300 Chapter 300: Blood Sacrifice

"Seriously?" Principal Henry Porter scowled. "Why so dramatic?"

"Oh…because I wanted to end the previous chapter on a cliffhanger."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing." I quickly amended my statement and returned to the main topic at hand. "I'm not sure what's going on, but this is actually based off a fictional universe that was created for a tabletop game set in the 41st millennium, so I don't know how they ended up dedicating an entire temple to it. To simplify, the cultists of the Blood God revel in murder, bloodletting and violence. The more blood they spill, the more glory they gain. Their god cares not from where the blood flows, as long as it continues to flow. To put it bluntly, it's a cult of homicidal psychopaths who love killing."

"No wonder they're called the Blood Slaughter Sect," Porter mused, nodding thoughtfully. "I always thought it was quite the chuuni name, but it seems that there was a valid religious reason behind it after all."

No, it was still a chuuni name, regardless of the religious reasons that led to its establishment. Not that I was going to voice that out.

Glancing at the two-headed dragon, I shuddered. For some reason, its demonic visage was giving me the chills. It was just an immense illustration, but somehow it felt alive…as if it was watching the humans in the room.

Taking a deep breath, I tore my eyes away from the gigantic mural and took a deep breath to calm myself.

"In any event, we've to stop the Blood Slaughter Sect from reaching this place at all costs," I muttered. "Who knows what they would do when they reach the temple? Probably hold some blood sacrifice to bring their Blood God to our material world."

Porter shuddered, despite himself. But he straightened himself to his full height and steeled his resolve. "I'll inform Captain Brent of this immediately."

"Thank you, sir. I'll leave it to you then."

This was a talk between adults, after all. I didn't want to get involved unless absolutely necessary. I briefly wondered if Brent would believe Porter, though. The last time the Vermillion Academy principal told the mercenary captain that the Blood Slaughter Sect might be after different goals, the latter didn't believe the older man.

Well, that was none of my business. I was too exhausted so I merely nodded. Bowing my head and taking my leave, I jumped through the hole in one bound without bothering with the harness and the pulley, much to the archaeologist technicians' surprise, and headed straight for the area designated as our sleeping quarters.

The moment my head touched the sleeping bag I fell asleep immediately.

*

"…finally."

Liu panted as he emeged in a more artificial-looking cavern that resembled a room built out of metal, concrete and marble than the stone, earth and soil that the remnants of his sect had been traversing the last few days.

"We've found the place!" One of the disciples yelled in delight, squinting at the bright lights and waiting for his eyes to adjust. "I told you Elder Liu knew where we were going!"

"Long live the Elder!"

"We're free!"

"At last!"

While the disciples whooped and cheered, Liu turned away, trying to hide his expression of relief. To be honest, he had been bullshitting and randomly picking directions for the last three days. He could hardly admit to the disciples who were counting on him to lead them out that he had been utterly clueless about where they should go, and relied on dumb luck to find their way around. Well, some things were best left not known.

Clearing his throat, Liu turned to address what remained of his once fearsome troops.

"We'll take an hour break. Drink up, replenish your mana, and catch some sleep. Then we shall launch our attack against the invaders who dare trespass upon the sacred ground of the Great One!"

"OOOOH! Blood for the Blood God!"

The Blood Slaughter Sect disciples roared their approval, and then they began doing whatever they needed. Resting, bathroom breaks, drinking, catching a nap, etc.

Folding his arms, Liu smiled approvingly. He could almost taste the blood of his victims, hear their screams echoing throughout the temple of his god.

He couldn't wait for the carnage to begin.

*

Da Xue Sheng was chipping away at one of the shrines, trying to free one of the relics that had been riveted to the ground. He tried not to look too much at the mural, which displayed a disturbing scene of death and massacre, where humans impaled each other with blood-red spears. The spears themselves dripped crimson tears, and Da Xue Sheng couldn't tell if the spears had originally meant to be red, or if they had been totally stained by the blood of their victims.

"Nonsense," he muttered to himself. "It's just a picture. There's no original color to begin with. The artist got lazy."

Shaking his unease off, he then brought a scanner and waved it over the mural. The digital device recorded the image before uploading it to the cloud server. Several programs ran checks and searches on the recorded illustration, but turned out no results.

"A cult dedicated entirely to the worship off a Blood God," Da Xue Sheng mused. He shivered and closed his eyes briefly. "Just what sort of deity would drive his worshippers to the heights of depravity and enjoy watching them slaughter each other?"

A noise from around the corner drew his attention. Da Xue Sheng frowned and rose from his spot, abandoning the relic that he had been trying to meticulously extract over the past hour without damaging it. Gulping, he slowly made his way toward the corner.

"Hello?" he called out uncertainly.

There was no answer. Some sort of fluttering, almost like a bug. Perhaps it was a bug. They were underground, after all. This wasn't the first time he had to swat away a pest or two that wriggled over his tools or crawled up his arms while he worked.

Da Xue Sheng laughed nervously. "I'm thinking too much."

Another noise flared out, and he froze. The graduate student backed away, fear building up in his chest.

"H…hey! Who is there?!" he yelled. Perhaps one of the mercenaries, seeking to play a prank on him and scare him? "This had better not be some kind of joke! It's not funny!"

Steeling himself, he stepped toward the corner and poked his head around.

There was a moth flitting about, repeatedly slamming itself against a portable lamp. It buzzed angrily, and then charged at the light, its brown wings fluttering incessantly.

"…"

Da Xue Sheng let out a sigh of relief, and then turned away. Like he suspected the first time, it was just a damned bug. Best to leave it alone and return to work.

"What a waste of time," he grumbled as he proceeded back toward the shrine. Before he could reach it, however, he bumped into someone. Without thinking, he yelped in shock.

"Whoa! Calm down, sir!"

It was one of the mercenaries. Da Xue Sheng recognized him as one of those assigned as the archaeologist team's security detail. He had his rifle slung over his shoulder, and a shoulder lamp illuminating the dim temple chamber. He raised an eyebrow as he watched Da Xue Sheng scramble hastily to his feet.

"Are you all right?"

"Y…yeah." Da Xue Sheng forced out a laugh. "You scared the hell out of me, dude. Don't just jump out like that."

"My apologies. I just heard a sound, so I came to investigate. Besides, you shouldn't be running off on your own." The mercenary gave him a stern stare. "You should be sticking with the rest of the group. It's too dangerous to be alone."

"But the enemies haven't shown up for days, right?" Da Xue Sheng retorted, trying to still his furiously beating heart. "Maybe they have given up."

"Who knows?" the mercenary shrugged. "Better to be safe than sorry."

Da Xue Sheng understood the wisdom. Even without the Blood Slaughter Sect, it was possible that there were monsters capable of digging underground and breaking into the temple right under the mercenaries' noses. Even though the concrete and metal walls were technically capable of withstanding a burrowing monster and halting it in its tracks, Brent was taking no chances. That was why there was a security detail assigned to guard the archaeological team even as they continued to excavate the site. Fortunately, nothing untoward had happened yet.

"I'll take your advice into consideration," Da Xue Sheng said stiffly as he straightened up. He was a graduate student, someone who was educated and was on track to earn a PhD, unlike the mercenary before him, who was uncultured, uneducated and unintelligent. These brutes only knew how to fight. They didn't realize the value of knowledge and culture. However, the archaeologist major had to admit that the place was increasingly creeping him out. It was best to listen to the mercenary and get the hell out of here. "I'll return to the group."

"Very good, sir," the mercenary responded. And then he resumed his patrol.

With an irritated huff, Da Xue Sheng turned away and began retracing his steps back to the main group. Before he could take more than a few steps, however, he heard the mercenary grunt, and something clatter noisily to the ground.

"Now what?!" Da Xue Sheng growled, turning around indignantly. "Be careful around here! These are priceless relics and monuments! What will you do if you break them!?"

His voice died in his throat when he saw the mercenary clutching at his chest, gurgling. Blood was flowing from both his mouth and chest, where a single blade protruded, dripping with crimson fluids.

Just like the mural that Da Xue Sheng was analyzing mere minutes ago.

"No, no…" he murmured, his eyes wide in terror. "This can't be happening…"

The mercenary let out one last groan before he expired, and his killer slid him off the crimson blade, allowing the corpse to slump downward. An old man watched the corpse topple over for a second, and then raised his head to look at the horrified Da Xue Sheng. A blade composed entirely of blood extended from his wizened hand, still freshly wet – and not just from the blood of its victim.

"Well, well…what have we here?"

With a shriek, Da Xue Sheng turned to flee, but something whipped out and caught him by the legs. The graduate student found himself crashing clumsily onto the ground, but he scrambled desperately to get up to his feet.

Only to realize that he couldn't.

"…eh?"

He glanced down and realized that his legs were gone…cut off right below the knees. Blood was gushing out of both stumps, spilling into an expanding pool of red.

"Ah…ah…AAAAAAAAAH!"

Da Xue Sheng's sanity shattered and he writhed about, devastated by the loss of his legs. The pain was catching up to him now, overcoming his shock and lancing through him like red-hot knives. He clutched at his amputated stumps and howled in agony.

A few footsteps drew his attention back to the present. Even though his consciousness was tinged in a red haze, he was vaguely aware of a whole group of hooded people marching around the corner and approaching his position. The light from the portable lamp was no longer white, instead taking on a red hue for some reason.

The moth…he could no longer hear the buzzing of the moth that was constantly ramming into the fluorescent bulb earlier. It probably was dead. He didn't know. He didn't care. He was about to die himself…

The old man's lips curled into a smile, and his tongue darted out to moisten them. He nodded toward the newcomers, all of whom were dressed in black cloaks and hoods that concealed their features. Despite his slipping consciousness, Da Xue Sheng was sure he recognized them as the enemy that assailed the tomb a few days ago…the terrorist religious extremist group who had fought against the Silver Wolves mercenaries.

"This one will make a fine sacrifice."

"Blood for the Blood God!"

Hollering, the disciples moved forward. Da Xue Sheng detachedly felt something slice across his throat, the front of his chest getting wet, a piercing pain, a suffocating sensation akin to drowning, and then…

…he knew nothing.