Ritual (For the Alliance Leader Lotus Pond V Listening to Rain!)

Chikutal!

Margaret nearly cried out in surprise.

She watched as the creature drew closer, its ferocious wolf-like head, sharp teeth and claws, and blood-red mane all clearly visible in the flames.

"I... I abide by the ancient covenant, and hereby enter into this agreement with you..."

Margaret stammered a little, but still managed to utter Professor Sulu's words.

Chikutal possesses Wisdom.

Its ferocious vertical pupils first scanned the altar and the ceremony; nothing seemed amiss.

The supplicant was just an ordinary human, without any extraordinary power, but the offering was quite good—a large dog full of spirit!

This was enough for it to have a full meal and to make further progress in some of its abilities.

Well, more importantly, the other party was tied up very tightly, and that woman didn't have any extraordinary powers.

The danger is very low!

If it is satisfied with the meal, it might grant this foolish human some abilities, allowing them to bring over even more 'sacrifices'.

Chikutal approached the ceremony with a reserved air, opened his mouth wide, revealing a mouthful of sharp, snow-white teeth.

"Waaah..."

Seeing the dripping saliva, Harlock let out a whimper, as if pleading for help.

Watching the food struggle in vain, Chikutal seemed even happier.

Bang!

Suddenly, a section of gun barrel emerged from the soil, bursting into flames without warning.

"Awooo!"

Chikutal's chest was a bloody mess. It roared, and the flesh writhed, showing signs of healing immediately.

"Woof woof!"

Just then, the husky, which had seemed to be fixed to the altar and unable to move, leaped up and bit Chikutal's right leg.

Pfft!

Pale chains emerged from the ground, binding Chikutal's limbs from all sides.

"Well done!"

Immediately, Sulu's figure slowly emerged from under the soil.

"Thank you, sir!"

Just as Margaret was about to reply with delight, she was pulled by a force and moved several meters to the side.

Puff!

Where she had stood, the soil was now covered with a layer of black liquid, hissing and corroding.

"Awooo!"

When the husky saw Chikutal's mouth pointing at it, it quickly released its grip, tucked its tail between its legs, and ran away as fast as it could.

Seeing that Chikutal was unable to move but his abdomen was swollen high, just like in the previous attack, Sulu quickly stepped forward and activated the full power of [Rogue].

Before Chikutal could spew acid, the Demon Hunting Dagger in his hand had already sliced across the man's neck.

The sharp, dull blade tip pierced through the creature's tough skin in an instant, and even easily severed its bones.

Puff!

Blood splattered.

Sulu circled behind it, dodging its Death Struggle attack, and delivered a final blow, severing the horse-like monster's head.

[XP+220]

"Wow... so fast!"

Margaret, still shaken, stared at Sulu: "Is this Mr. Sean's true strength? The power of the Mystic?"

She saw Sulu's figure almost turn into a blur.

Furthermore, how terrifyingly strong would it take to sever such a thick neck in two strokes with a dagger?

Just thinking about it sent chills down her spine.

"Harlock, take Margaret and go patrol the area..."

Sulu wiped the grime off his Demon Hunting Dagger and stared at Chikutal's corpse.

Even if this magical creature has a strong regenerative ability, it's still doomed to die after its head is cut off.

However, its limbs were still twitching unconsciously, and even its head, which had fallen to the ground, was opening and closing its mouth, trying to maintain its intimidating presence.

"Okay... okay."

Margaret, who could no longer bear the horrific scene, agreed and left with Harlock at a distance.

"It's time!"

Sulu, Inspiration, observed his surroundings and then began to take off his clothes one by one.

He strode forward and used the seasoning, stained with the hot blood of Chikutal, to write countless strange runes on his body.

His body was covered with dense runes, resembling a bizarre tattoo.

With each rune he wrote, he would chant Words of Arrogance, communicating with mystical forces.

In the end, it seemed as if he was wearing a blood-red bodysuit, with each rune faintly pulsating.

Sulu stepped forward, aimed at Chikutal's corpse, and with a single slash, ripped out the man's heart.

I always eat my steak well-done... I hope it's free of parasites!

A conflicted look appeared on his face, then he opened his mouth wide and bit off a large piece of meat from the horse's heart.

This is part of a Flesh Ritual, derived from the ' Lore of the Mad God '.

The origins of Flesh Ritual are ancient; they are neither benevolent nor malevolent.

Among the Gaosuo, there is a custom where, after a warrior hunts a large prey, he smears the prey's blood all over his body to boast of his strength.

Its advanced form is infamous, known as the ' Dragon Blood Baptism,' a prerequisite ritual for advancing from [Warrior] to [Dragon Warrior], which has ruined countless members of the Church of the God of War.

Sulu's prerequisite for performing this Flesh Ritual is... mastering the ability of ' Words of Arrogance ' and finding a Chikutal, to be performed immediately upon fresh slaughter.

Its effect is equivalent to taking a highly effective potion, increasing constitution and agility attributes.

The aftereffect is being cursed by the Chikutal; if they encounter their own kind in the future, they will be attacked relentlessly and may be harassed by the Wraith of those spirits.

This might be a problem for physics-based professionals, but what about for Sulu?

Even if this Chikutal turned into Evil Spirit, he was confident he could force it back into the Spirit World!

"Belch..."

Chikutal's heart was huge, and Sulu felt like he was stuffed.

And the taste of blood lingered in my mouth, which was extremely disgusting.

He didn't vomit, which would have caused the ritual to fail.

Instead, he circled the fire, spouting Words of Arrogance and performing a rather bizarre dance.

'If an ordinary person saw this... I'd probably be considered crazy, or sent to a mental hospital...'

In this eerie atmosphere, the blood-red symbols on Sulu's body began to wriggle, like tiny insects, crawling into his body through his pores.

His body gradually became translucent, revealing his bones and blood vessels, and glowed with a fiery red color, as if he were being burned and melted by a raging fire.

'It's started... Based on my previous experiments, there shouldn't be any problems...'

Sulu stared intently at the Attribute Panel, observing his own data:

[Bite!]

[You performed the ' Sivinardo's Flesh Ritual ', Agility +0.5! Constitution +0.3!]

After a long while, Sulu had returned to normal, clenched his fists and made a few fighting moves, his bones cracking with a crisp sound.

"My injuries have completely healed."

He dressed and gazed at the strangely decaying corpse of Chikutal, feeling a pang of regret. "It's a pity... such Flesh Ritual cannot be repeated, otherwise, I could have used it to strengthen my body to an incredible degree."

"But... that's enough!"

Sulu clenched his fist. "With my current attributes... as long as I use the Cat's Grace potion, I can reach the minimum requirements to become a [Shadow Warrior]!"