CHAPTER 191: CHAPTER 187: GOD OF DECAY (3)

Su’li thought his life was over, but just then something strange happened. A small creature crawled out of the divine chariot and lunged at Mishka’s face.

People shrieked and scattered, leaving only Su’li behind to laugh. The fool had challenged the god, and now must face his wrath.

"What is this? Argh! Take it away!"

Mishka screamed while trying to get the rat off his face. Unfortunately, no one even dared to get close to him, not even his mother. The others were too scared, which gave Su’li the opportunity he needed.

Mimicking the performance from before, he fell to his knees, worshiping the god who had sent his messenger to kill the heretic. While he did that, Fester tore through the boy’s face.

Mishka could only scream as Fester left his half-eaten face and jumped to his chest and began clawing through it.

"My... son!"

Unable to hold back herself, Mishka’s mother lunged to smack the rat off her child, only to get bitten by it and face what Su’li proudly called divine retribution.

"Do not help that family!" Su’li roared. "They have angered the god and anyone who interferes would suffer the same fate as the surrounding tribes. You will be turned into those dead walkers. Is that what you want for us?"

After Su’li’s warning, those few who had stepped up to help quickly fell back in line. They didn’t want to anger the god, not after seeing what his messenger had done to Mishka.

By the time Fester stepped back, the two tribespeople were left unrecognizable, and dead.

The next second, Fester walked towards Su’li, and all the joy disappeared from his face.

"I am disappointed."

A deep and hoarse voice came out of the little creature’s mouth. Most of the tribe heard it and immediately fell on their asses, crying unintelligibly for mercy.

Blaze ignored them all, and his eyes were fixed on Su’li. In reality, the rat wasn’t Fester at all, but an imitation he created from the flesh of the natives.

He was using his [Contagion Chain] ability to speak through the creature. It was one of the abilities he had exposed to Su’li during their first meeting to solidify his belief that the zombie lord was a god.

"You were late," the rat continued speaking in their native language. "And this... puny thing was the reason for it? Could you not deal with such a creature alone?"

Tears and sweat came flowing non-stop as Su’li didn’t dare reply or even look at the creature for that matter.

"Forgive me, my Lord! That imbecile didn’t believe in your glory and dared—"

"He didn’t believe in me? And who do you think is responsible for that?"

Su’li bit his tongue as he realized what Blaze meant. Su’li was the god’s priest, and as such, it was his responsibility to raise others’ faith in his name.

Admitting that Mishka didn’t believe in Blaze was a confession that Su’li had failed his task.

"That woman," the rat’s tail pointed toward Mishka’s ex. "Is she your mate?"

"O-One of them, my lord..."

"I see."

The next second, the rat absorbed the flesh from Mishka and his mother to grow twice in size, and its bony tail pierced through her chest, killing her in the blink of an eye.

"Distraction must be eliminated," the rat snarled as the woman’s corpse fell to the ground. "You exist solely for one reason: to spread my name. Instead, you’ve been living a life of debauchery? Release all the women you have stolen from them or else..."

"I-I will, my lord! I will give all of them back! You’ll be the only reason for my existence!"

Su’li frantically nodded, slamming his forehead into the ground repeatedly, and didn’t stop even when blood oozed out of it.

At the same time, the tribe cheered. The fear in their hearts had turned into respect as soon as they heard their god rebuke the shaman.

Su’li had been doing whatever he wanted under the god’s name, but now that they had seen their god’s true nature, they were more willing to follow him in contrast to being forced to do it.

However, that benevolent nature did not last for long.

"Choose a sacrifice among yourselves," the rat continued.

With those words, the rat collapsed and turned into a mush. As soon as the rat disappeared, Su’li jumped to his knees and dragged all three corpses into the divine chariot, which was nothing more than a pre-programmed scout ship.

Blaze could activate it remotely to have it return to his crashed ship, where he was building his new lair. Once the corpses were loaded inside, the tribe simultaneously turned towards Mishka’s broken father.

Since his son had angered the god, it was only right that he repented for his offspring’s mistakes. Amid the yelling mixed with chanting hymns in Blaze’s glory, the broken man was thrown into the ship and locked.

After witnessing the death of his wife and child, the blind man was too broken to react, let alone fight back. He sat holding his wife’s corpse while cursing the god who took everything from him.

Blaze heard it all through the comms, but didn’t care about it in the least. What could a weakling’s curse do to him? Instead, he was more interested in what the other tribes were planning.

"You didn’t really think I was farming bodies from one tribe, did you?" Blaze asked, staring at a strange pod.

Multiple such pods were filled with people of all ages and genders. They were his test subjects to play with, but the one he was most interested in was a pregnant woman from some other tribe.

While she had died long ago, the baby in here simply refused to die at the hands of his genetic virus. Naturally, it fascinated Blaze, and so he kept the woman frozen in time in a cryo-chamber, testing the limits of the little one’s resistance to the undead virus.

"It seems the time for you to rule over the others is drawing closer," Blaze said, staring at the woman’s swollen stomach while petting Fester. "These incompetent fools keep crossing the line, and I can’t have that. Maybe I should kill the shaman and raise someone else?"

Blaze let out a deep sigh.

"Who thought playing God would be so taxing?"