Chapter 134
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 134
“What on earth is all this…?”
“There are people ahead.”
At Captain Samut’s words, everyone held their breath. The atmosphere around them grew as sharp as a blade.
I seemed to be the only one trembling at the sight of the vivid, severed limbs. The knights, and even Max and Grans, remained as still as statues, their composure returning after only a brief moment of unrest.
Only ten steps.
We had moved forward only ten steps in hushed silence, yet the dark surroundings suddenly brightened.
Like a train emerging from a pitch-black tunnel, the long, straight, dark passage finally came to an end.
“…….”
However, the vast space at the end of this long corridor was a literal hellscape.
“Save me, please save me…!”
“Mother, I’m sorry. Please don’t sell me, please…!”
“It hurts! It hurts…!”
The sounds of children begging for their lives.
Splattered blood.
The dismembered remains of human bodies.
The floor was so crowded with the corpses of dead children that there was nowhere to step.
“What in the world is all this…?”
Even the usually mischievous Max muttered in shock.
The area was brightly lit by torches hung throughout the cave.
In the center stood an altar, rising high like a sheer cliff with no foothold.
Directly beneath it, I saw a translucent sphere floating like a witch’s crystal ball, and I couldn’t believe my eyes.
To be precise, it was the seed-shaped item inside the sphere!
‘Wait, isn’t that the Rainbow Fertilizer?’
No, why was that item floating there as if it were sealed?
It was clearly drenched in an immense amount of blood. Red liquid was dripping steadily from the bottom of the sphere encasing the Rainbow Fertilizer.
Anyone could see that it was blood.
“Now, child. The time has come.”
“Save—save me…! Please save me!”
A scrawny child pleaded, but it was useless.
Mysterious adults, their faces obscured by hooded robes pulled down to their eyes, threw the child beneath the altar.
The child’s eyes were filled with terror and despair.
Yet, those in the robes showed no sign of guilt. Instead, they were smiling broadly, like primitive people slaughtering livestock for winter.
“An offering to our great Animus!”
“An offering to Animus!”
“Eternal faith!”
“Eternal faith!”
The cave was filled with the horrific, chanting voices of fanatics.
“O Animus, grant us the seed!”
“Grant it to us!”
‘The seed?’
In an instant, a word I couldn't ignore pierced my ears.
To anyone watching, the "seed" they were referring to was the Rainbow Fertilizer.
The item from The Milk Bread that I had come to find.
Those fanatics were here for the Rainbow Fertilizer too?
But why?
‘How did they know the location of that item and find their way here?’
My head spun so fast it began to ache.
A fanatic lifted the child, who was so emaciated they were nothing but skin and bones.
The moment he tried to plunge a dagger into the child’s throat—
I screamed.
“Save the child!”
Clang!
Simultaneous with my voice, the Captain’s sword flew through the air and knocked the dagger away.
“All units! Wipe out the heretics!”
“You are authorized to kill if they resist!”
“Save the children!”
Their movements were perfectly coordinated. With the speed of a professional army, the Frezier knights charged into the crowd of fanatics.
“Aargh!”
“Save me!”
“Do you think you’ll get away with this?!”
“You filthy butchers of the Spring Continent!”
I frowned and muttered, “Why are those bastards suddenly insulting the Spring Continent?”
“Do you think they came over from the Summer Continent?”
“Regardless, since this is Frezier territory, we must capture this heretical group performing human sacrifices alive.”
“Right, right.”
Max and Grans, who were sticking close to my side, spoke while keeping a sharp eye on our surroundings.
I agreed and scanned the area. Amidst the gruesome sight of blood, flesh, and bone flying everywhere, I saw knights evacuating the bound children to safety.
There were roughly a hundred fanatics.
The squad I had brought numbered exactly twenty-four.
The difference in numbers didn't matter.
Of course it didn't. These were the elites of the Frezier Knights.
Their opponents were merely blood-crazed fanatics.
‘But still.’
I couldn't understand it, and I was afraid.
The "crazy mystery error" from Jjapddongbyeol that had started again earlier, this bizarre human sacrifice before my eyes…
…And the fanatics begging for the seed.
It made no sense.
No, it was practically a lore contradiction.
In The Milk Bread, the setting for the ‘Rainbow Fertilizer’ was that the extinct elves had hidden it in a cave.
The setting stated that no human hand had touched it until Corico discovered it.
‘Then why are these people pouring blood onto that item in this exact spot!’
Furthermore, it was currently two years before the game even started.
Does that mean that I—no, the Corico of The Milk Bread—always progressed through the game using an item that these fanatics had soaked in human blood?
Why?
Why didn't the game tell me that?
‘…What on earth is going on.’
I couldn't organize my thoughts. Right now, I just wanted to fold Jjapddongbyeol in half, throw him against a wall, and stomp on him.
This is supposed to be a normal game, you crazy Jjapddongbyeol bastard!
A healing game!
A healing game filled with handsome boys!
No matter how much I screamed inside, Jjapddongbyeol was merely floating leisurely above my head today as well.
First. Okay, first.
Once the knights settle the situation, let’s grab that item.
The blood was horrifying, and I had a feeling the Rainbow Fertilizer was sealed.
It was just a hunch.
That’s why those fanatics were performing that strange ritual and offering human sacrifices to get the Rainbow Fertilizer.
‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to take that item safely, but…’
I might not have human sacrifices, but I have martial power.
I’ll just have the knights hack at the sphere surrounding the fertilizer until it breaks!
Even in my desperation, I was trying to hold onto my sanity by following these ridiculous thoughts, when suddenly—
[System] Sudden Quest Manifested!
Sudden Quest: <New Master>
Sudden Quest Objective: Climb to the top of the altar!
(Special Limited Benefit: 3 Protective Barriers granted)
On Success: Remaining Protective Barriers granted
On Failure: Everyone on your side in the cave will die instantly.
(Time Allotted: 5 minutes)
“Yaaaaaaaagh!”
I finally let out a scream full of resentment. Max, who had been guarding me closely, jumped in surprise.
“M-My Lady? What’s wrong?!”
Grans calmly approached and patted Max on the shoulder.
“She does this occasionally. It’s a chronic condition, so don’t worry.”
“A-A chronic condition? Suddenly screaming like that?”
Max looked at me with a face that said he couldn't make heads or tails of the situation—or more accurately, like he was looking at a madwoman.
But I was in no position to give a normal answer.
(Time Remaining: 4 minutes 45 seconds)
Because time was steadily ticking away!
I eventually ground my teeth and spoke.
“Grans! Max!”
“Yes, My Lady!”
“Yes.”
“Get me to the top of that altar right now! Move!”
“Pardon? My Lady?”
“What?”
“Hurry!”
And so, I scrambled up the altar.
Even then, the fanatics who saw me trying to climb the altar let out crazed screams as if possessed and tried to grab me by the hair.
They swung their weapons wildly as if trying to sever my head from my body.
The knights, who had been calmly handling the situation, also seemed quite flustered when I suddenly started climbing the altar.
“Lady Tulia! It’s dangerous!”
“Why on earth are you going up there?!”
I don’t want to be doing this either!
“I have to go up! Otherwise, we’re all going to die!”
“What?!”
No one understood my tearful shout.
Even Grans, who was used to my antics, was clutching his head as he watched me.
But elites were elites.
Captain Samut quickly shouted, “Protect the Lady and strike down the heretics!”
“Understood!”
“Understood!”
The towering altar was like a cliff.
There were stairs leading up, but they were stairs in name only. They were so narrow and steep that a person couldn't even stand properly to walk up them.
Consequently, not only I, but even Max and Grans, had to scramble up the steep steps as if climbing a precipice.
“My Lady!”
“Lady Tulia!”
Max and Grans, who were climbing the stairs right in front of and behind me to protect me, were eventually knocked down the stairs one after another while fending off the fanatics who were lunging like rabid dogs.
Because of that, I was the only one who successfully reached the top of the altar.
Oh, please.
‘Please, please, please.’
The smell of blood grew much thicker as I climbed. There were undoubtedly corpses or pools of blood waiting at the top.
‘Please, if there are corpses, let them be intact and not butchered.’
Please, let those lunatics have enough of a conscience to leave the bodies alone instead of desecrating them…
I prayed fervently as I stepped fully onto the top of the altar.
And at that moment—
“……!”
A fanatic who had been hiding swung a blade at me.