Chapter 529: Memories and the Curse

Chapter 529: Chapter 529: Memories and the Curse

Crystal Lynn summoned Beau. The White Jade Snake’s scales bristled, its serpentine eyes locked on the surging Demonic Beast Horde.

"Beau! Petrification Tooth! Petrify everything you can!"

With a hiss, Beau charged into the horde. Its Poisonous Fangs flashed, turning one Demonic Beast after another into stone.

Flora Sullivan’s long hair danced wildly, each strand transforming into a vine-like whip that lashed out at the encroaching tendrils and plants.

The plants she severed at her feet withered instantly, but more surged forward in an endless tide.

Matthew Dawson drew his Longbow, loosing a rain of arrows. Each shaft struck true, felling the monsters that tried to draw near.

His archery, honed during the Treasure Chest event, had reached a state of perfection.

Gritting his teeth, Dexter Luther expanded his Energy Shield to its maximum size, enveloping the entire team.

Veins bulged on his forehead as he furiously poured out his Energy, refusing to retreat a single step.

"Come on! Bring it on! I’m right here! If you’ve got the guts, come at me!"

Paul Payne stood behind him, hands clasped together as the light of Mysterious Guardian enveloped every member of the team.

His face grew increasingly pale from the immense drain, but he knew he could not fall.

...

Meanwhile, in the center of the blood pool, Seraphina Sullivan and Sean Chandler were locked in a fierce battle with the Blood Ancestor.

Seraphina fired relentlessly, each bullet imbued with the Power of the Food God’s Favored.

The bullets exploded within the blood, solidifying patches of it into pastry-like shapes. Though they were quickly washed away by fresh blood, each attack drained the Blood Ancestor’s Power.

Sean Chandler was even more ferocious.

He was empowered by the Demon God’s Pillar.

Every one of his strikes inflicted true damage upon the Blood Ancestor.

His bear-like paws shattered the face of blood, his sharp claws tore through the sanguine pool, and his roar made the very blood churn.

"Damn you! Damn you both!"

The Blood Ancestor shrieked madly. She discovered that in the face of these two, her Undying Body was useless.

Especially the man with the Blue Crystal Stone on his forehead—

The Aura of that Crystal Stone reminded her of someone from a long, long time ago... someone she had betrayed, someone she had devoured...

The Demon God.

Suddenly, she realized something.

"You possess the Demon God’s Divine Artifact!"

The Blood Ancestor’s hideous face of blood stared intently at the Blue Crystal Stone on Sean Chandler’s forehead, her blood-red eyes filled with disbelief and profound fear.

That radiance was all too familiar, so familiar it brought back a name she herself had buried long ago—

Rod.

The man who had once fought by her side. The man she had once loved so deeply, yet had killed with her own hands.

The Blood Ancestor, whose real name was Lilith Lewis, felt a storm of complex emotions churning within her.

Fear, anger, and a trace of something she refused to even admit to herself... regret.

She was once a Player.

Along with Rod.

In an era ravaged by cataclysms, the six of them had formed a permanent team, struggling to survive in countless terrifying dungeons.

Lilith Lewis, Rod, and four others. It was she and those four who would later become the five Ancestral Witches.

Together, they had faced mountains of corpses and seas of blood, weathered moments of absolute despair, and supported one another on the brink of death.

And Rod... he was the most brilliant among them.

He was powerful, resilient, and charismatic.

No matter how perilous the situation, he could always find a way to survive.

Lilith Lewis watched him grow stronger step by step, watched him transform from an ordinary Player into a leader everyone depended on, watched him step forward at the most dangerous of times to protect them all.

She liked him.

No, she loved him.

That love grew deeper and deeper with time, until it was all-consuming.

She believed that if she just stayed by his side, one day he would notice her, one day he would reciprocate her feelings.

Then, Rod ascended to godhood.

Lilith Lewis was happy for him. Truly happy.

’This is fine, too,’ she thought. ’He’s a God now. I can stay by his side, watch him protect this world, watch us survive together.’

But she was wrong.

The first thing Rod did after his ascension was to sever this world’s path for Players.

He used his Divine Power to shield the world from the system’s senses, preventing any new Players from being created.

What did this mean? It meant that the Players who had not yet ascended—including Lilith Lewis and her companions—had lost their chance to achieve godhood forever.

"Why?" Lilith Lewis asked him. "Why would you do this? We could have become Gods, too! We could have helped you protect this world!"

Rod looked at her, his gaze calm and filled with pity.

"Ascending to godhood... it’s not as wonderful as you imagine," he said. "The path is too painful. I don’t want you to walk it, too."

Lilith Lewis didn’t understand.

Why did Rod get to make that decision for them?

It was so unfair.

All she saw was Rod, now a God high above, while she was doomed to remain a weakling who could only ever look up at him.

That resentment, that jealousy, that rage at being left behind—it tormented her day after day.

She wanted to ascend to godhood.

She wanted to stand at Rod’s side, not trail forever in his shadow.

So when the other four came to her with their plan for deicide, she hesitated. She struggled. But in the end, she agreed.

All to achieve godhood.

To be worthy of him.

She used Rod’s trust in her, his vulnerability around her, to push him into a trap with her own hands.

Before he died, as Rod looked at her, his eyes held no anger, only a deep, profound sadness.

"Lilith..." he whispered. "You shouldn’t have."

Then, he died.

Lilith Lewis thought she would inherit the Divine Position, that she would become the new God.

But nothing happened.

After Rod died, his divine body began to crumble. His vast Divine Power spiraled out of control, and the entire world began to undergo Demonization.

The five of them panicked.

Fearing they would be left with nothing, they fell upon Rod’s body in a frenzy, devouring his flesh and drinking his Divine Blood, believing they could claim his Divine Power for themselves.

Lilith Lewis consumed the blood.

But that had not been her intention. It was Rod’s dying curse—

"Since you all want my Power so badly, then you can have it."

"You will bear it for eternity, be eroded by it for eternity, and for eternity, you will be... twisted monstrosities, neither human nor ghost."

And so, she became the thing she is today.

Immortal and indestructible, yet forever trapped in this pool of blood, forever tormented by Rod’s curse, forever unable to break free.

—

"Rod—!!!"

Lilith Lewis shrieked madly, her face of blood twisting and contorting as countless blades of blood shot toward Sean Chandler.

But the moment the blades touched the light from the Demon God’s Pillar, they vanished into nothingness.

Sean Chandler strode forward through the blood, each step causing the entire pool to tremble violently.

Seraphina Sullivan stood on the shore, continuously firing her Universal Sniper Rifle.

Each bullet, imbued with the Power of the Food God’s Favored, solidified a patch of blood into the shape of a pastry, which the frenzied Demonic Creatures then scrambled to devour.

After eating the food transformed by the Power of the Food God’s Favored, the monsters would lose all combat capability, either collapsing to the ground or turning on one another in a mad frenzy.

"Sullivan! I can’t hold them back much longer over here!"

Dexter Luther’s voice, heavy with strain, called from behind her.

His Energy Shield was riddled with cracks. The assault of the Demonic Tide was ferocious, striking in wave after relentless wave with barely a pause.

Seraphina didn’t look back.

She raised her rifle, aimed it at the Demonic Tide surging from all sides, and pulled the trigger.

Universal Sniper Rifle—Continuous Shooting!

Streaks of light shot into the horde of beasts. The moment the terrifying monsters were struck by the bullets, their bodies began to twist and contort, and then—

They turned into chunks of food.