Chapter 68: A lot of questions and a humanitarian surprise.

The burning Titan brought both fists together above its head and smashed them down.

Leon barely had enough time to shift the huge battle axe back into a broad shield.

BOOM!

The shield bent under the impact and Leon was blown straight across the battlefield, tearing through two tree trunks before crashing into a third.

Karl glanced toward the broken trees.

"Ow, that must hurt."

A few seconds later, Leon dragged himself out from the wreckage, Martial Saint Descent still covering his body.

"Shut the fuck up."

The Titan was already moving again it’s attributes seemed to have increased with the transformation as the pressure surrounding it had became much stronger making it harder for everyone to move.

The Titan itself had also became faster, next it extended his one arm a bone sword emerged from it which was covered in flame the next movement.

He focused on them and swung it and a wave of fire erupted outwards.

Big Rod charged back through the flames and tore into its leg, but the Titan met him with a punch.

The fist exploded against his side almost like a small bomb.

Flames and force burst outward together, sending the undead tiger crashing through the mud.

Karl released another Death Severance while Leon returned from the opposite side.

The black slash opened a wound across the Titan’s shoulder, but flames immediately gathered around the injury and the exposed muscle began pulling itself together.

Leon met the burning sword with his axe and was pushed several metres back.

The Titan followed with another punch into the ground.

BOOM!

The earth shattered around its fist and a burst of flames exploded through the cracks, throwing mud, stone and several nearby skeletons into the air.

Karl clicked his tongue and summoned more undead.

At this point, he stopped caring much about quality.

Skeletons, beasts and even several of the nearly useless undead he normally wouldn’t bother bringing into a fight appeared around the area.

They rushed the Titan from every direction, grabbing at its legs and attacking whenever the burning sword moved somewhere else.

Most lasted only a few seconds and wave after wave were destroyed.

Leon, Mira and Big Rod kept joining from different directions, but the stronger Field slowed all of them while the Titan seemed even quicker inside it.

Karl checked its health.

[HP: 75%]

"What the fuck?"

Leon moved closer after avoiding another sword swing.

Karl kept his eyes on the Titan.

"It got even faster, the Titan Field has become several times stronger and normal injuries are barely doing anything anymore."

He pointed toward the health bar.

"And instead of going down, it’s already back to seventy-five percent."

Leon clicked his tongue.

"It’s not like we can’t hurt it."

He tightened his grip on the axe.

"The bastard’s just too fast and too strong for us to land anything properly."

Mira emerged from one of the nearby shadows and listened before sighing.

"Well... let me try."

Karl turned toward her and asked "In this state?"

Mira’s face hardened. "It’s not like I have the privilege of being stuck like this my whole life."

She looked back toward the Titan.

"I have a skill that should be able to immobilize it for a bit, if I can hold it, you guys take care of the rest."

Karl nodded and so did Leon as he rested the axe against one shoulder.

"I’ll take care of that bitch, just do it fast, my Descent time is running out."

Karl looked at her and sighed he understood this was a dangerous risk

He still had Death Slash, but using it would leave his body severely weakened afterward and they hadn’t even reached Reaper’s Sanctuary yet.

There was no reason to burn his strongest trump card here if they could finish this another way.

The Titan swung its sword again and a broad wave of flame crossed the battlefield while Karl sent more undead forward and Leon rushed through the other side with Big Rod.

Mira stayed behind them and focused, the black-purple shadow covering her lower body slowly began spreading upward.

Within seconds, Mira’s entire body had become a black-purple liquid-like shadow.

She began sinking toward the ground for a movement it worked but the she lost control and collapsed back into her half-human state.

Before she could properly recover, the Titan stepped toward her and raised one enormous foot.

A golden thread wrapped around Mira’s waist.

Seraphine pulled hard and dragged her away just before the foot came down.

The impact burst apart the ground where Mira had been lying.

She coughed several times and pushed herself up.

Karl frowned looked at her concerningly but she just interrupted him before he could say anything.

"I’ll do it."

The fight continued while Mira recovered.

Karl’s undead kept throwing to buy some more time for Mira

But the Titan turned toward Mira again understanding she was being protected for a reason and its hand reached down.

But as it reached towards her she jumped away and slipped between it’s fingers and the hand closed through black-purple liquid.

Next she disappeared into his shadow, for a moment nothing happened but then black lines began spreading through the shadow beneath the Titan.

They stretched beneath its feet and slowly climbed across its burning body.

The Titan tried to move and it pulled harder, but the shadow beneath it had completely frozen in place.

The black lines trembled violently as the Titan struggled and its face twisted under the effort, but this time Mira held.

Seraphine grabbed the chance first as frost spread rapidly beneath the Titan’s feet and climbed over its legs covering the fire beneath and sealing the titan more.

With the creature unable to move away, the ice finally had enough time to build properly.

Karl immediately sent al the undeads in and skeleton after skeleton latched onto the Titan, attacking old wounds and holding onto its arms and legs while Big Rod slammed into one knee making it fall.

Leon also grabbed the chance and rained attacks upon it.

The health bar began falling rapidly.

[HP: 53%]

Seraphine reinforced the ice as another wave of attacks landed.

[HP: 41%]

Leon pulled the axe free and struck the same wound again while Big Rod tore into its leg.

[HP: 27%]

The Titan roared and its arm moved at last.

Cracks immediately spread across the ice before the Titan Field surged outward and shattered part of the frozen shell.

At the same time, its shadow twisted violently and Mira was thrown out and rolled across the ground near Karl and Leon.

Leon turned toward her and paused.

"Huh... damn, you’re human again."

Mira blinked before looking down at herself and her both legs were back.

Her entire body had returned completely to flesh without the black-purple shadow mass remaining anywhere.

A wide smile appeared on her face. "Yeah... yeah! I succeeded at last."

She looked herself over again, still smiling.

"I knew I just needed to take some risks."

The Titan’s roar interrupted her and the remaining ice shattered apart and flames surged back across its body as the wounds on its chest and limbs began regenerating again.

Karl’s attention shifted toward the undead still hanging from its body and the dozens crowded around its feet.

A small smile appeared on his face. "Let’s see some boom."

He raised the Death Stick.

"Death Detonation."

The undead exploded and the explosions merged togather into a massive one.

It’s regenerating body was swallowed inside the explosion.

Dust, smoke and Death Energy covered the entire area and when everything cleared the titan was barely standing.

Its body swayed before finally falling forward and steam poured out as it’s body finally shrank.

The same human-looking man from earlier landed on the ground in its place.

He stared at them for barely a moment before forcing himself upright and trying to run toward the cave.

He didn’t get far as big rod reached him first and pinned him to ground at last and soon other undead and Karl, Leon and Mira surrounded it.

Karl approached as the Death Stick shifted into Grim Reaper Form, the long black scythe forming in his hands.

From this close, the supposed behemoth looked almost completely human and, rather surprisingly, quite handsome.

Karl raised the scythe.

The man’s eyes widened.

"WAIT! DON’T KILL ME!"

Karl’s scythe stopped and Leon and Mira both turned toward the man, every one of them had understood him perfectly.

Karl narrowed his eyes.

"Are you human?"

The man looked confused by the question before suddenly grabbing his head.

"Don’t kill me... I can help you."

His face twisted in pain.

"No... no..."

He remained like that for a short while before slowly raising his head again. His eyes looked clearer this time as he stared at Karl and the others.

"You... you’re here to kill the Grim, aren’t you?"

Before Karl could say anything he man hurriedly continued.

"You kill Grim, I can help you."

"I can help you... don’t kill me."

Karl frowned.

How does he know Human language?

More importantly, how did he know why they were here?

And what the hell was a Grim?

A notification appeared in front of him.

[New Mission Generated.]

[Investigate the mystery behind Reaper’s Sanctuary and successfully clear it with the maximum rating.]

[Failure Punishment: Death.]

[Rewards:]

[Undead Summoning Token ×3]

[Skill Book ×1]

[Banner of the Dead ×1]

Karl stared at the panel in excitement, after all this time the System had finally given him another mission.

His eyes moved down toward the punishment and his excitement immediately dropped slightly.

Why the fuck are the punishments always so severe?

Karl pushed the thought aside and turned back toward the injured man.

"Well, speak up."

He lowered the scythe slightly.

"If what you know is good enough, you might have a chance to live."

"You already have my interest."