Chapter 84: What’s Inside Their Heads?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 84: What’s Inside Their Heads?
“Now then, let’s head down to the Underground City.”
We gathered in front of the Transfer Stone.
The moment we entered the 5th Floor, we would be transported to the Central Section.
The heretics knew this as well. In short, the moment we warped into the Central Section, they would pour every ounce of firepower they had into a carpet-bombing ambush.
“Sasaro, Paramel, and I will go in first.”
The Saintess’s plan was simple.
No matter what tricks they had prepared, we would crush them.
The Saintess would enter first to establish a barrier in the Central Section, followed by Paramel and Sasaro to dismantle the heretics’ curse magic.
Raphael, whose skill in Sigil Magic was relatively lower, would follow them, and finally, Rosier and I would make our entrance.
“In any case... their numbers are the same as they were thirty years ago... Seeing as they’re still using Corpse Golems, for which the strategies are already well-known... I can pretty much guess their level...”
Paramel, the Recorder, seemed to have finished his rough assessment of the heretics while descending to the 4th Floor.
Based on the data compiled by previous Inquisitors, he had perceived that they were still stuck in the same place they were thirty years ago.
“Well then, see you in a bit.”
The Saintess activated the Transfer Stone.
Soon, she descended to the Underground City.
Sasaro, Paramel, and Raphael followed her through the gate.
Only Rosier and I remained.
“I’ll go ahead.”
“Yes. I’ll be right behind you.”
Rosier stepped through the gate.
Now it was my turn.
As soon as Rosier entered, I followed immediately.
With the sensation of my body floating, my blackened vision soon returned to light.
“Porter, get down!!”
The moment I warped in, Rosier shoved the back of my head, slamming me into the floor.
Unable to react properly to the sudden move, I face-planted into the ground.
“Are you crazy...?!”
I felt like my nose was bleeding.
Why on earth did Rosier do that...?
But when I lifted my head, I saw the reason.
If I hadn’t ducked immediately, my head would have been blown off.
‘Those are...’
Before my eyes stood the missing adventurers, packed together alongside monsters. They were launching long-range attacks at us.
The Saintess was in the middle of a confrontation, blocking most of their attacks while protecting us from the adventurers who were firing arrows, crossbows, and magic from a distance.
The Central Section was a scene of utter chaos, just as I had imagined. No, it was far worse than I had anticipated.
There were many more than expected. There were roughly ten times the number of monsters Paramel had estimated.
Something was wrong. If the heretics’ schemes were the same as thirty years ago, they shouldn’t have been able to move this many monsters.
Their techniques had become more sinister and potent.
How should I process this? I shouted to find Paramel, who should have warped somewhere in the Central Section.
“Paramel!”
“H-Here!!!”
In the distance, Sasaro was protecting Paramel while engaged in a skirmish with the heretics. They were quite far away.
Even further off, Raphael was shouting at the top of his lungs as he dealt with the swarming monsters alone.
I could immediately see the Saintess fighting brilliantly, but I had only just managed to pinpoint the locations of the other Inquisitors.
Everyone was spread quite far apart. What was even more serious was that the brainwashed adventurers and the wild dogs of the Plaza Section were rushing toward us before we could even regroup.
If we had brought adventurers of Gold Badge rank or lower as our main force, they would have been swept away by this nonsensical monster wave.
The fact that we came as a small elite group was the only reason the chaos wasn't worse.
“You damn mutts!!!”
Packs of Hati, Gulun, and even Garum.
They didn’t even fight each other; they charged at us as if possessed.
I immediately pulled an axe and shield from my inventory. I couldn’t just run away like I used to.
CRASH—!!!
Rosier’s morning star pulverized the head of a charging Hati, sending crushed flesh flying everywhere.
It was monstrous strength. An overwhelming power that didn't pale even when compared to Raphael, who was of Barbarian blood.
Soon, the muscles in her arms bulged. She had been hiding this kind of strength?
“Hyaaaa!!!”
Rosier let out a battle cry and began swinging her morning star, beating the wolf-cubs to death to keep the Hati pack from reaching me.
“Bark! Bark!!”
Of course, it was impossible for her to handle this many dogs alone.
There were simply too many monsters to begin with. Roughly ten times the number we had expected were flooding in.
“Shit...!!”
I swung my axe at a charging Garum.
The axe, aimed at the neck, accurately severed the creature's head from its body.
I blocked the blood splattering toward my eyes with my shield and faced the next one.
I made full use of the axe techniques I had learned from Gon at the Martial Arts Hall.
I pushed back the charging dogs with my shield and took the opportunity to strike their heads.
“Awoooo!!!”
After throwing an oil bottle at the corpse of a Garum whose skull I had split, I kicked a torch on the ground to ignite it.
It flared up. The flames catching on the dog’s body illuminated the dark Labyrinth a bit more brightly.
Beasts fear fire.
It was time for the oil bottles to do their work.
I started throwing them in all directions to set the place ablaze.
“Uwaaaa!!!”
Pushing back those lunging at my shield, I pulled oil bottles from my inventory with my right hand and hurled them.
Then, I set them on fire.
I took firewood from my subspace pocket, lit it using the burning dog corpse, and threw it toward where the oil bottles had landed.
The wild dogs retreated to avoid the flames.
Taking that chance, I shouted toward Paramel.
The biggest threat right now wasn't the monsters.
It was the adventurers hiding among the monsters and using their Abilities.
“Paramel! Are those people brainwashed?!”
“I don’t know! It doesn’t look like brainwashing... O-Oh no! It’s Hobgoblins!”
“Dammit! They sent so many!”
Paramel said they didn't look like they were brainwashed. While he was trying to find a solution, a horde of Hobgoblins stormed into the Central Section.
Those heretic bastards were endlessly funneling monsters from the Underground City into the Central Section.
The party, who hadn't expected their control over the monsters to be this high, was busy trying to block the surging monsters and the rampaging adventurers.
They had definitely used some kind of trick. To control this many monsters in such a short time? Could it be...
Did they dominate the alpha entities and then command the monsters under them?
No. That wasn't what was important right now. What really mattered were those adventurers hiding among the monsters, aiming for our throats.
‘Damn, there has to be a way.’
If it were a mental interference curse or black magic, Paramel’s counter-curse could have snapped them out of it, but he said that wasn't working.
Given that most of the heretics’ techniques were stuck thirty years in the past, there was no way Paramel couldn't break them. No, even if their tricks had evolved, there was no way the Goddess Church’s countermeasures, which had evolved even further, wouldn't see results.
That meant they weren't under the influence of the heretics’ sorcery or black magic.
“Ugh... Uwaaaa!!!”
The adventurers were swinging their weapons while shedding tears.
Their eyes were telling us. This wasn't their will.
However, the Saintess was scattering death indiscriminately, and a large number of adventurers with crushed skulls were dying off.
‘There’s... there’s got to be a way...’
There had to be.
If they weren't brainwashed. Then...
‘It means it’s the work of a monster.’
Memories suddenly flashed through my mind.
Among them, two types of monsters that were said to have appeared after the Great Cataclysm came to mind.
‘Doppelgangers and Skinwalkers.’
Two types of trap-style monsters that had newly appeared in the Underground City.
Doppelgangers were those that copied a target’s appearance exactly to deceive adventurers.
Skinwalkers were the type that took over an adventurer’s body.
Which one was toyed with the adventurers right now? It probably wasn't Doppelgangers.
Doppelgangers only mimic appearance and voice; they don't have the power to copy Abilities.
Then the answer must be Skinwalkers. It was said that Skinwalkers, who directly take over a body, can even use the Abilities possessed by the adventurer.
Suddenly, a part of the Underground City strategy I had heard the day I bought Olivia came to mind.
It was said that Skinwalkers were insect-type monsters that appeared in large numbers.
Since they were insect-type monsters, what if we used the Bug Repelling Blessing? Yes, I think Olivia said something similar.
If you burn herbs that repel insects and make them smell the scent, the main body of the Skinwalker crawls out through the ears or nose.
Pests that look like long centipedes.
However, I wasn't in a position to pull out herbs and use them on every single adventurer right now.
The heretics were pressuring us with a monster wave, and the adventurers were also squeezing us using their Abilities.
I needed a simpler and faster method.
“Rosier! Can you use the Bug Repelling Blessing?”
“Huh? No!! That’s too minor!!”
Rosier was currently confronting the adventurers controlled by Skinwalkers.
She said she couldn't use the Bug Repelling Blessing.
Because it was a minor Sigil Magic. It seemed she hadn't bothered to learn it.
‘Raphael can only use Sigil Magic for self-buffing or healing. Sasaro is probably the same. The only ones left are Paramel and the Saintess.’
Paramel was someone who researched all kinds of Sigil Magic, sorcery, and black magic, so it was likely possible for him.
And the Saintess was a walking manifestation of Sigil Magic herself.
I shouted toward the Saintess, who was rampaging through the High Orc horde and the adventurers-turned-Skinwalkers.
“Saintess! Use the Bug Repelling Blessing! There are bugs inside the adventurers’ heads!”
A strategy I came up with based on the advice Olivia had given me.
If there’s a Priest or a Druid, they can drive out Skinwalkers through insect-repelling sorcery or Sigil Magic.
It would definitely work. Since they were bugs that could even be driven out with herbs, using the Bug Repelling Blessing would surely make them leave the adventurers’ bodies.
The Skinwalkers themselves were pathetic monsters. They were like parasites that entered an adventurer’s head through the ear and settled in the frontal lobe.
It was the stolen body of the adventurer that was strong; the Skinwalker itself was something you could stomp to death.
“Bug Repelling Blessing? These are traitors consumed by the heretics!!!”
“No!!! Saintess! Please!!!”
But the Saintess had already lost it.
The more the Bible in her hand drank blood, the more fanatically she swung her weapon.
“Kueeeeek!!!”
“Die!!!”
The Saintess leaped into the air and fired clusters of light in the shape of swords toward the High Orcs.
In an instant, over a dozen were torn apart and killed, and the adventurers preparing to attack from behind them were also swept away.
This is driving me crazy. I can't get through to her. The Saintess has already tasted blood and has slipped out of my control. To begin with, she was currently holding off most of the monsters alone.
I had to change who I was asking. The Saintess was the most proficient in Sigil Magic, but she was currently only screaming about purging heretics.
“Rosier!”
“Yes!”
“We have to support Sasaro and Paramel! Those adventurers aren't heretics! They’re people who have lost control of their bodies to monsters!”
The Hobgoblins from the Ruins Section of the Underground City were currently swarming toward Sasaro and Paramel.
I had to help them and buy time for Paramel to use the Bug Repelling Blessing on the adventurers.
“I’ll clear a path! Follow me!”
Understanding my intent, Rosier hoisted her morning star and used Sigil Magic.
“Flash!”
A brilliant light flared.
The adventurers charging toward us faltered and stepped back.
“Run!!!”
I ran with Rosier toward where Paramel and Sasaro were.
Monsters were howling in every direction.
Running and running to avoid them, we finally managed to regroup with the two.
“Paramel! Bug Repelling Blessing! The adventurers aren't brainwashed! There are bugs in their heads!”
“B-Bug Repelling Blessing?!”
“Yes! Quickly! You have to use the Bug Repelling Blessing on the adventurers! It’s a chaotic battle anyway, so we need to make them attack the monsters instead of us!”
Rosier, Sasaro, and I stood as if guarding Paramel, facing the approaching Hobgoblins.
Soon, Paramel began to stammer out the incantation.
If only we could get the bugs out of the adventurers’ heads.
The situation would change drastically.