Chapter 94
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Yor Divided into N Parts #5
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「●● ●●●● Lv.37」
【─Offer a sacrifice to the master of the tomb─.】
A ferocious entity had taken over Sabrannik's tomb.
I'd wandered into the temple blissfully unaware and gotten smacked right on the nose.
‘That's why the stone wyrmlings and Erdarlings wouldn't come in here!’
The silver lining was that the monster before us was remarkably merciful.
It seemed like it would let the rest of us live if we offered up one of our own as a sacrifice.
A level 37 monster.
A godlike existence.
The fact that such a being was giving us ants a choice felt almost generous.
【Master of the tomb─.】
【Have you brought another sacrifice─.】
That's when more snake-humans appeared.
They had people clutched in their hands.
With coppery skin, bone helmets, and ragged leather clothes, they looked like the jungle's natives.
For a moment, I was shocked that people lived in this jungle of hatred─.
“G-Great master of the tomb... we offer our greetings!”
A boy who looked about middle-school age stepped forward.
His eyes gleaming with fear and reverence for the monster, he raised a rusty dagger high.
Then he approached the men who'd been dragged in with him.
“Ugh...”
“D-Don't... Mokusan...”
One was a fairly young man, the other an elderly one.
The men seemed out of it, like they were drugged.
“G-Great serpent... long live!”
The boy plunged the blade deep into their chests.
Violently, heedless of his own fingers getting sliced and dangling as the slippery knife slipped─.
The stench of blood was so foul it wrinkled my nose, but the ferocious thing laughed like thunder.
【─Satisfactory─.】
【─Mokusan of the Black Spear Tribe─.】
【─I bestow my blessing upon you for offering your father and brother─.】
The tomb's master extended a hand toward the boy.
Then something bizarre happened.
“Uh, uhhh...!?”
Crunch, cruuunch─.
The boy's bones and body began to twist, scales sprouting across his skin.
At the end of this sudden transformation─.
─Grrr rumble...!
The boy had become a drake!?
“...No way the drakes we killed were...”
Hermit breathed heavily, visibly tense.
The snake-humans poked the drake's hindquarters with spears and snickered.
【Too bad, you're a dud.】
【Not just anyone can join our bloodline.】
【Worthless fool!】
─Grr...
The drake that had been a boy got beaten like an unwanted foal by the snake-humans.
Its sad eyes turned toward its father and brother before it finally fled the place.
‘Fuck, what the hell is this!’
It was a spine-chilling event all around.
I now clearly understood what this ‘sacrifice ritual’ meant.
‘I like drakes and all, but I don't wanna become one myself!’
【─Offer me a sacrifice─.】
The tomb's master demanded a sacrifice from us once more.
‘Whatever we pick, it's a losing choice!’
The pressure was immense.
In a whatever-happens-I'm-outta-here mood, I boldly declared,
“...We'd like a moment to decide who gets the honor of sacrificial death! Great master of the tomb! Could you grant us just a little more time? Just a smidge!”
Even terrifying idols could be reasoned with.
Maybe I could negotiate with this one...?
As that thought crossed my mind, the fiend spread its fingers.
【─Offer two sacrifices─.】
Fuck! Two sacrifices now.
At least my persuasion had bought us a delay.
#
#
In a corner of this horrific sacrifice chamber.
Our hard-won strategy time.
Felix grabbed me by the collar.
“Hey! You released the stone wyrmlings and went on about getting some ‘night flower’ or whatever, and now we're all gonna die!”
“Felix, you bastard!? You loved farming Ether too! We enjoyed it together, so why blame me now!”
“Everyone, stop fighting.”
Hammer stepped between me and Felix.
Then she sighed─.
“If someone has to be sacrificed, I'll do it. As party leader, it's my responsibility, and since I'm cursed anyway, better to go out meaningfully.”
How was Hammer such a big-hearted person?
That's when Hermit quietly said,
“I... think I know who that monster is...”
“...For real!?”
Figuring out the enemy's identity might let us break this situation.
As we all turned to her, Hermit pulled a book from her waist and said softly,
“It said it itself. Master of the tomb. And that's the truth!”
Master of the tomb?
This tomb was Sabrannik's bones.
So that thing was really Sabrannik?
As I reeled in confusion, Hermit pointed to a page in the book.
“...Here it is!”
"Idol of Death, Master of the Tomb – Derzurak Kroom Kruahi"
"Death, tombs, crescent and new moons, decay, snakes, evil dragons—Kroom was symbolized by many things."
"Worshipped by evil druid shamans in ancient times, it expanded its influence. Their priests proved their faith through human sacrifices to please the idol."
"But it was deceived by the Evil Dragon, losing its name, most powers, and faith, falling into ruin. The Evil Dragon claimed Kroom's faith as its own, growing its power and earning the title of one of the Three Evils."
"In the year 102 of the founding, after the druid persecutions ended, worshippers of Kroom vanished entirely from the Empire."
Even in this situation, reading the book made me drowsy.
As I just blinked, Hermit summarized like a kind teacher.
“Kroom, an ancient idol, stole Sabrannik's Evil Dragon faith, using it to gain worship and grow its power.”
Sabrannik stole Kroom's faith and grew.
Then Kroom stole that grown faith back.
“So what do we do?”
As I pondered for a good plan, Hermit asked me,
“Can't you contact Sabrannik?”
“Nope!”
Fuck! Sabrannik!
You send me to this evil place and then ghost me.
Unforgivable.
I was tempted to convert to this tomb master faith myself.
“Probably some interference spell. The whole snake temple must have magic blocking other idols' intrusion or intervention. There'll be a totem! If we can deal with that─.”
“How?”
“It's an idol Sabrannik already tricked and defeated once, so if we can just contact it, wouldn't it tell us a weakness or something?”
Ooooh! Solid thinking!
Please let that be true!
Otherwise, we're all dying here or turning into drakes.
“The problem is... how do we slip out and find the ritual totem...”
As Hermit glanced nervously, Felix sighed.
“I'll buy time. About 10 minutes.”
“Felix, you?”
My hair stood on end.
In this situation, buying time meant only one thing.
Throwing himself at that level 37 monster and its guards to die.
Suddenly, something hot surged inside me.
Who knew Felix had that kind of sacrificial spirit.
“...Felix! Want me to give you a kiss or something!”
Felix clicked his tongue at my offer.
“No one else can do it, so I'll do it. Not out of some grand sense of duty.”
I wondered how Felix planned to buy time against a level 37 idol Kroom.
The gap was bigger than ant versus elephant?
“Master of the tomb!”
Felix advanced toward Kroom.
As I watched anxiously, Hammer grabbed my shoulder.
“Yor, don't worry about that guy. We just do our part!”
“...Really?”
“Yeah!”
Hammer's trust in Felix ran deep.
“I offer myself as sacrifice to you!”
Shing─! Felix drew a red, eerie sword and gripped it backward.
Then he thrust it straight into his own gut.
Squelch─!
It was seppuku, like I'd seen before.
“─Guhhh.”
Even mighty Kroom seemed drawn to this mad scene.
【─Offering yourself as a burnt offering─.】
【─Foolish child─.】
Kroom sounded impressed.
Its scales shivered with thrill, making the air rumble.
But Felix didn't die.
“...Come forth.”
He collapsed to all fours on the ground.
Then his body twisted─and swelled, clothes and flesh ripping as it ballooned in an instant.
Crunch, crack, snap─.
His form warped into something no longer human, grotesquely.
It looked agonizing, and Felix screamed for real.
“Gaaaaah! Uwaaaagh!”
Arms and shoulders sprouted beastly fur, a sharp raptor eye filled his left face.
Wings of bird and insect on his back, goat horns and teeth in his mouth.
A massive maw grew on his belly, wailing horrifically.
━Th─aa─!
Reality faded into the surreal.
‘...That's Felix!?’
The monster Felix became yanked the sword from his gut.
Shuuua─.
The blood-soaked blade, now wrapped in pulsing crimson to match his gigantic form.
Just looking was terrifying.
【...K...Kill it!!!!】
【Heresy!!!!】
The snake-humans lunged at Felix.
Like their instincts rejected it outright.
Slash─.
Monster Felix swung at them, and their bodies split like fish on a cutting board.
Slicing level 17 snake-humans in half with one stroke—what destructive power.
Watching, tomb master Kroom marveled.
【─The end of one devoured by myriad idols─.】
【─What did the fool seek to drive himself so─.】
Kroom rose from its seat.
【─Pity─.】
【─Had you become my vessel, any desire would be yours─.】
【─Rash greed has ruined the vessel─.】
As the two monsters faced off, tension stabbed my guts.
Then Hammer shook my shoulder.
“Yor!!!! We gotta move!!!!”
“...Hammer! What the hell is that!?”
“Second time I've seen it, so I don't know much! Whatever, if we stay, we'll get caught in it!”
I snapped to.
I wanted to watch the monsters fight, but now wasn't the time.
While everyone was distracted, we bolt from this place!