As they descended the stairs, the heat in their chests began to cool down little by little.
What had been a fiery blaze threatening to scorch Yona’s face was now turning cold, while, conversely, their hearts thudded loudly in their chests.
Standing before the brown wooden door, Alex raised his shield.
Pulling out the layered shield that was fitted inside, he handed it to Yona, who promptly strapped it to her left arm.
When Alex turned back to Yona, she nodded in response.
At that moment, Alex kicked the door with all his might.
– KRAAANG!
With a tremendous noise, the door shattered and collapsed inwardly, flopping over helplessly.
“Ugh!”
He suppressed the urge to retch that was rising up.
As the door swung open, a wave of odor rushed in, akin to the smell of heavily rusted iron—blood.
Inside was a large hall.
How there could be such a massive hall in this building was a mystery, but that was the least of their concerns right now.
There were dozens of people crammed inside.
All of them were shrouded in dark blue hoods, concealing their faces as they gathered around something, turning towards Alex and Yona with menacing glares upon their sudden appearance.
“Who the hell are you?!”
Responding to that thunderous question, Yona shot back.
“Rubina—”
Wait, what was it again?
Yona momentarily lost her words.
But the hesitation was short-lived.
– I wanted to go with my sister…
“—is my sister! Give me back my little sister, you bastards—!!!”
With Yona’s shout, Alex stormed inside like a whirlwind.
His steel greaves thudded loudly against the bloodied stone floor as he charged forward, with Yona hot on his heels.
“Give me back my sister, you goddamn bastards—!!”
Alex yelled like a banshee and slammed his shield down on a hooded thug.
– THWACK!
With a sound of something breaking, the thug flew away, crashing into two others who went tumbling over.
“My sister—!”
The steel greaves mercilessly kicked the thug right in the groin. There was a sensation of something snapping, but he didn’t care.
“Give her back—!!”
Alex’s armored fist plummeted onto the thug’s face with all his strength.
With a bang, the thug’s face smashed into the ground and Alex grabbed the back of the hood to lift him up.
“You bastards—!!”
Veiny red lines bulged on Alex’s face, looking downright monstrous.
As he hurled the lifted thug at the others, they all collided and fell in a heap.
“YOU MORONS!”
A short but sharp dagger flew towards Alex’s side.
But it was blocked by a small round shield.
“Where do you think you’re aiming, you bastard!”
Yona swung her shield and smacked the thug’s face.
“Good job, Yona!”
“Give me back my sister, damn it—!”
Yona and Alex yelled as they clashed with the thugs.
*
The advantage of a surprise attack lies in the ability to deal a significant blow at that moment.
However, the moment the enemy realizes the ambush is weaker than expected, the advantage diminishes exponentially.
The moment the opponent realizes what’s happening, the advantage of a surprise attack decreases exponentially.
“Quick, everyone clean up! Won’t it get noisy once the sacrifice wakes up?”
The man using the name Neri.
His real name is Andrei.
Andrei frowned, scanning the surroundings through the gaps in his hood.
There are already about fifty members belonging to the association.
“Why haven’t we dealt with just those two intruders yet? We need to clean up quickly to proceed with the ritual.”
“I-I’m so sorry! I’ll clean up right away!”
The man and woman screaming to hand over their ‘sibling’ were people Andrei recognized.
“Surely they are a couple, and they called her their daughter. Now they’re saying it’s a sibling?”
He let out a hollow laugh.
It’s puzzling how those who lied on their entry report are now throwing a fit over nothing.
“Everyone clean up quickly. We need to proceed with the ritual.”
The night market always opened on full moon nights.
While it may be a pretty and bright reason, for Andrei, a member of the Dark Association, it was truly a foolish one.
The full moon.
The time when the divine power of the heavens is at its weakest.
Taking advantage of that time, they soak the altar with blood.
For that noble ritual, Andrei had even infiltrated the gatekeepers disguised as Neri.
Thanks to that, he could fulfill his goal without much trouble, so it wasn’t all in vain.
To evade detection, he exclusively selected drifters or orphans with no ties and kidnapped them, soaking this altar with countless amounts of blood.
And if they offer this black-haired girl as the final touch on the day the full moon is highest, they will finally achieve the grand ritual they have long desired.
The black-haired girl, known as a descendant of the divine.
Long ago, after a divine being descended upon Marlen and vanquished the lesser gods, black hair was regarded as a sign of being a descendant of that divine being.
Though black-haired people have become rare over time, they are not so common as to be used for such rituals, making it truly fortunate for a drifter adventurer’s daughter with no ties to Kapatia to have rolled in.
Adventurers can disappear without a trace without anyone noticing.
Let alone the child of an adventurer not even belonging to Kapatia?
Nobody would care if she vanished.
Thus, she was brought here.
She was told to wait in a warm place since it was cold, and the sacrifice willingly followed.
So, it should have been a matter of proceeding with the ritual—
“I told you to hand over my sister—! You bastards!”
The woman in the nun’s outfit was rampaging as if she had completely lost her sanity.
The man, skillfully protecting her while also taking down the followers, was no ordinary fellow either.
Andrei thought that this situation couldn’t continue.
If the ruckus went on any longer, the ritual itself might be canceled.
At least today, the ritual must proceed properly if they are to summon their grand target—the Demon of Insult, Vervaria.
“It can’t be helped.”
The chaos and the altar were quite far apart.
Even if they were to carry out the ritual now, those causing the ruckus wouldn’t be able to interfere.
In fact, if they were to offer the blood of those two to the awakened Vervaria, and since that bald one is also black-haired, an even more gracious manifestation might be possible.
“With this, an even more gracious resurrection will surely be possible.”
“Prepare the ceremony! Everyone, surround them with the human barrier!”
As soon as Andrei shouted, dozens of hooded Followers clustered around, forming a barrier like a wall.
Confirming this, Andrei forcefully turned the lever of the pulley next to the altar, and the altar, thickly crusted with blood, creaked and cracked.
And beneath it, the final piece of this bloody ritual, Rubina — the wooden frame tightly binding her limbs slowly emerged.
“Rubinaaaahhhh!!”
Yona screamed at the top of her lungs.
Once she saw Rubina, Yona struggled to rush at the strange men in front of her.
But they stood firm, surrounding Yona and Alex, like a solid scrum, determined not to let her through.
No matter how much Alex swung his shield, no matter how many punches and kicks he threw to break through, every time one fell, another filled their spot, leaving him with no way forward.
“O great Vervaria, I offer this cursed beast’s blood that descends from the divine blood! Arise in this land, spit upon the statue of the divine, and unleash your power upon the world—”
Andrei raised the dagger high.
The candlelight flickered on the dagger, revealing ominous energy.
“Now arise, O Vervaria!”
“Shut up already, you bastard!”
A booming voice cut through the air like the wind.
– Clang!
Simultaneously, the dagger in Andrei’s hand shattered into pieces, scattering everywhere, and the arrow that had surely broken the dagger quivered, embedded in the back wall of the altar.
“Are you two still at it, you pathetic fools?”
An axe flew through the crowd, slamming into the ground at terrifying speed.
The impact of the axe spread shockwaves left and right, causing the men standing beside it to stumble, losing their balance.
“Get lost— you bastards!”
Alex yelled as he swung his shield and charged again.
“Go quickly, Yona!”
At Kaiyak’s shout, Yona nodded and followed closely behind Alex. As Alex opened the way, Yona stuck close to him, covering his back while running.
“Geez, you worthless scumbags!”
Yona’s vision caught a glimpse of a man throwing off his hood.
His face couldn’t be described as handsome.
And right in the middle of his forehead, a dark spot—
A clearly visible dark hair strand illuminated by the candlelight.
“You, you bastard—!”
“Hmph, I don’t care if you’re a mom or a sister, but asking for it back after handing it to me is pretty shameless, don’t you think?”
Andrei laughed at Yona with all his might.
Kidnapping? No. Not at all.
In fact, it was that woman who entrusted the child to him, and he merely brought the kid back.
After all, living as an adventurer’s family would be the same life either way.
Then wouldn’t it be a better, more valuable life to be used as a material for the resurrection of the great Vervaria?
“Shut your mouth, you spotted bastard!”
“Spotted? How dare you! That damn girl!”
“Give me back my sister, I’ve told you so many times—!”
“This bitch…!”
Andrei gritted his teeth and pulled out the dagger from his pocket once more.
As soon as the two adventurers, the Orc and the Lizardman, joined the fray, the human barrier began to crumble rapidly.
The moment the two skilled warriors entered the battle, they scattered like a sandcastle hit by a wave, and if it continued like this, there was a huge risk that the ritual would fail.
“The ritual comes first…!”
Andrei raised the dagger high.
All he had to do now was plunge this dagger into the neck of the offering.
As long as that blood seeped into the altar—!
“Alex!”
Yona called out to Alex, who was in front of her.
Alex glanced back at Yona and then turned around again.
He knelt down, clasped his hands together, and turned himself into a stepping stone for Yona—
“Go, Yona!”
As soon as Yona stepped on his makeshift pedestal, Alex stood up and pushed her up with all his might.
Light as a feather, Yona soared toward Andrei, an impossible height achieved in her own right, crashing down on him.
– Boom! Smash!
The instant Yona knocked Andrei down, she felt a searing pain erupt in her right shoulder.
Still, Yona held onto Andrei and rolled down toward the altar.
Her whole body ached, the right shoulder feeling like it was on fire, and the wounds on her still-healing face throbbed painfully once again.
Nevertheless, Yona wouldn’t let go of Andrei.
“You bastard, you hurt my brother, my brother—!”
– Whack!
She punched Andrei’s face with enough force to make her knuckles tingle.
Without a moment’s pause, she hit his face again, bringing her other hand down on him, continuously, endlessly, relentlessly beating Andrei’s face.
“This bitch!”
Yona was yanked by the hair and thrown backward.
With split and shredded lips, Andrei stood up, eyes filled with rage, advancing toward Yona.
“This fucking bitch dared to scratch my face?!”
As Andrei approached Yona, who was sprawled on the floor, he kicked her hard in the stomach.
A sickening crack echoed out, and Yona screamed out in pain, tumbling back onto the ground.
“I’ll make you just like me, you damn bitch!”
Andrei twisted and yanked out the dagger lodged in Yona’s right shoulder with all his strength.
As it sliced through bone and ripped muscle, Yona let out a long scream while Andrei raised the dagger high again, ready to bring it down.
“This bastard!”
Alex’s shield slammed hard against Andrei.
As Andrei was sent flying, Alex ran over, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him high.
“How dare you touch her…!”
With blood-red eyes, Alex panted fiercely, looking at Andrei as if he would kill him on the spot.
“You fucking prick—!”
Holding onto Andrei’s collar, Alex hurled him toward the altar.
Andrei crashed into the altar where Rubina was tied up and tumbled down, the wooden frame wobbling and nearly toppling over until Yona rushed over to catch it.
“Ugh, uuuaagh…!”
The Sacred Barrier slipped from Yona’s right arm, tattered and falling loose.
Blood poured down from Yona’s severely gaped and torn right arm, soaking her tattoo, and began to trickle down into the altar below.
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