NOVPUB
Chapter 167: Cult Fingers (II)
At that, the GUILD master leaned forward. "So, you’re going to extract it?"
Tobias took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Yeah. Just give me a moment. I need to chant the incantation."
Zayn blinked. "Wait, you’re chanting something? That’s new."
"Shut up," Tobias said, rolling his shoulders and raising a hand over the brand.
His other hand came to rest lightly on the woman’s shoulder. "Here it goes."
He exhaled, and his voice dropped into a calm, commanding rhythm:
"By the light of the soul, through the weave of unseen thread,
I call the roots that bind and bled,
Through darkened sign and cursed design,
Unravel now — release what’s mine.
Release."
As he spoke the final word, a shockwave of mana pulsed out from his palm.
Purple lightning arced into the mark — controlled and focused.
The half-moon brand pulsed once, twice... and then jumped.
With a hideous squelching sound, the mark peeled away from the girl’s back and landed on the floor in a squirming, pulsating mass.
It wasn’t just a mark. It was a creature.
A giant, silver worm, its skin metallic and slick, wriggled and hissed as it uncoiled. Its tubular mouth opened with a sharp, wet shriek, purple mist spilling out of it.
"Oh hell no," Zayn said, already drawing his blade, but Tobias was faster.
A snap of his fingers.
A gout of blue-orange flame erupted from his palm, incinerating the worm in a flash.
The creature squealed once — and was gone. A pile of silver ash remained on the wooden floor.
Silence filled the room.
The young woman collapsed to her knees, trembling.
Her body quivered but the tension began to fade. Her skin now had a healthy flush to it, and her eyes stopped darting around so wildly.
She turned toward Tobias and Zayn, still kneeling, and bowed deeply. "Thank you. Truly."
Tobias scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. "No biggie."
Zayn just gave her a thumbs up. "Welcome back to the land of the not-cursed."
The GUILD master grunted in approval and sat back down with a heavy thud. "Good work, both of you."
Once everyone had a chance to settle, the young woman pulled a blanket over her shoulders and sat straighter.
Yua was one of the GUILD’s own adventurers sent to infiltrate the Demon Cult, and it was crazy because she was B-rank.
"I joined a month ago," she began, voice steadier now. "As a low-ranking grunt. They were paranoid. The initiation nearly broke me... but once I was in, I listened."
Zayn leaned forward. "What did you find?"
Yua’s face darkened. "The Demon Cult is far more organized than we ever imagined. They’re not just religious fanatics — they’re militarized. Coordinated. They have many names which the Kingdom and even the villagers have adopted, on the inside, they call themselves the Hands Of Ruin."
Tobias frowned. "Fitting."
"There’s something else," she continued, eyes now locked on the table. "At the top... there are ten of them. Ten elite members who lead everything from the shadows. They call them the Fingers."
"Figures," Zayn muttered. "Let me guess — they’re named after creepy stuff? Like ’The Thumb of Doom’?" 𝓃ℴ𝓋𝓹𝓊𝓫.𝒸𝓸𝓂
He knew about the fingers! How could he not know? They were the most important people in the second arc.
Yua shook her head. "Each Finger represents a sin. That’s what they’re based on. Greed, Wrath, Envy... all ten of them. Their powers reflect their sin. I only ever met one from a distance — Lust."
Tobias and Zayn exchanged a glance.
"She had... an aura," Yua said quietly. "People would do anything for her. The moment she walked into a room, men and women would kneel. They couldn’t stop themselves."
"Mind magic?" Tobias guessed.
"Something deeper," Yua replied. "More primal. Like their souls were touched."
The GUILD master took a deep breath, rubbing his temples. "This is worse than I expected."
Zayn looked at Yua seriously. "Do you know where any of the Fingers are based?"
She nodded. "I have rumors. Their bases shift, but I know of three locations where high-ranking cultists gather — one to the north in the frostlands, one in the eastern marshes, and another deep underground beneath the Ruins of Varka. A finger could be with them each."
Tobias nodded. "We’ll start planning routes. We’ll need the other heroes in on this."
Zayn gave a low whistle. "Looks like our ’easy trip to Timberstead’ just got a whole lot bigger."
Everyone fell silent again.
Yua looked between the two of them. "I’m sorry... for dragging you into this."
Tobias shook his head. "You didn’t. It was our mission in the first place, you just helped us out a lot."
Yua’s words cut through the thick silence in the room. "Mission?"
The guild master nodded slightly, but it was Tobias who answered, his expression unreadable as he met her gaze. "The king’s orders. Eliminate the Demon Lord’s cult. Every root. Every branch."
A wave of heaviness swept through the room.
Even Zayn, leaning against the chair with arms folded, went still.
Tobias bowed respectfully toward Yua, his voice softening just a little. "You’ve done more than enough. Because of you, this entire job will be far easier. You’ve risked your life to expose their network."
Yua, now kneeling beside her chair, lowered her head in return. "I just... didn’t want what happened to others to happen to anyone else again."
Tobias gave a slow nod, then looked to the others. "The other heroes will be briefed by messengers. We’ll split forces and strike simultaneously. No room for error. No second chances."
Zayn’s fingers twitched slightly, and he glanced toward Tobias. "Three bases... four parties. So that means one hero each will take two bases, while the others go solo?"
Tobias rubbed his temple. "Two parties will have to pair up. I doubt we’ll get a perfect split, so it depends on how the assignments fall. But — "
He paused, it seemed he was recalling what Yua said earlier. "— the Ruins of Varka is non-negotiable. One of the bases is there, and it’s the most dangerous so we’ll have to be thougtfhul."
Zayn’s heart sank.
The Ruins of Varka.
Even hearing the name made his breath catch. In the novel, it had been the graveyard of potential.
Of all the bases listed, it was the one no one wanted to touch. And rightly so.
The Finger of Wrath resided there.
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Author’s Note:
Just finished binging Season 2 and Season 3 of Re: Zero and I’m like why not?! Let the cooking begin!
