The last ray of setting sun was swallowed up in the grave of mountains. There is no moon or stars tonight.
The gray night sky seemed to be wrapped in a thick layer of lead. The dark clouds were so heavy that they seemed to be falling from the sky, with occasional silver lightning cutting through the gaps in the clouds.
On a deserted road.
The patent leather carriage made an eerie creaking sound as it rolled over the night frost on the road.
The carriage started from the Queens district of the border city, quickly passed the border checkpoint, took a detour from a small road, and headed towards the wilderness, hiding in the darkness of the night as if it were in an uninhabited area.
Maca knew he had made a fortune today.
I had a big robbery today.
On the surface, he is a carriage driver, but secretly he is a second-level believer of the secret religion, and he believes in the Mother Goddess of Life.
Border cities are far away from the center of the country and are located at the junction of two countries. They are out of the central jurisdiction and are therefore also places where esoteric religions breed and flourish.
The belief in the Mother Goddess of Life is particularly popular in the border areas, and the hideouts of the cultists are scattered around the city.
A third- or second-level secret believer as a priest, plus a dozen ordinary first-level believers - this is the configuration of a Mother Goddess Cult's den.
It’s not that the Vatican is unwilling to eradicate them.
Instead, each of the Mother Goddess's dens are small and sophisticated, independent of each other and out of touch with each other. Even if one den is eliminated, a new one will spring up like mushrooms after rain.
Moreover, their whereabouts are very secretive, and it is difficult for the Vatican to find their hideouts.
Wrapped in a cloak, with a crazy smile on his face, Maika kept whipping the horse under his feet. He was already imagining how his goddess would reward him.
In his carriage, a young nobleman was tied up.
—It is none other than the one blessed by the Holy Light who has been in the spotlight recently, the Cursed Son Ansu Morningstar.
The Mother Goddess of Life has two favorite dishes.
One is the saint in the Holy Light Church, and the other is the cursed child born into darkness.
As luck would have it, this kid An Su has both.
He is the son of the curse, has been bestowed with a title by the Holy Light, and is also a quasi-saint!
For the secret believers, this was like a light in the dark night, attracting attention. Coupled with the newspaper's continuous publicity, countless eyes were attracted to Ansu's body.
If he could be sacrificed, the Mother Goddess's blessing would at least be a high-level blessing.
Thinking of this, Maca couldn't help but sigh at the ease of this operation.
Thanks to the unscrupulous propaganda of that unscrupulous gossip tabloid, Maika knew Ansu's daily activities very well.
He's just a nerd. This kind of kid is the easiest to kidnap.
He gets up at six in the morning every day, runs three laps in Queens for morning exercises, and after breakfast, goes to the Vatican's library to study at seven in the morning, and studies until noon.
After lunch, he went to a private school on Pitt Avenue for tutoring. After finishing, he returned to the Vatican to study law. He did not go back until 11 o'clock at night when the Vatican closed. He was the last one to walk home alone at night.
Sometimes he is with his maid, and that girl looks very fragile.
The path he took to return home was remote and deserted, making it an ideal place for robbery and kidnapping.
Maika had been observing Anzu for several days and was sure that today was the right day to strike—and the maid happened to be away.
He was a decisive believer who acted as soon as he said he would. He put on a hood and rushed over. In no time, he knocked the man out, packed him up and took him away quickly, then quickly left the city.
Thinking of this, Macka couldn't help but feel proud and galloped his horse, whipping it quickly and heading into the distance. He had already instructed his men to prepare the altar and ritual utensils in advance, so that they could sacrifice the child as soon as they got off the horse - to avoid any more trouble.
The dark clouds were getting heavier and heavier, and finally covered the lake that occupied half of the sky. Raindrops hit the wheels and the muddy mountain road, splashing turbid water.
What Maca didn't notice was that in the mist, there was a shadow treading in the shadows, following the carriage like a thorn in the flesh, and that shadow had amber pupils.
—
"My head hurts. Couldn't you be a little gentler when you kidnapped me?"
When An woke up, he was placed in the center of the altar, with his nose full of the smell of blood.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked around. There were more than a dozen secret believers kneeling densely around him, wearing golden masks that symbolized the Mother Goddess of Life.
Ansu felt a little disappointed. The quality of this batch of secret followers was not very high.
Looking around, most of them are first-level believers, and there are few second-level believers. It seems that this is just a small den, a level lower than the last secret cult den.
If I offer them all, I can only get low-level blessings. An Su felt a little regretful.
However, you can also get a low-level blessing from the Goddess of Holy Light. Together, it can be equivalent to a mid-level blessing. Thinking of this, An Su felt satisfied again.
It doesn’t matter, a little bit adds up to a lot.
If this batch of secret followers is not good enough, there is always the next batch.
That’s right, this is his plan to level up.
While others fish, he fishes for esoteric believers!
He deliberately hired unscrupulous newspapers to publish his information and publicize it widely, which caused the crazy occultists to take the bait, kidnap him, and take him back for sacrifice.
The border lacks everything, but what it lacks the most is cults. Miss Enya told him that there were already several malicious eyes staring at him.
That would be awesome.
Of course, Ansu did not fail to prepare insurance measures.
It would be terrible if something goes wrong.
At this moment, in the shadow of the night, the amber pupils were quietly staring at An Su, waiting for his instructions.
Enya Morningstar, a fourth-level assassin at the age of seventeen, was a true top genius. Unfortunately, she died too early in the original work, and her identity and background have not been fully completed - that should have been a big foreshadowing.
In the border city, he is one of the strongest.
At the same time, he was trained as a soldier since childhood, and would execute his orders most loyally without any hesitation. That was why his father let Ansu run away from home without hesitation. With Enya around, there was basically no way to hurt his son.
If they really encounter danger, Miss Enya can wipe out this group of secret believers in an instant.
Of course, Ansu would not receive the blessing in this way.
The blessing requirement from the Goddess of Holy Light is to eradicate the secret followers alone, while the Mother Goddess of Life wants a living sacrifice and does not like to eat dead bodies.
"Feel joy and happiness, little one."
The hoarse and low voice of the mystic interrupted Anzu's thoughts, and the latter frowned unhappily.
Macka had a crazy smile on his face. He crossed his hands and scratched his scalp. His pupils, hidden by the golden mask, were bleeding. "You will soon return to the embrace of the Mother Goddess."
As he said this, he smeared scarlet blood on the altar. The altar was built with human bones, and the hollow eye bones emitted a dim light.
The scene in front of him was horrifying enough, but An Su hummed softly, "Using human bones as an altar is a good idea."
"You think this is good too, right?" Maika was a little surprised that Anzu was not afraid. "I have good taste."
“But the quality of the business is terrible.”
Ansu said regretfully,
"This bone is too old. The Mother Goddess of Life prefers the bones of newborn babies. I don't know which grave this skull was dug from. It stinks. It's too dirty."
"The Mother Goddess likes fresh life more than decaying death. The quality of a person can be seen from the setting of his altar."
Maca usually calls himself an artist in the sacrificial world, but at this moment, a child actually questioned his professional quality. He was very angry.
"Of course I know that a baby's skull is the best, but so what? As long as it's good enough, it's good enough!"
“But this would reduce the return on the sacrifice.”
Ansu said calmly, "The old man's bones will not please the Mother Goddess, but will anger her. Through my experiments, I found that it will reduce the reward by at least 10% - this is the only thing I cannot tolerate."
As a speedrunner, inefficiency is something Ansu cannot tolerate in his life.
When he said this, his expression was very serious and his eyes were sincere and confident.
Inexplicably, very convincing.
Damn it, whose altar is this
"So what do you think we should do?" asked Macka.
Happy New Year to everyone! New author, new book, please read and recommend!
(End of this chapter)