Becoming a God Starts with Acting-Chapter 63: [The River God’s Wife] - Nerio’s Part (12)

The village at night seemed eerily quiet. From a distance, only the house where the human group was staying remained lit; the rest were shrouded in darkness.

Like moonlight shining through a thin mist, a pale light casts an unsettling and strange atmosphere over the place.

Ace’s group walked back with tense expressions, afraid they might get lost like when the fat man had led them into the village. But the worst they had imagined didn’t happen. They reached the village gate quickly—they hadn’t been walking in circles as they had feared.

Alexis released a breath of relief and grinned, "Looks like this mission isn’t as difficult as we thought. Maybe since it’s only the first night, things aren’t too intense yet."

No one else spoke, but they did relax slightly. Only Clow looked at Alexis and smiled kindly, reminding him, "Until we’re safely back in our rooms, stay on guard. We don’t know what kind of dangers we might encounter."

Alexis shrugged. "You don’t have to be so serious, Clow. You’re always like this. We’ve survived countless dungeons already." He didn’t take Clow’s words seriously.

Clow merely chuckled and said no more.

They quickly made their way toward the house where the humans were staying.

Alexis even took the lead, but the moment he stepped further into the village, he suddenly felt his body grow unbearably heavy—like a massive boulder was pressing down on his back.

It made no sense. He was an esper, yet this weight still made every movement difficult.

Refusing to accept it, Alexis pushed himself forward faster, but his strength drained quickly, and soon, he was left gasping for breath.

He wasn’t sure if it was exhaustion or his ragged breathing, but he suddenly felt like someone was exhaling right next to his ear—cold gusts of air brushing against his neck, sending a shiver down his spine.

Swallowing hard, he mustered his courage and looked back. His eyes widened—but then he exhaled in relief.

There was nothing behind him.

Even so, he no longer dared to walk ahead alone. Turning to the others grimly, he asked, "Do you guys feel like your bodies are getting heavier?"

The others frowned, beads of sweat forming on their foreheads. They were experiencing the same thing.

Yet, nothing was behind them.

Ace furrowed his brows and said coldly, "Let’s hurry back. Maybe once we’re inside, whatever this is will disappear."

"Captain, I... I see..." Julia suddenly pointed at Alexis, mumbling.

Before Ace could respond, Alexis snapped, "See what?! Can’t you talk normally?! What the hell is wrong with you today?!"

The tension and exhaustion made him lash out at her instantly.

Julia stared at him, then rubbed her forehead. Maybe she was just too tired and had imagined things. She shook her head and muttered, "Sorry, I must be exhausted."

Alexis scoffed. The others didn’t pay her any more attention and continued walking. After all, Julia had been acting strangely all day.

Julia pressed her lips together and followed behind, her gaze fixed on the empty backs of the others.

Just now, she was sure—if only for a fleeting moment—that she had seen something. Swollen figures, as if waterlogged from being submerged too long, layered over the backs of everyone else. Shrouded in black mist, they twisted and distorted, gradually taking shape. Julia couldn’t make out their entire appearance, but she was sure of one thing—they weren’t anything pleasant.

Had she imagined it?

As the thought crossed her mind, her shoulders grew heavier. She watched the others struggle, their knees lifting effortlessly as they trudged toward their quarters. Meanwhile, the grotesque black shapes in her mind seemed more apparent than ever...

Just then, a gust of wind swept past. A faint sound echoed in her ears as if confirming what she feared.

She hadn’t imagined it.

She hadn’t imagined it.

Silvanus watched the live broadcast feed of the humans. There was a reason why they felt burdened, why their movements had slowed. Perhaps Julia had seen something the others couldn’t.

Because right now, in Silvanus’s eyes—and the eyes of the viewers—every member of Ace’s group was carrying three creatures on their backs.

They were waterlogged corpses, bloated beyond recognition, swollen like grotesque balloons. They looked exactly like the monsters Leonard had killed.

Unlike the distorted, emotionless, rage-filled faces of the monsters that had attacked Leonard, these creatures wore beaming smiles. Their swollen eyelids had puffed up so much that their pupils could not be seen. The corners of their mouths stretched unnaturally to their ears, and from the abyss of their gaping, pitch-black mouths, thick, dark red liquid oozed out—dripping, seeping through the corpses, flowing down onto the humans carrying them.

Yet, the group remained unaware. Struggling forward, they continued toward their quarters, oblivious to the horror clinging to them.

"Damn it, what the hell is going on? Why is it so heavy? Those damn wooden planks must be the problem!"

Jack and Alexis shouted in frustration, their voices laced with exhaustion. Julia was so drained that she couldn’t even speak—just dragging herself forward was already a monumental effort.

At last, the door to their quarters came into view. Relief flickered across all their faces. Even the weight on their backs eased slightly.

But then—

A system notification suddenly appeared before their eyes.

[Side Quest: Make your companion open the door!

Reward: Clue x1]

The moment Ace saw the message, his expression twisted into something strange. Does this count as a quest? And the reward is a clue? Since when is anything ever this easy?

Then, he felt it.

A chilling sensation crept along his neck and back.

A slimy, viscous liquid seeped into his clothes, trailing down his skin and dripping onto the floor. His blood ran cold. And at that exact moment—

He felt something pressing down on his back.

"...C-Captain..."

A trembling, fear-stricken whisper came from beside him. Alexis.

Ace turned his head, and he saw it when his gaze met Alexis’s.

Reflected in Alexis’s dilated pupils—

The monstrous, grinning corpses clinging to his own back.

Ace clenched his trembling fists tightly.

He swallowed hard and looked at the others, only to be met with utter despair—they were all in the same situation! Apart from their darkened, fear-stricken eyes and stiffly held heads, no one dared to move a muscle.

Each of them was carrying three of those grotesque creatures.

They had unknowingly brought eighteen monsters into the village.

"We... we..."

Alexis squeezed his eyes shut, tears streaming uncontrollably down his twisted face, distorted by fear and the unbearable weight crushing his shoulders.

The burden of the creatures was growing heavier and heavier, pressing down as if their spines would snap at any moment.

Just then, Jack’s voice suddenly rang out:

"As long as we open the door, these things will let us go, right? That’s the dungeon’s mission!"

The others had the same realization.

Maya furrowed her brows. "No! There are only ordinary people inside!"

Julia’s expression turned ice-cold. "Who cares? Our lives come first! If you wanna die, die alone!"

Despite her harsh words, Julia didn’t dare move either. She wasn’t sure—would opening the door let the creatures let her go? Or would they rip her head off instead?

"Alexis, what the hell are you doing?" Clow’s voice cut through the tension, chilling and sharp.

Alexis’s face was a mess of ugly tears. He was no longer able to turn his head toward them. His voice was stiff, broken, and robotic:

"I... I can’t... control... my body..."

Before he could finish, his hand lifted and knocked against the door.

His voice, perfectly steady and devoid of fear, rang out:

"Hey, open up! We’re back!"

Maya wanted to scream—to warn the people inside, to give them time to prepare.

But she couldn’t make a sound.

She stood there, frozen, her spine ice-cold. Too late, she realized—her body was no longer under her control.

The others had noticed as well. But there was nothing they could do.

Ace kicked the door, his voice impatient and irritated. "Hurry up! We’re exhausted over here!"

The moment Matthew heard Alexis’s voice inside the room, he instinctively stepped forward to open the door.

[ Ha ha ha, here we go! Do these humans even stand a chance of surviving their first night? ]

[ The irony—every single one being controlled is an esper! Ha ha ha! One esper against six esper-class enemies? There’s no way! This dungeon is definitely rigged! ]

[ Bro didn’t even bother counting Nerio as an esper... ]

[ Come on, his ability might be helpful at some point, but for combat? Yeah, no. ]

[ If he somehow draws a way out of this mess, I’ll admit he’s got talent. Too bad it doesn’t look like he’ll get another chance to prove himself, ha ha ha! ]

[ Baby Nerio is so precious... Don’t tell me I have to say goodbye to him already?! No! I refuse! ]

The comments—refusing to accept reality, mocking, shouting—flooded the screen nonstop, reaching a fever pitch, much like the dungeon itself at this moment.

Matthew’s hand was already on the crude door latch when, suddenly, Nerio’s voice rang out:

"The village chief said we shouldn’t go outside at night."

Matthew turned his head, looking at Nerio in confusion.

Nerio met his gaze, tilting his head slightly as if stating an obvious fact:

"Going outside at night is dangerous. They went outside at night."

Matthew felt like Nerio was hinting at something—but how could that be? He was just an innocent child!

Matthew forced a smile, lips twitching slightly.

"If they’re in danger, we should help them, right?"

He could not meet Nerio’s wide, innocent eyes at that moment.

How strange...