Chapter 25: Sacrificial Ceremony [1]
"It had been three months since then. Nowdays, no one is talking about it because Nyle and Cecil had blocked people from even mentioning it." The elder started explaning.
Three months ago, Cecil was just a newbie who had been transported to the temple of trickery while taking a shower.
She was embarassed, angry, and even more confused.
In the end, several girls had gifted her their own clothes.
But Cecil didn't know the danger of such act.
"Thank you." Cecil thanked the girls who had grafted the makeshift clothes for her.
Several girls who wore half revealing, dirty, and battered clothes stood opposite Cecil.
"No problem! Girls have to stay together!" One of the girls smiled before shaking Cecil's hand.
"Yes!"
"Girl power!"
"Slay!"
Various remarks were said from the other girls, all of them affirming their friendship.
Many girls in the group were pretty.
Some prettier than Cecil, while others average.
However, no ugly girl was in the group.
Not because they weren't welcome but because all the ugly girls decided to distance themselves.
One such girl was called Indie.
"Hmph." Indie gritted her teeth. "Lyke, Jack, can you deal with them?"
Indie was short and had a cute face. However, man in the corridor usually ignored her because she was fat.
Usually, being fat wasn't a crime, nor was it supposed to be, but there was one big problem.
All of the survivors were starved. All they could live on was grass. Black grass that grew from a single room inside the corridor.
Fortunately, the grass grew quickly.
Unfortunately, it was bad for the body. It barely had enough nutrients and calories to keep a person going. As for being full? Unless a person was an explorer, they could forget about it.
It also had slight toxins that didn't damage the body in the long term, but they corroded the ability to think for a while.
The toxins were in effect only after a person didn't eat anything else for a prolonged period of time.
"But I digress." The older man chuckled. Then, he shook his head, continuing the story.
Everyone was jealous of food. No one wanted to be close to a person who had an abundance of it. Seemingly, at least.
Obviously, Indie didn't have any, and survivors knew that, but they still decided not to approach.
Everyone except a small group of ugly girls and Fire explorers, that is.
Fire explorers were a faction of explorers that was led by Tyler, at the time, the strongest explorer.
And coincidentally, Tyler had caught Fancy of Indie's cute face.
"You want to deal with them?" Tyler narrowed his eyes when he saw a group of girls talking cheerfully together with Cecil.
"I want to." Another girl answered.
But she was quickly slapped in the face. "You don't have the right to talk. I asked Indie."
Indie looked at the girls around her, who were nodding. 'When everyone ignored me, they approached. I'll do my friends a favor.'
She didn't expect Tyler himself to take action. All she wanted was for the boys to give a warning to the girls not to make so much noise. Of course, Indie enjoyed drama, but she didn't want anyone killed.
However, for people who cared about her, she'd give the kill order.
And so, Indie nodded, making Tyler grin. 'I just happened to want to get a taste of a few of them.'
If Indie heard his thoughts, or the thoughts of her 'friends', she would realize how foolish of a decision she made.
Whether she was the reason, or only a spark that was necessary to ingnite the burning flame that was long coming, no one knew.
However, what people did know was that Tyled had beat up everyone in the group.
All hundred explorers watched.
No one helped.
No one even tried.
Maybe, just maybe, if the whole corridor had decided to help, Tyler would have been pressurized to stop.
But it didn't happen.
Who knows, maybe many people wished to see such drama inside the boring darkness of the temple.
And that's how Cecil realized that she couldn't remain weak.
The next day, Cecil had decided to explore. When she arrived in front of the outside door, the guard standing looked at her with ridicule, and slight concern.
Cecil didn't know how such a combination could have appeared in the guard's eyes, but it did.
"You going out for revenge?" The guard asked her.
"My whole life, the same had been happening. Same things, same events, just different places and people." Cecil closed her eyes.
"This Cursed World... I'll change it." She opened them resolutely.
"Hah. You wish. Grow up, kid." The guard laughed while allowing Cecil to pass.
"And that's how Cecil became an explorer." The older man sighed.
"And what does that have to do with us? Get to the point." Ash urged.
"Alright, alright. It was necessary to explain, though. Don't hold it against me." The older man wrily chuckled before asking. "Do you know why Tyler was the strongest?"
"Because he was the best explorer?" Aster asked.
"No, because he was a follower of God Of Trickery." The elder revealed.
"So?" Ash asked before clenching his right hand and lightly claping it on his left palm. "Oh, I see! He sacrificed survivors to the temple!"
"Indeed." The older man said. "Tyler had been sacrificing survivors every few days."
Because the temple was already full of people, it wasn't easy to notice the pecularity. All Tyler could say was that the person died while exploring, and nobody would care.
How else would Tyler be stronger than Nyle?
Nyle was still really strong at the time, second only to Tyler, but Nyle didn't have the help of the temple.
Eventually, Nyle reached his limit while Tyler continued growing.
And because of that, Nyle decided to lay low, letting Tyler take the role of a leader.
However, that all changed one day, when Cecil saw Tyler killing a person and feeding its corpse to the temple's darkness.
"Tyler, what are you doing?" She asked.
"Panicked, all Tyler could do was decide to fight. At least, that's what I heard." The older man sighed.
"What kind of stupid story is that?" Ash urged the old man. "Just say the important parts. I don't wanna listen to this stupid thing anymore. How are the gods involved, and what is sacrificial ceremony?"
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