Chapter 2: Deadly encounter
Leaves hummed and distant themselves as nerve-wracking footsteps sounded. Their footsteps were in a rhythm as both made swayed their way toward the village with great caution.
The myriad forest wasn't a park - beast like magical tigers, enraged apes, and many death tier monsters lived in groups and often looked out for prey. Notoriously, their favorite game was to enjoy the painful screams of weak prey for amusement. This disgusting behavior was something Eria frowned upon, but he was too weak to protect himself let alone fight the entire hoard of magical creatures.
"It still feels the same," Eria muttered under his breath as he faced the misty forest. "Hopefully, nothing unusual is happening."
Since Eria had fused with his god-soul, he could even sense an ominous presence hidden inside of the forest. Although it seemed foreign, he had a feeling there was a hint of his own presence on it. Moreover, ever since his soul fused more and more, he began to feel negative emotions coursing through his body every time he came or was close to this place.
Rumors had it that, about a million years ago, a meteorite struck the forest and suddenly all the beast had escaped from the central zone and never approached. It was as though they were protecting themselves from something foreign and dangerous.
"Rin, don't take the shortcut around this area ever again," Eria ordered while turning back. "There are more than a few dangerous creatures around their area. I am worried something might happen to you if you are not careful."
Rin, who heard her brother complain about her actions, kept her head low down to not show him her tearful expression. Previously, when encountering the demonic rabbit, she was frightened to death but she was lucky that the demonic beast turned away as soon as she started to get off the forest.
"Mmm... I will follow what you tell me," said the girl while sobbing slightly. She didn't want to expose her weakness to her brother as she idolized him a lot, and didn't want him to think of her as a bother.
'Am I being too harsh, maybe I am not. After all, many people have lost their lives upon that path, but maybe...' Eria thought as he looked ahead to see any signs of the beast. As soon as he said it, his facial expression changed.
Currently, Eria was having a mixed feeling - it was as though there were two beings inside one body that were deciding who was right and who was wrong.
"Can it be the souls haven't mixed together, doesn't that mean both the souls will disappear if neither is dominant?" Eria muttered to himself after being aware of a problem. Upon thinking of such possibility, his heart started to beat even faster and his breathing rate increased.
"Clomp"
While Eria was questioning such a possibility, a sound of footsteps came from deep inside the forest. The steps were loud, boastful and sounded almost human-like.
"Clomp, Clomp" The footsteps got closer each second and inched towards them as they stepped forwards. Moreover, this time around, there were more than just a few footsteps that sounded. It seemed as though a huge group of people was advancing towards their direction.
"Brother, do you think it's the guys from the royal city. They came last time with few people, so we could stop them, but this time, it might not be possible." Rin, who recovered from her emotional trauma, looked at Eria and softly muttered. The sound that came just now was similar to an army advancing.
"It's possible," Eria said as he saw some figures with his supernatural eyes. Although they were several miles away, it wasn't difficult for Eria to see far. As he was a God in his last life, his soul was far beyond the understanding of a simple person. Benefits such as supernatural senses came as one of the advantages of having a God soul.
"Quickly run!" said Eria as he sensed a hint of bloodthirsty nature from the people heading towards his direction."Didn't you hear me? Quick! These guys are trying to create havoc. Go to the village before anyone can see you."
Seeing Eria's change in expression, Rin slightly moved backward. However, in an instant, she looked at him intentionally and said, " But, what about you?"
Eria look softened as he heard his sister. Although half of his soul was made up of Lord of Despair, the other one was made of the young boy that spent time in the village.
"Don't worry about me. I have a backup plan. Take the other route; not the short-cut, the other route. And, make sure to tell the village chief to prepare for the attack." Eria said softly as he advanced forward.
"Ok," said Rin as she started to head towards a different direction while sobbing slightly, "Make sure to keep yourself alive."
"I will!" Eria advanced towards the soldier quicker than ever. Once he was a few hundred meters away, he hid behind one of the old trees.
"Boss! Do we really have to kill the innocent kids in the village too? Although I don't mind ravishing some beauties; I would hate getting my hands dirty by killing kids."
"You know what? After I tell you a piece of news, you would want to kill them no matter what. Although the prince said we had to kill all the villagers in this area, he said we can bring some as a slave if we kill enough people. Maybe, if you kill enough defenseless kids, you can bring some of those beauties as slaves."
As Eria was trying to make himself well hidden, a lustful voice started to drift into his ear.
The origin of the sound was one of the soldiers that were heading towards the village. Hearing him witter about violating some poor women, Eria felt slightly aggravated.
If it was Lord of Despair, he wouldn't care about such petty things as he wasn't a kind god. However, one of the souls that were inside Eria body was of a young villager that lived in the village the soldiers was about to destroy. The mixed emotion felt by the two 'Eria' made the now Eria slightly conflicted.
"Boss! There is someone at the front, hiding behind the trees," said one of the person at the front of the pack of the army. The soldier was one of the snipers that were scouting the area around the army. As one of the best sniper of the whole pack, his eyesight was above average.
Upon discovering something moving in front of him, he decided to move to that direction.
Eria, who was feeling slightly irritated, ran towards the opposite direction of the village.
The leader of the group, who was sitting at the back of the chariot, had an evil grin as he saw Eria was fleeing away. " Fey, Ley. Capture that bastard and bring him to me."
"OK, boss!" The two other people at the chariot suddenly jumped off and chased after Eira.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone