(Manami POV)
"So... What do you think is going on here?" Little Tsuki asked aloud.
"Zombies," My little Kiyomi answered cutely.
"Mmm... I don't think it's that simple though," Little Brendan commented. "I did a check just now and their bodies are actually still alive. It's more like something killed them spiritually I think? Or their souls got sucked out or something."
I tilted my head at him, "Ara, ara? So what could have caused something like this?"
Brendan considered for a moment, "If I had to say... My best guess would be that their souls were eradicated... Or they saw something so frightening that their minds shut down and they died mentally but not physically..."
My little Kiyomi frowned, "Saw something frightening? Could someone even die from that?"
Brendan smiled wryly at her, "What if one day Master were to tell us that he hates us and no longer wanted anything to do with us before walking away?"
"Ah... I see..."
"Oh, Husband would never do something like that!" Lunamaeniera protested with a huff. "If Husband were to say something like that, it's obvious that it's an impostor!"
Guiying chuckled, "Well I'm sure brother Brendan was just giving an example. All of us know how Master is like longer than you have~"
The former Matriarch was not amused by Guiying's jab but chose not to comment on it since it's true.
"Hmm... So what could these people have seen to have caused this to happen?" Eris wondered.
He shrugged, "Well, of course I don't know if that's what really happened but it might be a possible cause for their current state. It's not like it--"
All of a sudden, the earth started to tremble and shake, cutting off whatever Brendan wanted to say.
I immediately turned back to look at the inn and right as I did so, something burst out from behind the building.
It took me a second to realise the thing was a giant tentacle that had seemingly burrowed itself out from the ground, was this the cause of the current state of this city? Did all these people really lose their minds because they saw this tentacle?
"What in Master's name?" Brendan gasped, looking up at the tentacle.
The tentacle reared up into the sky, its intentions clear as day.
I pointed my palm at the tentacle at the same time as my little Kiyomi, both of us letting out a blast of fire and ice that stopped the tentacle from smashing down on top of us.
Guiying joined us with a blast of her own lightning a second later, though our attacks did not seem to do much damage to it.
Eris leapt into the air and slashed her sword in an arc, her entire body clad in red hot flames that shot out in tandem with her slash.
All of us expected the appendage to be cut off but her strike had just bounced off the tentacle harmlessly.
The good thing was our combined strike was enough to deflect the tentacle away to crash behind the inn instead.
Brendan let out a gasp, "That thing! I remember it! It's the same as that stupid monster Master fought back then in the capital!"
Kiyomi stiffened, "Ah... I remembered the first one Master had to fight... It was summoned by some Dark Sect idiot so the Dark Sect here must have summoned this one as well and caused what is happening to this city... This makes sense now..."
Ara, ara? This Dark Sect has really been causing a lot of trouble for Master... After this we should just have them all exterminated.
Guiying grimaced, "Ugh... It's the one my stupid brother summoned isn't it? I hate my family..."
Lunamaeniera tilted her head at her, "And you were saying how great a home you managed to make for Husband to live in?"
"I was not Queen then," She shot back immediately.
"Tch..."
Right then, the door of the inn was thrown open and sister Lian Li's group came out with two extra people wearing armour like they were knights.
I noted the male was being carried by the female like a sack of rice thrown over her shoulder.
"Manami! What is going on?!" Lian Li asked while running towards us.
I simply pointed at the tentacle that was getting up from the ground behind the inn slowly.
The female knight saw the tentacle and instantly paled, "That! That's the thing that appeared and made the entire city like this! It was only thanks to Founding God's blessing that we were not killed by it!"
Ara? So it really was because of this thing, though I wonder what kind of blessing they had that protected them from it? Or maybe they were just being delusional.
Lian Li grimaced at the tentacle, "This thing again? Is it another one or is it the same one we fought?"
"It's only a tentacle so maybe it might not even be that monster?" Brendan suggested. "But Eris wasn't even able to cut that thing. Can we beat it?"
"We aren't as weak as we were back then!" Lian Li roared, summoning lightning that ran along the length of her arms. "If even after all that Master has taught me I am still unable to defeat one measly tentacle, I am not worthy to stand by Master's side!"
The female knight looked at her in horror, "You can't beat that thing! The only thing we can do is run, hide and pray for God's protection!"
"Watch me!"
Lian Li shot up into the sky, her entire body now bathed in golden light.
The tentacle sensed her presence and immediately swung towards Lian Li in an attempt to smack her out of the sky.
Lian Li's figure blurred and the tentacle passed through empty air to smash into another building across the street. Any people who were unfortunate enough to be there were crushed into meat paste and yet none of them showed any reaction still.
Our golden girl reappeared above the tentacle with both her hands raised before dropping her arms to point at the ground.
At that instant, a column of golden lightning fell from the sky to bathe the entire length of the tentacle in its electrifying embrace.
It only lasted for a second but when the lightning winked out of existence, only a small stump of the tentacle that had been outside of the lightning column was left.
The stump was obviously in pain as it thrashed around a few times before withdrawing back into the hole it had created in the ground.
Curiously, the hole immediately closed back up the moment the tentacle was gone, showing no indication of it even being there.
All of us waited for a few minutes fully expecting it to come back or even have more show up but nothing else happened.
Lian Li dropped back down in front of us and looked towards the female knight, "Now. Talk. What happened here?"
The woman was looking at Lian Li with different eyes now, "Are you... God's valkyrie?"
"Pffft, she's just our Founding God's disciple," Tatiana scoffed while waving her hand. "But I must agree, talk. We need to know what happened here."
She nodded, "I'll tell you everything but... Can we get out of the city first? It would be bad if it comes back again... Or those monsters too..."
Of course, the middle of the street isn't exactly the best place to talk about a giant tentacle appearing from the ground after all. Let's move outside first.
To think we had expected this to be a simple trip, how wrong we were...
