Chapter 5: Sacrifice

  [You have killed a human.]

  [Mental strength temporarily decreased by five.]

  It felt like everything was coming to a halt.

  My breathing turned shallow and uneven and I muttered out a curse.

  I hadn’t expected him to die.

  I did mean to hit him hard, but not to kill him, not like this.

  What should I do now? Should I bury the body or run away?

  But what if someone finds out and links it to me? My cursed blood has already been spilled, so it wouldn’t take long to investigate and track me down.

  I don’t want to kill him; it was an accident.

  My stomach twisted violently. I swallowed hard, barely stopping myself from vomiting right there in the alley. The smell of garbage and iron-thick blood made it worse.

  To think that I have committed manslaughter, my life, which has barely begun, is now already over.

  [Mental strength has been restored.]

  ]Mental strength has been increased by one.]

  “...”

  Let’s calm down for a bit.

  Right now, I’m at the underground city, a lawless land to begin with so murder like this, though it has a penalty, would not lead me to prison.

  Besides, the penalty only applied on the main road and I killed him inside an alleyway, so even if they found the corpse, they wouldn’t find me accountable.

  The curse had altered my blood and made it reek with a distinct, unnatural scent—one meant to mark it as tainted and bind me to it. It could betray my presence, but it wouldn’t immediately expose me as a follower of the God of Truth.

  After all, I was the only publicly known follower of the Truth God—a secretive criminal who rarely left behind evidence of his existence. Only a handful of high-ranking knights and priests possessed the knowledge or ability to recognize the significance hidden within my blood.

  So I’m safe for now…

  I still felt terrible.

  The thought of killing another human had crossed my mind when I was sent here… but I hadn’t expected it to happen this soon.

  And it wouldn’t be the last.

  It might not even be the only life I take today.

  So whether I liked it or not, I would have to grow used to it in the future for each time I hesitated, I may get stabbed like this again.

  But it still didn't sit right with me.

  A person who didn't mind killing—isn't that just by becoming Solrick?

  I think about it and then dismiss such thoughts.

  There’s no way I would become like Solrick.

  That bastard kills for the thrill, while I do it to survive.

  …Right, I should mind my own business first.

  “You’re going to die for a good cause, Joseph.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  That was his name, Joseph.

  I crawl toward where the old man was; the wound on my leg ached again but this time it was much more painful than the last time.

  But I am not panicking anymore as I reached out and placed my hand on his corpse.

  Unique abilities are those that are separated from the blessing of a god and come purely by chance.

  I don’t know where [Death Opposer] comes from, but [Flesh Sacrifice] is an ability that was created from when Solrick and his cult uncovered a ruin to find the rusty lantern that he used during the ascended ritual.

  In there, they encountered a fiend, a spawn from another evil god, and killed it at the cost of most of the cult.

  During the battle, Solrick was held down by the fiend but managed to escape by biting off its finger.

  But instead of spitting it out, Solrick, consumed by rage and madness, swallows the entire finger.

  Usually, it would mean death but by sheer luck, Solrick not only survived but also gained the ability [Flesh Sacrifice].

  “Gods in this world truly don’t have eyes when they let that maniac live!”

  Grabbing the knife that the man was holding, I raised it in the air and swung it, dripping some drops of blood on the corpse.

  The activation of the ability requires a corpse that still have it's flesh and the result will depend on how much time has passed since death and the stats the corpse possessed while it was alive.

  After that, you must pour your blood over the corpse and then activate it.

  [Condition for [Sacrifice] has been met.]

  [[Flesh Golem], [Flesh Mend], and [Flesh Explosion] can now be used one time.]

  [You have chosen to use [Flesh Mend].]

  The corpse on the ground has its flesh melted and then separated from the body before forming into a ball double the size of my head, leaving only a skeleton behind.

  I guided the ball of flesh toward my bleeding leg and with a single thought, the flesh ball moved toward the wound and tried to squeeze itself into my leg.

  It hurt like hell.

  "Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh."

  I feel like there are thousands of nails stamping on my wound and the flesh ball continuously drilling through my wound, melting itself into my flesh.

  [Mental strength temporarily decreased by one.]

  [Mental strength temporarily decreased by one.]

  [Mental strength temporarily decreased by one.]

  Minutes felt like hours, and eventually, the pain began to fade.

  “Ah, it hurt.”

  [Mental strength has been restored.]

  I remained lying there for a long while, staring blankly at the golden ceiling above and then touched my thigh.

  I felt sticky blood on my finger but that's all.

  The wound is now gone.

  Relief flooded through me and I let out a long breath before I forced myself back up.

  “Ah, this is tough."

  To think I almost died of blood loss right in this alleyway.

  Everything had spiraled out of control in the span of minutes. Teleportation failure. A random drop. A fight. An unexpected death.

  And this was only the beginning.

  If I want to survive in this place, I have to adapt quickly.

  So, let’s move on.

  The more time I wasted here, the more likely it was that nothing would be left of my cult hideout.

  I stood back up and then examined the knife for a little while.

  “For a knife… this thing is kind of sharp.”

  The knife was surprisingly sharp, more so than even some swords Solrick had seen before.

  Which made it even stranger.

  How did a mad old man sleeping inside a garbage bag get his hands on something like this?

  I have no idea how that old man got a hold of this but I feel like I could make good use of it.

  The thought had barely settled in my mind when—

  [A Bad Event have occurred.]

  “Hold up again!"

  My grip tightened around the knife.

  I immediately bolted away from where I stood and ran as fast as possible.

  But I was pulled back by something.

  “…”

  I turn my head back and am met with an owl.

  An owl mask, to be precise, made out of wood.

  Draped in a long black robe that swallowed the dim light, a person whose face was concealed by the owl mask was holding my collar.

  I froze for a little before rushing him with my knife without bothering to check his stats or try to analyze him for a bit.

  It’s probably due to my mental strength wavering from the [Bad Event] that made me act too hastily.

  The figure, without even a hint of surprise, let go of the collar before swiftly catching my wrist.

  A sickening crunch echoed near my ear following after that.

  "Urgh."

  I let out a groan from the pain exploding through my arm.

  "W-who are you?"

  The person meanwhile ignored my question and examined the knife in my hand before speaking.

  “A Dwarf-grade knife. I see."

  The voice was low and steady, almost inhumanly escaping from the mask.

  “Caught you, little mouse."

  Then, the owl mask swings me like a rag into the brick wall, knocking the wind out of my lungs and I could feel my ribs break from the impact.

  Such strength isn't meant for a normal human to wield.

  The one in front of me possessed a blessing?

  I wanted to use [Eye Of Truth] but it slowly became harder to keep my eyes open.

  “To think it would be this hard to track down a trash who dared to steal our product. Time to pay up."

  The world in my eyes was spinning and at the center of it was the owl mask staring at me coldly.

  Feeling impending death, I desperately rummaged my brain about how to escape this situation.

  But then it hit me: the identity of that owl mask.

  “B-Black Skull Company. Nightcrawler Division.”

  “Hmm?"

  I want to say more but by now I can no longer keep myself awake anymore.

  "Wrong person…"

  That was my last word before all turned dark.