500th Time Reborn, A World Only Known By Women: The Karma System

I finally found the source of the creatures deep in the forest. It was a woman who was chanting and surrounded by a pentagram. I blasted another one of the creatures away, then aimed a palm at the woman, blasted her off her feet, and screamed through the air. The spell circle started to spin and dissipated without someone holding the portal open.

The creatures around me melted now that the portal and their energy source were gone. Each one of the were-sphynx cats turned into a black ooze as I walked over to the idiot groaning in pain on the ground. I was trying to figure out what I should do with them, but I didn\'t understand why this person was trying to attack me. Albeit it, I did walk in and find them; they were close enough to be considered a problem in my books. There was also no getting around that annoying sound.

"You!" I growled as I walked over to the groaning woman, straddling her and then dropping down to sit on her back, making the robed woman cry out. "What the fuck are you, and why did you attack me?"

"Get off me!" The woman demanded, her voice laced with pain.

"Not until you answer my questions," I said firmly as I used my magic to put a little pressure on the sides of her head, not enough to crack anything but enough that she would know that I was serious about this. "Now talk!"

"I can\'t tell you! They\'ll kill me!" The woman cried out, and I could hear the terror in her voice.

"Who will kill you?" I asked as I leaned down, my face close to hers. "And why should I care?"

"The Cult of the Black Goat!" The woman exclaimed, and then she started to babble incoherently about some dark god they served.

I sighed as I listened to her rambling until she went quiet. There was one of the other goddesses, like Laguna, but Rem did not sound as good-tempered as the Tempest Goddess.

"So, Rem is your leader? And she told you to come and kill me?" I asked, letting go of the woman\'s head and getting off her, but I still bound her in cords of mana. "I also need something to call you."

"I am Phen, but Rem is just our goddess that we draw power from. She is pretty busy most of the time, but Joslyn uses this to draw her power for her own use. Joslyn is like our leader and draws in support for Carrie. In turn, she let Joslyn and us do our rituals," Phen explained, but I frowned at her.

"What is with the sudden change of heart? I thought that you were worried about being killed if you talked?" I asked, and Phen shrugged before she winced.

"Well, you did just kill all of my pets, so I don\'t really have anything to lose now, do I?" She asked bitterly, and I sighed as I stood up.

"I didn\'t want to kill them. They were just following orders," I said as I looked down at her with a frown. "You should be thankful that you\'re still alive."

Phen just snorted as she tried to move her arms, but the mana cords held her in place. "Whatever, cat god. Just kill me and get it over with."

"I\'m not going to kill you," I said firmly as Phen glared up at me. "But you will tell me everything you know about this cult."

Phen told me everything she knew about the cult, and I was not pleased. They were trying to summon some dark god and had already killed people in their sacrifices. I needed to put a stop to this before it went too far.

I left Phen tied up in the forest and flew back to camp. It was late, but Rexa was up, and she looked worried when she saw me walk out of the forest.

"What happened? Where have you been?" She asked as she came over to meet me as I landed.

"I ran into some trouble," I said as I turned to her with a frown. "We need to leave now. The horses should be fine, but we don\'t have to wake anyone up. My Spatial Lodge will make them think they are sitting still while we travel. Did you get enough rest?"

Rexa nodded as she went to wake the others up and get them moving. We would have to travel all day to get to the first outside village, but I had to start somewhere. I was not going to let them summon that dark goddess. Not on my watch!

I would summon that bitch myself, and then we would have words! Damn irresponsible lesser goddesses just handing out deadly magical power like Halloween candy! Laguna at least seemed to understand not just to give anyone access, but this Rem was busy, whatever that meant.

Rexa nodded and helped me pack things up quickly, and I fed the horses and restored their stamina and vitality to the max. They were barely to be considered even horses anymore with all the layers of runes and enchantments, more like my Astral Steeds at this point.

"Alright, let\'s go," I said as I climbed up to the top of the carriage, where Rexa was already waiting with the reins in hand.

The others were all in the carriage, but because of the Spatial Lodge, they would not notice until one of them looked outside. For now, it was still the middle of the night, so we had lots of time to make it to the first town before sunrise, but I wouldn\'t let my guard down. I was scanning all over the area using my Mana runes to see if I could see any of the creatures or anything else that looked like it was going to try attacking.

"What happened out there? I was going to come to look for you, but after weighing the odds, I decided that I would only become a problem that you would have to protect. If you were in trouble, I surely would be no help," Rexa explained, and I nodded and leaned over to give her a quick kiss as I continued to look around.