Chapter 44: Targeted by the Cultists
“No, I think we need to interact with these people,” Abyss said, sitting up after lying on the ground for a while.
“Oh, wasn’t it you who said we shouldn’t mind them?” Leona retorted, sitting up with a smug look on her face.
“It’s true that we don’t need to worry about them posing any threat, but think about it, if we capture one and I study them, wouldn’t that give us more information about the Outer Gods?” Abyss said, wagging his finger. “To safely and effectively utilize their power, such research is essential.”
“You want to study those weirdos? Count me out,” Leona rolled her eyes. “Just looking at them from afar creeps me out.”
“What about you, Flora?” Abyss turned to Flora hopefully.
Flora shook her head, waving her hands in refusal. As a former Saint, she disliked these cultists, with their mutated appearances and twisted minds, even more than Leona.
“Alright, then it’s settled. Leona will come with me to capture a cultist, and Flora will wait here. We’ll bring the cultist back, and you’ll be in charge of restraining them,” Abyss said, making the arrangements. “Please! Help me out this time. Leona, you can have all the wine and delicious food you want. Flora, I’ll create a familiar for you! A fluffy one!”
“You better keep your word!” Leona said.
“Ah… How did you know I like fluffy things…” Flora asked, surprised.
“Of course I know. You kept staring at the back of my head when we were riding, and in the city, you couldn’t take your eyes off the stray cats and dogs,” Abyss said confidently. “Although ordinary mages can only create one familiar, because you’re high-ranking undead followers, each of you can have one. So, deal?”
“Hmm… Alright… Fine,” Flora nodded, blushing. Although she didn’t know when Abyss had secretly observed her, she was happy that he had taken an interest in her preferences.
“I changed my mind! I want a familiar too! I want my own familiar!” Leona protested.
…
“Priest, should we make our move? They seem completely unguarded,” a cultist with sparse white hair whispered to a man with an abnormally muscular build, who wore a mask. They were hiding behind a tree a few hundred meters from Abyss’s campsite.
The masked man, addressed as Priest, breathed heavily, his round, lidless eyes staring at Abyss through the mask’s eyeholes. “Hold your position. Our mission is to observe their movements and report to Bishop Dallan. Don’t act rashly.”
“Yes, my lord,” the cultist bowed hastily. His bow was strange, unlike the usual human custom. He placed three fingers in his mouth and pressed the other two against his eyes, not closing them, seemingly feeling no pain.
“Any discoveries from the daytime surveillance?” the Priest asked.
“The believers assigned to watch them said they spent the entire day drinking in that tavern, chatting with other patrons. The boy in charge was reading something, but the believers couldn’t tell what it was. It looked like a notebook.”
“We might have known if we had targeted him sooner,” the Priest muttered. “When Bishop Dallan arrives, everything will be revealed. That arrogant boy and the girls with him will become our lord’s nourishment… or perhaps suitable vessels.”
“They managed to steal Empress Siana’s Eye of Envy. They might be quite powerful…” the cultist said cautiously.
“Hmph, no matter how strong they are, they can’t defeat Bishop Dallan. Have you forgotten the Bishop’s ability?”
“You’re right. My apologies. Bishop Dallan’s ability has nothing to do with strength. Once it’s used, victory is the only outcome.”
“Good. Keep watching them.”
“As you command.”
“For the Lord of Submergence.”
“For the Lord of Submergence!”
The Priest turned and left, leaving the cultist to continue observing Abyss and the girls.
“Huh?” the cultist suddenly exclaimed in confusion.
He looked back at the campsite and saw that only one person remained.
Where did the other two go? Was he seeing things? It seemed the other cultists watching them hadn’t sent any signals either. Could it be an illusion?
At the same time, two figures appeared behind the departing Priest.
There were no crunching footsteps on the snow, nor the whooshing sound of rapid movement. Abyss and Leona simply materialized behind him. Abyss reached out and tapped the Priest on the shoulder, and then all three vanished instantly.
“Priest! … Priest?” The cultist turned around to report, but the Priest was gone.
He stood there dumbfounded, unsure what to do.
…
The Priest was heading back to their base when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
He turned around and saw a boy and a girl standing behind him. The boy was a head shorter than him, and the girl only reached his chest. The boy looked up at him with a grin. Wasn’t that the boy they had been watching? The Priest remembered his thin frame and grey hair clearly.
“Hey, you’re their leader, right? My friend wants to do some experiments on you,” Leona said. She disliked looking up at people, especially this man who towered over her, so she didn’t even bother meeting his gaze.
“Ah, don’t listen to her nonsense. I just have a few questions for you. Once you answer them, you’re free to go or stay,” Abyss said, flashing a pearly white smile, trying to appear friendly.
The Priest didn’t respond. His muscles tensed, and he instantly retreated several steps, putting distance between himself and Abyss and Leona. Red Dou Qi flames ignited around him. “Believers! The enemy is approaching!” he shouted.
His voice was loud, but even the cultist closest to him, the one he had just spoken to, didn’t react, as if he couldn’t hear him at all.
“Technically, you’re in another world now,” Abyss shrugged.
“Looks like we have to fight!” the Priest said, abandoning his attempt to call for his companions and deciding to engage in combat. The Dou Qi flames around him intensified, even spewing from the eyeholes of his mask. Judging by the intensity of the flames, he was at least an eighth-tier Dou Warrior!
Suddenly, before Abyss could say another word, a torrent of pink tendrils erupted from the Priest’s sleeves, their sheer number ripping the fabric apart. The tendrils resembled long, slimy earthworms, writhing and coiling, instantly covering the distance between them and engulfing Abyss and Leona!
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