They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 9 Under the Red Moon
He didn't know how much time had passed. Leaning against the wall, he was dozing off. In his daze, he heard his client slamming his fist on the table and cursing at him.

The other party was emotionally agitated, used offensive language, and had a voice as hoarse and noisy as a broken gong, which made Liya furious.

But when he opened his eyes and was about to yell back, there was no customer in front of him at all; instead, there was a strangely shaped, enormous creature.

The creature was five stories tall, pitch black, and covered in sharp feathers that reflected a metallic sheen under the red moonlight.

It resembled a bird, with two pairs of wings on its back, one pair long and one pair short. Four sharp claws covered in feathers gripped the ground tightly, and a lizard-like tail swept back and forth, with the sound of scales rubbing against each other occasionally reaching Ria's ears.

It was hard to describe the creature's true appearance. Ria stared at it for a long time but still couldn't figure out whether it was a dragon, a bird, a lion, or a cat. It looked like a griffin from legend, but it didn't have the griffin's graceful and slender body at all.

If seeing a real griffin would excite Ria, then Ria admits that the creature before him was the first time he had experienced extreme fear.

He considered himself to have a fairly good mental fortitude, but when faced with that kind of monster, the word "death" still filled his mind.

"Ouch——"

The creature stretched out its claws toward Ria, who quickly dodged aside upon seeing the claws, which were longer than her own.

The expected pain and limb shattering did not occur.

The creature didn't target Ria. It used its claw to lift the ball of wire from the ground, stuffed it into its mouth and swallowed it. Only then did it set its sights on Ria.

Ria received the power of faith from it, but the enormous creature seemed to have no intention of bowing down to it.

While he was observing it, it was also observing Ria.

It saw the human on the ground suddenly cover his mouth as if he wanted to vomit and was puzzled. Its newly formed intelligence made it realize that Ria was sick and that it should treat him.

That person was very important to it. Although the creature didn't understand why it thought that way, it still directly identified Ria as its parent.

It is the children's duty to take care of their parents when they are sick.

The more it thought about it, the more sense it made. The huge creature let out a joyful roar, revealing its barbed fangs.

Before the sound had faded, its figure shrank rapidly, its originally scale-like feathers turned into an oil-like liquid and contracted, and its bones melted away quickly.

Soon, it transformed into a spherical object covered in feathers.

Ria witnessed all of this and instinctively knew he should stay as far away from the feather as possible. But the next second it suddenly pounced on him like a mad dog, and he didn't have time to dodge before it pounced on his face.

The strange creature's feathers trembled, and suddenly, a large number of tentacles emerged from the gaps in its feathers, securing Ria's upper and lower jaws and thus extending into his mouth and down his throat.

Ria reached out and pulled hard, his eyes bursting with unprecedented golden light, but such struggles were futile. Instead, the monster clung to him more and more tightly, until his bones were almost shattered.

Soon, the entire creature transformed into an unknown substance and burrowed into Ria's stomach. Ria, her face grim, touched her abdomen, contemplating the feasibility of performing surgery on herself to remove the monster.

Now that the nausea caused by the saturation of faith power has completely disappeared, Ria is not happy. He thinks he was too careless and should have been more cautious. He shouldn't have gotten himself into this mess.

A gust of wind blew by, but his stomach remained still.

Meanwhile, Ria was feeling restless and uneasy. He leaned against the wall with one hand, kept digging his fingers into his mouth, and pinched his throat with the other hand, trying to spit out the monster.

However, he failed. There was nothing on the ground except a pool of green stomach acid. The monster seemed to have never appeared at all, and the color of the moon in the sky faded rapidly until it disappeared.

With all the monsters gone, Winstown appeared harmonious and peaceful under the white moonlight. People stayed in their homes, pretending not to hear any unusual noises, and could get a good night's sleep every day. Except for Ria.

His heart was in turmoil. After exhausting all means to separate the pile of feathers, he took out a fruit knife and examined it for a long time.

The blade was so sharp that Ria could even see the unnatural expression on her face and the bright white moon in the sky through it.

"Never mind, one more won't make a difference anyway."

A few minutes later, as if he had figured something out, he put down the fruit knife.

The black feather did have its benefits; he rarely experienced nausea and vomiting when collecting faith power, and the feather also provided him with a large amount of faith.

Perhaps the monster meant him no harm; it wholeheartedly regarded Ria as its god, but Ria, this "god," was preoccupied with figuring out how to kill it.

"It's just a dream."

Ria muttered to herself, reminding herself again, before turning around and going back to her place to sleep.

the next day.

The morning sun shone brightly over Winstown, but it wasn't warm; instead, it reminded everyone that it was time to get up and get to work.

As usual, Ria went to help Mrs. Ster sell bread. Mrs. Ster said that as long as Ria performed well, she would give him three leers at the end of the month.

Knowing that she would receive a salary, Liya became exceptionally diligent.

Mrs. Ster gradually opened up to the young man. Ever since Ria left that secluded little house and came downstairs to help her with her work, his complexion has improved, and his former gloom has vanished.

Business seems to have improved recently, with many people waiting outside the bakery before it opens, saying they want to see Ria Kelcha.

When Lia appeared, they cheered and exclaimed that the bread Lia sold was the best bread in the world.

This left Lia feeling somewhat helpless, deeply aware of the terrifying power of celebrity influence.

"Sir! I'd like fifty loaves of black bread to take away!"

"I want a hundred!"

"I want them all!"

The people in front of him looked at him with fervor, and as soon as Lia brought out a basket of bread, it was snatched up.

"We are glad that you like our products, but please purchase within your budget."

Ria knew that the people in this town were generally not wealthy.

The most magnificent building in the entire town of Wins is the Sun Church on the outskirts, which insists on wasting its resources on opulence, claiming that this is the greatest respect for the sun.

Only in this way can the sun protect everyone for a long time.

(End of this chapter)