Thank you to everyone who gave comments and coupons. Chapter 168
53. Mountain of Beasts and Gods
167 – Mountain of Beasts and Gods #3
As I slowly climbed the spiral cave, I noticed some bizarre symbols and pictures drawn on the cave walls.
They were different from the murals I had seen earlier on the mountainside, and just looking at them made me feel uneasy.
“Symbols of the Satan worshippers! I can’t believe this sacred sanctuary has been sullied so much…”
Abraham wiped the drawings on the wall with his long sleeves. After walking for a while, we soon saw grotesque totems made of animal bones and branches lined up in front of us.
“These are sheep bones. Their presence means we’re getting closer to Satan’s territory.”
Azidahaka clicked her tongue at the skulls atop the totems. As she kicked the totems, the strange structures crumbled to the ground with a loud crash.
━Looks like we need to be careful from here on out.
There was definitely some movement ahead. I raised a front paw and signaled the others to stop.
━Shh, let’s wait here.
I held my breath, calming my mind and activating the skill ‘Invisibility.’
“Wow, to hide your appearance! What a remarkable talent.”
Abraham exclaimed, stroking his beard. The invisibility I gained from eating the ancient snow pine was a formidable ability, not easily detected unless someone had a specific perception skill.
Even Azidahaka’s keen vision would have a hard time spotting me unless she focused.
━Alright, I’ll scout ahead.
I moved quietly deeper into the cave, maintaining my invisibility.
━…. ….
━. It’s me, you know.
As I ventured inside, the voices around me became clearer, and I was able to distinguish what they were saying to a certain extent.
‘There’s a large hall ahead. I didn’t think it would just be a simple cave.’
Inside the cavern, there was a massive pupil-like opening. The large holes in the walls reminded me of a frog’s cliff nest I had seen in the Ancient Nest’s Western Forest.
‘Are those guys the Satan worshippers?’
I spotted several suspicious figures wrapped in ragged clothing and deep hoods. They walked on two legs like humans, but they had tails sticking out from their behinds, so they clearly weren’t human.
‘They don’t seem to be descendants of fairies either. Are they mixed with the bl**d of mythical creatures?’
As I saw the elongated snouts poking out from under their hoods, they looked like an odd blend of dogs and humans. Could such beings really exist as depicted in Egyptian wall paintings?
I carefully approached two of the dogs that seemed to be on guard.
━So I only took the salt out when cooking this morning. Everyone must’ve suffered from the bland food.
━Wow, no wonder breakfast tasted so bad. So it was you! You’re really a bad guy.
━If we’re talking about bad guys, you’re no saint either. I saw you throwing trash on the ground without a care. And you sometimes spit, knowing everyone else is cleaning up. You’re a real baddie too.
━Hehe, being complimented like that is kinda embarrassing. Let’s continue our wicked deeds together so we can level up!
The black dogs rubbed their noses with their front paws, bonding over mischief.
‘What the heck, what kind of conversation are these guys having?’
I turned around and realized that not only these two but others were also engaging in pointless chatter.
━Tonight, I’m gonna stomp my feet to keep those below me from sleeping. That’s something Satan would probably approve of, right?
━I gave my father’s shoulders a good strong rub today. He might have felt some pain from it. Even though I’ve been here a while, today’s deed made my heart race. I thought I was numb to guilt, but ha ha.
━What a villain! Taking it to your own parents…. Compared to you, I still have a long way to go.
‘What the heck are they talking about?’
My head spun, and I felt my legs quiver. The more I tried to understand their conversation, the harder it became to stay calm.
━Sniff, sniff, don’t you think there’s a refreshing smell coming from somewhere?
━It smells sweet.
Having reached adulthood and leveled up, my ‘Invisibility’ skill now erased all traces, including scents, but my composure was slipping, and I must have been losing the effectiveness of my skill. Being dogs, these guys probably had a keen sense of smell.
━Sweet smell? No way, did you sneak in some food during guard duty? You, how low can you sink? I’m scared of you, my fellow beginner!
━What are you talking about? Wasn’t that you? You brought it and are trying to pin it on me. Even Satan would shake his head at your lies and misdeeds. Show it to me, so we can sneakily share it.
━You better bring it out! That sweet smell… It makes my mouth water. I want to take a bite of that tender meat of newborn beasts.
━That’s probably my smell, you filthy mutts.
━Mutt, mutts? That’s too harsh. Your descent into evil is speeding up. We are jackals, not dogs! Just who are you calling mutts…?
The black dogs, no, jackals turned their faces towards me. I smiled at them.
━Hello.
━W-What the?! Who are you?!
━C-Criminal! We have to tell the others!
━Where do you think you’re going?
Whoosh.
As one of the jackals tried to escape, I swung my tail in a swift arc and knocked it down to the ground. The creature collapsed, twitching and spasming on the floor.
━Y-You hit me…!? How can you do such a bad thing?!
At the cry of its companion, I smirked.
━Today, I’m your professor.
I shook off the bl**d splatter from my body and returned to the corner where everyone was waiting. Azidahaka cautiously asked after seeing me.
“How is it? Are there many Satan worshippers inside?”
━Well, there were… but now there’s none.
At my light-hearted reply, Isaac, who had been huddled next to Abraham, widened his eyes.
“None? Did you, did you k*ll them all?”
━Something like that. Anyway, we should be safe for a while now.
I led the group towards the area where I had just fought the jackals. There, black fur and bloodstains were smeared all over the walls, floor, and ceiling.
━P-Please spare us!
━We won’t do any more bad deeds…!
━W-We are still just apprentices, we swear!
━T-Tail…!
The Satan worshippers tied up in the corner trembled as they saw me, shaking in fear. Just the sight of me waving my tail sent them into a panic.
It seemed my training had been too advanced for them.
“Click.”
Azidahaka clicked her tongue at the captured jackals.
“Truly, they are greenhorns. They are just lowly followers pretending to be Satan worshippers. Young and inexperienced beasts easily fall into evil deeds, after all.”
━But it seems like there isn’t much evil to speak of.
Their level was so laughable that I felt no urge to k*ll and eat them.
━Hmph. I’m feeling drained.
As I scoffed, the captive jackals all opened their mouths and nodded in unison.
━Y-You’re absolutely right! Compared to the great White One, our evil deeds are nothing more than dirt under His claws! The White One is the true embodiment of unholy wickedness, surpassing even Satan…!
━You must indeed have a pure and beautiful conscience to match your white fur! The villain of all villains!
━Who the heck are these guys kidding? Ugh, come on.
━Grrr!
As I raised a front paw, the jackals screamed as if they were about to pass out. Watching this, Abraham and Isaac’s expressions grew increasingly stiff, prompting me to fake a cough.
━These guys are spouting nonsense. I’m a good and kind beast.
At my awkward excuse, Azidahaka smiled brightly.
“Calling Satan’s followers evil and bad is a compliment. They probably want to elevate you to the highest level.”
━That’s right! From this day forward, we shall become followers of the White One!
━You’re beating us and making us work hard…! Truly the charisma of evil we have long desired! We are moved!
━You are the embodiment of ruthless and overwhelming violence…! The violence clad in a beast’s form! Less than a brute!
━W-Why are these guys making things up? When did I do that?
━You’re lying with a moist mouth without even wetting your lips! I’ll follow you for life!
The loyalty of animals is strong. The jackals, united in their worship of Satan whom they had never met, seemed firmly entranced by the vision of me, the white-skinned embodiment of violence.
Five jackals followed behind me, barking enthusiastically.
━Making a young child and an old man carry a heavy burden. What an outstanding act of evil, indeed! I bet the White One is much stronger!
━Shut up, you mutts. I didn’t ask you to carry anything. Besides, you all said you wanted to carry the burden.
━A-As you thought…! You threatened us to the point where we wanted to carry the heavy burden with our own mouths! Truly amazing…
━M-Memo….
‘These guys are truly not in their right minds.’
I started to understand why Azidahaka grimaced at Satan and his followers.
I thought I could make climbing this mountain easier by employing them, but if this continued, I was going to be stressed out to the point my fur would turn red.
….
As I watched Isaac’s expression harden like a stone, I decided I needed to do something about these crazed jackals.
━From now on, you jackals will carry the burdens. And if anything happens, you must protect this father and son with your lives.
━Us? Carry such heavy burdens?
━You want us to lay down our lives? But as weaklings like us, we have no choice but to obey your orders. What a harsh command…
Bam.
I slammed my tail against the cave floor.
At that moment, everyone blinked like silent fools, and I suppressed my anger to speak as gently as possible.
━From now on, anyone who speaks beyond barking will truly meet their end. You’re to only bark and answer like a dog.
━M-Mew…?
━That’s right.
Seeing the now quiet jackals, I smiled contentedly. However, I felt a pang of worry seeing Isaac and Abraham shivering beside me.
━I’m not a bad guy. I’m a good animal that’s helping you. You know that, right?
“M-Mew…?”
Isaac squeaked out a sound like a soggy puppy as he trembled.
━Why are you… you don’t have to act like that.
“M-Mew! Oh, yes, yes….”
‘Great.’
My head was starting to throb. I realized it was going to take quite a while to clear up these misunderstandings.
Though honestly, there wasn’t much to misunderstand about.
━M-Mew. Mew, mew.
One of the jackals started barking noisily from behind as if they had something to say.
━What is it, buddy? If you have something important to say, you can just say it.
━I-It’s just ahead; you’ll see a passage leading up to the summit. However, there will be real Satan worshippers ahead, far stronger than the likes of us, so you ought to be prepared. But for the White One, they should be as easy to deal with as rolling stones on the road.
━You mean the Ascended Ones?
━That’s right. Mew.
Like the Black Brotherhood that Nialli was managing, it seems the Satan worshippers have quite a sophisticated organizational structure. They start at the bottom, climbing higher through wickedness and vice, aspiring for the ultimate goal of standing beside Satan as they promote through levels like Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond.
The high-ranking worshippers reaching platinum or diamond level are called Ascended Ones, respected by other worshippers as if they were gods.
It’s oddly reminiscent yet bizarrely different from the hunting ranks of humans.
‘It’s like a multi-level scheme or something. Anyway, I should be cautious since those above platinum are notably strong.’
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