Asina Wants to Know the Truth (4)

The former Rosweisse had feigned innocence and cuteness, but now Rosweisse clearly saw herself as Her Majesty the Empress.

Even when facing her former teammates, she spoke to them in a completely commanding tone, as if they were no longer comrades-in-arms, but merely her servants or slaves.

Athena also disliked this attitude.

Although, in Athena's eyes, that posture was nothing more than that of a pathetic clown.

"So, even if everything goes perfectly according to plan, Jello is eventually resurrected, what do you think will happen?"

"Let me tell you, Rosweisse will find a way to eliminate me, you, my sister Ekaterina, and the traitor Eileen the day before Jello is resurrected."

Even if Jello were to be resurrected, he would only have Rosweisse by his side.

Of course, Rosweisse was also kept in the dark... When everyone else turned out to be a mole, Rosweisse, the only one who wasn't, became the mole.

Almost every member of this former Hero's Party harbors a secret they can't let anyone else know.

The plan has already collapsed; Jello can no longer be resurrected.

Whether this is her true thought or just an excuse, this is Sylph's attitude: she no longer wants to sacrifice anything to resurrect Jello.

As she spoke, Sylph tore off a piece of rabbit meat and tossed it to Athena.

Athena felt slightly agitated. She chewed slowly, swallowing gently with her slender neck, creating a strangely alluring effect.

Although it was just simple grilled meat, my mouth felt greasy after eating it, and there was a slightly greasy and uncomfortable feeling deep inside my mouth.

Sylph took out a pink bottle from her storage ring—it was unclear whether it was a beverage or a magic potion—and gulped down most of it before handing it to Athena.

When you're traveling, there aren't as many taboos.

Athena took the bottle and shook it slightly. The light pink liquid swayed gently inside, looking quite appetizing.

"What is this?" Athena asked, puzzled.

"It was bought from the Mage Association. It's said to be suitable for mages traveling. It can be used as a drink and can also accelerate the recovery of Magic Power and stamina," Sylph explained simply.

She made many preparations before leaving Qin Chu's palace.

However, the two bottles I drank recently tasted a little strange; they seemed a bit sweeter.

Perhaps it was because her mouth was dry and salty from eating barbecue, Sylph didn't think much of it.

Indeed, she could sense a slight fluctuation of Magic Power. In addition, since Sylph had already drunk half a bottle, Athena did not hesitate any longer and drank the rest in one gulp.

Not a single drop remained.

There was no other way; in this vast wilderness, food and water were extremely precious resources.

Although they prepared a lot of things before setting out, the time and energy consumed by this trip still exceeded their expectations.

A pink tongue swept across her lips, swallowing a drop of liquid, before Athena turned to Sylph: "Sylph, what do you think of Jello?"

"Jello?" Sylph frowned, seemingly troubled. After a moment, she spoke, "To be honest, I still don't understand why Jello chose me to be a member of the Hero's Party."

"I had never doubted this before."

"But now it feels a bit strange. Although I was also a fugitive back then, I should have been different from people like Karthus, Muse, Benson, and Ronald. Who knows? Maybe it was just because my elf identity was special?"

"Moreover, what I'm even more confused about now is why I fell for Jello in the first place? I'm not like you. At least Jello saved you from that magician. Nothing like that happened to me. Was it just because we spent a lot of time together?"

Athena frowned. Was even Sylph like this?

However, Sylph wasn't as suspicious as her, and she didn't delve into the matter further.

Muttering something under her breath, she stood up, brushed the dust and fallen leaves clinging to her maid outfit, Sylph said, "It's about time we started looking again."

"If our previous investigation was correct, the place where a suspected meteorite fell in the year Jello died should be in this mountain forest..."

Sylph looked up at the towering mountains before her and felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of unease.

Finding a tiny crystal in such a large area is incredibly difficult.

Athena nodded and stood up. "Perhaps we can find some help."

"A helper?" Sylph was even more puzzled.

Then, Athena took out a flute from her spatial ring, hesitated briefly, and then put it to her lips and began to play.

Hiss...

Upon hearing that sound, Sylph instinctively covered her ears.

God, what kind of flute can produce such a strange sound?

It sounded like saw teeth grinding against a steel bar—hoarse, shrill, and extremely unpleasant.

After listening for only a few seconds, Sylph felt her scalp tingle and her ears felt like they were being pierced.

What devastated Sylph even more was that, along with the extremely unpleasant flute music, a series of rustling sounds began to emerge all around, as if countless small animals were crawling rapidly in the grass and on the ground.

By the moonlight, Sylph looked around.

The next instant, goosebumps immediately appeared on her fair skin.

What are those?

The ground was covered with a dense layer of gray and black rats of all sizes; almost the entire field of vision was filled with these ugly and filthy creatures.

A pair of eyes, each the size of a soybean, were all flashing an eerie red light.

Not only the ground, but even the nearby tree branches were covered with rats and squirrels, as well as some other rodents whose names I didn't know.

"Hey, Athena, what are you doing?"

"When did you become able to use such... ugh, disgusting magic?" Sylph was on the verge of a breakdown and almost threw a spell at her.

She was truly helpless when it came to cockroaches and rats.

Athena did not answer; the flute music continued, and suddenly the syllables became high-pitched.

All around, tens of thousands of rats swarmed, as if they had been provoked, their bodies trembling and their fur standing on end.

A few seconds later, Athena seemed to give commands to the rodents through a flute sound.

The swarm of rats suddenly turned around and spread rapidly in all directions.

The flute finally left Athena's lips.

With so many helpers, finding Jello's Soul Fragment should be quite possible, right?

However, this time, Athena did not intend to hand over the Soul Fragment to Rosweisse, nor did she intend to hand it over to Qin Chu immediately.

She needs to decipher the information stored within the Soul Fragment as soon as she gains control of them.

Chapter Three is here. Many thanks to Dongfang Wufei and Aishang Zinanxiangwang for their generous donations and support.

Chapter 362 Athena Wants to Know the Truth (4)

Only after all the rats had run away did Sylph breathe a sigh of relief, rubbing her arms vigorously with her little hands, but the small bumps on them just wouldn't go away.

The air still seemed to be filled with the lingering stench of rats.

Looking at Athena, who had just put away her flute, Sylph felt a chill run down her spine, as if she were meeting Athena for the first time.

Sylph could never have imagined that Athena possessed such bizarre magic.

"Where did you learn such disgusting stuff?" Sylph couldn't help but complain, "It's so disgusting!"

God knows what it felt like to see those swarms of rats in front of you; it was even more disgusting than seeing a swarm of Magic Creature.

Seeing Sylph's expression, Athena simply smiled slightly. This wasn't actually magic; to be precise, it was the prelude to some kind of ability.

Although he didn't know why, Qin Chu was able to decipher the mysterious script.

Furthermore, two abilities were deciphered from that stone slab.

Curse of Misfortune and the Black Death.

Curse of Misfortune is something that brings bad luck, while the Black Death was a terrifying infectious disease that spread extremely quickly and had a very high mortality rate.

The Black Death was primarily transmitted through rodents.

To spread this Plague on a large scale, the first thing to learn is how to manipulate the lives of rodents.

Every rat running around is a source of infection.

Whether in the mountains or the city, creatures like rats are everywhere. Imagine the effect if Athena used this ability in the city. It would probably be that the entire city would be overrun with the virus in no time. Caught off guard, it would be impossible to find out where the disease came from, and the survivors would only vent their anger on those who were already infected.

They might kill or burn those people, but they couldn't stop the Plague from spreading.

They might mistake this for a curse from the gods and die in despair.

The power of the Evil God is truly terrifying. He doesn't even let living beings die cleanly, but rather makes them experience extreme physical and mental torment, slowly facing death in fear and despair.

Shaking her head, Athena suppressed the jumbled thoughts in her mind and glanced at Sylph: "If you want to search one place at a time on your own, then so be it."

Sylph was stunned for a moment, looked around at the dense forest, and frowned, deciding against it.

This area is so vast, who knows how long it will take to find it? Maybe even if she stayed here for several years, she wouldn't be able to find it all. She's not stupid.

"What do we do next?" Sylph asked.

"Wait? It's that simple?"

"Right."

Sylph remained skeptical: could those rats truly find their desired target?

She didn't think these rodents could have that kind of high intelligence.

The wait was somewhat tedious. As a mage, Athena possessed far greater patience than Sylph, but this time it was Athena who broke the silence first. "Sylph, how much do you remember about Jero?"

A hint of impatience flashed in Sylph's eyes.

However, after careful consideration, he said, "Actually, not much. When I was with Jello, most of the time seemed to be spent cultivating and fighting Magic Creature. There don't seem to be any other particularly memorable moments."

Sylph added in her mind, "Except when I confessed to Jello and was rejected."

"And you?"

Athena stretched languidly. "Aside from Jello saving me, there doesn't seem to be anything particularly memorable. Compared to us women, Jello seems to prefer spending time with the male team members Ronald, Benson, Karthus, and Muse."

"So, some people are wondering if Jello doesn't like women." As if recalling some past events, Sylph's face showed a rare, gentle smile, pure and unadulterated, without any scheming or deceit.

At least that period was happy, although it wasn't long.

She mimicked Athena's posture, stretched her arms, and lay down on the soft fallen leaves.

This isn't the Imperial City, so there aren't as many rules and regulations to follow.

Her eyes were fixed on the sunlight filtering through the leaves, and her little hand reached out as if trying to grab something, but she couldn't grasp anything.

"Tell me, what would you do if Jello suddenly appeared in front of us one day?" Sylph suddenly thought of this question and asked Athena.

Perhaps this isn't a question that suddenly came to mind.

She seemed to have thought about it a lot.

Their bodies, front and back, top and bottom, had already been given to Qin Chu... To put it bluntly, they were already Qin Chu's women long ago.

Even if she once deeply loved Jello, could she still stay by Jello side now?

Moreover, her opinion of Qin Chu seemed to be constantly changing. From absolute disgust at the beginning, she slowly realized that he wasn't so bad after all. Sylph counted on her fingers as Qin Chu cleaned the Evil God's threads from her body and saved her from Ramon's pursuit.

When I had a falling out with the Hero's Party, they actually took me in.

Suddenly I feel like this person is actually quite nice.

A slight mist welled up in her eyes. She hadn't felt this strongly before, but now she felt that Qin Chu seemed to be getting more and more outstanding.

When exactly did it start, that I began thinking about Qin Chu more often than I thought about Jello?

Judging from Sylph's expression, Athena roughly knew what she was thinking. But Sylph, you don't know that if Qin Chu was right, and the so-called Jello was just a demon who had taken over that body, perhaps she wouldn't have hesitated so much.

Athena was momentarily at a loss for words.

Just then, a rustling sound came from behind.

The first mouse has returned, and it seems to have found something that meets Athena's criteria.

Athena immediately sat up from the ground, and when she saw what the rat was holding in its mouth, she was speechless. It was an acorn...

Round, smooth, bright, transparent... Even though it provided many keywords, the mouse seemed to only remember some of them.

This was just the beginning; more and more rats began to return.