Chapter 148
Chapter 148
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: Underground Temple (3)
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“Prove your friendship.”
Barbason whispered, revealing the sharp fangs he had hidden behind his smile.
-Squirm!
At that moment, something writhed inside Haynes’s stomach. It moved as if it had a will of its own. Humming a cheerful tune, Barbason plunged his hand into Haynes’s belly. His hand sliced through Haynes’s abdominal skin as naturally as could be.
“Guhk……!”
-Squirm! Squirm!
-Chitter! Squeak! Squeak squeak!
The writhing in Haynes’s stomach intensified, accompanied by the sound of high-pitched squeaking. It was as if his innards had been replaced by a swarm of baby rats. Smacking his lips, Barbason rummaged through Haynes’s gut and seized the plumpest rat pup. It was so enormous that his hand couldn’t fully grasp its fattened body, and it thrashed with surprising vigor. Without hesitation, Barbason yanked the rat free.
-Haynes……!
In that instant, Haynes heard a voice calling him from beyond the haze of his consciousness. His mother. The voice of his frail, beautiful mother, who had always longed for past glories.
-Haynes. You are of noble blood.
-Yes, Mother.
-The glorious golden blood flows through your veins.
-Yes, Mother.
-Never forget. And remember. You are a proud descendant of Angsar.
-Yes, Mother.
Having lost his father young and forced to become lord at a tender age, Haynes had only his mother’s embrace to rely on. She would tell him tales of old Angsar, teaching him how noble his roots were. Though he now ruled only Dihid, she insisted he was the true heir to Angsar.
Haynes’s mother was a woman who had witnessed Angsar’s glory with her own eyes. A royal who had walked its golden streets before the land was cursed and the palace reduced to ruins. But after the gods’ curse brought downfall, she wandered from place to place, ultimately exiled to the remote backwater of Dihid—a fate she would never have tolerated in her prime.
-Haynes.
-Yes, Mother.
-Even if I die without seeing Angsar again, you at least……
-Yes, Mother.
-Please……
-Mother?
-…….
Haynes had inherited his mother’s lifelong pride and resentment. For her, who yearned for Angsar even on her deathbed, he swore to do anything.
‘I will reclaim Angsar.’
Was it in response to that vow?
Enough time had passed that he could have forgotten it. Haynes was now a middle-aged man, spending more days tending to Dihid than reminiscing about old Angsar or his mother. He was on the verge of making Dihid’s prosperity and its people’s welfare his entire world when,
-Haynes.
The ‘call’ began anew.
One deep night, as he pored over documents late into the hours, the voice he had forgotten whispered in his ear.
-M-Mother?
But piercing the veil of darkness was a figure drenched in blood. Its face was so caked in gore that he couldn’t tell if it was his ‘mother.’ Haynes approached to confirm. Chitter, squeak. The bloodied figure huddled, murmuring his name. Squeak, chitter, chitter. Haynes peered into the gore-streaked face. Squeeeak, chitter, screeeeech!
-……I am Barbason.
-Bar……bason?
-Your mother’s old friend.
-Mother……?
-The one who will fulfill your long-cherished wish.
-…….
-The one who will restore Angsar’s former glory.
-…….
-The guardian of the new Angsar.
-…….
-And your friend.
Despite the blood, Haynes could tell it was smiling.
-Spluuurt!!!!
-Chitter, squeak, chitter!!!
“Ah, it’s put on such fine flesh.”
Barbason grinned with anticipation, clutching the rat pup he had pulled from Haynes’s belly. Still lost in a dreamlike daze, Haynes panted without understanding what was happening. Barbason sized up the forearm-thick rat, then gaped his mouth impossibly wide. His jaw unhinged grotesquely, a long tongue dripping saliva licked the rat as if savoring it, wrapped around it tightly, and drew it into his maw.
-Screeeeeeeeech!!!!
-Crunch, crunch, crack! Snap!!
Even as the sounds of tearing flesh and shattering bone filled the air, Haynes remained unconscious. No, he looked serene, like a man dreaming sweetly, eyes closed as he leaned back in his chair.
-Crack! Gulp!
Having devoured the rat pup—no, a ‘fragment’ of Haynes—Barbason savored the deep satisfaction and gazed at him contentedly.
“Delicious as always, Haynes.”
“Gr…….”
“You truly are a good friend.”
“Uh…….”
“Then I must be off.”
“…….”
“With my belly full, it’s time to check on the rat pups in the underground temple.”
“…….”
“Ah, no. Not the rat pups…… The people of the new Angsar.”
“…….”
“For us!”
“…….”
“I am your faithful servant and true friend.”
Barbason wiped the drool from Haynes’s slack jaw, straightened his clothes, and rose. Soon, the squeaking of rats scurrying about filled the air once more.
Barbason was in high spirits. Haynes had sated him well. Perhaps he could nap briefly in the underground temple. Humming as he exited the castle, a crow alighted on his shoulder from somewhere. He checked the message tied to its lone ankle, then tore it free.
“I thought things were going too smoothly…….”
-Rip!
“For a ‘saint’ to set foot in Great Demon Barbason’s temple?”
Grinding his teeth with menace, Barbason flung the crow aside and stormed out of the castle with a grave expression.
* * *
We passed the prison sector, traversing the desolate underground dungeon. Only the ominous drip of water echoed occasionally; no signs of other people or monsters.
“W-What happens now……?”
Unable to bear the silence—or perhaps the fear—Connie finally squeezed out the question. I looked at him wordlessly, then glanced at El behind him.
“There’s a way.”
El caught on instantly and giggled. Connie’s face grew even more anxious as he turned to me.
“W-W-What’s the way, then?”
“No fun if I spoil it beforehand.”
“Theodor!”
He looked ready to cry if I teased him a moment longer. El was already stifling her laughter desperately. I chuckled lightly and patted Connie’s shoulder.
“Just kidding. Relax. Too much tension can ruin even a sure thing.”
“S-Sorry. But this is my first time with something like this…….”
I shrugged and surveyed our surroundings widely. Connie followed suit, looking around.
“No idea what they’re up to, but they haven’t finished preparations yet.”
“Y-Yeah…….”
“If they had, those people would already be perfect chimeras. They wouldn’t even be locked up like that.”
Connie shook his head vigorously, as if imagining horrors.
“Connie, as a priest, you know this. Doing this in Donar Temple isn’t just blasphemy—it’s inviting divine punishment. It’s not mere insult. If anything, it’s a declaration of war…….”
“…….”
“No mere human could pull this off. Humans instinctively fear the gods. So, what being would dare?”
“That’s…….”
“Those who mock the gods, defy them, seek to kill them.”
“……!”
“The devil is definitely involved.”
Too late to realize. I should have caught on sooner. Of course, even if I had, options would’ve been limited…… Damn, at least I’d have been mentally prepared!
Hints were plentiful. No matter their denials, this was a Donar Temple underground. Dimacushel roamed it like home not because he’d ‘recovered,’ but because his ‘kin’ had already claimed the turf.
‘Even in Ravata, those who summoned Porrasis were around.’
Demon summoning would plague the continent later. Yet Ravata and now Dihid. Demons appearing already……
‘……Things I don’t know are happening in places I don’t know.’
Definitely not good news.
In this world, no ‘unknowns’ were preferable. It made survival easier for me.
However.
My very existence was this world’s greatest ‘unknown.’
The sole variable in a world where all fates were predetermined.
So……
I’d gift them chaos as their ‘unknown.’
“Connie.”
I gripped his arm firmly.
“There’s something you must do.”
“Y-Yes?”
“Trust me and do it.”
“……!”
In this city, the strongest divine power wasn’t with Donar Temple’s high priest or senior priests. They were already defiled. Ironically, Dihid’s most devout was the novice priest Connie, who had fled Donar Temple.
“You trust me, right?”
Connie nodded with an innocent, bewildered look. I tried my best to smile reassuringly.
“What we need now is bait.”
In pitch-black darkness, even the smallest candle flame stands out. In a demon’s nest, even a fledgling priest draws eyes. That’s what I’d exploit.
Before Connie could reply, I shoved him into the shadows.
“Trust me, Connie.”