Camus kept the 'Void' tunnel open while he assessed the chaos in town. However, things were also starting to heat up with Glenn and the rest as they dealt with the remaining bandits.

"For the last time, where did that scalekin go? No lies! I have you all outnumbered and surrounded!"

"And I keep telling you, we don't know! You saw it yourself that he jumped into that portal trying to save our leader! How would we know where it leads? Weren't you the ones allied to that devil who made the portals in the first place?"

"Grrr... rrraaagh! Enough! Find him then! I will not rest until I have my blood battle with him! I don't care...where...and how...but even if he was thrown into the depths of the twisted Nether itself, I will.have.my.brother.AVENGED!"

The bandits all around were getting ready to do battle, but just as they were about to start, Angela, Silvi, and all the other magi -those with occupations towards magic, soon became aware of a mass of mana energy surging towards them.

"Everyone, out of the way!"

Someone yelled out, but the energy burst was so sudden and came literally out of nowhere, that many were caught by its blast.

"Gaaah - huh? I'm alive?"

Indeed, those who were struck remained alive. Despite the intensity of the mana energy, it only passed through them harmlessly. Awed at the revelation that they're unharmed, the next scene made their jaws drop even further.

"Is that...a hole in midair?"

"Uh...it looks like someone tore off a part of the scenery."

Their surprise didn't end there as soon a familiar large silhouette appeared from the hole. A form most familiar to the Titan's Hammers.

"Ellen!"

"I'm glad to see everyone hasn't started killing each other yet. How are the adventurers who were freed from the miasma?"

"We wanted to check on them as well, however... as you can see, Bolgruk isn't too keen on letting us do our thing."

"Hmph! That's not even putting it mildly. The rude beasts saw no end to accusing us of letting our friend Camus 'escape'. We all saw what happened! How could one even come close to the conclusion that we had anything to do with that? Speaking of which, how did you get out? And... where's Camus?"

Upon Angela's question, the others had looks of worry. However, Ellen's smile in response signaled that their worries were for naught.

"He's fine. Well, at least I think he is... After all, I did come from what we think is the 'Void', yet we are unharmed. Though, I doubt that place is what we think it is... I'm honestly not sure how we did what we did, but... I'm just glad we're all ok... but I can't say the same for the town, which brings me to my urgent news of the matter..."

After Hellen explained the situation in Orgo, everyone’s expression became deathly serious. While it was unnerving to go through a portal that was originally leaking miasma, they were determined to save their home.

“Now for the other matter… Bolgruk.”

“Hmph. Ellen was it? I won’t back down on my fight with that scalekin, nor do I care about the plight of your town. However… even I know that you’re all willing to go down trying to save it, as I with my desire to fight him… so now this leaves us at an impasse.”

“Not necessarily… if you can promise me that you will let us save our town and let all the unconscious adventurers here go… then I will get you the fight you want.”

“Oh? And who are you to claim that you can promise me this fight with the scalekin?”

“… his woman.”

“… what?… … are you saying… you’re his mate?”

“… yes, what of it?”

Bolgruk scratched his head. He was understandably confused at the claim. After all, common knowledge states that most scalekin and those similar to their kind would never care about mixing in with other races, even with other beastkins, especially those biologically close to humans. Why? Because in their aesthetic sense, only those with scales have a worth in measuring beauty. Also, the males are attracted to lithe and athletic frames, so females with large chests and bottoms are actually considered ugly in their culture.

“… are you telling the truth? You’re not just saying this to trick me are you?”

“Yes.I.am.his.woman! How many times do you want me to say it!? This is embarrassing so please get over it already!”

“… huh… looks like you might be telling the truth… otherwise, you wouldn’t be acting this way.”

With all said and done, Bolgruk simply concluded that Camus was a deviant with eccentric tastes.

“Very well, I will accept your word as his mate. Give this to him.”

Bolgruk tossed a small shamanic totem made from feathers and bone towards Ellen. She wasn’t sure what it was but she could sense small traces of magic.

“It will only react to him, so I will know if you will keep your word. Once he takes hold of it, it will lead him to where we will fight. If he chooses to ignore this honorable battle or if you won’t hand it to him… then you will know what it’s like to be cursed by the ancestral spirits of the Orcs, as well as my wrath.”

Ellen was concerned about having to give a possibly cursed item to Camus that may very well lead to a trap, but she already made her promise. Orcs were honorable warriors and she already knows of Camus’ strength, so there was little to fear.

“Alright… once we’ve finished dealing with the trouble in our town, you have my word that I’ll give it to him as well as your message.”

“Good... Men! We leave, NOW!”

As Bolgruk and his men left, the party could now finally sigh in relief. But now they have a new predicament they have to address.

“Now that Bolgruk’s left, we can now attend to the adventurers, but… there’s quite a lot huh.”

“Gregor thinks Silvi in for the long haul.”

“Um… I don’t have the mana capacity to heal this many…”

“Angie, you know the Cleric’s Purification magic, right?”

“I do, but… as you know, I specialize in offensive magic so… even if I have more mana, in terms of efficiency, I might actually only be able to heal a number much less than Silvi.”

“Hmm…”

As everyone was trying to reach a course of action, they soon felt another surge of energy coming from the shrinking hole in space. As the energy came forth and bathed them in another harmless storm of mana, Angela came up with an idea.

“Say, isn’t that energy being fired off by Camus?”

“Yes, he does that to keep the portal open. I wasn’t sure how long he can keep doing it but he assured me that his magic bow has quite a lot… wait, are you thinking?”

“Well, it’s a long shot. You did say that he only manipulated the mana energy, right? He never converted it into another form of magic?”

“Indeed… but I dunno Ange… isn’t that… dangerous?”

“Only if the mana was already converted, but he only manipulated it so it wouldn’t harm us, so this is still raw mana we’re talking about. Anyways, all we need to do is give it a property and the rest should be easy. Silvi?”

“I can give it a try, but… I’m not sure if I can convert it as you said.”

“Don’t worry about the specifics and conversion; leave that to me. They don’t call me a young genius Ravager for nothing.”

“Heh… right. I believe in you Ange, just… please don’t do anything dangerous.”

“Of course! Since when have I ever done anything I knew I wasn’t capable of?”

Despite Angela’s self-confidence, the rest of the party lacked her assurance for good reason. After all… this wasn’t the first time one of her ideas worked with… consequential after effects.

As the party was getting ready for the next mana surge from the rift, Camus continued to watch over the town as he kept firing mana blasts from time to time while wondering to himself ‘what the heck is taking them so long.’

…

“This… what is this…”

Merik looked onto the ‘chaos’ and wondered what had gone wrong. At first, he didn’t mind the arrival of the unknown Monster Lord as his only objective was the town’s collapse. However, as time went on, he started noticing that the damage to the town was actually very minor.

Worse still, the death toll he caused earlier ground to a halt when the unknown monsters from the rifts he opened actually fought his own manipulated monsters. In fact, some were even protecting the people and guiding them towards the safe zones while assisting the town guard and adventurers.

“This… is utterly LUDICROUS! Imperiestro have mercy, why the hell are these monsters helping people!? Could it be that damnable lizard? No… that beast earlier… it’s got to be that beast that came out after tossing out the Armorock… but why would it… No… it can’t be!”

In a panic, Merik urgently searched for the wolf-beast he saw earlier. After some time, he found his quarry facing off against the previous plated dinosaur like creature along with a giant spiked King Cobra, Merik’s two Monster Lord puppets, in the training grounds behind the Adventurers Guild.

“Damn it… those two beasts are barely even keeping up with it… if my guess is correct… then this is that damnable lizard’s fault after all…”

Merik raised an arm and fired off a concentrated mass of miasma in the eerie form of a serpent. With preternatural speed, it raced across the air and reached Fenril’s back. As it tried to bite onto Fenril’s neck, it emitted a scream and vanished.

“As I thought… this thing’s a Dragon. Damn you Camus… you’ve been ruining my plans time… after time… after time… I will have your head on a plate and serve it to the Imperiestro himself, otherwise I would never be satisfied… but for now… this thing has to go.”

Merik once again aimed towards Fenril and fired a gigantic black mass of terrible volatile energies. However, this time Fenril didn’t ignore the attack and timed a spin with his tail to club away the plated monster known as the Armorock towards Merik’s attack.

Unlike the miasmic snake from earlier, this was a more straightforward attack, hence, could not be controlled in its trajectory. The attack struck through and corroded away the Armorock as it made a harsh ear-piercing cry as its final deathwail.

“… This… blasted… THING! AAAAAAARRRGH!! I swear to the Diablo Imperiestro, I will KILL EACH and EVERY ONE OF THESE DAMNABLE LIZAAARDS!”

Merik’s cursing screams fell on deaf ears, but soon he recovered upon one little realization.

“Wait… I almost forgot… ha…ha ha… HAHAHAHA! … I still have one card left! His bitch is probably finished being corrupted in the Nethervein by now. I should go give her a visit and pretty her up for their next reunion… hmhm… yes… hehe…haha… HAHAHA –*riiiiip*– Oh what is it NOW!?”

But his little maniacal bout of happiness would be unfortunately cut short, as the rift in space that he originally thought was under his absolute control was torn open before him…

“No… no… it can’t be… why… just… WHY!? HOW!? HOW DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS!? WHAT IN ALL THAT IS UNDER THE DEVIL EMPEROR’S NAME ARE YOU!?”

And from its opening poured forth a great number of adventurers… and in the lead… was the object of all his hate and misery.

...

“The hell are you treating me like some sort of cancer or something? If anything, I’m the one who should be mad here. And who the hell is this Devil Emperor?”

Geez, I finally get out of that damned place and the first thing I’m greeted by is the eyesore that is this guy. Well, at least it saves me the trouble of having to look for him.

“You can understand my language!? … No… that’s not important right now… whether or not you’re something sent by my homeland, I care not anymore. I can no longer live… BREATHE… the same blasted air as you while you still LIVE. Congratulations lizard… I’ve finally found the resolve to cross the damned line… know that this town… and every single damned thing in it… will disappear!”

The hell is wrong with this guy? I haven’t even begun my ass kicking of him yet and he acts live I’ve violated his entire family. Makes all the things I thought about trying to egg him on seem pointless now. I know I asked Fenril to protect the town but… just what in the hell happened? I couldn’t see what happened earlier since I had to check on Ellen and the rest when they arrived. I then had to rip open the portal to a larger size.

“Camus! Glad to see you’ve come to join us!”

“Hm? Ah, Gren! Looks like you’ve been busy. I managed to bring help.”

It seems Gren managed to finish off that ugly mouth-blob abomination thing he was fighting.

“Indeed. And welcome help it is. I see some young’uns I thought were gone for good, but it seems you’ve managed to pull another miracle. Are you sure you’re not a god in disguise?”

“Please don’t even joke about that… in any case, I think it’s time we finished this.”

“On that, I agree.”

As Gren and I turned our sights towards Merik, he somehow… froze in place. His clothes aren’t even swaying around while in mid-air… almost as if he’s a statue frozen in place.

“With my true name, Merikairos, I offer this unworthy flesh to be born anew. In the name of mine most gracious Devil Emperor, Nihillenus, prithee grant thy feeble servant power without compare. Prithee grant thee the gift of the Nether!”

Somehow, Merik’s voice resounded across the entire area. It almost sounds like a prayer in Shakespearean, though I’m not sure how he’s saying it without moving his mouth. His eyes seem to be glowing a dark shade of pink though.

“That’s... - !”

It seems Gren’s realized something as his expression visibly paled.

“It can’t be...He’s chanting a Majikashi curse-prayer of offering to their dark emperor! Whatever curse he’s activated, it won’t be good! Camus, you must take him out before he finishes!”

He called out to me, but I was ahead by charging up Ichaival.

“I thought the exact same thing.” I said as I fired a large energy bolt at Merik.

I thought he was good as done, but strangely enough, the energy bolt simply split and went around him.

“The hell just happened?” I turned to Gren as I was hella confused.

He squinted his eyes before they suddenly grew wide. With shock apparent in his voice said, “This is bad! I didn’t notice, but he may have activated a Time-Hold Talisman!

We thought he was chanting but it seems he instead used a recorded chant of the curse-prayer while he was setting up the Talisman! Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to chant while time is frozen! But at the same time... nothing will harm him in that state!”

Gren seems to have churned up the mana around him as his body swelled up then yelled, “Stand firm everyone! Whatever the curse’s effect is, ready yourselves!”

Normally, anyone would be panicking if they were made to see their enemy chant a spell they can’t understand the effects, but Origin of Words saves my day again. According to his chant, it seems to be a power-up curse by sacrificing himself, so no worries about the town being blasted to kingdom-come, but the next question is… how strong is he going to become?

“Rue the day you’ve become the target of my hate, foul lizard!”

Looks like the time freeze spell has finished… and the first thing he says is more curses at me in a strange metallic voice as if two people with different voice tones were talking at the same time.

“My hate… my rage… become my power and destroy all!”

The remnants of that fat monster Gren was fighting earlier was suddenly sucked up into Merik as dark clouds formed in the sky above him. The mass swirled around him like a whirlpool with him as the center, and soon enough he started to grow until he was over 15 meters tall.

His body was a dark blue mass of muscle with grotesque veins pulsating everywhere. Four arms protruded from his shoulders each wielding two swords, an axe, and a spear. Black fire surrounded his hands and head like aetheric hellfire effects in CGI. And his face… was as if the skin was ripped from it and only muscle and bone were left… his eyes… only appeared as a burning or glowing violet light.

“Behold… the Avatar of Tyrannos! God of Savagery and Brutality! All under heaven will burn in my wake! Only ash and cinders will remain!”

The giant, as if coming from the ‘grim darkness of the future of man’(*), came at us with all the fury of a raging god.