Chapter 149 : Sin of Greed Cult Leader (3)
Sin of Greed Cult Leader (3)
- PEOONG!
- FLOP!
"Keuak! Aaaargh...!!"
Mobius, who had escaped with Warp, collapsed onto the snowfield, his hot blood splattering across the white ground.
- DRIP! DRIP!
With every wild beat of his heart, blood spurted from his severed arm like a squirt gun.
'D-damn it, stay calm...! Stay calm...! F, F***!'
Mobius gritted his teeth, clutching his bleeding stump tightly.
It was the worst possible situation, and panicking would only make things worse.
The faster his heart beat, the more blood he'd lose.
"Huff, huff...!"
Mobius forced himself to take ragged breaths.
- BEEP! BEEP!
Then he immediately opened the dimensional shop and bought a potion.
- SHHHHHH...!
"Ghh, gaaaaaah!!"
When he poured the potion on the exposed wound, the injury hissed and bubbled while new flesh rapidly covered over it.
"Khh, hhhh..."
He hadn't gotten his lost hand back, but at least the bleeding stopped.
But the emergency treatment wasn't over yet.
"D-damn...! Kyaaaagh!"
An excruciating pain shot up from his left leg.
It felt as if his nerves were being torn out by force.
Mobius looked at his left leg.
His left leg had turned into a squishy green jelly.
That was the price of using the Warp Necklace more than three times in one day.
"Shit...! Huff...!"
He couldn't just keep dragging around a jelly leg.
It would keep flopping and twisting, causing unbearable pain.
If he wanted to escape quickly, he'd have to cut it off right now.
If anything could be called lucky... it was that his left leg, now like jelly, would be easy to cut through.
"Huff! Huff! Huuuff...!"
Mobius bought a cheap kitchen knife from the dimensional shop, grasped it tightly, and placed it on top of his thigh.
Holding his breath, he put his weight down and—chop!
- SQUELCH!
- SHLICK!
"Guh, guh-huuurgh!! Grrrrr...!"
The agony of severed nerves was truly a screeching hell.
The pain was so great that his eyes nearly rolled back, but even as froth formed at his mouth, Mobius didn't lose consciousness.
- SHHHHHHH...!
He immediately poured the rest of the potion over his cut thigh, cauterizing the wound.
With that, the emergency treatment was done.
"Huff... huff... haah...!"
Mobius lay on the snowy field for a while to catch his breath.
The bleeding had stopped, but his stamina and mind were utterly drained. He was a wreck.
But there was no time to rest.
He'd escaped about 15 km from Roxy and Aris, but...
Just 15 km.
For Grandmasters, that was a distance they could cover in less than a minute at top speed.
'I have to get moving again—right away...!'
There could be more throwers lurking around, so this time, he'd move out with proper precautions.
He'd buy a powerful shield artifact from the dimensional shop, along with an invisibility and presence-concealing cloak.
It grated his nerves to waste that much dimensional currency, but to save his life, he had no choice.
'Damn it...! No time to keep debating!'
Hurriedly, Mobius tapped away at the dimensional shop window with his remaining finger.
- TAP! TAP!
Soon, the needed artifacts started dropping at his feet.
'I chose whatever offered the highest value for the price...'
Even in a life-or-death crisis, Mobius was obsessed with cost performance.
It was a form of tenacious greed that bordered on foolishness—but it was also what had allowed him to become the head of the Cult of Greed.
- CLINK! CLINK!
- WHOOSH!
Mobius immediately put the artifacts on.
He fastened the shield belt to his waist, draped the invisibility cloak around his shoulders, and slipped the magic power concealment ring onto his finger.
"Nngh...!"
With only one hand, it took some time to equip them all.
'No idea how long I've wasted here.'
At least three full minutes, probably.
'Thanks to the mana storm... it seems they haven't found me yet.'
But this mana storm wouldn't hide him forever.
'I need to move, fast.'
Just then—
- SWOOOOOOOSH!
Through the wild mana storm, he faintly made out a figure.
- CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH.
"...!"
A man was walking slowly across the broad snowfield.
Over his shoulder was a massive greatsword, looming like a headstone. A swordsman.
'Damn! That was close!'
Mobius hurriedly lowered his posture.
He'd hoped to escape when none of the Hisperion lackeys were around, but nothing was going his way today.
'Well, at least... I spotted him first.'
That guy didn't seem to notice Mobius's presence at all.
The mana storm here made it hard for enemies to sense anyone's aura.
Plus, Mobius had his invisibility cloak and magic power concealment ring.
'If I want to sneak past, I probably can.'
And yet—
Who was he?
The head of the greediest sect of the Cults of Sins.
The Sin of Greed Cult Leader.
Mobius ground his teeth.
'After all that I've lost today...! How could I run away empty-handed! At least, I should rip off one guy before I go!'
It was a reckless and foolish mindset.
But that was Greed.
'That guy doesn't seem too tough, either.'
So far, the enemies he'd encountered included the Heavenly Sword Knight Order Commander, the Noxcar blood kin, the Hisperion eldest daughter and her knight order commander...
Monsters famous enough for anyone to recognize at a glance, but this guy—he had no idea who he was.
'Going by the hair color, definitely not Hisperion direct line... and from his armor, not part of the Heavenly Sword Knight Order either.'
He was a well-built man carrying an unusually thick and massive greatsword.
If a guy that distinctive was someone famous, Mobius would have recognized him for sure.
So, chances were extremely high that he was just a nobody.
'Doesn't seem like anyone else is around, either.'
To make sure he wasn't ambushed again, Mobius thoroughly scanned the area with a meticulous search magic.
The only presence he felt in this mana storm was that guy.
'At last—finally a situation I can handle.'
Until now, he'd been running and getting trampled, but only because the enemies and circumstances were too overwhelming.
Mobius was also an 8th-circle great mage and, given the right conditions, stout enough to face Preben in a fair fight.
Even without his right hand and left leg, he could easily take down any lower-rank Grandmaster.
'Let's see... that absurdly huge sword of his... must be worth something, right?'
- PIING!
Mobius now activated "Appraisal Eye," a supplemental function of the dimensional shop.
The ability to read a target's info and value at a glance.
Soon, a translucent window appeared before Mobius, displaying information about the massive greatsword.
───《Target Info》───
▶Vladiark
◆Grade
[Mythic++]
────────────
"Wh-what!?"
Mobius blurted out before he could help himself.
A fatal mistake while under magical concealment.
However, the information displayed made him forget even that mistake out of pure shock.
'M-Mythic++ grade!?'
Mythic++ was on par with the "Old Chains of Tartarus" that Mobius had spent ages collecting dimensional currency to buy for capturing the Heavenly Sword Lord.
'C-crazy...!?'
That man—what on earth was he carrying?
A [Mythic++] grade divine artifact suddenly appeared before his eyes.
There was no way a nameless guy should be wielding a sword like that.
'L-let's... look again—focus, see more details!'
Mobius poured even more magic power into Appraisal Eye.
Soon, more detailed information appeared before his eyes.
───《Target Info》───
▶Vladiark
◆Grade
[Mythic++]
◆Description
- The heart of the "God Eater", an apostate who stood against the Goddess "Dimensional Gambler".
Forged into a colossal sword.
- Though its ego was erased over an eternity of sealing, its temperament—always seeking power and devouring all magic powers—remains intact.
- Can absorb any sort of magic power, changing form in proportion to the amount absorbed.
- Has auto-repair functionality.
- The sword's frame cannot be destroyed by anything of [Legend] grade or lower, whether physical or magical attack.
※Note: To use Vladiark properly, you require the Goddess "Dimensional Gambler"'s authority.
※Note: Any user without the Goddess's authority must not infuse their own magic power into Vladiark. Fatal danger may result.
────────────
'Wh-what the...!?'
Mobius's heart raced as he finished reading the descriptions.
'This is...!'
Jackpot. An absolute jackpot!
'A god sword—no, more than that! A god, in sword form!'
For a god, ego gone or body destroyed, still wouldn't die—so this sword was effectively a living god that descended into this world.
'If—if I could just get my hands on that...!'
It would more than make up for all the losses and pain he'd suffered today.
'A greatsword for sure, and the Goddess's authority? Looks like I can't wield it myself...'
But if he sold it in the dimensional shop, he could make an unimaginable profit.
'Then I could buy the Old Chains of Tartarus with that profit.'
This would allow him to bring forward his plan to capture the Heavenly Sword Lord by five years.
'And if I managed to succeed in taking out the Heavenly Sword Lord with it!'
Hisperion would become a delicious cake ready for eating.
Eating it in a single gulp would be difficult, but slicing it into pieces and eating them one by one would be totally viable.
'From there—selling off all the subordinate families', distant relative's, and direct line's treasures and famed swords to the dimensional shop...!'
Mobius's life wouldn't get any luckier than that.
If he built his rise on that colossal dimensional currency, just how high could he climb?
He might even surpass his own master, the Archduke of Greed in the demon realm.
'H-hahaha...!'
Mobius held his mouth, choking back his laughter.
'But how...?'
Why was such an ultimate treasure in the hands of some no-name man?
Something so exalted should belong—at the very least—to the Hisperion direct line.
But this man was neither direct line nor distant relative.
Look at his hair color—not Hisperion's blond, silver, or red, but a very dark ash-gray.
Maybe he was a knight of a vassal family? But his plain robe bore no family crest at all.
'So... a mercenary?'
Was there such a remarkable mercenary out there?
'If he was somewhat famous, there's no way I wouldn't recognize him...'
Mobius never did realize it was Ian.
He'd just spent too much time up north.
But Mobius didn't care.
'Well, whoever he is, it won't change much.'
Mobius, carrying the name of Greed, wasn't about to let such a tempting divine artifact slip by.
'Even if, by some wild chance, he's a hidden master, he can't be higher than an late-stage Grandmaster.'
If he was that strong, then surely his data would have been in the Cult's database, even for a reclusive expert.
'If he's a mid-stage Grandmaster or lower, no problem. I can handle it in one shot.'
At this distance, if he struck with his fastest spell, his target would die without ever knowing what hit him.
'Let's finish this before anyone else comes by.'
- VROOOOOM!!
Mobius gathered mana in his left hand and began incanting a quiet spell.
The spell: Hyperfine Destruction Ray.
A vicious magic that, even if aimed at the heart of an advanced Grandmaster, would end them instantly—and that could easily fell a supersonic dragon.
A light-speed killing spell.
- CLANG! CLANG!
Mobius layered additional buff magics—"power boost", "auto targeting", "homing", "spin", "piercing enhancement", and more—over the spell to craft a perfect assassination ritual.
This was basically a sniping attack.
Hiding his magic power and killing intent perfectly, he aimed for the vital point at a moment of carelessness to pierce the enemy from afar.
Mobius pointed his hand at Ian as if aiming a gun.
The distance to Ian: about 800 meters.
Fire.
- PHWOOOOM!!!
In an instant, the mana storm parted in a circular blast as a streak of light shot across the snowfield.
The flash, at the speed of light, landed right on the temple of Ian.
- KRAAANG!!
With a resounding crash, it struck a mysterious barrier and shattered to pieces.
"...?"
"...."
Ian turned his head toward Mobius, his brows narrowing in clear annoyance.
"Wh—what...!?!"
Mobius's deadly surprise attack had vanished without effect.
The turn had passed from Mobius's hand.