[T.L: punisher87]
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The group immediately pointed their swords in all directions. The form of the evil god was not visible, only the eerie voice reverberating through the vast darkness.
[What did it say to you? Although the curse, so unusual and long, clearly conveyed the grudge against me, I couldn't hear anything else,] it said.
Jin stared silently into the empty air.
"A monster doesn't need to know what humans talk about amongst themselves."
[Is that so? Are you saying that you felt this impurity, which was separated from me, as a human?]
"At least she was much closer to being human than you."
[Hehe, I don't know what you discussed, but it seems like the impurity, which was my last trace of humanity, has shaken your heart. Seeing that you were conscious of this corpse as soon as you heard my voice...,] it continued.
"Stop speculating. Show yourself and stop talking..."
Zzaaaack...!
In the instant Jin said those words, the young Rosa's corpse suddenly tore apart, flesh and bone fragments scattering in all directions.
The reason for the rapid expansion was the chaos attached to the corpse.
As the evil god had said, Jin had felt a strange emotion during his brief encounter with the young Rosa.
If she had remained as she was, with her pure and strong spirit, if she hadn't become an evil god, how would things have turned out... That's what he had wondered.
Perhaps that's why.
It was quite shocking when Jin witnessed the young Rosa's corpse being torn apart without any physical form.
Externally, he showed no expression, but he couldn't deceive the evil god.
[Such a sight is hard to bear, isn't it? If you had received the gift I intended to give last time, you wouldn't have to feel such useless emotions…]
It was a story about the prelude battle between Jin and Rosa that took place in the inner world.
The young Rosa's corpse had been completely torn apart, and the proliferated chaos had even swallowed up scattered pieces of the corpse like a leech.
Then, the chaos began to take on a definite form.
In an instant, a massive and dark silhouette was forming.
It had a quadrupedal posture resembling a beast.
Sinister pupils emit a disturbing light, claws and fangs larger than a human's, dark fur that seemed to absorb all light. It closely resembled a beast, a predator, in existence within the human world.
A black leopard.
The alias that symbolized Rosa in her human days.
The creature exhaled rough breaths as it looked down upon the group.
Jin clenched his teeth as he met the gaze of the black leopard.
"Now that you've abandoned your last trace of humanity, is it time to discard the alias you used in your human days? It's oddly nostalgic, clinging to your human days. Perhaps, deep down, you regret becoming the evil god and unconsciously engage in such despicable actions," Jin remarked.
[If there's one thing I regret, it's giving strength to Joshua instead of you. If I had recognized your true self from the beginning…]
The evil god's voice trailed off, followed by a sinister laughter that lasted for a while.
After about ten seconds, the evil god's voice no longer reached them. Instead, the black leopard advanced with determined steps, casting its shadow.
[Grrr…]
The black leopard circled around the group while keeping its gaze fixed on them.
Despite the heavy movements of its bulky body, no sound of footsteps could be heard.
The situation was far from favorable. Due to the fierce battle with the former patriarch, most of the group was injured to some extent.
Among the group, only Jin and Bianca were capable of fighting with their usual or similar level of power.
Octavia, in particular, was completely unable to engage in combat.
During the battle, the group had to protect her and the unconscious unidentified former patriarch.
As a result, the group briefly contemplated their strategy, but Jin had already made up his mind.
"Bianca, protect the others."
Jin intended to face the black leopard alone.
"Are you going to fight... alone?"
"Yes."
"That... How strong it is... I have no idea... It might be dangerous."
"If I find it too dangerous, then you can help."
"Well, um... Okay."
Bianca wanted to advise him to reconsider, but she stopped herself when she saw Jin's determined gaze.
Even she felt a chilling presence that made her spine shiver.
The accumulated anger towards the evil god and the frustrations of fighting against the former patriarch under unfavorable circumstances were exploding all at once.
"I'll destroy it."
As Jin muttered those words, the black leopard launched its attack first.
Its foreleg distorted space as it descended upon Jin's head.
Rather than avoiding it, Jin faced it head-on.
A shockwave spread, causing the ground to sink in a large semicircular shape.
But what the foreleg struck was not Jin, but the ground.
Just before the foreleg made contact, Jin swiftly sidestepped and swung his sword.
At that moment, the swing of the sword left a lingering trace above the momentarily paused foreleg of the black leopard.
It was an absurdly long and perfectly straight line, as if the entire space had been cut through.
After a while, as the afterimage disappeared, a hefty, solid object fell from the black leopard and rolled on the ground.
Thud!
The fallen object was the right foreleg of the black leopard, which had just swung towards Jin.
[Grrr!]
The fallen foreleg melted like water, creating a sticky puddle of murky aura.
Normally, the severed part should have regenerated instantly, but Bradamante was already imbued with a hazy Eternal flames.
The injured limb of the black leopard relentlessly attempted to regenerate, but the attached Eternal flames slowed down the process.
[Grr... Kahaak!]
The black leopard swung its remaining left foreleg, pushing Jin back.
However, Jin effortlessly sliced it off in one swift motion.
Once again, the sound of a solid impact resonated as the foreleg hit the ground.
With both forelegs gone, the black leopard couldn't maintain its balance properly.
In just two moves, it became evident that Jin had an overwhelming advantage in close combat, a fact that surprised both the black leopard and the allies.
Of course, the allies believed that Jin would have the upper hand, but they never expected him to overpower the monster so easily.
'Surely, the evil god didn't create this creature solely to defile the young Rosa's corpse. There must be some threatening element to it.'
Jin's gaze shifted to the fallen forelegs of the black leopard.
He observed bubbling puddles composed of sticky black aura, resembling a potent acidic solution.
'Is the ground being corroded?'
Throughout their descent into the inner world, Jin and the group had learned a few facts about this space.
First, as Alpen mentioned, once they descended, they couldn't ascend again. Second, the internal structure was constantly changing.
And third, the chaos that composed the subspace was nearly indestructible, making it almost impossible to demolish the building-like structure.
If it were possible, they would have simply destroyed everything and descended without encountering the guardians on each floor.
However, the puddles left by the melting black leopard's body were different.
They were dissolving the chaos walls that even Jin's Shadow Sword couldn't penetrate, turning them into a sugary liquid.
As a result, Jin momentarily ceased his attacks and examined the puddles.
In the meantime, the black leopard regenerated its forelegs, but they were far from perfect. The limbs were grotesquely formed, with only the skeletal structure remaining, and Eternal flames blazed along the severed parts.
Crunch, screech!
The black panther continued to attack with its front paws, screaming in agony due to the torment of Eternal flames.
Jin deliberately avoided the attacks, as it seemed unwise to strike down the creature before understanding the effects of the puddles.
However, the problem was that Eternal flames had already caused cracks in its regenerating parts.
Whenever the black panther missed its strike, the cracks widened, and its flesh and bone-like substances scattered in all directions.
Like the initially fallen front paws, they melted the ground upon contact.
Near Jin and the black panther, numerous large holes had already been created.
Inside those holes, an abyss of unknown depth, as seen when they descended to the lower levels of the inner world.
Like pieces of burning paper, the holes that appeared on the ground continued to widen.
Merely a few seconds had passed, yet the destruction had already expanded to the vicinity of his allies, who were positioned further behind.
The nature of these holes remained unknown. Whether they connected to the lower levels of the inner world or if they were traps from which they shouldn't fall into.
What was certain was that falling into those holes was exactly what the evil god desired.
Due to this, Jin ceased the battle and considered leaping towards his allies and an area not yet affected by the formation of holes. However, a chasm had already formed between him and his allies, making it impossible to jump across.
'How did this happen so suddenly!?'
With each passing moment, the Eternal flames clinging to the black panther had grown larger and more imposing.
It was no longer a black panther but rather a mass of flesh engulfed in blue flames.
Every time it moved, the flesh would splash out, instantly dissolving the space between Jin and his allies.
'The black panther wasn't created solely for combat. The evil god anticipated that I would use Eternal flames right away and prepared this trap!'
In other words, this situation was a means for the evil god to circumvent the Eternal flames, a warning of the dire consequences that could unfold if Jin continued to use it in battle—a warning of falling into an even more precarious situation.
For now, Jin created a path with his ice magic and leaped toward his allies.
If the ground continued collapsing at this rate, there would be no way to avoid the fall.
Therefore, it was better to stay close to his allies.
"Grab onto me!"
As Jin crossed the final ice path, he barely managed to grab Hedo's outstretched hand.
However, by then, over 90% of the ground had already melted away. Even the black panther that had been pursuing Jin had already fallen and was no longer visible.
In the end, the group found themselves tightly clinging to each other, waiting for the fall.
[When we fall, make sure not to let go of each other's hands. If it connects to the lower level, even a momentary release could result in us getting separated.]
As Alpen spoke, the group nodded in agreement, and as the last remaining section of the ground disappeared, they began their descent.
Thud...!
Unlike before, the fall ended abruptly.
Upon landing, the group heaved a sigh of relief upon confirming that they were all still holding onto each other's hands.
However, as they looked around, they quickly realized that this was not a situation for relief.
"...How many are there?"
Black panthers were swarming in all directions. At a glance, there seemed to be hundreds of them.
In the center, they could spot the fallen black panther that had descended with them.
And it was going berserk, in agonizing pain, transferring the Eternal flames that clung to it onto the other black panthers, much like spreading a contagious disease.
The group instinctively imagined what would happen next.
From now on, all of those black panthers would dissolve the ground with Eternal flames exposed.
If they couldn't stop it, there was only one thing waiting for them.
An endless fall.
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