"This...this battle has grown way beyond our abilities, hasn't it?"

^Yup.^

I...I can't tell if I'm relieved over that fact, or disappointed that it has come to this.

"Little bit of both, really."

^Aye...^

When the rebel forces of the [Mines of Malevolence] agreed to go to war with Dante and his kaijin, they had done so with an optimistic yet realistic mindset.

They knew damn well that they were probably not all going to make it to the end of the day, because that was the nature of war.

Even if one side had the most perfect tactics and the most obvious advantage in terms of weapons and numbers, casualties were inevitable on either side.

One stray shot, one unforeseen factor, was all it would take for someone to die an unexpected death.

And unfortunately for the rebels, they were on the side with the most severe disadvantage.

This is why they went with a surprise attack, made up for their lack of raw power with pure tactics, and made sure that their champions, the ones that could make a difference, were in the right place at the right time.

But then...everything went to shit, in multiple ways, in rapid succession.

The kaijin suddenly developed the ability to summon demonic weapons, the fucking overseer somehow gained the ability to summon monsters out of nothing but corpses, some other warrior calling themselves the true Kaijin Lord showed up and started whaling on the Overseer, and then everything went absolutely sideways when the main cavern's floor collapsed and the Overseer attempted to drown everyone in demonic tar.

Only for all of this to be rendered moot when the true Kaijin Lord somehow brought back the previous leaders of the rebellion as kaijin, which was immediately followed by them getting extracted from the deadly tar pit thanks to a bunch of paper cranes, all of which was then followed by the Overseer somehow transforming into a chimerical ultimate Kaijin that was hellbent on eating everybody.

Drip.

The appearance of the so-called true Kaijin Lord actually wasn't that bad, given that this weirdo was apparently on their side, and not everyone actually knew that the Gallop Brothers were the reincarnated Gallum Brothers, but still…this was a really crazy-ass day.

Drip. Drip.

On the plus side, the rebels could feel that this battle was reaching some kind of conclusion that was in their favor. All they had to do was survive long enough in order to…in order to…to…huh.

Drip! Drip! Drip!

^What the fuck?^

As the rebels began to muse about a better tomorrow, a sudden rainfall of black tar stole away their attention.

^Did those psychos up there finally break through the ceiling or something? Why does this rain look so...weird.^

"I don't know...but looking at it makes me feel like...giving up."

^On the rebellion?^

"On... everything..."

... Foreshadowing is a bitch...

[What's the matter fat ass? Can't catch a couple of horses?] Pehasoar continue to taunt as he and his brothers made sure to stay just out of arm's reach.

^WAH!^ Dante yelled as he lashed out, but fail to derive any satisfaction. ^Stand still and die already!^

[Fuck you, no,] Depth Strider answered for the groupbas he swung down a pair of spears in order to chop off an overextended limb that Dante failed to retract in time.

'Well this is going better way better than I expected it to go,' Zhen Liu admitted to Nepherage as he helped her get extracted from the wall. 'To be completely honest, I thought the Gallop Brothers would be the get sent flying into a wall by now.

[That has been the trend this time around,] Nepherage agreed while going through that aforementioned situation.

'Right?!'

[Also, here's your Taboo back, milord. My instincts are telling me that you're going to be needing this soon.]

'Ominous, but I'll trust you on that.'

[Do you think I'll have a chance to wield it during this fight?] Blazejudicator asked while still acting as Zhen Liu's [Stigma].

'Lets hope that's not the case. This battle is starting to drag.'

Since Dante was focused on killing the Gallop Brothers, Zhen Liu, Blazejudicator, and Nepherage had the rare opportunity to take an actual break for once and catch their breaths.

They weren't even afraid of being attacked by anymore of Dante's kaijin at this point either, because the only ones left were the defeated ones that were lying about and seconds away from becoming Dante's next meal, or Arbalest who...who...huh.

'Now that I'm thinking about it, where is that porcupine kaijin?' Zhen Liu asked Nepherage and Blazejudicator. 'I figured he would come in and die in a blaze of glory or something by now.'

[He's not connected to your senses yet?] Nepherage asked.

'No, but I figured that was because he's—'

[Ugh! Fine! If you insects won't stand still, then I'll just force you to be still!] Dante roared as he began to circulate [Chaos] throughout his gooey body, causing it to roil and bubble.

[Storm of Disgust!]

'What the—'

Before Zhen Liu could even finish asking his question, Dante suddenly popped like he was oversized zit.

'EW!'

[Step back Executor!,] Blazejudicator warned Zhen Liu. [That rain is a potent cocktail of Chaos, cursed energy and Disgust!]

'What the fuck, what does something like that even do?!'

As luck would have it, Zhen Liu wasn't going to need an explanation in a couple of moments, because he was about to feel it on a firsthand basis.

Due to the encompassing nature of Dante's attack, all three of the Gallop Brothers were caught up in this deluge of doom.

[What the hell?]

[This stuff feels gross!]

[Why am I feeling...slower...]

The Gallop Brothers initial reaction to this rain was that of a physical nature. Their bodies began to slow down to the point that even a turtle could outrun them in a race.

Then, as this rain continued to fall on them, the brothers could feel that their very [Cores] were starting to get buffered and battered by wave after wave of [Despair] and [Disgust] that threatened to dislodge their [Cores] if they didn't make an active effort in pushing back against the assault.

[What the fuck?!]

Needless to say, the trio weren't happy about feeling this way.

And to make matters worse, Zhen Liu could feel all of this and more due to using connection to the aforementioned brothers.

'Oh fuck...'

[Milord!]

At this moment, Zhen Liu felt as if he had eaten overly greasy, undercooked food that was accompanied by the screening of a movie that was so terrible that the audience willingly took out their own eyes in order to never be mentally scarred ever again.

And this was after he started using [Chaos] to try and push back against the cursed energy.

It sort of worked.

'Holy shit, this is...bad,' Zhen Liu observed once he managed to get the initial nausea to go away through sheer force of will. 'How the hell is someone supposed to...wait...oh fuck!'

As Zhen Liu realized that he was having trouble countering this weird [Chaos] attack, he also realized that the people below, the rebels, were definitely unqualified to deal with this bullshit.

And he wasn't the only one to notice this.

Dante was initially going to just attack the Gallop Brothers, slaughter them, then focus on taking out the other Kaijin Lord and his remaining kaijin once he cemented the numbers advantage.

However, moments before doing so, he sensed the growing aura of [Despair] and [Disgust] building up below his feet.

More specifically, coming from the cavern full of injured, worried, and scared little slaves.

[This feeling...it's...empowering...]

Dante knew full well that [Malevolent Gold] was refined and enhanced by the presence of human suffering, which was why he encouraged his kaijin to torture the slaves as much as they wanted.

However, he didn't even realize that the kaijin themselves also gained power from the act, due to the nature of their [Cores]. Or at least, he didn't appreciate this little factor of his kaijin before embedding their [Cores] into himself.

[Of course...of course!] Dante screamed in delight and realization. [You righteous types tend to fight as well as you do only when you have something to fight for. Then, if I were to take away that something, you lot would fall into despair and be easy pickings!]

As soon as he made this realization, Dante began to descend into the lower caverns with murderous glee in his eyes.

[It's time I make your little revolution entirely pointless!]

[No!]

...

^Oh, this isn't good.^

"Mom? Mom! Get up, please!"

^Dad...I feel...really sad. Everything is...going dark.^

^Its okay, it's okay, daddy's here...^

As soon as the black rain began to fall, an unnatural feeling of hopeless began to fill the cavern.

A feeling so strong, people started collapsing.

The first people to be affected were the sick, old, and very young.

Next, were the injured warriors who had participated in the fighting.

Lastly, it was all the people who tried to help everybody else.

Misery loved company after all.

And things were about to get way worse.