Importance and values, changes from person to person. The bourgeoisie for instance would value the upticks on their gas meters rather than the state of their offspring.

That being said, when I think of an essential action, there is only one thing that comes to mind.

“You idiot,” Of course, it can only mean scolding Laffer, “If you listened to me before, you wouldn’t have gotten your feetsies chomped, and we also could’ve been going home. But no, you just had to screw us all over,”

“Jeff, I don’t believe it’s the time for this,”

“If now isn’t the time to make you realise the gravity of your stupidity, then when?” I pause as he gives the distressed reaction that I expected of him, “Scums like you can only reflect when placed in situations of high liability. Like this one here,” I calmly gesture toward the blood abominations sauntering their way toward us.

“How are you so calm right now?”

“Because he’s a mega sped,” Lily answers in place of me.

How rude. You're a mega sped!

“Who cares?! Just deal with them first!”

Ah, right. These guys…

Opening the left door of this bare foyer, four aberrations wandered in and were now approaching us. Rather menacingly, let me add. They were very clearly mass produced abominations, evidenced by the stitches and irregular and bizarre limb allotment of each specimen.

They twisted and bent themselves in ways inconceivable to regular humans such as myself, slowly inching closer with a wet slap of flesh on plaster in each step.

Urg, that noise… It’s freaking disgusting. Just hearing it is enough to send a shiver down my spine.

Godsdamned scums of the earth.

Ptui! I toss a loogie on the floor as I pick up my rifle.

Lazari’s about to rush into those things, but I stop her. I place a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t run into them,”

Though, my warning seems to dishearten her. Her head droops as her blank eyes somehow become sullen.

Oh no. I think I messed up. Was I too harsh? Did she really want to commit the stabby stab? She seriously can’t want to stab those things, right?

“Do you want to stab them?”

She nods.

Okay, that was unexpected. I mean, even I myself don’t want to get near those things, those things are the stuff of nightmares, but Lazari just wants to jump in. Haah, that’s a demon for you.

“It’s not that I don’t think you can stab them, but that you shouldn’t get near them,” I try to explain to her. After all, I’m not good with a rifle. And especially not with a scattershot rifle at that. The chances that I hit or possibly dome her are very high.

And well, even if she was a demon and probably won’t die… I still have a conscience okay?

“So don’t go near them,”

Discarding the empty shell as I was instructed to do after loosing a shot, it snaps out of the ejection port, succinctly clattering to the ground. The hollow casing echoes through the room, which seems to be the prompt for a crouched, quadrupedal abomination to lunge at me. Each of its limbs ended in a bony point which all aimed to skewer me square in the face.

Of course, with my supreme skills and perfect reaction time, I successfully prevent myself from instantly dying. Backed to the ground due to its sheer momentum, I’m separated from its edged joints and dripping maw with nothing but the slim barrel of my rifle.

A wonderful situation if I dared to say.

It snaps and snarls at me, but I fend it off with this stupid rifle. Though, like the good girl that she is, Lazari digs her knife deep into its side. Her ebony blade shines darker through its lifeblood.

It barely even flinches, but with the added force, I shove it off me before ending it with a loud bang. This time, I grip the scattershot rifle strongly but I still don't quite have the hang of it.

It's not as bad as before. And by not as bad, I mean the rifle isn’t in my hands anymore, but at least I’m still standing!

And hey! I even managed to kill one of them. As expected of myself.

“Mhmm, good job, Jeff…” Lily drawls, sarcasm dripping off each syllable.

Hmm, I guess it does feel good to get praised every once in a while.

“... For getting your ass beat,”

Okay, it seems like you're looking for the smoke, correct?

Be aware, I'm always ready to throw hands at all times of day.

“Hey, hey! Look!” She pouts, pointing at the mass of strewn limbs and viscous fluid, “I beat those guys, so praise me!”

Oh, nice. I forgot her essence magick actually shreds.

“Good job,”

Nodding, I praise her halfheartedly whilst walking past the smattering of limbs, being extremely careful to not stain my cloak and oh crap. Lazari’s already soaked in the stuff.

Godsdamned it. It’s always a pain to try and clean her…

And most certainly copying Lazari’s actions, Lily really plays around in it, stomping in it and thoroughly dying her feathers a dark shade.

“I hope you're aware that I’m not going to clean you,”

“What?! But you used to always clean me…”

That was when you were a much easier to manage birb.

Anyway, picking up my rifle, Laffer, not learning his lesson, decides to lead the way. Not that I’m complaining.

And before long, we’re in some spacious area, likely the warehouse portion of the warehouse. Quite funny how many miscellaneous areas there were in a place that should be dedicated to storing goods, huh?

“Ooh, isn’t that fancy!” Laffer whistles toward a rather ostentatious looking altar.

It is. Which is precisely the reason I spit in it!

“Wow, didn’t know you were a vandal…” Laffer gives me a sidelong glance.

No, you misunderstand! That was a reflex. I have an urge to spit on posh looking stuff.

I done did no foul gov'nor!

And well, my reflex seemed to trigger something with the altar. It starts to glow with an ominous red light.

The glow grew brighter and more luminous than before, possibly burning my retinas had I not left the room in time. No, I didn’t leave Lazari or Lily in there. And yes, I did leave Laffer.

Moments pass as the light fades away. The eerie silence that permeates through this putrefaction stew makes itself known once more.

“You okay?” I call out into the place.

He takes a while, but he does respond, “Yesn’t,”

Looks like everything’s good then.

However, entering the storage area once more, I realise, everything is not good.

“Oh my, are you from the heretic cult? You must be. Though I feel like I’ve seen you before… A pale and striking tall lady mutters to herself. Mhmm, I’ve met her before.

“Nonetheless, to think after all the preparations I set up, you still managed to get past them, it seems I still underestimated you, despite believing that I overestimated,” She sighs, “It seems I’m still much too young to contend against the heretic cult,”

What preparations? We encountered a couple blood abominations and that was it.

“And plus, we went through the front door…” The most predictable entry point. We were doing nothing sneaky at all. Personally, I’m in line to just say you’re incompetent.

“It can’t be!” She cups her mouth as her eyes dart around, “At a glance, it seems to be a simple plan, but after taking into account all our behaviour and rotation patterns, you judged that precisely at two thirds past eleven was when the front entrance would be weakest and bust through then!” She makes a complete horse shite explanation all the while with a starry glint in her pupils, “Such genius! To make use of such a small time gap and I see that you’ve even managed to make it all the way to our altar whilst avoiding us. Such skill, finnese,"

She angles her head high, "What distingué! As expected of the heretic cult,”

What the Hell? We walked through the front door…

“Heh, you get used to it,” Laffer whispers.

“Used to what?”

“Being overestimated,”

Overestimated? Ah wait, I see.

Now everything clicks.

Heh, now that I think about it, this is a rather nice feeling y’know? Like pride, but different. It’s funny.

Basically, we’re borrowing the prestige of the heretic cult whilst making our moves, so everything we do seems like a calculated plan of the cult. But it’s not. Not in the slightest.

Not in any way could it be corroborated as such. And that's what makes it so laughable.

I would say that being underestimated is better in a fight, but being overestimated also has its perks. It opens more options to take, such as diplomacy or browbeating.

“However, I’ve made many concessions for this da— WHAT?!” Her pupils dilate, recoiling back from sheer shock. Not that I know why she’s shocked, I mean, I haven’t made a move this whole time.

“Y-You cut off the grace of the blood god! How is that possible? No, wait, it only makes sense that it’s possible, after all, you pride yourselves on being heretics. And history has long reasoned that there are methods of cutting off the connection of the gods from this realm,” She mumbles to herself, and by this point it seems that her subordinates have also made their way to this central area, surrounding and encircling us.

Hey, I even find that cat burglar. I give her a wave which seems to freeze her in place.

I could really get used to being overestimated. Betcha that if she knew me as the small fry that I am, I'd probably be pounced on already.

Anyway, the blood lady examines the altar, flustered as she does so, “It can’t be… The link is completely severed,”

No, stop messing around. I only spat on it, just look a bit harder and you’ll see.

“Hmm, I see that there’s no point in doing anything more than a preliminary examination. Not with guests in my sanctuaire…”

Okay, suit yourself I guess…