Watching Elisha calmly smoking a cigarette, Jackal furrowed his wrinkled brow. “Huh!”

Where had the trembling girl gone, the one who had once cowered like a frightened child? He had provoked the trauma buried deep within her soul. Even someone with exceptional mental fortitude couldn’t overcome that so easily. Yet, had she really recovered from that with just a few words? And not just anyone’s words, but those of a cadet she was teaching?

No, that’s impossible, he thought.

Jackal drew a sharp dagger. “Heh, putting on an act, are we?”

He sliced open his palm. The dripping blood fell onto the tattoo carved into his body, and the sigil pulsed with a sinister light.

“Buaaaaaagh!”

The monster made of flesh shrieked in agony, its massive body convulsing. From its distorted form emerged the figures of Elisha’s parents, flesh-born puppets screaming in torment.

“Ah, ahh! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.”

“Help... Help us. Elisha.”

Elisha’s face hardened as she watched the grotesque imitation of her parents wail. She slowly closed her eyes, then spread her arms wide. Dozens of threads shot out from her fingertips.

With sorrow in her eyes, she stepped forward. “Mother, Father, no, Mom, Dad.”

She no longer looked like the cold, merciless spider with violet demon eyes. Instead, she looked like the mischievous girl who once loved playing with neighborhood children.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Thank you.”

She exhaled softly, took one last drag of her cigarette, and flicked the half-burned stub away. The innocent girl vanished, replaced by the deadly glint of a predator. “Now, I’ll let you rest.”

She kicked off the ground and charged forward.

“BUAAAAAAGH!”

Fleshy tendrils burst from the monster’s body, lashing toward her. With a grunt, her arms swept through the air in a graceful, dance-like motion, and threads of silk spread out in every direction. The web formed midair, shaping a shimmering trap. The tendrils struck it and stopped cold, their slick blood dripping down the razor-sharp strands.

“BUAAAAAGH!”

The monster writhed and howled in agony. Elisha raised her arm high, palm aimed toward the ceiling. Then, a torrent of webbing erupted, launching her high into the air. From that height, even a monster dozens of meters tall looked like a toy.

She crossed her arms into an X and muttered, “Bind.”

Like the sight of a spider spinning its trap, countless silver threads tangled together, wrapping around the demonic monster’s massive body.

Jackal pressed his bleeding palm toward the sigil again and roared, “Where do you think you’re going—”

However, before he could finish, a hand gripped his throat.

Dale had appeared beside him, his grip tightening. “Man, you really don’t know when to shut up. Sometimes, you just need to sit and watch.”

He drove a kick into Jackal’s gut.

“Guhh!”

Though he was known as the Archbishop of Beasts, a powerful demon, combat ability was never Jackal’s strength. His power lay in the demonic monsters he commanded, not in himself. He rolled across the floor, coughing, as Dale didn’t even spare him a glance. Dale’s eyes were fixed on Elisha, who battled the flesh abomination.

The creature thrashed wildly, its strength snapping strands of the web one by one. “BUAAAAAAGH!”

Elisha’s eyes gleamed coldly as she gazed down at it. “As expected. It has brute strength to match its size. But...”

More threads burst forth, faster than the monster could break them.

“Bind. Bind. Bind.”

Hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands, an endless flood of silk threads wrapped the creature like a tidal wave. They tangled, layered, and tightened until they had trapped the monster in a cocoon of shimmering death, rendering it immobile.

Blood gushed from Elisha’s mouth. “Khuh!”

She had pushed her mana far beyond its limits. The soul stigmata carved into her chest burned like a blade piercing her heart. Her veins screamed in protest. But still, she didn’t stop.

“Bind!”

She forced more mana out, squeezing every last drop from her soul stigmata. There was no room for hesitation. She couldn’t afford to hold back, not against this nightmare.

Her breathing came ragged, her lips pale. “Huff! Huff! Huff!”

The more threads she produced, the bluer her face became. It was unbearable and painful beyond words. She wanted to stop and rest.

Wouldn’t it be fine to leave it to Dale now?

The thought that crept into her mind was sweet and tempting. It wasn’t wrong. Dale was far stronger than she was. With the monster restrained, he could easily turn it to ashes. However, she still heard those voices.

“Elisha.”

“Save... us.”

She knew. They weren’t real. They were just puppets of flesh, shaped to tear open her trauma. But even so, she remembered that day vividly. The day her life was destroyed. The scene of the flames, the smoke, and the screams that ripped through the night. The nightmare of that day, and the despair of that day. She had to do it herself.

She muttered, “I’ll end this with my own hands.”

She shouted, “Bind... Crush!”

The web constraining the flesh monster contracted violently. The sound of flesh collapsing filled the air, and a shriek so piercing it could shatter eardrums echoed through the abyss.

Blood streamed from her nose. Her body screamed in protest, veins bursting from the overload of mana. “Ah! Ugh.”

But the monster was suffering and writhing. The nightmare that had trampled everything she had and the endless despair that had haunted her was now dying, screaming pitifully in pain.

She let out a chuckle. “Heh.”

The imitation of her parents was crushed between the tightening webs.

“Eli...”

“My beloved... daughter.”

Then, the monstrous mass of flesh collapsed to the ground.

Elisha, suspended high in the air, fell like a severed kite string. But a pair of warm arms caught her.

“Are you alright?” Dale asked.

“Dale...”

Even if they had only been puppets of flesh, the feeling of relief and release swelling in her chest was too warm and too human for someone who had just killed her “parents” with her hands.

Dale gently laid her on the ground, brushing her hair back from her face. “Please rest. I’ll deal with Jackal.”

Elisha gave a faint nod, a tired smile curling her lips. “Thank you.”

Dragging herself weakly, she propped her back against a nearby rock. Her body screamed for rest, to collapse and sleep. But she couldn’t. The most dangerous one, Jackal, was still alive, eyes wide open.

***

Jackal cursed furiously as he stared at the mangled corpse of the flesh monster. “Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”

Smoke rose, and the tattoos on his body began to fade.

I smirked at this sight. “Looks like you’ve lost quite a few familiars, huh?”

Jackal ground his teeth and stumbled backward.

“What’s wrong? Planning to run?” I asked.

“Ugh!”

I took a slow, deliberate step toward him.

Jackal stomped furiously, his remaining tattoos flaring with ominous light. “You worthless insects!”

From the cracks in the ground, several monsters crawled forth, their grotesque forms each bearing nine glaring eyes. Even a team of veteran heroes would have to fight cautiously against demonic monsters like these. But I had once wiped out an entire pack of ten-eyed demonic monsters; they were nothing more than stray dogs.

“Seems like you’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel,” I said.

Jackal commanded, “Kill him! Tear him apart!”

The beasts lunged at me. I swung my sword, wreathed in embers, cutting them down one by one while keeping my eyes on Jackal.

The moment he saw his monsters rush forward, Jackal spun on his heel and bolted.

I clicked my tongue. “That’s your big plan?”

He was using his beasts as bait to run away. For someone called the Archbishop of Beasts, it was a pitiful sight. Step by step, I cut through the charging monsters and followed after him. Then, ahead of me, Jackal suddenly stopped.

He turned around slowly, grinning. “Heh.”

His expression shifted from panic to wild delight. “You’ve taken the bait.”

“What?”

He threw back his head and laughed madly, clutching his stomach. “You fool. Did you really think someone like me would flee from the likes of you?”

Jackal straightened his back, shaking his shoulders as he smirked at me. The pathetic image from before had vanished as if it had all been an act.

I narrowed my eyes, wondering what it could be. Did he still have a card left to play? In my past life, I had never fought Jackal directly, so I had no idea what his full capabilities were. If he had another flesh monster hidden somewhere, things could get complicated. I could handle him, but the aftermath might endanger Professor Baldwin.

I stopped, watching him carefully.

Jackal smiled, voice dripping with confidence. “Do you know what lives in this Abyss?”

“What lives here?”

“Heh-heh-heh! Of course you don’t! No one’s set foot in this part of the Demonic Realm for the last five hundred years!” His shoulders shook with manic laughter. “Listen carefully, brat. Down here... lives the Tyrant.”

“The Tyrant?”

“The ruler of the third layer of the Abyss. It goes by many names. The Incarnation of Death. The King of Beasts, the King of Monsters.” He spread his arms wide, his grin stretching unnaturally across his face. “Do you know why I came all the way here? Why I sacrificed my entire army of beasts?”

He raised his voice, ecstatic, trembling with madness. “Behold! Tremble in awe! For the King of Beasts returns!”

A torrent of dark mana erupted from his body, swallowing the area in its pressure. He took one step forward, crossing the line that marked the boundary, and yelled with fanatical fervor, “Come forth! Tyrant of the Abyss, Behemoth!”

However, what followed was complete silence.

Jackal glanced around, confused. “Huh?”

He tapped the ground with his foot a few times, frowning. “What the...? Why isn’t it coming?”