"Ghh... g-ghrk!"
The one responsible for kicking up all the dust was the guy who, along with the door, had been thrown inside the building. He choked and gasped for air, his teeth knocked out, his once-hardened features now twisted into a grotesque mess.
I stepped inside through the now doorless entrance.
– Thud!
At the same time, a blade aiming for my ankle was swiftly crushed under my foot.
It was even reinforced with some basic mana, evident from the intensity of the strike. But the skill was subpar. Unable to withstand the force, the blade shattered, lodging itself into the floor.
"What...?"
The guy hiding by the door and targeting my ankle stared blankly at the broken sword.
Perfectly positioned, I kicked his face directly.
My strike connected, and blood spattered as his head snapped backward, his unfocused eyes rolling as his body soared up, slamming into the ceiling.
At that moment, three more attacks shot toward me—one aiming for my neck, another for my abdomen, and a dagger striking at my side from a blind angle.
Not even worthy of calling it a "combined attack"; the gaps between them were wide enough that they were easy to counter.
I swung my leg, kicking the broken sword lying on the floor like a soccer ball.
The broken blade spun in the air.
– Wham!
"Argh!"
The sword aiming for my neck twisted as the broken blade lodged into the wielder's wrist. With a scream, his stance faltered, exposing a larger gap in his defenses.
I turned my body slightly, letting the blade aimed at my side pass harmlessly by, not even grazing my robe.
To add meaning to his pointless attack, I nudged his sword with my knee.
The weapon was poorly balanced, making it easy to manipulate. Its trajectory shifted.
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Thunk! The sword stabbed directly into the shoulder of the man holding the dagger.
While he froze from the pain, I spun and landed a kick on his side.
The man, gritting his teeth, tried to cover his side with a layer of mana. A murky purple mana wrapped around his side like armor.
Quick thinker.
– Crack!
"Urgh!"
Unfortunately, his mana was weak and unrefined. The fragments of his shattered mana shield flew in all directions. With a crack, his torso bent at a ninety-degree angle.
Without stopping, I pushed him, knocking down another guy who was staring blankly nearby.
– Crash!
"Ugh...!"
The two tumbled across the floor, entangled.
The brief uproar in the building quieted down.
As I lowered my leg, the dust from the torn-off door settled somewhat, though another cloud of dust rose from the scuffle.
"Why... why did you just barge in and start a fight...?"
One of the men, sprawled on the ground—the one who had tried to attack my neck—gritted his teeth.
"Who the hell... Are you from the Golden Dragon faction? Or maybe a damn Associa—"
Wham! My foot shut his mouth before he could finish.
Through Observation, I checked the four on the ground... though one was embedded in the ceiling.
I confirmed their conditions. They were still breathing, and their injuries weren’t severe. They were simply unconscious for now.
It wasn’t that I was merciful; there was still information I needed to extract. If I’d intended to kill, I could have shattered their heads instead of merely knocking them unconscious.
Pathetic skill level.
Perhaps it was due to the small scale of the operation, but these guys barely matched the lowest ranks of heroes.
Even a Shioram freshman could handle them with ease.
That wasn’t surprising, though. Their tactics matched those from the original.
They had branches across China, capturing monsters and humans alike as sacrifices to send to their main base. Although monsters were also used as offerings, humans were the primary sacrifices.
Stepping over to one side of the building, I kicked at the wall.
The rotting wood crumbled, revealing a path leading underground.
Following the stairs down, I came across a thick iron door. It was rusted and dented, its appearance anything but impressive.
More than that, I could sense the magical seals engraved on the door through Observation. Security details became clear as I interpreted them.
"Enhanced durability, cloaking, mana circuit cut-off... quite intricate."
The door’s enchantments extended like a web, covering the entire basement. It was a spell designed for both concealment and reinforcement.
I kicked the door.
– Boom!!
"...!"
The sturdy iron door was ripped from its hinges, rolling across the floor with a loud clatter.
The man conducting a sacrificial ritual turned sharply, his face full of surprise.
Judging by his expression, he hadn’t realized what had happened upstairs.
He’d been entirely focused on the ritual. Moreover, the basement’s enchantments were blocking any external senses.
The man was dressed in black robes, a sigil of a serpent coiled around a scythe embroidered on his chest.
The Cult of the Death God...
A cult dedicated to a death god, a straightforward if ominous symbol.
Behind him was a stone altar.
Just as I’d seen earlier, a corpse lay atop the altar.
In the short time since I’d first observed, the body had been completely drained of blood, leaving the skin a sickly pale color.
The basement was quite spacious, and in one corner, several people were imprisoned in metal cages, awaiting their turn as sacrifices.
A dirty feeling washed over me.
The cultist opened his mouth, his mana subtly shifting.
He was stalling for time, hoping to delay through conversation.
"What kind of fool—"
Before he could finish, I kicked off the ground.
Speed was key.
There was no reason to let him talk.
The basement was large, but the distance wasn’t so far that I couldn’t close it in an instant.
With a grimace, the man unleashed his mana.
It was a defensive blast of mana, projecting a black barrier in front of him.
Quick reaction, as if he’d prepared the incantation in advance.
His internal mana shifted into a unique, necromantic configuration. Behind him, the corpse on the altar began to twitch.
Necromancy.
The ability to manipulate dead bodies and spirits.
I’d encountered it often in the original.
That’s why I understood his intent to use such a weak corpse.
Low-level undead served as either meat shields or explosive traps.
In necromancy, dealing with the caster typically ended the threat.
Thus, necromancers often placed their undead in front to shield them and turned them into corpse bombs when they were no longer useful.
Disgusting bastard.
My face twisted in distaste as mana surged from my legs.
The mana within me exceeded my usual limits, manifesting outside my body as an aura.
A crimson aura roiled around my leg, giving it a menacing energy.
– Vrrrm!
I kicked toward his barrier.
The crimson aura tore through the barrier.
The kick pierced through without resistance, striking him square in the solar plexus.
Crunch! I felt his bones shatter under the impact. My leg pinned him against the wall.
"Kugh...!"
With a short, pained cry, he slumped against the wall.
Thud! The basement shuddered, dust trickling down from the ceiling.
The man’s trembling body went limp as he collapsed to the floor.
A single strike had ended the fight.
I glanced at the corpse on the altar, which had stopped twitching.
Had I delayed any longer, it would’ve lunged at me and exploded.
Clicking my tongue, I looked at the cages. About a dozen people were trapped in the basement, though only a few remained conscious.
The conscious ones were trembling, their terrified eyes fixed on me after witnessing the fight.
One of the men on the floor whimpered and writhed in pain, clutching his stomach.
Approaching, I stopped just short of his face, and he turned to look up, his face smeared with filth and dust, twisted in rage.
"You... you damn bastard...!"
I cocked my head indifferently, which only made his already hideous face twist further in anger.
"D-damn you! You think—grrk!"
Not the answer I wanted.
I didn’t want to waste any more time.
A swift kick to his head shut his mouth.
Now then...
I’d roughly planned this before coming here.
The primary goal was the Lake of Mana, but along the way, I’d be tracking down the Cult of the Death God’s branches and causing havoc.
In the process, I’d wipe out these bastards.
Ideally, that would be the end of it, but unfortunately, things rarely went that smoothly.
While fighting these scum, I often had no choice but to rescue civilians.
In a white zone like Syphnaha, I could hand rescued civilians over to the Association or nearby forces, but here in a gray zone, there was no such option.
Ironically, these cultists are the closest thing to local authority here.
Gray zones had monsters roaming freely and lands overrun by dungeons.
The cultists I’d just dealt with might have abandoned their humanity and had poor skills, but they were, at best, low-level heroes.
They could handle the stray Rank 8 or Rank 7 monsters that roamed nearby.
In this gray zone, that made them a somewhat valuable force.
Squatting beside the guy writhing on the floor, I grabbed a handful of his hair and lifted his head.
He groaned, eyes twitching before they opened weakly.
His eyes met mine, reflecting the sight of my black robe and featureless mask.
Guess I do look like a suspicious figure.
With that idle thought, I activated my mana.
"Wait... what are you—!"
Sensing something unusual, he started to struggle, but it was pointless.
Mana Affinity Expansion Ability: Homogenization.
Phantasmal Dream.
My mana surged, taking on a deep purple hue, sinister yet hazy, as it seeped into his mind through his eyes.
"Gh... grrk..."
His panicked eyes narrowed, then rolled back as he slumped, drooling as his mind slipped away.
Maxwell’s unique ability—based on mental manipulation and illusions.
From my previous observation of him, I hadn’t gathered enough data to master this skill, nor was my proficiency particularly high. But for weak-minded fools like this one, it was perfectly suited.
With a blank slate, this guy would give me clear, straightforward answers.
[Nearby Aohan Branch 12 Contact Lost]
"Tch."
The head of the Death God’s Cult, known as Kelwon, scowled at the news.
An unpleasant report. One that soured his mood.
China was vast, with plenty of people. Even after the devastation from the Twin-Headed Venom Dragon, which had turned the land into a gray zone, many people remained, unwilling or unable to leave.
The standard of living here was as dismal as it was essential for expanding the cult. When people couldn’t find solace in the real world, they often turned to religion.
As a result, the cult had branches throughout China, gathering sacrifices from each region. These sacrifices were substantial.
Losing a branch or two wasn’t much of a concern.
They’d already bribed local powers where the branches were established. Rather than hindering the cult, these powers cooperated to help gather sacrifices.
The Association wasn’t a problem either.
With recent instability in the demonic realms, even the Association leaders remained silent, unable to spare resources for a strike force against gray zones, let alone black zones.
However, recently, their branches had been falling one by one.
The Taesan Family... what did they mess with to stir up trouble here?
The Taesan Family had recently entered China and started causing problems, specifically targeting the Death God’s Cult.
Among them was even a successor.
For Kelwon, this posed a significant issue.
Could he just attack and kill them? It was possible.
But the aftermath would be catastrophic.
If the successor to Taesan were to die in China, the Taesan family head would likely lead an army of elites straight into the region.
At that point, the damage wouldn’t end with a few destroyed branches.
In these critical times, he couldn’t afford such a risk.
The only option is to sacrifice a few branches.
China held hundreds of branches.
Each branch had a high level of concealment, using resources to craft spells to keep them hidden, and they were located in places that were easy to access for sacrifices yet hard to find.
With all the dungeons currently raging across China, it would be difficult to detect these branches, even with a skilled sensor.
For now, they were losing one branch a day, but there was still time to complete their plan.
Kelwon was also confident they wouldn’t find his headquarters.
Sacrificing a few for the greater good—a basic strategy for anyone with a brain.
Nodding, he focused again.
Kelwon’s current location: a basement chamber where a massive skeletal remains of a dragon lay atop a magic circle.
The skeleton wasn’t fully intact.
It had two necks, but only one skull remained, the other half missing.
Kelwon concentrated as he funneled sacrifices into the remains, drawing out the faint traces of necrotic energy that lingered within.
...
[Nearby Aohan Branch 13 Contact Lost]
[Nearby Aohan Branch 14 Contact Lost]
[Nearby Aohan Branch 15 Contact Lost]
...
"What...?"
That same day, nine branches collapsed in quick succession.
[Nearby Naiman Branch 3 Contact Lost]
[Nearby Naiman Branch 4 Contact Lost]
[Nearby Naiman Branch 5 Contact Lost]
...
[Nearby Wengneute Branch 2 Contact Lost]
[Nearby Wengneute Branch 3 Contact Lost]
[Nearby Wengneute Branch 5 Contact Lost]
[Nearby Wengneute Branch 6 Contact Lost]
The next day, thirteen branches went silent.
Far from one per day, they’d lost more than twenty in just two days.
“......”
The scale of destruction far exceeded expectations.
The loss posed a significant threat to their ability to secure sacrifices.