Rootless Bastards
As the sound of approaching guards reached them, every woman in the prison—including the one who had been speaking to me only moments before—flattened herself against the floor and began to tremble violently.
“Eek……!”
“Ugh-hhhk, please, please…….”
I instinctively yanked the ragged robe tight over my head and lowered my gaze as well.
Shit, better hide for now. I still have to stay alive, don’t I?
Thud—
Thud—
The guards snickered as they strolled at their leisure among the prostrate women.
“Let’s see… which bitch should we drag out today to put the Administrator in a good mood? The ones we took last time broke in less than a day, so we’d better pick a proper one this time.”
“Just grab whoever. Once you kill the lights and toss them on the bed, they’re all the same hunk of meat, right? The Administrator cares more about a tough hide than a pretty face anyway.”
“And if she dies on him? You gonna die in her place?”
“Heh-heh-heh, well, not that.”
Their cackling laughter was no different from the low, vulgar growls of beasts.
I risked a sidelong glance. Their appearance was a complete spectacle.
They wore dark, gloomy garments that called to mind black priestly robes, yet the grotesque, bulging muscles straining beneath them were swollen far past any natural limit—clearly a side effect of black magic. Their faces were bloodless, eyes glittering with naked greed.
Typical low-ranking fanatics of the Asmodeus Cult, exactly as I remembered them from the game.
Goddamn it. Can’t I at least get a little time to find a way out of this? Who the hell starts the main quest this urgently?
I silently prayed to the Three Goddesses and the Jade Emperor in turn.
Please, just until I figure something out—don’t let them notice me.
A guard’s footsteps stopped dead right in front of me.
“Huh? Hey, come look at this. Never seen this one before.”
Fuck.
Guess the gods and shamans of this place don’t get along too well.
A rough, brutal hand seized the hood of my robe and ripped it back.
Flap—
The cloth that had hidden my face was torn away, exposing me completely.
I saw the guard’s pupils shake with perfect clarity.
“…Holy shit.”
The two fanatics blocking my path had their eyes go wide as dinner plates. The wet sound of them gulping was unnaturally loud. Thick drool was already dripping from the corners of their mouths.
Disgusting pieces of shit…
“Whoa…… this one’s no joke. Her skin’s practically glowing. How the hell did a top-tier offering like this end up rotting in a corner?”
“Bro, jackpot today. This one’s an automatic pass. Grab her and let’s go. The Administrator’s gonna lose his mind when he sees her.”
Goddamn it!! Why did I have to make her so pretty!!
“L-let go of me!!”
I recoiled in horror, but one of the fanatics’ massive hands clamped around my slender wrist like a vise.
“Keh-heh-heh!! Where do you think you’re running? Stop throwing a tantrum and come quietly! You’re going to have to handle dozens of men tonight, so you’d better save your strength.”
“You crazy bastard!! Get the fuck away from me!”
Dozens? Did he just say dozens of men?!
I was a former sergeant of the Republic of Korea Army. The soul of an admin clerk still burned hot inside me!!
Not only was I about to lose a virginity that had never even existed, I was supposed to take on dozens of men? Just imagining it made my mind feel ready to collapse.
I thrashed with everything I had.
“L-let go of me, you sons of bitches!!”
That only seemed to amuse them. The fanatic smirked lewdly and yanked me forward.
“Oho, she’s got some fire in her. Even better—resisting makes it more fun to break them in.”
But I was Han Do-gyeong, a full-term sergeant even if I had only been an admin clerk.
The instant he pulled, I went completely limp, dropping to the floor while driving a kick straight into the place that could sink any man with a single blow.
A strike only a man could aim that perfectly!
Thud—!
“Guh……?!”
The fanatic who took the groin kick dead-on rolled his eyes back and crumpled.
Now!
I used the opening to roll hard and break free of their encirclement.
But my physical stats were a pathetic 8.
This frail female body was even weaker than the one I had in reality; I simply could not move fast enough. On top of that, the trailing rags of the robe and the heavy, bouncing weight of my chest made even running a struggle.
Fuck, my tits are so goddamn heavy!!
I must have been out of my mind. What riches was I hoping for when I cranked the breast size up to H-cups?
“You fucking bitch!! How dare you!!”
The fanatic who had gone down from the crotch shot rose again, veins bulging in his neck. Followers of black magic apparently recovered fast—even from a clean hit like that.
The other guard behind him snickered and held his partner back.
“Dumbass. Heh-heh-heh. Getting laid out by a single hit from a girl.”
“You try taking that hit!! I’m gonna kill her!!”
“Don’t. You put a mark on prime merchandise and the Administrator really will kill you.”
“Fuck… just grab the bitch!!”
They advanced on me slowly. I tried to flee the way they had entered, but of course the door was locked.
Goddamn it.
In desperation I shouted at the women still lying on the floor.
“Get the fuck up and fight!! There’s only two of them!!”
But the other women in the prison only shivered harder; not one of them rose to help.
At this rate I was finished. My back met the cold stone wall. There was nowhere left to run.
Fuck…… what do I do?!
I was panting hard, eyes wide, tracking their every move when it happened.
Flash—
My vision warped strangely, and bizarre shapes began to imprint themselves clearly onto my retinas.
“…Huh?”
What… what is that?
I opened my eyes wide.
Behind the abnormally swollen muscles and the greasy aura of the black-magic-worshipping guards, something was clinging to them in thick layers.
The forms were not sharp, yet I knew instantly what they were.
They were grotesquely twisted souls.
Vengeful spirits?
Faces contorted in agony, limbs torn away. Souls blackened and howling under the weight of grudge and curse—undeniably vengeful ghosts.
Their superhuman strength was being wrung out of those very spirits.
No wonder he got up so fast after a clean groin kick.
……Found it. The counter.
Would it work? I had no choice but to try.
I could never beat those animal bastards with raw physical power. But if the source of that power was black magic that controlled vengeful spirits, the story changed completely.
Commanding, placating, and banishing ghosts—that was something I had been second to none at back in Korea.
“Nowhere left to run. Come here, you bitch.”
The moment the guard’s thick hand reached for my chest, I flared my eyes wide, drew power up from my dantian, and poured out the Sea of Origin Scripture like a scream.
"Gods of Heaven and Earth!! Sun, Moon, and Stars! Look down upon us!"
A clear yet overwhelming voice rang through the entire prison—my own voice, and goddamn was it beautiful. I could fall for myself.
The sudden shout made the guards flinch and freeze.
“W-what? What’s this crazy bitch babbling about all of a sudden…….”
Ignoring their confusion, I brought both hands together before my chest and formed a mudra with index and middle fingers raised.
This body might have pathetic physical stats, but it excelled in everything else.
Mind stat 22, Spiritual Power stat 28!
I still didn’t know exactly how it worked, but one thing was certain: this was not a body built for punching things.
I just had to try!
"Release them, release them—undo the grudges that have knotted and clung! Unresolved grudges of the living world! Pitiful souls who could not cross the threshold of the afterlife and still wander!"
The command to soothe the dead worked. Something like white energy poured out of my body and began to envelop the guards.
Spiritual power, most likely.
I seized the moment and sped up the chant.
"Souls bound by cruel sorcery and made into playthings of beasts—today, in the name of the divine, I shall sever those chains!"
Then an astonishing sight unfolded.
Every time my voice echoed through the prison, the vengeful spirits clinging to the guards began to thrash and convulse as if in seizure.
“Aaaaaaaagh!!”
The guards clutched their heads and screamed. The souls forcibly bound to them were desperately trying to snap their restraints, creating a massive backlash.
“W-what is this……! Kuaaaagh! My body—my strength is draining away!!”
I drove the final nail home.
"Wander the nine heavens no longer—take my voice as your guide and attain rebirth in paradise! All vengeful spirits, be extinguished—swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands!!"
⟨ Absolute Liberation ⟩
Fwaaat—!
With my final command, pure white spiritual power flooded the prison in a dazzling blaze.
Caught in that wave of power, the vengeful spirits ceased their agonized screams. The pain twisted into their faces washed away, and one by one they bowed their heads toward me with peaceful expressions.
[Thank you.]
Rustle—
Then they shattered like fireflies and began ascending toward the dark ceiling.
They had attained enlightenment.
“Guh, gaaagh…….”
With every soul peeled away and the source of their power gone, the fanatics deflated like punctured balloons. Their unnaturally swollen muscles shriveled in an instant; both men showed the whites of their eyes, collapsed to the floor, and passed out foaming at the mouth.
“Haa… haa…….”
I wiped the sweat from my brow and sucked in ragged breaths.
“I-I did it! I actually did it!!”
Western black magic? In front of a K-shaman it’s nothing but low-grade trash spirits, damn right!
That was when it happened.
A semi-transparent blue panel exploded across my retinas, and cheerful mechanical chimes cascaded like a waterfall.
Ding—!
Ding—!
Ding-ding-ding—!!
System notifications.
You have severed the bindings of the corrupted cultists and guided 34 unjustly slain vengeful spirits to enlightenment.
A vast quantity of Merit has been accumulated!
Merit:6 → 346
Spiritual Power:26 → 35
Mind:22 → 23
By accumulating Merit for the first time, a special function has been unlocked.
Shaman-Exclusive Pantheon has been opened!
“…What?”