"Father, that's impossible! It's well over been a millennium since she perished, and it's only now that we find out that her divinity is within a human's soul?" Azrael pointed out.
The God of Death cannot take this seriously at all! After all those years of waiting, is his sister now said to come back? If someone were in his shoes, they surely would also have doubts if this news was real.
Not only he but the other deities are unsure whether to believe this or not. But only one God was certain—it was Hava. He thinks that whatever is up with that human girl Elaira's soul is somehow connected to his late daughter, Lumine.
Lumine, the Goddess of Light and Hope. The Goddess who helped the lost, the Goddess who gave mercy to the helpless, and the Goddess who died while protecting.
"Is that why you wanted to transfer that human's soul to that world? To Xentrus? Because you were hoping that Lumine's essence is within that child's soul?!" Nox shouted in anger. She meant no disrespect to her father but what he's spouting is absolutely outrageous.
She could handle pain, torture, and humiliation but she could never stand to hear false hope. Especially if it's related to her twin sister.
"Nox, how many times a day do I have to say this? Calm down!" Vita reprimanded her younger sister. She knew how much Nox's anger could affect the human realm. A single angry thought from The Goddess of Darkness could set an early eclipse which will set the human realm in total chaos.
Thankfully, power-wise, Nox is exhausted.
Nox turned her head to Vita with a look of pure concern. "But sister, don't you see the absurdity of the situation?" Nox asked Vita, hoping that her sister would agree. But what Vita answered was what made her choke.
"Nox, forgive me. But I fear that father might be right. How many peculiar instances like that human soul do you think have and will pass by us in the next few years? There was and probably would be none in the future. And the most probable explanation I can cling to is father's theory."
Her face reddening in anger and bewilderment, Nox said, "Is that so, huh? Well, let's see about that!"
Waving her hand, a white glowing orb the size of a basketball appeared floating above the table. A collective look of shock was present on every deity's face. They were surprised and weren't sure about what Nox was about to do.
Closing her eyes, The Goddess used her divine power to look for Elaira's soul.
"NOX, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!" Hava shouted in anger. He was worried that Nox would strain herself by doing this without her divine powers recovering. She might harm herself if they didn't stop her.
"AZRAEL, DON'T JUST SIT THERE! STOP HER!" Vita shouted as she shot from her seat. Azrael quickly stood up and basically climbed up the table to efficiently reach Nox.
But before Azrael could even reach her, Nox was already done. She opened her eyes and fell on the floor.
As she fell, the orb did too, dropping itself directly above Azrael's head, making a loud thump.
"OW!!!" Azrael screamed and rolled on the table, holding his head, squirming in pain.
Rushing to Nox, Vita pulled her sister into an embrace. "Have you gone mad?! Do you want to die?!" Vita, screamed at her sister, tightening her hold on her.
She already lost one sibling, and she couldn't afford to lose another.
"Fate, go help your brother," Hava said, placing the child on the table, to which it quickly ran and petted the poor handsome man's head to comfort him.
Standing from his seated position, Hava walked to where Nox and Vita were and asked a question he already knew the answer to.
"So... you saw?"
******
With pure excitement, I crawled to the forest floor. Looking at the map with a smile, I only thought of what delicious creature I would get the chance to dig into.
Tugging my leaf skirt, I still made sure that I was camouflaged. Tracing the dark forest, I was once again mesmerized by its spectacle. I mean, who thought that this whole glowing forest would be such eye candy?
I had a fair share of camping experiences in forests before but Earth's forests don't look as good as this right here.
With my quick careful crawling and constant sightseeing, I eventually got to where the supposed prey was lying. In front of me was a towering tree. Its branches extended far more than my tiny bug eyes could see. And right on one of its roots a slug I was familiar with was resting comfortably.
Readying myself and telling Lux to dim his glow a bit, I checked my MP.
[MP]: [132/300]
It's recovered nicely.
Now, the only thing left to do is to strike.
Sneaking up behind the slug, I lunged and bit it close to its head. "Strong Bite!" I muffled as my jaws automatically locked onto my prey, slicing its flesh like butter but leaving enough skin for me to hold onto.
Learning from my previous mistake, I climbed on top of the slug and wrapped my stick arms around it, never letting go.
The slug, in response, squirmed in pain. Due to the size difference, I was dragged. But I won't be thrown this time.
My wrap on the slug became tighter as I prepared my next move. Probably knowing that I can't be shaken off, the slug began to constrict. Of course, I would never let it happen.
"Poison Injection! 30!" I basically screamed inside my head. Knowing what I meant, the system didn't ask any further. The heat from my cheeks quickly traveled to my jaws before releasing out from their tips.
And as this was happening, the slug had already constricted up. It tried to stay like that for a few seconds but shortly after I injected the poison, its whole body softened. Eventually, it stopped moving entirely.
Jackpot! Wow, I'm totally getting the hang of this! I mean, I'm equipped to be able to do this but it takes skill to operate the right tools.
Letting go of the slug, I let its carcass slump to the ground before climbing off of it. Witnessing what I have done, I honestly shuddered a bit.
A hole, half the size of my head was right above the slug's neck area. I could see where the purple poison traveled as visible veins that were filled with poison were ever so present on the slug's brown slightly transparent skin.
Damn, now I kinda feel sorry for the slug. Sorry, Mr. Slug! We gotta eat and have to do terrible things to survive you know? I have to let you know that I'm incredibly grateful for your sacrifice. Your sacred body will not go to waste.
Closing my eyes to pay respects, I eventually chowed down.
Damn, these slugs are so good. I could just eat hundreds of them!
Biting down the soft tender meat mixed with my special poison sauce is just so— chef's kiss! People really need to go and have this.
As I was eating, I suddenly saw Lux. He was just right beside me earlier but right now he's blaring like a firetruck in front of me. Is he okay?
"What's the matter, Lux? Are you okay?" I asked him. Lux is such a cutie pie but I can't keep all my attention directed to him. I need to do things for the benefit of both of us. Well, mostly only my own satisfaction.
Leaving me hanging, Lux didn't stop his Christmas lights cosplay. As a matter of fact, his flickers only got more aggressive and I was starting to get more worried.
Pausing my feast, I crawled to him.
What's his problem?
Before I could even reach my arm towards him, his blue dots for eyes grew large before he darted behind me.
"Whoa! Hey!" I exclaimed as my eyes followed him. Right in front of the huge tree, he stopped and did something I wasn't expecting.
He glowed slightly before an image of myself appeared in front of him. Like a hologram, a vertical screen with my image eating the slug I killed earlier was fully presented.
Illusion? What for?
Those were the two questions that appeared at the back of my mind. Without me getting to answer whatsoever, Lux turned his body to me and flew to my stomach. He pushed me with all his strength as if leading me somewhere.
There's seriously something wrong.
Looking at the illusion, I soon found out what he was so scared about when I shifted my gaze just above the tree trunk.
There I saw a huge black spider which was 30 times my size with eight red eyes was staring at the illusion Lux had cast. It was crawling slowly, waiting for the right time to strike the newly set up illusion.
*Ding!*
[New quest unlocked!]
[Survive the Giant Carrier Spider's attack.]
[Reward]: [Early beginning on Story Quest]
Ignoring the system and refraining from screaming, I quickly followed Lux to where he was directing me to go.
Finally reaching the hiding spot which was a huge group of roots with just enough room for both of us to squeeze through right under it.
The spider, still visible from our point of view soon strikes the illusion. It jumped onto it with its fangs bared. The illusion, however quickly vanished like fog under a strong gust of gale.
Confused, the spider looked at its feet, probably thinking that it had crushed me. And when it found nothing, it breathed heavily in anger. Turning its huge head towards my previous meal, the spider moved closer to it.
In a few steps, the spider and the dead slug closed their distance. Inching its head closer to the carcass, the spider took a whiff of the slug. It then smelled the air around it as if in search of something.
"Oh no." I thought as I wiped my face and looked at my stick arms. I was covered in slug slime!
Turning my head back at the spider, my whole heart sank. It was already staring at me.
"Shit." I mouthed before quickly crawling deeper inside the hole. As I was crawling to hide, I could hear multiple heavy footsteps scurrying closer to me.
I crawled and crawled back but my death sentence eventually greeted me. It was a dead end! Soon enough, I had the humongous spider destroying the entrance of my current hiding spot.
SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!!!!
My mind was racing and I could feel my heart almost jumping out of my chest in panic. Lux, who was beside me this whole time already prepared a light shield behind us. Acting quickly, I tried to dig out.
But right when I started digging, I heard a loud shattering sound. Looking back I found Lux's light shield slowly vanishing. In front of my eyes, I saw what seemed to be a white rope that moved like it was alive.
Like a whip, it thrashed around the hole before it extended itself and finally reached me. Looking down, I saw the thick solid rope wrapping my abdomen.
"Inspect..."
*Ding!*
[Giant Carrier Spider's Web]
"Shit," I mumbled, staring at Lux before I was dragged out of the hole. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" I screamed in terror as I felt my back getting scraped by the stones under me. Lux, who was just as scared flew quickly to aid me.
In less than a few seconds, I was out of the hole that provided us sanctuary. I soon felt the halting of the rope's drag and found myself lying on my back. I could see the spider clearly. Its size towering over me. I felt like a cheeseburger under the hungry gaze of an average obese American. There, I lay frozen.
I'm going to die again.
Right above us, without hesitation, Lux shot towards the big spider from the hole we were in. He flew straight to the spider's eight eyes before glowing brightly.
Lux shined so bright that I even covered my eyes with my arms. If I had not known better, I would have mistaken him for a flashlight.
The spider screeched as it stumbled back. It got disoriented after Lux's stun attack!
*Ding!*
[Lux has learned a new skill!]
[Stunshine Lv1]
Damn, he even learned a new skill for doing that to save me!
Seeing that the spider was blinded for a moment, Lux darted to me. He looked at my web-wrapped abdomen and thought of a quick solution.
Using his shield creation skill, he conjured a shield right between my abdomen and the web and expanded it big enough to tear it off of me.
My baby is so smart!
Quickly standing up, I hurriedly crawled away from the scene where I was about to die. But against our better judgment, the spider already regained its vision.
Turning my head back, I saw the spider using its web again, only this time, the web's color was purple. The web shot behind the spider, as if it's alive. Shit, this spider might have a web manipulation ability or something!
Noticing the unique coloration of the web, I figured that this particular web might contain poison. The web quickly flew to us, far quicker than Lux and I could ever flee.
Not stopping in my tracks, I used my skill. Although I wasn't sure how this worked I didn't have time to worry about that.
"Light Magic!" I screamed. Immediately, I saw a huge wall appearing behind us. I couldn't see the spider web chasing us but I heard it crashing onto it. I couldn't afford to look back so I had to keep crawling away.
*Thud!*
"Oof!" I exclaimed when I fell face-first on the ground. Looking behind me I could clearly see the purple web wrapping around my abdomen once more.
Looking farther, I saw my light wall undisturbed. It appears that the web flew over it, eventually reaching me.
The purple web around my abdomen started to hurt me. Staring closely at it, I saw that my skin was also starting to become purple.
*Ding!*
[The user is being affected by poison! Heal the affected area immediately to extinguish the poison's effect!]
And I did just that. Using my light magic along with doing my best to remove the web with a light shield just like Lux did earlier, I tried and tried to escape. Lux, who was beside me, tried to do the same but it was apparent that he was starting to become exhausted too.
No matter how much we tried to remove the web, it's now much stronger than it was before. And it wasn't long until I felt nauseous and lightheaded. My strength was weakening and the light shield I was conjuring started to fade away.
*Ding!*
[Due to the immediate healing, death from the unknown poison has been avoided! The user, however, will begin to faint.]
And faint I did.