Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 147: Libyan - The Queen Born Of Thorns

'Libyan…What did it mean again?' Her chest crushed to bits by the treant that she now had squirming within the coil of her tail, the queen of Lamias, knew her time had finally come. However, unlike what she'd expected her last moments to be, she wasn't angry nor in pain, but rather reminiscing on the past, which she no longer remembered much of.

'I remember the rags, and my own mother's poison, and those cold nights born of desperation.'

Thinking back to a time when her clan was but a scattered pile of fugitives wandering here and there, struggling to survive and resorting to cannibalism.

'That's where it started, didn't it? The realization that I could grow stronger by eating my own…Those monstrous adults, and the raping clans of other species, the anger, the resentment, I can feel it still to this day!'

Though her chest was broken, though her bones crumbled to bits, the resentment she felt toward the ghosts of the past made her lift up her body and crumble the treant into bits. Bleeding through her shattered teeth, she rose screeching on her tail. Glancing down at her scales all but crumbled to pieces, Libyan screeched once more before slowly attempting to face the hero's party again.

But alas, her body gave in and she fell to the ground once more.

'I WON'T DIE HERE! YOU HEAR ME?!' Born of a cracked egg, she'd always been a survivor–and even in the face of death, she would rather crawl her way out in indignity than give into the cold embrace of death's mistress. Digging her nails through the dirt, she pulled her body forward, inching herself closer and closer to the throneroom's exit. 'EVEN IF I DIE YOU WON'T GET RID OF ME!

I'LL PLAGUE THIS LAND! THIS SWAMP WILL BE MY GRAVE AND WITHIN ALL CREATURES LIVING AND UNDEAD ON THIS LAND WILL BE MINE AND MINE TO DICTATE!'

Watching the queen's desperate attempts at revenge, Erika felt her scorn bleeding out of her remaining scales. Her words confined not just to her mind, they'd begun acting as a curse or rather a plague that could easily consume the land if left to fester.

'Unless a devil grants her wish for her soul, it'll be centuries before her words come to fruition.' Were Asmodia's thoughts echoing inside Erika's head. Shrugging off the voice of the angel, the priestess quickly inscribed the last rune and began her own escape. 'We'll bury her in this place before any of that happens.'

Making her own escape through the exit before Libyan could crawl her way out, Erika activated the trap and the entire throne room lit up in a crimson hue.

'WHAT?!' Feeling a sudden burning under her chest, the queen glanced down at the magic circles glowing under her body. Adorned with horns in the middle, and sprinkled with archaic runes around the edges, the very magic circles for a portal to the seventh level of Infernal. Stabbing through Libyan's chest, a bloody skeleton hand shot out of the ground.

"SHHAAAAAAAA!" Hissing at the pain as more and more hands emerged and tore through her flesh, the queen of Lamia was suffering through a long and painful death. Grabbing her from every angle, the residents of the seventh circle tore her flesh with their nails, all in an attempt to taste her Atlarian flesh after centuries of torment.

'Y–YOU WO...WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!' She cursed right before the ceiling caved in against her head. Even through the rubble, the residents of Infernal dragged the bits and pieces of her body to the hells with them. That should've been the end of Libyan's territory, but the curse she left behind, manifested before her death.

While still making her way out through the crumbling nest, a sudden pain ran through Erika's chest. She tried to ignore it for a while, but as it continued to grow, she was forced to stop and struggle through the hurt down on her knees. The next thing she knew, her stats screen appeared before her eyes as Libyan's dead voice whispered into her ears.

"I'll keep my promise…" Feeling a chilling cold run down her spine, Erika's eyes blinked in shock as she finally managed to read a new status effect on her screen of stats.

'Libyan's Curse[Status type: Permanent]'

"Did the bitch not die?!" Erika yelled, but shoving that thought away, she got right up and rushed towards the exit. Phasing into mist, she didn't have to run for long since moving through walls she managed to get out way before the entire nest could collapse.

Getting outside in the sun, she phased back into her real form while the rest of her party members seemed to be fighting with Amedith over something. Standing behind him was a curious-looking girl, her horns a sure sign of her devilish nature, something the priestess instantly began to scorn.

"Where the hell were you?!" Raven demanded, grabbing Amedith by the collar.

"Ask the fucking goddess!" Shoving the mage away, the bygone hero seemed like he'd had frustration of his own to deal with while the party was dealing with Libyan.

"L-leave it…two…" Huffed Mel, sitting on the ground and trying to recover her strength.

"Fine! We'll talk with her," glancing over to the half-fae girl and the wisp floating between his and her gaze, Raven squinted his eyes in disgust. And to his surprise, the girl did the same. "And who the hell is she?"

"A devil that's who!" Erika jumped in.

Finally realizing that the priestess had come out unharmed, everyone turned to look at her with relieved sighs. Yet the priestess herself was far from relieved, after all, she may have tolerated demonic weapons in their midst, but a devil child? She wouldn't tolerate such blasphemy.

"ENOUGH!" Breaking the argument, Athenia's voice thundered with the clouds.

Struck with shock, the entire party glanced upwards, but to no one's surprise, there were no signs of their goddess nor any rain clouds.

"What was that?!" Liliyana squealed, hiding behind Amedith, her heart gripped with fear.

"Did she just?"

"Yell at us? Yeah…" Raven answered the priestess who was still baffled that the goddess wanted the devil child with them.

"Leaving that," breaking their interest in the scream that just thundered, Mel tried getting everyone's attention to ask them something important. "Is it only me or did anyone else receive a cursed status?"

Some confused, some concerned, everyone quickly checked their stats and found the permanent status 'Libyan's curse'.