Friends Who Sacrifice Often Know

"Friends who sacrifice often know this."

Ansu answered seriously, his tone and wording remarkably professional.

"If you're short on infant bones, you can substitute fresh piglet bones. The Mother Goddess of Life won't be able to tell the difference, and pig bones are cheaper too. They're two Copper Coins a pound at the market."

What did he mean, friends who sacrificed often knew this?

"You intend to fob off the great Mother Goddess with pig bones?"

Maca flew into a rage. "This is deception! This is blasphemy and shame!"

Passing off inferior goods and fooling the Goddess were such vile acts that even Esoteric Cultists like them could not bring themselves to do it. Who the hell used pig bones that cost two Copper Coins a pound for sacrifices?

"You're even embarrassed to lie."

Ansu replied as though disappointed by Maca's failure to meet expectations.

"How do people like you even have the nerve to mingle among Esoteric Cultists?"

Maca felt as though a wad of phlegm had lodged in his throat.

"I have another suggestion."

Ansu continued, "The placement of your Spirit Tower is wrong. That human-faced flesh mass should be positioned to the southeast. This will also affect the efficiency of the sacrifice."

He pointed at the grotesque mass of flesh in the distance that was growing wildly without pause. Veins pulsed and swelled across its savage flesh, while human faces formed one after another between the folds of meat.

The human-faced flesh mass was already an exceedingly strange and sinister thing, yet Maca found the child before him even stranger.

This child was no more than fourteen or fifteen, yet he behaved as if nothing were wrong, calmly pointing at that bizarre, grotesque evil object.

What was even more bizarre was the boy's gaze: serious and focused, without any extraneous emotion.

He was clearly a sacrifice about to be offered up, yet he was still discussing how to make the ritual more efficient.

Were children these days all this capable?

Wasn't this child an Acolyte Saint blessed by the Holy Light? How was he more cult-like than Maca himself?

"Of course, I don't blame you. It's a mistake beginners commonly make."

Ansu was even comforting Maca.

After hearing Ansu's words, one believer decided to give it a try and moved the human-faced flesh mass to the southeast.

He immediately felt the indescribable atmosphere around them deepen. Chilling winds swept through the room, making his hair stand on end. Delighted, he said to Maca,

"Boss, it really seems to work."

Maca felt that the career he had devoted his life to had suffered the greatest possible insult.

He prided himself on being an artist of sacrifice. Over more than a decade in the profession, he had diligently studied and worked hard, solidifying the foundations of sacrifice, tackling its difficult problems, and striving to carry forward the sacrificial work of the Mother God of Life Cult.

Maca often kidnapped and trafficked other people's children before hauling them to the border for sacrifice, but this was the first time a little brat had questioned his professional level.

Usually, what he loved most was watching the painful, struggling expressions on children's faces before they died. Every time he enjoyed it, he was beside himself with joy.

But today, he had encountered a freak like Ansu—one who neither cried nor fussed, and whose words were even more professional than those of an Esoteric Cultist like him!

"...What do you gain from this?"

"I'm merely being kind." Ansu said. "After all, this is my altar."

The more professionally the altar was arranged, the more Ansu could profit from it. Naturally, he had to point out the mistakes.

It was all his money!

"You know, do you know?"

Maca grabbed Ansu by the collar and lifted him before his face. The golden mask pressed tightly against Ansu's, and the blood-red eyeholes brimmed with madness.

"You know, do you know? I abduct several children like you every week. Do you know what I enjoy most? Visiting their parents afterward, using condolences as an excuse to admire the grief on their faces. It feels so damn good!"

"I guarantee that after I sacrifice you, I'll also make sure to listen closely to your Father's wails."

He gripped Ansu's throat and rasped. His eyes bulged unnaturally, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably as he stuck out his tongue. "I guarantee I'll climax from it."

"So you like trafficking children."

Ansu stared at him expressionlessly, his pale blue eyes reflecting Maca's face.

"Then you truly are a low-taste piece of trash, cheaper than pig bones worth two Copper Coins a pound."

Of course, Ansu had never considered himself a good person either.

"I'll send you to reunite with the Mother Goddess you love most."

Ansu said, "You can also be considered to have died where you belonged."

Maca slammed Ansu to the ground, then turned and shouted to those around him, "Time's up. Prepare to begin the ritual."

Boom.

Lightning flashed outside the window, exploding into a sheet of white light that turned the entire room frost-white.

Maca turned back, only to see Ansu's satisfied smile illuminated in every detail by the lightning.

"Mother Goddess of Desire and the Moon, Great Mother Goddess of Fertility, Eternal Motherhood Above the Spirit Realm."

"This is the Hymn of the Utmost Sincerity. This is the Feast of Spirit and Soul. This is the Delicacy of Blood and Flesh."

"Your devout believer, Ansu Morningstar, offers you a gift: the seventeen dark heretics upon this altar—"

"Inviting you to dine with me!"

The prayer was familiar, yet unfamiliar.

It bore many similarities to the prayer they currently chanted.

But it had higher priority.

The ritual was completed in an instant.

Maca opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he could not utter a word.

It was as though his throat had been blocked. Flesh masses grew wantonly within his windpipe, and he discovered in horror that flesh was growing throughout every airway in his body, bursting from him like bamboo shoots after rain.

Flesh and blood swallowed his entire body, while sharp pain stimulated his already shattered nerves.

The same mutation occurred among the First-tier believers around him. Their flesh began to proliferate madly, then burst apart in clumps. Blood and chunks of meat instantly scattered across the entire altar, dyeing everything crimson.

It was as though countless writhing blood-red caterpillars crawled everywhere.

Only then did unparalleled terror descend upon his mind.

Maca realized that he was being sacrificed, being devoured by the Mother Goddess of Life. Just like the countless children he had once sacrificed, he was falling into an eternal abyss of flesh and blood.

Maca was experiencing the pain they had once endured.

"No... no."

Maca's face twisted so badly that his expression could no longer be seen. He could only stretch out a hand with all his strength, his eyes fixed on Ansu, pleading and pitiful desperation filling his pupils.

But Ansu paid him no heed.

He rose to his feet, wiped the blood spattered across his cheek with a handkerchief, and walked forward a few steps. He accidentally stepped into the puddle of flesh and blood Maca had become, making Ansu frown.

Sacrificed one First-tier believer

Sacrificed one First-tier believer

Sacrificed one Second-tier believer

Under the effect of the title "The Newborn" (original name: Novice Blood Sacrificer of Life), sacrifice effects increased by 10%. As the Mother Goddess disliked the altar, these effects canceled each other out.

Low-tier blessing obtainable