Ashu intentionally wanted Kyle and Kidopriest to check each other.
Although Kyle had exposed the mayor's situation, Ashu still harbored suspicions about him. What if they were playing a ga of espionage against each other?
Kyle scoffed upon hearing this. "Kidopriest? After an innocent nun committed suicide, their monthly offerings increased. Can you even imagine that? They're openly embezzling citizens' faith funds and shalessly claiming they're going to raise a crusade. I haven't seen a single bit of that so-called crusade."
Ashu was unsurprised by this.
For years, Kidopriest had been doing exactly this in Gorn Village—collecting money but doing nothing in return.
And for all these years, the Cultivator Guild had never established any kind of oversight departnt, showing that it wasn't just the priest engaging in these actions.
"I'm planning to move, Kyle," Ashu said. "It's too dark here. I want to live a peaceful life."
"You're joking, right?"
"I'm serious. Our situation is special. We can't help you, and if we stay here any longer, we won't be able to protect ourselves."
Upon hearing this.
Kyle was visibly disheartened. As the one asking for help, he couldn't probe further into what the "special situation" was. What others ant was simply that they couldn't help.
Whether it was subjective or objective, it was a failed request.
"I wish you luck with your move," Kyle said quietly.
With those words, he turned and walked away. The case remained unsolved, and the panic would only grow. In the midst of that panic, the killers would remain at large and might strike again.
He urgently needed to dismantle the cultist hideout.
"Looks like I'll have to ask my family for so money..." Kyle muttered to himself.
...
anwhile...
Below the riverbank.
In the secret hideout of the Cidi cult, dozens of living sacrifices were offered to the evil god, and their goal was slowly being fulfilled.
At the center of the altar, a dead monster was being pulled by chains. The creature only vaguely resembled a human; its body was more defined by bulging muscles that resembled pebbles.
Slap~
Slap!
With each sacrifice turning into a cloud of blood mist, the creature at the center began to show signs of life.
When all the sacrifices had been accepted by the evil god, He was finally satisfied and bestowed a blessing upon His followers.
A beam of bloodlight shot upward, pouring into the monster's corpse.
Suddenly, a surge of life burst forth.
"Roar—!!"
"Ah, I... What is this...?"
The monster, bound by chains, suddenly spoke human words. It looked around, then at its own hands, as its mind beca increasingly disoriented.
Out of instinctual fear, it struggled to escape.
But the iron chains seed specifically designed for it. No matter how much it struggled, the chains remained unbreakable.
At that mont.
A man wearing a leopard-head hood stepped forward.
"Tell your na."
The resurrection ritual always required confirming the identity of the subject because, sotis, they might summon the wrong soul.
The creature hesitated for a long ti before tremblingly answering, "I... I'm called... Carol."
The mont the na left her lips, a sharp, torturous pain shot through her mind and spirit, tornting her to the point of agony.
She thought to herself: I must have died.
But even though she had died, those mories were still vividly present in her mind.
In the mories that flashed before her eyes, she had devoured her own father, tearing him apart with claws and teeth.
Now, in her awakened state, she couldn't stop the version of herself that had once been lost, nor could she erase that mory. She couldn't reverse the facts that had already occurred.
"Very well, Carol, congratulations. Cidi doesn't care about life or death. We've paid a great cost to retrieve your soul for Cidi. So, you've been resurrected. You've returned to this beautiful world," the Cidi high priest, wearing a leopard-headed hood, said with a manic, almost crazed tone.
"Let die! Let die! I don't want to live! I don't deserve to live!" Carol cried out, looking at her claws. They weren't human hands anymore; they were the claws of a monster.
She ran the claws across her face, and not only was her mind tortured by recurring tornt, but her body had beco sothing neither human nor ghost.
But just then.
The Cidi high priest sneered and said, "No, you want to live. Don't lie to yourself. If you didn't want to live, Cidi wouldn't have retrieved your soul. You still have lingering attachnts, don't you? Let think... Ah, right, his na is Ashu, isn't it?"
The high priest's voice wasn't a question but a statent, guiding Carol's emotions.
"Ashu?! Ashu..." In an instant, Carol's mind was flooded with the image of a person, but now, all she could feel was terror for Ashu.
It was an animal's instinct—because it was Ashu who had killed her.
The Cidi high priest noticed this imdiately and, of course, had prepared for it.
"Push her forward."
At his command, a Cidi follower shoved an older woman forward.
The woman's hair was a tangled ss, and her expression was one of madness. Even in the face of the horrific blood pool, she managed to show a faint smile.
"Hehehe... Carol, you were always mama's pride. Spiritual perception for a mont... hehehe..."
Thud! Thud!
The heart of the monster Carol suddenly lurched. Her twisted face froze, her animal-like eyes wide open, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Guilt, despair, collapse, anger—her mind was bombarded by a whirlwind of emotions.
"Who are you?! What have you done to my mother?! Roar!!"
The chains clanged loudly as the monster Carol struggled, but her strength was limited. After all, she was just a low-level wizard who had relied on a bit of luck and magical potions.
The Cidi high priest remained unfazed, everything proceeding smoothly according to plan.
"Shh, shh, don't bla . Your greed turned you into a monster, and you even ate your own father. Isn't it your fault your mother went mad?" he taunted.
At those words.
The monster Carol was hit with a powerful psychological blow. All that remained was her defiant roar and the uncontrollable tears pouring down her face.
Then.
The Cidi high priest began his speech.
"Actually, it's not too late to turn things around. Just as we revived you, you can also revive your father, save your mother."
"What?!" The monster Carol was startled.
"Don't question it. You can still hear . That's proof enough."
"Please, please help ..." The monster Carol begged, just as she had once pleaded with wizard Ula-Ula.
But this ti, she quickly realized she had fallen into the sa trap.
Her previous loss of self had started with such a plea. She couldn't make the sa mistake again.
"What's the cost?" she asked, once she had regained her composure.
"The cost? Hahahahaha!" The Cidi high priest laughed maniacally. "The hypocritical trash of the Cultivator Guild always talks about cost. We, the Cidi cult, have nothing but love—no cost!"
Carol didn't believe him.
Her family had always been loyal followers of the Holy Cultivator Guild.
Even though their lives had been hard, they had always made offerings to Kidopriest on schedule.
Now, to be told that there was a cult that promised to grant wishes with no cost involved—wasn't that just a deceptive cult trying to fool people?
"What's the matter, still skeptical?" the Cidi high priest said, his voice dripping with manipulation. "It doesn't matter. It's up to you. Your father's soul has only five days left. After that, it will be beyond retrieval. As for your mother, let her stay here with you."
With that.
The Cidi high priest turned and walked away.
This was all part of the plan.
The monster Carol watched her mother babbling madly, and her heart was torn. She clenched her teeth, closed her eyes, and shoved her claws into her ears.
She didn't know how much ti passed.
Suddenly.
"Child."
A familiar, deep, slightly divine voice echoed in front of her.
The monster Carol opened her eyes in confusion, and what she saw was like the redemption of the Holy Mother.
"Kidopriest! I—I'm Carol! Do you rember ? I'm Carol! I was just tricked by the wizard, I drank his potion, and then I beca like this! Please, believe , I'm really Carol! I'm not a monster! I—I still rember the scriptures you recited..."
Kidopriest was unflinching. He wasn't afraid of being torn apart by the monster, nor was he afraid of her terrifying appearance.
He stood right within her reach, but the monster Carol didn't harm him in the slightest.
"Oh, my child, Carol, how did you beco so pitiful? The poison has tornted your soul and body like this. May God heal you," Kidopriest said with a divine tone.
The monster Carol listened, feeling as though her soul was bathed in holy light. It was like clutching at a lifeline in the midst of despair, like seeing the last glimr of hope.
"Kidopriest, I've already died. I don't ask to live, I only ask you to save my mother. It's so scary here. Will you take her back to the village? Please heal her, will you? Please, I beg you..."
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