I Became The Priest Of Blasphemy Of The Outer Gods – Ch. 21

Chapter 21: The Coastal City (3)

'An Outer God's book.'

The moment I saw the keyword 'Spider,' I knew exactly which Outer God this was. And I also knew that this book was, in a way, far more dangerous than the others.

"Sorcerers must have a different kind of common sense than the rest of us. To describe further work as a reward."

Sernon put the book back into the bag and handed it to me.

"Indeed, it is a difficult book and prayer to handle. But it is also a reward for you, isn't it?"

"Whew... are there no other books?"

I grumbled but bowed my head and accepted the bag. I suppressed the wriggling of my cloak with my will and stored the bag inside it.

"You seem to know what kind of object this book is, don't you?"

"Yes, I know."

I spoke without deliberate hiding. With such a powerful being in front of me, it was better to reveal my cards and confirm my usefulness rather than hide them.

'To deal with Sernon, I need to become far stronger than I am now.'

It was best not to make an enemy of him if I could help it.

"Then you must also know how to use it. I will consider a detailed report on it later as the second part of your request."

"......Thank you."

It felt like I was being exploited, but that wasn't quite right. The number of people who can even read an Outer God's book can be counted on one hand, and the risks were very high. The information I would have to provide was of immense value.

'I shouldn't think of it as a loss. Building a good relationship with Sernon is important in itself.'

Besides, exactly as Sernon said, I couldn't say an Outer God's book wasn't a good reward for me. I didn't know how much the old man had found out, but...

"Well, I’ll expect results. Don't disappoint me."

As if he had nothing else to say, Sernon rose from his seat and disappeared into the crowd.

The next day. After sending Talia off for sightseeing, I immersed myself in the newly acquired book.

'It's good that I encountered this in `Orders`. I would have been obliterated instantly otherwise.'

【The One Who Pulls the Threads of Ruin】 is not an Outer God one can obtain grace from by simply serving it. Of course, it might be possible with a lot of luck.

'Hmm... no problems reading it.'

Unlike the Book of Filth, this 'Book of the Cursed Web' did not cause any damage just by reading it.

'Not just the prayers, but the initiation ritual... ah, here it is.'

I flipped through the book and found what I needed.

"One's realization that at the center of the cursed web extending and intertwining infinitely, the world transforms. <Awakening of the Woven Knot>. "

A miracle used not for general purposes, but for initiation into an Outer God's religion. With the Book of Filth, the black beings did it on their own and initiated me by force.

"Ah......"

My head throbbed. I felt as if I were developing a high fever, and my mind became blurry and painful.

'Spiderwebs... inside my body......'

A creepy feeling spread inside me. Every time my heart beat, sending blood through my veins, something like a strange thread spread with it. It spread throughout my body, wound around my spine, traveled along my nervous system, and flowed into my eye.

"Aaaaaargh......!"

Blood flowed from my eye. My eyeballs were being covered in spiderwebs. I felt an imaginary pain, as if my whole body became a nest for countless spiders, and their countless legs were crawling all over me.

Creak, creak, creak.

I heard a scratching sound. It came from inside my head. It came through my skin.

'Crawlingonthefloorceilingswallintheskysundergroundinthespinalcordeyeballsteethinnerearskullcardiovascularsystem......'

Horrifyingly, they were everywhere in the world, crawling inside and outside humans. The only difference was whether one could perceive them or not.

Creak, creak, creak, creak, creak, creak.

Now that I had performed the ritual, I understood. The hidden inhabitants, whose numbers were so unimaginable that the mere sound of their creaking movements could shatter the consciousness of any human who became aware of them.

'Whew...! Pull yourself together! Dammit, I almost went too deep.'

Because of my ridiculously excessive talent, I was almost buried in the book of unclean spiders. It was a crisis where I could have lost myself and been divided into countless spiders.

"Whew, whew......"

As I closed my eyes and calmed myself, the hallucination gradually faded. The spiderwebs covering my eye soon seeped back into my eyeball and disappeared.

"......All this mess from just the first stage?"

The initiation rituals for each god differ, and this cult is characterized by being divided into three stages. The initiation ritual for the cult of 【The One Who Pulls the Threads of Ruin】 was simply reciting the initiation prayer in three stages.

'That’s how it should have been... having too much talent is a problem.'

Ordinary ignorant people going through all three rituals would end up experiencing no more than a somewhat horrific hallucination. I, on the other hand, accepted and understood the contents of the book too deeply and almost went insane.

"Ah, dammit......"

I checked the back of my hand. The number '4' finally appeared, indicating that I failed to resist the psychological damage. Sure enough, my nose started bleeding and my head throbbed, so I immediately took a psychiatric sedative.

"......I can see them."

Looking out the window, I narrowed my eyes and confirmed the presence of the threads stretching into the sky.

"Five of them... even taking into account that there are many copies and initiation is easy, I didn't expect this many in one city."

Those threads indicated followers of 【The One Who Pulls the Threads of Ruin】. To be precise, they were those who had performed the initiation ritual but had not yet reached the point of properly praying to the Outer God.

'Probably not a single one of them is a true follower. They somehow managed to go through the third initiation ritual spread by someone, but they couldn't go any further.'

If they had entered the next stage, they would all be dead. I deliberately refrained from performing the next initiation ritual and headed out into the city. I wasn't enthusiastic about it, but it was time for hunting.

"What are you doing! Stop...!"

Bill Smith was an ordinary shipyard worker. He joined a suspicious secret religion that promised to change his life, and even paid the price for the initiation ritual from his hard-earned money.

"Hey, I don't have much!"

He thought his ordinary life was finally about to change. He had worked hard to interpret the cult's prayers and endured the painful ritual three times.

"Interfering with an Outer God's power... you were destined for death anyway, even if I hadn't intervened."

Bill couldn't understand what the man who suddenly burst into his house was saying.

"O-Outer God? What are you talking about? 'The Lord of Silk' is a forgotten Ancient God..."

"Hmm... so that's how they tricked you."

The man ran his hand through his long red hair and touched his forehead.

"Lord of Silk, huh. They came up with a plausible-sounding name... Who was it? The person who sold you that information and initiated you."

"I-I don't know. We hide our identities from each other. The person who approached me did so too!"

The red-haired man sighed and stepped closer. With every step he took, Bill was paralyzed by a fear so terrible that he couldn't even move properly.

"Unfortunate, but your death now is a better outcome for you and the residents of this area."

"No! Please... I don't want to die. I, I......!"

The red-haired man’s cloak writhed. By the time Bill realized it wasn't just cloth, he had already been devoured by it.

"Are you sure it’s him?"

"Almost certain. A strong aura of an Outer God remained at the scene, and red hair was found. This is the fourth time already."

I transformed into Ahab, emptied my glass and grumbled.

"Why is he kidnapping people?"

"Offerings, most likely. He is an Outer God priest, after all."

I had deliberately left red hair at the scene. Since my cloak, 'Gluttony,' liked to swallow people whole, the victims were likely to be treated as missing.

"Luminaris believe this man is the same one who recently tricked a noble into performing a ritual."

......That wasn't me.

"The probability is very high. Outer God priests aren't exactly common."

"Most men who claimed to be priests so far used a miracle once or twice and then destroyed themselves."

The owner said, pouring more liquor into my glass.

"Even those who form cults are only after money and fanatics to use as slaves; they can't properly handle an Outer God's miracles. But this..."

"It spreads a strong aura of an Outer God, just like the true priests of the past."

It was worth the trouble of using a pointless miracle every time to leave an aura at the scene.

'Those two Luminaris agents look particularly tired.'

They must be busy working as tavern employees and investigating. I even deliberately leaked info about the black market, but since there’s no news, it seems they failed to find it too.

"What about your granddaughter?"

"She said she’d try working at a tavern, but she got into a big fight with a customer and quit."

Talia, for her part, was working hard at job hunting. Although the amount of money I had to pay for her trouble continued to increase for some reason...

"Are you going out again today?"

"I have to do something. I’m still coming out empty-handed."

"Even mercenaries more skilled than you haven't been able to track him at all. Give up and go catch some whales."

I left behind the words that sounded strangely different for a Korean, gave the owner an extra tip and headed out.

'One last person......'

I identified the house with the last thread visible from a distance, then stopped by a shop to buy some leather armor and a decent dagger to arm myself.

'Better than nothing, just in case.'

I waited for the dawn I expected and then set off on my hunt. I changed my appearance several times through transformation in dark corners, wary of any potential pursuers. After all that effort, I managed to reach my destination. As I was using my cloak's tentacles to pick the door lock, I thought I heard a creaking sound from somewhere. I hummed softly.

"I will bring the silence your master desires this time too, so convey his will."

I spoke to the pitch-black darkness where nothing was visible, and sneaked into the house and returned to my original form.

"I knew you’d come."

Inside the house, along with the last cult member, was another person.

"......And who are you?"

I spoke to the man standing behind the woman, his form hidden by a black robe.

"I am someone who was studying the Outer God's book with a small group. The very one you’ve been hunting down and interfering with his work."

"W-wait! Outer God? You said it was a forgotten Ancient God!"

The woman protested, but the robed man silenced her by choking her. I let out a deliberate sneer.

"To think I was looking for you... how ridiculous. I was wondering who was behind this little farce......"

"Are you saying that killing my men wasn't a provocation to bring me out?"

He wasn't wrong. Part of the reason was to have him reveal himself. Of course, that wasn't the only reason.

"You seem to not know what you're dealing with."

"You are the one who doesn't know. You look like you’ve barely completed the first stage of the initiation ritual, yet you dare—"

"But you haven't performed it at all, have you?"

The man went silent at my words.

"That's why you used expendable people and forced them to conduct your research and attempt the ritual on your behalf."

"And what if I did?"

"It means this."

My cloak immediately shot out long tentacles, wrapping around the woman. It then pulled her in and swallowed her alive.

"......!"

Ignoring the man's horror, I maintained my calm facade and stepped toward him.

"I am no fool or charlatan repeating futile actions......"

Thump.

The man stumbled back and fell. The hood covering his face fell off, revealing his bare face, a mask of pure terror.

"......a true priest of the Outer God."

The cloak writhed, and I pulled the book from within my robes. And from behind me......

Creak creak creak creak creak creak.

......from every corner of the room's darkness, countless spiders crawled out and fixed their gaze on the man.

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