Sins Paradise: Domination System

"Tris, can you feel something in that direction with your <Mana Sense>?"

I asked Tris as I stopped in my tracks, pointing in the direction where my <Presence Detection> found something.

"Hmm?" She raised her eyebrows curiously, but nodded her head nonetheless. As soon as I felt a Mana rippling around her, she immediately took a serious look. "What is this ominous Mana? Art… It's just like..."

"What?" I pressed, looking at her. For some reason, her body was trembling as she hugged her body.

"L-Like that time. This Mana is similar to the curse that was inflicted on Gui."

It was clear that her remaining trauma was triggered.

Initially, I wondered why her trauma was only reduced to (Mild Trauma) even when she was cured of her fear of monsters, but I knew this was the reason.

Tris still couldn't stop blaming herself for her best friend Guinevere's death. As proof, she broke down crying when she managed to level her <Elemental Magic> up to Lv 8 and learned <Fairy's Banquet> at that time.

This was the chance to cure her trauma. If we somehow resolved this problem… I hoped she wouldn't blame herself again.

"A curse?" I asked.

"Y-Yeah… It's a monster, but how did it enter the city?"

That was what I wondered. It suddenly popped up on my radar without any sign of moving. Thankfully, I had already set it to detect hostile presence when I reactivated it.

Judging from the location on my radar…

"We're coming back to the church."

The target might be Ertha again or even Sana.

Tris agreed with my suggestion, and we began to run back. She activated <Haste> and <Blessing of Sylph> so we would arrive faster.

I kept my eyes on my <Presence Detection> radar all the time, and as we reached halfway… Something else happened.

"Wait…" I stopped in my tracks and narrowed my eyes.

"What?!" Tris shouted at me, stopping on a roof not too far from me.

"There is something strange," I said, not believing what I saw. "The red dots are multiplying."

"Huh? But my <Mana Sense> only detects one curse, though."

That was why it was strange. I decided to tweak my <Presence Detection> again and set the enemies as those who were hostile against me and the girls, besides those who only had competitive spirits.

However… The result was the same.

"Are they assassins?" I muttered curiously.

Anyway, we shouldn't waste time here. I ran toward the first dot that appeared, with Tris following right behind. As I ran, I used <Appraisal> on the other red dots and found what they were.

"Oh, shit."

Hearing my curse, Tris approached me and asked, "What's wrong?"

"That fucking curse," I said, looking toward the direction of the church that was already close right before me. "They can multiply from infection!"

It was a type of monster, just like I initially thought. But I had never expected this monster to be a parasite type that can multiply quickly.

The curse could spread, but I guessed it would take time for people to catch on to it.

Most probably, it was also the case for Ertha. She caught the curse a few days before her condition worsened. Then, because she interacted with some nuns in the church, the parasite spread, and they contracted the curse.

In fact, the red dots disappeared one by one, starting from the first one that appeared on my radar.

'30 seconds.'

The parasite only had that much time to live.

Landing in front of the church's entrance with Tris, we immediately ran inside without caring about people's gaze.

"Can you still tell where the curse originated from?" I asked her as we stopped in front of the large hall.

"Yeah, follow me."

Without wasting time, I followed her. Somehow, she brought me to the back of the hall before stopping.

"It came from the Underground right straight from this path." She said, looking at me. "Is there something in that place?"

"Tsk." I clicked my tongue when I heard her. There was indeed a red dot underground, which I probably missed because I only scanned the surface area.

I used <Appraisal> on it, and the result appeared in front of me in the form of a floating blue window.

Purple Eye (Familiar)

Level 70

HP: 1

MP: 100

A Parasite-type monster from Hell that infected people with a deadly curse <Extra Weaken> through its spore. The spore will become a small eye that will pop and spread curse inside the body of infected people within 7 days.

It can also procreate using its spore by sacrificing its life.

'This is probably the real first red dot. Does the purple eye that I put in my inventory have something to do with it?'

For now, we needed to move and think later.

"Sorry, Tris. But I cannot tell you what lies under the church."

I knew she wasn't a naïve girl and had seen her share of torture and horror. However… I wanted to keep her safe. Knowing what lay hidden beneath the church, its dark side, probably wouldn't do well in her current mentality.

"Is it the church's secret?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "It needs an Archbishop or a Holy Maiden to know about it. Don't worry. I promise I will solve this curse problem before it spreads further and takes a victim."

From the look of it, people who got cursed wouldn't die or have any sign of getting it for a few days. We had time to cure them all.

"For now, I will check the underground. So, can you inform Sana about this? I believe she's in her office on the second floor."

"Well, I can't do anything if it's about the church's policy." Tris sounded disappointed, but a relieved smile appeared on her face.

It seemed like even if she wanted to stop it, she subconsciously was still afraid of the curse and didn't want to do anything with it.

'I want to cure her trauma.' I thought selfishly.

This was a good chance… No, it was a perfect chance to cure her trauma.

I watched Tris run toward the second floor as I descended to the underground using the stairs shown by Sana a few days ago.

'Sorry, people who got cursed. But bear with it until tomorrow. Your guardian angel will hold the banquet of a fairy tomorrow.'