Chapter 146 — Sorry For Being Late
6 min read ·
Kuro fought with everything he had left.
His wing was broken, hanging useless at his side. His chest leaked blood from the spear wound that had punctured straight through. His talons were cracked from striking Giant armor repeatedly.
But he didn’t stop.
Not while the survivors behind him were still alive.
His mental attack hit three more Giants, dropping them into unconscious states.
His beak tore out another’s throat, arterial spray painting his already blood-soaked feathers.
His remaining functional talon caught a Giant’s face, claws digging deep, ripping away flesh and one eye.
But there were too many.
A hammer caught his side, cracking ribs, sending him tumbling across the ground.
An axe opened his back, cutting deep into muscle.
CRACK
A boot came down on his remaining good wing, the sound of breaking bone audible even over the battle noise.
Kuro collapsed, his body finally giving out, his C+ rank power not enough to overcome the sheer numbers and the accumulated damage.
He lay on the blood-soaked ground, heaving for breath, his red eyes still defiant even as Giants surrounded him.
The ten remaining human survivors formed a circle around the fallen raven, their weapons raised despite knowing it was hopeless.
Ryan’s face was grim with acceptance. Marcus bled from a dozen wounds. Isaac’s left arm hung useless. Thomas could barely stand.
The others were in similar states, all of them injured, exhausted and running on nothing but desperate courage.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
Commander Vorgath stepped forward, his massive ten-meter frame towering over them all.
His hammer rose slowly and deliberately, the weapon’s inscribed runes glowing with accumulated power.
This was it!
This was the end!
One strike from him would kill them all!
The hammer began its descent, moving with speed that belied its massive size.
BOOM.
The sound of impact shook the ground, dust and debris exploding outward.
The survivors squeezed their eyes shut instinctively, expecting death.
Seconds passed.
"..."
They were still alive.
Slowly and cautiously, they opened their eyes.
And saw something impossible.
Damian stood before them, his upper body bare and covered in scars both old and fresh.
His crimson hair hung loose around his face. His eyes were clear and human again.
And his hand was wrapped around Vorgath’s hammer shaft, holding the massive weapon completely still just inches from crushing them all.
Silence!
Complete and utter silence crashed across the battlefield!
Kuro’s red eyes went wide, pain and exhaustion forgotten in the shock of seeing his bond partner awake and standing between them and death.
’He’s back! He’s actually back and completely awake! It’s really him again!’
The survivors stared in absolute disbelief.
"D-Damian?"
Ryan’s voice came out choked.
Damian’s head turned slightly, just enough to glance back at them over his shoulder.
His expression was calm despite the circumstances, showing none of the feral madness that had consumed him for days.
"...Sorry for being late. You all can rest now. I’ll handle this."
His voice was completely steady, almost gentle as he addressed the survivors.
Then his muscles tensed, his enhanced physical strength activating, and he pushed.
THUD THUD THUD
The hammer was forced away, Vorgath’s grip breaking, the massive Giant commander actually stumbling backward from the force.
’Impossible! This human shouldn’t be able to match my physical strength. What is he?’
But instead of attacking Vorgath, Damian turned toward the assembled Giant army.
Almost four hundred warriors remained standing, a sea of armored bodies filling the clearing, their weapons raised and their formation ready.
Damian smiled... and it was the smile of something that had learned to love violence.
The translucent flames of his Slaughter Intent erupted around him, wrapping his body in that ethereal fire that made him look like a demon made flesh.
Then... he moved.
Not toward the B- rank commander who was the greatest threat, but toward the D rank and C rank soldiers who made up the bulk of the army.
’The big guy’s size and weapon make him dangerous to his own troops in close combat. If I stay among them, he can’t engage without killing his own men.’
Damian’s axe appeared in his hand, the weapon materializing from his spatial ring.
"Abyssal Slaughter."
He didn’t shout the weapon art’s name... Just whispered it like a prayer.
And began killing.
****
The Devourer Body Art and Abyssal Slaughter weapon art ran simultaneously now, both techniques cycling through Damian’s body in perfect synchronization.
He’d awakened from his forced unconsciousness with new understanding of what he’d created.
The art had advanced from "Initiated" to "Minor Success" during his days of mindless consumption, his body learning through brutal repetition what his mind couldn’t consciously teach.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
...
Devourer Body Art - ???: Minor Success
...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
His debuffs had reduced significantly after five days of rest, his Will recovering from back to 180, enough to maintain rationality while still benefiting from the physical enhancements.
He was in control now.
A beast with a leash held by his own will.
Which made him more dangerous than ever.
The first Giant to reach him swung a hammer downward with crushing force.
Damian’s Macro Vision skill activated automatically, his enhanced perception reading the Giant’s muscle movements, predicting the strike before it fully committed.
He sidestepped with minimal movement as the hammer missed by centimeters, then his axe came up in a perfect arc.
"Die."
The blade caught the Giant’s throat, enhanced by his weapon art and his monstrous physical strength.
And severed the head completely.
The second Giant arrived with his axe coming from the side.
Damian ducked under it, used Sonic Blink to appear behind the warrior, his own axe opening the Giant’s spine from neck to hip.
Third Giant... Fourth... Fifth...
His axe never stopped moving, each strike carrying absolute conviction, each kill executed with brutal efficiency.
But he wasn’t just using his weapon to kill!
His telekinesis activated as well and a massive tree was ripped from the ground with its roots and all.
"WATCH OUT–"
BOOM
Damian hurled it with enhanced strength into a cluster of Giants, the trunk crushing three warriors and sending five more sprawling.
"AHHH!"
A boulder weighing several tons lifted into the air and flew like a catapult projectile, pulverizing a C rank warrior’s chest on impact.
His Slaughter Intent pulsed outward in waves, the mental pressure hitting Giant warriors whose species was naturally weaker in mental defenses.
They hesitated and faltered. Their swings became slower and less coordinated... fear creeping into movements that should have been confident.
And in battles where lives were at stake: Fear was death!
Damian moved through them like a reaper harvesting wheat, his body frame dwarfed by the three-to-four-meter Giants surrounding him, but his presence somehow dominated the entire battlefield.
A C rank Giant’s arm came off, Damian’s axe cleaved through his armor and bone.
He grabbed the severed limb before it hit the ground, brought it to his mouth, and bit into the flesh.
CRUNCH
Everyone watching – Giants and humans alike – froze in horror.