Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Great Cleanup
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The mud-like chunks wriggling on the floor shattered back into fragments under Luna's Silence Totem.
Splat!
Gaaah!
The death-rattle scream made the cultist healer Somnia tremble so hard her accessories rattled against her body.
"What the hell? What just blocked my ritual midway? Who the fuck are you?"
"I'm Luna, the voodoo priestess of Ideophe! The great daughter of the night, Luna—that's me!"
Luna boldly shouted while hoisting her fairly thick Silence Totem high. Her stance somehow overlapped with the image of a Jangpanpa warrior steadfastly guarding the gates.
It screamed rock-solid reliability.
But Healer Somnia just chuckled under her mask. "Kekeke."
"Ahaha, so you're from the Ideophe islands. Great daughter of the night? Must be a little Nox Child brat. I didn't recognize you without your warding mask. That's a Silence Totem? Nicely made."
Her attitude had softened dramatically, to the point where it was hard to believe she'd been hostile just moments ago.
Was this one of those heartwarming scenes where fellow countrymen let bygones be bygones?
I could understand it, though. If I ran into another Korean in this bizarre world, I'd be thrilled too.
Somnia spoke from behind her mask.
"I'm Somnia, daughter of the deep abyss. Nice to meet you, fellow countrywoman. So, how about we pretend this never happened? I don't really want to clean up a corpse from back home."
"Th-that's..."
"No way a friend without a warding mask can stop a healer like me. Besides, if you're Nox Child tribe, you should worship the same hellish magic we do. How about joining us?"
"What? You want me to become a cultist?"
Luna shook her shoulders in shock at the Pluto cultist's recruitment pitch. I'd been through it a few times already, so I just shrugged it off, but this seemed to be Luna's first rodeo.
"Imagine it. The formless world's deep, scorching magic. The stuff you could barely sense through the fog from cracked earth—we'd bring it down to this world ourselves."
Somnia clenched her fist in the air, trembling with fervor. She continued.
"Hell rising to the surface. The crumbling boundary between death and life. We voodoo priestesses wielding the power of the dead—we'd live like kings. No more being mocked for believing in superstition."
"Whoa, kings..."
This wasn't good. Luna was getting entranced by the nonsense, her mind drifting away. I'd always wondered how these cults stayed alive.
Now I saw it—they lured in pure kids like Luna, exploited them, and kept the flame going. At this rate, she'd join the cult!
"Luna, don't listen to these cultists! It's all bullshit!"
"I know. I was just hearing her out. Somnia, right? Here's my answer!"
Swish.
Luna flipped her middle finger while keeping her fist clenched.
"Eat this!"
It was the universal fuck-you. Somnia laughed so hard her jewelry and mask rattled in disbelief.
"Whoa, I'm actually speechless."
She laughed for a good while before abruptly stopping.
"Hah, this is why I hate Nox Child brats. Kids from the oily islands just don't get the heart of someone raised on barren, poor ones."
Shing.
Somnia drew a dagger from her waist.
"Fine. I'll kill you, stuff your gut with cotton, and turn you into a silver doll. Our sisters' ritual synergy will be off the charts."
Honestly, it was less a dagger and more an awl or black horn. Conical with crude etchings, it looked ominous as hell.
No joke—if that stabbed you, you'd catch tetanus and every disease under the sun.
"And you, that scrawny Olldolgol—or wait, Hassan of Samaria! You tricked us good last time! You, I'm ripping to shreds and tossing into hellfire, you fucker!"
The sudden arrow aimed at me caught me off guard. I'd thought she forgot about me since she hadn't mentioned it!
"Ah, no, in a way, I was a victim too."
"Shut up, you dog of Mars! It's all your fault we failed! Choke on deep abyss voodoo!"
Fuck, blaming me for their own fuckup. Textbook gaslighting. But that was par for the course with this world's average assholes.
"Hup!"
Somnia swung her weird dagger with all her might, slamming it into the ground.
Crunch.
It pierced the shoddy brick of the sewer wall and buried into the earth.
I wondered what the hell she was doing, but before I could react, bizarre bones and flesh chunks burst through the walls in a frenzy.
Splat, grind, splat.
"Come forth, gateway of the deep abyss. Twilight dawn where the line between living and dead crumbles...!"
Splat. Splat-.
The flesh chunks swelled by sucking in mud and water.
Grrr.
Gruk.
They soon clumped into shapes half Luna's size—grotesque humans or beasts molded from the muck. Like ragtag goblins made of mud?
They didn't look that strong, but there were a ton. Ten? Twenty? More kept coming! Fuck, this was cheating. Voodoo priestesses were OP as hell! Did Luna fuck up her skill tree?
"H-Hassan, let's run for now!"
Luna grabbed my arm and bolted away. I chose to follow her lead and flee.
Somnia's booming voice echoed behind us.
"You can't run from death! You bastards!"
* * *
We ran like hell without looking back. There were just too many zombie goblins chasing us—we couldn't handle that swarm.
Sure, just the zombie goblins? Maybe we could've managed. But Somnia wasn't an idiot; no way she'd sit idle.
Fighting goblins and Somnia at once was suicide. Priority one: shake them off.
Yap, kyarrr!
"Ugh, fuck!"
Something crunched into my ankle.
The piercing pain made me look down—a four-legged beast of tangled flesh and hide clamping down and thrashing.
Arrr, karrr!
It barked like it was signaling our position.
"Shut up, you shit!"
How dare it attack me? Enraged, I smashed its skull with my club as hard as I could.
Crack-.
Kyaaang!
It screeched in agony before dissolving back into flesh scraps and rotten mud on the floor.
"Huff, fuck, Luna. What do we do?"
Luna was a fellow Ideophe voodoo priestess. Maybe she knew some counter? But she just shook her head, no better ideas than running.
"The Tatari tribe's the best in Ideophe at idols and silver dolls. Handling that many at once? No way we win...!"
"Fuck, then we just run!"
"They are weak to fire, though... burn 'em..."
Luna clicked her tongue at the overgrown weeds and gas pockets around. Starting a fire here would be a disaster—she knew it.
So this was Somnia's home turf? Cultists really were sneaky bastards.
We sprinted full-tilt and found the ladder to the sewer exit. But it was already wrecked beyond use.
"Somnia must've smashed it!"
"Fuck, we're screwed!"
Trapped in this stinking hellhole with no way out.
Kraaa!
A zombie goblin lunged at me, ragged maw open. It clutched a jagged bone shard like a dagger—some beast's, probably.
Crude weapon, but one stab and infection city.
"Fuck off, you filthy prick!"
I swung my bat with everything I had, caving in its skull.
Whoosh, crack!
Its body exploded into shards—satisfying even in this mess.
If it were a normal sword, it'd dull fast on that greasy hide.
Keeeaaak!
"Die, asshole!"
Crack-!
I kept bashing the zombie imp swarms coming at me.
Weirdly, my club felt lighter with each swing?
Thud, thud.
Not adrenaline; the damn thing was actually getting lighter. Easier to handle.
No clue why, but fucking cool!
"You bastards, all die!"
One-handed, I smashed every half-dead beastie's head. Lighter but same power—zombies dropping like flies.
Kieeeek!
"Luna, these guys ain't shit!"
"R-right? What's up? Without Silence magic, turning 'em back to dirt should be tough!"
"Did I get stronger?"
Maybe after beating that greatsword warrior Skizo, my confidence was up?
Or the new club had bonus undead damage. Blunt weapons on undead were meta, after all.
Grrr....
Gruu....
Anyway, the zombies halted their reckless charge, eyeing me warily now.
Even zombies got scared? Different from that necromancer's skeletons before.
"Fuck. Guess the stigmata's worth something. Weird club too—acts like a Silence Totem itself?"
Somnia emerged then, parting the sewer weeds from the shadows.
The tension radiating off her dwarfed the zombies—cold sweat trickled down my back.
"Didn't want to use this since it'd leave no body behind."
She pulled grotesque root-like weeds from a pouch at her waist.
She lifted her mask to her mouth, stuffed them in, and chewed noisily.
"Grraa, krrhehe, uuaa...!"
Beastly groans.
Crack, crunch—joints and bones twisting loudly echoed through the sewer.
Her thin robes strained as muscles and flesh bulged taut, skin flushing red hot.
"Flying sky toad of the floor!!"
With an incomprehensible roar, berserk Somnia swung her fist wildly.
Boom!
It pulverized a nearby zombie goblin's head.
Gaaak!
Fuck, attacking her own minions? Blind rage? Anyway, that power looked insane.
"Fuck, the bitch is doping now! Dirty cheater!"
"She ate raw Heshishi flowers! That much would floor an elephant for a day!?"
"Kieeek!"
Drip, plop, plop.
Blood dripped from her fists after smashing all her zombies' heads.
Clear drool or tears streamed from under her mask nonstop.
"Yalung balung nigger!!!"
Thud.
Having slaughtered her own zombies, Somnia charged Luna. Overwhelmed, Luna fell flat on her ass.
"Eek!"
"SMA—SH!!"
Her blood-red fist reared back at Luna's exposed head. One hit and it'd be bye-bye skull!
"Fuck! Luna, duck!"
I kicked off hard and tackled Somnia, club grazing Luna to slam her gut.
Bam! A solid jolt shot through my hands—like hitting a telephone pole.
Why did my hand sting more? Her skin felt like stone; blades wouldn't dent it.
"Grraaah-!"
Still, it worked—she stumbled back a few steps, fist still raised.
Problem: now I was her sole target.
"GRRAAA!!"
Somnia roared from under her mask and lunged at me.
Whoosh!
Her foot soared high.
Slamming down, it cratered the soft brick floor, shards flying.
Rumble-!
"Fuck! Scary as shit!"
Her attacks were telegraphed with big windups and gaps—easy to dodge.
Whoosh, boom!!!
But eat one? Instant death. Each hit an ultimate.
"Long live the sun!"
『The power of light does not reach here.』
"Damn, fuck! Lord Nox!"
『Grace of the Night's Cloak activates.』
『Consumes Karma Value to reduce detection chance of stealth actions.』
『Current Karma Value: 214』
213.
212.
"Rustle rustle!!"
But even with Night's Cloak, her fist flew straight at me.
It reduced presence for stealth, not invisibility.
Fuck, every option blocked.
Crunch.
Her fist clenched with savage menace, then rocketed at my head like a bullet.
"Shit!"
I barely ducked.
Whoosh, thud-!
It punched straight through the stone wall deep.
Somnia twitched, trying to pull free.
"Grrr...."
In that split-second gap, I yelled to Luna.
"Luna!! Any ideas!?"
"Th-there is one!"
She rummaged in her pouch and tossed me something.
A red-petaled plant with severed roots.