Chapter 109
Chapter 109
Chapter 109
Cult Apophis (4)
While the branch manager went to meet the Countess, Rudian and his party infiltrated the castle's underground.
Rudian asked Gray as they descended.
"Do you know the three things that wealthy people in power desperately want to obtain?"
"Magic?"
Gray's simple answer made Luciella sigh.
"What kind of answer is that from someone who's supposed to be a magician?"
She gave Rudian the answer he wanted.
"Youth, eternal life, and greater power."
"Correct."
Since ancient times, if there were those in power who conspired with cults, the absolute majority coveted the above three things.
Especially in this world, where obtaining youth and eternal life was relatively not difficult, many people in power rejected existing religions that advocated for virtue and fell to cults.
"Power aside, do you know how they obtain youth and eternal life?"
"Usually it's achieved by sacrificing others. That's the type evil gods like most."
"You know well."
While it was possible to offer treasures or artifacts enchanted with high-concentration magic, what the evil gods who desired chaos in this world liked most as offerings was the sacrifice of human lives from their own kind.
Luciella realized Rudian's intention behind asking such questions.
"You think there are sacrifices down there."
"People usually hide their most precious things within their reach."
It was a hasty assumption, but he wasn't saying this based on mere suspicion alone.
"I definitely feel something alien down there."
"You mean the feeling of your senses being blocked at a specific point?"
None of the current party members failed to detect this much.
They all noticed that something was far below as soon as they entered the underground.
Elvin frowned and said.
"It feels similar to when we entered the catacombs."
"But this seems much more evil than that time?"
The eerie atmosphere. The oppressive air.
These two were similar, but unlike that time, there was something more viscous and sticky.
The castle's underground was definitely too wide and deep to be considered an ordinary storage area.
"They dug underground almost as deep as the castle is tall. There's no way the outside wouldn't notice such construction?"
"They must have used evil magic. Even if not that, it's not like there are no other methods."
"It's getting more and more suspicious?"
"Quiet. There's a barrier right ahead."
Rudian felt a special membrane that couldn't be perceived visually and stopped in place.
'It's not a physical barrier?'
-That's correct.
According to Adi's analysis, it was a simple trap designed to send an alert inside the moment someone crossed the line.
"The guys who set this up must be quite confident in their power?"
Gray also seemed to notice the general structure and smiled mockingly.
"The level isn't very high. No, it's just crude. At most 4th class? Looking at the multiple magic patterns, it feels like they barely managed to set it up with a few apprentice magicians?"
"Probably so. The opponent isn't a magician after all."
If the opponent had been a group of black magicians, they wouldn't have created such a clumsy barrier.
"Even so, we can't let our guard down."
"I know."
The barrier was immediately dispelled with a few gestures from Gray.
The cult's magic level probably wouldn't even notice that the barrier had been tampered with.
The party simply crossed the barrier and proceeded inside.
Not long after, something caught Rudian's sharp senses.
"There are people."
"Not just one or two."
They could feel the presence of at least dozens of people ahead.
No matter how much they used Diablo's stealth ability, it wasn't complete invincibility.
If they tripped over a trap or gap, they would be discovered without mercy.
The party held their breath and slowly headed inside.
As they moved forward, the path gradually widened until finally a wide space like an altar appeared.
And as they entered that space.
"P-please, save me, save me...!"
"God desires your soul filled with pain."
STAB! STAB!
"Ahhhhh! Kill me! Please kill me!"
"Ugh! Urgh!"
The sharp stench of blood and the smell of rotting flesh.
And the screams of those whose voices had become hoarse.
Rudian and his party lost their words as soon as they reached what could be called the center of the underground.
"Th-this is...?"
"Are they all human?"
Around the altar, something that appeared to be human was hanging on the entire wide wall.
The number was at least over a hundred.
None of those hanging on the wall were breathing, and all had their limbs grotesquely broken, resembling decorative items.
'This isn't something they started doing just a day or two ago.'
And seeing someone dragging a freshly made corpse to embalm it, Gray, the youngest of the party, finally couldn't hold back and vomited.
"Urghhhh!"
"Who's there?"
Immediately, dozens of eyes turned toward them.
Elvin desperately suppressed his anger and gritted his teeth.
"Have these cult bastards strayed this far from humanity?"
"Most who serve evil gods are like this."
Rudian looked around with cold eyes.
From the clothing of those hanging on the wall, he could guess their status.
"They only kidnapped those like adventurers or mercenaries, people whose disappearance wouldn't cause much talk."
"Rudian, I trust you won't say we should just leave them be."
At Luciella's words, Rudian quietly shook his head.
"Of course not."
Though he could feel evil energy from those before them, there were no skilled fighters among them that the party needed to be cautious about.
"Sweep them all away before the big fish arrives."
"H-how could you come here without getting caught in the barrier?"
"Ask that to the mother who birthed you in death, you bastard!"
Elvin launched a fiery insult as he leaped into action.
The fact that Elvin, who usually spoke like a gentleman, was reacting this way meant he was enraged to the very top of his head.
Following Elvin, Luciella also drew her greatsword while emanating cold energy.
"Are you okay, Gray?"
"D-damn it, how could I show such disgrace..."
Gray tried to manage his expression and clenched his teeth.
"......"
"I won't forgive any of those bastards!"
Instantly, flames erupted in both of Gray's hands.
The flames spiraled and gradually grew in size, then transformed into a giant wave that began to engulf the cultists.
"Wait! Carelessly lighting fires in this underground...!"
"Do you think I'm acting without any thought? Survival!"
Gray simultaneously cast flames and activated an artifact with survival spells, applying them to the others.
This prevented the smoke from the flames from affecting their allies.
What followed was a one-sided massacre.
"Oh Apophis!"
"God's hammer upon these heretics!"
"Who's calling who a heretic right now!"
Luciella, who had been desperately holding back her anger, finally exploded.
"Not only do you mercilessly kill innocent people, but you also humiliate them like this?"
"Wait! If you come any closer, this guy's life is...!"
"Do you think such hostage tactics will work?"
Several cultists held blades to the survivors' necks and threatened them, but Luciella handled her sword with great precision and simply severed the necks of the cultists who were threatening her.
In an instant, over ten cultists lost their lives, but the remaining ones showed no intimidation at all and rushed toward Elvin and Luciella.
"Apophis will guide us to paradise!"
"Kill the heretics!"
From the surviving cultists' entire bodies, murky energy began to flow out and eventually formed tentacle shapes.
Rudian saw this and quickly warned his party.
"It's deadly poison imbued with divine power! It's dangerous even if it just grazes you, so absolutely don't let it touch you!"
Gray, who had been enthusiastically shooting fire, said.
"What about detoxification magic?"
"Counter Act Poison would work."
Counter Act Poison was an 8th class spell.
"Damn, then what attack works efficiently against those tentacles?"
"Stronger fire."
"Simple and good!"
The evil god Apophis they served was also a god of deadly poison.
The natural enemy of poison is usually fire.
"But if we increase the firepower here, all the corpses on the wall might burn up too. Don't we need evidence when we deal with that countess bastard?"
To accuse a noble requires more than just ordinary physical evidence.
This isn't a democratic society after all.
Unless there are nobles among the survivors, their testimony alone has limitations.
"It doesn't matter."
But Rudian shook his head.
"This is ultimately enemy territory. Evidence we can't take with us is meaningless."
Given just a moment, destroying evidence would be very easy.
And if they presented this scene as evidence, what would likely come back were the spears and swords of private soldiers.
"And our target is those cult bastards, not the Countess. We can easily crush a mere Countess with our power."
"That's true."
"We can't help those who are already dead. Just save as many survivors as possible. As long as they're alive, we can manage somehow."
"Okay."
There weren't many who still had breath, but their testimony alone would be sufficient.
With both ducal houses and Rudian stepping forward, just that would make replacing the lord of Southwood very easy.
Gray steeled his resolve and increased his output.
"Then, I should give rest to those who died unjustly."
WHOOSH!
Gray's hands moved gracefully, drawing formulas made of straight and curved lines.
It was a spell that was still impossible to activate with pure skill alone, but Gray's item power was enough to easily surpass a expert class level.
That formula was formed into a shape symbolizing great conflagration and began to manifest into reality.
"Burn everything to ashes, Inferno!"
As soon as Gray's shout erupted, Elvin and Luciella, who had been fighting fiercely, cleverly retreated.
And Inferno's flames filled that empty space and struck the cultists directly.
ROARRR!
"Kaaahhh!"
"Hot!"
"Water! Water!"
Even when they swung their tentacles, the tentacles themselves burned and melted.
The power of individual believers couldn't stop the flames of Inferno, a 7th class fire magic.
Immediately, acrid smoke began to vibrate along with the smell of burning flesh.
In less than 10 minutes, the bodies of all the cultists guarding this place had become charcoal.
"It's fortunate the interior is so spacious, otherwise we would have suffocated to death."
"What about the survivors?"
"Only three people were alive. I gave them emergency treatment, but it'll be difficult without proper healing."
Turning his head slightly, he could see those who had been tortured to rags lying sprawled like corpses.
Normally, they should have avoided combat and taken these people to a temple, but...
"Since we've caused such a commotion, they'll naturally notice."
"They're coming."
Naturally, whoever was managing this place would come soon.
"Waahhh! Wh-what have you done?"
Sure enough, a strange figure appeared at the entrance, screaming, whose clothes bore embroidered patterns far more elaborate than those who had been here.
'...An archbishop!'
Rudian recognized the pattern of a three-headed serpent and immediately identified the enemy's identity.
And following behind, two more strange figures with serpents missing one head embroidered on their clothes appeared, creating a standoff situation.
"Grrr, grrraaahhh!"
"C-calm down, Archbishop!"
The two bishops who appeared behind the archbishop shouted urgently toward the archbishop who was trembling and writhing.
"We understand your anger at the evil deeds these heretics have committed."
"But if you waste your strength now, all our efforts will be in vain."
"What's with them, why are they so panicked?"
The party was puzzled by the sight of the two bishops excessively pacifying the archbishop.
"Calm down!"
"Calm down!"
"Huff, huff...!"
With the bishops' continued soothing, the archbishop barely managed to regulate his breathing and straightened his back.
"D-damn heretics. Be grateful that this place is underground."
Rudian ignored the archbishop's words and turned his gaze to Gray.
"Gray."
"What, brother?"
"Say 'Apophis bastard.'"
Gray tilted his head but followed Rudian's instruction without much question.
"...? Apophis bastard."
"Kaaahhhhh!"
At that moment, the archbishop's body, unable to contain his rage, began to swell rapidly like a balloon.