Seven men were standing before seven altars, cloaked in seven black robes.
The walls of the room were made with the warmth exuding black stone. Earlier, I had thought the material's presence welcoming. Now, it was just eerie.
However, what truly caught my eye was the figure in the center of the ritual circle that the men were standing around.
A woman with extremely long white hair was dressed in an elaborate red-black gown that hugged her thin but curvaceous figure tightly. Even though her face was downcast and facing the dark stone of the ground, I could still make out her unearthly beauty.
Her facial features were elegant and possessed a refined grace that could only be described as noble. Normally, I could spend the entire day staring at such a beauty and thoroughly investing myself in being enthralled, but there was a major problem here.
She was tied to a pole.
No, not the kind that you dance on.
This pole was made of rough, unsanded wood. It was the kind of thing that you'd find in the unprocessed pile in a lumber yard back in my previous world.
"Oooh! Great Agunta, we have brought you a most noble sacrifice! Now, shalt thou grant us thy blessing at last and fill this offering vessel with thy divine seed!?"
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hoooold up there, asshole! Ain't nobody fillin' her up with their "divine seed"—or any seed, for that matter!
"Looks like a fun party. Can I join?"
All heads in the room immediately turned toward me. The men's eyes widened in shock as they finally noticed the presence of an intruder.
"G-Get the infidel! She trespasses upon our holy temple!" One of them shouted. He wore a large, conical hat on top of his hood. The tallest in the room, which probably marked him as the leader.
I wore a smirk as I dashed toward one of the men with my hand outstretched while he attempted to cast magic.
[Devouring Healing]!
His spell fizzled out as I deleted the ambient mana around him, allowing me to grab his face with no resistance while he flailed around in surprise.
Casters were usually physically frail in tabletop role-playing games, but I wasn't sure if that was true here. Naturally, I tightened my grip around the man's face and smashed his head against the altar.
It was true.
"Next." I stared at the six remaining men as blood dripped from my fingertips.
I was just about to strike while they stood still in stunned silence, but the leader recovered quickly.
"Protect yourselves, you fools!"
His voice had whipped them into action and my knuckles struck painfully against a semi-transparent barrier of mana that they had conjured.
Just as I was about to use [Devouring Healing] to destroy it, three of the men fired lances of flame toward me. Strangely, they penetrated the barrier as they shot toward me.
Two of them struck me squarely while the other one whizzed straight past my head.
I grunted as I was sent flying back and crashing into one of the walls. The places where the flames had hit me were smoking and hot to the touch, but it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would.
It was only on the level of accidentally touching the side of a heated frying pan.
I quickly picked myself up after I saw the black-robed mages begin to shoot again, diving for cover behind the nearest altar.
Their leader had managed to make his way to safety behind his men, but we were essentially in a standoff now.
The altars seemed to absorb any direct contact with spells, which was probably useful for their rituals. However, that property now made it pretty much impossible for them to attack me without exiting their barrier.
At the same time, as long as they were hiding behind their barrier, I'd have to eat at least one more volley of fireballs. Now that their leader was with them, I didn't want to take my chances.
Damn! The longer this lasts, the hungrier I'm gonna get... I clenched my fists and peeked around the corner of the altar. A fireball immediately shot past me as I quickly pulled myself back behind the altar.
Yeah, there's only one way to do this.
I opened the rulebook and searched for abilities, hoping that it'd pull through and show me what I needed.
There were a few abilities based on creating sustenance, but my goal was to beat the shit out of these cultists or whatever the hell they were, not outlast them.
After perusing the list for a minute or two behind the relative safety of my altar, I had finally found what I was looking for. It was in the Forbidden section again, but that suited my needs just fine.
[Demonic Enhancement]. It was a skill that greatly increased my physical capabilities. Not only that, but it also supplied me with the skill [Magic Resistance] while it was active. The only drawback was that it increased a statistic known as "Corruption" for every second that it was active.
I didn't know what Corruption was going to do, but that sure as hell wouldn't matter until after this was over.
Basically, it was the perfect skill for me right now.
I leapt out from behind the altar, surprising the mages who quickly hurried to fire their spells at me.
The moment before they hit, I activated [Demonic Enhancement], wreathing my body in a miasma of what appeared to be black mist.
The fireballs actually split into embers as they struck me. [Magic Resistance] really was something!
I thrust my fist against the barrier, shattering it in one strike.
"Wh—"
"But that's—"
"Impossible!"
They could barely utter a single phrase as I danced from one man to another, caving their skulls in with just a simple punch.
Truly, [Demonic Enhancement] was an incredible skill. I had no doubt that it was giving me a +10 bonus to my physical stats at the very least. But I was also very lucky to be facing only frail casters. If there was a knight here, I doubt this would've gone so smoothly.
I shook the blood off of my knuckles before turning my attention to the last remaining man.
"Do you have any last words?"
"...Tch. Just because you can use Forbidden magic—the gift of our lord Agunta—you think you can waltz in here and desecrate this sacred site!? As a fellow devotee of Darkness, you should be ashamed of yourself for interrupting such a vital ritual!"
The cultist said more, but I had already lost my interest. Perhaps I was just a fool for thinking that he would have an actual explanation for leaving a helpless maiden trussed up like a turkey.
I stared into his wild eyes without a hint of emotion.
"Yeah? Why not?"
The man's eyes practically bulged out of his head. A vein on his forehead throbbed and he raised his hands toward me.
A comet of swirling darkness shot forth, like a torrent of liquid night. I could physically feel the ambient mana around it being obliterated.
However, when it struck me, I didn't feel a thing.
No. That's wrong.
I felt a little revitalized despite my growing hunger pangs.
"T-That's...! That's impossible!" Spit flecked the cultist's lips as he stammered in disbelief. "I... I won't fall to a mere human like you!"
He raised his hands upward as I walked toward him slowly and deliberately.
I did so partially to conserve energy and partially to look cool.
"Oooh! Lord Agunta, grant me your black shield, such that all but the darkest shall break upon my shore and stay my foes from what I covet!"
The cultist's prayer had formed an opaque dome of pitch-black around him. It pulsed and throbbed as though alive.
I stepped forward.
"S-Stay back, human! Not even the likes of you can pierce through this barrier, blessed by the purest darkness of the great Agunta!"
Is that so...? Well, I won't need this then.
I dismissed my [Demonic Enhancement] and stopped before the barrier, placing my hands against it. The surface was warm and smooth, not unlike the black stone that formed the walls.
But it was also soft and springy. Almost like flesh.
"Hah! I told you, you foul infidel, y—"
I pushed through the dome and I grabbed him roughly, tearing his collar as I did so. With a single motion, I threw him to the side.
He landed hard and stared at me in disbelief with his mouth agape.
I returned his gaze with disinterest and simply continued walking toward him as I did before. The time for words was over.
Ultimately, it had taken two strikes to finish him off without using [Demonic Enhancement].
I was now surrounded by six corpses. A pool of blood had stagnated around the first cultist to fall by my hand.
Now, you might be wondering why it was so easy for me to kill seven fellow humans.
It's simple. They weren't humans. In every world, it seemed that people were the same. There would always be those who saw themselves as superior to others. There would always be those who sought to exploit others for their own gain.
People like that don't deserve to be treated as humans. After all, they never saw us as equals.
After catching my breath, I stepped over one of the corpses and headed to the girl that was still tied up.
She'd waited long enough.
I worked to undo the knot that fixed her to the pole, but every second I worked, adrenaline continued to leave my system.
Without it, my vision grew increasingly hazy and my concentration lapsed.
My stomach thundered, and the world tilted around me.
Sorry... I guess you'll have to wait just a bit longer...
The last thing I saw was a familiar blue screen telling me I leveled up.
Well. Fuck.