"Ssshhh!"
The blaze erupted in an instant, scorching every flesh tendril that lunged forward. The burning tentacles sizzled violently, their crackling filling the corridor.
In mere seconds, they were reduced to charred husks, the passage thick with the stench of burnt meat.
But the blackened flesh soon began to split, cracks running across its surface as fresh tissue regenerated beneath.
"Oh? Regeneration, huh?"
Most troublesome monsters possessed regenerative abilities. In other words, unless one struck the monster's core—the Magic Stone—it was nearly impossible to deliver a fatal blow.
Still, the speed of this regeneration was faster than he expected.
Bell focused his vision, shifting his perception from the surface to the essence of things.
The scene before him changed instantly. The flesh coating the walls revealed countless fine threads—each egg linked by these strands, all converging toward the depths below.
'I see… so it's the same kind of soul-division the Spirits used?'
The realization nearly made Bell laugh.
'You really don't value your life, do you? Spreading your soul across so many fragments like this.'
The Spirits had already learned the consequences of such recklessness.
Bell was certain that after he once tricked a Spirit into tearing its own soul apart to escape, none of them would ever again dare to scatter their essence among clones.
If this monster was naïve enough to think nothing could go wrong, then it deserved a lesson.
A rift opened in the four-dimensional space, and a vial filled with purple liquid dropped neatly into Bell's hand.
"Gluttony."
He spoke the word softly, and at once, the liquid darkened—its violet hue deepening to black.
Holding the vial, Bell walked unhurriedly to a half-regenerated monster egg.
"Squish."
Invisible hands reached into the egg, tearing it open by force. From the outside, one could still see the lifeless scorpion-like creature within.
Smiling faintly, Bell uncorked the vial and poured the inky liquid inside.
Within a second, the egg's pink membrane turned a dark purple-black, and the color began spreading outward—at a rate of nearly a meter per second—through the surrounding flesh.
In just fifteen seconds, the entire outer passage was dyed in that eerie hue. The spread quickened with every patch of flesh it consumed.
'The more souls you split off, the more of your body this toxin devours.'
'Let's see if you can still show Goliath's resolve when all of your flesh is corrupted.'
Ais had watched the entire process. When she noticed the flesh had stopped reacting to them, she lowered her weapon.
She didn't know what that purple-black substance was, but it was clearly some kind of poison—one terrifyingly effective against monsters.
Bell continued forward, leading her deeper into the corridor.
Every wall they passed was covered in the same corrupted, purple-black flesh.
The further they descended, the denser the infestation became. Every surface was alive with the pulsing, tainted tissue, though none of the monster eggs showed any sign of hatching.
But that only meant one thing—the deeper they went, the closer they were to the monster's true body. And the closer they were, the more dangerous it became.
"ROOOAAAR!!!"
A bestial scream ripped through the depths below.
Bell's lips curved faintly beneath his hood.
'Critical damage.'
That roar told him enough—the toxin had reached the monster's main body, even seeping into its soul.
'So you didn't cut off your soul link after all. You thought you could endure it, that you didn't need to take a desperate measure like Goliath?'
'A fatal mistake.'
But the Scorpion had no choices left now.
The pain tearing through its very soul was unbearable—so intense it made the creature want to rip itself apart just to escape it.
Because of that agony, its absorption of Artemis's divine power, which had been nearing completion, came to a halt. It could no longer focus on consuming her divinity at all.
One must understand that while the ability to absorb divine power might be a unique trait of Antares, such absorption is not limitless. If the divine power taken in cannot be properly contained, that energy turns into a massive bomb—an implosion waiting to happen. Once it detonates, even Antares itself would end up as nothing more than a deep-fried husk.
Thus, even though it was only a single step away from success, Antares was forced to release its hold over the divine power, or the venom coursing through it would end its life outright.
But by now, it was far too late.
From the moment its flesh became tainted with Hydra's venom and it failed to sever its soul's connection, its fate had already been sealed.
"Guhhhh!!!"
A shrill, monstrous cry tore from its mandibles, echoing with unbearable pain.
Antares's massive body smashed against the walls again and again, but the agony did not subside. Its sturdy carapace was soon streaked with deep purple-black toxin scars.
Above its mouthparts gleamed a massive crystal—its Magic Stone.
Unlike the typical hue of a monster's core, this one shimmered with a pale sky-blue light.
And within that crystal, a woman was imprisoned—none other than Artemis, the goddess Antares had devoured.
The creature had been continuously draining her divine power. To resist the pull and buy time for rescue, Artemis had suppressed her consciousness to conserve as much divine energy as possible.
Now, however, things had changed.
As Antares lost control of the toxin ravaging its soul, it could no longer maintain suppression over the absorbed divinity. The divine power it had stolen began to flow back into the crystal—back into Artemis herself.
This reduced the risk of Antares detonating from within, but at the same time, it brought Artemis—trapped in the crystal—back to awareness.
Her body had not yet been fully consumed, and the returning divine power allowed her to breathe a little easier.
'The corruption is still spreading badly… but it seems that thing has run into some trouble.'
Immobile within her prison, Artemis made no attempt to use her divine power recklessly. In such uncertainty, rash action would only make things worse. What she needed now was calm judgment.
Her gaze, faint yet steady, turned toward the two figures that had appeared within the ruins.
'Did Hermes… succeed?'
That realization brought her genuine relief.
At the very least, no matter what became of her, she had managed to stop Antares from consuming her divinity—and now, there was a chance to break free from this place of sealing.
...
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