The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch-Chapter 84 - You’re More Hardcore Than the Cultists (2/3)
In the center of the sanctuary, over a hundred people were already bound and kneeling.
Cries, curses, and prayers filled the air. Occasionally, someone would let out a gut-wrenching, despairing shriek, frantically tearing at their hair and the flesh on their faces.
Squish—
One of the maids beside her seemed to step on something, making a sound. Goodwin looked down and saw a crushed eyeball.
“Is this everyone...” The administrator’s voice sounded from behind, completely extinguishing Goodwin’s hope of escape. Despairingly, she watched a white shadow walk up to her, grab her collar, and drag her forward.
In Goodwin’s vision, she could only see the white shadow dragging her and, ahead of the shadow, the intensely oppressive, terrifying administrator.
Only after she was dragged to the front of the crowd and thrown to the ground did Goodwin slowly prop herself up with trembling hands and look around.
Around her... were other heavily injured transcendents captured just like her.
“Milord... everyone has arrived.”
Goodwin slowly looked up and saw the previously imposing administrator now respectfully bowing her head, walking to the front of the altar, removing her mask, and kneeling before it.
Following the administrator’s head upwards, she saw a stone throne placed upon the altar. And reclining on the throne was a red-haired girl.
The girl’s head rested on one stone armrest, her legs draped over the other. Her body lay casually on the seat, legs swinging back and forth, as relaxed as if lounging on her own sofa.
Hearing the administrator’s words, the girl turned her face slightly towards the crowd below. At that moment, Goodwin saw the other half of her face.
A violent spiritual alarm screamed in her ears. She instantly lowered her head, yet was still eroded by a sliver of darkness.
She felt the already assimilated potion within her begin to boil restlessly. Incomprehensible illusions started appearing before her eyes.
“Milord, do you require me to recite the prayer for you?” Administrator Kitty lowered her head and asked respectfully.
“No need, I can do it myself.” A sweet girlish voice sounded from the throne. Just listening to her words, one could almost picture the smile on her face.
“Thank you for your hard work, Kitty.”
A brief flash of silver-white light, followed immediately by a loud gunshot.
Boom—!
Administrator Kitty’s body was thrown back two or three meters by the immense impact, landing face-up before Goodwin.
Goodwin stared in horror at the administrator, whose face was now a bloody mess, lying right before her.
Clusters of blood-red Laurel flowers bloomed from the flesh of her cheeks, the gory blossoms vibrant and delicate, swaying gently before Goodwin.
“Priestess Kitty!”
“Administrator!”
“Milord, you?!”
The cultists nearby also saw Kitty’s corpse and began to stir restlessly.
“Silence!” The girl’s voice from the platform became commanding. Goodwin’s gaze gradually shifted from the corpse with the blooming head.
This... cultist infighting?
“Kitty joined this sacrifice willingly... Don’t worry, the Mother Goddess will come to collect her soon.”
Thump—
In Goodwin’s vision, the girl leaped down from the platform, landing steadily beside the corpse. Goodwin didn’t dare look up, only keeping her head bowed in her kneeling position, staring at the faceless female corpse.
“I***”
A string of never-before-heard words came from the girl’s mouth. The whispers in the minds of almost all transcendents present began to run wild.
A ritual... an evil god summoning ritual?!
Whispers and fear surged continuously in Goodwin’s mind. She instantly made up her mind, abruptly turned her head, and crawled towards the kneeling, trembling crowd.
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“Get away... Get away!” Goodwin struggled to her feet, pushing aside the people behind her one by one, running towards the stairs she remembered coming from.
But just then, the girl’s voice sounded again.
“I*****”
The girl’s murmurs exploded like thunder beside everyone’s ears. People in the crowd began descending into madness, turning and fleeing in the opposite direction.
“Ah!!!”
“Ugh ahhh!!!”
Countless blood lines danced rapidly through the air, forming a massive ritual array that encompassed everyone within.
Those closest to the blood array tried to run outwards, but as they crossed the array’s boundary, the parts of their bodies that crossed were instantly corroded away by something unknown, not even leaving a drop of blood behind—as if they had run into the mouth of an invisible monster.
The entire underground sanctuary transformed into a living hell.
Goodwin felt her life force rapidly draining away, death approaching step by step. Despairingly, she looked back towards the culprit responsible for all this.
That girl, holding an antique silver pocket watch, stood at the edge of the inner array, her body withered, completely devoid of blood.
And the blood drawn from her body, along with the blood lines from everyone else, sketched out a massive blood-red vortex in the air above the sanctuary.
The vortex spun in mid-air, but Goodwin no longer had the energy to pay attention.
Her vision was filled only with darkness, and at the center of the darkness was the nearly shriveled red-haired girl.
Madwoman...
Sacrificing everyone, including herself, just to summon an entity that only brings madness and destruction...
Madwoman!!!
Goodwin clamped her mouth shut violently. Broken teeth pierced her gums, causing the thinly scabbed wound to spurt blood again. This risky action granted her a sliver of strength to move and a precious second or two of clarity.
She abruptly crouched down, pulled a sharp throwing knife from her boot, and with all her might, flung it towards the girl.
Swish—
The throwing knife spun through the air and plunged directly into the girl’s heart.
Suc... success?
The entire array faltered slightly. Goodwin slowly raised her head. Amidst the darkness, the blood-red vortex above had stopped spinning.
And around her, besides the whispers, she could hear nothing else.
Did I... stop the advent of the evil god?
If I survive this... I’ve definitely exceeded the ritual requirements. I could probably drink the next stage potion without being assimilated...
Goodwin swayed, the darkness in her eyes slowly receding. She saw the colors around her again, and the ground littered with withered corpses.
