Unlike the Lancaster Hideout and its immediate surroundings which had been cleaned up and rebuilt by the Players into a subterranean city, the aqueducts of Lancaster North were as filthy and messy as it ever had been in the absence of Players, always full of a vile stench.
It was fortunate that Leah wasn’t your typical pampered princess in the days she spent in hiding, and the most such a hostile environment could get from her was a raised brow.
Nonetheless, the aqueducts were very dark. It was fortunate that the red names were clear beacons that allowed the young girl to follow.
Eventually, they gathered in a small partition within the aqueducts.
There were four people—all of them were wearing red cloaks. They were standing around an unusual magic circle drawn over the floor, which was surrounded by hundreds of blood-colored candles.
Leah listened in on them for a while, but learned nothing aside from those people being cultists as they chattered away about something unintelligible.
Frowning, and after checking that they were not a threat, she simply walked inside the partition.
The red-cloaked cultists couldn’t react immediately because her appearance was just too sudden.
Still, their eyes immediately brightened at the sight of her beautiful face.
“A girl actually came knocking on our door! Such a fresh girl is definitely a rare, a top-quality ware!” A Level 3 mohawk cultist exclaimed tilting his head.
“I’ve not seen such a ravishing female after hiding here for the last few days. Come on, let me go first!” Another Level 4 cultist with a slanted mouth was drooling.
“Hehe… it’ll be better if you don’t resist, girl. Don’t be afraid, we will spoil you lots!” A dumb-looking fat Level 3 cultist added.
“You three don’t get it. Such a fine girl must either be sacrificed to the emissary or to our god!” The only cultist who didn’t look like a pig and actually resembled human shot back. He was Level 5. With that, they started to move closer to Leah.
Leah, Warrior Princess, Level 46: …
Sighing with inward weariness, her eyes that were leveled at the cultists turned cold.
She sheathed the whip sword which she had drawn with one hand, and stabbed her flagpole on the floor firmly with the other, keeping it standing with the flag untouched by the sewage of the aqueducts.
On the other hand, the cultists watched her do so, assuming that she had been scared by them and was quietly giving up on any resistance by disarming herself.
The Level 4 cultist who looked bent on satiating his sexual urges darted towards her, intent on getting something for himselfwhile the highest level cultist amongst them had decided to present the girl to their higher-ups or as an offering and he wouldn’t get anything out of it, wouldn’t it be normal for the captor to take extra steps or fumble a little when subjugating a captive?
Be that as it may, he was sent flying with a single kick, his entire body bending in an unbelievable angle before he actually slammed into a wall, crumbling into a puddle of mosaic that dripped down the wall.
Moments later, even the mosaic vanished into thin air, but the large splatter of blood over the wall and the floor made evident that everything wasn’t an illusion.
The other cultists stared at everything before them in astonishment, unable to understand at once what was happening. “All of you are instakills with any skill and you really got on my nerves, but I’ll keep one of you alive because I need information.”
Leah, meanwhile, remained nonchalant as she slowly put on her brass knuckles and smiled kindly. “Old Vanke will get angry if I don’t get back after the Third Round… well, come at me then, all of you. I’m in a hurry!”
“So you’re a little good at melee combat. But we still have the advantage in numbers! Get her!”
The Level 5 cultists drew a dagger that was convenient for fighting in a narrow place such as the aqueducts while calling for the other two to attack her as well.
Leah took one small step back, evaded the dagger and countered with backhand punches that sent the two Level 3 trash flying and slamming heavily on the floor, fracturing it.
They were promptly knocked out, although there was no telling if they were dead or merely unconscious…
In an instant, the trio were reduced to one Level 5 cultist.
“No way… are you a believer of an orthodox god? But those moves didn’t resemble anything of the top three churches…”
Then, seemingly realized something, the cultist started growling with a warped face.
“O, god of mine…” All at once, dark red smoke flowed out from his body.
Even if Leah wasn’t familiar with spells because of her Warrior Princess class, she could still feel the evil contained within the dark red smoke
And as the dark red smoke churned, the Level 5 cultist’s body suddenly doubled its size, his thick muscles bursting through his cloak, leaving only his loincloth covering his strapping body. His face had changed as well no longer human, his enlarged but distorted features were sharing space with thick tumors, with irregular bone spikes growing out of the edges of his face.
“Power overflowing! I’m now three times stronger-such is my god’s power! Young vixen who believes in a heretical deity, bow down before the power of my god!”
Leah merely looked up over the cultists head, where the hovering red name now reads: mutated cultist, Level 15.
The girl sighed again, and became a little more solemn this time-she wasn’t feeling threatened by the cultist’s ability, but merely because the cultist had insulted her God of Games.
Blasphemers were punished by divine retribution.
However, if said blasphemer were an insignificant maggot, it certainly wouldn’t warrant divine retribution since it holds no worth.
With that being the case, Leah, a believer of the God of Games has a duty to punish the cultist who had mouthed such blasphemy against her
god.
“That convoluted spirit and that ugly delusion… you must have sold the depths of your soul to that evil god too! Your face has fallen to such state, let alone your mortal spirit —someone like you has no right to call yourself a human! Thus, vanish from this world as a monster!”
Golden thunderous bolts began to dance over Leah’s fists. It was not a skill, however, but merely her drawing the strength within her own body and directing it towards her fists.
“Golden divine grace rampage! Tierra royal chain punch!”
Although Leah had trained in swordcraft before changing class to the Warrior Princess, it was only to normal for her to suddenly found herself weaponless in the days where she spent running. That was why she had learnt many unarmed martial arts along with the techniques of other weapons, most of which included how to throw punches.
In fact, she had even learnt how to disarm and claim an opponent’s weapon, although she never had the chance to use it.
And now, as she rained down a storm of fists down at the mutated cultist, his body crumbled like a cookie with no resistance at all!
Each punch from Leah which was imbued with divine grace could pummel the cultist into dust. With the insurmountable gap in abilities, he couldn’t even parry!
“Aaaaaaah—! My god will not let this go!”
Unable to stop a fist or punch out once, all the mutated cultist could do was leave a curse before being punched into bits.
“Phew. That felt good.”
With her enemy slain and finally being able to vent her boredom after being kept locked in the guesthouse recently, Leah wiped nonexistent sweat off her brow, looking revitalized.
It was only then that she realized something.
“Ah, I forgot to keep him alive in all the excitement… I wonder if the small fry I sent flying are alive though…”
