Becoming a God Starts with Acting-Chapter 122: [Fish] - Nerio’s Part (END)

The humans were stunned, their hearts seemingly about to stop as their eyes locked onto Lucian, waiting for his response.

"What the hell are you talking about? Who am I supposed to be?"

Lucian tilted his head slightly as if he couldn’t comprehend what these humans were saying right now.

Their hearts skipped a beat—had they guessed wrong? Was Lucian simply trying to become the overlord of this dungeon, and that’s why he killed Elena?

Benjamin pressed his lips together as he looked at Lucian, his eyes filled with stubbornness, but he couldn’t hide the flicker of doubt that crossed his expression.

"Pfft, hahaha—got it right, it’s me!"

Lucian suddenly burst into laughter, and then a layer of water slid down his body like a curtain. Once the watery veil disappeared, the proper form of "Lucian" was revealed before all of them.

A boy, barely a meter and a half tall, with a face so adorably beautiful it was hard to tell whether he was male or female. But this time, he no longer played the role of the pitiful, innocent child like he had in the previous dungeon.

The outfit he wore was divine in appearance, adorned with formal, sacred designs, and a thin blue veil seemed to surround him, casting a slightly ethereal glow. His ears were long and pointed, like the elves in human imagination.

His round eyes blinked slowly, eyelashes glistening like they held drops of water, twinkling under the sunlight.

He blinked and skipped toward the humans, a bright, cheerful smile on his face. "Wasn’t that fun? Your constantly changing expressions really pleased me. Even now, it’s delightful."

As he spoke, he extended both hands in front of him as if pretending to take a picture, even saying, "Smile for the camera~"

The humans: "..."

[Honestly, I don’t think they can smile right now...]

[Please, even if they survived, their expressions look worse than death. Who would’ve thought everything would turn out like this, hahaha.]

Just then, Leonard suddenly rose from the ground. The bones in his body had been nearly crushed to fragments by Nerio, and no matter how fast his healing was, his body was still in ruins. Even so, he struggled to sit up, turning toward Nerio with a friendly smile—though with a bloodied mouth, shark-like teeth, and a face now covered in scales due to partial assimilation from drinking Madame William’s blood, he looked utterly grotesque and terrifying.

[Help... Leonard is really...]

[There’s no saving him now. In the end, he’s still a devoted believer of Nerio, with no resentment at all. Just how deep does his faith in Nerio go?]

[Simp.]

Nerio raised his eyebrows slightly, withdrawing his smile, his expression turning somewhat bored and puzzled.

He stepped forward and leaned down, his hand touching Leonard’s broken, disfigured face. The fish-like scales on Leonard’s skin felt rough and cold to the touch while blood ran down from his forehead, soaking Nerio’s elegant, pale hand.

Leonard murmured, "I’m... filthy..."

Nerio lightly patted his face, shrugged, and said nonchalantly, "Not that bad."

He straightened up, and the blood on his hand instantly turned into frost and dispersed into the air. Raising one finger, a gentle, divine blue light enveloped Leonard’s shattered body.

Leonard felt incredible warmth—an almost tender energy flowing through him, caressing and soothing every fiber of his being. In just a blink, his body had fully healed.

As the light faded, Leonard stood firmly on the ground, effortlessly, without even a tremble.

"What about us?" Cocona looked over at her teammates sprawled across the ground. Even though she knew they would fully recover once they left the dungeon, she still couldn’t help but ask.

Nerio lowered his eyes to look at her, smiled faintly, and said, "What are you all to me?"

That’s right—Leonard was Nerio’s top believer. The others? They were nothing.

[This exception is seriously making me tear up lmao]

[Maybe only a monster like Leonard could pull this off, haha]

[Who said that? I want in, too! Just imagining Nerio squeezing me, I can’t help but...]

[Do what? Squeeze what? Please finish your sentence, seriously.]

[Probably afraid of getting chat-banned, haha]

Silvanus: "..." This livestream system seriously needs to purge its viewer base.

Nerio glanced indifferently at the humans, then waved his hand. The entire dungeon suddenly quaked violently. A scene that seemed to have occurred before played out once again.

The entire dungeon froze over at lightning speed, frost spreading so fast it was beyond belief. Nothing could escape it.

Crack crack crack! It was the sound of everything beginning to shatter—like a layer of ugly glass breaking apart to reveal the true blue light of the sky underneath.

At the same time, the dungeon system’s cold mechanical voice rang out:

[Congratulations, humans, for clearing the Fish dungeon. The dungeon will close in 10, 9, 8...]

As the announcement echoed, Leonard’s eyes widened. He ran toward Nerio—but quickly came to a halt about a meter away.

"I... did I do well, sir? I fought..."

He stammered, twisting his hands together, each word forced out of his throat like a struggle—worse even than Elena’s hoarse voice.

Nerio looked at him—and suddenly laughed. "Idiot."

His smile was clearly beautiful and adorable, but the words that came out of his mouth were anything but sweet.

Leonard’s face fell. His head drooped like a soaked, abandoned puppy, left out in a storm—lonely and pitiful.

Just then, his collar was yanked, forcing Leonard to lift his head and face Nerio.

Their faces were so close their noses were nearly touching. Leonard’s face flushed deep red in an instant, eyes brimming with moisture. He looked like he couldn’t believe he was this close to Nerio.

[Nerio clearly looks like a shota, but the aura he gives off is totally top—who can understand aghhhh I’m about to transform]

[Is this what a believer is? He’s basically a loyal dog worshipping its master—I’m convinced Nerio is an evil god, where’s the cult location? I want in!]

[mlem mlem mlem]

[I think Leonard’s about to faint, haha]

[Honestly? So am I]

[It should’ve been me! Leonard, move aside—I can be more loyal, obedient, and fanatical than you!]

[No need to prove it, the comment section alone already screams cult fanaticism]

[Who just called Nerio a top? He’s clearly the type to cry in my arms!]

[Lmao, everyone here’s unhinged]

Nerio tilted his head slightly and looked at Leonard, smiling as he said, "At the very least, you’re an amusing idiot."

Leonard opened his mouth, as if wanting to say something, but he didn’t get the chance—because the short ten-second countdown had come to an end. All the humans were engulfed in a dazzling beam of light, vanishing from the dungeon-like shooting stars.

Despite how badly humanity had been battered inside this dungeon, the surprising part was that there had been no casualties.

All of them were transported to a fog-filled space. In front of them was a question, just like in the previous dungeon—a question about the dungeon’s true nature.

Cyril and the others were still a bit dazed; they’d passed out after fighting Madam William and could hardly believe they were still alive.

Bella clutched Cocona’s sleeve, chattering nonstop: "What happened just now? How did you all beat that monster? I thought I was dead—huhuhu—Captain Cocona, you really are someone I can count on, the only hero I trust!"

Cocona: "...Let’s talk about it once we’re out of here."

Right now, they needed to answer the dungeon’s question first. With that thought, Cocona’s gaze turned to Leonard. Not just her—Benjamin was also looking at him.

The focused attention of the two team leaders drew the eyes of the others, and soon, everyone was staring at Leonard.

Bella gaped, clearly incredulous. "Wait, why are you two looking at him like that? Did he... do something?"

It could be that Leonard was the one who defeated the monster and saved them all. With those hands of his that were trembling like they might fall apart any second?

"At the very least, he protected us when things got dangerous." Cocona tapped Bella’s head with a blank expression and didn’t elaborate further. As she said—wait until they were out of the dungeon.

"You can answer this question," Cocona said. "You’re the one who’ll answer it most correctly out of all of us, Leonard."

Leonard didn’t hesitate this time. He stepped forward and wrote down the perfect answer. Light flared and engulfed them all.

Another victory for humanity had been secured.

But this time, none of the humans—especially those in the higher-ranking divisions—could bring themselves to smile.

An emergency meeting was immediately held just an hour after the dungeon survivors emerged and were given time to rest. At the same time, Leonard, as the representative of Nerio’s believers, was preparing for a massive press conference to address the entire continent.

He couldn’t let Nerio’s image be tarnished by what had happened in the dungeon. After all, Nerio had saved them—saved all of humanity. He was just... a little playful. They might still be trapped and fighting for their lives in that dungeon without him!

With that sense of mission, Leonard could barely focus during the meeting at the Association of Espers. Still, he couldn’t leave—he wasn’t sure what Drake, the top believer of the Prophet, might say about Nerio, and he couldn’t risk that. So he stayed.

His unwavering loyalty was enough to bring tears to anyone’s eyes. But at the very least, Drake wasn’t so sentimental.

"This much should be clear now, right? Prophet and Nerio are basically two extremes. At least the Prophet would never oppress his own believers just for fun!"