Chapter 28: Here to Deliver a Free Kill
After receiving a heavy slap, the Goddess wasted far fewer words on meaningless nonsense. In a world with deities, being 'foreseen to die' by her would make most people wary, more or less.
Unfortunately, her usually foolproof tactic suffered a Waterloo today—there wasn't a single person in this room who feared death.
Bubu Wang, who was lying on the small bed taking a nap, lifted his head, glanced at the Goddess, then lay back down to sleep. Another new victim.
On the dining table were various exquisite dishes. Su Xiao didn't touch them, and the Goddess had no appetite. Wen Aiyouer, who had clawed her way up from the bottom, occasionally grabbed a piece and stuffed it into her mouth.
"A few days ago, Layton Redbeard led the Broken Horn Troop as the vanguard, intending to break through the Sand Flame defense line. The day after he failed, Spring Iron Sheep's forces besieged Rongsha Fortress. If Segona City is the 'Gate of Peru,' then Rongsha Fortress is the 'Gate of Sand Flame.' Today, you, as the Goddess of Peru, appear in Segona City. Is this a coincidence?"
Su Xiao lined up three gold coins on the table, representing Layton Redbeard, Spring Iron Sheep, and finally the Goddess.
"The God of Abundant Growth will deliver divine punishment."
The Goddess endured the burning pain on her cheek, stubbornly uttering these words.
"Really?"
Baha flew over from the side, his expression serious.
"Of course."
The Goddess finally found something to threaten with. Although it was a 'transcendent creature,' the fact that it could interject here showed that this transcendent creature held a high status among these people.
"Tell him to come quickly. If you can make him appear, we'll let you go immediately."
Baha naturally wasn't afraid of the God of Abundant Growth. The second part of the main quest was to capture the God of Abundant Growth alive. They couldn't even find him, so if he came to them willingly, that would be great.
"?"
The Goddess didn't react for a moment, then she suddenly realized that these people were all madmen.
"Deities are neutral. They don't favor anyone. The revival and death of all things are blessings bestowed by two deities, and I represent revival."
The Goddess lowered her head, and a wave spread outward from her center. Wen Aiyouer, beside her, grabbed her shoulder, pulled a long dagger from her calf, and made as if to stab it into the Goddess's neck.
"Step back."
As soon as Su Xiao spoke, the long dagger stopped beside the Goddess's neck, the tip already touching her skin, leaving a very shallow scratch.
Wen Aiyouer leaped back repeatedly, retreating to the corner of the room. Baha and Bubu Wang, more experienced, rushed out through the window directly.
The Goddess slowly floated into the air, her hair flowing, her body leaning back slightly, her arms spread wide as if embracing something.
Su Xiao had sensed the surrounding fluctuation once before, so he didn't move.
Cyan-green energy surged around the Goddess, and with a bang, the floor of the room collapsed. Su Xiao fell with the broken floorboards to the first floor of the stone building.
Finally, the cyan-green energy formed a phantom over ten meters tall. Its image was blurry, like a giant human with a blanket over its head. Its two arms raised, revealing branch-like claws.
Su Xiao had always thought only the Ancient Gods were ugly, but now it seemed the neutral deities weren't much better in appearance. Though not exactly ugly, they certainly didn't meet human aesthetic standards.
An eye opened at the head of the phantom, looking down at Su Xiao. Its gaze shifted from initial contempt to confusion, then to shock, because it recognized a human who had slaughtered many deities.
Dark blue smoke rose from Su Xiao's body, eventually enveloping him completely. His vision changed, the world turning into black and white.
A large mass of emerald-green energy appeared before Su Xiao's eyes. Red meant inedible—human life force. Green meant edible and delicious. Blue meant highly nutritious.
Su Xiao vanished from his spot, reappearing in front of the phantom.
Pfft~
A wooden spike pierced through Su Xiao's shoulder. He didn't dodge or avoid it, instead pressing his hand, completely wrapped in dark blue smoke, forward.
With a creaking sound, Su Xiao grabbed something gelatinous. The dark blue smoke on his body spread rapidly, climbing toward the phantom.
Su Xiao was in a state of full Devouring Core activation. He hadn't found any energy to devour in a long time, and he certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity.
This phantom was the incarnation of the neutral deity, the God of Abundant Growth. The incarnations of Ancient Gods were 'inedible'—they were 'toxic' substances. The incarnations of neutral and friendly deities were different. If they came to provoke Su Xiao, they were a great supplement.
The dark blue smoke swirled, quickly enveloping most of the phantom and beginning to devour it.
An inhuman scream rang out. The last time the Devouring Core had devoured a deity was the Dawn Goddess. When her incarnation was devoured, she had screamed even louder.
"Human, you will pay the price."
A voice came from all around. Su Xiao raised his hand and slowly clenched it. The dark blue smoke completely engulfed the deity's incarnation.
The dark blue smoke surged, and a large amount of energy flowed into Su Xiao's left arm, then into the Devouring Core at his chest. After conversion, refinement, purification, and filtration, it turned into a colorless, attribute-less energy. This was devoured by the Azure Steel Shadow energy, which began to improve.
As more and more energy surged into Su Xiao's body, the deity's incarnation wrapped in dark blue smoke shrank until it finally dissipated, leaving only the Goddess. An incarnation formed entirely of energy didn't even have the qualifications to fight Su Xiao.
Su Xiao slowly exhaled. As he controlled the Devouring Core, the dark blue smoke on his body dissipated. The improvement to his Azure Steel Shadow ability was considerable, but he had no time to check it now.
Su Xiao stepped over to the Goddess, crouched down, and looked at her.
"Keep praying to the God of Abundant Growth. The taste of divine energy is quite good."
"..."
The Goddess was silent for a moment, then her body began to curl up.
"I... I'll tell you everything."
Tears streamed down the Goddess's face. Just now, her deity had abandoned her. She had always believed she was the god's proxy, but now it seemed she was utterly insignificant in the eyes of the God of Abundant Growth. When he fled, he didn't even bother to take her, this burden, to avoid additional risk. And she had helped the God of Abundant Growth deceive so many people.
"Let's talk first. What are the plans of the Kingdom of Peru?"
"Alright."
The Goddess sat up from the ground. The God of Abundant Growth had overlooked a crucial point: women become terrifying after being betrayed.
So far, everything had gone according to plan, including using Wen Aiyouer to provoke the Goddess and making her summon the incarnation of the God of Abundant Growth.
Segona City had been fortified to an impregnable state. With the great weapon of the Black Dragon Midis, Su Xiao had no fear of the dwarves' war machines.
At 1:00 PM that day, Su Xiao received an ultimatum from Spring Iron Sheep. The latter already knew that the Goddess had been captured and demanded that Su Xiao release her by 6:00 PM, or else he would attack Segona City at all costs.
Spring Iron Sheep's attitude was strange. Logically, as long as the God of Abundant Growth was on their side, the Goddess was replaceable. Why would he be willing to return Sand Flame's territory for a single Goddess?
Su Xiao was waiting for news from Shadu. If, after capturing Segona City, Shadu still didn't allocate him soldiers, then he would have no choice but to retreat from Segona City, take his 68,000 soldiers to the rear of the battle line, and slowly accumulate routed troops on the battlefield.
This was a last resort. Without fighting, he couldn't recruit routed troops, and fighting would consume his forces, creating a vicious cycle. Major battles like the one at Rongsha Fortress were rare occurrences. His previous success was pure luck.
According to the worst-case scenario, by the time Feishi entered this world, Su Xiao might only have a few tens of thousands of soldiers, and his title wouldn't even reach five-star rank.
Shadu's attitude determined many things. If Shadu disappointed Su Xiao, he was prepared to play a ruthless card. He wouldn't let the battles he had fought on the front lines go to waste, nor would he let the two countries of Sand Flame and Peru have it easy.
At 4:00 PM that day, inside the Luosai Palace in Shadu.
The Sand Emperor looked at the floating sand before him, his eyes narrowing.
"Your Majesty, rest assured. The defenses at Rongsha Fortress are already stable. What happened before will never happen again."
Grand Ritualist Uno quickly walked into the council hall. As soon as he sat down, he noticed the Sand Emperor's expression was off.
"Uno, Kukulin has captured Segona City."
"What...?"
Uno leaned back in his chair, groaned, and closed his eyes. His head was buzzing.
"Your Majesty, the supplies you requested have already been sent to the front lines. Are you..."
Carola, who had walked in gracefully, let out a small yawn. She usually went to bed very early, often by 5:00 PM.
As soon as Carola sat down, she noticed Uno's grim expression beside her.
"Carola, Kukulin has captured Segona City."
The Sand Emperor tossed a small ball in his hand and smiled.
"What?!"
Carola also leaned back in her chair, feeling a headache coming on.
"And there's another thing. The Goddess of Peru is inside Segona City, captured alive by Kukulin."
Hearing the Sand Emperor's words, Uno showed no change in expression, still rubbing his temples in distress. Carola, however, perked up and said:
"Your Majesty, this is our opportunity. Send troops to Grand Commander Kukulin."
Hearing Carola's words, the Sand Emperor narrowed his eyes. He sensed that Carola seemed too concerned about the Goddess. But it didn't matter much. The Goddess's significance was great. With Carola's intelligence, she wouldn't be so obvious in revealing her ambitions and ulterior motives. Judging by this, the matter of the Goddess was fine.
Having reasoned this out, the Sand Emperor looked at Uno.
"Uno, what's your opinion?"
"Your Majesty, I dare not have an opinion on your decision."
After saying this, Uno picked up a piece of meat from the table and rudely stuffed it into his mouth. The fierce hound was beginning to bare its fangs, and the beautiful snake beside him was also flicking its 'long tail.'
Wonderful House