Chapter 10: Dungeon Sex (3)
Chapter 10: Dungeon Sex (3)
The purpose of the cultists taking over the dungeon is clear.
It is to break the seals placed by the Good Gods and liberate the armies of the Evil God they serve.
To achieve this, they attempt to erode the power of the seals through all sorts of bizarre rituals.
“Eating human flesh is also part of such a ritual.”
“Like a human sacrifice?”
Carla, who had ultimately settled for munching on a honey-glazed apple instead of a meat skewer, tilted her head.
“Similar. Strictly speaking, it’s not about offering the person, but offering the act of eating a person itself.”
Confused Unity.
That is the Evil God associated with appetite.
Because of this, monsters that follow Confused Unity are specialized in eating things, and the Authorities granted to their believers share the same context.
“I’ve learned about this at the Academy. You’re talking about monsters with intense gluttony, like Sand Worms or Slimes, right?”
“You know your stuff. As expected of the valedictorian.”
“Hehe… hehehe.”
“Well, you’re my slave now, though.”
“Ugh….”
Carla’s face busy-bodying between joy and gloom.
As I chuckled at the sight, Carla asked back in a timid voice.
“Um… Master? It’s not that I don’t trust you. Absolutely, absolutely not. But… should I say I don’t trust myself? I mean, what I’m trying to say is….”
“Just be honest.”
“There are not only monsters but also cultists… are you sure I can really clear this…?”
Had her confidence dropped while receiving slave education? Or was she overestimating the dungeon and the cultists?
Either way, I didn’t like it, so instead of answering, I gave Carla’s butt a light swat.
Slap.
“Kyaah!”
Carla jumped in place, quickly covering her buttocks.
People were already glancing at her because of her new equipment, but when she screamed, their attention became fully focused on us.
Whether she was ashamed of being hit on the butt in front of so many people, Carla hung her head low, her face flushing bright red.
I kneaded her butt and pulled her toward me.
“Shh. We were in the middle of an important conversation.”
“M-Master, you hit my butt….”
“What? So you’re saying it’s my fault?”
“A-Ah, no! It’s definitely my fault! I’m so sorry…!”
I had only made a slightly mischievous joke, but Carla shook her head vigorously in denial.
No, that wasn’t all.
Wiggle, wiggle.
Though the movement was awkward, she was actually clinging to me while shaking her hips.
Seeing Carla naturally rubbing her buttocks against my hand, the corners of my mouth twitched upward.
She asked to be loved, and now she’s even learned how to act coquettish.
“Ahem. Then that’s fine.”
Pat, pat.
When I patted her butt to show I understood, Carla finally gave a relieved smile.
Shall we get back to the main point?
“Anyway, Carla, even though I said it’s fine, you’re still anxious? How insolent.”
“Ah, t-that’s… I intended to follow your orders properly! Really!”
“Big Mouth.”
“…Pardon?”
“This dungeon is a wetland field, and the primary monsters are Big Mouths. I’ve already identified the boss’s location, too.”
A Big Mouth is a giant frog-type monster with an abnormally developed head.
Thanks to that, it can swallow prey larger than itself in one gulp, and its entire body is covered in a special mucus, giving it strong resistance to pure physical attacks.
Looking at it this way, it seems like a fairly strong monster despite its ridiculous appearance… but its danger level is lower-middle at best.
That’s because the Big Mouth has a very distinct weakness.
Heat.
As long as you can hit its vital spot accurately, it’s a monster that can be killed even by low-grade fire magic.
For a mage, there could be no easier opponent.
If there’s one problem, it’s the vast interior of the dungeon and the sheer quantity of monsters filling it… but I already know the boss’s location.
That means there’s no need to get lost, nor will we run out of mana fighting trash mobs.
Carla gulped, as if her thoughts had reached that far.
“Master, how do you… N-No, if it’s as you say, I think we can manage somehow. But the cultists….”
“Don’t worry, someone else will take care of them. Well, a few might slip through, so you should watch your back.”
“Aha? Do you have a collaborator, Master?”
Carla looked around, trying to find this collaborator.
Poking her in the side, I pointed toward a nearby street stall.
“First, fire some magic at that skewer stand over there.”
“…Pardon? Ah, so that person is the collaborator. I should use a messenger spell, right?”
“No? That guy is a cultist. Those are human meat skewers.”
“……?”
Carla looked back and forth between me and the stall with confused eyes.
It sounds like a lie, but it’s the truth.
Right beneath that stall is an altar to Confused Unity.
It’s a structure where every time a customer buys and eats a skewer, they unknowingly offer the sin of consuming human flesh to Confused Unity.
…You couldn’t even guess just by looking at the surface.
“First, fire a Fireball. As slowly as possible, and don’t aim for the stall or the owner—aim to collapse the ground beneath them.”
“Ugh….”
Carla hesitated for a moment, glancing at me, but soon raised her staff as if she had made up her mind.
I thought I might have to issue a command if necessary, but it seems that won’t be needed.
“O Flame, ignite.”
A short, two-line incantation.
Whoosh.
A large fireball bloomed atop Carla’s staff.
Instead of being fired immediately, the flame continued to consume mana and swell in size, drawing the attention of the people around us.
Fire is a threat easily understood even by those ignorant of magic.
A brief silence. Then, chaos.
“Magic…? In the middle of the city?”
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“R-Run! The Guard! Call the City Guard!!”
The people nearby began to scatter in a panic.
Except for one person.
The owner of the skewer stall.
“Tsk…!”
Realizing our objective, his face contorted violently.
If he retreated, the floor would collapse and reveal the altar; even if he tried to endure it with his body, it was uncertain if he could withstand the impact of the Fireball.
The power would have increased proportionally to the mana Carla poured into it.
In that case, there was only one best course of action for him.
“Aaaaaah—!”
The stall owner opened his mouth wide. Wide, and wider still. His jaw unhinged so far it practically reached his chest.
Seeing the range of motion that surpassed human limits, Carla’s expression hardened.
To her, cultists were the root of all evil—the ones who corrupted her father and reduced her to a slave.
In a way, it was a natural reaction.
Well, it’s quite ironic that she later becomes the Saintess of the Evil God… but that future won’t happen.
Because I’ll make sure of it.
While I focused my mind on the necklace containing Shield magic just in case, the cultist’s mouth, stretched to its limit, began to twitch as if trying to bite down on something.
Is it Void Feast? Simply put, it’s a long-range bite.
If he closed his mouth like that, a chunk of Carla’s flesh would be torn away.
The magic she had spent time casting would either dissipate from the shock or explode right where she stood.
But that didn’t happen.
Because Carla’s magic was one step faster than him closing his mouth.
“Accelerate. Fireball.”
An activation word added with an extra line.
The Fireball, which had grown to three times its original size from the continuous mana infusion, shot forward at an insane speed.
Fwoooooosh!
Before the cultist’s mouth could even close halfway, he was engulfed in the explosion.
Without even time to scream, the cultist turned into a lump of black charcoal.
However, Carla’s magic did not lose its momentum even after completely incinerating the enemy.
After all, Fireball isn’t a single-target spell. It’s an area-of-effect spell.
BOOM!!
A deafening explosion.
With a single spell, the stall vanished without a trace. All that remained in its place was a large hole leading to an underground passage.
“Whoa….”
Surprised by the power beyond my imagination, I reflexively looked back at Carla.
“Hic.”
For some reason, Carla was hiccuping with an even more surprised expression than mine.
Hey, you can’t be the one surprised.
“Mashta… hic. This staff is amazing… hic.”
“…Didn’t you use even better staves back when the Lindelheit family was intact? Even if that one is expensive, it’s at a level you can get as long as you have the money.”
“There were good staves in the house… but they said it would hinder my growth and forbade me from using them until I graduated from the Academy….”
I think I get it.
If the equipment is too good, one might mistake the equipment’s performance for their own skill.
Since she entered the Academy to learn, they probably meant for her to focus on learning.
Perhaps Carla’s skill is even greater than I thought.
Nodding, I looked down at the ground where the heat still lingered… into the large hole pierced in the center.
Far in the distance, I could see a repulsive altar made of unidentified meat and bone. And a strange shimmering situated a little distance away.
Just as I expected.
With a smirk, I gave a flick to the forehead of Carla, who was still staring blankly at her staff.
Flick.
“Hiyat!”
“Snap out of it. We need to get in quickly before the cultists figure out what’s going on.”
“…Yes!”
The drop is quite deep, but not so much that we can’t jump.
Clutching her forehead, Carla regained her serious expression, and together we threw ourselves into the underground.
Thud.
“Ugh.”
Carla grimaced at the sight of the altar, which looked much more disgusting up close, but soon spoke in a cautious voice.
“Um… Master? If there are no other party members or collaborators, who is going to deal with the cultists who will swarm here later?”
“The City Guard.”
“Pardon…?”
“The people who ran away earlier must have reported it to the Guard. The Guard will fight in our stead.”
“…….”
Carla tilted her head with a look that said, Is this really okay?
What of it?
Gepp City belongs to the Levantine Empire, and the Levantine Empire is the country that most strictly rejects cultist activities.
Not only did we reveal the existence of cultists hiding underground, but we’re also going to succeed in clearing the dungeon.
“They should actually give us a reward for this.”
I reached out toward the shimmering behind the altar.