Chapter 265: The King of Madness (4)

The trajectory of light, aiming to sever the giant's abdomen and reach its heart, was blocked by a massive hand.

Immediately afterward, five fingers, larger than Heinrich's height, pierced the air, attempting to grasp him.

Pwaat—

Surrounded by light, he instantly vanished.

The giant, frustrated by the missed opportunity, gritted its teeth, but there was no time to hesitate. It immediately turned, swinging its other hand.

Kuuoong—!

This collided with Harly's charging body blow, creating a massive shockwave.

"Khahahaha! Where are you looking, friend? Let's play!"

The atmosphere trembled and the ground twisted and groaned from the energy collision based on overwhelming mass.

But even at that moment, the chain of attacks continued relentlessly.

Spirit arrows and magic constantly rained from the sky, relentlessly bombarding the giant's face, disrupting its sensitive senses.

Numerous High Blood vampires, pushing their speed to the limit, repeatedly tore at its body and disengaged.

"Kgh, these annoying vermin!"

Kukugok—

Amidst this chaotic combination,

as the giant showed signs of turning its attention elsewhere, Harly swiftly seized its massive arm with his whole body, restricting its movement.

As he had done before.

The gap created wasn't large due to the immense size difference, but this brief respite was enough for the others to regroup and exploit the giant's weakness.

Swoosh—

In the instant the giant's attention was momentarily diverted,

Heinz II, exploiting the opening in perception, appeared like a ghost.

Above the giant's forearm.

Skakak—!

With his appearance, his blade of blood slashed through the air like a whip.

Simultaneously, Briki's attack, launched from the ground, struck precisely on the opposite side of the impact point.

While either attack alone would have resulted in a deep wound, the combined attack utilizing the shared willpower of their subordinate relationship created an unparalleled synergy—.

Kuung!

Finally.

The bus-sized left arm, repeatedly hacked and slashed, was severed.

"Kraak! You insects!"

The giant, losing its composure, let out a furious roar.

The surrounding air was pushed away, creating a typhoon, and the madness around it was drawn towards the giant, reacting to its emotions.

'Khukhukh— Damn it, I don't see a solution. Yes, this is my death. It can't be helped.'

He had somewhat expected this; it seemed impossible to directly fulfill the will of the god.

The Revolutionary resigned himself to this and steeled his resolve to execute his final plan.

'But I can't end it like this. I shall offer my body as a seed for the next generation.'

Having decided on something, he…

Severed something that barely supported him within the madness-filled giant's body.

To become the complete 'madness' that would lead the world to destruction.

Heinrich, having moved to the giant's rear.

He did his best in the current situation, regardless of the giant's actions.

He quietly raised his holy sword, held firmly in both hands.

Wooong—

"Blessing: Holy Sword," sharpened to over 10 meters thanks to buffs and divine power from the Priestess.

He imbued the pillar of light with the power of "Spatial Slash," severing the giant's ankle, whose reaction was somehow sluggish.

Kuuoong—!

The severed leg collapsed, and a landslide-like impact swept the surroundings.

The raid party seized the opportunity and mercilessly attacked the fallen giant's weak point, its head.

Like hyenas trying to end the life of a fallen elephant.

'Its regeneration speed…'

But those who were attacking soon frowned.

Due to the madness continuously being absorbed, the giant's recovery rate had surpassed the rate of inflicted damage.

And finally.

[———!]

A roar erupted, devoid of reason, as if madness had permeated to the bone.

Everyone except Harly, who was bearing down on it, was thrown far away.

"Kuk, what are you doing again?"

"Wait, that…"

Goooo—

Immediately afterward, a violent storm raged, forming a huge red vortex around the giant.

It was pure, concentrated madness.

The overwhelming sight of all the madness spread across the world gathering and being sucked in covered everything.

"Kghgh— Kyaak!"

"K… Kghk… High Lord…"

"Mental corruption…"

In that dense aura.

Naturally, those exposed to it began to experience negative effects.

They were all at least Extreme-level strong, but even they couldn't be unaffected by such concentrated madness.

"Oh Lord—! Protect your children!"

The hero party, including the Priestess, quickly received divine protection and dispelled it, but the vampires on the ground were forced to retreat outside the area.

As beings who were half-monsters by nature, they were more susceptible to madness.

'That's not all. This dense aura is interfering with other energies.'

He launched several attacks as a deterrent, but they were all weakened or completely dissipated by the violent currents surrounding him.

Such weakened attacks couldn't inflict meaningful damage on the giant, whose regeneration and defense had skyrocketed.

Pudduk— Uduk!

As he wondered what to do.

The giant suddenly began to change.

A twisting sound echoed from the giant's body, which was crouching in the center of the storm, absorbing the surrounding energy.

Its severed arm and leg regenerated instantly, its writhing muscles repeatedly multiplied and compressed, and its body continued to grow larger.

[Khukhukhukh— Kkikkaakah!]

A derisive laugh, devoid of reason, escaped its mouth.

It had surpassed the amount of madness it could control, as if its self had been consumed like the previous Immortal Kings.

But that wasn't important now.

'…No, even for a 2nd phase, this is…'

Almost no one could even approach it.

Even if they did, their attack power would be extremely reduced in this space, making it difficult to penetrate its tough outer shell.

Even if they managed to damage its body, its near-immortal regeneration would quickly restore it…

'In reality, it's invincible during transformation!'

Heinrich, who had used "Spatial Slash" several times to swing the Holy Sword, slightly frowned.

As expected, the giant's body, unlike undead, wasn't greatly affected by divine power.

He had expected some effect due to its being partially composed of the Abyssal madness, but its power wasn't reduced.

The difficulties didn't end there.

The giant's real-time evolution in its 2nd phase was troublesome, but he had just realized a bigger problem through another avatar.

'The flow of madness spreading throughout the world is heading here. And…'

Following that flow, a continental-scale monster migration was beginning to occur.

Naturally, Tarak, adjacent to the Northern Mountains, would suffer devastating damage, and countless other cities would also suffer great losses.

'Damn it. I need to eliminate it as soon as possible.'

Heinrich let out a short sigh.

There was no more time to hesitate. He had no choice but to use the last resort he had been saving.

'Huh? Wait, this…'

But just before using that method.

Realizing something, he slowly turned his head.

And stared intently at a certain spot.

Goooo—

That place was the center of the incident,

the endpoint of the red vortex constantly sucking in madness,

next to the giant that was consuming all the madness in the world…

'What? Could this be?'

To be more precise.

It was Harly, dumbfoundedly stuck next to the crouching giant, also benefiting from the madness.

"Kahat! Ah— This is getting quite intoxicating!"

Harly, unexpectedly receiving a madness shower next to the giant, took a deep breath, intoxicated by the intense energy surging from all sides.

If what he had been absorbing before was gas, this was a level of condensation that could be considered liquid.

'This is amazing.'

Harly had been using "Tyrant of Madness" to accumulate atmospheric madness in his body.

But even he couldn't cause a phenomenon like this…

Harly glanced at the crouching White Giant with a strange look.

The huge white creature was still writhing, trying to absorb the madness.

It didn't even pay attention to him being beside it.

'Is it confidence that it can't be harmed no matter what?'

Or maybe it couldn't move even if it wanted to.

The seed of madness in the giant's body was a part of the fragments that were mostly destroyed when it emerged from the previous abyss.

It was impossible for it to gather those fragments forcibly and become one.

Poook— Chwaak! Kwaadduk!

That guess was confirmed after he repeatedly ripped, tore, and pummeled the giant.

Even using all his power and the surrounding madness, the giant remained motionless, crouching in the same position.

'Since Harly also uses the same madness, there's no power reduction. But it's not enough.'

It was much tougher than ordinary giants, and any deep wound would disappear within a second.

To overcome this, he needed extreme destructive power to crush its skull and pierce its weakness before it could regenerate, something that seemed difficult even with his avatars.

…Or rather, it would have been difficult.

In a normal environment.

'But here, it's different.'

Harly looked at the surrounding energy and bared his fangs fiercely.

Without delay, he immediately drew in the surrounding madness with "Tyrant of Madness."

Not stopping there, he mobilized his other avatars' resources for the first time in a long time, twisting a portion of the surrounding energy flow towards himself.

Goooo—

The core of the vortex that enveloped the surroundings temporarily became two.

Unlike the giant, who was drawing in madness with continental-wide influence, he only needed to focus on controlling a portion of the arrival point, so he could utilize his power much more efficiently.

Because of that, the giant's body twitched several times as if in resistance, but Harly didn't care.

Pudduk— Paaduk!

Something broke in his body from the concentrated energy, only to instantly recover.

Considering only the quality of his body, his "Ultimate Evolved Lifeform" had no reason to be inferior to the White Giant.

'Alright, we're now on equal footing.'

Feeling the energy filling his body, Harly lightly twisted his neck.

Then the next step.

He burned the abundant energy all at once, pouring it into "Dual King's Mark" to maximize all his abilities.

And then, he concentrated the madness-infused "Bio-Aura" beyond the limit on part of his body.

Specifically, on his shark-like teeth.

Pazzik—

As an enormous amount of energy concentrated, his teeth, despite his enhanced body, couldn't withstand it and shattered.

The damage was gradually repaired by his regenerative ability.

And that process repeated several times.

Continuous destruction and regeneration.

With each repetition, the "Ultimate Evolved Lifeform" gradually improved the strength of his broken teeth.

Until they could withstand the concentrated energy.

'Good, then let's begin.'

Harly's strongest attack.

It was the biting power derived from "Gluttony."

He had even eaten dragon scales like crackers.

Of course, he had already confirmed that it wasn't enough to pierce the giant's skull, but the situation was different now.

Kaduk— Kaduk—!

Harly moved his jaw, grinding his teeth several times.

Just that caused parts of space to tear, creating thin cracks in the air that disappeared.

He nodded in satisfaction, and like a predator before the hunt, he strolled towards the giant's head, crouching calmly like a prepared meal.

Heinrich and Heinz II, breaking through the storm, also took their positions.

"Khahahaha! Now— Be a good friend? Stay still."

The giant seemed to subtly wriggle, but it was probably his imagination.

Harly's jaw, extremely developed through transformation, opened wide, and his crimson teeth, imbued with densely concentrated madness and "Bio-Aura," shone sharply.

"It'll be over soon!"

A flashing sword of light and a blood-red awl pierced a point on the skull.

And then, sharp teeth pierced that spot.

Kwaadduk—!

In just a few strikes, it pierced through the tough defenses.

Finally reaching the hidden seed of madness.

And—

'Enjoy your meal!'

So.

Now.

I am the 'King of Madness.'