The Priest of Corruption

ightly.
The maximum I could cut with my abilities was three; if so, I had no choice but to endure the rest.

Swoosh.

He shoved tentacles back into the wound in my shoulder I had barely covered up as if to sneer at me.
The other three dug into my thigh, waist, and the middle of my stomach, and none hit anything vital.

‘Kill!!!’

Mother screamed.

“Ugh.”

The unbearable pain leaked out as a groan.
The monster was laughing.
Yes, he was playing with me.
He didn’t kill me even though he could’ve.
It was like a child playing with bugs.
But thanks to that, I reached it.

“Mother.”

The divinity that erupted from the rotting lord’s body permeated me.

[Divinity: 10001]

“I will offer my divinity.
Your son longs for it, so give me a new power.”

There was no answer.

[Divinity: 1]

But a new power seeped into my body.
The monster smiled at me, showing its white teeth.

“Hurts?”

I grinned and stretched out my arms, grabbing the careless monster’s face.

“Let’s fall.
Together.”

My new power, called the Pit of Corruption, swallowed us.
And just like that, we fell.

*

Thud.

The shock of the sudden fall shot up my spine.
I stood quickly and stepped back.
Blood was dripping from my open wounds.
I glared at the monster as I seared them with the Froststeel sword’s still red blade.

He was smiling, asking if this was the best I could do.

“Hurts?”

I laughed.

“It hurts.
It really hurts.
It’s painful.
It’s painful to endure the fire while hiding in pursuit of divinity, and it’s painful to run through the town to collect corpses.
But do you know what?”

Whaaaaaaaang!

The Butcher started with a harsh cry.
I raised it above my head.
The monster sneered at me and tilted his head.
Seeing that childlike attitude, I smiled generously.

“You’re going to hurt more than I am now.
Bear that carefully in mind, you monster son of a bitch.”

Boom!

The Corruption Arts renewed, forcing my body to move.
My whole body was still creaking, and my arms and legs wouldn’t obey me.
I was slower than before, but I still ran at him.

“It huuuuuuuuuuuuurts!”

Nine tentacles swung back.
He was still growing during all this.

I clenched my teeth and swung the Butcher, grinding through each of them.
The Incarnation’s one eye was colored with astonishment as I struck again.
A pair of his arms was sent flying.
Without stopping, I shoved the Butcher into his side.

Whaaaaaaaang!

Gore rained down.

“It huuuuuuuuuuuuuurts!”

I pushed the revving blades deeper in.

“Are you confused? You must be! Hahahaha! Are you wondering why I can cut through all of your attacks even though it’s slower than before? I’ll teach you something special!”

My smile broadened.

“How does it feel to rot alive? I’m pretty familiar with it.
You probably wouldn’t know, though!”

The Pit of Corruption.
All living things that entered this gigantic pit started decaying.
Even I was no exception to this power’s influence.
However, I was able to use the Corruption Arts to prioritize parts not needed for battle and make them rot first.
This way, I closed the gap between me and this monster.

The monster struggled, trying to push me away.
However, his power wasn’t enough to stop me.

“It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! Stop…!!!”

The monster learned a new word.
I laughed.

“Thanks to me, you’ve learned a couple of words today on your own! I should quit living as a priest and tutor monsters! Hahahaha!”

I pulled the Butcher back and lifted it.

Whaaaaaaaaang!

The monster’s eyes widened in fear.

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stooooop!!!”

I softly smiled.

“I don’t want to.”

Clank, clank, clank, clank!

The Butcher devoured his throat, finally silencing him.
I stretched out a rotting hand, pulled out the marble-shaped relic from the broken Incarnation’s chest, and laughed.

“Mother, I did it.”

‘Kill!’

It was a strange feeling, both happy and sad.
The divinity of dark green corruption flowed from the holy relic into my body and Mother’s hand.
Once the light died away, I took the hand out of my pocket and checked Mother’s condition.

The Mother’s hand of corruption shone a dark green color.
The weight I felt against my palm disappeared, and with it, the hand.

“Mother?!”

I glanced around, trying to calm my panicked heart, to find a young girl.
Her hair cascaded down to her waist in a beautiful mix of black and dark green.
Her deep black eyes stared back above a sculpted nose.
The girl wiggled, her green and black eyes wide open.
She moved her lips to speak, but no voice came out.

As soon as the girl, now wearing a slight frown, strode up to me and grabbed my hand, a thought appeared in my head.

‘Kill?!’

I calmed my trembling heart at the familiar voice.

“As expected, you’re Mother.
But why are you so young? It’s something you should know, not me.
But, Mother.”

With her lips stuck out in a pout, Mother, who had been grumbling in my mind about her current state, tilted her head.

‘Kill?’

“You can’t go back to being a hand now?”

‘Kill!’

Yelling at me to wait, the girl returned to her familiar hand form.
I took Mother’s hand, tucked it in my pocket, and laughed.

“Mother.
It’s good to go around as yourself, but how about we just keep going like this?”

‘Kill!’

I was relieved that she said she couldn’t keep in that form for long anyway.
I was too anxious to take Mother out of my pocket just yet.
I still needed a lot of mental preparation.

“Okay, I understand.”

I closed my eyes and calmed myself.

[Divinity: 10001]

So, it was already time to awaken another power.

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