Selling Out the Extreme Martial Cult
Proposing to sell out the Extreme Martial Cult to Lee Chaerin.
I’d brought it up, but now that the words were out, I couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy.
“Now that I think about it, this might be too much to ask of you.”
Even though Lee Chaerin was originally from Earth, she had spent a long time as a member of the Extreme Martial Cult. Naturally, she would feel some sense of belonging and affection for them. Asking her to sell them out for a few cans of cola seemed excessively harsh.
“Nah? It’s not too much at all. I’m only in the Extreme Martial Cult for the benefits anyway.”
“I won’t take back the cola I already gave you, so you can put it down and talk properly.”
Lee Chaerin had tucked the cola under her arm in case I tried to snatch it back. She looked a bit embarrassed as she loosened her grip.
“Ahem. It’s been so long since I’ve had any that no matter how much I drink, it never feels like enough. Anyway. I’m really fine with this. If anything, I’d love to personally hand over information on the non-pure faction.”
Inside the Extreme Martial Cult, there were two main groups: the pure faction and the non-pure faction.
The pure faction, centered around the Pope and the Divine Martial Unit at the main headquarters in Monster Land, focused solely on honing their own power. They sought enlightenment and breakthroughs to higher realms through pure self-cultivation.
In contrast, the non-pure faction wanted to absorb various external powers to elevate their stages.
“A lot of the non-pure faction members do things that make you frown the moment you hear about them. I’d appreciate it if you could take care of those types for me.”
Since they were fellow cult members, she couldn’t fight them herself, but Lee Chaerin genuinely despised the wicked ones among the non-pure faction.
Of course, there were some in the non-pure faction who didn’t harm others and simply did their own thing, but most weren’t like that.
They massacred entire villages, performed vile grand rituals, and treated other people’s suffering like a joke…
“From what I know, there’s a guy named Gratan not too far from here. He keeps wiping out villages to perform these bizarre sacrificial ceremonies. His cruelty is so extreme that even other cult members can’t help but frown at it.”
What’s more, this Gratan fellow didn’t even properly follow the Pope’s orders.
After joining the Extreme Martial Cult and obtaining what he wanted, he had quietly performed his sacrificial rituals across the continent, which was why he now dared to ignore even the Pope’s authority.
“Does the Pope really just let someone like that run wild?”
“That woman isn’t particularly interested in such matters. She’s always busy obsessing over getting stronger herself.”
Respect for the Pope was something that naturally arose from the heart. It wasn’t forced by anyone. And the Pope herself didn’t particularly punish those who didn’t respect her.
She simply didn’t concern herself much with worldly affairs.
“Then why do I have to care?”
“You must be one of the few things that actually catches her interest.”
“······.”
I let out a sigh, and Lee Chaerin continued.
“Of course, even if the Pope doesn’t care, the Divine Martial Unit hates him. Guys like Gratan don’t even properly respect the Pope. I bet they’d all jump at the chance to deal with him themselves if the opportunity arose.”
That was why she felt no guilt about selling him out.
If anything, if I took care of him, she was even willing to thank me as a member of the Divine Martial Unit.
A man who had risen to quite a high position in the Extreme Martial Cult and was now performing all sorts of wicked rituals across the continent.
“What do you think?”
“Perfect.”
This was exactly the right kind of opponent for an Elder-level mission.
The Pope of the Extreme Martial Cult has taken an interest in the mage who tamed a drake!
“What?”
The moment Gratan heard the news his subordinate brought, he let out a snort of laughter.
“The Pope’s been holed up in Monster Land all this time. Has she finally gone senile? Spouting such nonsense.”
Even among the Extreme Martial Cult members who had deeply trained in taming magic and special secret arts, none had succeeded in taming a drake.
So how could such a mage possibly exist on the continent?
He had probably just heard some baseless rumor and shown interest. The fanatics below him must have—
“Well, I understand.”
Gratan waved his hand at the subordinate who had delivered the message, signaling him to leave.
The subordinate looked puzzled and asked,
“Lord Gratan. You’re not going to take action?”
“Do I look like I have time to move right now?”
Gratan had been preparing something for a very long time.
The Vampiric Stone—a treasure created by combining alchemy, sacrificial rituals, and blood magic!
It was on the verge of completion, so even if he had been a devout follower of the Pope, he wouldn’t have been able to move at a time like this.
“Why? Got a problem with that?”
“···No, sir.”
The subordinate bowed his head deeply and retreated.
He respected the Pope, but if he displeased Gratan, his life force would be sucked away and absorbed into the Vampiric Stone.
Just like the original residents of this village.
If he wanted to live long, it was best to quietly obey orders.
Fortunately, if he did so, he would receive a portion of the absorbed life force and grow stronger.
That was why a small number of Extreme Martial Cult members remained under Gratan’s command.
Gratan was an Extreme Martial Cult member whose notoriety had spread quite far across the continent.
If I took care of him, it would be more than enough to qualify me for an Elder position.
“He even killed an Elder from the Green Magic Tower, so that says it all.”
“That sounds incredibly strong.”
“He is strong. And troublesome, too.”
Gratan had learned a secret art that allowed him to steal the life force of others.
It was created by combining magic, martial arts, and alchemy with the secret techniques of the Extreme Martial Cult.
Thanks to that, he could drain the life force of every living thing around him. The power was immense, and the range was wide.
“Roughly a fifty-meter radius is his effective range. Any living creature inside that area—whether big or small—will have its life force stolen.”
“That’s a pretty big area.”
“Yeah. That’s why it’s incredibly annoying for someone like me who specializes in assassination. It forces you out of stealth no matter what.”
Maintaining stealth while your life force was being drained was impossible.
To endure it, the gap in cultivation would have to be so vast that the life drain wouldn’t work at all. But the difference between Lee Chaerin and Gratan wasn’t that large.
“So our strategy will be a pincer attack. You pressure him from the front first. You should be able to endure the life drain to some extent, and while you’re holding him off, you’ll still be able to cast magic.”
Gratan was the natural enemy of mages.
It was impossible to maintain concentration while having your life force stolen.
But since Lee Chaerin had fought me directly, she believed I would be able to manage it.
“And while you hold him from the front, I’ll close in as quickly as possible and try to assassinate him.”
“Is it really assassination if you just run straight at him and attack?”
“If an assassin does it, it’s assassination. And stealth ambushes aren’t the only form of assassination. Anyway, what do you think?”
“Fine. Let’s do it that way.”
I nodded.
In truth, I wasn’t sure if I could actually endure the life drain and still cast magic.
I should prepare a sword in advance, just in case.
If I couldn’t use magic, I would simply close in and fight with a blade. Since that had originally been my specialty, I was confident I could still pull my weight.
After that, the two of us headed toward the place where Gratan was hiding.
Even though a bounty had been placed on Gratan across the continent, only victims ever appeared while his location remained unknown. Still, since Lee Chaerin was a fellow cult member, she knew exactly where he was.
“This is it. I heard he wiped out a slash-and-burn village on this mountain not long ago and settled down here.”
Lee Chaerin frowned as she spoke.
“He’s probably performing another sacrificial ritual inside the village right now. Since he only keeps his direct subordinates with him, there shouldn’t be many of them, so it’ll be quiet. We should move as silently as possible too.”
“Understood.”
The two of us quickly climbed the mountain toward the former slash-and-burn village.
“Huh!?”
But when we arrived at the village where Gratan was supposed to be, the scene before us was completely different from what we had expected.
-Clang!
-Thud!
“How dare you touch the Count Kohort family! You heretics shall pay with your lives!”
A knight in full plate armor was rampaging through the village.
Despite his heavy appearance, he moved with surprising agility as he cut down the Extreme Martial Cult members.
Even the lowest-ranking cultists possessed a certain level of skill, yet he was dispatching them with ridiculous ease.
“This is troublesome.”
I frowned.
I needed solid proof that I had personally killed Gratan to qualify for the Elder position. That meant leaving traces with ice magic or capturing him alive.
If some nameless knight killed him first, all my efforts would be wasted.
“Let’s hurry.”
Lee Chaerin and I quickly approached the village. I unleashed a powerful strike.
-Craaaack!
-Boom! Boom! Boom!
An orb of ice formed above the village and exploded, sending countless tiny ice thorns raining down and sweeping through the cultists.
Startled by the sudden magic, the knight glanced back.
“Blue Magic Tower?”
The knight checked the color of my robe through the eye slits of his helmet and nodded in understanding.
“Are you here for the bounty or contribution points? Excellent. Would you care to join me?”
“Yes. I am Jun from the Blue Magic Tower.”
“I am Renard Kohort of the Count Kohort family.”
Renard welcomed my support.
He was confident he could wipe out all the heretics here by himself, but having a mage supporting him from behind would make things much safer.
Since I didn’t mind working together, I gladly accepted him into the group.
Lee Chaerin stayed quietly by my side, so he mistakenly assumed she was also a mage from the same tower. Without bothering to correct him, the three of us advanced deeper into the village.
The initial slaughter of the cultists had been brief. After that, the village fell silent.
Lee Chaerin whispered so only I could hear.
“There weren’t many cultists following Gratan to begin with. At this rate, he should have almost no subordinates left.”
Which meant the only one we needed to worry about was Gratan himself.
I nodded, but at that exact moment—
-Whoosh!
“!”
“!!”
A crimson aura erupted into the sky from a distance, then spread out in concentric circles, engulfing everything around it.
“Heh heh. Was this village a bit larger than usual? I tried to hide my presence, but I didn’t expect a proper knight and mage to show up.”
Gratan revealed himself with a relaxed expression.
“You killed all my subordinates. There weren’t many of them, and their abilities were mediocre, but they were still useful for gathering information. Tsk tsk.”
In his right hand, he held a blood-red gem that sparkled ominously.
“Still, thanks to these excellent sacrifices coming to me, this Vampiric Stone will become even stronger.”
Gratan continued speaking calmly, but both Renard and Lee Chaerin who were listening looked like they were in agony.
“It’s… hard to even breathe. What the hell is that artifact…?”
The powerful knight from before was gone. Renard was clutching his chest.
Lee Chaerin was in a similar state.
The life drain… is much stronger than I expected. Is it because of that thing?
As far as she knew, Gratan’s ability shouldn’t have been this powerful.
Right now, she wasn’t simply standing still—she was desperately resisting the life drain.
Renard was the same.
He was groaning in pain, and the sword he had been holding had already fallen from his grasp.
From the looks of it, the red gem Gratan was holding had dramatically amplified his power.
The plan is completely ruined. We can’t fight him in this condition.
The original plan had been for me to pin him down from the front while Lee Chaerin quickly closed in for the kill. But that was clearly impossible now.
Even I was probably struggling to endure it…?
“???”
When Lee Chaerin glanced sideways at me, her eyes widened in shock.
I was standing there with a perfectly calm expression.
“A-are you not struggling?”
“With what?”
“Right now. Resisting the life drain shouldn’t be easy.”
“Hmm…”
I pondered how to respond.
Right now, I couldn’t even sense the life drain at all.
I had only noticed because of the pained expressions on Lee Chaerin and Renard’s faces. Otherwise, I would have simply thought an enemy had appeared.
Why is this happening?
I couldn’t come up with a clear reason.
And Gratan had also noticed that I was completely fine.
He flinched in surprise and raised the Vampiric Stone high into the air.
“Vampiric Stone! Drain that man’s life force!”
As soon as Gratan shouted, the stone began to tremble with a low hum.
The blood-red energy pouring from the stone grew even more intense. Gratan grinned viciously.
While draining life force over a wide area was useful, focusing it on a single target made the effect far more powerful.
No matter how strong someone was, they shouldn’t be able to endure this!
At that moment, I casually extended my hand.
-Whoosh!
The Vampiric Stone flew straight into my grasp.