My Skills Can Evolve Infinitely in a Game-Like World

Chapter 31: Cultists

The entire abandoned building shook for several seconds.

Broken stone chips and dust scattered everywhere. It took a while before the aftermath settled.

When everything finally quieted down, Erwin was nowhere to be seen. Not only him, but also the chair he had been tied to and the floor in a radius of a few feet around him had vanished.

In the entire room, only Aurelius remained.

But compared to just moments ago, his stare was completely different.

His condition was bad.

His face had turned pale as a result of the extreme Spirit consumption, while several deep scratches traced along his skin.

Only specks of Sacred Light remained around him and dispersed with the wind, evidence that Solar Manifestation’s Armor form had activated moments ago to protect him.

Likewise, the bloody crimson armor that had unknowingly appeared was also trembling violently.

Faint fractures formed on it, and although the Red Hare Armor recovered almost instantly, its Durability fell at an alarming rate.

Aurelius had no time to pay attention to this, though.

His gaze remained focused on the place where Erwin had just been as countless complaints raced through his mind.

Damn it!

These cultists were too ruthless!

If you don’t want to say something, just keep your mouth shut!

It’s not like I have a way to force you to speak! Why do you have to explode like a firework?

Aurelius nearly cursed aloud, finding it difficult to maintain his fury.

Yet the shock and fear hidden within his eyes betrayed that fury was far from the only emotion he was feeling.

Too close! He had been extremely close to death!

Erwin’s self-destruction had burst out with astonishing power.

Aurelius suspected that even Rank 2 Awakeners would have suffered greatly if caught in the aftermath.

Had it not been for his quick reaction and the power of Solar Manifestation, as well as the Red Hare Armor that activated on its own, he would have been seriously injured, if not outright perished.

Clearly, he had underestimated Erwin. Both his determination and the power he could exert despite being tied up.

’Is this the power of a cultist? In order to avoid saying anything, he chose self-destruction.’

’No,’ Aurelius suddenly shook his head halfway through that thought.

’It’s not that Erwin wanted to conceal the Sunless Sect’s plan. If that was the case, he had many other ways to achieve this, such as simply remaining silent.’

’The reason he decided to sacrifice himself was to kill me, the person daring enough to investigate the Sunless Sect’s matters.’

This decision was incomprehensible in Aurelius’ eyes.

This man had a happy life, a wife and children, and a bright future ahead of him.

Yet he was willing to give up on them all just because of the Sunless Sect.

Cultists.

Aurelius felt that only now did he understand the gravity of this term.

Cultists were not considered cultists because they did not believe in one of the Seven Righteous Gods.

Instead, it was because of their temperament and undying faith toward their respective deities.

Before today, Aurelius had a misunderstanding due to his past life’s memories.

He believed that the churches and the cults were the same, with the difference being that the churches believed in the Righteous Gods and were thus stronger.

Now, this misunderstanding had been totally cleared up.

The two were not comparable at all.

Cultists were cultists. Believers were believers.

The gap between them was massive.

Organizing his thoughts, Aurelius took several deep breaths before he succeeded in calming himself down.

Having already killed the Barbarian before, he didn’t feel any guilt for killing another cultist. Only shock regarding the manner that happened.

As for the fact that the person killed themselves and Aurelius had little to do with that, the Player Panel had another opinion.

[Killed Level 4 Blighted One! EXP +200]

"Ding!"

"It has been detected that the Player has killed a member of the Sunless Sect."

"1/21."

The moment he read through the last notification, the two numbers disappeared, materializing again at the edge of his vision right below the Mission’s countdown.

’Does this interface track the remaining members of the Sunless Sect?’ Aurelius judged.

He nodded.

This was quite simple but very efficient.

If he wanted to destroy the Sunless Sect, this prompt would prove extremely helpful.

Unfortunately, Aurelius could not celebrate for long.

His expression soon turned ugly once more.

The death of Erwin was wholly unexpected.

He had originally planned to find a way to control this man and use him as a pawn to find more information through him.

His death by itself was nothing. However, the consequences were quite severe.

’I don’t know how the Sunless Sect operates. If they track their members’ state, then Erwin’s death will soon be discovered.’

’Once that happens, the Sunless Sect will surely be more careful. Perhaps they will even bring their conspiracy forward.’

Although the countdown had shown no changes, Aurelius did not fully trust it.

This was not a game, but real life.

Once a change occurred, the simple wave of a butterfly’s wings could very well influence the future.

And the death of Erwin was perhaps that butterfly that would change everything.

Thinking of this, and looking out of the window only to see the rapidly setting sun, Aurelius knew he did not have much time.

Two days at most. Perhaps even less.

Then, Erwin’s disappearance would become known.

During that time, what he had to do was simple:

Improve his strength while searching for an external force that could help him weather the incoming storm.

’The latter cannot be relied upon.’

’In such matters, I can only believe in myself. At most, others can provide me with some help.’

At that thought, Aurelius did not linger any longer. After cleaning up the mess in the abandoned building, he hurriedly left the western district and then Blood Sun City as a whole.

Soon, his shadowy figure reached the outskirts of the Dryad Forest.

Perhaps fueled by his resolve to grow stronger, or perhaps still in shock from Erwin’s death, Aurelius’ hunting today was far more relentless and ruthless.

Before long, several monster species in the Dryad Forest suffered greatly. Their screams resounded through the forest.

Had any human been here, they would have suspected that this monster habitat had fallen victim to some type of ghost.