After walking for a while through the revolting landscape, I found myself standing before it again.
The goblin.
A vivid red cursor hovered above its head.
Just as before, it bared its yellow teeth, smacked its lips, and charged straight at me.
"SKREEEE!"
My legs nearly gave out at the sound.
The memory of its fangs tearing through my throat returned as phantom pain, sending a sharp tingle across the back of my neck.
I wanted to run.
But I knew that if I let a tutorial-level monster stop me here, I would never move forward again.
"AAAAAGH!"
I screamed and thrust the battered wooden shield in front of me.
Dying had not miraculously taught me how to fight.
All I had was the memory burned into my body—the timing of its first attack, the instant its club had crushed my ribs.
The goblin leaped.
Its bone club whistled through the air.
Crash!
"Ghh!"
The impact slammed into my shield.
Pain rang through the bones of my arm, and my shoulder felt ready to tear from its socket. Splinters flew from the shield and scratched my face.
But this time, I stayed on my feet.
I knew that falling meant death.
So I clenched my teeth and endured.
"Kik?"
The goblin's eyes widened in surprise.
Its stance had broken for a fraction of a second after the attack.
Now.
With my right hand trembling, I drove the rusted sword forward.
"Die!"
Thick.
The point punched through its hide and sank into the yielding flesh of its belly.
The hilt carried every sensation back into my hand—the warm, slippery resistance of its organs and the way its muscles tightened around the blade.
"Skree…!"
The goblin shrieked and thrashed.
Even with the sword buried in its stomach, it clawed at my arm and snapped its teeth at me.
"You little—!"
I tried to kick it away, but I did not have the strength to push back a creature fighting for its life.
Its claws raked across my thigh.
My trousers tore, and strips of flesh peeled away beneath them.
"Ghh!"
The pain almost drained the strength from my legs.
But the knowledge that retreating meant another death drove me beyond the point of reason.
"Just die quietly, you little bastard!"
I screamed like a madman and threw myself on top of it.
Gripping the sword with both hands, I forced my weight down and twisted the blade.
Crunch.
Snap.
Something ruptured inside its belly.
I heard its spine grind apart.
The goblin convulsed, then gradually went still.
Dark, bloody foam spilled from its mouth and splattered across my face.
I did not care.
I stabbed it in the stomach again.
And again.
And again.
Thud.
At last, the creature stopped moving.
The red cursor above its head turned gray, faded, and disappeared.
Moments later, even the corpse dissolved. Its body became black smoke and scattered into the wind.
"Hah… hah… urgh…"
I collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
My hands were covered in blood.
Mine and the goblin's had mixed together until there was no telling them apart.
The metallic smell made me gag, but after several deep breaths, my stomach settled.
Then a system message appeared before me.
[ You have gained Sin. ]
[ You have leveled up and received an Attribute Point. ]
"Sin instead of experience…"
The priestess had said I needed to sin in order to become stronger.
Did that mean killing was the foundation of growth here?
Even the smallest details of this world seemed saturated with malice.
[ STATUS ]
Name: Kim In
Class: Sinner
Level: 2
Sin: 5 / 20
[ ATTRIBUTES ]
Magic: 5
Strength: 11
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 7
Sanity: 10
Faith: 0
Luck: 0
Available Attribute Points: 1
Remembering how badly the goblin had overpowered me, I placed the additional point into Strength and closed the window.
The instant it vanished, another appeared.
[ MAIN QUEST ]
Objective: Travel to the church on the Black Amniotic Shore and meet the Apostate. The Apostate is a nun of the church.
Rewards: Recruit a Companion. Unlock Map Information.
"The Apostate…?"
She was probably one of the cursed companions the priestess had mentioned before killing herself.
As far as I knew, an apostate was someone who had abandoned their religion.
Perhaps this nun would somehow lose her faith and join me.
"Let's go."
I staggered to my feet.
Blood still ran from the wound in my thigh, and every step hurt, but I could walk.
The direction was obvious.
The Withering Cradle stood on high ground. To reach the shore, I needed to descend toward the cliffs and follow the sound of the waves.
I pushed through the forest of nerve bundles and continued onward.
I had no idea how long I walked before I noticed movement in the distance.
I immediately crouched and concealed myself among the pale stalks.
At least they're people, not monsters.
A group of five marched across the gray plain in formation.
They wore battered, rusted plate armor and carried spears and swords.
Soldiers.
And above each of their heads floated a blue cursor.
▼
Neutral.
Not red.
I released the breath I had been holding.
I was not confident I could survive a fight against five opponents at once.
Can I talk to them?
Perhaps they could treat my wound.
Or tell me something about the area.
I cautiously rose from the grass and stepped into their path.
"Excuse me!"
The soldiers turned toward me in unison.
Their armor rattled as they came to a stop.
Seen up close, they were far more disturbing than I had expected.
Blood and filth had congealed across their armor. Beneath their helmets, their eyes were dull and lifeless, like those of dead fish left to rot.
Worst of all were their hands.
None of them wore gloves, and their bare fingers were drenched in red.
Not old, dried blood.
Fresh blood.
They looked as though they had just torn someone apart with their bare hands.
"..."
A sense of dread crawled up my spine.
I almost stepped back, but the cursors above their heads remained blue.
The man who appeared to be their captain approached me.
"Who are you?"
His voice was rough and dry, like rusted iron scraping against stone.
"A wandering knight? Or a pilgrim who has lost his way?"
I swallowed.
"I'm lost. I'm trying to reach the church near the shore."
"The shore."
The captain cut me off.
His dead eyes moved over me.
"That is a sacred place of purification. Only those with faith may enter."
He took another step closer.
The sharp smell of blood rolled off him.
"Tell me, Brother. Are you a believer? Do you serve our Mother?"
There was only one sensible answer.
"Yes. Of course. I serve the Goddess as well."
I tried to look as devout as possible.
A strange spark of life entered the soldiers' dead eyes.
"Oh, Brother!"
The captain broke into a delighted smile and seized my shoulder.
His bloody hand stained my clothes.
"What a blessing. In an age overrun with heretics, it is rare to meet a true believer."
It worked.
Relief surged through me.
Then he continued.
"In that case, Brother, recite Chapter Three, Verse Twelve of the Doctrine."
"...What?"
The captain's expression hardened.
His fingers tightened around my shoulder.
"The passage concerning the founding of Asrod, when the Mother tore out her own heart for the sake of the earth. Every believer knows it."
"Well, that…"
Cold sweat ran down my back.
I had no idea.
How was I supposed to know what Jisoo had written in some setting document I had never seen?
"Offer up your heart?"
Silence.
A cold, terrible silence.
The captain's grip tightened until I thought my shoulder might break.
Apparently, that had been the wrong answer.
Ding.
A cheerful system chime rang out.
The blue cursors above the soldiers' heads turned red in an instant.
▼
[ FANATIC SOLDIER CAPTAIN ]
"Liar," the captain growled.
"Heretic!"
Thud!
His fist struck my face without warning.
"Ghk!"
I was thrown backward.
Light exploded across my vision, and the agony of my nose collapsing left my thoughts spinning.
"Seize him! Break his arms and legs!"
"Kill him! Kill the heretic!"
The moment I hit the ground, the other soldiers descended on me like a pack of dogs.
They crushed me beneath their shields and kicked me with their armored boots.
The beating came so quickly and brutally that I could not even scream.
I curled into myself and tried to protect my head.
"Ghk… khh…!"
The inside of my mouth split open, spilling blood across my tongue.
The wound in my thigh tore open again.
Agony flared throughout my body as bones cracked beneath their blows.
Two soldiers hauled me upright.
They twisted both arms behind my back and pinned them in place.
The captain grabbed a fistful of my hair and wrenched my head upward.
He chuckled as he studied my bloodied face.
"Do not kill him yet. He will make excellent material."
"Material…?"
"Look down there, heretic."
He pointed toward the coast below the cliff, where black waves rolled against the shore.
Dozens of crosses stood there like grave markers.
A human body hung from every one.
Some had dried into mummified husks.
Others were still alive, writhing in agony.
It was hell on earth.
"N-not my eyes! Please! AAAAAAGH!"
Seabirds perched on their heads.
They tore away strips of flesh and pecked out their eyes, feeding themselves while their victims screamed.
"Do you see them?" the captain asked. "That is your future."
Madness shone in his eyes.
"We will nail your hands and feet while you still live, then lower you into the sea. You will hang there until your flesh swells, rots, and falls from your bones. Until the gulls tear the eyes from your skull!"
He leaned closer, grinning.
"And through that pain, you will atone before the Mother."
"Heh. This one looks like he might last a while, Captain," one of the soldiers said with a leering smile.
"Wouldn't the Sister be pleased if we brought her a fresh one?"
"Indeed. She said we had been lacking sacrifices lately. He will make an excellent offering. We will take him to the church and present him to the Sister."
"...?"
I wondered if I had heard them correctly.
My quest had clearly stated that the nun at the church was the Apostate.
Yet these fanatics spoke of serving her as their Sister.
They don't know she betrayed them yet?
The situation was becoming stranger by the second, but I had no time to think about it.
These lunatics intended to hang me alive.
They would nail me to a cross and leave me to rot, wasting my life in a pointless attempt to earn the blessing of a goddess who was already dead.
No.
The memory of the goblin eating me returned.
They wanted me to endure something worse than that for days.
Perhaps weeks.
I would rather die.
I twisted my body with everything I had.
"Let go of me!"
"Stay still!"
The soldier wrenched my arm farther back.
There was a dull pop as my shoulder left its socket.
"AAAAAGH!"
"Drag him away! Nail him to the cross!"
At the captain's command, the soldiers began hauling me toward the bottom of the cliff.
Beyond them, I could see the black sea and the horrifying forest of crosses lining the shore.
Better than hanging there…
I looked at the dark waves surging below the cliff.
Better to disappear into that abyss than spend days slowly dying on a cross.
I clenched my teeth.
This was my last chance.