“Help me! They’ve gone mad!”

The young lady around the age of early twenty with a purple dress frantically ran as fast as she could. She saw Gen and his party, then she ran towards them.

“Help, they are attacking me!”

Gen, Mia, and Aria were stunned by the bramble engraving on those men’s foreheads. This was the first time they saw humans, regular humans, not beastmen, goblins, or other creatures to get brainwashed by Endless Entity.

They hesitated at first, then Gen glanced at Mia and Aria, “Try to subdue them. Aria, try to bind them with your snare. They didn’t seem to be armed nor having any magical affinity. Mia, use your healing to that young lady!”

“YES!”

Gen asked his system, “Dragun, let’s go.”

“Yes, Master Gen!” Dragun shouted. The gauntlet started shining in bright golden color.

“Activate strength mode!” Gen commanded, and the gauntlet automatically reshaped itself and turned into a big gauntlet, a lot bigger than Gen’s hand. But Gen didn’t seem to be bothered by its weight.

Gen dashed towards the woman and then grabbed her hand. He flung the young lady towards Mia and yelled, “MIA!”

“YES!” Mia raised her staff and chanted, “With the power of the holy father, grace me with your light to protect the one in need!”

Mia’s staff shone, and a light sphere engulfed the lady that Gen just flung towards her. The lady then landed on the ground safe. “Miss, I will heal you slowly. Just stay still!” Mia said.

“T—Thank you.”

Gen looked at these people who went mad after they were turned into Endless Entity’s dolls. “How horrible. That evil god turned these men into his plaything…”

“Be careful. It is impossible for humans, angels, elves, and dwarfs to get brainwashed without the intervention from the Bride or Groom of Endless Entity,” Dragun said.

“Bride or Groom of Endless Entity?”

“I thought they were extinct after the Holy Father defeated Endless Entity. It turns out, some of them still survived through centuries. I will explain more later, but you have to fight them first.”

“Okay,” Gen calmly stared at the brainwashed men who rushed at him, trying to attack with their bare hands. After they were close enough, Gen smashed the earth with his gauntlet and creating a shockwave that shook the land beneath those men until they lose their balance.

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“Aria, snare them!” Gen yelled.

“Sure!” Aria, the elves jumped high and landed on a branch. She drew her bow and shot the land beneath their feet.

The arrow exploded once it came in contact with the earth and opened a net that snared all of them.

“RAARGH! ARRGGHH!” These brainwashed men continued struggling restlessly. But the net was too heavy for them to lift. Gen and Aria approached these men and tried to reason with them.

But the moment their feet were close enough to these men, they tried to grab Aria’s leg. Aria quickly stomped a hand that tried to grab her leg.

Gen and Aria stared at each other, “Can you do something about this, Dragun?” Gen asked.

“Hm… I’m sorry. But I can’t. Bramble engraving created by the bride or the groom of Endless Entity is permanent unless there is someone with a high light magic affinity to purity them,” Dragun replied.

“Then, how about Mia?” Gen and Aria turned their heads, staring at Mia, who was busy healing the young lady.

“She has the talent to be a Priestess, but her current skill isn’t enough. She wouldn’t be able to purify these men,” Dragun replied again.

“Then what can we do? How about taking them to the nearest holy shrine or church?” Aria asked.

“That’s impossible. These kinds of engraving will need at least a Holy Priest or Priestess. And they’re only in the Holy Capital of Rionel, a holy kingdom in the west,” Dragun said.

“Maybe we should—“ before Gen uttered his suggestion, the brainwashed men suddenly shrieked in pain together.

“AAARRGGHHH!”

Aria and Gen were surprised. They jumped back in reflex. They saw the bramble engraving in those men’s heads shone bright purple and slowly cracked like a shell.

“ARRGGHHH!” They screamed in pain as Gen and Aria watched something so horrific happening in front of them. They saw those men’s bodies suddenly cracked and then split in half.

The net that ensnared them exploded the moment horrific monsters suddenly crawled out of their heads. A giant centipede, cockroach, and spider with a human face on their body spawned in front of them.

“Save… me…”

“Heeeelp….”

Gen, Aria, and Mia got cold feet when they saw this horrific scene. Because those faces actually talked, as if they were in agony.

“G—Gen… I don’t think we can save them at this point….” Aria said. She gulped and jumped to a branch as she was more of a ranged fighter. But when she jumped, the spider suddenly shot up web towards her.

“Aria, watch out!” Gen warned. Aria landed on the tree and propelled herself again, barely avoided the web. The web hit the tree, and it exploded.

Aria and Mia watched in horror while Gen turned serious. This was out of his expectation, but he should be able to fight these monsters. They were technically just powered up giant insects.

But what disturbed him was the human faces on these insects. They were calling for help, even though it was obvious that they couldn’t be saved anymore.

“Is there any other way, Dragun?” Gen asked.

…

Dragun knew his Master’s upright moral. Albeit very serious, Gen Toshifumi would never kill humans or other creatures that didn’t attack him.

But these monsters were no longer human.

“There’s no other way, Master,” Dragun replied.

Gen gulped. He had been transmigrated here as the hero for almost three months already, and he never hurt humans. The worst he did was just scaring some bandits who dared to ambush him.

But he never killed a human.

‘Are they still considered human? But they can still talk and even beg to be saved….’ Gen was busy with his dilemma that he didn’t realize the giant cockroach rushed at him.

BOOM!

Gen was stunned when an arrow hit the roach’s body and exploded, but it wasn’t enough to harm the cockroach, only to hinder it for a moment.

Aria yelled at Gen, “Don’t just stand there, you idiot! We will be eaten by them!”

“Master, it’s time to fight,” Dragun also urged.

Gen gulped, and he clenched his fist. He took a deep breath and nodded, “Alright, Dragun. Let’s go, Balance mode!”