The Harem of Juicy MILFs

Chapter 37: New Lead [5]

While Gerhman and Hae-neul were hurrying, in a cave at the heart of a forest on the 25th floor, a group of individuals had settled in. Their black priest robes absorbed the ambient light. One of them was sitting on a rock, legs dangling, while the others were scattered around an improvised campfire whose greenish flames devoured pieces of still-smoking flesh. They were zealots of the Cult of the Void.

"I don’t understand," grumbled one of the zealots, a man with an emaciated face and a shaved skull. He was mechanically rubbing a scar that crossed his cheek. "Why does our Lord demand so much monster blood? We have already emptied three entire floors. The harvest is more than sufficient."

A second, bulkier one, shrugged with indifference, his fingers playing with a pendant in the shape of an esoteric symbol hanging from his neck. "What does the reason matter, brother. Everything is for the Lord, and the Lord is for everything. His designs surpass us."

"Easy to say when you don’t spend your time gutting creatures," retorted a third, a woman with short hair and a piercing gaze. She was casually wiping the blade of her dagger on her robe, leaving reddish streaks. "Every floor, it’s the same circus. We massacre, we collect, we start over. At this rate, I wonder if all this has any meaning."

The bulky zealot burst into a loud, throaty laugh that echoed in the cave. "Meaning? The meaning is in the action itself, my dear sister. We are the instruments of the Lord’s will. We are not here to question, but to obey."

The shaved-skull man rolled his eyes, an annoyed sigh escaping his lips. "You and your ready-made phrases. That’s all well and good, but I would like to know why we insist on collecting the blood of every monster killed. We could simply let them rot on the spot, as usual."

"The answer is simple," intervened a fourth zealot, a young man with a pale complexion who had not yet spoken. He held between his fingers a small vial containing a blackish, viscous liquid that he was slowly swirling. "The blood of monsters contains a primordial energy. An energy that the Lord wishes to accumulate for... certain rituals."

"Ah, more rituals," mocked a fifth, a man with angular features and a scar across his nose. "Always rituals. You only know how to talk about that, Seyon. You spend more time reading your grimoires than fighting."

Seyon, the pale young man, glared at his interlocutor. "What I know, you couldn’t even imagine, Jin. Knowledge is a weapon far sharper than that rusty sword you brandish."

Jin stood up abruptly, his hand on his weapon. "Say that again, sorcerer."

The other two members of the group exchanged a weary look, accustomed to these quarrels. The bulky man raised a soothing hand. "Calm down, both of you. We are here to serve the Lord, not to kill each other. Save your energy for what awaits us."

Jin grumbled but sat back down, muttering. He grabbed a piece of charred meat from the fire and bit into it violently, as if attacking an enemy. "I don’t care why we’re doing this anyway," he declared with his mouth full. "As long as I can kill everything that moves, that’s fine with me. There is nothing more exhilarating than hearing the last rattle of a creature that is agonizing."

The short-haired woman rolled her eyes. "You are a psychopath, Jin. A real one. No wonder no one wants to team up with you outside of us."

Jin gave her a carnivorous smile, his teeth stained with the blood from the meat. "And you are a lecturing woman who doesn’t know how to hold her tongue. That’s why you’re still single, Yein."

Yein clenched her teeth, her fingers tightening on the hilt of her dagger. "I’d like to see who ends up on the ground first if you keep talking like that."

Seyon, the young sorcerer, let out an exasperated sigh. "Calm down!" He stood up, towering over the two protagonists with a height greater than it seemed at first glance. "The Lord has entrusted us with a mission. We have no right to fail. So, instead of bickering like spoiled children, focus on the objective."

The atmosphere tensed for a moment. Then the bulky man started laughing, breaking the tension. "Seyon is right. We still have two floors to clean before the next phase. Rest while you can. Tomorrow, we will have to start over."

Jin sulked. "I hope there will be rank B monsters. The rank C ones are starting to bore me."

Silence fell back over the group, disturbed only by the crackling of the greenish fire and the persistent dripping.

---

Meanwhile, Gerhman and Hae-neul were traversing the 23rd floor ravaged by demonic energy corruption. The monsters there were ten times stronger than normal, although their base levels were rank D or C, but because of the demonic energy, their level had suddenly increased.

"They never end..." groaned Hae-neul, finding the situation frustrating.

In reality, they had been on the 23rd floor for more than 45 minutes. Unlike the previous floors where the cult members had massacred everything that breathed, they had left a few.

"Stop complaining, it’s getting tiring..." remarked Gerhman as he crushed the head of a wolf. His body was covered in blood. "I should find myself some clothes with cleaning enchantments," he murmured to himself, looking at the blood on his shirt.

"It’s not that I’m complaining, but we don’t see the end of this horde of monsters," replied Hae-neul.

"Then kill as many as possible..." said Gerhman as he activated his Plunder skill, thus absorbing the energy of the dead monsters, then continued on his way.

"Every time I see your skill, it makes me..." complained Hae-neul. "To think that such a skill exists..."

Gerhman did not respond, instead continuing his route, observing the surroundings that he found strange for a certain reason.

"They don’t seem too far," said Gerhman suddenly.

"Huh!!" exclaimed Hae-neul as she looked around. "I don’t see anything though," she said, perplexed.

"That’s normal since you prefer to waste your time talking instead of observing your environment," replied Gerhman, explaining the reason.

"Tsss..." She clicked her tongue in frustration. She thought their moments of conversation had brought them closer, but she felt greatly deceived.

"Let’s go..." said Gerhman as he prepared to leave the floor.

"Okay..." agreed Hae-neul as she walked a little faster to find herself side by side.