Chapter 615: Bloody Ritual

Translator: imperfectluck  Editor: Kurisu

Although our battle against Conservation had been won with zero losses on our side, with our fighting style, it had taken quite long. More than one week had already passed, and as the information on the first major Holy War battle’s location spread, I figured that the mortal plane was probably in a tremendous commotion.

I slowly walked around on the streets of the city of Bloody Arena in the 137th level. I was rather curious about the sights here. This was my first time visiting this relatively famous city.

Over the past few days, we hadn’t gone out of our hotel except to the wasteland. Only now did I have the time to enjoy the sights. Bloody Arena? Such a strange name for a city.

A human ran past me. A flying axe followed him, slicing him in the head. Ah, he died.

A Berserker Demon ran past me. A fallen angel chased after him. The Berserker Demon’s head was sliced off. Ah, he died.

A half-elf ran past me, and a group of demons chased after him. The half-elf’s head was sliced off, and blood was sent flying everywhere. Tsk, the blood splattered on my body, how disgusting…

I had already seen many pitiful deaths today. I felt like I pretty much understood the culture of this particular Chaos Abyss city now. Basically, there probably weren’t any rules. But, I felt it was rather strange. If people here killed each other every day so regularly, then there wouldn’t even be enough residents…

Not only that, those killers actually all ignored me. When considering my normal luck, this was truly astonishing.

“Youngster, are you new here?”

Seeing how I was walking around idly on the streets, someone actually stopped me. She was wearing a black cape and appeared quite mysterious. However, her witchcraft-filled staff and disgustingly warty hand revealed her true identity. She was an Onibaba.

Since there was someone willing to explain things to me, I nodded and admitted that I had just arrived in this city.

“Haha, youngster, this isn’t a safe place. Let’s talk over there.”

Behind the Onibaba was a dark alleyway. She indicated for me to follow her there to continue the discussion.

I laughed. It was truly wonderful that someone volunteered to be my tour guide. I had been wondering how to obtain information about dimensional portals in this level. Onibabas would usually have excellent information sources.

And so, I smiled and reached out my hand, placing a silver-white ice sword on the Onibaba’s neck.

This wasn’t because I was intending to rob her. It was just that if I truly followed the Onibaba into the alleyway, it would be inconceivable for there not to be ambushers waiting to kidnap me.

As for whether I would be sold as a slave, have my organs harvested, or my soul made into a soul coin, that would depend on what trade this Onibaba was in.

“You… what do you intend to do to me?”

“Actually, I think that talking here will be just fine. Tell me everything that you know. I will give you what you deserve based on the value of your information.”

“You… You dare to antagonize us of the ‘Crow’s Eye’? You idiot from the mortal plane, you seek death…”

“By the way, my name is Roland Mist. You’ve probably heard of me before.”

*Clatter*

The Onibaba instantly dropped her wooden staff on the ground. She was shaking all over as if she was having a seizure. It seemed that I was indeed known here. Such a rare sight made me slightly delighted inside.

“You’re that most wanted criminal who robbed the Onibaba Market? The golden egg worth 1000 soul coins? Sisters, we’ve struck it rich!”

The Onibaba had already dropped her cape on the ground without realizing it. Her murky eyes were filled with joy as she pointed at me like I was some sort of valuable treasure.

“Paha!”

The silly cat on my shoulder unhesitatingly laughed at me. I also paused in surprise. I tried my best to recall things, but didn’t remember robbing the Onibaba Market.

“That’s enough, stop thinking about it. Can you really believe the Onibabas? They only need an excuse to find your current location and hunt you down. The true person offering the reward… Well, options are Donatis, the devils, Sophocles the Deceiver, and so on. You’ve antagonized countless already, so just pick one.”

A four-armed snake demon, a high-level vampire, and two more Onibabas came out of the alleyway to surround me. It seemed that their team had a decent power level.

“Sigh, it seems that I should have gone into the alleyway for a chat after all.”

“Heehee, you’re so humorous. We can still go into the alleyway if you like.”

“Oh…”

It seemed that they were actually worried that our fight would attract attention? Did this city have rules after all? And so, I truly did go into the alleyway.

Five minutes later, the entire alleyway had been sealed off by ice. All members of the Onibaba’s party had collapsed on the ground. The Onibaba in front of me was passionately explaining the rules of this city to me.

The Bloody Arena was perhaps one of the most dangerous and bloodiest cities in the world. Its ruler was a succubus… yes, indeed, a succubus—a type of demon famous for having some of the lowest combat strength, focusing instead on seduction and schemes.

Perhaps in the mortal plane, beauty was something that no ruler would be able to resist. But in the Chaos Abyss, beauty was far more useless than muscles. Succubi had low status in the Chaos Abyss. This particular succubus was able to rule over this city because of her pet.

Her pet was a Void Devourer, an incredibly dangerous creature. The physical appearance of this creature was a distorted void with a gigantic mouth the size of a mountain. An adult Void Devourer would easily be able to eat a Demon Earl as if it was lunch. The only reason why these creatures weren’t a ruling species was because they had relatively low intelligence.

“…So you’re saying that the ruler of this city obtained the trust of a Void Devourer because she obtained it as a free gift while purchasing something else? Are you joking with me? You might as well tell me it was a free gift for recharging money in a mobile game.”

“What’s a mobile game? No, I would never dare to lie to you. This information is known in half of the Chaos Abyss already. It’s said that baby Void Devourers are really cute and resemble human-faced maggots. That’s why the ruler here is known as “Didina the Fortunate”.

Human-faced maggots? Just imagining them made me disgusted. Keeping such a thing as a pet? It would seem that females in the Chaos Abyss had problems with their standards of beauty.

After the Onibaba explained all that, I could pretty much guess at the rest.

A Void Devourer’s food requirements would be similar to that of a Demon Lord. Souls that died in the greatest despair would be the most delicious meals. However, soul shards that ordinary demons consumed would still return to the Cycle of Reincarnation when the demon died. On the other hand, any souls that were eaten by a Void Devourer would never be able to return to the Cycle of Reincarnation. This was why both the Order True Gods and Chaos Evil Gods viewed such creatures as mortal enemies.

Anyway, since the ruler of this city had obtained her position because of her pet Void Devourer, she naturally needed to feed her pet. In that case, she would probably require tens of or even hundreds of souls every day.

“…Every day at noon, the mysterious Blood Fate Clock will activate and randomly choose twelve targets who will be marked with special coloring. These targets will become the hunted prey for the entire city. The hunters who kill them will be handsomely rewarded by our ruler Didina.”

Now I finally understood why this city was called the Bloody Arena. Every day at noon, when the bell tolled, the entire city would become an arena. The unlucky fellows chosen would become the arena fighters, while the others would either be wild beasts hunting the arena fighters or spectators enjoying the bloody slaughter.

I didn’t know how much population this city had, but when considering its size, there would be at least several hundred thousand. If there were only twelve sacrifices per day, most people would probably think that “I definitely won’t be so unlucky” while continuing to live here… And when considering all the dangers in the Chaos Abyss, having something like a one in ten thousand chance to be chosen to die didn’t really count as much. Perhaps this would even bring tourism into this city.

“If the marked target doesn’t choose to hide or escape from this city, and instead openly survives in this city until the noon next day, they’ll receive Didina’s recognition and get to personally meet her. But, ever since she became the ruler, less than five powerful individuals have lasted so long. Most commonly, the marked targets will all die in less than one hour. The fear and despair in their souls won’t be enough, and the Void Devourer will be dissatisfied…”

*Clang! Dong!*

The tolling of a bell suddenly interrupted the Onibaba’s words. She suddenly became excited again.

“Right, right, that’s exactly it. If the hunt ends too quickly, the Blood Fate Clock will toll yet again and find another twelve unfortunate souls. Let go of me, I need to find a place to hide, if I’m chosen, I need to immediately leave the city…”

The panicking Onibaba suddenly stopped struggling as she widened her eyes and stared directly at me.

I also paused in surprise and looked up at the sky. The sky seemed rather red above me.

“…Let me ask something. Will the chosen prey have a red light over their head?”

“Yes, that’s Didina’s Blood Spear. It’s used to guide the hunters to their prey.”

“Um, is it really red over my head?”

“Completely red… Why are you still so calm? You’ve now become the enemy of the entire city!”

I didn’t answer the Onibaba’s question. But if I had to say, the reason was simply because…

‘I’m used to it…’

I didn’t even know what to say. I couldn’t even be bothered anymore to complain about my bad luck. Right when the Onibaba started explaining, with my many years of experience… of taking arrows to my knee, I could already guess that I would be chosen in this lottery.

Judging from hurried footsteps rushing over, hunters were already approaching. Meanwhile, the Onibaba in my clutches was furiously struggling.

“Let go of me! I don’t want to be dragged down by someone so unlucky! Don’t give me your misfortune!”

“Paha, even the Onibabas now know how misfortunate you are!”

As always, the silly cat on my shoulder laughed at me without regards for my face.

“Shut up, black cat of misfortune… Damn, what’s with suddenly transforming into a white cat? Are you trying to make fun of me?”

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