Genichi had absolutely no intention of fighting Valletta head-on.
Even if the current Genichi was already Level 6, while Valletta was only Level 5.
The gap in level was obvious, but Genichi had no desire to give this woman even the slightest chance to resist.
When dealing with evil, there was no need for fairness, no need for honor. Only the need to make her taste pain.
"Petrificus Totalus."
In an instant, a spell shot from Genichi's fingertips and struck Valletta just as she was beginning to turn around.
It was the Full Body-Bind Curse from the Harry Potter world, a spell that could lock the target's entire body in rigid paralysis.
Its duration was short against a powerful adventurer, but even a few seconds was more than enough.
Valletta's body instantly stiffened, the shock on her face frozen in place as she turned.
Only then did she realize she was under attack.
But it was already too late.
Genichi had already appeared at her side. Mitsukotoba flashed in a horizontal arc, and with one sweep, both of Valletta's legs were severed at the knees.
Blood exploded outward, and the two severed legs hit the floor with a heavy thud.
Valletta opened her mouth, trying to scream, but the curse was still in effect. No sound came out. She could only stare helplessly as her legs left her body.
Then Genichi struck two more times.
One cut took her left arm.
The next took her right.
In the blink of an eye, Valletta had been reduced to a limbless wreck, all four limbs severed, nothing left but her torso and head, collapsed in a pool of blood like some discarded insect.
Only then did the effects of the curse begin to fade.
At last, Valletta could make a sound.
A shrill, agonized scream rang through the room, full of unbearable pain and terror.
"Aaahhh! My arms! My legs! You bastard!"
She writhed wildly, but with all four limbs gone, all she could do was squirm on the floor like a maggot. Blood kept pouring from the stumps, spreading across the room in a glaring sheet of red.
Genichi looked at her coldly, without the slightest trace of pity in his eyes.
He crouched down until he was level with her, a frigid smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Do you remember me, Valletta?"
His voice was calm in a way that made it all the more terrifying, as though he were merely commenting on the weather.
Valletta's eyes widened as she stared at his face.
Pain and blood loss were already starting to cloud her mind, but that face gradually overlapped with someone in her memory.
The boy whose neck she had snapped with a kick.
The useless trash she had beaten like a punching bag for days.
The thing beneath even an ant in her eyes.
"You... you're that..."
Valletta's voice shook, whether from pain or fear, even she likely did not know.
"So you do remember."
Genichi's tone remained flat. "I thought you probably wouldn't. After all, the people you kill are no more memorable to you than the bread you eat. How could you possibly remember how many people you've murdered?"
Valletta opened her mouth, wanting to explain, wanting to beg, but Genichi gave her no chance.
He let out a cold laugh, then drove his foot hard into her mouth.
The kick carried tremendous force. Half her teeth shattered instantly.
Valletta let out a muffled, mangled cry. Blood and broken teeth spilled from the corner of her mouth, leaving her in a miserable heap.
"That kick was for the innocent people you tortured to death."
His voice was still calm, but the chill in his eyes deepened.
Valletta glared at him, her eyes full of fear and hatred.
She wanted to speak, but with her mouth full of shattered teeth and blood, only incoherent sounds came out.
Genichi rose to his feet and looked down at her.
"Do you know why I didn't just cut your head off in one stroke?"
Of course Valletta did not know, but Genichi was quick to give her the answer.
"Because I wanted you to experience what you did to me. Having your neck broken, then slowly waiting to die."
Valletta's pupils contracted violently.
She remembered.
The boy whose neck she had snapped with one kick. The despair in his eyes before death. The silent pleading. The weak struggle as life slipped away.
At the time, she had only found it amusing. Like crushing an ant beneath her heel.
But now that ant had returned for revenge.
"N-no... don't..."
Valletta tried to beg through blood and broken teeth.
"I can give you money. Treasure. Anything you want. Please... spare me..."
Genichi lowered his eyes to her, his expression unchanged.
"Did the people who died by your hand say the same things? Did you spare them?"
Valletta fell silent.
Of course she had not.
To her, those people had only been toys. Punching bags. Insects she could torture and kill on a whim.
Why would she have spared them because they begged?
"I thought not."
Genichi spoke lightly. "Then why should I spare you?"
He raised his foot and aimed it at her neck.
Valletta writhed frantically, trying to get away, but with no limbs left, there was nowhere for her to run.
All she could do was watch as that foot came closer and closer.
"Wait! I know secrets! A lot of them! I can tell you!"
Valletta screamed out the words desperately, trying to clutch at one last straw.
Genichi's foot paused in midair.
A flicker of hope flashed through Valletta's eyes.
As long as she lived, as long as she escaped this, she would make this man pay. She would repay him in the cruelest way possible.
"I already know those things."
Genichi's voice shattered her final illusion.
"And even if I didn't, I could read them from your soul."
His voice was cold as ice.
The Consume skill could do more than devour souls to grow stronger. It could also extract memories and information from them.
There was nothing Valletta knew that she could keep hidden.
The hope in her eyes went out completely.
Genichi kicked her in the neck.
Crack.
A sharp, clean sound of breaking bone rang out.
The bones in Valletta's neck snapped instantly, but Genichi controlled his strength carefully and did not kill her on the spot.
In the real world, such an injury would have been fatal. But in a world of supernatural power, an adventurer like Valletta could still cling to life for a little longer.
Her eyes bulged wide. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.
Her body started convulsing, and the blood from her severed limbs flowed even faster.
She was waiting to die.
Just like the people she had once killed, waiting in despair for death to come.
Genichi crouched in front of her and quietly watched her final struggle.
"That kick was returned to you."
Valletta's eyes rolled toward him, staring with all the resentment, hatred, and terror left in her.
"How does it feel?" Genichi asked softly. "Waiting for death. It's not pleasant, is it?"
Valletta could not answer.
Her pupils were already beginning to unfocus. Her breathing grew weaker and weaker. The convulsions in her body gradually stopped.
Genichi rose to his feet and looked down at this woman who had once acted so untouchable, now curled up in her own blood like a dead dog.
"Looks like I overdid it a little. She died too fast."
He muttered the words to himself. "Still, it doesn't matter. At least she got to taste what it feels like to wait for death. The people she killed had to wait like that too."
The last light in Valletta's eyes disappeared.
She died.
Filled with endless fear and resentment, she died at the hands of the boy she had once regarded as less than an insect.
Genichi stood in front of her corpse and was silent for a moment.
The DanMachi Genichi's memories surfaced once again. The moment his neck had broken. The despair. The pain. The unwillingness to accept it.
Now, it was over.
But he knew this was only the beginning.
Valletta was only one of his enemies. There were many more in Evilus who still had to pay for their crimes.
Jura.
Dionysus.
And the people still hiding in the shadows behind them.
Not one of them would escape.
Genichi put Mitsukotoba away and looked down at Valletta's corpse.
"Rest now, DanMachi Genichi."
He spoke softly. "I've avenged you."
The shadows at his feet spread outward and swallowed Valletta's body whole.
As for devouring her soul, he passed on that.
The magic stones from Dungeon monsters were one thing, but Genichi had no intention of consuming a human soul. There was no telling whether that would taint his own.
The only things left in the room were the blood all over the floor and the two severed legs and two severed arms.
Genichi did not bother cleaning them up.
Let them stay there.
Let whoever came later see what became of those who chose to walk with darkness.
Then he turned and left the room.
Outside, the slaughter by the shadows was still continuing.
Screams, pleas for mercy, and dying wails rose and fell one after another like a symphony from hell.
Genichi walked through the corridor expressionlessly.
By the time tonight was over, this artificial labyrinth would become a massive grave.
A grave for every villain of Evilus.
And a grave for the DanMachi Genichi's hatred as well.
(End of Chapter)
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