Ch.31Descent – 1 (Revised)

The door to the reception room turned to dust and scattered. Serena entered first, and I followed behind her.

Originally, I had planned to go in first, but she insisted on taking the lead since we didn’t know what might jump out at us.

Even though I could just take whatever came at me and regenerate afterward, Serena seemed unwilling to accept that approach.

The room was a complete mess. Not just the floor, but the walls and ceiling were stained with blood, and at the center, a massive magic circle was emitting a bright red light.

Above the magic circle, Kartina floated unconscious, her legs drawn together and arms spread out to the sides. The binding magic around her wrists and ankles also glowed red.

Kartina’s hair fluttered continuously in the air. Painful moans escaped through her tightly closed lips, and beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

Though unconscious, she seemed to be in severe pain, twisting her body this way and that, but the binding magic prevented much movement.

In front of the magic circle stood someone wearing a black robe with the hood pulled over their head.

Their arms were spread wide open as they muttered something, but when Serena and I entered the room, they lowered their arms. Their gaze remained fixed on Kartina.

I stopped Serena as she tried to rush forward and spoke first.

“Is it you?”

“That’s quite an abstract question. What do you mean?”

“Don’t play word games. You know what I’m asking.”

“Well, I’m just a heretic with nothing but heresy in my head, so I’m quite stupid. I’m not sure what you’re asking?”

“I haven’t gone that far with my words yet.”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

Well, they didn’t deny it. As they said, most heretics had nothing in their heads except devotion to their gods.

There’s a reason they’re called heretics and targeted for extermination whenever they’re discovered. No human with a normal mindset could do something like this.

“There must have been quite a few adventurers who turned into monsters, but it was indeed the Royal Knight Captain. Even I, who must now face you in battle, was impressed by your skill.”

“Shut up. I don’t want praise from the likes of you.”

“Then I must offer it repeatedly. That speed with which you cut down monsters in an instant, that destructive power that can split skin harder than steel, the infinite mana flowing from your body. All of it was truly admirable. So much that I’d want to draw you to my side somehow.”

“You—”

I grabbed Serena’s wrist. If I hadn’t stopped her, she looked ready to slice the robed figure to pieces. As if knowing I would hold Serena back, the calm voice continued.

“I know you can’t kill me yet because you still have many questions for me.”

“That’s true… but well. As you said, someone of Serena’s skill could certainly leave you in a state where you’re just barely alive, couldn’t she?”

“Then this woman called Kartina would die too, wouldn’t she?”

The figure’s finger pointed at Kartina, who was bound within the magic circle.

“Is that a threat?”

“Yes, it’s a threat. The ritual is almost complete. If you kill me now, the powers with nowhere to go will crawl into this woman’s body and burst it apart. If you don’t want to see such a sight, I suggest you quietly watch.”

The robed figure lowered their finger that had been pointing at Kartina, their voice triumphant.

They seemed to think I was keeping quiet because I genuinely wanted to save Kartina. While saving her would be good, I didn’t necessarily think she had to be saved.

From the beginning, I had no need to interfere with the ritual. After all, this was a magic circle created by sacrificing an entire city’s worth of humans.

I’d seen many heretics who tried to summon something by sacrificing a few people, or at most dozens, but I’d never seen heretics who would go to such insane lengths to draw a summoning circle.

How could they even handle the aftermath?

But these ones had openly sacrificed an entire city.

How strong would the god be that manifested after consuming such a vast amount of blood as sacrifice? And even if its raw power was weaker than Charlotte’s or Serena’s, might it possess some special ability that could break this cursed immortality?

My heart pounded wildly with excitement at the possibility that I might actually be able to die.

In short, the key point was this: if it was a god summoned by sacrificing an entire city, might it be capable of killing me?

So I had no need to stop the ritual, nor did I want to. I could just pretend to go along with their words, wait patiently for the ritual to finish, and then see the result.

If I could extract some information in the process, that would be good, and if I could die, even better.

I made up my mind. Let’s definitely let the summoning happen. Then I’ll try to gently persuade it to kill me. Controlling my voice that trembled slightly with excitement, I growled with a feigned somber tone.

“Isn’t that the same if I leave you be? If Kartina is destined to die either way, wouldn’t it be better to interrupt the ritual and spite you?”

“Well, if you kill me now, this woman will definitely die with me, but if you wait until the ritual is complete, there might be a small chance of saving her.”

“You could be lying, couldn’t you? Conversely, killing you now might give Kartina a chance to survive, but once that damned work is finished, it might become impossible. How am I supposed to believe whether that’s a pathetic lie or not?”

“I swear by the name of the god I serve. There is no falsehood in these words.”

Yes, I’m desperately waiting for that god to be summoned right now. Can’t you just finish the ritual quickly and summon it already?

“What gives you such confidence?”

“It’s not confidence.”

The light emanating from the magic circle grew more intense. Kartina, who had been trembling in pain, hung her head.

It seemed her body had gone completely limp. The binding magic around her wrists and ankles began to creep up her arms and legs toward the center of her body.

“It’s predestined fate.”

“I’ll just cut everything down, my lord,” Serena whispered in a voice barely audible to me, but I shook my head to indicate no.

There was a possibility I might be able to die right in front of me, and I absolutely couldn’t let that opportunity be ruined.

While pretending I couldn’t interfere with the ritual because Kartina was being held hostage, I calmly reviewed the situation.

Until just now, I’d been too excited to think about the identity of the robed figure, but now I had some breathing room. The robed figure probably thought we were standing here helplessly because of the hostage.

The voice was definitely familiar. Quite familiar, in fact.

As I mentally replayed our conversation and tried hard to remember where I’d heard such a voice before, I suddenly recalled what Elliot had done.

At first glance, it had seemed like a mistake in controlling his strength, but in reality, it had been deliberate.

“I get it now. It was you, wasn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“The receptionist at the Adventurer’s Guild. Stop pretending you don’t know. You’re the culprit.”

“…”

The robed figure paused slightly, as if surprised. I wonder if it’s okay to leave them like this. I hope they don’t mess up the ritual while spacing out.

“If you’re going to clean up evidence, you should do it properly. When you clumsily destroy evidence in front of everyone, did you think we wouldn’t be suspicious?”

“That was something I didn’t anticipate. How could I have known that you and the Royal First Knight Captain were acquainted?”

“You must have thought Serena had left for good. Too bad for you.”

“Indeed. I don’t know what Kartina did, but she got angry and stormed out of here. I thought she would have gone back for good. But… to think that someone as high-ranking as the Royal Knight Captain was following you. The rumors about you hiding your strength and living as a lowest-rank adventurer must be true.”

“You believe that nonsense too?”

“I’ve decided to believe it from now on. After directly confirming the relationship between you two, I can’t help but believe it.”

The binding magic had now consumed Kartina’s arms and was creeping up to her shoulders. The thick bracelet-like magic circles around her wrists turned an even deeper blood-red.

“The ritual is almost complete. So, I should answer your questions. Is there anything you’d like to ask?”

The receptionist turned toward me. They wore a mask with only two small holes for seeing through, otherwise completely unadorned.

The robe was black, the mask was black, they wore black gloves on their hands, and even their shoes were black.

It was quite difficult to maintain an angry expression while suppressing the corners of my mouth that kept trying to curl upward.

If I smiled here, I’d immediately arouse that person’s suspicion. I needed to let the ritual proceed as is and extract all the information I could.

“What happened to the other receptionists? Were they heretics like you too?”

“Yes. We had spread quite deeply throughout this city. Naturally, they were all gladly saved by this ritual.”

“Saved, saved… I get it. All your people except you are dead, huh?”

“I must correct that statement. They didn’t die; they ascended. Through this ritual.”

“Well, that’s for you to decide.”

Kartina’s body looked concerning. Her limbs were twitching and her body was twisting this way and that, as if something was about to happen.

The magic circle hummed as mana gathered. It seemed the ritual was finally ending.

“Is there anything else you’d like to ask?”

There was clear mockery in those words. Now that the ritual was almost complete, it was as if they were saying, “No matter what you ask, the situation is over.”

Of course, I felt nothing hearing that. If anything, I wanted to urge them to finish quickly.

“How close is that damn ritual to completion?”

The receptionist glanced back. After confirming the bright red light that seemed about to burst, they answered with a voice full of laughter.

“It’s finished.”

With those words, a bright red light exploded outward. The light was so intense that I had to close my eyes even with my arms covering my face.

The blood staining everything around grew even darker in color, as if resonating with the light. The floor of the reception room began to bubble. My body sank downward, and my shoes began to dig into the floor.

I narrowly opened my eyes to look ahead. Kartina’s body was completely buried in the light emanating from the magic circle.

In front of her, the receptionist, seemingly unaffected by the blinding light, stood with arms spread wide, shouting in jubilation. Serena remained standing by my side.

Suddenly, I felt as if Kartina had opened her eyes.

“My God, I have only one request!”

As if the ritual was completely finished, the receptionist hurriedly knelt on the floor and bowed their head. Immediately, their calves and knees sank into the softened floor.

The receptionist, disregarding their body sinking lower and lower, pleaded to whatever was before them.

“Please annihilate all life in this world!”

The light gradually subsided. Kartina’s body gently descended to the floor. Her orange hair, which had been floating in all directions, straightened downward.

Her emotionless eyes turned toward the receptionist kneeling before her. The figure raised their head. Kartina, or rather, whatever had descended into Kartina’s body, raised her right hand and extended her index finger.

“So it shall be.”

Pop—the receptionist’s head exploded. The headless body swayed and then collapsed onto the floor.

Kartina flicked her index finger in a “come here” gesture toward the corpse, and the flowing blood and headless body rose into the air.

Then they were gradually absorbed into Kartina’s body and disappeared.

After completely absorbing the corpse, Kartina turned her eyes toward us. The bright red magic circles on her wrists and ankles glowed once more.

Her legs moved. Despite the floor having turned into something like soft mud, she moved as if walking on solid ground.

Kartina’s finger pointed at me.