Chapter 19: The Corrupt Priest - Determination.
Determination.
Determination.
A plump man ran through the inferno.
Stren Plcore, the Lord of burning Kelton, sprinted relentlessly, gasping for breath. The flab that usually didn't bother him felt extra heavy today. A deep regret washed over him that he should have exercised more, but, as always, regret was too little, too late.
It all started inside the city.
Soon after Carmen Baltas, Ensis Baltas's bastard son, left with four priests to call for aid, an onslaught of monsters and beasts attacked.
Stren Plcore thought they could hold them off. He had good reason to think so, too.
High walls, well-rested soldiers, plenty of food, and enemies without siege weapons.
Unless they were stupid enough to open the gates and let the enemy in for a street fight, there was no way they could lose.
But monsters emerged from within. From inside the city.
The city was filled with the screams of Kelton's citizens as they were attacked from both inside and out. That's how Kelton burned.
"Huff, huff."
Just a little further and he could reach the secret underground passage. Any smart lord made sure to have a secret passage or two for emergencies. His men were buying him time with their lives, and he owed it to them to survive and get revenge.
But it wasn't meant to be.
A black shadow rose up and grabbed his ankle. Stren Plcore lost his balance, rolled on the ground, and crashed into a wall.
"Argh!"
Three figures slowly emerged from beyond the passage of the burning mansion. A beauty with shimmering violet eyes frowned and glared at Stren Plcore.
"Huh, this fat bastard can really run. Maybe he's part pig, part rabbit?"
A quiet-looking man gestured, and the shadow holding Stren's ankle disappeared.
"Enough with the nonsense. What's the status of the 'Incarnation'?"
A blonde woman who had been silently standing at the back answered.
"It's really unstable since we're rushing it. You know extracting divinity from the living is never easy. And we weren't even finished with the preparations. Someone let some rats escape the city, so we had to start early, which makes it even less likely to work."
The blonde woman glared accusingly at the violet-eyed woman, who frowned.
"Was I supposed to let them go? Huh? I fucking tried! Those muscle-bound pig-fuckers from the Restoration Church and the crazy bastards from the Cultivation Church wouldn't let go, and Layla, who was supposed to help, didn't send a single goddamn spider! Seriously, if Layla had just sent a few spiders, we would've caught that last archer, that little rat!"
Flames flickered.
The blonde woman slowly blinked her eyes and spoke.
"Come to think of it, Layla isn't here."
"That spider-loving bitch is always with her spiders. What else is new? She's probably getting off with them right now, the freak!"
Crunch.
The man who had crushed the fallen lord's neck with his foot said in a low voice.
"That's enough. Cut it out. We gain nothing by fighting each other. Besides, now that one rat got away, those fanatics will be swarming us like ants. You haven't forgotten how many years we've put into this, have you?"
The violet-eyed woman, Parna, retorted sharply at the man.
"You think I haven't been going crazy these past three years? Why are you always acting like you're in charge? Hey, he's even more of a dick today. Didn't give him a good enough blowjob last night, huh? You two have been screwing around for a while now. Some of us don't have anyone, so we're stuck being lonely, and you two lovebirds have the nerve to bitch at me? It's not fair! Seriously! Picking on me for one little rat! Like I wanted to let them get away! I'm so pissed I could die! I could just die!"
Flames flickered.
The blonde woman didn't bother to hide the disgust rising from the depths of her being. She was cooperating out of necessity due to the Order's command, but this frivolous and foul-mouthed woman had a knack for always making people feel unpleasant every time they met. Trashy bitch.
You avoid shit because it's shit. Remembering that, the blonde woman swallowed her anger.
"I'm going to go check on the Incarnation. It should be ready soon."
"Shit, it's making itself by sucking the life out of everyone in this city. You'd think it couldn't be done without you, the way you talk."
Flames flickered.
The man sighed deeply and ran a hand over his face.
"Stop. Just stop it, Parna. I'll blame Layla for the ones that got away, so can you just drop it?"
The violet-eyed woman bared her white teeth and grinned.
"Fine by me. I'll shut up..."
Flames flickered again. And the flames spat something out.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
A harsh, ear-splitting metallic screech. A flaming figure burst from the flames and sliced the man in half with a high-speed, rotating chainsaw-sword. Parna, the violet-eyed woman, stared in shock.
"Wh-what the...?!"
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The chainsaw-sword didn't stop after cutting the man in half lengthwise. It immediately sliced the blonde woman in half sideways. Guts and blood splattered Parna's face.
Marnak, who had been hiding in the flames, enduring the burning pain while waiting for his chance, grinned, showing his white teeth. He was still on fire.
"Mother always says it's cowardly to just kill someone without asking questions first. She's right, of course. But these people use divinity. That means they could've hurt me, left scars. Mother wouldn't want me to get hurt just for trying to question them, would she?"
Parna couldn't understand at all what this man in front of her was talking about. Whatever it was, she only understood that she was screwed.
She racked her brain, fast. She had to find a way out of this, a way to survive this crazy, rambling killer. She couldn't die here.
The man pulled a bowl out of thin air and doused himself with water. When the flames finally died, his head was completely bald. Marnak ran a hand over his smooth scalp.
He could feel the stubble on his skin. It would grow back in a day, but he felt a pang of loss at the emptiness.
"Mother, I really don't want to hide in fire anymore. It hurts, and I feel so bare."
The man kept rambling. Parna swallowed hard and spoke as politely as she could.
"U-um, excuse me?"
"Ah," Marnak said, as if he'd forgotten she was there. He grinned, showing his white teeth, and asked, in a sickeningly sweet voice, "What's the purpose of besieging Kelton?"
***
"...it is."
"Is that so? That's amazing."
Thankfully, the woman, who'd introduced herself as Parna, spilled everything she knew the moment I asked. It was like she'd been waiting for it.
The story was simpler than expected.
Their goal was to sacrifice everyone in the city to create a moving monster made of divinity – the Incarnation. They'd been hiding in the city for three years, planning it all. They were supposed to have five more days of preparation for a perfect Incarnation, but they had to rush things because they lost Carmen. That was the gist of it.
So Carmen got away. Good.
Leaving Parna behind, I first harvested the corpses of the man and woman I had killed. The man was a three-and-a-half-finger human. The woman was a three-finger human. A total of two thousand divinity permeated my body.
[Divinity: 7582]
I put the bottomless washbasin in one of my two inventory slots and turned to Parna. She was staring at me, dumbfounded.
"Wh-what the, what the hell did you just do?"
"What do you think? I took their lives and offered them to my mother."
"Without a ritual?! Everyone knows you need a complicated ritual to turn life into divinity!"
I grinned and brought the Butcher's Blade to Parna's neck.
"You're suddenly full of questions. Do I really need to explain everything? Just take me to the Incarnation."
She glanced at the Butcher's Blade, stained with blood and flesh, and swallowed hard.
"A-alright..."
Following behind Parna, I picked up the Froststeel Sword that I had thrown on the ground before hiding and strapped it to my waist. The priest's robe with Yuji's blessing was slowly regaining its form. My hair needed a little more time though.
The Incarnation was being created in the middle of the city's central plaza. It was a huge, writhing mass of flesh and blood clots, constantly pulsing with divinity.
I exclaimed in admiration.
"It's more impressive than I thought."
Parna looked at the mass of flesh with proud eyes.
"Of course. We went through hell for three years in this place. It better be impressive."
Without paying attention to whether she was proud or not, I started the Butcher's Blade.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
"Y-you, you! What the hell are you trying to do?!"
Lifting up the violently vibrating Butcher's Blade, I grinned.
"What do you think? I'm going to kill this thing that grew by feeding on innocent blood and flesh before it wakes up."
A freak monster like this had to be connected to the main quest. I figured it was better to slow things down, even if it meant killing it. I just needed time to get more powerful. The more power I had, the stronger I'd be.
"D-don't do that!!! You mustn't!!!"
I ignored Parna and swung the Butcher's Blade. It tore into the huge mass of flesh, spraying blood and gore all over my face.
Thwack.
Something shot out of the red mass and pierced my shoulder. I jumped back.
Blood gushed from the wound and wouldn't stop.
Damn it. That was a divinity-infused attack. Parna screamed and covered her head.
"Aaaaaaah!!! You threatened it, so now it's waking up unstable! You can't reason with it like this!"
The huge mass split open, and something vaguely human-shaped emerged, a mess of blood and flesh. The flesh where its mouth should have been ripped open, and a piercing shriek echoed through Kelton.
—Aaaaaaaah! It hurts!
Ominous divinity pulsed from the incomplete Incarnation, born from devouring an entire city.
This was bad. Really bad. And my shoulder was still bleeding like crazy.
Kill!!! Mother screamed in my head. The cry meant two things: One of the eleven holy relics I was searching for was inside the Incarnation. And I should forget about the relic and run for my life.
"Thank you for your concern."
"What?! When did I ever worry about you..."
Thwack.
Parna's head rolled on the ground. I shook off the blood-stained Froststeel Sword and harvested Parna's dead body. A thousand divinity permeated my body.
[Divinity: 8582]
Kill!!! Mother screamed at me to stop messing around and run. I heated the Froststeel Sword in a nearby fire and cauterized the wound in my shoulder, answering Mother,
"Today, I'll awaken a new power and offer the relic inside that monster to you, Mother."
The monster's forehead split open, and a single eye popped out, staring straight at me. Finally able to see, it opened its mouth.
- It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! ... I'm huuuuuuuuuuurting!!!
I didn't have time to answer. The divinity I'd absorbed surged into the Gate of Corruption, pushing my body to its absolute limit. I pushed off the ground and ran from the plaza.
I ran through the burning streets of Kelton, scanning my surroundings. Kill!!! That one's dead, that one's still alive. I quickly went over and touched it, muttering,
"Mother, calm down and take this."
The corpse rotted away, releasing 1 divinity.
[Divinity: 8583]
- Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! A chilling scream, getting closer fast. The Incarnation had gotten its bearings and was chasing me at full speed.
It was a race against time – could I awaken a new power before it caught me?
I sprinted through the burning city again, saying,
"If we leave that monster alive, a lot of people will die. And we have to get the relic inside it while we have the chance."
Kill!!! Mother scolded me, worried that I was being too reckless. I grinned, happy to hear her concern.
"Mother, I'll do my best. If it's too much, I'll run. So please, stop being angry. We need to work together."
Kill... Mother sighed, resigned. I could feel her acceptance – I could do what I wanted. I chuckled.
"I'll show you how it's done. Just sit back and enjoy the show.”
