Becoming a God Starts with Acting-Chapter 121: [Fish] - Nerio’s Part (33)

"Kill all these humans..." Elena kept muttering, repeating those words over and over.

"No!"

At that moment, Cocona suddenly shouted, "Lucian, no, don’t do it! She lied to you! Killing us will only make everything worse!"

Lucian was the first monster to propose cooperation with humans. Cocona still held hope—hope that he would cooperate with humanity again, no matter the reason. Or at the very least, that Lucian could remain clear-headed and confront Elena.

Before this, they had seen how much Lucian truly loved his family, just like how parents love their children. If he could regain his senses and realize what Elena had done, the possibility that Lucian would fight Elena to the death was very real!

Elena coldly stared at Cocona, but this time, she said nothing. She simply opened her tear-filled eyes wide and looked at Lucian. She knew how terrifying and hideous she looked right now, but she also knew Lucian never cared about that.

Her little brother—her little brother had always been so precious!

Lucian blinked slowly, then suddenly squatted down until he was at eye-level with Elena. Facing Lucian’s breathtaking face, Elena couldn’t help but feel a flicker of greed rise instinctively in her eyes. But she quickly snapped out of it and stammered, "Wh-what is it, Lucian...?"

Lucian smiled, his gaze gentle and affectionate as always: "Sister, do you want me to kill those humans?"

Hearing that, Elena nodded frantically, her wide eyes filled with excitement: "Yes, yes, yes! Kill them, kill them!"

Her wide mouth opened and closed repeatedly, even spraying saliva as she spoke.

Lucian narrowed his eyes, a look of hidden meaning flickering in his gaze. As if sensing something strange from him, Elena couldn’t help but ask, "Lucian, what’s wrong?"

"No, I will kill them."

Lucian shrugged nonchalantly. Then, with one hand raised, Leonard—who had been shielding the other humans—was suddenly bound tightly by water and slowly lifted into the air. The water pressed against his body so tightly that his bones emitted creaking warning sounds. It was a sound that made one’s teeth ache—a sound like he could shatter into pieces at any moment.

"Leonard!"

Cocona screamed while the others watched in despair. Benjamin lowered his gaze, unable to say a word. At this point, they had truly become fish on the chopping block, ready to be slaughtered at any moment.

The humans outside the dungeon winced in agony at the sight yet couldn’t tear their eyes away. It was like a public execution—a direct threat!

Leonard groaned in pain, his face turning purple from lack of oxygen.

[Wait a minute, Leonard really doesn’t look okay... Is Nerio actually going to kill him? I mean, Leonard is his most devoted believer...]

[Is it really okay to treat your top believer like this? I wonder if anyone will still dare to worship Nerio after this dungeon...]

[Am I the only one thinking this? What if Nerio ends the dungeon right here? Like, he never reveals his true identity and just keeps playing Lucian and wipes out all the humans, hahaha.]

[Please, Nerio is a god, not some actual monster! Some of you need to stop your stupid and baseless speculation!]

[Honestly, I think Nerio’s worse than a monster, hahaha.]

[All those people who said Nerio represents justice are in for a rude awakening, hahaha.]

[If it were the Prophet, I might not even entertain this theory. But since it’s Nerio... don’t forget how he’s been playing the role and tormenting humans this whole time. Even if he could just snap his fingers and end it all instantly.]

Countless skeptical comments kept flooding in—Nerio’s image in the hearts of some had now become that of a man-eating demon.

Silvanus glanced at the comments. If even the viewers were reacting like this, he could already imagine how all of humanity would respond once the truth was revealed. But that was precisely what he wanted...

The moment for the truth to be exposed had come!

Leonard’s body continued to be crushed tighter and tighter.

"Ugh—ack!"

He coughed up a mouthful of blood, his face as pale as a corpse. Elena’s eyes gleamed with anticipation, as if she could already see Leonard collapsing in her mind.

That human was the only one left capable of fighting. Once he died, even if Lucian didn’t lift a finger, she would still be more than capable of dealing with the rest of them herself.

As if driven by fate, Elena’s instincts screamed that she had to exterminate these humans. If she could just wipe them out, something would change. Something would come to her. And she needed it!

"Thud!"

Leonard’s body hit the ground, unmoving—his fate unknown.

"But sister," Lucian’s gentle voice suddenly rang out, "shouldn’t you worry about yourself first?"

Elena blinked, stunned.

"What... what are you talking about?"

She didn’t understand Lucian’s words—until a sudden, bone-deep coldness engulfed her entire body. It came all at once, stronger than any chill she had ever experienced.

Eyes wide, Elena stared at a scale on her tail turning to ice. Then, in mere seconds, the frost spread, encasing her entire tail!

"No—no way! What is this?! What the hell is happening?!"

Elena roared in pain, trying desperately to thrash her tail—but she couldn’t. She realized the ice wasn’t covering her tail—her flesh itself was turning to ice!

Refusing to accept the truth, she tried to move her tail with sheer will.

"CRACK!"

A deafening shatter resounded—the massive tail burst apart into a cloud of icy dust and disappeared!

"AAAAAHHHH!"

The pain was beyond words. Elena screamed. Now, only her upper body remained—but the frost was relentless, devouring that too. At this rate, she would become a lifeless ice statue in no time!

Her arms flailed helplessly in the air. She reached toward Lucian, white vapor spewing from her mouth, releasing an unimaginably cold mist.

"Brother... save me... save me, please, save me..."

She stretched both hands toward Lucian, begging over and over. At this moment, Lucian seemed like her final hope. She didn’t even understand what was happening to her body—she just knew she couldn’t die. The path to her evolution was so close!

Her younger brother—her angel—would never abandon his family. Elena was sure of it.

But what happened next... was beyond anything Elena could have imagined.

Lucian narrowed his eyes at her, and the corners of his lips curled into a bright smile—a mischievous, never-before-seen expression lighting up his face.

He looked like a playful child who had just pulled off a clever prank.

"How pitiful... I originally wanted you to die without ever knowing the truth. Maybe that way, you’d have found a bit more comfort, wouldn’t you?"

He said mockingly, his gaze toward Elena no different from how one might look at a pitiful bug—no matter how much she struggled, she could never escape her fate.

Elena’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Lucian. Faced with her ugly, fish-like face and that stunned, doubtful expression, Lucian suddenly threw his head back and laughed uproariously:

"Ha ha ha! I really can’t hold it in anymore. That look in your eyes—what is that, ha ha ha! Sister, it’s me! Why are you looking at me like that? Ha ha ha! So pathetic... ha ha ha!"

[...]

[Does anyone else think Nerio actually feels sorry for Elena?]

[I can’t imagine what Elena must be feeling right now. Nerio is seriously the bogeyman of monsters T.T]

[I’m starting to get scared of him too...]

He laughed so hard tears welled in his eyes, and he nearly doubled over as if he might roll on the floor from the sheer hilarity. His gaze was filled with uncontrollable excitement.

"Yes, yes, that’s the look! Absolutely perfect. That’s the look I wanted—ha ha ha!"

He stepped closer to Elena until his face was right before hers. He raised his hands gently as though about to touch her hideous face, as though wanting to etch this moment into memory.

In his eyes, Elena saw the reflection of her own horrified, panicked expression—frozen like a fool, as if captured in a photograph.

"AAAAAA YOU BASTARD! You’re not my brother! Give him back! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you—I’ll rip you apart!"

That stupid image was torn to shreds. Elena went into a frenzy, screaming at the top of her lungs. She raised her arms, clawing at Nerio with sharp talons. But those hands were destined never to reach him.

"Crack! Crack-crack!"

Her hands turned completely to ice before they could touch Nerio—mere centimeters away.

Nerio glanced at the sharp claws near his face, then casually leaned in.

"Hmph."

He blew gently on the tips of Elena’s fingers—and in the next instant, her entire frozen body shattered into heavy chunks of ice that crashed to the ground.

Silence fell over the entire space.

Nerio straightened up and shrugged. "I thought she’d at least realize something was off when she accepted the fish scale. What an idiot."

With that, he tilted his head and turned to look at the humans.

Faced with those glowing blue eyes in the middle of the shadowy void, the humans seemed to awaken from a dream. They stared at him in a daze, expressions flickering between disbelief, ecstatic joy, shock, and utter confusion.

"Ha ha ha, those faces of yours are adorable, too, humans."

Nerio chuckled at them. Cocona swallowed nervously while Benjamin pushed himself upright as though about to kneel.

"It’s you," Benjamin said, using the very last of his strength to speak.