Becoming a God Starts with Acting-Chapter 61: [The River God’s Wife] - Nerio’s Part (10)

Matthew’s sharp gaze swept over the dark espers.

Ace raised both hands as if surrendering and sneered, "Come on, don’t look at us like that. We’re all taking on the mission. After all, only by getting clues do we have a chance to survive, isn’t that right?" As soon as he finished speaking, he glanced over at the ordinary people. "Maybe you should be more concerned about them."

Matthew said nothing, only turning his gaze toward the ordinary people. Kely instinctively shrank back immediately, unable to meet Matthew’s eyes. Without needing to say a word, everyone already knew her decision.

Leon glared at Matthew, stammering, "W-what if I don’t join the mission? I’m just an ordinary person—I don’t want to die!"

Julia chuckled at his words. "My god, how stupid. Whether you take part in the mission or not, danger is still lurking. Do you really think you’ll be completely safe just by staying in your room?"

She narrowed her eyes at Leon and said softly, "You don’t even know what rule of the dungeon you might have violated... nor whether a monster will crawl in to find you tonight..."

Leon shuddered at Julia’s words, his whole body trembling in fear. He couldn’t even act tough anymore and cried out, "No! You’re espers, you have to protect ordinary people!"

Julia shrugged. "Even the government only protects those within its capacity."

No matter how much money Leon had, surviving this dungeon was the only thing that mattered for the others.

At that moment, Maya suddenly spoke up, "There’s an option to cancel the mission."

Matthew seemed to ponder for a moment before saying directly, "Alright then, I’ll stay with the ordinary people."

Ace immediately sneered, "Wait, don’t tell me you’re scared of dying? What about the clues?"

Standing beside Matthew, Maya quickly said, "I’ll go with you guys. I’ll share the clues with him. That works, right?"

Alexis was displeased. "Then what about these ordinary people? Do they just get to share the clues without doing anything? Just because they’re ordinary?"

Jack licked his lips from the side. "If you ask me, we should just kill them all. What a bunch of deadweight!"

"You can’t do that!" Leon shouted, moving closer to Matthew. At this moment, survival was all that mattered to him. Factions were irrelevant. If he couldn’t curry favour with the dark espers, he would rather stick close to the normal espers—at least they still had some humanity left.

Matthew spoke coldly, "Only by sticking together can we make it to the end. For now, we’ll do what we can."

The dark espers had no further objections, and only then did the ordinary people breathe a sigh of relief.

Elena spoke up hesitantly, "Can I cancel the mission?" She lowered her head in embarrassment. She had agreed to participate earlier, but if staying in the room meant being protected by Matthew, she didn’t want to take unnecessary risks.

Matthew sighed before saying, "It’s everyone’s decision to make. However, on the first night, ordinary people should avoid taking on the mission."

Julia sneered, "Just say it outright—the reason is that ordinary people are utterly useless, nothing but dead weight. Got it?"

Taylor glared at Julia in anger, but she couldn’t deny that, compared to the espers, her abilities were indeed weak. Frustrated as she was, she had no choice but to withdraw her decision to participate in the mission.

At that moment, Clow suddenly spoke up, "Nerio, are you joining the mission?"

As he spoke, he turned toward Nerio, who was sitting on a chair, smiling warmly.

[Finally, someone remembers Nerio! The kids have been sitting there, zoning out in silence since they entered the room. Just how deep in thought is he? lol.]

[He’s just quiet, right? He doesn’t have any cognitive issues. P.S. Even if he does, who cares? As long as he’s adorable, that’s all that matters! T.T]

[I thought they had completely forgotten about Nerio, but Clow remembered him! Clow, I believe in you! Even a dark esper won’t be able to resist Nerio’s cuteness!]

[The comment above—are you blind or just crazy? How do you not see that Clow is looking at Nerio like he’s a fattened lamb ready for slaughter? Hahaha.]

[But honestly... thinking about Clow’s abilities and Nerio’s innocence, I’m starting to worry for the kid.]

[Nerio, sweetie, please don’t agree to any of Clow’s unreasonable demands!!!]

[Wait—we’ll soon see Nerio’s abilities used on Clow in the future. A kid like Nerio has no chance against an old fox like Clow!]

Not just the commenters, but as soon as Clow spoke, the others also turned to look at Nerio. The boy was a bit slow to react—he lifted his head to look at Clow before softly saying, "I’m not going."

Clow seemed slightly disappointed but quickly waved his hand and said, "That’s fine too. It’s safer for you to stay home. Can you draw me a solution for tonight?"

Nerio lowered his head without responding. His legs, dangling off the chair, swayed gently—whether he could do it or not remained unclear.

Clow’s hand, hidden behind his back, clenched slightly, but his face maintained its usual smile as he said, "Alright then. Looks like there won’t be too much danger tonight. Let’s go, Captain."

[Lol, yeah, "not too much danger"—don’t die, hahaha.]

[Can’t wait to see their despairing faces.]

[So Nerio’s ability has its limits after all. If he could always draw solutions for the future, that would be terrifying.]

[Look at the faces of those ordinary humans—they seem relieved by Clow’s words. Hahaha.]

[And they really think staying home is actually safe?]

No one would be spared from danger this time. Silvanus thought to himself, eyes fixed on the live broadcast screen showing the humans who had gone outside.

In the end, only five dark espers and Maya set out.

Just as the village chief had said, when Maya’s group stepped outside, they saw wooden planks already set up around the area—identical to the ones they had seen the village men carrying earlier that afternoon.

"They’re using this much wood... to build something?" Alexis muttered in irritation.

Clow adjusted his glasses and spoke lowly, "The dungeon is called The River God’s Wife. There are no women in this village. The event location is near a river. These details must be connected in some way. When we reach the riverbank, pay close attention to everything around us."

At this moment, they were truly functioning as a team. No one objected to Clow’s words. Even Maya remained silent, offering no opinions. Only Julia lowered her gaze, concealing the deep thoughts hidden in her eyes.

Just from the dungeon’s name alone, it was obvious that the women were in the most danger here.

She couldn’t help but recall the image she had seen in Kely’s mind—her distorted face fused with the corpse of a monstrous creature. Just the thought of it sent chills down her spine. If she were to become a monster, it would be tied to this so-called wedding. No matter what, she had to stop it.

"Julia, you seem to have a lot on your mind today," Ace’s deep gaze locked onto her.

Startled, Julia shot him a cold look. "I’m still in pain from these burns, and now we’re inside a dungeon. Are you seriously expecting me not to be tense?!"

Ace immediately put on a placating smile. "No need to get so worked up. I was just worried about you."

Jack chuckled. "Yeah, you’re the only girl in the group and a pretty one. Of course, we have to look after you."

Julia scoffed but said nothing as if a bunch of dark espers would care about anyone. They were just a group of scum, twisted by the dungeon into even crueller versions of themselves.

She had seen Jack torture a woman to death before. He hadn’t even wanted her—he had just enjoyed watching suffering unfold.

Yet, Julia felt a certain satisfaction watching him do it.

Thinking back on it now, she realized—she wasn’t much different from a monster.

But being human is still better, she thought, narrowing her eyes with amusement.

With that, they quickly gathered the wooden planks and left the village.

Now that the scorching sun was gone, they could finally notice how dry and cracked the earth beneath their feet was. It was practically barren—nothing could survive on this land.

And yet, not far from the village, a lush forest thrived. It completely encircled the settlement. Rather than a protective barrier, it looked more like an inescapable prison.

There were 18 wooden planks in total, with each person carrying three.

The planks were massive, so the only way to transport them was to carry them on their shoulders.

Ace chuckled. "First, we carried people into this dungeon. Now, we’re carrying wood. What a porter’s life we lead."

It was a joke, but when he said it, the entire group froze—as if realizing something was off.

Alexis glanced at the large plank resting on his shoulder, swallowed hard, and hesitated before speaking.

"These planks... they’re not going to turn into ’people,’ are they?"