MTLNOVEL Chapter 28: Weak Point
The world seemed to shutter, as the battle between the Dusk Titan and the Cursed Terror raged with increasing intensity. The Titan swung its colossal odachi in a devastating arc, the black flames devouring the very air as the blade carved a path of ruin across the battlefield. The ground split open, molten darkness churning beneath the weight of the strike.
But Sunny hadn't attacked seriously. This was a test.
Would the Terror counter the blow? Dispel it with some esoteric ability? Evade?
The Terror did none of the above.
The abomination flailed its grotesquely oversized hands, as if mimicking a child's feeble attempt to dodge, and took the full force of the attack head-on.
Its flesh charred, burned, melted. Vast chunks of malformed meat were flung away, sizzling as they hit the ground. Its bloated stomach split open, spilling an unholy tangle of filth and gore—a rotting labyrinth of intestines and viscera, writhing as if still alive. The stench was unbearable, thick with the scent of decay and something far worse.
And yet... The Terror did not flinch. Instead, its disproportionately large head tilted, and a jagged, rotting grin spread across its face.
Sunny's brow furrowed.
"What is this bastard doing...?"
The next instant, it vanished.
A shiver crawled up his spine.
Sunny twisted around—only to be met with two gaping, hollow eyes, peering at him from above.
The Terror hung upside down in midair, as if perched on an invisible ceiling. The twisted mirth in its gaze wasn't focused on the Dusk Titan—no, it was staring directly at him. Through the layers of shadows and armor, through the Titan's invulnerable shell, as if it could see the human soul buried within.
Something about its stare felt... wrong. It didn't have the usual hunger of nightmare creatures, or the mindless bloodlust.
This thing was studying him. Analyzing him. Like a child inspecting a new toy.
The battle resumed in a blur of motion. The Dusk Titan lunged forward, its odachi a streak of abyssal fire.
The Terror simply clapped its hands together. And all the damage vanished. Not healed. Not regenerated. Erased.
Its body was whole again, as if it had never been harmed in the first place. Then, as if mocking him, it stuck out a grotesque tongue and began hopping from side to side, giggling with a delighted, childlike glee.
Sunny's expression darkened.
"...This annoying brat."
So it could restore itself with a clap? Was that a necessary condition or just part of its mockery?
No time to think.
The Terror's enormous hands shot forward, attempting to crush him.
SLAM.
The Dusk Titan caught the attack, its colossal frame bending low before retaliating with a savage cleave—splitting the abomination in half.
But just as expected, the Terror grinned and attempted to clap its hands together again.
Only this time, before its hands could meet, the Titan kicked its severed half away, sending it hurtling across the battlefield.
Sunny narrowed his eyes.
"Let's see if it can heal without—"
Before he could finish the thought, the air distorted.
Space itself warped, twisting unnaturally as the Terror's dismembered hand stretched through the void and smacked against the rest of its body.
Clap.
The two halves surged back together.
Then, giggling, the Terror jumped up and down, clapping again.
Sunny's forehead twitched.
Again.
The Dusk Titan's blade flashed. Again, the Terror was split apart.
This time, Sunny severed its arms, aiming to prevent it from activating its ability—but new ones simply grew back in an instant, grotesquely twisting into place before launching a counterattack.
Something unseen slammed into him. The Titan staggered back. For a split second, pain lanced through his very soul.
Nephis' power surged, washing through him, mending the unseen wound before it could fester.
And yet... when Sunny looked up, the Terror stood before him, completely unharmed. Like nothing had happened at all.
He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to observe. The way it moved. The way it reacted.
The way the cursed abomination used its will to influence both itself and the envirnment was interesting.
Every time it grinned and clapped its hands, something fundamental about its existence shifted. Not just healed—rewritten. As if reality itself bent to accommodate its whims.
Sometimes new limbs would sprout. Other times its entire composition would change, like its very substance was malleable.
Even the environment around it warped subtly—air stretching, space bending—as if the world itself was just another plaything in its hands.
After long minutes of battle, Sunny finally reached a conclusion.
"This thing won't die... unless we kill it in a single blow."
Sunny grimaced, twisting his blade to deflect a barrage of grotesque, malformed fists. The next instant, he retaliated with a devastating slash, his odachi carving through the cursed abomination with ruthless precision. The attack landed cleanly—only for the Terror to shrug it off, grinning in mockery.
Its ability was infuriating.
No matter how much damage it took, as long as its consciousness remained intact, it could simply erase the harm and reassemble itself. A cursed immortality cheat code.
Sunny clicked his tongue.
Killing a Cursed Terror in one strike—that was easier said than done.
"What do you think, Neph?" he asked, his mental voice edged with frustration.
He was fused with the Dusk Titan, his true body nestled in its heart, commanding it from within. Nephis, however, could not do the same—her soul could only partially assimilate, reinforcing the Titan with her strength and divine fire. Her real body lay outside the battlefield, safe yet ever watchful, while her soul burned beside him.
Nephis lingered for a moment before responding.
"We need to find its weakness and strike with everything we have."
Sunny exhaled sharply.
He stared at the Terror as it grinned down at them, its eyes brimming with sadistic amusement. A child playing with its toy.
His grip tightened on his sword.
No one else could do this. Mordret was occupied with the other high-tier Cursed creatures. His Shadows were holding back the lesser ones.
It was up to them.
'Find its weakness...'
He was sure the cursed bastard had at least one weak point. The most obvious course of action would be to attack and see if the abomination reacted differently to any.
Steeling his resolve, Sunny summoned the shadow lantern.
Large, ancient hadows slithered from the Shadow Lantern, unfurling across the battlefield like creeping tendrils of night. They coiled around the Terror, dampening the distortion of its cursed will.
With renewed vigor, Sunny struck. The Dusk Titan vanished.
Then, stepping out of the ancient shadows, it drove its blade straight through the Terror's leering eyes.
With a sickening squelch, the abomination split apart.
Sunny grimaced, watching as its grotesque eyeballs were reduced to pulp—only for the damage to mean nothing.
The Terror retaliated instantly, lashing out with an unseen force.
A formless, soul-rending agony.
A raw, invisible lance of pain stabbed into him, bypassing flesh and armor, sinking into his very existence.
Sunny shuddered, gritting his teeth as a whisper of pain clawed at his mind.
"Argh... that hurt."
The damage was... overwhelming.
An ordinary Supreme would have been hollowed out after a few strikes. But Sunny's soul was resilient, fortified by his will, reinforced by the memories he had woven for himself.
And he had Nephis.
Her radiance wrapped around him, knitting his battered soul back together before the wound could fester.
In the end, all that remained was leave a minor scratch on his soul. It wasn't permanent, it would heal over time. But time was not a luxury he could afford.
The cycle began anew.
The Dusk Titan severed the Terror. It struck another part of its body. The Terror retaliated. He endured the soul-rending agony. Nephis healed him. The Terror reassembled, untouched, grinning like an amused child.
Over. And over. And over again.
No matter what ability he used, what Memory he summoned, the answer eluded him.
Sunny clenched his jaw. His soul had been torn apart dozens of times now, each instance more unbearable than the last.
It was like an endless loop of death and rebirth. A nightmare with no end. It was exhausting. Maddening. But it wasn't anything new. Sunny had suffered worse.
That fact, however, didn't make it hurt any less.
His grip tightened around his sword.
"...What the hell?" he muttered as their fifty-first round ended.
"Since when did dying a few dozen times start bothering me?"
Nephis let out a soft chuckle.
"Maybe you've grown soft, living a happy life for so many years."
"Yeah? And whose fault is that?" Sunny scoffed. "Who told you to pamper me so much?"
Nephis smiled. "What can I say? You're just so cute and lovable."
Sunny shot her a glance.
"You're getting bold with your words," he muttered. "Nothing like the little Nephis I remember... the one who couldn't even smile without looking like an idiot."
"Yeah? And whose fault is that?" Nephis shot back, mirroring his words. "Who told you to look out for me so much?"
Sunny chuckled. "What can I say? You're just so innocent and adorable."
Their banter was cut short by a shrill giggle echoed through the battlefield.
The Cursed Terror waddled toward them, grotesque arms swinging like a bad-tempered child throwing a tantrum.
Sunny sighed. "Alright. Let's get this over with."
And so, the cycle continued.
Only this time... something changed.
When the Dusk Titan's blade descended, aiming for what seemed like a random point near the Terror's belly—
The Terror didn't ignore it.
It reacted.
Before the strike could land, its severed hand lunged, fingers stretching unnaturally through the void, catching the blade mid-swing.
With unnatural force, it shoved the Dusk Titan away, preventing the blow from connecting.
Sunny froze.
Then, ever so slowly...
A wide grin spread across his face.
"...Found it."
His voice was barely above a whisper, trembling with dark amusement.
"Its weak point."