This was not her tribe!
Her people absolutely could not have become such monsters!
A chill ran through the young woman's very soul, but there was no doubt that the clothes worn by that creature were clearly the same as those of the female seer.
And under her gaze, that "monster" contorted its face into a savage and eerie expression, cackling madly at her, laughing wildly while frenziedly opening its arms in excitement, screaming maniacally.
"It's here… it's here… it has come!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!"
"BOOM!!!!!!"
Accompanied by the "monster's" frenzied, bizarre cries, suddenly the black night sky erupted with the roaring and howling of thunder, and under the illumination of the flashing lightning, the monster's spindly silhouette warped and distorted, together with that crazed laughter, emanating an indescribable aura of eeriness that sent chills down one's spine.
The raging thunder restlessly rampaged through the dark clouds, emitting continuous rumbling.
In the young woman's terrified eyes, in an instant, the rain came pouring down in torrents, raindrops the size of soybeans pelting her body heavily. The slender young woman bit down hard on her lower lip, biting so hard it drew blood without her even realizing it.
Her body was cold.
But her heart was even colder, frozen like a block of ice.
Under the illumination of the occasional flashes of lightning, those "people" had clearly all ceased to be human.
The glossy black scales, the vertical sl*t pupils, and those distorted faces… aside from a few minor features that still hinted at their original human identities, in all other respects, they were completely half-human, half-serpent abominations.
"My master! I offer you a sacrifice! Please accept the offering presented to you by your most humble, most faithful servant!!!"
The female seer - no, it should be said that "monstrosity" - fervently gazed up at the thundering sky above its head and, heedless of the torrential downpour, knelt on the ground with arms spread wide, fanatically screaming at the heavens, its face filled with zealous ecstasy.
"BOOM!!!!"
The sonorous thunder in the sky resounded once more, that prolonged rumbling as if something in the cloud layers was responding to the monster's howls.
The downpour grew even more intense. In the deluge, the firewood originally intended for the burnt offering had long since been washed away to who knows where by the violently surging water. The water level rose very quickly, as if the entire sky had sprung a massive leak and countless streams were pouring down from the celestial vault.
And it indeed seemed to be so.
The mist rising in the gloomy sky gradually formed a gigantic crimson vortex that continually expanded in the night sky, larger than the moon, larger than all the stars, as if the firmament had been punctured by a gaping hole. An indescribable radiance emanated from that dark, eerie crimson maelstrom, filled with a sense of warped unreality.
And raising her head to gaze upon everything before her, the young woman's face was ashen, her heart pounding nonstop, not from fear, but because the large amount of icy rainwater was rapidly sapping her body heat. The violent downpour had washed away the flower wreath on her head to who knows where, her disheveled red hair hanging limply over her shoulders.
The feeling of dread was slowly fading because she was gradually losing consciousness, to the point where she could hardly even form coherent thoughts anymore.
The young woman's lips turned pale, her mind starting to grow hazy, the scenes before her eyes all gradually blurring, turning into distorted, bizarre humanoid shapes and blurry flashes of light. The crazed laughter, the thundering, and the sound of the rain by her ears also gradually receded into the distance, fading into silence.
"Am I… going to die?"
In a daze, a thought suddenly surfaced in the young woman's mind.
And then, it seemed as if she heard a voice by her ear.
Deep, dark, profound, as if…
A voice from the unfathomable depths of the ocean.
"…"
When that murmuring voice sounded, the young woman abruptly felt an overwhelmingly intense sensation of her soul leaving her body, as if her spirit was being summoned, gradually breaking free from the shackles of her physical form.
"Ah~"
She tried to make a sound but found herself unable to utter anything at all, her voice trapped in her throat.
Her eyeballs twitched uncontrollably, all sounds by her ears continuously receding into the distance, the scenes in her field of vision transforming from various blurry shapes of light and shadow into pure whiteness…
And within that pure white light, there seemed to be a tranquil aura, making her instinctively want to cast herself into it.
"So beautiful…"
Staring in amazement, a thought couldn't help but surface in her heart. Then, she only felt her consciousness growing more and more hazy, starting to feel nothing at all, gradually being pulled into that pure white radiance…
"ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering roar suddenly rang out, causing the young woman's consciousness to shudder and dragging her back to lucidity.
And in her vision that had regained clarity, she witnessed a breathtaking scene that would be forever seared into her memory…
In the gloomy night sky, a crimson vortex that almost filled her entire field of view twisted, stretching out as far as the eye could see, all the way to the horizon without any end in sight. Countless cloud layers revolved around the vortex, turbulent thunder and eerie lights constantly entering and exiting the maelstrom. Even the moon and stars had to submit before this immensity, becoming as insignificant as specks of dust.
The sky was like a canopy covering the earth, but at this moment, it was as if this crimson vortex had replaced the heavens, engulfing everything in sight.
And at the very center of the vortex…
Was an entity so immeasurably colossal that it defied comprehension.
Serpentine pupils that belittled all existence, as if imperiously looking down upon everything in this world. A body so unbelievably gargantuan that it occupied more than half of the entire crimson vortex, to the point where the young woman couldn't even see its full form. This incomprehensibly titanic being, with just a casual breath, would form massive cyclones upon the earth, declaring its supremacy to the entire world. Its every action seemed capable of effortlessly annihilating this insignificant realm…
And at this moment, that pair of eyes that disdained all creation seemed to be staring directly at her.
Blankly gazing at the scene before her, her mind had already completely lost the ability to think, only a profound sense of trembling and dread enveloping her heart.
She couldn't help but feel afraid. This primal fear stemmed from an instinct for life itself, a deep terror of such an immense being.
But at the same time…
There was also that almost instinctive, irresistible urge to worship welling up from the depths of her soul.
Yes, worship and zealotry.
When the young woman witnessed this scene, she suddenly realized why the female seer had become so unhinged. Because anyone who had beheld the magnificence and grandeur of this existence would find it impossible to suppress that instinctive shuddering and mad veneration for such overwhelming power.
Just like worshipping the sky, worshipping the sun and moon, worshipping the stars.
This kind of worship needed no reason. Simply because when faced with entities so immense that they defied comprehension, humans would be acutely aware of how infinitesimal and insignificant they were in comparison, and from that, feel a profound sense of awe and reverence. And that awe would ultimately give rise to an inescapable obsession and adoration.
Worship them, strive to venerate these forces that seemed eternal and unchanging between heaven and earth, seek to approach these incomparably great and vast beings, and finally prostrate oneself before these almighty existences in fanatical devotion, offering up one's all.
Thus, when the female seer sensed the greatness of this entity in a trance, she was fundamentally unable to resist her base instincts, powerless against that compulsion to madly worship it, that primal trembling and fear.
And now…
The young woman was experiencing the same revelations the female seer had once underwent.
That soul-crushing realization of just how minuscule, how insignificant, how fragile she was before a being of such magnitude.
"I… offer you my all."
In her blank gaze, a fervent light gradually filled the young woman's bright pupils. The blankness slowly faded, replaced by a frenzied, delirious fanaticism.
This mute girl who had never uttered a single word in her life now miraculously spoke the first words of her existence.
Looking up at the indescribably immense entity before her, her eyes were filled with rapturous obsession and mad zealotry.
"Rumble…"
In the cloud layers, the lightning chanted loudly, extolling the supremacy and immeasurability of this almighty existence.
And indifferently looking down at the insignificant humans who had fallen into excitement and frenzy before it, the Great Serpent slowly opened its abyssal maw.
"ROAR!!!!"
In the torrential rain, in the flashing lightning and roaring thunder, in that deafening howl…
Before that abyssal jaws capable of devouring all things, the young woman bound to the wooden pole, her red hair dancing wildly in the wind, her white dress billowing, her bright and beautiful pupils showing not a hint of dread, only a fervor, a mania, an exultation at the prospect of offering herself as a sacrifice to a god…
…
"Wake up! Wake up…"
"Poor thing, she's the only one left…"
"…"
By her ear, broken fragments of voices faintly drifted over, the voices seeming to carry a hint of pity.
"Mmm…"
In a daze, the young woman seemed to hear voices by her ear and someone supporting her back, helping her drink water.
She struggled to open her eyes, only to see that she was lying on a pile of straw, and looking around, she was inside a dilapidated wooden hut with a bonfire burning in the center. A group of armored soldiers sat around the fire, occasionally glancing at her while speaking to each other in hushed tones.
"Ugh…"
She tried to stand up but found her limbs completely devoid of strength. The person behind her hurriedly supported her and said:
"You just woke up, don't move around."
The voice was gentle, clearly belonging to a woman.
She turned to look and saw a mature woman with a rather heroic countenance, wearing leather armor.
"You are…"
As soon as she spoke, the young woman was startled by herself. When did she gain the ability to speak?
The mature woman opposite her, not understanding the surprise in the young woman's heart, said to her:
"We are soldiers of the kingdom. A few days ago, the skies here changed drastically, with thunder and lightning raging. King Anthony thus ordered us to come investigate the situation here. But by the time we arrived… there was nothing but ruins everywhere. We only managed to find you barely clinging to life beside an altar."
As she spoke, a hint of regret and self-reproach appeared on her face.
"Apart from you, we found no other survivors."
Listening to this news in a daze, the young woman's expression turned blank. Then, she bit her lip, tears involuntarily starting to flow down her face.
Seeing the frail young woman before her, the female soldier's heart was filled with sympathy. She gently embraced the girl, kissing her hair while softly comforting her. But only the young woman herself knew the true reason for her tears.
She had been forsaken by the god she worshipped.