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88.6% Lord of Mysteries:Fire of Destruction / Chapter 378: Chapter 39: Completing Rituals

Chapitre 378: Chapter 39: Completing Rituals

The canal district smelled as he expected, but after his experiences in East Borough, the red-haired man would say it didn't smell that bad.

This city had a better drainage system, and the smell was pretty much non-existent despite having a canal running through it.

It was tolerable compared to more 'normal' areas when he was still Joa.

"How are your powers?" Adryan asked as he walked through the district's passages. In the distance, there was a pink glow.

"I can't transform, and my strength is reduced even further. I'm a little stronger than a Prisoner, " the gothic-dressed Sharron replied, looking behind her at the lone zombie following them in the distance, barely out of the alley.

"Same here," Maric commented, looking around at the strange structure of this even stranger city.

"Flora?"

"Most are still in place, but my strength and abilities are that of a Marauder, and no matter how hard I try, I can't get into any of these buildings." The suppressed demigoddess complained, looking bitterly to the side.

How could a Demigod of the Path who specialized in stealing be unable to enter a building?

Adryan listened curiously to that.

'Maybe it's the case of the ungenerated map? That's why she can't enter because there's nothing to enter?' It was the same with him: no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get through the doors by jumping over them or going around them.

"What about you, Princess?" Jacob asked her own question. Trying not to dwell on her failure.

"My physical abilities are a bit superior to a Hunter, and my fire consumes too much spirituality. I doubt I'll be able to cast anything more than a simple torrent or a small fire spell." Adryan responded with a click of his tongue.

Even after using some of his power earlier, his spirituality had not recovered.

Knowing that relying on his pyromania to save himself and his team would only kill them, he made up his mind.

"As soon as we complete this ritual, we'll return to the Junction and buy a weapon."

Flora looked at him as if he had grown an extra head, "I didn't see any gunsmiths around this place, princess. Where will we get weapons?"

The redhead pointed to a simple chalk drawing on the opposite wall. "Those. They look like drawings, but they're enchanted; if you have enough points, you can buy a weapon."

'Luckily, that held up. Otherwise, it would have been tricky to kill the Margwa...' The redhead added in his heart, remembering the drawing of a shotgun back in the Junction.

They kept some of their strength, but in return, they showed up without weapons, which he honestly would have preferred.

A revolver would have been safer than trying to kill the margwa with his bare hands.

"This way," Adryan called, heading down a flight of stairs to the canal.

Being experienced Beyonders, they didn't mind that the dirty water reached up to their ankles. In keeping with her noble teaching, Flora lifted the edges of her dress to keep it from getting wet.

Sharron's dress was not long, so it was unnecessary for her.

Walking to the side of the stairs to a small open compartment in the wall- which he had opened during his transformation - Adryan bent down and grabbed a detective's badge.

No sooner had it been removed from the compartment where it rested than more of those portals opened. The guardians exited quickly, and Adryan promptly dealt with them.

The red-haired man paused for a moment before moving forward and looked up. His eyes quickly found a thin blue line rising in the dark city sky.

'That should be the theatre...' Nodding to himself, he continued.

With +20 in his pocket, the group continued along the canal and up another staircase.

Now, a gate stood in front of them, and behind it, a building loomed. Bright pink lights poured out of open windows, giving this dark place a wicked and lustful air.

"Is that a brothel?" Flora asked, somewhat surprised.

Usually, that kind of establishment was designed to be discreet and avoid attention. But this place seemed to have mixed the message and read backward.

"Morg City is known for its high crime and seen sins in the game world," Adryan replied as he turned to look at Flora.

He pointed to the closed gate with his head, and the noblewoman frowned.

-1.500

Approaching another of those black stone basins with the strange purple flame, a massive box with more strange symbols was behind it.

Adryan turned to his group and pointed his hand towards the balcony beside him.

"I need one of you to transform into the beast and activate the mechanism by electrocuting it behind it. Then destroy this box behind me, swing over, and open the door." His hand moved, pointing to a structure further away where something could be grabbed.

Explaining well what needed to be done, Adryan laughed a little and added:

"You just need to grab the flame. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt. Also, we'll all have to transform later, so might as well do it now and get used to it."

"I'll do it." Sharron offered, taking a graceful step forward.

The rest stepped back, giving the lady in the black dress some room.

Her deep blue eyes gazed into the purple flame. She closed them momentarily and grasped the flame.

As soon as her hand made contact, the same strange tattoo glowed on her hand, and her body was covered in greenish-black smoke that lasted only an instant. In the blink of an eye, that strange octopus monster with glowing tentacles stood in Sharron's place.

This creature raised the electrified tentacle and pointed it at the spot its leader had shown it earlier.

Zap zap!

The electricity shot out and struck the almost hidden panel, and the sound of machinery being activated rang through the place.

That done, the monster turned around and, with a mighty blow, destroyed the large box, revealing a strange statue of an octopus.

The creature only looked at it before darting off in the direction it was shown before.

"What kind of creature is that?" Maric asked, looking at the ominous statue whose empty eyes seemed to follow him.

"One that the least you know about, the better." Was all the red-haired man said as he waited for the ghost to return.

After about 20 seconds, the flame that had been touched flickered for a moment, and out of the same greenish-black smoke came Sharron, who opened her blue eyes and nodded.

"It is done."

"Good job. How are you feeling?"

"I wish the transformation to Werewolf had been as gentle as this one." Sharron replied with some wistfulness, remembering old times.

Nodding, the group walked up the new stairs into the brothel.

As soon as they walked through the door, they first noticed the huge amount of purple and red. The carpets, tables, and chairs were all in one of those two colors.

A small bar to the right, with a few chairs lying down. It all gave the impression that there was a big party here...

Which only made the blood that covered the floor and furniture stand out even more. There were several traces of someone being dragged and several bloody hands on the floor.

Adryan's group knew there was no need to ask what had happened here.

A staircase at the bottom led them to the first floor, where another altar rested.

The detective's badge and sphere were placed on top. The ritual began again, but this time, it was a different person: a man wearing a brown glabella and hat and sporting a thick mustache.

"What the fuck?! Shadow Man! What is the meaning of this?! We did what you told us!"

The room was sealed again, the stairs were cut, and more fire portals appeared everywhere.

Like last time, they stood together, moving in circles, generating a train that never caught up with them and ignored the detective's cries for help.

Finally, the man's agony was cut short when his body exploded in a shower of blood that condensed inside the golden sphere, and beside him, the same glowing worm descended.

+500!

Maric quickly grabbed it, stowing the strange creature in his brown waistcoat with a frown and ignoring the squirming in his chest.

No sooner had the worm left the altar than a purple light appeared above it. Glowing brightly and making a noise not unlike a gas leak or a kettle.

"We're leaving!" Adryan ordered, pointing to the staircase, and the group accelerated.

Descending to the first floor, the group was about to reach the entrance when the gas output peaked.

THUMP!

A sudden huge weight whose above them, the wood creaked and the whole building seemed to shake.

Flora turned in alarm, her experience whispering to her, "What is that?!"

"Margwa. Big guy. Ugly as shit and with three heads. Don't let him get you." Adryan responded by speeding down the stairs.

The group ran with speed to the colourful Juction, wasting no time, the red-haired man ran towards a wrecked tbarber shop that had a chalk drawing on its door.

The red-haired man raised his wrist and quickly saw his points.

■540

"I'm 210 short." Clicking his tongue, Adryan said as he watched a ball of purple smoke approach them from where they came.

Thinking momentarily, the redhead turned and smiled at the black-clad Sharron.

"Miss Casper, would you be so kind?"

"I just have to touch it?"

"Just touch it. The rest will come."

Following the man's words, she walked over to the wall. Placing her hand on the door, the newly earned points were spent.

In an instant, the chalk drawing on the door materialized in the woman's hands. It was a barrel shotgun, and she expertly loaded it.

The Werewolf looked surprised at the weapon in her hands, her movements unsettling her slightly.

It was as if the knowledge of how to use it correctly had been implanted in her brain as soon as she touched it. As if it were a potion.

"What kind of shotgun is that?" Maric asked at its strange design, looking nothing like anything he had ever seen.

It is as if it came from the future!

Adryan looked at it sideways, smiling at the sight of his favorite weapon of the entire game in all its glory; "That, my good undead furry friend. It's the good KRM, or as I prefer to call it, the margwa killer."

He then turned his attention back to Sharron, who walked forward, pointing the shotgun at the ball of billowing purple smoke already in front of them.

"Aim for the head when it opens its mouth. Only in those moments is it vulnerable!" Adryan recommended as he stepped back, his hand igniting into flames and a dagger forming in his hand, much smaller than the ones he usually created.

"Understood," Sharron replied in a cold voice, her cheek resting on the butt of the weapon.

The ball of purple smoke emitted a white glow before a giant creature suddenly appeared a few meters before them.

This was a creature very similar to the ones Sharron and Adryan had transformed into, only much larger and more robust. If the aforementioned transformation was an adolescent, this was certainly an adult.

It was a three-headed monster bearing tentacles. It was a greyish pig color with four spines on its back. Its height was easily 2.50 meters.

It opened one of its three heads, piles of sharp, yellowish teeth, and a ghastly yellowish glow from the back of its throat-

Bam! Plop!

Amidst green blood and chunks of flesh and muscle, one of the heads exploded in a spectacle of gore. A giant insect shot out from among these pieces, but before it could get away, a dagger of fire destroyed it.

"You keep destroying the heads; I'll take care of the Parasites," Adryan said to Sharron from a distance, another dagger in his hand.

"How much do you know about this place?" Flora queried, watching beside the redhead as the woman fought.

Behind them, Maric distracted the last zombie by moving it in medium circles.

"Very much so. My Lord loves this game, so we play it often." Adryan winked at the white-haired woman, who stiffened for a moment and looked at the man in disbelief.

Did the gods have those kinds of hobbies too?

The Margwa writhed in pain, letting out a resounding cry of pain from its remaining heads. Its tentacles writhing in all directions, leaving a few gashes in the ground from its tantrum.

Moving the slide, Sharron did not take her cold gaze off the monster. She quickly moved from her previous spot a few meters ahead, passing by one of the free sides the monster did not cover.

It only took the Margwa a few moments before it stopped writhing and lunged at the Werewolf at great speed. One of its mouths opened.

Sharron, with speed, spun around, shotgun already raised. The smoking barrel barely moved from its place before she pulled the trigger again.

Bam! Plop!

Again, another head exploded, and another parasite flew from the destroyed head but was again destroyed by a dagger of orange fire.

The gothic dressed Sharron repeated the same move as before, circling the creature who after recovering again assaulted but as soon as it opened its last mouth a shotgun blast was all it received, the last parasite following seconds later.

For the last time, the creature twisted before falling to its knees with a thunderous Thump! Then it fell flat on the ground. But before its huge body hit the ground, it disappeared in greenish smoke with yellow flashes.

Only a grotesque heart, similar to rust in color, was left floating in mid-air in the place where it was. It was as big as an adult's head and had several orange lumps throbbing in it.

A gloved hand grabbed the grotesque heart and stuffed it into a jacket. Turning to look at his team, Adryan smiled and murmured, "It's a surprise that will help us later."

Laughing a little at the reference no one caught, he turned to look at Sharron, who was loading the shotgun. She had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Well? How's it feel?"

After loading the last round and moving the slide, the goth woman paused for about five seconds before nodding slightly, "It's... fun."

"You have good taste." The redhead laughed a little more before looking at the other two closed gates.

"Alright, we'll go up 1 round here before we continue. Sharron, I recommend you use only melee for more points. Same for everyone; we'll save the bullets for the Margwas and Parasites."


next chapter

Chapitre 379: Chapter 40: Not a Game

"They are tougher than before. If you're not careful, you can easily get overwhelmed." Maric commented as they walked around a boxing ring that in the middle had the altar above the bloody pentagram.

Floating above it was a tall, shirtless, rather muscular man with bandaged hands. Like the one before him, his pleas for help were ignored.

Behind them, a small horde of guards followed, not too fast and not too slow. But slow enough that they did not catch up with the quartet's brisk walk.

"I told you," Adryan said without looking at him, his gaze focused on his wrist, on the white and red numbers.

Points: 1,630

Round: 2

'When we complete the ritual, this will be enough to do the two laps on the tram and buy the shotgun. All that's missing is the points to upgrade it.' Nodding in satisfaction, the red-haired man lowered his arm, and the numbers disappeared.

"Before we do the last of the rituals we'll take a short trip, there's something we need to collect first."

"Oh? And what would that be, Princess?" Flora asked curiously, her hands clasped gracefully under her stomach.

"A code to obtain an egg," Adryan replied casually.

His answer earned stares from the group.

"Really? An egg?" Flora asked, not sure she heard him correctly.

What would they do with it? An omelet?

Adryan nodded without changing his expression. Suddenly, his eyes widened slightly, remembering something.

"We have to heat it, by the way. Could you play mother hen?"

Knowing that her partner just wanted to get on her nerves, the Jacob relaxed her expression and looked straight ahead. Her ears fell on deaf ears.

Laughing softly, Adryan said no more, already satisfied with teasing his favorite worm a little.

After a while, the ritual was complete, with the fighter's body explosion and the appearance of a new grub, this time grabbed by Sharron.

Leaving the abandoned gym, the group went up the way they came, with the redhead in the lead. They passed the last zombie, who had only a torso and was slowly crawling towards them.

Arriving at the small platform where Maric had used the basin stone to transform into the Beast, the group climbed up the ladder to the side of it.

Arriving at a much smaller train station, Adryan walked calmly to the control panel and pressed a green button.

"This will only take a few moments. Now, things will be quiet for a while, so if you have any questions, you can ask." Leaning against the wall with his shoulder, he crossed his arms, bored.

"Is there another way to complete the floor other than the ritual?" Maric asked, looking out the broken window at the slowly moving legless zombie.

"No. Without the ritual, we would just be left fighting ever-larger and stronger hordes of zombies until we are outnumbered. The only way to win is the ritual," Adryan replied, looking at the bloody map of the city in front of him, which had the ritual locations marked on it.

"Is there no end to them?" Sharron asked, her hands folded elegantly in her lap as she sat atop a crate, her posture not unlike a doll—the shotgun resting on her back.

Adryan nodded.

"The rounds are endless. That's why I said it's useless to kill as many zombies as appear; it'll be easiest just to kill the number needed to advance."

"Then we were lucky you're with us, Princess. I can't imagine anyone doing all this without knowing anything beforehand." Flora commented, standing at the man's side.

"Be thankful this is one of the easier ones. If it had been any other game, we'd have to worry about probability and luck." Snorting a little, the redhead barely held back the urge to click his tongue.

Completing Moon's Easter Egg on solo had been a headache he'd rather not remember.

The group looked at the man, curious at his sudden display of clear discomfort. They had an idea why. Everyone had an experience with it, some worse than others.

Whenever something depended on probability and luck, it was almost a given that it would fail.

At that moment, the rails at the side of the hut where they stood began to vibrate loudly; something was coming. Looking up from the zombie still crawling upwards, Maric saw something like a train coming from above the tracks.

'What's that?' The Werewolf narrowed his eyes in confusion but still alerted the group, who came over to look.

"Sigh. Finally," Adryan said in relief as the machine stopped at the side of the hut they were in. The previously closed doors opened, revealing a glass interior that allowed them to see everything below them.

Stepping through them, the red-haired man pulled a lever and pressed the green button on the side again.

-500

The doors closed, and followed by a hiss, the machine began to move at a decent speed over the abandoned and bloody streets of the city.

"Is this some kind of tram?" Flora asked, looking out of the window at the passing buildings.

"More or less, it's more like a monorail. A sort of flying train if you like." Adryan replied, looking out his window to the right.

Raising a hand, he pointed to the window of a building whose open window was giving off a soft crimson glow. "Keep an eye out for open windows that glow like that. Inside are some symbols we'll need later, so get them in your heads."

The group nodded, each taking one of the several windows in the place and peering intently outside.

"Mr. Adryan. Once you place that sphere on the altar, the people who appear keep mentioning a Shadow Man. Who is he?" Sharron consulted sideways, her gaze calmly scanning the city outside the monorail.

Adryan did not answer the question and only looked out the window. His silence was answer enough for those present.

Ever since they began moving through Morg City and completing the rituals, his mind had been thinking about that human-looking thing.

Normally, at the beginning of each round, he would have been on the fire escape in that alley watching them, but when they awoke, no one was there.

Adryan had a theory as to why.

'Considering that every protagonist we've sacrificed has mentioned his name, it's certain that they showed up at the beginning and explored a bit. They found out who he was, but before they could start with the rituals, we came along and replaced them...'

'It's certain he's watching us right now. But he's not doing anything because we are completing the rituals like he wants.'

It was implied several times and explicitly stated that these creatures could see humans without them noticing but could not interact with them. For that, they would have to manifest.

There were several possible reasons why he would not have manifested to them.

Distrust of these new arrivals and analyzing them to know what to do, finding the right moment to attack them...

But there was something else!

Adryan also noticed several things missing. One of them was almost all the perks. Only Quick Revive was there, and all the rocket shield parts were missing.

'It's like there's a bug on the floor...' Shuddering slightly at the mention of the bug, the redhead went into cogitation.

It was no time to think about crows that had nothing to do with it now; it was better to leave those things to their games.

There could be several things that could go wrong, so Adryan had never separated them apart to transform into the Beast to open the map.

While he knew what he had to do and everything was going on just like in the game, at least the parts that still worked, he wasn't stupid.

This was real life, not some stupid game he played with his brother on a school night when they had a test the next day.

One mistake, one oversight, one miscalculation would mean they all died.

What did it matter that he could revive? He had no idea of the actual requirements of that, only that he had to die and he shouldn't die often.

And he also didn't know what would happen to his body once he died in the tower. Did dying mean failing the floor? And if so, what would happen next?

For him this was never a game, this new life never was.

A few moments later, the monorail took them back to the canal district. After waiting a while for it to load, the red-haired man pulled the lever again and paid 500 points for another trip.

With the last trip over and the last symbol obtained, the group got off the monorail and found themselves in another hut like the ones they had been in. Descending the stairs of this one, the group found themselves amid disaster.

Carriages lay all over the square, making it difficult to move around. Dead and half-decayed horses gave off a putrid smell of decay.

In one corner of the area was a long, mysterious box made of what appeared to be sea stone, with a mold to accompany it.

It emitted a watery, greenish glow. Tentacles covered its entire body, and a shadowy octopus rested in the middle, its eyes glowing malevolently.

Adryan glanced at it and moved along with his party, who didn't even blink at it. With Maric paying for the door and Flora being the one to transform this time, the last unique item was acquired: a Hairpiece.

With everything ready, the group returned to the shattered and bloody square. They made their way around the edges, avoiding the wrecked carriages, to the theatre at the back of the square.

...

"No! NO! IT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO END LIKE THIS!!! I WOULD BE A STAR!!! ARGH-" A beautiful blonde woman wearing a red corset cried out in pain before exploding in a torrent of blood.

With the ritual over and Flora grabbing the last worm they needed. Sharron quickly dealt with the Margwa that appeared.

With the extra points and on the redhead's recommendation, the rest bought the same shotgun. That done, the group returned to the canal district.

Descending the stairs to the water, they continued a little further until they came to the false wall from before. This revealed a small empty room; the only thing in it was a yellow crack in the air that hovered ominously.

Without wasting any time, Adryan touched this crack, which in a second contracted into a ball before expanding further than before and opening up, revealing a black sky with hints of blue and full of stars.

The red-haired man looked at this with some discomfort.

Thinking a little, he turned to his group. "I want to try something. Come on."

...

After a while, the group returned. Between his hands and well away from his body, Adryan was carrying the torso-less zombie.

With his hunting skills, it had been no problem to find the slippery bastard.

"Okay, dear, you have no idea how much I appreciate you doing this for me," Adryan whispered to the zombie, who was whipping his arms around and trying to grab him.

"Hyaa!"

"Ah, right. Don't worry, it's safe." He paused a bit. "I think... But that's what you're here for!" he finished happily, earning another scream from the zombie.

"URGHHAGA!"

Taking that as a yes, Adryan laughed some more and threw the legless torso; he didn't do it hard enough to avoid killing it.

The zombie twisted in the air for a moment before colliding with the portal. Its body barely made contact and disappeared in a small orange flash.

"Will it even work? It's a Zombie. It's dead." Flora consulted, looking sideways, ignoring how he had spoken to it while it tried to eat his face.

"They may be dead, but in theory, they're also 'alive'. Him going in is the same as us going in." Adryan replied, his hands lighting on fire to clean off the grime.

He may have been wearing gloves, but touching something dead and rotting didn't feel right. Of course, speaking through his left hand, his right was mute.

"Is there any danger?" Sharron consulted, staring deeply into him with her blue eyes.

"Depending on whether our second favorite undead friend returns or not." He hoped his new friend would return. Otherwise, he would have to try the other portals.

The conversation between the companions was interrupted when the portal gave off a small orange-yellow flash. Out of it came the zombie, crawling with screams of hatred and leaving a snail-like trail.

Smiling, Adryan grabbed the remains of the zombie's shirt collar and stared at it. Finding no mutation or exaggerated belly, the red-haired man chuckled a little.

"I'd kiss you if you had lips." Mustering a little more strength, he threw the flailing zombie over his shoulder, whose mangled body fell into the dirty water.

Turning to his team, he smiled at them and winked, "Let's go."

Following his instructions, and to the displeasure of some, they grabbed each other's hands with their eyes closed. Adryan led the way, followed by Maric and Sharron.

The Werewolf extended a hand to the woman in the purple dress.

Flora watched this before snorting slightly and ignoring the outstretched hand completely, she walked to the front.

"I'll go first." She said, grabbing Adryan's only free hand, who only gave an apologetic look to the expressionless Sharron.

After four short flashes, the canal district was empty once more, with only the zombie slowly crawling to the portal.

"Hyaa!" 


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