Chapter 6 Marion
Even though Zhou Ning was used to grand scenes, the sight that greeted him in the sacrificial chamber still made his stomach turn.
The chamber was eerie, dark, and filthy. Its ground and walls were smeared with blood, bits of flesh, and a strange purple mucus, giving it the look and overpowering stench of a slaughterhouse.
A large, bloated female figure sat on the altar in the center of the room, shrouded in an ominous black mist. Members of the Curse Cult stood in a circle around her, each connected to the figure by a faint red light—they were clearly in the middle of a ritual.
The figure's upper body was recognizably female—at least, the prominent sexual characteristics were all there—but its face had been twisted into something monstrous, with densely packed compound eyes and sharp mandibles. Its lower body was that of a giant spider.
As three members of the Curse Cult shoved Zhou Ning and the fat boy, Alan, into the chamber, the monster raised its head. Its cluster of compound eyes fixed on Zhou Ning, glinting with a greed so palpable it might as well have been drooling.
Its mouthparts parted, revealing a deep cavity lined with two rows of sharp teeth. Staring into its eyes, the hair on Zhou Ning's arms stood on end. This wasn't a matter of mental fortitude; it was the visceral, instinctual fear of an ordinary human in the presence of a transcendent creature.
He recognized the monster. He just hadn't expected the demon this group of cultists had summoned with the Book of Isenwei to be her... Youying Marion.
She was the first boss-level creature players encountered in Apocalypse—a low-level demon, and a pitiful, wandering soul.
In the game's lore, Marion's story was a common tragedy. A naive, inexperienced young woman, she had been tempted by the allure of the big city and came to Dockland, where her downfall began. She had been deceived by a scoundrel, swindled out of her money, and then abandoned. Penniless, she was forced into prostitution. Five years later, exhausted and worn, Marion found what she thought was love again: a small-time hoodlum from the streets of Dockland. She spent all her savings to buy him a house and even bore him a beautiful son.
But this second love affair lasted less than a decade. Older and with her beauty faded, Marion could no longer hold her lover's interest. He started leaving early and coming home late, growing more and more indifferent. Panicked, Marion sought out a dark sorcerer, hoping to use black magic to restore her youth.
Her attempt failed. The magic spiraled out of control, utterly destroying her looks and leaving her face hideous and terrifying.
So, one rainy night, her lover threw her out of their home with four cold words: "Go away, monster."
Completely devastated, Marion vanished into the rainy night. When she reappeared six months later, she had surrendered herself to the ancient gods and transformed into the spider-like monstrosity she was now. She had brutally devoured her former lover and their son, turning their home into her lair. Occasionally, when hunger or thirst struck, she would hunt humans, each kill twisting her further into a creature of pure evil.
In the early days of the game, the boss Marion was notorious, roaming the outskirts of Dockland and killing countless new players. For anyone under level ten, encountering the spider monster was a death sentence.
Because of her "beautiful" appearance and maw of sharp teeth, some joker on the game forums in my past life had commented, "I have a few special ideas about her." Looking at the real Marion now, all I can do is admire that guy's nerve.
Zhou Ning lowered his head, breaking Marion's gaze, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. If this really is Marion, then I have a chance. I'm intimately familiar with her abilities. Newborn low-level demons need to devour large amounts of flesh and blood to replenish their strength. They're more berserk than rational, which makes them manageable.
"Priest Niam, the offerings are here."
"Sacrifice them to our god. May he accept their souls, ma-do-ra-mo-ra-di-na..." a man in a black, hooded priest's robe intoned.
"Ma-do-ra-mo-ra-di-na..."
The lead cultist repeated the chant, then shoved Zhou Ning toward Marion with both hands.
Zhou Ning staggered forward. A few more steps and he'd be close enough to dance cheek-to-cheek with the monster. He could already smell the foul stench wafting from her bloody maw.
It stinks.
Taking a silent breath, Zhou Ning flexed. The ropes binding his hands and feet fell away quietly. An exquisite revolver materialized in his palm. He raised the pistol, aimed it at Marion, and pulled the trigger.
The trigger pulled the hammer back. The cylinder spun, locking a new round into place. The firing pin struck the primer, igniting the gunpowder. With a deafening crack and the thick smell of cordite, a golden bullet shot from the muzzle, spinning violently as it flew!
-253!
Everyone froze, their eyes fixed on the altar. An instant later, the spinning bullet tore into one of Marion's compound eyes, sending a spray of green ichor into the air.
"Aaargh!"
Marion shrieked in pain, her eight legs scrabbling frantically on the stone floor. Her two sickle-like forelimbs slashed through the air, lunging for Zhou Ning.
"Kill him! I will tear him to pieces and offer his flesh to the great and true Naiastra!" the priest in the black robes raged.
"Yes, Priest Niamh!"
On the far side of the chamber, several black-robed cultists drew massive swords and charged, their boots clattering on the stone. Priest Niam, having finished the initial offering, stepped back and began a new chant.
The sense of impending doom intensified, but Zhou Ning remained calm. After the first shot, he fanned the revolver's hammer with his left hand, the cylinder spinning to chamber the next round. Simultaneously, he pushed off with his right foot, lunging forward and to the right.
Bang! Bang!
His fundamental marksmanship skill granted him uncanny stability. Even while airborne, he fired two more shots with pinpoint accuracy, each one bursting another of Marion's compound eyes in a spray of green slime.
The series of swift, agile movements left Alan, who had been scared half to death just moments before, completely stunned.
Through his eyes, the dim, blood-soaked room felt suffocating. He watched as the familiar figure in the black academic robe dove to the right, firing shot after accurate shot. As Zhou Ning landed, he narrowly dodged a crushing blow from Marion's heavy forelimb.
Boom! The stone floor cracked under the impact.
Amid flickering light and swaying shadows, the black-robed figure never stopped moving, pressing his advance at full speed. Alan, who fancied himself a decent warrior, knew the effective charge range was about twenty-five yards. The man in black clearly knew it too, as his every move kept him just inside the cultists' blind spot. While running, the muzzle of his revolver flashed again. Two more bullets flew out. One struck a charging cultist's throat with deadly precision, sending out a spray of blood. The other interrupted the priest's incantation. A half-formed fireball still hovered over the priest's right hand. He hastily hurled it at the evasive figure, but Zhou Ning dodged with an athletic leap. The fireball sailed past him and slammed directly into Marion, who was lunging forward.
The fireball exploded against Marion's body. Zhou Ning landed in a crouch, the hem of his black robe settling around him.
"So cool!" Alan's eyes lit up. He made a vow then and there: if he survived this, he would follow this man for life. This wasn't just a big brother—this was his new dad.
At that moment, Marion, now with three of her compound eyes blinded and her body scorched by the fireball, finally flew into an absolute rage. She reared back, took a deep breath, and her abdomen began to swell.