Corrupted Priest-Chapter 31

"Kill!!!"

A scream from Mother, urging me to throw it away immediately. But there's no way I was letting go.

The Script of Decay once again pushed my physical abilities to the limit. I gauged the outpouring divinity and calmly activated the Butcher.

WEEEEEENG!

Limbs flew. The Butcher screamed as it shredded Riberkel's body.

"Kill!!!"

I wanted to cleave even the torso in half, but Mother's urgent warning told me that would truly be dangerous now. I grabbed Sanctus' right arm and quickly stepped back.

The torso, now the only part left, floated into the air, radiating a chaotic mixture of divine power. A red-haired woman screamed when she saw it.

"It's ruined! Everything's completely ruined! I told you we should've talked it out instead of fighting!"

Thud!

The purple-haired woman got smacked by a giant's punch, slammed into the ground, then sprang back up yelling.

"What the hell! I didn't see! What did you even do?! Do it again! Do it again!"

Hundreds of pure white threads burst from Riberkel's torso. The threads rapidly extended like living things, reaching for the surrounding corpses.

Each strand was overflowing with divine energy, far beyond what any ordinary priest could ever wield.

"Kill!"

Mother kept screaming at me to run. Scanning quickly, I saw the red-haired woman clutching the struggling purple-haired one and fleeing.

"We have to run! Once he gets like that, he can't distinguish friend from foe!"

"Let go of me! I said LET GO! I'll kill you! I swear I will!"

"Shut up already!"

I shouted to the Giant of Decay.

"Throw me that way! And then you may return!"

Worried, I glanced toward where Sagitta had last been, but only saw the mob of madmen shrieking. Once I confirmed they couldn't see me for now, I jumped onto the giant's hand.

—AaaaaAAAAAHHHH!!!

With a roar, the giant hurled me. The harsh wind slammed against my face and body. Once again, the Script of Decay began to glow emerald green.

Target: the red-haired woman who was running. The purple-haired one looked completely deranged and probably wouldn't give a coherent answer.

The ground rapidly approached.

Crash!

I hit the ground and rolled to lessen the impact. My head throbbed, screaming at me to stop this madness. Ignoring the cries of my brain, I sprang up and drew the Butcher.

The high-speed spinning blades roared inches from the red-haired woman's face. I looked into her green eyes and asked:

"What happens now?"

But the answer came from an unexpected direction—the purple-haired woman hanging from her side started shouting noisily.

"Me! I'll tell you! Okay? Let me tell you!"

The red-haired woman shouted in alarm.

"What did he even ask?! Why are you spilling everything?! Shut up! Just shut up already!"

"But! But! He's a priest like us, right?! So doesn't that mean we can try recruiting him? And Riberkel, who didn't like him anyway, is already messed up like that!"

Far off, the grotesquely mutated body of Riberkel floated in the air, a massive chunk of flesh formed from countless corpses writhing together.

The red-haired woman gave me a strange look.

"Now that you mention it..."

She quickly shook her head and said,

"No! There's no way he'd listen to us! You've heard the rumors—he goes around saving people like crazy. Those types usually hate us!"

"But! But! I want to try! Just once!"

Well, I could always hear them out and then decide whether to slice their heads off. I lowered the Butcher with a smile.

"Go ahead. Let's hear this story of yours."

The red-haired woman's eyes widened in disbelief, and she said dazedly,

"It... actually worked?"

"Me! Me! I'll explain! My name's Perli! And this is Bena!"

The purple-haired woman—Perli—chattered cheerfully, dangling from Bena's side.

"We're from Liberatio! The secret society of Evil God worshippers! You remember those people you killed back in Kelton? Them too!"

"Yes."

"They were all with Liberatio! That's why we were waiting here for you!"

A secret society of evil god worshippers. The idea that people who should have no connection or unity were banding together like this—it didn't make sense. It shouldn't make sense. Somewhere, unknown to me, the gears turning the world were grinding on.

This had to be related to the main quest.

I needed more. More information. The main quest would undoubtedly plunge this world into chaos, and I had to be prepared with as much knowledge as possible to survive it.

"How many evil god worshippers are part of Liberatio?"

"Ummm..."

Perli paused, then smiled with gleaming white teeth.

"I don't know! Bena doesn't know either! I'm just here because they said I could go wild! Bena was sent by her sect's upper ranks! Riberkel probably knew a bit! He was sent directly by Liberatio!"

That lump of meat certainly wouldn't be answering any questions now. Time to ask something else.

"What is Liberatio's goal?"

"I'll answer that."

Bena brushed her red hair back and spoke.

"Liberatio's goal is simple—to create a world where no one is persecuted for whatever god they believe in."

"And people like that turn a city into this?"

It was a laughable cause. As I looked out over the city filled with screams and shrieks, Bena calmly continued,

"I didn't want this either. Riberkel started it, saying he needed to collect something. That's why things ended up like this."

Riberkel again.

"Then why were you looking for me? Earlier, it seemed like you were trying to take something from me."

"That's right. We were waiting here to retrieve an item from you. I don't know how things got so out of hand, though."

"What item are you referring to?"

Bena looked me straight in the eye and said—

"You have it, don't you? That orb-like relic that was embedded in the Incarnation's body."

Ah, she must mean the one that sealed Mother's divinity. But that orb's already shattered and gone.

"If you're talking about that orb, it's already broken."

"What?! Do you know what that was?! That can't be broken! Don't lie! That thing should be indestructible! Because..."

Bena stopped herself just before saying more.

I knew exactly why she believed it couldn't be broken.

The relics that sealed parts of Mother's power maintained their durability by using the divine energy trapped inside to reinforce themselves — so they wouldn't be accidentally destroyed and unseal what they contained.

A vague suspicion I'd had before was now confirmed.

These cultists were trying to do something using the relics that contained Mother's power.

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Feigning calm, I asked,

"It really is broken. I left the pieces behind in Kelton. Was that relic one of a kind? Something precious to your 'Liberatio' group?"

"There are four! Four more!"

Before Bena could answer, Purly, excited that she finally had something to say, jumped in and blurted it out.

They had four more?

'Kill!!!'

Mother thrashed violently, her rightful fury as the owner of that sealed power erupting inside me.

"What the hell are you doing spilling everything like that?!"

"Whatever! Whatever! If they join us, they'll find out anyway! Don't be such a stingy pants!"

"It's not decided yet whether they're joining us!!!"

'Kill!'

Mother now urgently warned me that it was really time to flee. The grotesque divine mass that had devoured corpses was on the verge of becoming something — it was nearly complete.

With a deliberately friendly smile, I asked,

"By the way, which one of you caused the citizens to fall into madness?"

Purly grinned wide and answered quickly.

"Not me! I don't know how to do that stuff!"

Bena frowned and glared at her.

"Hey! Why are you so desperate to answer every damn thing she asks—"

Shhk.

Bena's head rolled across the ground. I'd heard enough. If I dragged this out, I wouldn't have time to retrieve my companions.

Without pause, I swung my froststeel blade toward Purly's neck. She calmly raised a hand to block it — completely unfazed by the thought of losing a limb.

I pressed harder. The froststeel blade sliced through her hand and continued toward her neck.

Just before her head was severed, Purly smirked and said,

"See you again!"

Another fresh head hit the ground. I quickly reached out and spoke:

"I offer this to Mother."

Only the red-haired woman's corpse turned into divinity and soaked into my body.

[Divinity: 3023]

So the other one really didn't die. Whatever trick she used, she was annoyingly tenacious.

Once I absorbed Bena's divinity, the divine presence that had blanketed the city slowly began to fade.

The howls of the mad ceased, and silence descended upon the city.

Now it was time to find my comrades.

I believed without a doubt that they were alive. All three were capable of protecting themselves, at the very least.

When I headed back to where I'd last seen Sagitta, I found my companions catching their breath, slumped among heaps of corpses. Thankfully, all three were safe.

Carmen spotted me and gave a weary smile.

"Over here, Marnac! Everything just collapsed all of a sudden — was that you?"

I nodded.

"Yes. I dealt with the cultist who was creating the madmen."

Sagitta, who had been sitting quietly, spoke to me.

Had he figured it out? We'd all been fighting in the chaos, but the giant of rot had clearly been aiding me. If he had noticed... would I need to kill him? I really didn't want to.

"Did my spear help at all?"

I looked into his eyes, but there was no sign of suspicion. He wasn't the type to hide his feelings.

Looks like he didn't notice. For now.

I smiled and replied.

"It helped a lot. Almost surprisingly so."

Sagitta gave a small smile in return.

"I'm glad I could be of help to you, Priest."

"But now we should get moving. Something big is about to awaken."

"What's waking up?" Carmen asked.

At that moment, a monstrous scream erupted from the city gates.

- KIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEKKK!!!

I gave a bitter smile.

"That."

A colossal stitched-together giant slowly rose to its feet. Its body was an amalgamation of human corpses, each squirming as if alive.

There's no worse taste than that. Just like the bastard who owned that authority.

I quickly reached out and helped Dacia up. She had been brooding over the corpses she herself had raised just moments ago.

"Lady Dacia! Once we get through this, I'll do my best to comfort you — but for now, please focus!"

She looked at me with dazed eyes, then gave a faint smile when she saw my worried expression.

"And how exactly do you plan to comfort me?"

"I'll think of something! Right now, we need to buy time to save the survivors. You don't need to help, but at least move!"

Carmen cut in, quick as ever.

"If we buy time... who's coming?"

"They are. Without a doubt."

There's no way he wouldn't show up, not with Liberkel playing around with corpses like that.

"Uh..."

Sagitta cautiously spoke.

"Yes?"

"I think... they're already here."

When I turned to look toward the stitched giant, countless dead were crawling up its body. The giant roared, crushing and pulverizing the living corpses that clung to it.

- KIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEKK!!!

The dead paid no heed. They bit and clawed at the giant with relentless fury.

And there, in the middle of the chaos, I saw him.

A white mask. Flowing black robes that dragged along the ground. A trumpet without sound.

The Trumpeter of Rest raised his silent horn and began playing a voiceless funeral dirge.