"Was I in his body the whole time?" Metro's mind had gone haywire, as his body became incredibly nervous in front of the crowd. "Why did that bloody voice have to put me in such a situation?" There was no disconnect at all. He had already directly become accustomed to the body. Not only that, he had registered that he was wearing a hooded cloak up to his knees.
"The son of the Divines have risen again! Imbibe the juices of power that shall show our pious spirits and transform us into prime acolytes!" A giant man besides Metro raised a chalice in the air. "Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!" The people chanted repeatedly, as they held the chalice to their mouth. They were speaking the English language, the same language that he spoke.
"Wait! Stop!" Metro wanted to warn them before it was too late. He did not want to take part in the murder of all these people. Alas, it was too late. They had already all taken in the cyanide, and were all feverishly mumbling, "Heaven, heaven, heaven..." They started dropping to the ground like flies, left and right.
They ignored Metro's words, as they were all delirious from the poisoning. On the other hand, the giant man turned to Metro, and started clapping, while laughing heartily. With his deep voice and muscular body size, the noise was thunderous. Metro has not seen this man from Robert the cult leader's memories, so he did not know about him.
While the giant man laughed and clapped, Metro took the opportunity to size him up. His body had already reached at least 2 meters tall, while his body was around 2.5 meters wide. His chest and torso was bandaged, while his jeans were ripped from the sheer size of his calves. He wore a majestic beard while shaven bald, giving him an intimidating presence.
From what Metro has seen of the body he was in, he was very average in height, and maintained a skinny body line along with a pale complexion. Judging from the giant man's behaviour, Metro was not on good terms with him.
However, Metro was sure that this guy was not the demon that he had promised to serve. The demon had horns covering every part of his body, and did not have a purely physical body. It was a relief he did not have to deal with the demon immediately, even if it was a small one.
After a minute after laughing non-stop, the giant man's face twisted into one of excitement. "Robert, I didn't expect that the betrayer faction did not would mess up this bad. Pathetic. Everything needs to be done by me."
[Activated Death Clock's effect. Remaining time: 1 minute 27 seconds. Registered user: Metro Lee]
Name: Metro Lee
Username: Null
Rank: E- Player
Inherited passive skills: Basic Trained Body
Body Skills: Novice Charm, Novice Cunning
"Huh?" Metro's whole body started to warp and evolve as soon as a screen appeared in front of him. A watch strapped onto his wrist gently. It started ticking down, showing the remaining time Metro had. Metro did not notice the change in his body, but he felt that he was growing better.
"Somebody has died already?" Metro suddenly felt relief. Relief that he had not been given a chance to stop the deaths of the audience. If he had really stopped them, he would have certainly died under the threat of the voice.
Metro has only now realised the severity of the situation that he was thrusted in. He was under constant pressure to kill under the orders of the voice, while he was supposed to fight demons with only a normal person's body. The status screen was his only hope out of this situation.
He could now think of different ways to overcome the brute that was in front of him using the new abilities that he had been granted by the status screen. The scene in front of him him had simplified into pathways for himself.
[Novice Cunning: From using glaringly obvious plots, you have gained a certain level of understanding on how to manipulate a person. You are more likely to deceive others.]
The status screen was completely in his head, as the giant man did not notice anything. Instead, he only stared fervently at him, with drool leaking from his mouth.
"I don't even know you. Why do you want to kill me?" Metro tried to take a chance. If he found out more about the giant man, he could potentially use the information to turn the tides.
"Hahahaha! I've been your second-in-command's direct successor the whole time, and you didn't even know me? Your arrogance and foolishness is way more than I thought." The giant man did not directly refer to himself, but Metro had already used this information to construct a scenario for himself.
"This guy should be the leader of the betrayer faction of this cult. The demon is responsible for him turning on the cult leader from the quest's details, but why did the demon choose him?"
"Precisely. You are so unimportant. Why would the demon choose you instead of me, the charming cult leader? I would clearly be able to serve the demon better." Metro cleverly twisted the conditions to his favour, but he did not expect the giant baldy to tremble instead.
"Master Harkus would never betray me.... right? Argh! My heart, no no no, I'm not!" A word spaghetti fell out of the giant man's mouth, strung together incoherently. He turned to Metro in anger and accused him.
[Charmed target- Corrupted Brian for 1 second. Inherited Skill: Basic Charm obtained]
"You. You! You insulted Master Harkus. Hahahaha! You will now pay!" The giant man had initially been filled with anger, but he then became as calm as a monk. Even with his skills, Metro has no idea what the giant man was thinking about.
It was only when the giant man showed visible changes that Metro knew what was going on. Just like when Metro had gotten his new skills with a bodily evolution, the giant man was actually going through one as well!
Dark veins of blood protruded from the bald man's head, constantly expanding and interlocking among each other. The fingers on each hand merged together to form a lump of meat, while thorns grew out of them. The legs grew into the size of tree trunks. Visible cracks began to appear on the stone tiles from the weight.
Eventually, the black veins covered every part of the face except the mouth, which was replaced with entirely fangs. The giant man had abandoned any semblance of humanity, growing into an inhumane beast.
The pants were ripped apart, but Metro luckily did not have to shield his eyes. The genitals had been replaced by a fleshy tune, with teeth at the end of it.
Seeing such a figure near him, there was no point for Metro to continue speaking. Almost instinctively, he used his hands to drag himself off the stone altar. The mutated beast swung its new lumps at the stone altar, crushing it into a rain of stone. Most of the debris flew far away from the force, with none hitting Metro at all.
Just as the beast attempted to raise its arm once more, it fell to the ground, limp. It fell in Metro's direction, but his trained body allowed him to react in time, dodging the slam of the body. Of course, the force of the slam blew Metro backwards, sending him flying. He hit the wall, making him groan in pain.
Even though he had worked as a customer sales support, Metro had regular exercises from time to time, so he could not get used to how weak Robert's body was. The pain from hitting the wall was so intense that he had nearly passed out.
"Brian, oh Brian. What a foolish mistake you made, following someone from the Black Heaven." Metro's whole body was filled with adrenaline, but it did not distract him from seeing that someone was cutting into the giant man's back. Carving a small hole, that person plunged their arm into the hole, grabbing a squirming object. The squirming object was crushed directly in the hand, before the person took a glance at Metro.
"How pitiful. The acolyte of a demon gets betrayed by the demon. The Light Church and Black Heaven will mark you as a target. You might as well commit suicide to spare yourself from the pain." The person talked to Metro in a condescending tone, before disappearing from his sight with a whooshing sound.
Metro could have sworn that he had seen a grin on that person's face.
[Event: Struggle for Dominance
Event Ended
-Encountered side character, Corrupted Brian
-Encountered key character, Executer Lucas
-Calculating rewards based on player's strength
Rewards: Brian's Skull]