Mountain Reincarnation]—
[Blood Mountain Reincarnation]
—right as—
"Kyaaaah!"
—the Ghoul Hag's scream echoed from the Death Annihilation Thicket as she was flung out.
Sorcery was hard to evade without holy power, and once activated, its destructive might was unparalleled.
But failure came with equally massive backlash.
Even a basic curse required thorough countermeasures if repelled, let alone a colossal ritual like the Death Annihilation Thicket being forcibly shattered?
The Ghoul Hag was a meticulous sorceress, but she hadn't prepared for the fallout of her Death Annihilation Thicket being destroyed.
She had that much confidence in it.
But perfection didn't exist.
Now it was time to pay for her complacency.
"Layman!"
Seeing the Ghoul Hag's dire state, the Slaughter Monk rushed to her side.
"Damn."
The Ghoul Hag had lost consciousness.
His plan to unleash [Blood Mountain Reincarnation] and rampage was derailed from the start.
Without someone to handle him in his berserk state, even he could end up dying pointlessly.
But the problems didn't end there.
An immense wave of grudging spirits poured from her body.
"Just how many people did you kill...!"
Bern, watching from afar, ground his teeth.
Even he could barely approach—the sheer number of grudging spirits was overwhelming.
Like lost children, the spirits swirled through the basement before spotting the Ghoul Hag.
[......]
As if time had frozen, hundreds, thousands of spirits halted en masse and turned toward her.
"......"
Soon, they recognized the culprit who had imprisoned them.
[Kyaaaah!!]
Thousands of spirits unleashed their wails.
Resentment thick enough to stop an ordinary person's heart outright filled the space.
Bern erected a holy barrier with his shield to protect the party, while the Slaughter Monk grimaced at the spirits.
The thousands of spirits surged toward the Ghoul Hag in unison.
Left alone, her soul would be torn to shreds without a trace.
"Layman. Know that you owe me now."
The Slaughter Monk stepped in to block the spirits.
The Ghoul Hag was essential to the Heavenly Cult's future.
"Hoo..."
Even Eleanor had cut off her holy power to avoid provoking the spirit wave.
The Slaughter Monk steadily drew upon [Blood Mountain Reincarnation] once more.
To a power that grew by stacking killing karma, those spirits were just a meal.
'The problem is there are too many.'
Even in perfect condition, absorbing them all at once would be a stretch—let alone now, with one arm crippled.
He planned to leave just enough to keep her soul from dissipating.
The aftermath could be dealt with later.
Pushing [Blood Mountain Reincarnation] to its limit without rampaging, he clenched his right fist tight.
Killing energy churned over his glowing crimson fist.
The punch he threw collided with the spirit wave.
"What monstrous mental fortitude..."
Bern, witnessing it, let out a groan.
Enduring that many spirits with a single fist? Absurd.
Even Bern couldn't guarantee he'd block that many.
That mental barrier alone had to be at the threshold of level 8.
It even awed him toward the Ghoul Hag, who harbored such spirits.
'Mage. How did you beat a monster like that?'
Bern glanced at Jun, still unconscious, and gripped his shield and hammer tightly.
No matter how strong the Slaughter Monk was, digesting that many spirits at once would be impossible.
He'd absorb some and expel the rest.
"......Sharp-eyed layman."
Having absorbed over half the spirit wave, the Slaughter Monk closed his eyes and turned toward Bern.
He had overexerted himself too—his remaining arm trembled violently.
The absorbed spirits seemed ready to burst out.
But it didn't matter.
"Not perfect, but my business here is mostly done."
He regretted not securing the vessel of the outer god, Asura Salvartha.
But if he survived, opportunities would come.
Escape was priority now.
"The dead laymen can wait. Your foe is elsewhere."
The spirits in his fist began rampaging wildly, and the Slaughter Monk assumed a thrusting stance.
The moment his fist shot forward—
The spirits held by [Blood Mountain Reincarnation] exploded outward.
In that instant, he redirected the spirits' target—to the living: Bern and his party.
Having purged all the spirits, the Slaughter Monk hoisted the fallen Ghoul Hag over his shoulder.
"You bastard!"
Bern gritted his teeth but focused on blocking the oncoming spirit mass.
Eleanor joined in, summoning another [Spear of Light].
[Spear of Light]
Their combined efforts purified the spirits effectively, but the true culprit, the Slaughter Monk, had already slipped past them toward the surface.
Just as the outside world came into view—
"They never give you a break, do they."
A dying mage's voice echoed from afar.
[Flare]
A single beam grazed the Slaughter Monk's shoulder.
A black mark appeared on the Ghoul Hag's head right after.
No matter how skilled a level 7 the Slaughter Monk was, he couldn't revive a corpse with its head pierced—especially one melting from the inside in a defenseless state.
"......What a hollow end, layman."
The Ghoul Hag melted in crimson flames, reduced to a handful of ashes. The Slaughter Monk sighed.
"I may not know if vengeance will come someday, but I'll give it a shot."
He wasn't close enough to her to avenge her personally.
But this setback had pushed back the dawn of his desired cataclysm even further.
Killing those enemies became his new goal as well.
He gazed at the blood-red eclipse of ill omens, then vanished.
"Cough—hack!"
Black dead blood erupted from Jun's mouth.
"Jun!"
Aiden, who had been supporting him, startled and looked down.
Jun's veins burned red-hot, the heat palpable even through touch.
His body had entered overheat mode.
"You mad bastard!"
Eleanor recognized the cause and immediately yelled at Aiden to lay him down.
"Y-Yes!"
Aiden hurriedly lowered Jun, and Eleanor channeled her holy power.
"Wait."
Then Bern pulled something from within his armor.
A glass vial radiating intense holy power contained a droplet the size of a pinky nail, shimmering with ecstatic golden light.
"Mister?"
"Feed him this and treat him."
"This is..."
"Explanations later. Just do it."
"O-Okay."
The overwhelming holy power startled Eleanor momentarily, but she soon brought the liquid to Jun's lips as instructed.
The holy-infused liquid seeped into his mouth on its own.
Jun's face, unconscious until then, instantly relaxed.
"That's one crisis averted."
Eleanor then channeled her holy power to spread the energy through his body, cooling his overheated mana circuits.
"Cough!"
Five minutes later, Jun opened his eyes.
"You're awake. Feeling alright, mage?"
"Heh... What kind of lightning is this?"
Jun, barely opening his eyes, looked around.
They were still in the underground altar.
As he tried to stand, groping the floor—
"Jun, your body still..."
"I'm fine... Urk!"
His body felt strangely refreshed at first, but the pain quickly returned.
Forcing that spell had left his heart aching.
Eleanor's holy power couldn't reach his circles.
"Listen to your comrade, mage. You need rest now."
"Not... yet."
Bern tilted his head at Jun's words.
The biggest threat, the Slaughter Monk, had vanished, and the Ghoul Hag had been struck by Jun's final spell.
With her head pierced while downed, survival was impossible.
But Jun shook his head.
"The Ghoul Hag—that damn sorceress... Heh... left behind another spell."
Jun's eyes pointed to the lingering traces of sorcery flowing above the altar.
Invisible to others, he could still see it heading toward the surface.
"We have to finish that too... or it's not over."
"Something's still out there, huh."
"Aiden, help me up."
"......Got it, Jun."
Aiden wanted nothing more than to let him rest, but he wasn't a kid anymore.
If Jun insisted this much, something needed handling.
Once on the surface, Jun eyed the five towering pillars piercing the sky.
"Ghoul Hag. Normally, you wouldn't have died to someone like me right now."
No matter Jun's [Demon God Body], the hag was a level 6 sorceress on the cusp of 7.
Yet she hadn't used even half her power.
Jun had a vague idea why.
On the surface—around the pillars sealing five named undead—she had tampered with something.
That was why she couldn't unleash her full strength.
Only by resolving that could they put the eclipse's crisis to rest.