Mission Accomplished

When Gerald saw the pillar of light that had suddenly appeared, he was dazed for an instant, feeling a faint sense of unreality. But when the Short Fat Giant's weapon slashed into his arm, when he personally experienced its pulverizing destructive force, watched his arm turn to mush, and truly felt the pain and terror, he became absolutely certain:

All of this was real!

That melody was real!

The pillar of light was real!

And the Short Fat Giant that had descended from the pillar of light was real too!

It was not that he had not considered bypassing the Short Fat Giant and going straight after the three women. He had also suspected that the pillar of light, the murderous melody, and the Short Fat Giant wielding that strange weapon were all something they had created.

But the problem was, he simply could not get past it.

The Short Fat Giant's bizarre weapon was far too powerful. As long as it grazed him, bone and flesh would be shattered. Though its proportions made it look like a tree stump, it moved with astonishing agility, sealing off virtually every route he could take. Its weapon was like a precision-guided missile, firmly locking onto his movements.

Though the underground hall was not small, it was hardly spacious for Gerald and the enormous Short Fat Giant. Combined with the three-dimensional stone channels extending in every direction and connecting to the stone coffins, Gerald was soon forced back beside the central coffin. By then, both his arms had been sliced apart, one side of his head had been split open and was bleeding nonstop, and the giant mouth on his abdomen had been cut open at one corner, the gash reaching all the way to his armpit. Even its tongue hung limply outside,