The Dungeon Monsters Keep Offering Sacrifices

Chapter 95: Desiring Everything

The dungeon monsters keep offering sacrifices – 095

EP.95 Desiring Everything

The next item up for auction was a group of individuals belonging to the church.

Even if they were affiliated with the church, this place was beyond the demon world.

It didn’t matter which group the slaves belonged to.

There were no special privileges for priests.

Like other slaves, their hands and feet were bound in chains.

It was supposed to be normal, that’s how it was supposed to be.

But then something unexpected happened.

What options did they have now that they had become free? Naturally, they bolted.

“…?”

The problem was that such action wasn’t an option to flee.

As if they had made some kind of pact, everyone began to rush toward me.

Each of them had imbued their hands with divine power, clear intent to attack.

Why did this happen?

Why were they attacking me?

Those were things to think about later.

I immediately activated my skills to counter their attacks.

“Holy Shield!”

A shield made of light unfolded from my hand.

The shining shield of divine power blocked the priest’s attack.

– Thunk –

“Why, why do you… wield the power of the goddess…!”

The priest was astonished as her attack was blocked.

She seemed so shocked that she even stumbled over her words.

No, more shocking than having her attack blocked was her realization that I was using the skills of the church.

‘Is she recognizing the power of the church?’

After all, the ‘Holy Shield’ I just displayed was a skill of the church.

It was indeed an ability I obtained from a holy knight who had been sacrificed.

It wouldn’t be strange for a priest belonging to the church, like a holy knight, to recognize it.

But another question arose here.

First of all, I am not a follower of the church.

When I was first summoned to the El Dorad Continent, I received basic education from the White Order, but that was it.

There must have been a difference between me and those who devoted themselves to the church from the beginning.

From the start, I was an outsider to them.

Moreover, as an Earthling, I had no faith in the goddess here.

Furthermore, as someone without a status window, I couldn’t possess any skills or attributes of the church, let alone divine power.

So, what was the source of my current power?

It was simply using the abilities obtained from the sacrificed subjects.

‘Is the origin of power the same regardless of the caster of the skill?’

Otherwise, the other party wouldn’t have said that my skill was the power of the goddess.

‘Then Maru’s case makes sense too.’

Maru combined the ‘Goddess Faith’ attribute to become a skeleton holy knight.

Skeletons are undead monsters.

It was a special case for them to possess divine power despite having attributes opposite to divine power.

Moreover, the holy knights who were hostile toward Maru began to follow him.

Then another curiosity arises here.

Maru accepted divine power, a property opposite to his nature as an undead.

So, would the opposite case also hold true?

‘What if members of the church were to gain the power of darkness?’

It doesn’t necessarily have to be the power of darkness.

What if the church were to obtain the powers of beings they deny?

In fact, on the El Dorad Continent, there are various religions just like on Earth.

Besides the White Order, there exist various gods that people believe in.

However, on the continent, the power of the White Order was absolute.

The White Order denied the existence of any gods other than the one they served.

That was also one of the first things I learned from the church.

But the continent was vast.

Somewhere, there were several groups serving their own gods.

Of course, the church designated them as heretics and led the way in suppressing them.

For example, there were dark wizards.

The dark wizards served demons instead of the goddess, and eventually, their influence has been greatly reduced to this day.

“Hmm…”

Perhaps the story of dark wizards is too extreme.

Anyway, what would happen if members of the church gained powers other than those of the goddess, unlike Maru and me?

Would powers with opposite attributes coexist like Maru and me?

Or would they lose their original powers because they served gods other than the goddess?

‘It’s intriguing.’

Currently, the hunters on Earth can be said to rely on the system called the status window.

I am no exception.

Similarly, members of the White Order believe they receive power from the goddess.

Let’s assume that receiving power from the goddess is true.

What would happen if one were to betray the goddess in such a situation?

‘I need to find out.’

Where does my current power truly originate from?

Perhaps this could bring me closer to the answer to that question.

But just as I remained silent, the priest who had attacked me spoke up again.

“Indeed, you can’t offer any answer. A renegade who abandoned the church…”

“?”

What is she talking about?

“A renegade…”

Before I could speak up.

“Ugh!”

A groan came from behind.

The guards of the auction, who had suddenly appeared, had tidied up the situation.

All the holy knight trainees had their throats neatly cut.

It was clearly a clean death.

Now, there were only two members of the church left.

One priestess in front of me and one priest lying on the ground.

The one who had fallen to the ground was not in good condition from the start.

While he might have been lucky until now, it was only a matter of time.

The guards of the auction were slowly advancing towards the priest.

But I felt discomfort in their actions.

‘Ha, look at these guys?’

This incident occurred during the auction. How could such chaos happen in the management of slaves?

Moreover, this place was not just for me, there were others as well.

Even if an investigation were conducted into why this incident occurred,

it seemed they were trying to erase evidence rather than find out the truth.

It was strange enough for members of the church to suddenly rush over here, but the response from the guards was even stranger.

“Arch Lich, bring the fallen priest over here.”

At my command, Arch Lich immediately grabbed another skeleton next to him and brought it forward, using the skeleton as a shield and pointing it towards the guards.

The guards, who had witnessed the explosion of the skeleton a while ago, hesitated as Arch Lich stepped forward, stopping in their tracks.

Fear of being caught in another explosion prevented them from advancing.

In this standoff, Arch Lich, trembling, grabbed the fallen priest while holding onto the trembling skeleton.

‘His condition indeed seems poor.’

He was already wrapped in bandages when he stepped onto the stage.

It seemed he had collapsed from his poor condition.

Thanks to this, he didn’t face death immediately like the others, which was fortunate.

While Arch Lich bought some time, I also reached out and grabbed the hand of the priest in front of me.

Then I whispered to her.

“If you don’t want to die here, stay still.”

With that said, I used a skill on the other priest brought by Arch Lich.

‘Goddess’s Healing.’

Thanks to my divine power grade, although it was only an E-grade skill, the effect of ‘Goddess’s Healing’ was tremendous.

Light spread from my hand once again.

But this time, it was different from the ‘Holy Shield’ skill earlier.

It was a very bright light that illuminated the area brightly.

It felt full of vitality.

Most importantly, the priest’s face, which had been covered in bruises, gradually cleared up, and the wounds on his body began to heal slightly.

Of course, due to the low grade, complete healing was impossible, but it was much better than before.

As I healed the priest with my skill, she looked at me with astonished eyes.

“W-Who… are you…”

Perhaps realizing that I wasn’t a dangerous presence, she seemed to have something she wanted to say.

“They were the ones who…”

But now was not the time to listen to her words.

I silenced her.

Right now, staying quiet was helping me.

As I roughly calmed her down and looked around, a figure revealed itself.

“Haha, I’m Sernu, who manages this event.”

Has the person in charge finally appeared?

“All the incidents that happened this time are entirely my fault. I promise to thoroughly investigate and compensate on behalf of the auction.”

I simply looked at the other party with a stern expression.

‘How shameless.’

Even without her saying it, anyone could deduce what he meant.

So, compensation was expected. After all, who prevented such a situation from occurring?

Even if the manager introduced himself as Sernu and promised compensation, demanding too much would only backfire.

Haven’t they said that even a cornered mouse would bite a cat?

‘Let’s demand reasonably. Just enough.’

At least for now, I thought of taking just enough.

From another perspective, both I and my subordinates were trapped here.

After escaping from here, I could formally raise objections through Celia.

‘I’m going to get busier from now on.’

With that in mind, I opened my mouth towards Sernu.

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***

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Watching the situation from above, Sernu quickly moved her body.

The situation was unfolding entirely differently from what she had expected.

“….”

Where did things go wrong?

Initially, it was just about giving the other party a taste of their own medicine.

He had imagined that if the slaves attacked them, the auction would intervene immediately.

Originally, all the slaves were supposed to die and disappear.

Then, eventually, evidence would disappear, the power of the Association would be demonstrated, and they would gain the upper hand.

But reality was different.

The Black Mask easily blocked the priest’s attack.

Despite the slaves consuming potions that significantly boosted their divine power, they were still unable to make a dent.

He had at least hoped the opponent would be slightly flustered…

But thanks to that, even the response of the auction guards became problematic.

They were supposed to kill the slaves quickly, but they were taken aback by the power of the Black Mask.

Ultimately, such variables accumulated, leading to the current outcome.

“I had no idea there was such a type of power…”

A variety of information was held by the auction.

Even Sernu, who belonged to the Demon Merchant Association, had never seen the power of the Black Mask before.

’It’s like the power of the White Order, yet different….’

At first glance, it seemed to have the divine power of the Order.

But he didn’t think it was entirely the same. For some reason, that was the feeling he got.

The scarier fact was that he couldn’t grasp exactly what that power was.

It felt like facing an unknown entity.

How could something possess such power?

Where did such a being with that power come from? At least from the recent events, he could deduce one thing.

‘Arch Lich follows the orders of the Black Mask.’

Was the master of the dungeon not Arch Lich, but rather the Black Mask?

Or perhaps Arch Lich was included in the Black Mask’s faction?

He didn’t know.

But either way, after this incident, the Association would inevitably change.

Through this event, serious gaps in the Demon Merchant Association’s intelligence had been exposed.

Sernu rolled his head and looked downwards.

Regardless, he needed to step forward and tidy up the current situation himself.

“Haha, I am Sernu, the one managing this event.”

With a forced smile, Sernu stood before the Black Mask.

“All the incidents that occurred this time were entirely my fault. I promise a thorough investigation and compensation in the name of the auction.”

Bowing, Sernu observed the other party’s reaction.

Since the other party was wearing a black mask, their expression was unreadable.

Normally, he would have come out strong, but the other party’s aura was too intense for that.

Even now, the aura they emitted was formidable.

Moreover, he hadn’t even confirmed the power of that black mask.

It was the kind of situation where it was best to stay cautious until understanding the opponent.

But even so, obtaining information was crucial.

“I sincerely apologize for the trouble caused. How would you like the compensation to be delivered?”

Compensation for this incident.

Depending on where it was directed, it could provide hints about the relationship between Arch Lich and the Black Mask.

With her head bowed, Sernu waited for the other party’s response.

After a moment of silence, the Black Mask finally spoke up.

“Let’s settle the compensation with these.”

The Black Mask pointed to the objects of reward.

Of course, Sernu tried to focus on the other party’s hand, but they wore black gloves, making it impossible to identify their race.

‘Thorough indeed.’

They were truly thorough beings.

Sernu had to be content with just hearing their voice for the first time.

The Black Mask’s voice was close to that of a young man, but just from the voice alone, he couldn’t determine the other’s existence.

In reality, even Baalzerith, the vampire, had a young voice despite being an ancient being.

Helplessly, Sernu confirmed the targets pointed out by the Black Mask.

“……”

The targets pointed out by the Black Mask were the priests who had just appeared as merchandise.

At the same time…

“…You mean an elf?”

The elves bound on the stage were also included in the targets pointed out by the Black Mask.

Sernu’s expression darkened.

It was understandable that the priests who had attacked him were desired.

But for Sernu, he couldn’t hand over the priests the Black Mask wanted.

After all, hadn’t he orchestrated the current situation using the priests?

They should have been killed without question.

Even if it meant reluctantly handing over the elves, it was right to kill the priests.

What if the priests unnecessarily revealed the details of this incident if they were allowed to live?

It was definitely not a good situation.

“Haha… Well…”

Sernu chuckled nervously and continued speaking.

“Of course, since it’s our fault, we’ll give you the elves. But the priests…”

However, Sernu’s words didn’t continue until the end.

“I know everything. It’s just a child’s prank, isn’t it?”

The Black Mask spoke as if it were nothing.

“Haha… Yes, that’s right.”

Sernu forced a bright expression while sweating profusely.

The Black Mask knows everything.

What did this mean?

It was akin to acknowledging that the auction was behind this incident from the start, brushing it off as merely a child’s prank.

The unwavering confidence regardless of whatever the auction did.

It wasn’t baseless confidence. Sernu also saw it clearly, so he knew the Black Mask’s words weren’t lies.

It was shameful, but since it was an obvious mistake, he could only stay quiet.

Yet, it was also difficult to further ignore the other party’s demands at this point.

Since everything was already exposed, it seemed fine to hand over the priests.

It was the appropriate course of action to comply with the other party’s words for now.

“Understood. We’ll hand over the two priests and the elf.”

After all, the priests were to be killed anyway.

And even though elves were rare, they weren’t an impossible species to obtain if the Association decided to pursue them.

From the auction’s perspective, it wouldn’t be such a big loss.

“No.”

Huh?

Sernu looked at the Black Mask with a puzzled expression.

However, an unexpected response came from the Black Mask’s mouth.

“This time, I want all the items up for auction.”

The gesture the Black Mask pointed out was just the beginning.

“I want everything.”