Chapter 70

The Game Difficulty
 Is Crazy

Cornello twisted the corner of his mouth as he looked at the boy before him.

‘Why is he standing there so calmly?’

The giant of black flesh was a being that could be called a joint creation of himself and the god Kalungoed.

It was truly a creation of God, made by combining the flesh of the primordial giant who had opposed the holy god Kalungoed in the distant past and was judged and killed, with the soul of a Sham Ogre that once ruled the Ruplhen Forest.

Yet even with such a sacred being standing right in front of him, the boy showed neither reverence nor even fear.

“Well, whether it’s eternal or not… we’ll just have to see.”

With those nerve-grating words, the boy suddenly changed the sword he was holding.

A strange phenomenon occurred where the sword vanished and another sword appeared in its place, but Cornello did not care.

“What kind of blasphemous nonsense are you spouting before a great creation of God!”

Veins bulged around his eyes as he glared at the boy, cursing the soul that showed such irreverence.

But the boy, as if he did not care at all about God’s creation or anything else, swung the sword in his hand through empty air, then smiled and nodded.

“Okay. The feel is good.”

Flash—

At that moment, Cornello felt as if something snapped inside his head, and he violently released dark crimson demonic energy.

“Even repentance is a luxury for your soul!”

The demonic energy that burst out around Cornello seeped into the giant of black flesh.

Soon, the giant let out a shriek and charged toward Glen.

“What is wrong with him now?”

The ash-gray-haired boy frowned as he looked at the charging giant.

At the same time, the giant closed the distance and stretched its arm toward the boy.

Sliiiice—

The extended arm split into dozens of tentacles, shooting toward the boy.

In the next moment, the boy’s insignificant body should have been torn into flesh and bone by the unavoidable tentacles.

“Pray, despair, and realize the truth.”

Reciting a scripture meant for heretics, Cornello lifted his gaze.

At the same time, dozens of tentacles engulfed the area where the boy stood.

Kuuuuung!

The ground collapsed, sending up clouds of dust.

Silence followed, and the corner of Cornello’s mouth slowly twitched.

“Kukukukuk……. Ahahahah! Did you see that? You are no match for me and the god Kalungoed!”

No answer came.

Cornello had already regained his original expression.

“The truth belongs to the god Kalungoed. Only an empty death awaits someone like you who believes in hypocrites like Minis. Kukukuk!”

Step—

Cornello walked forward.

“But atonement for your sins does not end with mere death. The punishment for destroying God’s temple and killing faithful believers is severe.”

The boy’s crushed body and the despairing soul that would leave it.

By claiming those, the true atonement Cornello spoke of would be complete.

“Your insignificant body and soul will be finely cut apart for the sake of the god Kalungoed—”

Slash—!

Suddenly, the sound of a blade cutting through flesh echoed through the air.

And the next moment—

“Uaaaaaah!”

Along with the giant’s scream, the dozens of tentacles that had swallowed the boy were cleanly severed.

Black blood and flesh scattered throughout the graveyard.

“T-this is… what?!”

At the same time, the thick dust settled back to the ground.

“…God’s creation, my ass.”

The boy, who should have been dead, was staring straight at Cornello.

Cornello’s pupils shook violently.

“H-how?!”

“How what? I blocked it and cut it.”

“That’s impossible! That creation is made from the flesh of the primordial giant and—”

“And the soul of a Sham Ogre, so someone like me shouldn’t be able to block it?”

Cornello swallowed hard.

The boy’s words had perfectly pierced through his thoughts.

“Just who… are you, to deny God’s providence like this?!”

“That god of yours can freeze to death. What kind of divine providence does that lump of meat have? It’s just your ability.”

“Are you mocking God right now?! Such nonsense!”

Cornello stretched his hand toward the giant of black flesh once more.

The dark crimson energy granted by God seeped into the severed arm of the giant.

“God’s creation is eternal and imperishable. Even after seeing this, you— huh?!”

A sudden sense of wrongness struck the back of his head. Cornello turned around, and his purple pupils shook violently.

The giant’s arm, which should have regenerated, showed no reaction at all despite being filled with dark crimson energy.

“Why… isn’t it—”

“Why what?”

The boy sneered.

“Does the word ‘eternal’ even make sense for a pile of flesh like that in the first place?”

Cornello’s lips trembled.

When the situation failed to match what he had expected, it seemed his words had completely failed him.

‘So flustered.’

Glen let out a faint scoff.

The giant of black flesh Cornello had created was certainly strong.

Especially its first attack—it had taken time just to block and counter it.

‘But that doesn’t mean it’s unbeatable.’

No matter how much Cornello babbled about it being God’s creation, the giant of black flesh was nothing more than a servant created using Cornello’s unique latent ability.

In other words, if Cornello himself was around the 6-star level, then the giant of black flesh was not much different.

Of course, using rare and high-quality materials to shape the giant did enhance some of its abilities.

‘But that still doesn’t turn a 6-star into a 7-star.’

It looked impressive and flashy, but in the end, the giant of black flesh was only slightly stronger than the grotesque creature Glen had fought earlier.

Yet Cornello, intoxicated by his fanatic faith, kept shouting about it being eternal and imperishable, making it impossible not to laugh.

‘Of course, if it weren’t for Ainheria, it really would’ve been hard to deal with.’

Glen looked down at the legendary artifact in his hand—Ainheria.

The reason Cornello panicked was because the supposedly immortal creation of God could not use its regeneration ability.

And the one who blocked that regeneration was Ainheria.

《Option》

: 『Soul-Carving Blade』 – The powerful and negative spiritual power dwelling in this sword partially carves away the soul of the target it cuts.

What had been severed by Glen’s counterattack was not just the giant’s right arm.

Along with the arm rushing toward him, Ainheria had carved away part of the soul that formed the giant.

‘If a servant that specializes in regeneration can’t regenerate, it’s nothing but a lump of meat.’

Because of a single sword, the giant of black flesh—equal in level to Glen—instantly became nothing more than a huge punching bag.

Regripping Ainheria, Glen kicked off the ground with force.

Kwaaang—

The ground beneath him collapsed.

In an instant, Glen closed the distance to the giant of black flesh.

“D-don’t come!”

Overcome with fear toward the unknown enemy, Cornello began spraying dark crimson demonic energy at random.

The giant stretched out its remaining arm.

That arm once again split into dozens of tentacles, trying to intercept the flying Glen.

Slash—

Glen cut through the rushing tentacles and advanced straight toward the giant’s head.

“Kuuuuuh!”

Sensing danger, the giant of black flesh opened its jaws wide and began gathering dark crimson energy inside.

Gooooooo—

Cornello’s demonic energy condensed inside the giant’s mouth, forming a chilling sphere of power.

Glen’s pupils flickered briefly.

‘…So you’re trying to take me down with you.’

If that sphere exploded, Glen would suffer heavy damage as well.

“In that case…!”

Glen drew Ainheria back.

And the moment red energy wrapped around the cold blade—

‘I’ll pierce it together with the sphere!’

Glen thrust the sword forward.

Paaang—!

Piercing madness.

Madness and obsession repeated thousands of times were carried on Ainheria’s elegant blade, which pierced straight through the giant’s maw in a single line.

The massive body, having lost its head, staggered, then broke apart into its original flesh and blood, scattering everywhere.

Thud-thud-thud—

The scattered blood and flesh fell like rain across the graveyard.

Bathed in the dark crimson rain, Cornello stood there with a vacant expression.

“Aah… God’s… creation…!”

With a face that looked ready to burst into tears, Cornello bent down and frantically gathered the flesh like a madman.

Watching him, Glen frowned.

He had seen this scene several times in the original story, but seeing it in reality made the disgust and eeriness feel twice as strong.

In any case, at this point, Cornello had lost his will to fight and would not resist anymore.

Step, step—

Glen walked up to Cornello, but Cornello paid him no attention.

“No, no, nooo….”

He only hugged the black flesh that had fallen before him.

Without a word, Glen grabbed Cornello by the hair and stabbed Ainheria into the back of his neck.

“No— kuhheok! Gk!”

The cold blade pierced his fragile flesh.

When Glen pulled the sword out, Cornello collapsed limply onto the ground.

One of the seven highest-ranking priests who supported the Black Cult met his end at Glen’s hands.

“Hoo….”

Glen let out the breath he had been holding.

With this, the Black Cult would not take notice of him.

‘I almost died….’

It was not as bad as meeting the Reaper in the Hall of Souls, but the sudden battle with Cornello had been extremely dangerous.

If Cornello had not panicked, Glen would have been forced into a far more perilous fight with the giant of black flesh.

And without Ainheria’s soul-carving blade, he would not have been able to seal the giant’s regeneration ability.

In many ways, luck had been on Glen’s side in defeating Cornello.

“That aside….”

The bigger mystery was why Cornello, who should have been on the opposite side of the Papal Holy State, had come to Haven in the first place.

Since this was before the scenario officially began, maybe the Farseer’s assigned region differed from the original timeline.

‘Or maybe the Black Cult also got slapped with Lunatic difficulty and some insane situation got added.’

He had never imagined that trying to suppress the Black Cult’s influence a little while he was in Haven would come back like this.

Still, in the end, Glen’s plan to preemptively weaken the Black Cult resulted in the best possible outcome—eliminating one diocese and one Farseer.

“…Then that’s enough.”

What mattered was that Glen had won against a Farseer of the Black Cult.

It was true that Cornello was among the weaker of the seven Farseers.

But whether the opponent was weak or luck was involved, the fact that Glen won and survived did not change.

“Hoo… let’s go back.”

Standing in the graveyard soaked with black blood and flesh, Glen stretched.

“Ah, tsk!”

Sudden pain struck, and a stream of blood ran down from under Glen’s arm.

It seemed the shoulder wound he had received while fighting Cornello’s servant had burst open during the battle with the giant of black flesh.

Only in the late afternoon did Glen return to Baron Pebien’s mansion.

Seeing the injured Glen, a guard hurried into the mansion.

Soon, Pebien rushed out to the main gate with a priest who resided at the mansion.

“What, what happened, Young Master?! And those wounds—what are they?!”

“I’m fine. They’re not fatal. More importantly, Baron Pebien, you need to send people to the monastery.”

While receiving a healing miracle from the priest, Glen roughly explained what had happened at the monastery on his way back.

In response, Pebien quickly dispatched the Canary Knights to the Haven Monastery on the outskirts of the city and secured a small number of survivors.

And one day later.

Baron Pebien publicly announced the incident as a one-sided act of terror carried out by the Black Cult against the city of Haven.