19: Chapter 19 The Illusion of the Goddess Buster

The Snake People responded in unison, raising their bone blades, which shimmered with a cold glint amidst the interlacing green and red light.

The bone blades collided, emitting a teeth-gritting sound. The encirclement began to shrink, and the Snake People dragged their long tails, leaving rustling trails on the ground.

Gray Fur breathed heavily, his chest heaving violently. A low whimper rolled out of his throat: "Looks like I'm going to meet my end here today."

The Snake People drew closer. The High Priest of the Snake People raised the holy icon of the snake, his lips moving as he chanted some ancient and twisted syllables. The sound felt like a physical object, drilling into the ears and making the brain ache.

Gray Fur gritted his teeth, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. He prepared to pounce; if he could bite one to death, that would be one down.

Just then, "Ah—!" a scream suddenly came from the outskirts of the forest.

It was the cry of a Snake Person. The High Priest of the Snake People turned his head sharply, a flash of shock and suspicion in his murky eyes. The holy icon in his hand trembled slightly, the green light flickering unsteadily. A commotion broke out in the encirclement; the Snake People looked at each other, their long tails slapping the ground restlessly.

Gray Fur caught the scent of a human and grinned at the High Priest of the Snake People.

The High Priest of the Snake People's pupils constricted. Just as he was about to speak, two more screams came from the outskirts. This time they were closer, just thirty paces away. The sound of bone blades hitting the ground and the sound of snake tails twitching and slapping the earth merged into one.

A black shadow rushed out of the forest; it was Wu Xi.

Two Tentacles extended from below his tailbone, each as thick as an adult's arm and covered with suction cups and barbs. A slightly thinner Tentacle protruded from both his left and right chest. The four Tentacles danced around his body like four independent venomous snakes.

The lead Snake Person hadn't even reacted when the Tentacles from his tail wrapped around its neck. The Tentacles tightened, and the barbs pierced into the scales. The Snake Person's eyes widened, its hands clawing at the Tentacles around its neck. Another Tentacle pierced through its chest and emerged from its back, bringing out a spray of black blood. The Snake Person opened its mouth, making a gurgling sound, and its body went limp.

The Snake Person on the left raised its bone spear to strike, but Wu Xi didn't dodge. The Tentacle from his left chest whipped out, wrapped around the bone spear, and yanked it aside, causing the Snake Person to lose its balance. The Tentacle from his right chest drove straight into its eye socket and pierced out from the back of its head. The Snake Person screamed and fell backward. As the Tentacle withdrew, it brought out two eyeballs hanging from its tip.

"What is this thing!"

Three Snake People lunged forward simultaneously, their bone spears thrusting at Wu Xi from different directions. The two Tentacles at Wu Xi's tail split left and right. One wrapped around the waist of the Snake Person on the left and tightened violently; the Snake Person's spine cracked, and its body folded at an odd angle. The other Tentacle coiled around the bone spear of the Snake Person on the right, using the leverage to pull the Snake Person toward him, and Wu Xi shattered its throat bone with a single punch.

The bone spear of the middle Snake Person struck Wu Xi's shoulder, but Wu Xi didn't even frown. The two Tentacles on his chest simultaneously plunged into the Snake Person's abdomen, split left and right, and tore the Snake Person's body in two. Innards spilled all over the ground, and the two halves of the corpse fell to either side.

Black blood splattered onto Wu Xi's face. He licked his lips and continued walking forward.

More Snake People swarmed up. One Tentacle swept horizontally, striking a Snake Person in the face; scales and flesh flew off, and the Snake Person spun twice before collapsing. Another Tentacle pierced through a Snake Person's heart and used the corpse to smash into its nearby companions. The Tentacles on his chest thrust repeatedly like long spears, each one precisely piercing a Snake Person's skull or heart.

Screams rose and fell one after another.

The Snake People began to retreat. Just moments ago, they were enjoying the thrill of the hunt; now, they realized they were the prey.

The Tentacles wove through the crowd, each swing claiming a life. When the Snake People's bone spears struck the Tentacles, the Tentacles merely contracted slightly before counterattacking with even greater ferocity.

A Snake Person turned to run, but a Tentacle wrapped around its ankle and dragged it back. The barbs scraped away a large patch of flesh, exposing white bone. The Snake Person cried out for mercy, but the Tentacle pierced into its mouth and out the back of its head, cutting the pleas for mercy short.

Wu Xi walked forward, stepping over corpses. Beneath his feet were the severed limbs of the Snake People, and black blood pooled into small streams. His Tentacles continued to dance, hung with scraps of flesh and viscera, dripping blood.

The High Priest of the Snake People was right in front, still holding that holy icon of the snake. Gray Fur lay at his feet, covered in blood.

Wu Xi quickened his pace. The Tentacles formed a whirlwind of death around him, shredding any Snake Person that approached. One Snake Person blocked the middle of the path; two Tentacles simultaneously wrapped around its limbs and pulled in opposite directions, tearing the Snake Person into four pieces.

The High Priest of the Snake People turned abruptly, holding an object in his hand—the holy icon of the snake.

It was a snake shape carved from some kind of animal bone, about two feet long and ghastly white. Two emeralds were embedded in the snake's eyes, glowing dimly. The light was not static but flowed across the surface of the snake bone, as if a living creature were swimming inside.

"Human, you seek death." The High Priest of the Snake People spat out these words and swung the holy icon in his hand.

Green light flared violently. Wu Xi's Tentacles had already coiled forward and collided with the green light.

Boom!

A shockwave exploded, knocking the surrounding Snake People to the ground. Wu Xi retreated three steps, his chest churning with turbulent Qi. He looked down and saw that the tips of his Tentacles had actually been corroded; black liquid dripped onto the ground, sizzling.

The High Priest of the Snake People did not fare well either. The hand holding the holy icon was shaking, the webbing between his thumb and index finger split open, and blood flowed down the patterns of the bone snake. That last blow had shaken his internal organs out of place.

"Not bad." The High Priest of the Snake People grinned, revealing his fangs.

Wu Xi didn't speak; he pushed off the ground and lunged again. His Tentacles, like whips, lashed out at the High Priest of the Snake People from all directions.

The High Priest of the Snake People waved the holy icon, and the green light wove into a barrier, blocking all the Tentacles. The two traded blows, exchanging a dozen moves in the blink of an eye.

Wu Xi's shoulder was grazed by the green light, leaving the skin charred black. The High Priest of the Snake People's abdomen was struck by a Tentacle, denting his armor and causing him to cough up blood.

Stalemate.

Neither could do anything to the other.

The High Priest of the Snake People's gaze changed. He glanced to the side—the group of Mimei Rats was still there. Gray Fur lay on the ground, his chest heaving weakly; he wasn't dead yet.

The High Priest of the Snake People suddenly withdrew his attack and retreated violently, shouting: "Kill those rats! Quick!" A few Snake People warriors were stunned for a moment, then reacted and charged toward the group of Mimei Rats with bone blades in hand.

"No—" Gray Fur tried to crawl up, but coughed up blood and fell back down.

A Snake Person grabbed a gray-furred rat, raising its bone blade high—

Despair.

Gray Fur watched helplessly as his companion was about to die a miserable death, unable to even move a finger. He felt hatred—hatred for his own uselessness, hatred for not being able to protect his kin.

The blade descended. In that very instant—

"In the name of the ancient!"

A hoarse voice boomed out.

The Mimei Rat Speaker stood up. His thin, withered body stood in front of his kin, clutching a booklet in his arms.

The booklet was very old, its pages yellowed and edges curled. Incomprehensible runes were drawn on the cover, and those runes were glowing at this moment—not with green light, not with white light, but with a deep, almost black dark radiance.

The Speaker's hands were shaking, but his voice was steady as he began to chant.

The incantation did not sound like human language; the syllables were strange and long, like echoes from the depths of the earth. With every word spoken, the runes on the booklet grew brighter.

The Snake Person's blade stopped in mid-air.

The High Priest of the Snake People turned his head sharply, his expression changing for the first time: "Stop him!"

But it was already too late.

The Speaker's voice grew louder and faster; the booklet fluttered without wind, its pages flipping. The dark radiance spread from him, enveloping all the Mimei Rats.

Gray Fur felt a power awakening.

That power was ancient, vast, and carried a certain shudder-inducing majesty.

"By the blood of the Mimei Rat clan..."

The Speaker bit his finger and dripped blood onto the booklet.

"Summoning my Lord—"

"Bastet, Queen of Cats, may you protect the loyal and good with your sharp claws, and punish the evil and wicked with your sharp teeth. Manifest here and uphold the laws of Ulthar!"

The booklet trembled violently, emitting a blinding light. The Speaker held the ancient booklet with both hands, his knuckles turning white.

His lips moved as he chanted the ancient incantation. The sound was initially very soft, like the wind blowing through withered leaves. Gradually, the sound grew louder, like a rumble coming from the depths of the earth.

The booklet began to shine, contracting inward as it condensed into a rotating ball of light above the booklet.

The air became heavy; Wu Xi found it difficult to breathe, and the High Priest of the Snake People's movements slowed down, a flash of shock and suspicion crossing his snake-like pupils.

The ball of light burst, without a sound. Only pure white engulfed everything.

When the light dissipated, a figure was suspended in mid-air.

A cat's head on a human body.

It was the head of a black domestic cat, its ear tips slightly erect. Emerald-green slit pupils gazed down quietly, the expression as calm as a bottomless abyss. There was no emotional fluctuation, no anger, no pity, only absolute indifference.

Black fur hung down from the head along the spine, forming long, jet-black manes that draped like velvet down to the waist and hips. Each strand of hair swayed slightly, as if blown by an invisible wind.

She wore a golden cat-eared crown, with a sun disk embedded in the center, its edges carved with ancient runes. Two eagle feathers hung from the sides of the crown, trembling gently with her breath.

Noble, cold, and majestic; she was both a sacred queen and an elegant black cat. These two temperaments fused perfectly within her, creating a suffocating sense of oppression.

The High Priest of the Snake People's snake tongue froze; he felt a fear coming from the depths of his Soul. It was the instinctive shudder of prey facing a natural predator, a reverence engraved in the Bloodline.

"Cat Goddess Bastet!"

The Mimei Rats cried out in surprise. They knelt on the ground one after another, foreheads pressed against the earth, their bodies trembling.

"Great Cat Goddess! We beg you to protect your people!"

Bastet raised a hand. The hand was slender and long, the nails as black as ink. She pointed gently at the High Priest of the Snake People.

A golden light shot out. The High Priest of the Snake People roared and raised his snake staff to block. The golden light struck the snake staff, shattering it into fragments instantly. The golden light, its momentum undiminished, pierced through the High Priest of the Snake People's chest.

Blood gushed out.

The High Priest of the Snake People let out a shrill scream, his body flying backward and slamming heavily into the stone wall. The stone wall cracked, and rubble fell with a rustle. He struggled to crawl up; there was a bowl-sized hole in his chest, with his internal organs vaguely visible.

"Run!" the High Priest of the Snake People hissed. He turned and fled, his speed as fast as a black shadow.

The remaining Snake People soldiers were already so terrified that they were Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering; they followed the High Priest of the Snake People in a panic, scrambling away and disappearing into the distance.

Cat Goddess Bastet did not pursue.

She floated quietly in mid-air, her emerald-green slit pupils scanning the Mimei Rats below. The gaze held no warmth, yet it made every Mimei Rat feel a sense of safety, as if they were being protected.

Then, her figure began to fade.

The golden light peeled away from her body, turning into specks of starlight that dissipated into the air. The long, jet-black mane disappeared first, followed by the crown, the eagle feathers, and the sun disk.

Finally, the black cat head also turned into a wisp of blue smoke and scattered with the wind. The booklet fell from mid-air, hitting the ground and losing all its light.

Silence, followed by earth-shaking cheers.

"We won!"

The Mimei Rats jumped up, hugging each other, crying and laughing. Some knelt on the ground to kiss the earth, while others waved their fists and shouted.

Wu Xi let out a long breath, his legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

The Speaker tremblingly picked up the booklet, tears streaming down his face. His lips trembled for a long time before he managed to squeeze out two sentences:

"...Finally, finally we survived..."

"But it had to be... it had to be a cat that saved the Mimei Rats..."