The Cultist Who Pays for His Complacency

"Ghh. Gaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!"

Pain. Blood spraying from the stump of my severed arm. Unpleasant gazes. As I collapsed to the floor, my shadow mask slipped off. Exposed to the world, I screamed, and the various species roaming the Black Market swarmed toward me. They loomed over me, peering down to get a better look. Some even giggled. Their gazes were repulsive. The sound of those bastards laughing and enjoying the sight of me was grating. One of them even smacked its lips.

The Favor of the Ten Thousand Demons makes all demons feel a sense of affection toward me. And among those affections, some are indistinguishable from gluttony or lust. That is why revealing my face is dangerous. It attracts the strangest freaks. I need to pick up my mask... Where did I drop it? I don't know. My left arm hurts too much. Ah, right. I don't have an arm. How am I supposed to check the time now? How long has it been since I entered this place?

In an instant, darkness flowed out from me. The creatures recoiled. They feared the abyss. It must be Indikron’s help. By using her power directly, Indikron must have lost quite a bit of causality just now. Thinking of that made me feel sorry. It’s because I’m incompetent. If I can just get out of here, I will definitely repay her.

"Ghh..!"

It felt like my hair was being ripped out. The raw, unfamiliar pain I hadn't felt in a long time violently shook my mind. 'I have to find my arm quickly.' If I stay like this, I’ll die. I need to find the arm, reattach it, and put the mask back on. My bare face is dangerous. The Favor of the Ten Thousand Demons will overflow. If that happens, the creatures who feel both lust and gluttony for me will surely swarm me, waving their massive tentacle-cocks. Their affection isn't always to my benefit. I shouldn't look at this from a human perspective. The affection these creatures hold for me can be more dangerous than the love of an Evil God. To a weakened me, the Favor of the Ten Thousand Demons had become a poison.

"Gaaaaah... Yeah... Hhh..."

Whether it was Indikron, Kashnakas, or Botamilli—or perhaps all three—I didn't know. The goddesses kept rousing my mind, which was on the verge of going insane, consumed by pain. Perhaps the goddesses were currently exerting their influence over the entire area for my sake. Given that the creatures couldn't easily approach, that seemed to be the case... 'Those bastards... they might have just been waiting for me to weaken...' Dirty, disgusting scum.

"Arm... Aaaarm... Dammit..."

I found my left arm lying on the ground. Thankfully, it seemed to have been sent along with me. Cheshire must have pushed me and sent the arm along as well. 'Cheshire...' Is she safe? It’s driving me crazy. Please, let her be safe. I hope I can at least find her corpse. If I do, I can revive her with the Saint's Rosary.

"Hoo... hoo..."

I picked up the arm. I held it against the stump and used Rising Flesh. Do you know this? Rising Flesh forces you to feel all the pain you should have felt while the wound was healing in a single instant. It also inflicts death-defying agony if you force a wound that cannot be healed to knit back together.

Zzzzt—!

The massive wave of pain caused me to lose consciousness for a moment. I collapsed onto the blood-soaked floor, drooling, thrashing about in a half-mad state. So this is why slaves begged to be killed when they had their limbs cut off and reattached. It hurt this much. Truly, it’s incredible. Rising Flesh is a crazy skill. I feel like I'm going to die.

"Hahaha... Dammit... Dammit... It hurts like hell..."

I couldn't put any strength into my body. My head was still spinning, and the pain from the physical trauma remained in my brain, sending constant, stinging sensations through me. 'I have to get up... I have to go save Cheshire...'

Just then, someone pushed through the gathered creatures and approached me. Could it be... a helping hand?

"Hello. Remember me?"

A man with a disturbing box jammed where his head should be. He approached me. As he did, the creatures that had been watching me quickly scattered. 'Dammit...' It’s that guy. The one who claimed to be a guide when I first entered the Black Market and tried to take me to some strange place... A freak who gave off a bone-chilling scent of blood. He approached me like someone kidnapping a lost child, like someone taking a child who had wandered into the forest.

"You son of a bitch... get lost..."

"Me. Guide. You. Need my help."

"I don't need your help...!"

He reached out a hand toward me. This is the guy Indikron warned me about. He’s dangerous. I hurriedly tried to use a skill to stop him...

"Uh...?"

The skill didn't activate. Why...

"You, unnecessarily... too many eyes watching. All. Blocked. You and me. Now just us two. Let's go together... little one."

His hand touched my face. My consciousness began to fade. Really... how did it come to this? 'Right, I was too complacent.' I let my guard down. After all, I had Cheshire by my side, and gods who always watched over me... I just let my guard down. Visiting the Black Market so often, I forgot the dangers of this insane place, and as I went in and out with Cheshire like it was my own living room, I had grown lax. I had become too accustomed to it.

Perhaps because I had been repeating only winning battles lately, I had become arrogant, as if I were the protagonist of this story. The desperation and intensity from when the zombie waves came every week had vanished. I had forgotten the moments when I struggled for survival day by day. I had forgotten the fact that death was always by my side. I trusted myself too much. I was arrogant, mistaking the power I borrowed from the gods as if it were my own weapon.

'A fly-like life that could die anytime, anywhere.'

Perhaps I was just masturbating my ego, threatening flies no different from me and telling myself I was different from them. My consciousness drifted away. Along with the sensation of my body floating into the air.

******

-Click...
-Thud.

"Ugh..."

Jojun opened his eyes in an old autopsy room abandoned somewhere in the Black Market. It was a workshop where people who dissected corpses of those who died in the Black Market to harvest and sell their organs gathered. It was a place where half-witted losers who weren't particularly strong and had no decent abilities came to earn enough for their drug money.

'Where... is this? I don't know. My head is so groggy...'

The Boxman was already gone. His mission was only to deliver Jojun to a suitably dangerous location. Knowing that he would be torn to death if he got any more involved, the Boxman had already left the Black Market. The Master of the Void had returned. No further atrocities would be permitted. The Boxman must have returned to his rightful place.

"Oh? He's awake?"

"This bastard opened his eyes."

"Hahahaha! Stupid human. Why the hell did you crawl into the Black Market?"

Three red freaks wearing surgical gowns and masks were looking down at Jojun. They had no idea what kind of human Jojun was. They only thought he was a human with a pleasant scent and an appetizing appearance. If they hadn't been addicted to drugs, they probably would have tried to ravage him. However, their brains were so pickled by drugs that they overcame their instincts and only wanted to harvest and sell him. Perhaps that was fortunate. Being able to die without being defiled was the greatest luck in the Black Market.

'This is crazy... is there a way to escape...'

Jojun was naked, his limbs bound by chains, lying on a cold autopsy table. No matter how much strength he exerted, the chains didn't budge. 'Is this chain made of some special alloy?' It might be something treated with magic.

"Oh, a high-capacity magic bag... It's full of stuff..."

"Huh? What's this? Unidentified canned food? Why is this here..."

"For real? Kyaa!! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠This is a windfall! It's even 100-year-old stuff!! You can't even buy this with money anymore!!"

The organ harvesters rummaged through the high-capacity magic bag while Jojun was tied up. One of them noticed something strange, but the other two were busy pulling items out of the bag.

"I'm hungry, this works out well."

"This is a talking sword? If we sell this, we'll hit the jackpot!"

"Look at this!! It's a True Ancestor blood transfusion pack!! All the True Ancestors are dead, so you can't even get this with money anymore!!"

"Hahahaha!! This bastard is a total goldmine!! That idiot Boxman! Selling such a treasure for only 10,000 coins? Is he a moron?"

"That guy looked a little scared... He wouldn't be one of those peddler types, would he?"

"Hey. No way. The Merchant Union can't enter the Black Market. They'd die if they came in, so how could they?"

"That may be, but... I'm really anxious about that guy... Boxman... it feels like he scammed us and ran away..."

"Hey! You're always such a coward, dammit. What are you worried about! He's just a human who drifted in. I don't even feel any divinity!! Don't worry, just go outside and get the can opener ready! We're going to eat the canned food."

The organ harvester who felt uneasy went outside with a suspicious expression. The two remaining in the autopsy room packed the Ghost-Wailing Sword—a mix of Yangji-sang and Dodomeki—and the unidentified canned food back into the magic bag. Then they put the transfusion pack in the refrigerator and started talking on their own.

"Haha! That bastard is glaring at us?"

"Kuhuhuhu. Does glaring change anything?"

"Yeah! Ki-hahaha. From now on, we're going to open you up. Chest, stomach, head, everything. And we're going to take it all out. Heart, lungs, kidneys, spine, brain, and even your eyeballs!!!"

The creatures grinned, saying they would harvest all of Jojun's organs and put them all up for auction. They laughed, saying that if it were human organs that smelled this delicious, everyone would lose their minds and invest their coins.

"Haha! Hey, let's fill our stomachs before we start working."

"Shall we crack open a Drug & Rush special candy with the canned food? We got a guy like this. If not today, when are we going to open it!"

"Sounds good!! Feeling generous! Let's go quickly! Ki-hahahaha!!"

Excited at the thought of doing drugs, they took the canned food and left the autopsy room. They were completely off guard. Because they didn't know the outside situation well, they had no idea what kind of human Jojun was.

'Finally, a chance.'

Meanwhile, Jojun desperately racked his brain for a way to escape. 'Since I can't use skills... I have to use tools...' It seemed like the creatures had taken everything, but he still had plenty of items he could use.

'The things I put in my camouflage pouch... the rewards I haven't received yet... and if I include the items I can purchase at the auction house... I have more than enough weapons.'

He immediately accessed the auction house. Then, he dumped 5,000 coins into a weapon with little time left on the auction and purchased it instantly. One minute later, the item he bought at auction was in his hand.

'Corroded Dagger... The effect is that everything it touches corrodes. The durability is severely low, but it's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the exact tool I need right now...'

He hurriedly cut the chains tied to his wrists. Then, he immediately cut all the chains tied to his other wrist and ankles. In the process, his wrist, cut by the blade, rotted a little, but since it wasn't a fatal wound, he decided to endure it.

-Snap...

As soon as he cut the ankle chains, the dagger was destroyed. The durability must have run out. Still, he used it thriftily. 'Damn. I still can't communicate with the Evil Gods... My skills are duds... That box-monster bastard... what the hell did he do to me? No... now is not the time to worry about that. I have to get out of here before those bastards come back.'

Jojun tore off the gag tied to his mouth and immediately took out the remote control he had put in his camouflage pouch. 'Cheshire, please be alive...' It was the remote control to call a guide for the Black Market. Jojun pressed the call button twice and swallowed it again. 'They didn't look that strong... I can beat them to death...' He immediately started looking for anything in the autopsy room he could use as a weapon.

******

Somewhere in an outer dimension.

A grotesque entity, so hideous that a human's brain would melt the moment they laid eyes on it, revealed itself. The walls of the outer dimension shook at the appearance of a hungry Evil God whose own dimension consisted of a single mass of flesh.

The abyss seethed as if bugs were crawling out. The Primal Existence revealed itself. Soon, two masses expanded to devour each other. The darkness continued to multiply as if expanding its territory, and the wall of flesh made of meat tried to devour that darkness.

Kashnakas and Indikron had always been at odds. Kashnakas, who was a bit lax, and Indikron, who was obsessively meticulous. The two were not compatible.

A thin thread crawled into the outer dimension that had been shaking for a moment. Compared to the vast darkness and the massive mass of tentacles, it looked too small and weak, but it was more dangerous than anything else. Because the void encroaches. Before one even notices, one would fall into it as if falling into a swamp.

At Botamilli's words, Kashnakas took a step back.

The outer dimension shakes. Today, the Manma-jeon is peaceful.