Chapter 423 (2/2)
Frowning, Randidly turned and looked at Aratta. “You… is that Judgement for you? You are a Heretic?”
“Well technically,” Aratta admitted, pushing some of her wild hair behind her ear. “Or I was. I stopped. But there is something about your group arriving here… I couldn’t help myself and…”
Aratta gestured helplessly towards her garden. Randidly took a very long breath through his nose. She… couldn’t help herself….?
Then he used his Plant Dominance to explore the area underneath the garden, and Randidly’s breath hitched in his chest. His eyes burned emerald as he considered whether it was worth it to forgo the quest just to kill Aratta in that moment, screw the strange Aether consequences. But reason quickly won out, cooling that hot impulse.
She was the only person that he had found with a trace of Aether so far. The Creature was a live element in this Raid Dungeon, unaccounted for, possessing both of the Regalia of their Zone’s Champions. Even if Aratta was somehow a trap left by the Creature, it still meant that Randidly could get some information based on her presence. Killing her hastily wasted that.
But what he found in the garden was…
Thunder cracked the sky, and a light misting of rain began to fall. There was a low rumble in the distance that was not thunder, but the loud sound of an approaching horde of monsters. Dozens of questions flitted across Randidly’s lips, and he struggled to pick out the one that was most helpful at the moment.
“...Is this why the other villagers left? Did they know this was coming?” Randidly said slowly.
“No. Well, they knew this was coming, and were being careful not to cause it yet… but they believe in Zith very deeply. I may be her priestess, but…” Aratta flashed a helpless smile. “...I’m not so confident that her method would work. I mean, you guys came and proved the concept, but-”
“You’re the priestess…” Annie said, gaping at Aratta in faux-horror. “And you are the one person in the village who doesn’t believe in the religion?”
“It’s not that I don’t believe,” Aratta said, her voice finally edging from genial to sharp. “But I don’t believe that survival is possible. We’ve lived for generations, slowly dying off. Although I don’t believe the Death Cultists are going about it in the right way, sometimes it’s easy to see why they-”
“There are a lot of incoming monsters, boss,” Clarissa reported cheerily, floating down from her perch on a nearby tree. Randidly grimaced and looked up at the sky. It was quickly darkening, but it wasn’t yet to the point that the Judgement seemed to be descending. What was it waiting for…?
“-they are cowards, but honest ones,” Aratta was saying, and Randidly abruptly realized that he had tuned her out. They had other priorities, at the moment.
Before Annie could retort, Randidly quickly asked. “Do you know why the Judgement hasn’t descended? What is it waiting for?”
With a shrug, Aratta gestured to the surrounding area. “Well, I don’t really know the why, but it’s because they laid down the array around the settlement. It’s just a small one, but it would mask you from the System as long as you kept your Heretic Path below XIII. But with everyone leaving, I just couldn’t-”
Two familiar bodies lay in shallow graves in the garden. Two children, sucked dry, all withered skin and bones, their eyes gone, their organs turned to dust. Two familiar children, that had been so calmly playing before their group arrived in the village.
“Stop fucking saying you couldn’t help it.” Randidly growled, and from the way that Aratta stumbled backwards, and everyone else flinched, he realized that he must have released a bit of the Cruel Indignation of Yggdrasil. With an effort of will, he reigned that in. Better to act with tact here. Besides, hurting his teammates did no good.
What Randidly couldn’t fucking figure out was why this was allowed to happen. Now that Randidly was aware of it, it was abundantly clear that there were no children in the group leaving the town. The children’s parents must have known they were missing. So why did no one raise a fuss…?
Everything was too fucked up to parse apart, and they didn’t have time.
“We’ve got about a minute.” Rose said quickly, glancing at Randidly.
It only took 10 seconds, but Randidly knew there was no point in throwing away the benefits now. He looked at the sky, where the clouds continued to swirl. At the very least, it seemed like this was buying them time. And if it stayed up there until she left the village…
“Let’s finish the quest,” Randidly said, his voice wooden. But afterwards…well, that was for another day. “Prepare to cut down the monsters.”