Chương 35: Spoils of War?

"What...?" Avelle fell to her knees. She had no idea what had just happened. It wasn't just the colossus. Her world was collapsing too.

"Lady Avelle!" The dryads grabbed Avelle by the arms and urged her to stand.

"Quickly! You must escape!"

"There is no time to lose!" Avelle rose as best she could and began to run, dragged along by her dryads. At the same time, the dust cloud kicked up by the colossus's destruction screened the forest spirits' frantic retreat.

"But... But where are we supposed to go? The valley has always been my home..." Avelle let the question slip out as she ran, her eyes downcast, not expecting an answer. Though even if she had, the dryads' attention was elsewhere.!! Falling from the sky in the middle of a ring of fire, a redhead with twintails had appeared and cut off the escape route of the lady of the flower throne and her dryads.

In one hand, she carried a gigantic, gleaming black scythe that seemed capable of tearing out your soul if you so much as looked at it.

"It's... It's her!" one of the dryads wailed, turning even paler than before and falling to her knees.

"The blood-red being! She has come for us!" Defeated, Avelle slowly raised her gaze, only to meet Cerys's eyes, which seemed to crackle with sparks.

"Ah... No... Help..." She instantly knew that any wrong move could mean her end.

[Proficiency UP!] [Death's Touch] [Proficiency C -> B] [Even the divine lords of this land must one day depart; mark those whose time has come]"That must mean local deities... It's a skill that forces me to put myself within the opponent's reach, and it doesn't even work on lesser gods yet..." Nerez closed the Godscript tab he had been checking and continued climbing the steep forest hill.

"Well, I guess you can't have everything in life... or in any life, really." On both sides of the slope, ranks of skeletons raised their weapons in salute. A chill ran down his spine at the sight, but he did not show his discomfort. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. It had not been a particularly difficult victory compared to the battles against demigods, but it was still a victory, and they had earned it.

"Nereeeez!" From the top of the hill, a furious voice called his name. He did not have to climb much farther before he saw Cerys waving her gigantic scythe in protest.

"Put that away before you hurt someone. More specifically, me." Cerys had not exactly calmed down, but she still dismissed her Eidolon without protest.

"Listen, Nerez! That...! That coward! She refused to fight for her life! She threw herself to the ground and just stayed there crying!"

"Yes, you tend to have that effect on people. But who are you talking about?" Cerys angrily pointed behind her. There, on the grass, a cluster of huddled figures lay moaning and sobbing.

"She's a local deity! She had the advantage of the terrain and surrendered just like that!" Cerys continued complaining.

"And that's your fault too! My stats rose too much after I became your servant! No battle is fun anymore!"

"How terrible... terrible indeed... Mm? A local deity? What a coincidence. I could test Death's Touch and see whether it really works on one..." Nerez looked over Cerys's shoulder while she stomped the ground, but the huddled lumps only went on sobbing.

"On second thought, I don't think that will be necessary..." Pat Pat"Huh...?" Nerez patted Cerys twice on the head, leaving her bewildered.

"Despite everything, you did a good job today," he said before making his way toward the sobbing huddle.

"Ah... sure... Mm? Despite everything?"

"Ah! Please do not kill us!" Those were Avelle's first words after throwing herself at Nerez's feet the moment he came into view.

"Please do not kill us!"

"We beg you!"

"Have mercy!"

"At least let Lady Avelle go!" The dryads followed her example as well and prostrated themselves behind Avelle. Avelle herself raised her gaze with difficulty, but when she met Nerez's golden eyes, filled with mysterious symbols turning within them, she felt as if she were staring into the end itself and lowered her head with such force that she ended up burying her head in the ground.

"It's not like I want to do anything to you..." Nerez began, a little bewildered by their attitude.

"But that depends on what has happened to Ily."

"Ily?" they all asked in unison, their eyes full of tears.

"The girl you kidnapped..." Avelle bowed her head in thought while the dryads looked at one another.

"Ah!" Avelle finally exclaimed.

"I had forgotten all about that... We haven't done anything to her, I swear!" The dryads jumped in to explain as well.

"She's only tied to a tree a little farther in!"

"But gently! We tied her gently!"

"She could practically slip free on her own!"

"Yes!"

"Definitely!" Cerys, who had finally managed to put her thoughts in order (without accomplishing much), took her place beside Nerez and, with her hands on her hips, shot Avelle and the dryads a look of deep contempt that made them tremble.

"So when are we going to consume them?"

"Hiiiiiiii!"

"Nyooooo!"

"Mercy! Please!" Nerez glanced sideways at Cerys and took a few steps away from her.

"Do you... want to eat them...?" Cerys, for her part, gave him a baffled look.

"They're spirits, aren't they? Don't you want to absorb their essence? I don't think it would amount to much, but maybe the local deity would give you a bit more power..."

"Hyaaaaa!"

"Ugh... hic... uuuu... noooo..."

"Please..."...

"Weren't you a spirit too? And above all else... do those faces covered in snot and tears actually make you hungry?"

"Consuming defeated spirits is one of the fastest ways for spirits to grow stronger," Cerys explained.

"Of course, that applies to enemies, not members of the same village."

"Still..." Nerez gave the women another look. They were growing paler and more haggard by the second, and he could have sworn more than one had wet herself.

"No, I have a better punishment in mind."

"What? What a waste..."

"Besides, they're probably the reason this valley is so fertile. Who knows what might happen if we got rid of them." Cerys let out a sigh, but shrugged. After all, even she did not think consuming that group of sniveling messes would be much of a long-term gain for them either. Avelle and the dryads, meanwhile, breathed in as if they had gone millennia without air.

"But before I start thinking about your punishment, I'm going to settle another matter..." Nerez reopened the holographic screen of his Godscript, ignoring the question marks on Avelle's and the dryads' faces. [Divine Blessing] [Epitaph] [Soul Ledger]"Time to play the lottery again."