Chapter 9 : Chaos in the town (4)

Horikita, who had found shelter for his mother, ran after the adventurers towards the church.
God knew how shocked he was when the previous snake-man destroyed the city.
And thanks to that, he had seen her. The transmigrator girl the Holy Priest spoke of.
Black hair and black eyes.
Others might consider her a follower of death with her striking appearance.
"Those who follow death are like black gems, pearls of the night."
But the sensation he felt told him she was the one.
Horikita ran quickly, but the longer he ran, the more he noticed something strange. Why was he still in the forest! Why hadn't his distance from the church changed!
What was wrong?
Or perhaps...
Horikita's expression hardened. He picked up a stone from the ground and threw it far, only to find the stone still at his feet.
"Illusion."
Horikita guessed the snake had released its gas. He then walked, but in a different direction.
He didn't forget to hit trees, throw stones, dig the ground looking for "cracks" in the illusion. Until he found it!
A stone with bloodstains.
With all his might, he smashed the stone. Then the illusion shattered like scattered flower petals. Horikita's eyes widened at the sight before him.
A giant snake with a frozen girl. Both had their eyes closed, completely motionless.
As if time had no effect on them. They looked like masterpieces.
Horikita's eyes were fixated on the girl.
He looked around, realizing everyone was lying on the ground, unconscious in the illusion. They were still trapped in an endless dream.
There were only two ways to get them out. First, kill the snake, and second, help them out of the illusion by entering their dreams.
But in this condition, could he kill it?
The snake and the transmigrator girl were in the same illusion. Currently, unless the girl could escape, if Horikita tried to kill the snake now, the girl could also die.
Because their souls were intertwined so that the illusion's manifestation could bring them together.
Then in the blink of an eye, Horikita witnessed the girl, who was initially frozen, slowly open her eyes!
She stabbed the snake, and the giant snake's body threw her back in surprise, Horikita, who hadn't reacted yet, was thrown into the air.
"Gah!" He spat out a mouthful of green blood.
'Ah, I forgot I'm an ancient native.'
Only those with green blood could prove their identity as ancient people.
Damn, it hurts!
Horikita's body lay on the ground, and he began to question his life.
What exactly am I doing here?
Right, he wanted to meet the transmigrator girl. He wanted to meet the god and question him.
Why choose her?
"Watch out!" He imagined the giant snake's tail enveloping him. Horikita thought there was no way he could avoid it. Perhaps out of fear, he couldn't close his eyes.
Despair enveloped him.
Was he really going to die this time?
He hadn't achieved his desires yet.
Oh god, why are you doing this to me!
Damn it!
Then the figure jumped. Horikita's green eyes widened as he saw the girl cut off the snake's tail without blinking. Her movements were cruel, like butchering a dead fish.
'Splash'
Black blood gushed everywhere like falling rain, soaking everything, including the unconscious people around them.
Horikita stood frozen.
'Bam'
The snake's tail detached.
"Aaahhh!!!!" This time it wasn't the snake's voice, but a heavy, hoarse sound from the snake's figure.
"Woman, thisss time I will definitely kill you!"
The snake attacked wildly, its mouth agape, spewing out a swarm of small snakes.
Tia looked around; the church was almost collapsing! Fortunately, the snake's blood was an antidote; the people who had fallen into the illusionary dream slowly began to wake up from their endless slumber one by one.
Lambert, the red-haired man, woke up and was greeted by the sight of Tia surrounded by small snakes.
Tia, unable to move, turned to Horikita.
"Help me! Shoot me with fire magic!"
Horikita wanted to cry. He didn't have fire magic! He wasn't a mage with magic! He was just an ordinary citizen with a brain for getting rich.
"I can't do magic!"
[Host, you can do magic! There's no more time, if that snake bites you, I can't protect you, host!]
Tia couldn't move at all; the touch of snakes all over her body brought back memories of her time at the military academy.
The touch of disgusting people and their laughter.
"A girl wants to be a soldier? Hahahahaha, how ridiculous, are you just here to flirt with us?"
At that time, she felt helpless. The feeling was disgusting until...
What did she do to those people then?
Right.
She killed them.
The memory made Amertia see red. The feeling of snakes coiling around her body flipped that switch.
Tia wildly attacked the snakes on her body; she didn't care if her skin was cut and slashed everything, her actions were extremely ferocious without blinking.
Even Eskan didn't expect it.
"Again, give me those little snakes again and I'll cut your body into pieces like these snakes!" Tia felt enraged.
The disgusting feeling of being coiled all over her body made her hatred and bloodlust surge.
Bad memories from that all-male military academy were clearly imprinted.
Even the system in her mind felt like vomiting after watching it.
[Host, calm down! That's just the past!]
But Tia, bound by her past emotions, could no longer be controlled.
In her rage, Tia felt a surge of energy. She exerted her strength and leaped, slashing both of the snake's eyes in one sword swing!
The snake writhed and spontaneously transformed back into its human form.
"Aaahhh!!!" Both of his eyes were bleeding, and Tia stabbed him without hesitation. Feeling Eskan's helplessness made her adrenaline surge at full speed.
Her blood was boiling; this feeling would always appear whenever she destroyed someone.
Just like in her military school, Tia learned how to kill. She saw, felt, and did it. Killed someone.
A sensation of ecstasy that made her addicted. Kill those who hurt you. Only by becoming strong can you not be harassed again!
Like someone possessed, she stabbed Eskan's body.
'Stab'
"No, stop!" Eskan strangely felt his energy draining. His eyes were the source of his power. The illusion snake monster had special eyes where its life force resided.
But how could he fight Tia now? His eyes were injured, meaning his life was in danger!
'Splash'
When Tia pulled out her blade, blood gushed everywhere. Then she stabbed him again.
'Stab'
And pulled out her sword.
'Splash'
Repeatedly.
The people around them had woken up, and they watched Tia with fear, looking... sadistic and terrifying.
How could someone kill with no expression on their face?
They were scared, but no one dared to approach her. Even Horikita, who wasn't far from her, didn't dare to breathe.
The system felt that something was wrong with Tia's emotions at the moment.
Like a beast thirsty for blood.
[Host, Eskan is dying. You're going to kill him.]
Just let him die.
[Host....]
I want to kill you too.
Damn, I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired.
The system shrank in fear. It tried to contact the god. A bunch of code typed in the darkness of Tia's consciousness.
System: God! Please!
The weary sleeping god moved his fingers. He felt her unstable emotions. If left unchecked, darkness would consume her quickly. Therefore, the god gently released a little of his energy. Just enough to calm Tia.
Tia, who had raised the sword in her hand, stopped. Something stopped her. Simultaneously, a strange square appeared floating in the air before her.
Time froze.
In the image, the figure of Leila was displayed. The girl looked at her sleeping face in the hospital.
"How is my sister?"
"Strangely, everything shows normal signs, but Miss Aloni's consciousness is gone."
Leila seemed to touch her hand. Tia clearly heard her hoarse voice.
"Sister... wake up. Please."
The image stopped, and Tia also stopped. Her anger and frustration turned into sadness and helplessness.
[Host, you can return after you finish collecting the scattered god fragments.]
Tia looked at Eskan, who was already unconscious. She lowered her sword.
The people couldn't see the image Tia saw, but they all breathed a sigh of relief seeing her lower her sword.
Fortunately, it was all over.
[Ding! Mission successful!]
[Mission rewards: 5x gems, 1x exquisite treasure key, 1000 exp]
[Rewards received!]
When Allen returned, he was surprised to see a weak Leo being treated by a doctor in the clinic.
"Where is she??"
Leo, who had been treated, took him to the ruined church, and both were stunned to see Amertia looking disheveled with wounds all over her body. Seeing the sword in her hand and Eskan lying near her, covered in blood, he could guess what had happened.
Allen approached the woman and carefully looked at her emotionless face. He could guess her bad mood.
"I'll take you back."
"We can meet the emperor after you recover."
Tia nodded. For now, she was truly tired. She glanced at Eskan, who was still unconscious.
Allen, noticing her gaze, quickly explained, "He is human; the illusion snake monster was originally human. The reason he could become such a monster is because they practiced heresy."
Tia was surprised. "Heresy?"
"Yes. They believe that if everyone in the world dies, the Goddess of Death will rise. That belief drives them to destroy people."
"Those who worship the Goddess of Death have their strange ways of raising their Goddess."
Allen explained seriously.
Tia was speechless. Truly devoted people... But she couldn't help but ask.
"Then what do the followers of the God of Life do? How do they try to raise their god?"
Allen had a complicated expression. "They pray. They always pray in the church."
Ah... Pray until death?
Tia caught the complexity in his expression and realized the difference between the two sides. Although their methods differed, each was desperate enough to harm their own people. Such persistence. If she were a god, she would definitely be proud of them.
A bunch of fanatics.
Tia sighed. She then checked on Leo. Seeing his finally bandaged wounds, she then remembered something.
"Your blood is red; are you not originally from the ancient empire?"
Leo and Allen were surprised.
"How did you know?"
Allen couldn't remember ever telling her that fact. His eyes looked at Tia suspiciously. Tia casually threw the hot potato to Horikita.
"When he was attacked by the snake monster, I saw his blood was green, he told me he was from the ancient Eldebaran empire, which is why his blood is green," Tia pointed to Horikita, who was nearby.
Horikita: When did he say that?
Although he was confused as to why Tia was lying, he happily nodded in agreement. This was all to get closer to the transmigrator!
"Yes, he seemed confused earlier so I explained it to this girl. Uh, what's your name?"
Tia smiled, "Amertia."
"My name is Horikita."
Leo looked interested hearing his name, "Aren't you the guild master? I heard you always donate your money to orphanages. That's amazing."
Horikita scratched his head. It wasn't that he didn't want the money, but he was afraid of dying. Every time he got rich, a transmigrator would appear, and his money would disappear. It was better to deal with the transmigrator problem first before accepting the money.
That way, he wouldn't die again.