Infinite Gods Reign Supreme

Chapter 67 The Cursed City
The disaster has already begun.

It erupted without warning.

It didn't seem like someone mentioned something, nor did it seem like a group of people did something. It was more like a countdown placed in an unknown place, reaching its destined point at a predetermined time.

This was bound to happen—this was destined to happen.

Whether the reincarnators participated in the conflict in the hotel or not, whether they saved Lava or fought with those cultivators, all of this was destined to be revealed at this moment!

"Purify!"

A radiant light emanated from Jacob's palms, and divine healing and exorcising power showered upon the ascetics and the innkeeper. However, the next moment, the innkeeper and the ascetics screamed in unison as blazing flames erupted from their bodies, scorching and destroying their decaying forms.

The purification spell is useless—it can only kill them, no longer heal them. This only proves that the curse has long been ingrained, incurable from the very beginning!

"Ah!!!" The temple priest howled in the light, while his body also developed large patches of lividity and putrefaction within the radiance. His obese body suddenly swelled up like an overinflated balloon, and with his last shred of sanity, he issued a warning to the reincarnators.

"It's gold! That cursed gold—"

Yu Zhiwei clenched her fists tightly, and the sudden burst of telekinetic power pressed the rapidly expanding priest's body back to its original size. She pierced and broke through an invisible dead point, and the sudden burst of curse phenomena was suppressed for a moment.

"Where do we go! Where do we go to solve this problem? Where did you hide Hastur!?"

"gold……"

Why is it still gold?!
The temple priest's face suddenly turned ashen, and the second burst of the curse formed and filled his body and mind even faster than before—his flesh dissolved, decayed, and oozed copious amounts of pus. In the next instant, it burned fiercely under the still-lingering glow of the purification spell.

It's dead.

Si Ming frowned sharply—then quickly relaxed.

He turned to look at Valentina; he had already deciphered the secret behind the earlier riddle.

"Ranger, where is India's largest gold vault? And where is its largest gold mine?"

The place where gold is most abundant is where Hastur resides. For He is the child of the goddess of fertility and stole the power of wealth from his own mother.

"The largest gold vault is the Mumbai vault, which is located within the city limits, about five kilometers from us. The largest gold mine... is near a city called Bangalore, which is about nine hundred kilometers away from here!"

Five against nine hundred, first the closer, then the farther.

Si Ming nodded and looked at the target node displayed in the nanosuit interface. It was a massive facility visible from this room, a large and tidy complex of buildings, filled with an atmosphere that was completely out of place with the city beneath his feet.

'boom--! ’

An explosion was heard.

The explosion was mixed with screams and palpable fear. Just outside the window, a burst of intense fire suddenly erupted in the distant city, and many people fled in terror across the streets. The next moment, even the hotel beneath their feet shook violently in the explosion.

go!
Without hesitation, there was no longer any point in staying at this hotel. He took the lead and jumped out of the hotel owner's office, intending to immediately summon Byakki and fly away, but hesitated slightly when he thought of the word 'Hastur'.

That might just be a coincidence.

However, in the lore, Byakki is one of Hastur's Familia.

There's no need to take unnecessary risks, and the next moment, his feet successfully touched the ground.

The air was thick with a pungent, acrid stench, but it wasn't the typical smell of Indian streets. The foul odor was infused with a strange, sweet, fishy undertone. And within two seconds, even the ground beneath their feet began to undergo a horrifying mutation!

The ground... sprouted flesh and blood. And in front of them, among the crowd that had been desperately fleeing and wailing just a moment ago, many bodies were instantly covered with lividity, stinking to high heaven, emitting terrifying screams, and lunging at the nearest living people.

'Whoosh—' The wind whistled softly.

Yu Zhiwei waved the scepter in her hand.

A dozen or so corrupted beings appeared in the crowd before the reincarnators, their heads exploding in unison. They fell, flames spontaneously erupting from their bodies. Clearly, these monsters could only die in one way.

"I shattered their death points." Yu Zhiwei gently pressed her temples. The instant death of a dozen or so individuals was not a major blow to her, but it still meant a certain burden. However, in the next moment, dozens more people in the crowd suddenly underwent changes.

There were men and women, young and old. There were even noblewomen adorned with jewelry, who one moment desperately handed their children to the reincarnators, and the next moment they themselves were transformed into cursed forms along with their children.

More undead were thus born, and they showed no mercy in tearing apart the surrounding crowd. Most people didn't even have time to realize the presence of the reincarnators before they were torn apart and died screaming in agony. However, almost immediately, their bodies, covered in putrefaction and covered in livid spots, rose again and joined the ranks of the undead!
"Purify!"

The light burst forth once more.

However, the effectiveness of the light remains unchanged compared to before.

The undead illuminated by the purification spell screamed and burst into flames. Even those who were only briefly scratched or bitten also emitted a burning light after being covered by the purification spell!
It will be corrupted as soon as it is touched.

No, not corrupted. They were set ablaze, for even those who weren't bitten showed unbearable pain under the purifying light, then howled and fled beyond its reach!
"...What happened? How could this happen?!" Valentina cried out anxiously. "What's wrong with these people? What's wrong with this city?!"

“It’s gold.” Si Ming raised his hand, and the mental impact of the four-headed alliance instantly pushed aside all human and non-human structures blocking his way. A wide road was immediately cleared by him, and he took the lead without hesitation, striding forward.

"The Indians obtained the secret of Thabad twenty years ago, and since then, they have used various means to extract a steady stream of gold from the imprisoned Hastur. Until recently, perhaps due to some opportunity, or perhaps because our defeat of the Great Black Mother triggered some kind of butterfly effect—"

—Their appetites grew, no longer content with repeatedly exchanging dough figurines for gold, but attempting to seize even more from Hastur. Just as decades ago, Lava greedily wanted to steal Hastur's sack containing endless wealth. And those in power, even more greedy than him, wanted to seize Hastur itself.

Forward, flesh and blood spread across the ground. In an instant, a tall building around him was covered with countless bones and blood. Hundreds of pale but strong arms reached out from every window of the building, only to be severed by Song Tian's sword strikes, splattering putrid blood.

"They succeeded, they released Hastur—but they also failed, because they simply didn't know how to control Hastur. They created a monster through their recklessness and ignorance. Because they forced Hastur, who should have followed the rules, to break them."

The difference between righteous gods and evil spirits lies in the fact that righteous gods act according to rules, while evil spirits act arbitrarily according to their own desires. In the past, Hastur, who was sealed in the womb of the goddess of prosperity, even though he would curse those who fed him and stole his gold, did not kill indiscriminately and could not leave the goddess's womb, was still a righteous god who abided by the rules.

It wasn't until the Indians released it from its seal that this righteous god was forced to violate the order of being a god. Whether He violated the rules willingly or unwillingly, by breaking the rules, He transformed from a righteous god into an evil spirit.

'boom--'

A loud bang.

A cannonball soaked in blood and flesh was frozen in place by a barrier formed by telekinesis. Siming waved his spiral staff, and a black and white fireball of calamity shot out, slamming into an infantry fighting vehicle crawling with rotting flesh and bones. The entire vehicle immediately burst into flames, accompanied by inhuman screams emanating from it.

"We arrived here just before the curse was about to erupt. After things spiraled out of control, the Indians sent their most elite troops to the Tabad Hotel in search of a last resort. But their efforts were futile… If it weren't for the travelers, Lava would have committed suicide when the shooting broke out below. Now, the Tabad curse has erupted with the emergence of evil spirits. And if I'm not mistaken…"

The flames of calamity burned.

Blocking the path of the reincarnators was none other than the Indian army that had gone astray. They, along with their equipment, had all been reduced to festering, mangled clumps of flesh, yet they continued to fire and attack the reincarnators as if still alive.

A hail of bullets, a relentless bombardment.

Jacob stretched out his hand, releasing a purifying light. At the same instant, a series of fireballs rained down upon them.

Explosion—another explosion.

The entire corrupted army of flesh and blood was thus consumed and burned by the flames of calamity.

Amidst the wreckage, a large number of newly born undead were awakened by the burning flames of calamity. They staggered towards the nearby living corpses that were not yet dead. Their strength and speed were far inferior to those of properly summoned skeletal soldiers, but they were able to carry the embers of the calamity fire, bringing these cursed beings a cathartic burning.

An army was thus wiped out.

But they had already delayed the reincarnators for quite some time. The magnificent and grand treasury complex was right before their eyes, and now, a large amount of rotten flesh and blood were climbing on it.

Si Ming stated his already verified conjecture.

"Now, the medium through which the curse is spread is the gold stolen from Hastur. Twenty years has been enough for these gold artifacts to spread throughout India. And all those who have used this gold, and everything born from it—equipment, weapons, buildings, even cities…"

"They will all be twisted into a state of neither life nor death by this curse."

A thunderous boom resounded.

A burst of lightning suddenly erupted from the sky, illuminating the entire city in that instant.

A vast, twisted, and corrupt city, piled high with flesh and bones, has already appeared before the reincarnators' eyes.

(End of this chapter)