Chapter 109: The Powerful And Reliable Believers

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Yakamura stopped moving and took a careful step back as he gazed up at the giant standing before him.

This one... did not quite look like the other headless monster he had faced earlier.

It was still a giant, yes, but it seemed clearly intelligent. Bright light shone from its eyes with focused awareness.

The giant had pale blue skin, long white hair, and piercing yellow eyes. He wore armor crafted from thick beast bones and carried a massive axe that looked capable of splitting boulders in a single swing.

"The Divine Lord has proclaimed for us to hunt the dark-hearted, and to save their victims."

"D-Dark... hearted...?! What sort of nonsense— Wait, you can talk human?!"

"You carry great sin in your soul. How many innocent lives have you taken? And not for the purpose of eating, not for the purpose of survival. Out of pure malice."

"W-Wait...! We can get along, okay? What do you want? Money? Food? Potions? I’ll help you leave this place! I can...! I can bring you outside!"

"Outside? There’s no ’outside.’ Only the Divine Lord’s Domain... Our God has a great distaste and divine hatred... against people like you."

"TSK!"

Yakamura quickly kicked off the ground and leaped away, beginning to run at lightning speed as his dark aura surged around him.

"He’s big but slow! I can get out! The stairs are right there!"

As he smiled with rising insanity and hope, suddenly...

FLASH!

"...Huh?"

A giant arrow pierced straight through his chest.

Blood poured from his lungs and quickly spilled from his nose and mouth.

"G-Gahaa...?!"

It was a massive arrow, almost as large as a javelin.

The only ones capable of firing such enormous arrows were equally large giants.

CRASH!

Yakamura, carried by the momentum of his desperate sprint, crashed through the ground and smashed his head hard against the stone walls.

"U-ugh..."

He slowly forced himself to stand, already beginning to feel exhausted and cold. He was losing too much blood far too quickly.

That arrow was not normal either.

"P-Poison?!"

He noticed his veins turning deep purple as his body rapidly grew numb and paralyzed.

"N-No way...! G-Gahaaa...?!"

He vomited a thick mouthful of blood mixed with poison, feeling as if he were dying in the most agonizing way imaginable.

"N-no...! Noooo!"

As he roared in panic, he pulled a syringe from his pocket and injected it directly into his neck without hesitation.

BA-DUM!

BA-DUM!

BA-DUM!

His last resort — the Yokai Serum!

His body instantly swelled with raw power. His spirit rose and skyrocketed as a giant figure resembling a blue oni emerged from his soul and was then absorbed completely into his body.

"Hah...! Hahahaha!"

As he laughed monstrously, he tore the giant arrow out of his chest. The wound began to heal at an unnatural speed.

The poison could no longer kill him.

He had transcended humanity!

"This feeling! Now this is real power! It is just as the boss said — these damn drugs are the best~!"

As he laughed wildly, his large, transformed figure radiated strength. He felt confident, amazing, and tremendous.

He took a heavy step forward and sneered at the approaching giants.

His body had become thrice as tall, covered in bulging massive muscles and blue skin. Red runes glowed across his flesh. His eyes had turned black and red, and a pair of long white horns now jutted from his forehead above long silver hair.

"GAHAHAHAH!"

As he laughed again, he faced the giants and took another step forward. Blue spirit flames blazed fiercely around his fists.

"DIE!"

As he roared, his fists slammed into the giant’s massive axe.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

The axe trembled under the repeated blows as the loud sound of metal being struck echoed through the dungeon.

A powerful shockwave of mana spread outward. The giant held his ground firmly, however.

"So you’ve taken your true form, a demon!"

As the giant spoke those words, his massive fist swung forward and struck Yakamura.

The Yakuza thought he could take the hit.

He could not.

CRAAASH!

"?!"

Yakamura vomited blood and was sent flying across the chamber before collapsing hard on the ground.

But he forced himself to stand back up. His regeneration was still insane.

"He has taken upon his true demon form! Kill him!"

The Giant Warrior commanded, and all the surrounding Giants attacked at once.

Yakamura laughed madly while punching and kicking them, constantly pushing them back and making them bleed as he fought with pure insanity.

"You cannot beat me now! I am invincible—"

SLASH!

"...Huh?"

But that confidence did not last long.

His left arm was completely severed by a massive sword in one clean cut.

"Gaaaahhh! It hurts!"

As he screamed in agony, dozens of giant arrows rained down upon him. He was unable to shield himself. The arrows pierced him dozens of times, pumping more and more deadly poison into his body.

"Nnnggghh!"

He tried to crawl away in desperation, but a giant hammer slammed down and crushed both of his legs.

His eyes widened in pure terror as he finally realized... he was not getting out of this place alive.

"May Mother Death have mercy on your soul, sinner, because I won’t."

The Giant Warrior swung his enormous axe like a guillotine and beheaded Yakamura with one clean, decisive cleave.

CLASH!

The ground beneath the blue oni shattered apart, leaving his beheaded corpse slowly bleeding out across the stone floor.

Yakamura, with only the faintest spark of consciousness remaining, stared at the giants in disbelief as his mind began to shut down slowly.

He really had not asked for much in life. He had planned to keep this job for as long as he could, save enough money, and then move to a peaceful countryside town for his final years.

But in the end, that quiet dream never came true.

"Ragnar, let’s go back," the female giantess, an archer, spoke calmly to their leader, the strong giant warrior. "The other five have already taken down the remaining dark-hearted. The innocents will be nursed back to health, and then their fate will rest in the lord’s hands."

"Very well. Let us offer the lord our hunt, Frigga," said Ragnar. "The Divine Lord specifically requested us to offer him any of the dark-hearted that became monsters or demons. He is a benevolent king who devours evil to gain power and do more good. We could not be more blessed to have been summoned by him."

Frigga nodded with a prideful smile. "Very well. What about those that did not transform but were still dark-hearted?"

Ragnar looked into the distance with a stern expression. "We mustn’t consume them. The Divine Lord said they contain pure evil. Eating them would, in turn, make us as disgusting as they are. He said we are free to consume the flora and fauna of our home instead, moderately."

"Understood, Ragnar. As the Apostle of our Lord, I trust your words completely."

Meanwhile, outside of the Dungeon, Riven watched everything that had happened and nodded silently to himself.

"It’s done."

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