Chapter 37: Drinking Blood and Gobbling Up Souls... as a Rock?! (Patreon)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Drinking Blood and Gobbling Up Souls... as a Rock?!

The abbey walls reverberated with the violent misery of the dying.

Alice's CCTV vision breathed in the confusing horror that had skittered by in her concentration. Aside from Dirt, two other ratmen had scurried up from the basement. Or rather, two ratwomen.

The same shivering forms Alice had seen back in the cavern now drove stone shanks into the horrified and howling sides of the men who had harassed Iver and Axel. The twins themselves wore expressions of mingled horror and confusion as they crawled away from the bloodshed, dragging themselves to where Urd still hugged FOT.

A curse has reached its end.

Received experience!

Received cursed energy!

Skill Progress: Echo of Misfortune [8/100]

The three children jumped as Dirt rose, his mutated face speckled with blood, from Sword Man's limp corpse. A horrible red puddle spread out from beneath him, and Alice could feel an intoxicating need to draw it into herself.

"This small-lowly Dirt protects," Dirt said, throwing himself before Alice the Rock. The ratman's prostration earned a noiseless yelp from Iver.

Alice's nonexistent head spun with confusion, but Dirt raised his face, his misaligned teeth wet and slathered.

"Dirt hear nasty man-talk-scheme to burn God-Master's new home-lair!" Dirt said, his face stretched in what could generously be called a smile. "Loyal Dirt told-tattled Wrinkled Man-Adventurer right away, yes-yes!"

She wanted to laugh. As Isaak forced his way into the abbey, driving three men to the ground, whatever fight in them lost, Alice had to fight back a gale of laughter. Isaak was covered in blood as the four men cowered, their hands held over their heads as they begged for mercy. Alice would not have been surprised if the old man fell over dead, so she quickly offered him a [Bless], willing strength into his tired bones.

The three survivors moaned in misery as the ratwomen slithered nearer, chittering and hissing with a violence they had not shown in the cavern. They were covered in blood, their hands and arms coated in a crimson so thick it seemed almost like a second layer of delicious skin.

The dam of her restraint broke then. Alice was hardly even aware of Sword Man's blood drawing towards her and tickling her endless hunger.

"Oooooo!" She certainly felt it, however. Sensation. Crystallized sensation birthed a dozen flames within her nonexistent body, and once the dam was broken, she could not restrain it.

Acquired Blood: Human Tanner (common)

The notification went unnoticed as she allowed herself to feast. She had stopped herself when Dirt had dragged his bloody hand across her stone, but this was an enemy. This man had dared to strike Urd, had sought to cleave her head from her shoulders!

Alice's anger lent her only a greater thirst. Deeper and deeper she drank, hardly even noticing the black mist that rose from Sword Man's mangled corpse.

Acquired Soul

Owner: Dale Wont

Owner's Level: 13

Owner's Class: Tanner

"That's the best!" Alice cooed as the chocolate milkshake goodness of Dale's soul filled her nonexistent mouth. She had almost forgotten the flavor, the rich intensity that bordered on the obscene.

She might have continued to drain Dale the Tanner's corpse until it was little more than a wrinkled skeleton... but then she saw Urd.

Oh... She was passed out the last time, Alice realized dimly. Urd had not witnessed Alice's first feast. She had certainly not watched as a river of blood rolled over her legs and into the totem of rock beside her.

Alice could see fear in the child's eyes, and even more in Iver and Axel's. Blood dribbled down Iver's face, and Alice remembered the club that had rained down blows on him.

"Are y-you all OK?" Alice asked, trying to shake free from the electric excitement that accompanied the taste of blood and soul.

"I'm... I'm fine, God," Urd said weakly. She did not look at Iver and Axel. She continued to stare at the deflated flesh of Dale the Tanner.

The twins let out a frightened groan as Dirt lifted his face from the prayer. His misshapen nose began to twitch as the ratman's beady eyes darted around the abbey.

"Where... Where is ratchild priest-baby?" Dirt asked. The ratman bared his teeth threateningly at Urd and the twins, earning from them little more than a trio of frightened gasps.

"What has happened to Dirt's offering?!"

"Don't you hiss at my followers!" Alice whispered with a flash of annoyance with [Malevolent Whisper]. Dirt flinched as if with physical hurt and lowered his mutated face. "Your... child is safe back at the house."

Dirt looked with confusion between Alice the Rock and the trembling three children.

"How can child-spawn be of service to God-Master if not near?" the ratman asked with genuine disbelief in his slavish voice.

Alice was saved the need to answer by a shout from Isaak.

"Girl, what does the Master wish done with these three?"

The old man gestured to the three men trembling on the abbey floor. They turned wordlessly to Alice the Rock, their fear as plain as the clothes on their backs.

Alice did not understand what Isaak meant at first, but Dirt scampered over to them with a rush of newfound excitement.

"Nasty man-things make good meat-flesh offering to God-Master, yes-yes!"

Dirt turned back to Alice the Rock, and his smile was demonic.

"Let lowly-miserable Dirt carve them open for you, God-Master!"

Alice had known Dirt was a miserable creature, but the glee in his face almost made her tremble. It was a good thing her newest believers were still hiding within Kuonrat's office. Never mind that ratmen were scorned by Waterhold. One look at Dirt would have them all convinced Alice really was a daemon!

She bit her lip, however, as she focused on the trembling three. If the sight of ratmen had not been enough to cow them, Dirt's proclamation had left them with little enough strength even to breathe. They looked beseechingly to Isaak, the only human that could be seen.

The men had come here to burn Alice's abbey to the ground. They had clubbed and smacked Iver and Axel. And if she set them loose, what sort of awful stories would they spread about the daemons within the abbey?

Do I have to kill them? Alice wondered to herself, and the thought hit her like a clenched fist. She had not killed anyone in the many years she had lived as a rock. But that's not true. What about Red Shirt?

Alice bit her nonexistent lip even harder... and then a silly thought crawled into her head. She remembered how Dale the Tanner had been cursed from her haunting his sword.

"Urd, tell them that the God of Waterhold is a kind god," Alice instructed her pint-sized priestess. The Girl did not seem to notice at first, however. She remained beside Alice the Rock, her eyes wide and confused beside the twins. "U-Urd?"

"Yes!" Urd shouted, earning a yelp from Iver and Axel. She hurriedly rose to her feet and tentatively walked over to where Isaak pointed his sword menacingly at the cowering three.

"Tell them that Alice of the Merry Weather is a kind god," Alice said, and Urd conveyed Her Divine Decree. Alice saw a flicker of hope in the men's faces. "But you have... have shed blood in my sacred place."

Dirt became visibly excited as Urd's words filled the abbey. None of his elation was shared by the three who instantly threw themselves onto the ground, their words full of regret and begging.

The idea still seemed supremely silly, but she pooled together a ball of cursed energy. She focused on the first of the cowering three, on the shirt he wore, and pushed her ball of cursed energy within.

Curse Spread: Pirin Cole

Severity: Weak

Received experience!

Received cursed energy!

[Haunt Object] has reached Rank III.

Alice felt a rush of excitement herself as the notifications flashed across her vision. So she could even haunt someone's shirt! This was such an easy way to spread her curse. She could not help but wonder if she could tighten the collar and strangle the man with his own shirt.

B-But now's not the time for that!

"Urd, tell them that if they accept my divinity, I will forgive them," Alice said, pushing away the violent thought. Her pint-sized priestess conveyed her words at once, and, not surprisingly, the three men bowed down before Urd.

"I believe!"

"We believe!"

"We were wrong!"

"Please, spare us, Merciful God!"

Despite their words, no notification appeared. Alice was not sure what the system registered as a believer, what the system demanded for someone to be converted, but these three clearly had only lies and escape in their heart.

Not as if I expected them to instantly believe, Alice thought to herself, and she felt herself grow slightly anxious at this next part.

Pirin Cole lay trembling on the ground beside the others, and it was him Alice focused on first.

"Believe in me!" Alice planted the desire in the man's head with [Serpent's Whisper]. "You are a loyal follower of Alice of the Merry Weather!"

Still no notification appeared, but she had expected as much. The man's name on the tip of her tongue, Alice reached out to him with a [Malevolent Whisper].

"Pirin Cole! Do you think you can deceive a god? Why are you lying to me? Believe in My Divinity!"

And she willed for a warm fluffiness to fill his body from nose to toe, for his white-faced fear to disappear before the brilliance that was Alice of the Merry Weather.

The other two men continued to praise Master Merry Weather with colorful lies, but Pirin stiffened as if struck.

Alice held her breath, watching, and then...

An unbeliever has been converted.

Received experience!

Received faith!

"Yes!" Alice cheered as she watched Pirin clasp his hands together. He trembled now, but with none of the fear his two comrades displayed.

Alice did the same for the next man, and within a minute, a second notification flashed across her vision.

An unbeliever has been converted.

Received experience!

Received faith!

She did the same for the third man!

The man went very still. Alice was practically bouncing on the tips of nonexistent toes as she waited for the third notification to appear.

"I believe!" the man said. "We all believe! We will spread your glory to the rest of the town!"

Alice bit her lip.

"He's lying..." she muttered to herself, but she supposed it would be too much to hope the [Bless], [Malevolent Whisper], [Serpent's Whisper] combo would convert everyone.

"God says he is lying," Urd said, her voice shaking.

Alice blinked.

Did I...?

"G-God can see into your heart!" Urd said, stamping her feet as she so often did before. "You need to believe! You need to apologize and- "

"Shut y-your mouth, daemon!"

The third man had been a trembling mess, and his limbs still shook madly, but a certain terrified courage had crept into his eyes.

"All of you!" he shouted, his gaze sweeping over the abbey, even to the two men prostrate beside him. "You all are d-daemon-touched sinners! There is no god here! Only- "

Alice watched Urd pick up the wooden club. It was the same that had smacked Iver across the face, but Alice was not sure why Urd had picked it up.

Not until she cracked the man hard across the face.

"SHUT UP!" Urd shrieked. Perhaps it was the [Bless]. Perhaps it was [Consecrate Earth]. But the blow sent the man onto his side, blood dribbling down his lip. "YOU C-CAN'T SAY THAT!"

She lifted the club again, ready to crack the man a second time, but Isaak grabbed hold of it before she could let it drop onto the man's skull.

"The little one need not dirty her hand," Isaak said, bowing in Alice the Rock's direction. She did not understand at first, but then he drove his sword through the man's throat.

Oh... He thought I told Urd to smack him...

"And the others?" Isaak asked, his entire body deflating as he ripped his electrified blade from the man's throat. Urd stared at the man's sizzling death, her eyes glued to the charred black flesh.

A curse has reached its end.

Received experience!

Received cursed energy!

Skill Progress: Echo of Misfortune [9/100]

"Th-they're believers now!" Alice whispered hurriedly, grabbing hold of Isaak's ear with [Malevolent Whisper]. She did not want him to turn them into burnt lumps! "I forgive them!"

Isaak nodded, though he sneered down at the two trembling men. A pool of yellow wet had begun to leak out from around Pirin.

"The Master Merry Weather shows you greater kindness than I would," Isaak said, and he slid his blade back into its sheath. The electric hiss disappeared just as suddenly.

Exhausted, the old man collapsed into a nearby pew. He clasped his hands together as though in prayer, but Alice heard none of his thoughts.

Alice felt exhausted herself, but she had to deal with these two men.

"G-Go! Go and tell Waterhold about my... my kindness!" Alice planted the desire with [Serpent's Whisper] as she studied the bloodied and burnt flesh that filled the abbey. "Bring your... your families to my abbey! Spread my faith!"

Iver and Axel looked as though they regretted ever having returned to Alice the Rock as the two men ran from the abbey, nearly tripping over the wet gore that dirtied the floor. Dirt and the ratwomen gathered the corpses and, before Alice could stop them, stacked them like firewood before Alice the Rock.

She hated it. She wished she could stop herself. But...

Acquired Blood: Human Baker (poor)

Acquired Blood: Human Cobbler (common)

Acquired Blood: Human Worker (common)

Acquired Blood: Human Worker (common)

[Bloodthirsty] has reached Rank II.

Alice's nonexistent eyes rolled into the back of her head as she gorged on the four corpses brought before her. No black mist rose from their death no matter how much she sucked. She supposed the souls must have found their way to The Fates. The same could not be said for Dale the Tanner.

I look like a Halloween attraction! Alice thought to herself, her thoughts made silly with the explosive flavor of blood. Eleven men had stormed the abbey, and four now adorned her rock sapling of a body. Three ratmen chittered and slathered nearby while two small boys looked as though they wanted to burrow their heads into the floor and scream.

"Urd, have Dirt take the... the bodies away," Alice said, and the child was quick to relay the command. "Take them... wherever they're supposed to go."

Dirt nodded his mutated head quickly as he chittered excitedly.

"Corpse-flesh is good for healthy-strong ratchild!" Dirt said, licking his stretched lips. "Maybe Dirt bring-take small-nibble to brood-child?"

Alice hadn't thought about what the ratchild would eat, and the thought of it nibbling on a corpse was enough to make her sick. But she was too overwhelmed right now to protest.

"Tell him that's fine," Alice said, and Dirt clapped his clawed hands excitedly. Alice wondered how Eber would feel about the unwelcome gift.

The abbey fell silent without the ratmen's chittering. Isaak might have fallen asleep, or died. He remained seated in one of the pews, his head lolling.

The quiet seemed to summon the other believers from the Priest's office. She had offered them little notice during the short battle, but [Geological Memory] revealed their fear and prayer now, their trembling worry behind the heavy wooden doors.

They all looked so afraid. They all looked so confused. Alice sighed.

"Urd, tell them everything is fine." The child repeated Alice's Divine Decree right away, and they looked at the bandaged girl with a mixture of confusion and relief. "Tell them that Master Merry Weather has kept them safe."

Alice's thoughts turned back to the [Divine Stigmata] then. The ability to heal her followers so long as they wore her mark. She had been about to tell Urd about the [Divine Mark] she had thought up just as the pitchforks had appeared.

"Urd? There should be some ink and a brush in the Priest's office. I need you to draw something for me."

We will learn the Divine Symbol of Alice's religion next chapter! This will carry over through all three planned books of Demon Rock! This is a long-lasting decision, and the Divine Symbol is very stupid! Please forgive me!

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