The sound of crying echoed in the quiet and gloomy hall. Although it was very faint, it had a particularly penetrating power. Even my ears, which had not fully recovered, were awakened and could hear it clearly.
The sound passed by my ears and then came around from behind me, as if there were cries coming from all directions.
The more faint the sound was, the easier it seemed to invade the human heart. My hands and feet began to feel numb. I took a deep breath, straightened my back and clenched the sword in my hand, and slowly walked forward.
Finally, I saw the source of the light. Not far ahead was a semi-circular light ball. Inside the light ball, a woman with long hair was lying on her side, her long hair trailing on the ground and covering her face.
In such a dark place, a woman with long hair in a white dress was crying. All of this seemed particularly strange, reminding me of many ghost stories from the last century.
The woman in the white dress seemed to hear my voice and turned her head.
There was no rotten ghost face as I had imagined, nor was there an enchanting and terrifying ghost princess. This woman was just a relatively pretty young woman.
The young woman's face was still tear-stained, and she cried, "Hero, save me. I have been captured by a dog-human monster for ten days. He has trapped me with magic and is draining my blood every day. I don't know what he wants to do. I'm so scared."
On my face, there was no expression. I just looked at the young woman coldly.
The young woman continued to cry, "Poor me. I'm six months pregnant. These days, the monster has caught some rats and wild dogs to feed me. I really can't eat. I really want to starve to death. But for the child in my womb, I... 555555"
I glanced at her belly. It was indeed bulging, and her image was indeed very haggard, as if she was malnourished.
I coldly said, "What do you want me to do to save you?"
The young woman wiped her tears and pointed to a pillar beside her, saying, "The eyes of that bug seem to be able to break the monster's magic. Every time the monster brings food to me, it presses it there."
I looked in the direction she pointed, and indeed, the bug's eyes was a button.
I stopped looking at the woman and walked to the right side of the light ball. The woman screamed, "Hero, don't you help me?"
I coldly said, "If I can kill the plague god, I'll come to save you again."
The woman gasped, "There's no plague god in this hall. There are three monsters, and they have already been killed by you guys."
I suddenly let out a heavy sigh and stared at the young woman directly, "Plague god! Originally, I couldn't confirm your identity, but you said too much, your heart was too impatient, and your acting was too poor!"
The woman gasped again, staring blankly at me.
Around the plague god's cave, apart from the Haza people and our Lost Village, the nearest village was five days' journey away. How could the monsters have captured a woman who was clearly not from the Haza tribe?
The monsters didn't have a reason to keep this woman here for ten days without eating her.
This woman was so far from the place where we were fighting. How could she know that we had killed three monsters?
All these doubts combined proved that this woman must have been transformed by the plague god.
The young woman shrieked in horror, "No!" But her face quickly turned grim: "Hero, just kill me. I'm here and I'm fed up with it."
The young woman's desolate expression made a slight movement in my heart. However, now I forced myself to be as hard-hearted as stone. In my eyes, this woman was just an ugly monster.
The first arrow was shot out, passing through the light ball, and entering the young woman's chest. Then it flew out from her back. The young woman screamed and trembled in pain, covering her chest.
I couldn't let her use this tragic scene to deceive herself anymore. Without hesitation, my second arrow was shot towards the young woman's forehead.
There was no scene of the monster suddenly revealing its true form as I had imagined. The arrow pierced through the young woman's skull and nailed her head to the ground. The scream was only halfway out before it got stuck in her throat. A prompt sounded in my ear: "You have killed the kind NPC 'A Ping', your evilness value increases by 1, your reputation drops by 5, and your experience increases by 10..."
My head buzzed, and I took a few steps backward, collapsing onto the ground. I was completely stunned.
The person I just killed was not a monster, but an innocent human NPC!
My body shivered in coldness. I had never felt such a thing before. What was this?
In the past, I had mistakenly killed kind NPCs in the game, and also killed countless players. Why didn't I have this feeling? Now, I truly felt like I had fallen into an ice cellar.
I had committed murder! If I killed a person in reality who had no reason to hate or fear me, I'm sure I would have this feeling too. Moreover, the person I killed was a woman, the mother of a six-month-old fetus!
Many times before, when killing someone in the game, I would associate it with reality. I always thought those criminals who were terrified after their first murder on TV were really useless. If one had their own psychological state, after killing someone, they might be a little nervous, but they would quickly tidy up the scene. However, today I learned that killing is not that easy...
In a chaotic state of consciousness, a voice deep in my brain kept reminding me: "You still have unfinished tasks. You alone are responsible for countless lives. If you can't seal the plague god, the world will face a devastating disaster!"
This voice was like a huge bell, with a strong sense of responsibility, gradually awakening me from confusion. It's not the time for repentance now. I desperately suppressed the uneasy feeling in my heart and slowly got up.
I didn't dare to look at the corpse of the young woman. I staggered forward and finally saw the throne of the Plague God.
The Plague God's body was like that of the Cow God, also wrapped in crystals filled with life energy. These crystals were smaller than those of the Cow Head God, probably because the mages had suffered heavy losses and their power had weakened a lot when the Haza people came here.
The Plague God's face was painted with various colored patterns, like wearing a mask. His equipment was still very magnificent, but I had no heart to appreciate it. I carefully observed the crystals.
There were no cracks on the crystals, and compared to those of the Cow Head God, they were obviously much harder. I could almost feel that the remaining mages of the Haza tribe had combined the most fundamental power of life into these crystals. Otherwise, these crystals couldn't have been so easily broken by the "Plague God" and his followers.
However, I clearly felt that the crystals seemed to be crying, becoming increasingly weak.
I tentatively touched the fast crystals with my intuition. Finally, I discovered that under the influence of various imperceptible viruses and bacteria, the crystals had developed countless tiny cracks!
I understood that the crystals were composed of the life energy of mages, and the viruses were the demons that specifically ate life!
Although the Plague God was sealed, the various viruses in the hall were still there. They constantly attached to the crystals and gradually corroded them, some even penetrating the crystals. Therefore, the Plague God's consciousness partially recovered, and three plague gods were awakened. The plague gods then summoned their monsters.
I thought for a while and made a decision.
I carefully sent a fireball towards the crystals, controlling the fireball to move only on the surface of the crystals, using high temperature to eliminate the viruses.
After clearing them, I used a healing spell again. I felt that the life-crystals seemed to regain some vitality, sending me a "happy" message. I immediately covered the crystals with the remaining clear skin in my bag, so that no more viruses could invade!
Throughout the process, I was constantly on guard against the attack of the Plague God's spirit body, but unexpectedly, there was no slightest movement.
I originally doubted that what I had sealed was not the real Plague God. But when I put on the transparent skin, the system message said: "You successfully restored the 'Seal of the Plague God', and you gain 500 reputation!"
"Your physical strength has increased by 10. You obtain the 'Mark of the Strong'."
"Other players participating in this mission, each person's physical strength increases by 5. Reputation 100."
"The Mark of the Strong" increases physical strength by 5, HP by 10%, and physical attack resistance by 5%.