Chapter 7
The throne room of the gate shook with endless screams.
The marble once white was now blackened with ash and painted in blood. The air was so heavy with despair it crushed lungs, the smell of iron and burnt flesh choking every breath.
The hunters had lost all rhythm of battle. Their courage, their resolve—all shattered. They swung their blades out of instinct, not hope.
And still the monster laughed.
The dungeon boss danced among them, each claw strike a blur, each wound it inflicted reborn with the blinding green glow of its spell.
"Replenish."
Over and over. Again and again.
They did not die. They did not live. They existed only to suffer forcing them to live an endless Torment
Renji pressed his trembling hands against his ears, but it did nothing. The screams cut into his skull like blades. Choji's voice, Tang Shi's voice, the desperate cries of the others—they echoed endlessly.
He wanted to vomit, but nothing came out anymore. His stomach had emptied long ago, leaving only dry heaves and tears.
Lily… Lily, I'm sorry…
The thought was all he had left to cling to.
Choji crawled across the floor, his body still shaking from wounds that weren't even scars yet. His voice was hoarse, his eyes clouded, but he smiled faintly at Renji.
"Don't… don't give up… Renji… san…"
Then a claw ripped through his chest again, spraying Renji in fresh blood.
"Replenish."
Choji screamed as his body was stitched back together.
Renji's heart broke anew.
And then… everything grew still.
The monster stopped. Its burning eyes swept across the hunters like a predator bored of its prey.
Recognizing an aura it was faint but he remembered that stench
Then it turned—slowly, deliberately—until its gaze locked on Renji
Renji froze. His body stiffened, his breath caught. It felt as though those crimson slits burned straight through his skin, peeling his soul open.
The boss tilted its horned skull.
"… You."
Its voice rumbled like an earthquake, sharp and cutting, reverberating inside Renji's bones.
"Renji.…" The name dragged from its hollow throat like a forgotten memory. Then, with a chilling echo, the name warped—
"… Samael."
Januza samael
Renji's eyes widened. His breath hitched.
"W-what…? How…?"
The monster stepped forward, each footfall like a drumbeat of doom.
"I know you." Its words were a piercing whisper. "Even if you don't yet know yourself."
And then—
In a blur of speed that none could follow, it appeared before Renji Its skeletal hand shot out, seizing him by the throat.
Renji gagged, legs kicking as his body was lifted into the air. The claws pressed against his skin, cold as the grave, tightening with promise of death.
"LET HIM GO!"
Tang Shi roared, his battered body moving on instinct alone. His daggers ignited in silver flame as he lunged, every ounce of mana he had left pouring into the strike.
But before his blades could reach a ripple in the air spread outward from the boss. Like glass shattering silently, an invisible wall of force exploded around Michael and the creature.
Tang Shi hit it mid-flight, his body stopping dead as if he had struck steel. The shockwave crushed his ribs, blood spraying from his lips.
The monster turned its burning gaze toward him.
"You… dare?"
Its clawed finger twitched.
The Dimensional Barrier pulsed—and Tang Shi was pulled back into the air, suspended, helpless.
The monster's laugh crawled through the silence, low and mocking.
"Know your place, mortal."
And then it began.
Slash. Replenish. Slash. Replenish. Slash.
Tang Shi's body was torn apart, stitched back together, and torn apart again—all in the span of heartbeats. His screams grew hoarse, then broke into whimpers, then returned as his body was revived again.
Once, twice, ten times… fifty times… a hundred times in mere minutes.
The S-rank hunter, once proud and arrogant, now hung trembling in the air like a broken doll. His eyes no longer burned with defiance but shook with raw terror.
He wept.
"No… no more… please… no more…"
And still the boss laughed.
Renji's vision blurred with tears, his lungs burning as the claws at his throat tightened. His heart pounded so loudly it drowned out everything else.
He wanted to scream, but no sound came out. His fear was absolute.
And yet—the monster leaned close, its skull pressing near his ear.
"I will carve out your truth," it whispered. "Samael… my reflection."
Renji's mind fractured.
Why… why does it know my name? Why does it call me that?!
And beneath his terror, a seed of something else stirred. A question. A trembling, buried spark of something unknown.
But for now—he was powerless.
Helpless.
The dungeon trembled with the weight of silence, broken only by the ragged breathing of the survivors.
The boss stood tall, its skeletal frame towering like a monument of death, its claws dripping with blood that never dried.
Renji lay crumpled on the ground, throat bruised from the monster's grip, lungs screaming for air. His vision swam, the world flickering in and out.
And then—
The monster spoke.
"I remember you."
Its voice was a hollow thunder, echoing across the chamber. Its crimson eyes locked on Renji as if he were the only one that existed.
"Your scent… your soul's stench… I could never forget it. Not in ten years, not in a hundred… not in a thousand."
It stepped forward, each claw scratching the marble floor, leaving scars as deep as trenches.
"You think yourself mortal. Fragile. Twenty-one years is all you've counted… but I know better. You—are Januza. My tormentor. My end."
The dungeon boss's skull tilted back, and a laugh like rattling bones filled the chamber.
"Do you think me deceived? No illusion, no flesh, no rebirth could hide you from me. Even across eternity—I will always know your stench!"
Renji body shook violently. His mind screamed.
"W-what are you talking about?! I'm… I'm not…" His voice cracked, weak, lost in confusion. "I'm not a thousand years old—I can't be! I'm just a man!"
But the creature's eyes burned brighter, as if it were staring at something deeper than flesh.
"Lie to yourself. It changes nothing."
In the far corners of the dungeon
Choji's heart tore itself apart watching the scene. He stumbled to his knees, bloodied sword slipping from his hand.
"Renji-san…" His voice broke, his breath ragged. "I… I can't… I can't stop it…"
Every muscle in his body screamed to move, to protect his friend, to fight the monster. But his arms refused. His spirit was breaking. His strength was nothing.
And then, before he could rise—
The boss moved.
In a single motion, it hurled Renji's body across the vast chamber. He smashed against an obsidian wall with a sickening crack. Dust and stone fell around him as his limp body slid down.
Choji screamed, stumbling forward, only to be dragged back by another hunter.
"No!" Choji roared, veins bulging in his neck. "Don't touch him! Don't—"
But before he could reach Renji's broken body, the monster whispered again.
"Replenish."
And Renji gasped back into life, coughing blood, his wounds knitting together just enough to prolong his agony.
Choji's heart broke anew. Why him? Why always him?!
---
Tang Shi's Collapse
Tang Shi stood in silence, blood dripping from his lips, eyes wide and trembling. His daggers shook in his grip—not from exhaustion but from something worse.
Hopelessness.
He looked at the monster, then back at Michael. His body stiffened with realization.
We can't win.
The words echoed in his mind, cold and cruel.
His lips trembled, and for the first time—the proud S-rank bowed his head.
"P-please…" he whispered, voice cracking. "Please spare us."
The hunters froze. The words were unthinkable.
Tang Shi's knees hit the floor as he begged. "We cannot defeat you… we cannot fight you. But—but if you want a sacrifice… then take him." His trembling hand lifted, pointing at Renji's broken body.
The chamber fell silent.
Renji's eyes widened, his heart twisting in disbelief.
Choji's scream ripped the air. "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!"
He lunged, sword raised in defiance, but Tang Shi's eyes snapped open with fury. Mana surged through him, and before Choji could react—
CRACK.
Tang Shi's fist slammed into Choji's temple. His vision spun, darkness swallowing him as his body crumpled to the ground.
"Forgive me, Choji," Tang Shi muttered, his voice trembling with both rage and fear. "But we have no choice…"
The other hunters stirred, desperation breaking their will.
"He's right…" one muttered, tears streaking down his face.
"There's no other way…" another whispered, gripping his sword with shaking hands.
"If that monster wants him, then… then let him have him!"
Choji's unconscious body was dragged aside as Tang Shi, bloodied and trembling, raised his head to the towering boss.
His voice cracked.
"Please… spare us… and take him as your offering."
The boss's crimson eyes glowed with cruel delicacy
Renji shocked to hear this was filled with dispair