Ch.255254. Catastrophe (1)

An afternoon like any other. Normally, this would be the time when people are most active and frequently moving about.

Unlike the morning, when everyone is tired and wants to succumb to the drowsiness of sleep, most people tend to wake up in the afternoon. Above all, this era is one where most laborers engage in physical work.

But for the ghouls of the Hunger Cult, daylight was a time of nothing but pain.

Of course, the ghoul race doesn’t have a weakness to sunlight itself like vampires do, but that doesn’t mean the bright, shining sunlight is comfortable for crypt ghouls.

Their pupils are optimized for seeing in dark or dimly lit places, so their vision is impaired under the sun, and their pale, grayish skin causes stinging pain or itching when exposed to excessive light.

These are frustrating characteristics for creatures who consider themselves worshippers of the sun god, but they themselves go around proclaiming these reactions as evidence that the sun is false, so no further explanation is needed.

Anyway, since ghouls find it difficult to be active in sunlight for various reasons, they typically don’t move about much unless it’s during the dusky night or on cloudy days….

If not in such weather or environment, these crypt ghouls spend their time in their underground bases hidden throughout Dongrae Port.

And this situation was no exception for the underground grain warehouse that served as the headquarters of the Hunger Cult in Dongrae Port.

The Hunger Cult, disguised as a small company participating in the triangular grain trade centered around Dongrae, had established its headquarters in a grain warehouse where it wouldn’t be strange to have people frequently coming and going or to have large spaces.

While the above-ground portion was indeed a genuine grain warehouse for the trading company, secret passages cleverly hidden in employee-only facilities led down to a massive underground religious complex.

Here they stored and distributed “meat” supplied from Dongrae Port’s butcher shops, gathered to share their faith through meaningful religious activities, and sometimes spent time repenting while listening to sermons from ghoul priests or lords.

Therefore, at this time of day, this headquarters with such functions should normally be considered a refuge where ghouls could rest while hiding from the sunlight, but….

“Kya, kyaaaaaaah─!!!”

“An intruder, an intruder has appeared!”

That tranquility was completely shattered by a single intruder.

After isolating the entire underground religious facility with some kind of magic to prevent entry or exit, this intruder boldly broke through the main entrance and slaughtered dozens of innocent (not really) cult members (ghouls).

“P-please spare m─”

-Crunch!

Ignoring even the pitiful plea of the poor cult member, the intruder trampled it to death, then magically beheaded another whose lower body had been severed and was crawling across the floor from the attacker’s previous assault.

Of course, the “pitiful plea” was nothing more than a howl produced by the ghoul’s twisted vocal cords, and it’s not as if a normal human could crawl around with their lower body severed and entrails dragging behind them.

Anyway, as the intruder continued to invade and cruelly murder innocent cult members:

“C-come on! You monster!”

“You shall not pass beyond this point!”

The righteous defenders of the Hunger Cult. The soldiers of the Hunger Cult who (claim to) have been chosen by the Sun God, the Ghoul Guardians (Hungry Guardians), stood against the intruder wearing equipment protected by holy blessings.

To the “intruder,” the soldiers’ courageous declarations sounded like nothing more than gurgling howls, and their supposedly holy blessed equipment was merely an abomination decorated with rotting corpses and human bones.

They wore crude metal fragments embedded in human skin as armor, wielded spears and knives coated with blackened, caked blood, or carried shields made of human skin with actual human bones embedded on the surface.

Despite their horrific and grotesque appearance, all their equipment was magical, imbued with special powers through the necromancy of the ghoul priests.

The armor and shields could smoothly block even enhanced attacks a few times through their inherent magical power, and the magic bestowed upon their spears and knives contained the ability to steal life force from targets and convert it into energy for the ghouls.

But in the end, they were still just low-ranking soldiers.

-Slash-slash-slash-slash!

Compared to the torrent of slashes raining down from all directions like a downpour, their magical equipment was nothing more than crude products inferior even to children’s toys.

Dozens of ghouls were instantly dismembered and scattered across the floor, and hundreds more “innocent” believers met a miserable fate, sticking to the ground.

There were no exceptions for children, the elderly, or the weak.

The cruel invader attacked regardless of how those before him reacted, and dismembered his enemies with cold and brutal strikes.

The intruder even sliced through five priests who stood in his way with some kind of magic in one go, and upon magically witnessing this, the Ghoul Lord, also known as Stragoer, the Hungry Lord, made a decision.

“Begin the ritual now!”

He would conduct the ascension ritual, even if incomplete, to ensure they could defeat this high-ranking being here and now.

But at this point, there’s something we must keep in mind.

The ascension ritual targeting ghouls was bound to fail from the start, and the청이 that should have been the core of the ritual didn’t even exist.

In short, this ritual ended in miserable failure as expected, and the magical power that had been gathered exploded in all directions as a result.

Of course, the minds of the ghouls, filled with delusions and self-justification, momentarily froze from the shock of this ritual failure, but unfortunately, the “intruder” had no intention of wasting such precious time on them.

-CRASH!!!

With a thunderous sound, the ceiling of the underground temple, which had been modified for the ritual, was shattered, and a man whose entire body was engulfed in flames appeared and unleashed merciless attacks on the surrounding ghouls.

-Slash-slash-slash!!!

-Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!!

Fire-attribute attacks, which are natural enemies to certain undead like crypt ghouls, fused with slashing attacks that flew quickly from anywhere without warning, targeting the enemies’ necks.

In an instant, more than six ghoul priests lost their lives, dismembered and burning, and the flames generated in this process severely burned the skin of several ghouls.

Following this, flaming slashes flying wildly in all directions not only cut down dozens of ghouls but also set fire to the underground religious facility, which was filled with materials perfect for kindling, causing it to blaze fiercely.

At this point, the Ghoul Lord, who finally witnessed his subordinates being one-sidedly incinerated, stepped forward.

Wearing a hideous crown stained and soiled with blood on his head, the giant figure boasting a height of about 3 meters was wrapped in a crude fur cloak and oversized plate armor.

In his hand was a mace. If one were to make a comparison, it was similar in form to what a tyrant’s subordinate might use to demand who dared to cough, but with a more violent and explicit appearance.

Additionally, he had skulls attached to his waist like decorations, and wore a bronze-copper mask depicting a face, perhaps to hide his ugly ghoul features.

[■■■■■■■■─!!!]

This being, whose appearance was ferocious and violent enough to be a boss in a Soulslike game by anyone’s standards, inflated his body greatly and hurled his massive frame toward the intruder.

But… the outcome of the battle had already been determined long before this point.

The difference was too great between the intruder, who had built up his self through innate talent and stubborn consistency to become high-ranked entirely through his own power, and the Ghoul Lord, who had barely reached the high rank through various shortcuts and forbidden techniques.

No matter that they were both “high-ranked,” the difference between these two was simply too vast.

After exchanging just a few blows, the Ghoul Lord, whose arms had been carbonized by sunset-like crimson flames, looked at the intruder in confusion as he felt the pain rising from those arms—

-Slash!

Creating such an opening in a high-rank battle was fatally critical from the start.

When the intruder suddenly pulled out an ice greatsword with sword-assist functionality from his spatial pocket and swung it, the Ghoul Lord, completely unprepared for this surprise attack, had no choice but to offer his neck.

And at this scene of the devastated cult, the “intruder” grimaced as he looked at the severed head of the Ghoul Lord.

The presence of countless undead beginning to emerge above ground was enough to elicit such a reaction from him.