The Cultist Who Frequently Gets Sick

I was about to select my achievement reward. That is, until I vomited blood. "Guh... Ugh... F-fuck..." A massive amount of blood poured out of me. It wasn't just from my mouth; it was coming from my eyes, my nose, and even my ears. The dizzying, sharp pain—something I hadn't felt in a long time—caused me to collapse on the spot.

'C-clogging flesh...' I immediately tried to use my Clogging Flesh skill on my own body. But it didn't work. "Ugh..." My insides felt like they were on fire. A burning sensation scorched through me. Steam began to pour from my mouth, as if I were a dragon trying to breathe fire. 'Fuck... Why, why is this happening...' Was the Golden Dragon's eyeball a trap set by the Manma-jeon? No, that couldn't be. If it were a trap, the Evil Gods would have tipped me off beforehand. I felt a violent, chaotic struggle within me—the energy I already possessed and the new energy I had just absorbed were clashing, trying to devour one another. Was I really going to die like this? Just because I ate some delicious broth by myself...?

As I trembled in despair and fear, Indikron spoke, as if trying to reassure me.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

There was a powerful resolve in her words—the promise that she would bring me back by any means necessary. Coming from a god, the weight of that statement was different. It was a reliable, sturdy promise, as if she would even go so far as to seal Botamilli away again if it meant resurrecting me.

At that moment, Kashnakas laughed and chimed in.

"N-no... *cough*... Y-you shouldn't die..."

I spat out more blood and shouted at Kashnakas, but she just laughed and vanished. That insane god... perhaps she secretly hoped I would die so I would end up in her arms. Still, thanks to them, my tension completely dissolved. 'What on earth do they intend to do with me once they take me in... Gulp...' As I shuddered with a mix of fear and excitement, I heard the voice of Botamilli, who rarely spoke. It seemed the gods who had been watching me were taking turns to say a word. They must have been genuinely worried. Unintentionally, I was being quite pampered by these Evil Gods.

This time, it was sound advice. Following Botamilli's suggestion, I quickly called for Sataniel, who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was in the Narak. "Sa-Sataniel... help me... *cough*...!"

Sataniel was coughing even more severely than I was. He appeared behind me and placed a hand on my back. A strange energy swept through my insides. "My, everything is twisted and tangled. What the hell did you eat? Hmm... a dragon?"

"*Cough*... Sataniel-nim... what is... this..."

"*Sigh*... It’s only natural for things to get tangled when a half-baked snake swallows the child of a Dragon King."

"N-nobody... said anything about it..."

"Of course they wouldn't. You can get stronger if you suffer a little, so why would they interfere? The Manma-jeon is a group that pursues efficiency even more than you think. My only concern is... I hope you walk that path without hesitation if it’s the faster way."

"Aha... *cough*... B-but I'm still bleeding..."

"Just endure it. Botamilli has already intervened. You'll heal if you just wait. *Cough*... I'm busy as hell right now... And you won't die just from losing this much blood. No, you can't die. Do you still think you're a normal human? *Sigh*... You lack the self-awareness of being an apostle of an Evil God... *Sigh*... Just hold on a little longer."

Sataniel vanished again. Since he was near-omnipotent within the Narak, such teleportation seemed effortless. As I lay there bleeding, he reappeared behind me in less than a minute. In his hand was a glass bottle filled with a blue liquid.

"Here, drink this for now."

"T-this is..."

"It's a neutralizer, so stop talking and swallow it. Your insides will feel a bit better. Good grief. Just because you lost a little blood... *Sigh*... Back in my day, we'd recite incantations even after having our limbs cut off. This is why these greenhorns who haven't experienced war..."

I listened to Sataniel's nagging and drank the medicine he handed me. Once I finished it, I felt like I could live. The burning sensation had largely faded. Steam or smoke was still pouring from my mouth, but I was at least freed from the state of feeling like my body was about to combust. Having finished his nagging, Sataniel pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and spoke in a slightly more generous tone.

"You are already half-snake at this point."

"Oh... yeah."

"But you're still half-human."

"Oh, that's right...?"

I was currently a half-human, half-snake. I had consumed so many elixirs related to snakes that my species had changed. If I consumed Sesha's serum on top of this, I would become a full-fledged Nagaraja.

"Right, you're still half-human. If you were a full snake, it might be different. But you're trying to harbor the energy of both a snake and a dragon in a human body, which is why your magic is tangled."

"Oh... I was fine after drinking the Black Horned Dragon's serum, so why only this one..."

"The Black Horned Dragon's serum was the limit of your human body. Did you think dragons were a joke?"

"N-no..."

"It's a good thing Botamilli gave you a piece of her origin... *tsk tsk*..."

Botamilli's origin must refer to the red fruit. So that's what keeps saving me. Botamilli doesn't say much, but when you look closely, she's the type who works hard behind the scenes. 'Indikron is strict but caring. And Kashnakas is... um... she's just Kashnakas...' Kashnakas was incredibly prickly at first, but at some point, she started clinging to me the most stickily.

Botamilli's voice echoed again. She said she was erasing one of the two. It was as if she were deleting a memory. As expected of a god of oblivion and void, she was superior to Indikron or Kashnakas when it came to this kind of interference. Perhaps she was specialized in erasing things so thoroughly that not even a trace remained.

'Indikron's specialty is destruction... and Kashnakas devours most things...' They were definitely different attributes. Perhaps I was closest to Kashnakas among the three. If I think something is good for my body, I eat it first.

As I continued to have such trivial thoughts, Botamilli returned me to my original state.

"Ah... thank you."

My insides felt much more comfortable than before. Watching this, Sataniel sighed deeply and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had pretended not to be, but he seemed to have been quite tense. Perhaps he nagged more because he was nervous. After all, I was the only decent Awakened currently belonging to the Manma-jeon. If something happened to me, many would be in trouble.

"From now on, don't be so panicked just because you're bleeding a little. Whatever you eat, someone like you will just absorb it and suffer for a bit before it passes."

"Yes... and, thank you for worrying about me."

I bowed my head to Sataniel. He pulled out yet another cigarette—I had lost count of how many he'd smoked—and muttered in a drained voice.

"Seeing how the gods' gazes are even more intense than I thought... you're quite loved. With the worst beings in the universe as your allies, what is there to worry about... *sigh*... I'm jealous... so jealous..."

"Oh..."

"I'm leaving... go play around a bit before you head back."

"Yes."

He vanished shortly after. Last time, he told me that eating Loki would automatically make me a god, and he seemed incredibly envious then, too... It seemed he was jealous again because of the fact that I was favored by the Evil Gods. He had gone through hell and back, so he must have felt bitter seeing his successor just playing around and eating well. Well, in any case, I was glad things worked out. My origin seemed to have changed a bit, but it didn't feel bad. Checking my status, I was still a half-human, half-snake.

'I thought I was going to die...' For now, I should finish collecting my rewards and get out of here. I decided to start with the 'Large Capacity Mana Tank' achievement reward.

'Come to think of it, most rewards related to magic stats until now were divided into Warrior and Mage types, giving different rewards.' The 'Mana User' achievement, attained by hitting 100 in the magic stat, gave a Mage's Staff, a Witch's Pointy Hat, and a Shaman's Necklace, if I recall correctly. Now that I had absorbed the Mid-East Camp, there were so many people who had attained 'Mana User' that those items were just being passed around by my slaves, but they were incredible items in the beginning.

Next was 'Overflowing Mana', attained after breaking 500 in the magic stat. This also divided rewards into Mage and Warrior types, and items with the 'Archmage' modifier were released. I had intended to give them to Hwang Su-min to turn her into a magic bomber... but since Hwang Su-min had become a full-time production worker, I gave them to Ju-ha instead. Since most of them were Warrior-type, Ju-ha, who used illusions and flames, was using them well. This was an achievement that no one but me had attained yet.

And surely, no one but me had attained this 'Large Capacity Mana Tank' achievement either, right? Of course, if it were Nick, who was being intensively managed by the Pantheon, he might have attained it.

However, contrary to my expectations, there was no class distinction this time. It must be a reward that anyone can receive in common once their magic stat reaches 1000. I checked the detailed information of the rewards. It was an achievement only attainable ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by reaching 1000 in magic, so it had to be an incredible reward, right?

"Huh..." Teleportation once a week, one-time resurrection of the dead... and the ability to reset stats twice... The Sage's Prayer Beads could only be used once a week, but they could be used indefinitely. There wasn't even a restriction on the location. I wondered if I could go to the Forest of the Missing, the Black Market, or the Trembling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mansion. Maybe even the underground floors of the Black Market. I had traveled so much that there were many places I could go. Though, since it was once a week, I'd have to wait a week if I wanted to come back...

"The second one is resurrection..." This was a kind of insurance. If one of my women were to die, I could revive them once... that was quite good. Though it said once revived, they could never be revived again. I wondered if I could revive Michael with this.

The last one was a reward that allowed me to adjust my current status as I pleased. In other words, it meant I could redistribute my 1000 magic stat into other stats. Furthermore, since stats rose arbitrarily as levels increased, this would be quite helpful for those whose builds were poorly planned. I would also be able to re-select skills. Whatever I chose, it was a reward worthy of achieving 1000 in the magic stat.