Chapter 117: The Price of Slaughter (4)
“God… please…”
Daniel’s lips trembled faintly as he cried out the name of God.
He couldn’t believe what he had just said.
He looked at his own pathetic reflection and frowned.
What was he trying to do?
He was asking for help from the evil god he had feared so much.
The evil god he had begged for his life every night, and now he was begging for his future.
“Ha…”
It was a ridiculous sight.
He had lied and acted tough in the meeting, but in the end, he revealed his weakness and tried to prolong his life.
How could he not feel like a fool for criticizing the others who attended the meeting?
How dare he call anyone the source of evil when he was crying out for salvation to the evil god in danger?
Daniel was much more pitiful than the evil he had despised.
He was hoping for a miracle to happen right away.
Deep in his heart, he wished that a lightning bolt would strike and end this painful situation.
“Hey! Owner! Are you in there?”
But of course, there was no miracle for those who didn’t act.
There was no lightning falling on the heads of the inquisitors.
And yet, Daniel’s crisis was getting closer and closer.
Bang! Boom!
The lock bent under the forceful blows from the other side.
The wooden planks that blocked the door also cracked slightly.
Daniel clenched his teeth and held the twisted lock firmly.
Two voices reached his ears from behind and in front of him.
“What should we do?”
“Owner! I don’t know if you can hear me, but we don’t have much time left.”
“I have to abandon my comrades and run away from here if Daniel doesn’t step up…”
“Open the door by the count of three! Or I’ll break it down!”
The cultist who was clinging to him and the inquisitor who was trying to break the door.
Daniel got up in the frustrating situation.
His thick hand opened the leather pouch and grabbed the butcher knife inside.
It was the same knife he had used to kill the black mage last night.
A cold sensation spread from his fingertips as he held the knife.
At the same time, the rough voice of the inquisitor reached his ears.
“One!”
Bang!
The inquisitor pounded on the door as a warning.
As he had said before, he would enter as soon as he counted to three.
The image of the inquisitor flashed through Daniel’s mind.
His hesitant hand slowly lost its strength.
The knife would not penetrate the armor made for the paladins.
And if he failed to kill him with one strike, the inquisitor would quickly heal his wound and attack Daniel.
“Two!”
Daniel couldn’t handle all the inquisitors with his hand.
What he needed now was overwhelming power.
He needed power to deal with them all and suppress those who would come after them.
People called them monsters.
It was something that only those who attended the regular meeting of the cult could do.
To protect this village and Anna, he had to become a monster like them.
As Daniel pondered, the inquisitor’s final count echoed.
“Three!”
A thick wall stood in front of Daniel’s eyes as he held the butcher knife.
Even if he crossed that wall and knocked down the inquisitor, there would be more enemies waiting for him afterwards.
One after another.
And after another one, there would be more enemies waiting for him.
Cloud. The six temples. The lord’s army.
None of them were opponents that Daniel could overcome with his hand.
That’s why he had to become a monster.
And there was only one way to become a monster.
To offer everything to the evil god.
That was the only way given to him.
“Daniel… The door will open soon. You should prepare for battle…”
Daniel’s eyes, who had made up his mind, looked at Elliot.
A wretched life that had nothing and begged for mercy from him.
Daniel’s eyes, filled with madness, poured down on him.
In the delusion that dominated his mind, Daniel threw the butcher knife to the ground.
And he spoke to Elliot, who was holding him and asking for help.
“Pray.”
“What?”
“Pray to God if you want to live.”
He had to become a monster.
He had to hope that the ridiculous stories he had shared in the meeting would all become true.
Would a great one be given a great place?
Or would he become a great one by rising to a great place?
Daniel, who was nothing but a farmer in the countryside, didn’t know the answer yet.
But he wished fervently in his heart.
“I warned you three times, so now I have no choice but to break in!”
Please let him be worthy of this place.
Swoosh.
Daniel took off the ring with a gemstone on his finger.
And he clenched it tightly in his right hand, raising it high toward the sky.
It was foolish to hope for a miracle from God.
But he decided to hope for a miracle today.
“—-God. I will live according to your will.”
Daniel’s rough voice declared to the sky.
I will live for you.
I will move according to your will.
I will shout your name for my whole life.
So—-.
“Please grant me the power to punish your enemies with this humble life.”
The moment his eyes, full of determination, looked at the sky.
A faint mist rose from Daniel’s body.
The surge of power and emotion that flowed through his whole body.
The evil god in heaven answered his oath.
Everything that Daniel saw was changing every moment.
The change of senses that transcended human beings.
In it, a majestic voice pierced Daniel’s ears.
-“Accept your fate.”
Crash!
A large sword plunged into the ground from the empty air.
The sword, wrapped in a restless light, fell in front of Daniel’s eyes.
It was not hard to understand what kind of gift the sword that fell right in front of him was.
The sword with an old-fashioned appearance had an ominous aura that anyone could see.
As Daniel reached out for the fallen sword.
More swords kept falling around Daniel.
“What is this…”
Crash! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Six swords that pierced the ground in sequence.
The swords that fell from the sky surrounded Daniel in a circle.
Each sword had a different color and a mysterious aura.
And a dagger fell into Daniel’s hand as he looked at the swords.
Thud.
Daniel looked at the dagger that fell into his hand.
A black dagger that contained darkness.
He realized then that the swords next to him were not his.
“…So that’s how it is.”
This was a gift to celebrate the birth of a great assassin.
And it was a prey dedicated to the divine tool in his hand.
Daniel lifted the divine tool that was given to him with a slow gesture.
What he held in his hand was a slaughterer.
Just like he gave the last moment to the livestock on his farm, it was an object that pronounced the last moment to all the magic swords.
He clenched the divine tool – Latimeria – and glared at the six magic swords.
It was time to see the miracle that was given to him.
***
“Yawn…”
I let out a yawn and looked at the screen of my smartphone.
Unless I had a special appointment, I usually played games on weekend mornings.
It was a habit that I had continued since I started this game.
Of course, there were days when I couldn’t wake up in the morning, but in that case, I logged into the game after lunch.
It was important to log in consistently no matter what game I played.
There was nothing to call homework in this game, but still, I checked my karma and characters almost every day.
I felt happy just by watching the characters who were influenced by me.
“I wonder if gods would feel the same way if they really existed.”
They were like children in some sense.
I also spent a lot of money on feeding and dressing them.
And I didn’t like leaving them alone when they treated me like a god.
I couldn’t help all the characters, but it was fun to lend a hand to those who asked for help.
Usually, I also got some karma for doing that.
The wish of my karma was to bring down divine punishment on them.
“Let’s check my karma first.”
I ran the game and checked my accumulated karma right away.
The total karma I had collected so far was 3300 karma.
It was barely enough to make the fifth apostle.
The karma supply had decreased since Kueberg, who had been faithfully collecting karma, was recuperating. It couldn’t be helped.
The good thing was that the karma supply didn’t decrease too much.
As I looked at the piled up karma, I turned my eyes to the <Apostle Selection> skill icon in the corner of the screen.
“This consumption is 3200, so the next consumption is about 6400. Hmm…”
The karma consumption of the <Apostle Selection> skill increased exponentially as I selected more apostles.
Until now, I had made apostles with relatively little karma, but the consumption for this apostle was very burdensome.
At this pace, it seemed impossible to keep making apostles endlessly.
The game’s karma goal was one million karma, but I couldn’t use karma for apostle selection if the consumption exceeded ten thousand.
Personally, I thought the sixth apostle was the limit.
After that, it would be more efficient to strengthen the existing characters.
“I’ll have to think about it for a while after making the fifth apostle…”
I planned to stop making apostles for a while after making the fifth one.
Of course, I had already decided who to make the fifth apostle.
The silent assassin who attended the regular meeting of the cult, Daniel Hesrof.
I intended to make him my new apostle.
Coincidentally, I had quit the game yesterday in front of the believers who were heading to where Daniel lived.
If I searched around this area, I had a high chance of finding Daniel’s hideout.
“Where is Daniel, where is he…”
I moved the screen right away and started looking for Daniel somewhere on the map.
Naturally, it took quite some time to find Daniel on the wide map.
Had it been about five minutes since I started moving the screen?
I found a farm on a hillside far away from where I started the game.
There were men in armor shouting in front of a small building on the farm.
-“We’ll count to three and then open the door!”
-“…!”
-“If not, we’ll break in!”
Inside the building illuminated by <The Eye of Observation>, there were Daniel and one of the cult’s believers.
It looked like Daniel and the men were confronting each other with the door between them.
In the corner, there was a dead character, who was probably killed by Daniel, the assassin.
I could get a glimpse of Daniel’s skill from the neat appearance of the dead character.
Daniel, who had knocked down the character, was holding the door and watching the men behind the wall.
If I waited a little longer, a fight would break out between Daniel and the men.
“What’s going on? Are they fighting?”
-“Daniel… The door will open soon. You should prepare for battle…”
The believer next to Daniel also sensed the situation and warned him.
It was just the right situation to find him.
If I waited a little longer, I could see Daniel’s skill for myself.
How skilled was Daniel, the silent assassin?
As I looked at him with anticipation in my eyes, Daniel threw his knife to the ground.
I couldn’t help but be shocked by his action.
I expected him to be strong, but I never thought he would fight without a weapon as an assassin.
“Could it be… A well-trained assassin can win with his bare hands?”
Could an assassin who had trained to the extreme assassinate with his bare hands?
It seemed that Daniel had enough confidence to beat the men without a weapon.
As I watched him throw his weapon away, Daniel stretched his body with his bare hands and looked at the believer.
Speech bubbles appeared above Daniel’s head as he looked at the believer with a serious face.
-“Pray.”
-“What…?”
-“Pray to God if you want to live.”
Every word was full of faith.
He had no less faith than the leaders of the cult.
It was hard to believe that he had become a fanatic just a while ago.
He spoke sincerely to the believer and then looked up at the sky.
His eyes were looking right at me.
He was showing the skill that only the game’s boss characters could do.
He proved his worth with just one glance, and he showed me a determined face with a speech bubble.
-“God. I will live according to your will.”
-“Please grant me the power to punish your enemies with this humble life.”
The words he uttered as he looked up at the sky.
It was an oath of loyalty to me.
The assassin who had reached the limit swore loyalty to me by himself.
And I hadn’t even used <Apostle Selection> yet.
It was an action that I couldn’t imagine as someone who had been beating up characters and making them apostles.
I smiled with joy at the sight of the character who swore loyalty to me by himself.
A great character wanted to be my subordinate by his own will.
“Daniel…”
-“…”
“I don’t think my 3200 karma is too much for you.”
Daniel Hesrof.
I met him because of the ring I gave him by mistake.
But that mistake seemed to be the greatest luck in my game life.
It made me meet such a reliable character.
It was stupid to postpone <Apostle Selection> any longer with such a character.
I touched the skill icon of <Apostle Selection> and targeted Daniel right in front of me.
Daniel’s body was wrapped in bright light and messages appeared one after another at the bottom of the screen.
-[Daniel Hesrof] has been selected as an apostle.
-You have consumed 3200 karma to create a new divine tool for the apostle.
-[Divine Tool: Latimeria] has been bound to [Daniel Hesrof].
-[The Fifth Apostle: Daniel Hesrof] has become your apostle.
-You will share your magic with the selected apostles by the effect of <Apostle Selection>.
-You can send separate messages to the selected apostles by the effect of <Apostle Selection>.
My karma drained as <Apostle Selection> proceeded.
I only had about 100 karma left after spending 3200 karma.
But I didn’t regret it.
I got ‘Apostle Daniel’, who was much more reliable than that.
I opened my inventory and checked the items I had stored after making Daniel an apostle.
A new item was added to my inventory as I selected a new apostle.
“…Latimeria.”
The name of the item that Daniel acquired as he became an apostle was [Divine Tool: Latimeria].
[Divine Tool: Latimeria] was a dark black dagger that suited Daniel.
I clicked on Daniel’s divine tool with anticipation in my eyes.
The icon of [Divine Tool: Latimeria] enlarged and the item’s details appeared on the screen.
As I read the information on the screen with great expectation, my eyes stopped at one place.
The trait of Daniel’s divine tool was extraordinary.
“What… [Magic Sword Devourer]…?”
The name of the trait of [Divine Tool: Latimeria] was [Magic Sword Devourer].
And its effect was to destroy magic swords and absorb their traits.
