Chapter 375: Unexpected Sacrifice
“Phew— it really is quite troublesome…”
In the old and dim small room, the thin black-haired girl sat at her desk, putting down her pen. On the rather messy desk were several pages of notes and an open booklet.
Reaching out and closing the search result page on her phone, Kazumi squinted her eyes and gently tapped her forehead with her finger to try and relax the fatigue from studying for a long time.
Perhaps it was the illusion of control as a top student at school that gave the girl the misconception, Kazumi habitually wanted to utilize the abundant time at night to finish reviewing the planned material in one go.
However, the capabilities truly required for work were clearly much more complicated than the knowledge learned in school. Even with the advantage of her half-undead body, it was difficult for Kazumi to complete all the remaining content in just one evening.
“However, the time today is quite sufficient, so let’s rest first.”
Looking at the time displayed on her phone, Kazumi shook her head. After all, rushing studies would make them harder to learn, and proper rest was also very important.
Moreover, because she didn’t have to have a long phone call with Sato Shinichi tonight, her actual free time was several hours more than usual. Combined with the waiting time for the sacrifice in her territory, this period was truly a rare resting time for Kazumi.
Lazily, she threw her body onto the small bed beside her. The girl lay on the bed, idly flipping through the chat history received on her phone.
“Tch, he must have remembered to apologize after talking to some friend. Can’t he have his own opinion!”
Although she had said she didn’t want to talk to that annoying idiot Sato Shinichi today, in the girl’s opinion, looking at the chat history didn’t seem to fall within the scope of her so-called “strict punishment.” At worst, she would just not reply.
Her mouth pouted unconsciously, looking at the long apology messages on the phone screen. Although she knew that Sato Shinichi must have reacted after realizing she was angry and seeking help from his rascal friends, even so, Kazumi’s previously unhappy mood improved by a few points.
She reached out again and flipped through the chat records between the two a few more times before the girl reluctantly exited the phone interface. She casually tossed her phone next to the pillow, rested her hands behind her head, and looked up at the old, peeling ceiling stained with mold and water spots.
“Hmph, I still need to let this guy cool his heels for a few days, otherwise I don’t even want to think about what foolish things he’ll do in the future.”
“And I have an interview at the agency in a few days. If I can pass, I probably won’t see him for about half a month. Maybe I should take this opportunity…”
“No, no, if I fail the assessment, I’ll still need to rely on Auntie Longji’s connections. I can’t afford to mess this up.”
“Uncle Fukada hasn’t replied to my messages in a long time. It looks like he went to discuss something with some other organization. When he comes back, can I trick him out of some supplies again? The reason… my previous injury should be enough, right?”
“The internship shouldn’t be too much of a problem, as it’s not a formal entry internship. That… what’s his name, Yokota, right? I’ve been hanging him out for so long, it’s time to try and get closer, but it still depends on how far his potential can take him. No matter how strong his talent, if he can’t realize it, it’s meaningless.”
“And…”
With her mind blank, letting her thoughts wander for a long time, Kazumi finally emerged from the dizziness of overthinking and returned to her usual calm and cold demeanor.
Lying on the bed and casually playing with her phone for a while, the somewhat bored girl finally put her phone back, slowly sat up, and returned to her small desk, opening the booklet to continue studying the practice questions for the agency’s assessment test.
“Hm?”
However, before Kazumi could flip through a few more pages, the black skull phantom on her fair wrist suddenly appeared. The strong energy fluctuations, accompanied by Lei’s shouting in her mind, made the previously expressionless girl’s face suddenly darken.
She slowly closed the book in her hand, walked directly to the window, naturally scanned the outside of the window to ensure no one was peeking, and then slowly drew the curtains.
A giant coffin exuding death mist drilled out from the magic array on the floor, and Kazumi reached out and grabbed a cloak from inside to cover herself. Without a word, she walked towards the dark abyss within the coffin.
…
“What happened?”
In the [Underworld] city of the Black Coffin Territory, the Lich Governor, radiating an icy aura all over his body, waited motionlessly by the space teleportation gate summoned by Kazumi. However, the soul fire burning fiercely beneath his skull head proved the unrest in the Governor’s heart at this moment.
“Lord, it’s the altar… the sacrifice has been completed ahead of schedule.”
Bowing slightly to Kazumi, Lei’s hoarse and low voice emerged from the withered skeleton. His slender, dry bone hand pointed towards the direction of the altar previously set up outside the city gate.
Lei had never encountered a situation like this before, and according to Kazumi’s instructions, he was to notify her immediately if anything out of the ordinary occurred.
“Completed?”
Lei’s answer first surprised Kazumi, but then a bad premonition flashed in her heart, making the girl’s already extremely cold expression deepen further. Without even giving Lei a chance to reply, the elite ghoul, which had grown several times larger than before, burst out of her body and carried the girl towards the altar at full speed.
[It has only been a little over three hours since the sacrifice was chosen. According to reason, it’s impossible for the sacrifice to be completed. Could it be…]
[Damn it, why is this happening? Is it because the sword intent is too powerful?]
[Even if I just put a stone on it, it wouldn’t anger them. The sword intent should attract ancient gods who are interested, so why did this happen?]
[It’s bad!]
The girl sat sideways on the hunched-over Little Black, her mind rapidly analyzing the current situation and searching for a way to break through the predicament.
In her past life’s game, Kazumi had only encountered one instance of a sacrifice being completed early, which was when sacrificing a contaminated mother beast angered a dark dragon. The result was that the demon dragon’s phantom unscrupulously emerged from the altar and leveled her territory, forcing her to reload.
Having experienced such an event, Kazumi was especially meticulous about sacrifices. Coupled with her cautious personality, she would definitely not do anything too risky.
In fact, sacrifices were a very ordinary matter in the eyes of ancient gods. Inconceivable numbers of believers offered sacrifices to them every day, and they would choose their favorites to sample and then bestow rewards.
For gods whose scale was so grand that it surpassed the hierarchy gap, they wouldn’t pay much attention to the poor quality of the sacrificed items. At most, they would simply pretend not to see them.
In other words, as long as you didn’t stuff feces into their mouths like Kazumi in her past life, such things that would anger them to the point of projecting their avatars would generally not happen.
Moreover, stones would not attract the attention of the ancient gods at all, nor would they cause any disgust. The attached sword intent would at most attract the attention of interested beings, and it would be impossible to cause them harm.
In the girl’s opinion, although the benefits might not be very high, it was definitely a choice with no negative return.
However, the accident had occurred. Faced with such a situation, Kazumi had no time to ponder why it happened. Instead, she was rapidly considering how to preserve her territory and her life under the wrath of a certain ancient god.
[The power of the projection is greatly limited, but it is enough to destroy the territory. In this case, I can only find a way to lure it outside. The heroes would certainly not ignore such an evil creature. This way, it’s beneficial to me no matter which side wins.]
[If it really causes unrest, I can also use the corpses to further enhance my strength. However, my true identity will definitely be exposed. But that’s better than my territory being destroyed.]
[That’s settled!]
A trace of determination flashed in the girl’s eyes. She gripped the horn protruding from Little Black’s back, which served as a handhold, and dark green death energy began to gather around her body bit by bit.
The ghoul’s hunched steps slowed down as they approached their destination. Kazumi looked up at the sacrificial coffin slowly descending over the altar. With a wave of her hand, she summoned a massive, energy-radiating transparent teleportation gate to her side to the maximum extent possible.
Kazumi no longer cared that the portal led to her room. Compared to the Black Coffin Territory being destroyed, her residential area being leveled was still an acceptable outcome.
Recalling Little Black into her body, the girl raised her head, her emotionless eyes fixed on the pure black coffin descending bit by bit, ready to deal with the ancient god’s projection that would emerge from it at any moment.
The smooth, long coffin lid slowly lifted, and the next moment, a dark pillar of light that shot straight into the sky erupted from it.
The dense death aura directly pushed away the surrounding low-quality energy, creating a momentary breathless vacuum zone. As the special energy, which seemed to invigorate the entire body, permeated the air, what was revealed from the sacrifice coffin was an ancient and elegant bone-skin scroll.
But compared to the pressure exuded by this seemingly extraordinary scroll, what made the girl forget to breathe for a moment were the few large, blood-red characters of the system panel floating above the scroll.
[Wonder Building Blueprint: Ghost Gate]
(ps: Sorry, I’ve been busy with exams. I can relax for about a week recently, can only say that I will try my best to make time to update, orz)
