## Chapter 107 – Cultists of the Underground Waterway
“Jyaoㅡ!!!!!”
At first, the guy tried to do something with his dagger.
He swung it around and shouted, putting on a truly fierce display.
“You fucking bitch! Let’s get ’em!”
However, he was initially blocked by Copson, who simply charged forward with his shield, pinning him against the wall. Then, I and Meria rushed in and began hacking at his lower body, leaving him no choice but to scream for his mother as he collapsed.
ㅡThwack! Thwack!
ㅡThwack thwack thwack!
After that, we simply poured out our collective power of friendship in the form of primal violence.
A tsunami of battery – that’s what it was.
Even I was disgusted by how savage Meria and Copson had become. The concept of mercy simply didn’t exist for these otherworldly beings. They reliably distinguished between friend and foe, stabbing with their swords and roaring – they were truly natives and adventurers living in this harsh otherworld.
“Haa… haa… He’s dead by now, right?”
“I’m afraid he might suddenly come back to life.”
He was beaten to a pulp, like a dog on the hottest day of summer, and breathed his last.
Honestly, from the moment black smoke started pouring out of the holes we stabbed, I thought we were all screwed. Thankfully, nothing happened, and he just died with his eyes rolled back. The smoke seemed like a final, desperate struggle.
“Pathetic bastard. Your downfall was picking a fight with us.”
It was a remarkably anticlimactic end for a mage who knew Blink.
Thus, death is equal for everyone, so people have no choice but to live humbly in their respective positions. There’s no matching a gang beating.
“I can praise him for putting up a fight by casting Blink and Shield from his Memorize, but he was no match for us after all. Good work, mage. Your dagger skills were pretty decent.”
I trampled on the dead mage’s corpse and muttered those words.
Evil cannot withstand the power of friendship.
“He’s already dead. He can’t hear you.”
“What are you saying to a corpse?”
While I was doing that, Claudia called me.
“Katt, are you done?”
“Yeah, Claudia. What about you? Ah… I guess I don’t need to ask.”
Behind Claudia, I could see a mountain of gargoyle flesh. Some of it looked like it had been through a blender. It was a truly gruesome sight.
She collapsed into my arms. “I’m tired, can you hug me?” “You’re already hugging me.” It was rare to see her so winded after a fight. No matter how skilled Claudia was as a half-dark elf warrior, taking down that many monsters alone was a difficult task. Even superhumans have their physical limits.
“How many gargoyles were there?”
“Maybe twenty?”
“Damn, that’s a lot. Thanks. Good work.”
As the excitement of the battle faded, I felt how incredibly soft her skin was. I held her for a while, catching my breath.
That being said, it’s a truly amazing sight. Wings and limbs were flying everywhere, and black blood formed a river. There’s no way we can take any of this with us. The damage is too severe, and there’s too much of it.
“…Enough with the lovey-dovey stuff, let’s get ready to retreat. I want to go back and rest soon.”
“Lucky you, lucky you.”
Embarrassed by those words, I pulled away from Claudia.
“Alright, let’s start looting!”
“Ooh!”
We shouted our rallying cry and immediately began searching the large room. The first things we took were the four wands the cultists were carrying and the dagger decorated with strange patterns that the last guy pulled out. It seemed to be used for some kind of ritual. Other than that, they didn’t have anything.
“Poor bastards.”
“That’s why they fall for weird religions like this.”
“Seems like it.”
They have nothing and their lives are hard, so they rely on strange religions like this.
What is a cultist? I heard they have no parents or siblings.
I looked around the room, but other than the altar in the center, there didn’t seem to be anything special. We naturally searched the altar. The flames on the altar were still burning, and it occurred to me that they might have offered something as a sacrifice.
“Hey, Copson. Is there anything on top!”
“Doesn’t seem like it!”
Copson, who had climbed onto the altar to look at where the fire was burning, said that. Me, Meria, and Claudia circled around the altar, searching with wide eyes for anything that might be worth money.
After searching for a while, I came to a conclusion.
“This is a fucking bust, isn’t it?”
The faces of my party members darkened. Even Mr. Merman was looking around frantically for something worth money, but he didn’t seem to be having much fun either.
“That can’t be. There’s always something in a place like this…”
Growing impatient, we searched the room even more obsessively, but we still didn’t find anything. Filled with rage, I kicked a piece of gargoyle flesh.
“You fucking bastards! You ball-less bitches!”
“Calm down. We still got the wands and the dagger, right?”
As Meria said, I was very angry, but we still had eight wands. Even if we valued each one at only 2 silver, that’s 16 silver, which is 4 silver per person.
On top of that, we could expect a reward of 50 coppers for completing the quest, and if we sold the relatively intact gargoyle body parts we had put in the sack earlier, we could expect a profit of up to 5 silver. That was a huge cock, no, a huge sum of money.
We could each contribute 25 coppers and give Mr. Merman about 1 silver.
“But the wands all look the same.”
“Hmm?”
Looking closely, the wands all looked exactly the same. The colors were the same, and the size of the embedded crystal spheres was consistent. Are they standard equipment? Judging by the fact that they used the same equipment, these cultists might be a fairly organized group.
“I think these are pretty organized cultists. This is something we should report. If we take their severed heads to the church and report them, they might give us a hefty reward.”
“Ah, that’s right!”
If we take that with us, our profits will skyrocket.
We couldn’t find anything else worth money. We quickly cut off the heads of the cultists, which were covered in tattoos. Their wide eyes were black, and I wondered if the severed heads would suddenly jump out, but of course, that didn’t happen.
A corpse is just a corpse.
“Okay, let’s go.”
We took our spoils and left everything else behind, retracing our steps.
Finding our way wasn’t a problem. Merman had recorded the path as we came. It was a terrible sight in many ways, but if we gave him about 1 silver as a reward, he would be satisfied.
“Ah, let’s take this too.”
“The guys we killed earlier.”
On the way back, we found the cultists we had killed earlier. We cut off their heads and took them as well. It was really hard to carry them because they had no hair. From the middle, I just took off my cloak and wrapped them up like a bundle.
So, what happened to the guy who ran away earlier… Could he be wandering in the darkness?
I couldn’t tell.
“It’s dark. Has it already gotten this late?”
It was already midnight. No, judging by the position of the moons, it might be dawn. Exploring the maze-like waterway had taken a lot of time.
Still, the clear air on the surface felt good.
The night air was cool and very pleasant.
“Mr. Merman, here’s your reward. It’s 1 silver.”
“Thank you so much. This is enough to compensate for my hard work.”
I handed Merman 1 silver. He grinned from ear to ear, put the silver coin in his pocket, and began to ramble.
“The request is over. I’ll make the success report, so go to the guild in the morning to receive your reward.”
“Yes, Mr. Merman, thank you for your hard work. Ah, take your sack. It’s a little heavy, but anyway, have a good night… Meria, Copson. You guys have to give me 25 coppers each. Let’s split the cost of hiring Mr. Merman.”
“Okay.”
“Alright.”
Merman, who received the money and the sack, disappeared into the darkness. The sack contained the heads of the undead. It was proof of the quest’s success. Of course, the cultists’ heads and the gargoyle drops had already been transferred to Copson’s bag and my cloak-bundle.
“Here, barbarian.”
Copson and Meria handed me 25 coppers each, and as she handed me the money, Meria said.
“So, what do we do now? Isn’t it a little late? Is the church even open?”
“Doesn’t the church work 24 hours a day?”
This is why it’s difficult when it’s late. Even if we want to settle accounts, all the stores are closed at this hour, so it’s hard to divide the money.
We have 8 wands, so even if we divide them into two each, it’s a little difficult to divide the heads, and the same goes for the dagger and the gargoyle loot.
“There’s no other way, right? Then let’s go to the church for now.”
Claudia said. Well, it seems like there’s no other way but to go. So, we set off for the Brass Celestial Church.
The Brass Celestial Church, the place I visited so many times during the festival.
Judging by how happy they were when I gave them the head of the Flesh Golem, they might give us some kind of reward for receiving these heads, which are evidence of heresy and cultism.
It’s like back in the day when you’d pick up leaflets and take them to the police station, and they’d give you something good.
To briefly explain the teachings of the Brass Celestial Church, they worship Verde, the god of the scales. They believe that evil people kill good people indiscriminately, tilting the scales, so they are religious thugs with the radical idea that they must kill and eliminate such evil people without tolerance to balance the scales.
Here, evil people refer to pagans and cultists.
In a broad sense, it would include the robbers in the back alleys, but they don’t seem to pay much attention to those places. Anyway, they’re those kinds of people, so if we bring them these wickedly looking heads, they’ll definitely give us a reward.
When we arrived at the church’s main gate, it was tightly closed.
“We’re here. But the fucking door is locked.”
“Is it because it’s late? Should we meet tomorrow and come again?”
“I don’t mind either way.”
As we grumbled and loitered in front of it, a priest opened a small door next to the gate and came out. Is he the priest on duty? He looked very tired and said to us.
“What’s the matter?”
“Ah.”
I whispered to him as if in secret.
“By any chance… we found evidence of heresy, are you interested?”
“Evidence of heresy! Are you adventurers?”
He showed great interest in the word ‘heresy’ and looked us over.
We nodded at his question.
“Yes, we happened to find heretics today and brought back the evidence. We brought it here in the hope that the church would give us a reward if we submitted it. Of course, along with the information.”
“F-First, show me this evidence.”
I opened the bundle and showed him one of the cultists’ heads.
Pale white skin, wicked patterns engraved on the face, and black eyes with no whites. The priest, seeing him, exclaimed in shock.
“Amazing! These eyes! This is evidence of evil! Come in immediately!”
“He said to come in.”
“Hehehe.”
“Chuckles.”
“Hmm… I hope this ends quickly.”
We entered the church and were led to a room. It was a room without windows, with a round table and chairs that could seat about eight people.
The priest lit a fire to use as a light and asked us to put the heads on the round table.
As he said, we took out 8 heads and the gargoyle fragments and laid them out. The gargoyle fragments seemed like the cultists were summoning gargoyles, so we put them up as well. We had already divided the wands into two each, so we didn’t bother putting them up.
“Gargoyles!”
“Do you know them?”
“They are the minions of evil beings… Where did you get this… Please wait a moment. I’ll wake up the senior pastor and bring him here.”
He was so shocked that he left the room in a daze.
“Well, I’m starting to get excited…”
“Me too. Hehe, I wonder what they’ll give us.”
Meria and Copson said.
“I’m getting really excited all of a sudden. I didn’t expect that kind of reaction. Claudia, let’s buy something delicious with the money we get.”
“Okay, but more than that, I want to go back now.”
“Just bear with it a little longer. Aren’t you excited?”
“I am excited.”
Claudia grabbed my wrist and started stroking it. It seemed like her desires had built up as much as she had worked hard today. Damn it. Does this mean I won’t be able to rest even when I get back?
ㅡCreak.
Not long after, the senior pastor, who I remembered seeing once, came in. He recognized me and greeted me.
“Oh, aren’t you the one who brought the head of the Flesh Golem back then?”
“That’s right. We have a deep connection. Shall we talk?”
“Good.”
He sat down opposite us.
