Chapter 65 – Cultists (6)
I stamped the dagger on the floor and lifted it up. The trapdoor came up together.
“Looks like it’s here.”
The eyes of the adventurers and nuns widened. They came and looked under the open trapdoor. A ladder hung from the hole leading to the basement.
“Your brother guided me properly. Thank you for your hard work.”
The blue-haired nun smiled.
“No. There is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I apologize for what happened earlier. Because Sister Yuri has a very impatient personality.”
The blue-haired nun said in a mocking tone. Her eyes were on the ferocious nun.
“It’s okay. She goes down to rescue the children sooner than that.”
“Oh my, until your heart warms up… It’s really amazing to catch someone like this by the collar.”
The blue-haired nun grinned at the ferocious nun and climbed down her ladder. The blue-haired nun and her escort adventurers followed her.
“…”
The ferocious nuns also quietly descended the ladder.
“No apology.”
Seris grumbled. Beside him, Sister Nella smiled awkwardly.
“I wasn’t expecting it. Let’s go down quickly.”
We went down the trapdoor.
Downstairs was a narrow road that continued in a straight line. There were torches at certain distances, so it wasn’t too dark. We went along the road.
The more I walked, the stronger the rotten smell that irritated my nose. I frowned and looked at the faces of the others. Everyone looked a bit nervous, but the stench didn’t seem to bother them.
‘Am I the only one flying?’
It was probably because of the ‘Wolf’s Pact’. It’s a little annoying, but I can’t turn it off. This is the hideout of a kidnapper who is presumed to be a cult. You must not relax.
I spoke to Sister Nella in a flowing stream.
“Sister Nella, do you not smell rotten?”
“You mean rotten me?”
Sister Nella sniffed and sniffed. It became a puzzled expression.
“Well, I may or may not be. But why is the sudden rotten smell…”
Sister Nella opened her eyes. She rushed over to the blue-haired nun.
-Sister Nella? What are you doing?
-Sister Eri, don’t you have a rotten smell?
– Is it rotten? That’s why… Ah.
The blue-haired nun’s expression rotted away. She raised her hand to stop the adventurers.
“What are you doing?”
Her peers asked her. The blue-haired nun caught all of her decayed expression.
“I stopped to tell you something that might happen ahead of you.”
“What might happen?”
The blue-haired nun took a deep breath, and she answered.
“There may be undead ahead of us.”
The faces of some adventurers darkened.
“If it’s undead…”
“Yes, it is an enchantment that summons a corpse. It’s the worst thing to do to insult the brothers and sisters in Yurmia-sama’s arms.”
The blue-haired nun’s face was filled with deep disgust as she explained that. So did the nuns around her.
It hasn’t been confirmed yet that the undead will appear, but that’s about it. They seem to hate undead very much.
“If you encounter an undead, break its head unconditionally. Stabbing or cutting is useless. Because they don’t feel pain.”
The nun’s explanation continued. As I was listening, Kara gently stabbed me in the side.
“Why?”
“Brother, what does the undead look like?”
“Undead?”
I’ve never seen it in person, but I’ve seen it many times in games and movies. When I gave her a rough outline of her appearance, Kara frowned at her.
“It must be gross.”
“It’s a corpse, so of course. …Seris?”
Seris, who heard my story, stiffened.
“Scared?”
“Mr. Yooseong, if you get bitten you become an undead… Is that true..?”
Were you afraid of that part? I was just saying whatever came to mind about zombies. Just then, the nun gave an appropriate explanation.
“There is a rumor in the folklore that if you get bitten by an undead, you become the same undead, but this is false. So rest assured…”
“Phew…”
Her strength drained from Seris’s stiff shoulders. I laughed and patted her on the back.
“Don’t be too nervous. If it becomes dangerous, you can just run away.”
“…Yes!”
Seris found her energy.
After a while, after the nun’s explanation, we started walking along the road again.
So we reached the end of the road.
It was a rather large semi-circular space. Dried corpses sit against the walls, and in the middle is a huge bed. Men in black robes surrounded the bed where the children were lying. Their number was seven, as the village chief said.
“What, what?!”
The men in black robes who had been watching the children turned towards us. A red eye pattern was painted in the center of their robes.
“Mr. Yooseong, what is that?”
“That’s right. It’s the pattern I saw in the plaza.”
It became clear that they were cultists.
“This, these evil cultists!!!”
The ferocious nun opened her eyes and picked up her mace. As if that was a signal, the other adventurers also drew their weapons.
The men in black robes panicked and pulled out daggers from their bosoms.
“Nun? Why is the nun here?!”
“I stand to punish you for your ugly sins! Even if you dare touch a child… Shame on you!”
“Kid? Oh, this must be wrong! We are for these children…”
“Shut up that dirty snout!!”
Two ferocious nuns ran, each carrying a mace and a morning star. Adventurers followed suit.
“Damn it! Listen!”
The corpses that had been sitting rose up. They came running on all fours, tattering their flesh.
“Kyaaak!”
Seeing the undead, Seris was frightened.
“Seris! Calm down and run this way!”
She grabbed her arm and ran. If you get away from the party, you might be surrounded by undead.
“You cultist!”
The fierce nun’s mace broke the head of one of the cultists. The movement of the party stopped and a full-scale fight began. The nun and adventurer who ran first started fighting the cultists.
We, the rear, faced off against the undead.
“Seris, Kara. You just have to calm down and break the heads of those who rush at you.”
“Yes yes!”
A group of undead drew closer. One of the leading undead tried to bite my leg. I kicked him straight down and put a dagger through his temple.
[You have acquired 8 Karma.]
I drew my dagger and looked around. The adventurers and the undead collided.
A fight has begun.
* * *
The undead, which used to run on all fours, stood on his two feet and tried to slash them with his claws. He ducked to the side and stretched out his arms. The dagger went through his eyes and pierced his brain. The undead fell powerlessly.
[You have acquired 8 Karma.]
He drew his dagger and swung it hard. Blood and brains splattered on the floor. He took out a handkerchief and wiped his dagger, looking around.
“Hey, finish it quickly.”
“Okay, wait a minute.”
The fight was almost over. All of the cultists had already died, and only one or two undead who had lost their masters remained. Even that fell into the hands of adventurers.
“Are you hurt?”
The nuns went around and looked at the wounds of the adventurers. No one died, so that was enough.
“Ceris, Kara, are you all hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
“I’m fine too. Yoosung, are you not hurt?”
“Don’t worry, I don’t have one.”
Seris took care of her sister and looked at Sister Nella.
‘The nun fights better than I thought.’
I thought I had to protect her because she was an escort, but that wasn’t the case again. Sister Nella eagerly broke the bones of her undead with her blunt weapon. She’s working too hard and she almost falls alone.
“…The children won’t wake up. It seems to have cast a spell.”
The blue-haired nun sighed as she looked at her children. He grabbed the temple pattern hanging from her neck and recited her prayer. A holy light bloomed from her hand.
“Cure.”
A blue-haired nun finished her prayers by placing her hand on her child’s chest. As her divine light entered the heart of her child, her child opened her eyes.
“Yes…?”
“Are you awake?”
“Uh? Who, who are you?!”
The child looked around her and she wept.
“Uh, Mom… Dad…”
“Calm down. Aren’t the older sisters bad people?”
A blue-haired nun soothed her child. Other nuns began waking her children in the same way.
I counted the number of children.
‘Fifteen. It will take a while to get out of here.’
I guess I should have slept all night.
* * *
After picking up all the children, we went up to the cabin.
“You’re going to my dad, right? Yes?”
“Hey…”
“Scary…”
I went back the way I had brought the noisy children. As I was walking and talking with Sister Seris, a ferocious nun approached me.
“Excuse me…”
“What?”
Cerys glared at her ferocious nun, and her nun stepped back in surprise. I slapped her in the chest with Cerys.
“Ah!”
“Why are you staring at Sister? Sister, what are you doing?”
The nun shuddered and bowed her head, not matching her ferocious expression.
“I’m sorry earlier. Thinking that the children are in danger, I inadvertently committed rudeness. Please forgive me broadly…”
I stared blankly at the nun as she bowed her head. She didn’t lift her head, as if she was going to do this until she forgave her. I said with a smile.
“It’s okay. It was a situation that could be misunderstood.”
“Thank you.”
The nun bowed her head once more and she returned to her place.
“I apologized in the end.”
Celis looked at the nun’s back. She gave her another blow to the back of the head.
“Ah! Why do you keep hitting me?!”
“You beat the nun earlier. Don’t do that next time.”
“Yes? That’s what that nun did first. And there was no violence. I just gave you strength…”
“If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it.”
Cerys covered her head with her hand as she poised to strike her beetle.
“All right. Stop hitting me…”
“You promised?”
“Yes…”
“Kara, you too… Kara?”
“Yes..?”
“How do you sleep while walking? Don’t sleep.”
“Huh…”
“Anyway…”
Cara held her hand and walked. Even while she was dozing, she followed my hand. My empty hand was naturally taken by Celis. I looked at her.
Seris said with her mouth.
-It’s Karazol.
…Yes, do as you please.
The two walked towards the village holding hands. It wasn’t long before I came down from the mountain and saw the outline of the town. Then the children were relieved.
We walked a little further to reach the village. The villagers gathered in the center of the village holding torches as if they had not been able to sleep. The children recognized my parents and ran to them.
“Dad! Mom!”
“Jannie?!”
The children were embraced by their parents. Parents also shed tears and hugged their children. We looked at the scene with happy faces.
“Thank you so much, sisters and adventurers!”
The village chief approached with a bright face and tears in his eyes. The nuns and adventurers held each other’s hands and shook them.
“Thank you very much. How should I repay this favor…”
“Whoops, no. As a body serving Yurmia-sama, it is only natural to help those in need.”
“Ohhh… As expected..!”
The nun and the village chief exchanged blessings with each other. I watched it and looked around.
‘Something smells familiar yet disgusting…’
I think I know, but I don’t know. Frustrated, I turned on the ‘Wolf’s Oath’.
‘…’
The facial muscles stiffened. I looked around and counted. There was a limit to discrimination by smell.
I strode towards the village chief.
“You must be tired from not being able to sleep, but staying one more night is… Billion?!”
I put my arm around his neck and aimed the dagger.
The nuns, adventurers, and villagers looked at me in astonishment. Sister Nella exclaimed as she looked at me.
“Brother! What are you doing?! You are too playful!”
Ignoring her words, she said to the shivering chief.
“Chief.”
“Why, why are you doing that…?”
“A rotten smell emanates from the village. It certainly wasn’t like that until we left.”
“Yes, yes…?”
“How many of them have you gathered? It’s so nasty that I can’t feel it.”
“Tongue, brother? What do you mean by that?”
“You are very kind. The rotten smell I smelled in the cabin is stronger in the village. Even in the homes of residents. Why is that, Chief?”
I asked, tapping the chief’s neck with the dagger.
The expression of the village chief and village elders disappeared. Until now, there is not even a trace of the expression on my face that was astonished at my actions, from hugging the children and crying.
He stared at me with a sullen expression.
“What, what is this..?!”
The nuns and adventurers also drew their weapons as if they sensed something was wrong. Even so, the eyes of the villagers were still fixed on me. Their mouth corners go up. With a grotesque smile that seemed forced, he pulled out his dagger.
“Ha… That sucks.”
I cut the village chief’s throat. He fell to the floor clutching his neck.
It’s still a smiley face
