Gratz frowned. Beyond the roughly torn scraps of cloth, the moment he saw the exposed lower body, his eyes twisted unpleasantly.
"......You bitch, no... is it you, bastard?"
Between the splayed legs, something that definitely shouldn't have been there was attached.
"You bitch... are you really the Hero?"
"Hmph... I, I... really don't know... I'm not a Hero or anything like that... Please... please just spare my life... Rather... to that woman..."
The strange woman, possessing both male and female genitalia, pointed with trembling fingertips at Marienne, who was lying bloody on the ground, and choked out her words.
Gratz sighed. He had found the Hero as his mother had instructed, but what was this? It was a bizarre hybrid, neither man nor woman.
'How am I supposed to impregnate something like this...?'
He sighed as if grumbling, then soon bent down again, seemingly intrigued. He slowly spread the legs with his fingers.
"How peculiar... It has a dick, but it also has a pussy."
Gratz muttered lowly, and slowly lowered his fingertips. His hand burrowed into the gap between the trembling thighs as he spread them.
"Anyway... my mother's command is to impregnate the Hero. If there's a hole, it'll work out somehow."
Gratz lightly tilted his head, and gripped his own squirming lower part. That monstrous object was already fully prepared, and now all that remained was to thrust it into his prey.
"Bear my child, Hero!"
"Hieek...! N-no... I don't want tooo...!"
The blonde woman shook her head, her face drenched in tears, but Gratz was unhurried. Just as he was about to force her legs open and push his dick in, the woman resisted, flailing her trembling arms.
A clumsily extended fist struck Gratz directly in the face.
"Kuk...?"
Gratz reflexively turned his head, but at that moment, a pattern flashed brilliantly on the back of her hand, where there had been nothing, and Gratz, touched by that light, screamed.
"Kuaaaaaaak!!!!"
As if imbued with sacred flames, an intense power, unlike ordinary fire, pierced Gratz's flesh.
"Aaaaaaaah!!"
Gratz, baring his teeth, frantically clutched his face and stumbled backward. Starting from his face, his entire body was engulfed in flames.
Marienne, who had been watching the scene from afar, dragged her bloodied body, staggering, towards the woman.
"...You, you need to get out of here quickly."
She said, panting.
"Hmph... My legs... they're too scared to move..."
At the sight of the woman sobbing with eyes full of despair, deep wrinkles formed on Marienne's forehead. In a situation where her entire body was drenched in blood, her ribs were cracked, and she could barely breathe, she gritted her teeth and cried out.
"You... you said you were the Hero! Do something!"
"Hieek... I, I'm not the Hero..."
"Haa..."
Marienne gritted her teeth and lowered her body. Then she roughly pulled up the fallen woman's arm.
"Just move for now. I'll help you."
"Y-yes... Yes..."
The two of them started running into the darkness once more. From behind them, the smell of burning flesh accompanied by flames and the monster's ferocious roars could be heard.
***
Marienne could no longer endure. Her entire body was covered in blood, and her breath was so ragged it felt like it would stop.
"Haa... haa... Look... you should escape on your own now... I can't go any further..."
She leaned against a tree and collapsed onto the ground.
The blonde woman also collapsed onto the ground, panting.
"Hmph... hmph... I want to... haa... But... my legs... they hurt too much..."
Marienne gritted her teeth.
"Damn it..."
-Thump... Thump...
He was approaching again. Roars could be heard from a distance, along with the ominous smell of twisted flesh.
Marienne's vision blurred.
"Or... that thing from before! The moment it touched his skin, he burst into flames! Try using that again!"
At Marienne's cry, the blonde woman shook her head, her face tear-stained.
"How it happened... I don't really know either... It just, a pattern suddenly appeared... and that's how it happened... And ever since I used it... I can't put any strength into my body..."
At the woman's trembling words, Marienne let out a deep sigh.
'I shouldn't have foolishly followed her out of bravado...'
Her body was a wreck, and her mana was depleted. Yet, the fact that she was about to be raped by that filthy, smelly monster, in a situation where she hadn't even had much sex with the Marquis... felt incredibly unfair.
'Damn Hero...'
Her gaze swept over the blonde woman beside her. The being called the Hero, chosen by the Goddess-nim.
But the person before her was unclear whether they were male or female, and a useless human who was just crying in fear.
'Why on earth... did the Goddess-nim choose someone like this?'
However, she wasn't even given time to think further. From a distance, with another monstrous roar, Gratz's beast-like aura was approaching.
Gratz shouted.
"Females, prepare yourselves. I will plant my seeds in your wombs every single day-!"
Marienne propped herself up with one hand on her sword and stood. The more she heard Gratz's words, the clearer her mind became. Even if it meant fighting to the death, she could not be raped by a monster like that.
'Even if I die like this... not by that monster...'
She gathered the last of her internal energy into the hand gripping her sword.
***
Marienne, dragging her broken body, was only staring at the sky. From a distance, a horrifying sound could be heard...
"Hweeeeng... Orc-nim's dick...♡ It's amazing...♡"
"Unlike its appearance, it's quite a useful hole. Hero."
The sounds of Gratz's massive body violating the blonde Hero continued to be heard.
'...What was I trying to protect something like that for...?'
Marienne gritted her teeth, but no sound came out due to her broken jaw. The bones throughout her body were broken, and she couldn't even move a finger.
"Ung-aaaaang...♡ Dick... it's too deep...! It's poking all the way into my bellyyyy...♡"
The Hero, who had been embracing the Orc's neck with pleasure-drenched eyes. No, that being, now nothing more than that, had lost their mind to Gratz's violently moving dick, like an animal, and was writhing their body.
'Disgusting...'
The sight of her belly, bulging round as if pushed by the dick that felt like it would burst inside... was literally grotesque.
And then.
"Haaaaaaah──!!!"
-Splurrrrrrt!!
After the Orc's waist trembled, his large, hideous penis, still deeply thrust inside, poured out semen.
"Ooooooh...♡ Cum inside meee...! Dick... you filled me up with your dickkkkk♡"
The Hero's belly gradually, convexly... swelled up into a deformed shape, as if six months pregnant, and was distended to the point where the skin was stretched taut.
Gratz, drenched in deep pleasure, gasped for breath with his mouth open. And then... immediately after ejaculating, his massive hand inadvertently gripped the Hero's waist.
-Crunch.
"......Huh?"
A strange sound was heard. The next moment, the Hero's eyes rolled back, and their body went limp.
Their waist was completely crushed. Gratz, without realizing it, had lost control of his strength in his excitement.
Gratz tilted his head as if bewildered. The Hero's body, crushed by his hand, plunged into the pool of semen with a thud.
"......Hero?"
Gratz blinked his unfocused eyes as if dazed, and stared at the blonde corpse sprawled on the ground.
"......Hero. Answer me."
Gratz flinched and took a step back.
"......D-dead...?"
After a brief silence, a being flashed through his mind like lightning.
"......Th-this is bad...!"
Gratz's breathing became ragged. He had finally captured the Hero he had searched for so long, and the moment he thought he had succeeded in breeding, he had extinguished their life with his own hands.
"If... Mother finds out about this..."
Gratz frantically embraced the blonde corpse and began muttering.
"Ah, maybe... maybe I can still restore them... The body is intact... The hole is still alive... I put the seed in... Maybe...!"
Muttering like that, he embraced the broken corpse.
Marienne, who was watching that scene, whispered coldly.
'......Serves them right.'
Since the Hero was dead, it was now her turn.
Rather than be violated, she would die. She came to that conclusion herself. To bite her tongue, she gathered her last remaining strength to set her teeth.
But at that moment.
"......K-kua...!"
At the Orc's scream, Marienne reflexively turned her head.
There, from the dead Hero's body, a light beyond imagination burst forth like an explosion. As if a galaxy of shimmering particles had poured out from the stars in the sky, a brilliant and fantastical vortex of light spread out from the Hero's corpse, covering the sky.
The dazzling light soon split into several strands and scattered, and one of those light rays flew in an arc and precisely pierced Marienne's chest.
"......Ugh?!"
Marienne's eyes widened. The particles of light that had burrowed into her body moved like living organisms, rejoining broken bones and stitching torn flesh.
'What on earth is this....'
This was not simple healing. Her body was being reconstructed as if from scratch.
Wherever the light passed, her muscles solidified more firmly than before, her bones became as hard as metal, and even the blood flowing through her veins boiled hotly.
Flesh surged, nerves sharply awakened, and her body was now transforming into something entirely different.
And most of all-
'Power... it's overflowing....'
Energy surged like an explosion from deep within her Dantian. An overwhelming power she had never felt before flowed through her entire body.
And at that moment, echoing from deep within her mind, was an alien yet overwhelming voice.
[Annihilate the Demons]
[Kill the Demons]
[Kill them]
[Kill them]
[Kill them]
[The Demons-ye@!%#@!!]
A sound that echoed from deep within her consciousness, as if gouging at her brain. That voice continued to be heard, repeatedly, then at some point, it ceased.
Marienne slowly rose to her feet. Her movements were so light it was hard to believe she had been on the verge of death just moments ago.
"Grrr...."
Gratz was also looking at Marienne with a bewildered expression. This was because he had witnessed some of the light from the Hero's corpse flow into her.
"Did she... absorb the Hero's power?"
Marienne looked at her own hands. A faint light shimmered at her fingertips. A subtle glow, as if holding starlight, pulsed beneath her skin.
'This... is the Hero's power?'
She picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground. The moment her fingertips touched the blade, the entire weapon was enveloped in dazzling light.
"Kukuku... Even better."
Gratz's eyes were once again stained with greed and lust.
"The dead Hero's pussy was honestly tasty, but its bizarre appearance made me feel uneasy... The heavens are helping me."
Gratz's thick lips twitched as he twisted into a smile.
His monstrous body stomped the ground with a thud. It was a prelude, as if he was about to enjoy the next round.
In response, Marienne quietly raised her sword horizontally.
The aura surrounding her was different from before.
The Hero's power and her internal energy mingled, swirling like a storm within her body.
The two disparate energies clashed, and at one point, it was agonizing, as if her insides were tearing apart, but now they were perfectly fusing as if they had been one from the beginning.
Her heart pounded fiercely, and a fierce energy flowed beneath her skin, reviving all the sensations in her body. Her Dantian expanded, her blood vessels thickened, and every single muscle seemed to breathe.
"Don't even think about touching my body, you ugly thing."
Marienne's voice was cold and resolute. Golden and crimson lights flashed alternately in her eyes.
"Uhahaha! So you gained the Hero's power, what can you, you bitch, possibly do?!"
Gratz roared and swung his mace. The massive mace cut through the air and flew towards Marienne.
-Clang!
Marienne's sword flashed and lightly parried the mace.
"What?!"
Gratz's eyes widened. It was surprising enough that his mace was blocked by her sword, but what was more shocking was that cracks had begun to appear on the mace.
-Crackle...
Unable to withstand the blow from the sword imbued with the Hero's power, the massive mace was slowly splitting apart.
"This... damn it!"
Gratz threw away his mace and charged with his bare hands. But Marienne was already preparing her next attack.
"Too late."
As she swung her sword widely, a deep wound was carved into Gratz's chest.
"Kuaaaak!!"
Gratz screamed and stumbled backward. The wound, which had started on his abdomen, was torn open and gushed blood. However, his regeneration, which usually healed quickly, did not work at all this time.
"Th-this... no... my regeneration...!"
His eyes trembled with fear.
A blow imbued with the Hero's divine authority. That power seeped deep into the wound, completely sealing off his abilities.
Marienne approached silently. On the blood-soaked ground, she slowly advanced, raising her sword.
"-Die."
"Ieek! Don't underestimate me!"
Gratz swung his arm like a final struggle. But Marienne's sword had already sliced through Gratz's neck.
-Slaaash!!
The massive body collapsed futilely.
"Hoo."
Without even a moment to catch her breath, Marienne immediately raised her head. She began running at full speed towards her allies, where a fierce battle was still ongoing in the distance.