Chapter 7 - Chapter 7

It's hot.

Even though the armor I was wearing absorbed the initial impact, a scorching heat that felt like it was cooking my flesh came crashing in.

💥 KRAAAAAHHH!!! 💥

A pained scream escaped my lips on its own, and as my body collapsed from the unbearable agony, it brushed against the sword lying on the floor. And then...

🍖 GRRRRRLUK...!!! 🍖A strange rumble, like a starving beast growling, washed over me. It was so chilling that it even drowned out the pain of my body burning from the fireball.

Then, an indescribable, bizarre sensation assaulted me.

It felt like something's teeth and tongue were brushing against me, as if tasting me before devouring me whole.

And right after, a sharp pain, like those teeth that had grazed me were now biting down hard.

"Get off him!!"

 ⚙ IMPACT ⚙-BWAM!! 

"Guhk!!!"

But with Laila's voice ringing out again, that bizarre sensation vanished in an instant.

This time, some kind of telekinesis slammed into my body, sending me flying backward and away from the sword.

"Cough. Hack. Kek..."

"Are you insane? Touching something that's emitting such vicious mana...!"

'I-I wasn't trying to touch it, you bitch...'

I wanted to curse her out, explaining that I had no intention of touching it and was just trying to back away, but all that came from my mouth were agonized groans.

Along with the pain of my skin cooking, for some reason, a sharp pain radiated from the palm of my hand that had barely grazed the sword.

'What is this...?'

Even as my reason threatened to fly away from the pain, I barely managed to look down at my throbbing palm.

And there, on the back of my hand—not even the blade, just where it had lightly brushed—I saw a wound that looked like it had been gnawed by some beast.

"Phew... This is why adventurers."

Not knowing whose fault this was, Laila—under the delusion that she'd saved me—looked at me pitifully before pulling something from her pouch and trickling it into my mouth.

A slightly sweet, refreshing sensation lingered on my tongue, and as the mysterious liquid slid down my throat, the pain miraculously began to subside.

"Using the potion Master gave me on something like this..."

Even as she said that, Laila wore an expression of deep regret, but regardless of her feelings, my condition rapidly improved.

Leaving me to recover, she approached the red sword we'd seen earlier with a grave expression.

"This is... no way..."

Until just moments ago, Laila had been trying to unseal the door it hung from, and she'd gleaned a few facts about this unidentified space.

The most important one first.

'This place... could it be an Evil God's ruin?'

Was someone listening to her wish that investigating an Evil God's ruin would be better than some boring old site?

Having spotted traces amid the door and collapsed decorations that she suspected were symbols of the Evil God cult—designated as a continental public enemy—Laila had deduced this was a ruin connected to the Evil Gods.

The six Evil Gods, in contrast to the five benevolent gods worshipped by the continent's people.

Beings from ancient times who opposed the benevolent gods, nearly bringing the continent to ruin, and even now spreading darkness through their followers.

Once she'd grasped that this ruin was linked to the Evil Gods, Laila immediately stopped trying to break the seal.

She had her own ambitions, but if it was connected to the Evil Gods, it exceeded what she could handle alone.

'If I'd been even a little slower, it would've been disastrous.'

And thanks to stopping her investigation right on time, she was able to prevent the adventurer accompanying her from touching that.

...In truth, Yuseong had resisted the temptation and abandoned any thought of touching it, but from Laila's view behind him, his posture looked exactly like he was about to grab it.

Unaware that she'd nearly killed poor Yuseong, and thinking she'd repaid an earlier debt, Laila stared gravely at the thing Yuseong had almost touched (or not).

'A jagged blade like a saw, a sword emitting a blood-red aura. And...'

Even though she'd stopped him (or not), Yuseong's hand, which had lightly grazed the sword, was injured as if gnawed by some beast.

All these circumstances pointed to one fact.

"One of the Black Sacred Objects. Gula..."

Among the six Evil Gods who would drag the world to destruction, the 'King of All Sins'.

One of the most dangerous Black Sacred Objects, said to have been born from the sin of gluttony infused by that Evil God.

The most wicked demonic sword, once held by the Evil God's proxy, said to have devoured hundreds of thousands of lives.

And its features, as recorded in historical texts—including its appearance—matched perfectly with the red sword Laila was now gazing at.

"First... confirmation..."

Laila swallowed dryly and cautiously extended her hand, wrapped in protective magic, toward the red sword.

The moment her protective spell at her fingertips touched the red sword,

🍖 GRRRRLNG... 🍖A hallucinated cry like a starving beast echoed, and in an instant, the protective barrier around her hand was 'devoured' whole.

Narrowly avoiding having her hand torn off like Yuseong's, Laila yanked it back and stared at the red sword in horrified shock.

"I-It's real. A real Black Sacred Object...!!"

It hadn't just dispelled her mana—it had straight-up eaten it.

There couldn't be another sword with such characteristics.

This was undoubtedly... a Black Sacred Object. Gula.

'I need to report this to Master and the temple.'

With an Evil God's Black Sacred Object discovered, this was far beyond what she could handle.

Laila quickly shelved her greed, planning to head topside and use the emergency summons magic tool to call her master.

"Cough. Hack... Fuck. Blasting magic at someone out of nowhere..."

Just as she was thinking of what she needed to do, Yuseong—mostly recovered—sat up and finally couldn't hold back his curses.

The thought of not being rude to his client had flown away amid the pain of his flesh searing.

But at that moment.

-Drip... drip...

"...?"

The entrance they'd come through.

From where the secret staircase was, a sound echoed.

The familiar noise Yuseong had kept hearing from above in the ruins.

The sound that had led these two to discover this secret space... was now coming from very close by.

Yuseong, who'd been about to snap, and Laila, lost in thought, both froze and looked toward the source.

And then.

"No way... it really exists."

"Uuu... meat..."

Two suspicious-looking men descended underground, grinning ear to ear.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

In the distant past.

After the great war between the Evil Gods bent on destroying the world and the benevolent gods who stood against them, the benevolent gods ultimately emerged victorious and banished the Evil Gods from the mortal realm.

The saved inhabitants of the earth worshipped the five benevolent gods, establishing orders that called their names and spreading their faith far and wide in praise.

But before they were driven out.

Those who had witnessed the majesty of the Evil Gods who descended upon this land and served them survived the purge, slinking into the continent's shadows.

Believing the true masters of this land were the banished Evil Gods, they carried on the powers granted to them in the past, seeking to summon the Evil Gods back to this earth.

Those beings were called...

"Evil God cultists...!!!"

Evil God cultists. Enemies of everyone on the continent.

Laila's face twisted like a demon's upon spotting the markings engraved on the arms of the two men who had entered the underground.

And one of them casually brushed off her murderous aura with a grin, correcting her words.

"Watch your tongue, wench. Don't call our gods by such a lowly name as 'Evil Gods.' They are not mere evils—they are the true gods and saviors of this land."

Despite his light tone, his voice brimmed with madness and killing intent as he rebuked Laila. Then, with an enraptured expression, he surveyed the underground space.

"Ohhh... so this is... the dwelling where that one resided in the past...!!"

Not just speaking in rapture, the man ignored Laila and Yuseong's presence as he looked around the ruins, then knelt right there, shedding tears as he offered prayers.

And behind him, the obese man covered head to toe in flesh snorted and drooled.

"Fresh meat..."

"..."

An encounter with Evil God cultists in a place presumed to be an Evil God ruin.

Laila's expression hardened, and she carefully activated her ever-present emergency summons tool, trying to buy as much time as possible.

"Why are Evil God cultists like you here...?"

"Hah. Still daring to call that one an Evil God... Whatever. They say ignorance isn't a sin. You're asking why we're here?"

The man, having finished his prayers, grinned and fixed a chilling gaze on the object behind Laila and Yuseong.

"We've come to retrieve the traces that one left on this land."

"Eek..."

Sensing that gaze, Laila bit her lower lip in dismay.

'Evil God cultists showing up out of nowhere... Detection magic didn't pick up anything...'

"Ahh, that look. I can guess what you're thinking. 'Detection magic didn't catch anything, so how?' Right?"

"!!"

Her thoughts read, Laila panicked, but the chattering cultist just looked bored, as if it were obvious.

"You mages are all the same. Thinking a single detection spell catches everything... Especially an inexperienced one like you."

Spotting Laila's lack of experience at a glance, the cultist sneered at her.

"How long do you think we've been hiding in this continent's shadows? We know plenty of ways to evade detection spells."

"That's ridiculous..."

"Sure, real experts might be hard to fool... But a half-baked one like you? Piece of cake."

"...!!!"

Laila, who prided herself on her superior skills, flushed red at the provocation and gripped her staff so hard it might snap—but the more she reacted, the more the cultist enjoyed it.

"Well, first off, thanks. Who'd have thought a half-baked mage like you, even with some tool's help, would actually find that one's sacred object."

"Thanks..?"

"We narrowed down candidates by cross-referencing old records... But this place was low on the list for having one."

The cultist rambled on, admitting even they hadn't expected a Black Sacred Object here.

"We were poking around casually, heard you two, and hid to avoid attention... Then that idiot heard the tiny sound and came sniffing, leading us right to the ruin's entrance."

With those words, the cultist stomped on a stone on the floor, crushing it.

 ⚙ CRUNCH!! ⚙The distinctive noise from yesterday—and earlier, that had allowed us to find this ruin—rang out. 

"Heh heh heh... Who'd have thought an apprentice mage like you would have such a fine tool. Thanks to you, we got an unexpected haul."

The cultist eyed the measuring device in Laila's pouch with surprise.

A high-performance gauge, far too advanced for a minor ruin like this that even the cultists thought held nothing special.

Without it, they might have overlooked this underground space entirely.

'No way... because of me?'

Realizing her master's custom high-end gauge had inadvertently guided the cultists to their sacred object, Laila bit her lip until it bled.

The man, having said that much, turned a chilling gaze to the sacred object emanating vicious energy behind them.

"But... after being trapped underground so long, it looks awfully hungry."

Hearing Gula's beastly howls of starvation, the cultist looked at Laila and me as if it were perfect timing.

"Well, no problem? We've got sacrifices ready right here."

The meaning of 'sacrifices' was clear even to an idiot, from the icy glare he shot us.