The city is vast. Especially in the most developed duchies of each region, the number of people living within them is simply uncountable.
Tens of Thousands, or Even Hundreds of Thousands.
Finding the Evil God Cult hidden among them was close to impossible. Well, at least through normal means.
“……So, did I hear you right, Hero?”
“Yes, you did. Why do you keep asking?”
“No, it’s just… no matter how you look at it…”
The Virgin Saintess let out a hollow laugh upon hearing Kail’s proposed method. He had come up with a perfect and surefire way to capture the Evil God Cult.
“─Meeting them one by one and killing them all… what the hell…?”
“Don’t worry. I’m confident I can kill them all.”
“But if we do that, won’t we be mistaken for the Evil God Cult…?”
“Is that a problem?”
Surprisingly, Kail immediately withdrew his own suggestion. This came as quite a shock to the Virgin Saintess, who expected him to stubbornly insist on his idea like a true Aura Master.
Ruby, who was also surprised by Kail’s suggestion and was debating whether to report this to the Archduchess, wore an equally shocked expression.
“Then the next plan—emit an overwhelming amount of bloodlust.”
And in the next moment, the two realized that Kail had deliberately thrown out a ridiculous proposal.
In psychology, this negotiation tactic is called the Anchoring Effect. Whether Kail knew about it and used it intentionally or instinctively, the second suggestion sounded surprisingly reasonable to the two.
“Anyway, those Evil God Cult bastards are all insanely strong, right? If we emit bloodlust everywhere, they’ll run away, won’t they?”
“Hero, if the Evil God Cult runs, then it’s all for nothing.”
“That’s why—emit a subtle amount of bloodlust only the strong can detect. If anyone acts suspicious, we catch them.”
“Can we really do that?”
“I can.”
Others might not be able to, but he could. Overwhelmed by Kail’s absolute confidence, the two exchanged glances and showed slightly defeated expressions.
Not having any better ideas and thinking it wouldn’t be so bad to go along with Kail’s suggestion rather than keep rejecting it, the two nodded and allowed Kail to act freely.
And in the next moment, Kail’s emitted bloodlust covered the entire city.
“Urk!?”
“Hiiyaa-!?”
The two, with their sensitive senses, screamed involuntarily when faced with the intense bloodlust right before their eyes.
But Kail, as if he didn’t hear the screams, continued to emit bloodlust throughout the entire city.
Ordinary people without any special senses wouldn’t notice a thing, but to those Experts and above, it felt as though their whole bodies were being sliced by knives.
Chk, chk-chk!
“Waaaah-!?”
Rats scurried around in droves, and birds flying in the sky suddenly began circling above the city.
Seeing the apocalyptic sight, the Virgin Saintess glanced at Kail.
‘…He said there would be a swarm of corpses.’
She started to doubt whether he was truly the chosen one of the prophecy.
***
Lucía, who had been having intercourse with a brainwashed man, suddenly sensed bloodlust coming from somewhere and quickly pulled away in shock.
His once-proud tool had already gone limp. The man who had been fully immersed in her looked at her with a vacant gaze, wondering what was wrong.
Seeing this, Lucía felt something was off.
‘Wait, can’t he feel this? Such intense bloodlust?’
She, an Apostle, could sense it, but this ordinary man couldn’t. What did that mean?
‘These bastards are already here!’
She immediately concluded that the Holy Kingdom’s Paladins had come to kill her. Realizing this, Lucía quickly put on her clothes and started thinking of ways to escape the city.
Should she just run? No, that would make her look even more suspicious. Even if she managed to escape the city somehow, she’d still have to face the risk of encountering Paladins in the middle of an empty road.
For someone like Lucía, whose combat abilities were low, that was a bigger problem. If a fight broke out in the city, she could at least take hostages, but in an empty place, she’d be at their mercy until she lost her life.
‘Shit. Shit.’
She had to do something. But what? The easiest solution was to ask for help from headquarters. And that’s exactly what she did.
Grabbing the communication orb, she desperately tried contacting the Evil God Cult’s main temple. After several attempts, the orb lit up, and someone appeared on the other side.
[Ah, hello? Who is this?]
“Agni? Is that you, Agni?”
[Oh, Lucía? Hellooo! Lucía! Why are you contacting me?]
“Akad, call Akad! Save me from here!”
[Huh? What do you mean?]
Agni responded with a mischievous attitude. Seeing this, Lucía thought it was typical of the Apostle of Wrath.
Even though they were both Apostles, seeing Agni made her unable to suppress her anger.
However, as an Apostle, she couldn’t let another Apostle control her emotions. Clenching her teeth and suppressing her rage, Lucía carefully explained her situation.
“The Believer Sect has attacked. I might die. Contact Akad and have him come pick me up quickly─.”
[What? No, just die there. Isn’t that fine?]
“You crazy bastard!”
Unable to hold back any longer, Lucía unleashed a torrent of curses. Finding her amusing, Agni burst into uncontrollable laughter.
[Ahaha, Ahahahaha-!]
“I’m serious! This is urgent!”
[Why are you so scared? Just die a few times and escape. Isn’t that simple?]
“I can’t do that! That’s why I’m telling you! Didn’t you feel that bloodlust just now!?”
As Lucía spoke, she felt the bloodlust again and clamped her mouth shut, hiccupping uncontrollably.
For a moment, she thought her heart was being sliced. Unless some madman was recklessly spreading bloodlust everywhere, it was clearly aimed directly at her.
Slowly backing away from the window, Lucía’s pupils contracted and dilated, expressing her sheer terror.
[What? So there really is something going on.]
Seeing her reaction, Agni stopped joking and turned serious.
Watching Lucía tremble and sweat coldly, Agni closed his eyes momentarily, lost in thought. Not long after, he spoke.
[Ah, it seems Akad is too busy to come right now.]
“W-what? What could he possibly be doing that’s so…?”
[He says he urgently needs to use the bathroom.]
All the way to the end.
Agni kept joking around till the very end. Lucía glared at him, but Agni’s expression was dead serious, devoid of any trace of jest.
[So, he says he can’t come save someone like you.]
“You bastards…! How much have I done for you─!”
[Hm~ Let’s see, all I ever see you do is play around… What exactly have you done? Tell me-.]
“Do you even know where you got that communication orb you’re using right now─.”
[Ah, I’ve gotta eat too, so I’ll hang up now-. You should’ve prayed to the Evil God more diligently, huh?]
Beep- The disconnected communication orb hung limply in her hand. Lucía realized she had been abandoned. But she couldn’t even imagine betraying the Evil God Cult.
There was a huge difference between being discarded for being useless and betraying because one felt betrayed.
Their abandonment likely had the tacit approval of the Evil God. If she were to betray the cult and reveal its base to the Paladins, the Evil God would surely punish her immediately.
“Fuck, fuckkkk……!”
The only way for her to survive was to escape on her own. That was the only option left.
Perhaps it wasn’t that it was impossible, but that she hadn’t tried hard enough. With that thought, Lucía felt the bloodlust slice through her body once again.
“Hiiik-!”
Crouching down and trembling, she suddenly lifted her head, sensing something strange.
Although the bloodlust had been continuously pouring out since earlier, the Paladins hadn’t stormed into her location yet.
It was as if emitting bloodlust itself was the purpose.
‘Could it be…’
Until now, she thought no one would be reckless enough to spread bloodlust indiscriminately. But upon reflection, the world was vast—how could there not be such a madman?
Forcing herself to ignore the bloodlust slicing through her body once again, she stepped forward.
And then she looked out the window.
‘No one… is there!’
This madman was real. And because of his madness, she had foolishly requested reinforcements from the Evil God Cult and ended up getting screwed.
Realizing this, an uncontrollable rage boiled up inside her. Like the Apostle of Wrath, Agni, her anger bubbled over.
Determined to unleash her rage in a proper order, Lucía carefully recalled the countless slaves under her power.
“Well, whether I die now or later makes no difference.”
Those she had dominated, those who had dominated her.
Countless men and women.
The powers binding them melted away.
“Let them all rot.”
The Apostle of Lust, Lucía.
Her other name was the filthiest and most vile.
The Demon of Venereal Disease.
