Once upon a time there was a greedy snake

Lux Setka was also somewhat puzzled.

"Anyway, this time you did have another one... found it."

As he spoke, Hercules Setka took out a cloth bag from his bosom and handed it to Habisa.

"This is your reward."

"This……"

Habisa frowned slightly as he looked at the cloth bag, which was barely bigger than his palm.

Given its size, it's clearly not equipment suitable for combat, and judging from its lightness after being received, it's not a protective item like a breastplate—it's not even edible, because any piece of meat this size would be quite heavy.

But when Habisa opened the package, he froze.

The reason was that inside the cloth bag lay a notebook and several pens.

The pen was not a common reed pen, but rather made of some kind of wood with a core that looked like charcoal inside. It was probably made by coating charcoal directly onto the paper.

The bound book wasn't made of ordinary paper; its texture felt more like some kind of strange leather.

"Before I returned, the serpent god told me to tell you this."

"That's what Lance Setka said."

"If you want to practice calligraphy in the future, you can use this. You can erase the words you write on, so you don't have to worry about getting the paper dirty."

Chapter 153 The Ancient Serpent's Soldiers

After completing the ritual to meet the serpent god, Habisa returned to the front lines with the warrior Setka.

They came downstream, but went back in the opposite direction, so Habisa and Setka spent a little more time.

The return journey was by land, so Habisa was able to see more of the land under the serpent god's rule—although the green-skinned monsters living in these lands looked quite conspicuous, Habisa had to admit that these green-skinned monsters had managed the land quite well.

Looking at those vast, thriving wheat fields, they were even better than the fields he had tended before, outside the holy city of Heliopolis.

And on the faces of those green-skinned monsters, there was none of the worry and distress that farmers should have, the kind of grievances that seem to be etched on their faces.

What are they all so happy about?

Seeing the smiles on the faces of those green-skinned monsters, Habisa couldn't help but ask.

"Farming must be a tough job, right?"

"You mean the place where the sun god is, right?"

Sethka answered casually.

"Here, they don't have to pay land rent. All their harvest is their own. Even if the harvest is really bad, there's always Melk of Libra to cover it up. What's more, there's Ban of Aquarius who will teach them planting techniques... They can see their harvest every day, so their mood will naturally be different."

"This……"

Habisa was speechless for a long time. You have to understand that he was also a farmer before he became a warrior. But now it seems that his life before was even worse than these green-skinned monsters.

Looking at the smiles and satisfaction on the faces of those short, green monsters, Habisa even thought that becoming a green monster after the war ended might not be such a bad thing.

But soon, Hapisa realized that being a green-skinned monster wasn't so easy after all.

As the two of them drew closer to the front lines, the villages dwindled, replaced by one military camp after another—these camps weren't large, and those being trained inside were clearly newly recruited green-skinned monsters. Yet, looking at their orderly ranks and the sharp spears in their hands, their short stature exuded a chilling murderous aura.

As Habisa and Setka passed by, a slightly tall, green-skinned monster was loudly reprimanding the neatly lined-up green-skinned monsters.

"Sweat more now, and you'll bleed less later!"

Do you know what the consequences will be if you lose? Everything you have now will be taken away!

"The land that originally belonged to you will become the property of those bird worshippers! The harvest that originally belonged to you will also have to be used to pay rent to the Temple of the Sun! Tell me! Are you willing to let those priests take everything from you, or are you willing to fight them to the death!"

"Fight them!"

Accompanied by such roars, the short, green-skinned monsters trained even harder.

The deafening battle cries sent a chill down Habisa's spine. Although those green-skinned monsters looked so weak—yes, with his current strength, even if hundreds of green-skinned monsters attacked together, he could easily defeat them with his sword, which could even cleave through bronze armor.

But the prerequisite for defeating them is that these green-skinned monsters must know fear.

This is also the key to fighting against multiple opponents.

Fear of injury and fear of death are thoughts that all living things have. This means that as long as a great deal of damage is caused in a short period of time, the enemy will hesitate out of fear. In the life-and-death confrontation, even a brief hesitation is enough for the sword to cleave their bodies. The newly appearing corpses will bring fear to more enemies, making them even more hesitant.

Simply put, one side grows more fearful as they die, while the other side becomes increasingly ferocious as they kill. With this ebb and flow, the strong naturally become stronger.

But now, these green-skinned monsters are completely different.

On the side of the Sun God, people fight for the glory of the Sun God, but on the side of the Serpent God, these green-skinned monsters fight to protect everything they have.

To protect their friends and family, and to safeguard their land and property, these green-skinned monsters, no matter how weak they may be, will fight to the death, even without fear of dying.

Even though he now wears those black sunglasses and possesses the ultimate blessing of life points, if dozens or even hundreds of green-skinned monsters charge at him recklessly, even if each of them can only stab him a little bit off his life points, it would be enough to overwhelm him with their lives on the spot.

"And... this is just the militia, isn't it?"

With only spears, no armor, and no training in archery, this was clearly just the equipment configuration of a militia.

If the militia are already this fierce, imagine how ruthless they are if they were regular troops hidden in the camps...

"Does the Serpent God really need us warriors who have come to his aid?"

After comparing the combat strength of the two sides, Habisa was astonished to find that even without the warriors who had defected, the Serpent God's side, relying solely on these green-skinned monsters, had the strength to easily flatten the Temple of the Sun.

Then what is the point of existence for these soldiers who have defected here?

"You can never have too much combat power."

Faced with Habiza's doubts, Setka casually offered an explanation.

"These green-skinned monsters excel at large-scale battles, and they only have an advantage when they have a large number of them. But you know how the Temple of the Sun fights; they never engage in head-on confrontations. So no matter how much they train, it will be difficult for them to gain any real advantage... When it comes to truly securing victory, we still have to take the lead."

"Us? What are we going to do?"

Habisa continued to ask questions, and he could tell that Hercules Setka had something to say.

After all, along the way, he gradually realized that Setka had captured him not just to take him back under the pretext of getting the armor—he could sense that Setka was planning something.

"So, what exactly are we supposed to do?"

Recalling the long-lost kindness he had felt along the way, Habisa had made up his mind that no matter what the strongman Setka wanted to do, he would do his best to help him as long as it was within his power.

It was at this moment that Hercules Setka spoke up.

"Since you've already asked, I'll just tell you the truth."

Taking a deep breath, Setka looked into Habisa's eyes.

Immediately afterwards, words that Habisa had never expected came out of Setka's mouth.

"If you really want to help me, then come with me and return to the embrace of the sun god."

"Let's do something big together."

Chapter 154 In the Name of the Serpent God

When Habiza heard that Setka actually wanted to return to the Sun God's side, he was really startled. Out of his reverence for the serpent god, he almost drew his sword on the spot.

Fortunately, Setka spoke quickly enough, which allowed Habisa to understand Setka's true intentions.

"You've seen the current situation. If we just rely on this simple two-sided fighting, we'll never achieve a result even if we fight for a lifetime."

This is a very practical statement. Habisa could also vaguely sense that these continuous small-scale skirmishes were actually not going to bring either side a real victory.

The Serpent God's army was said to be advancing, but it was actually on the defensive due to the constant harassment from the Sun God's warriors. The Sun God's warriors, on the other hand, were said to be launching a continuous attack, but in reality, they had no way to deal with the Serpent God's army.

The war appears to be raging, but in reality, both sides are just at a loss. At least for now, neither side has managed to deliver the decisive blow.

"But the situation is actually quite different for the Serpent God... You can see that from what I've said, right? As long as the Serpent God personally goes to the front lines, those false gods' followers simply cannot withstand him."

Sethka continued speaking.

“Even we ordinary soldiers know this, so the priests of the Temple of the Sun couldn’t possibly not know it… Facing a true god, those who worship false gods had no chance of winning from the very beginning.”

Having said that, Habisa realized what Setka was trying to say.

They had no chance of winning from the very beginning, but the priests of the Temple of the Sun still persevered until now. Of course, perseverance wasn't the key. The key was that these priests showed no impatience at the prospect of losing everything.

It was as if they could actually win.

Is it only these warriors of the sun god, who have been sculpted by divine magic, who give those priests their confidence?

“Those priests definitely have something else to rely on!”

After being reminded by Setka, Habisa suddenly realized this as well.

Those priests of the sun god must have had other reliance, which is why they remained calm and composed even though they knew that a true god was present on the other side.

The real killer move was never from these warriors of the sun god.

"I only realized it later."

It was at this moment that Hercules Setka spoke again.

"Why do the priests of the sun god still neglect us even though we have accomplished such great feats? We have the power to control them. If we stop, they will be wiped out by the green-skinned monsters... But they still do it, without any regard for our feelings."

"Because we are actually not that important."

Although Habisa had a vague premonition about this all along, he still felt somewhat disappointed when it was actually brought up.

Even though he was no longer a warrior of the sun god, it was still a part of his life. He had once thought about fighting for the glory of the sun god and even wanting to pass on his name.

But looking at it now...

"That's why we need to go back, right?"

Habisa took a deep breath, composed himself, and then looked at Hercules Setka.

"That's why we need to go back, as warriors of the sun god, so that we can find out what those priests of the sun god are doing."

At this moment, Habisa fully understood Setka's thoughts.

And in front of him, the strongman Setka nodded.

"Correct."

Setka patted Habisa on the shoulder.

"That's why I took you to meet the Serpent God first. It's not just because it's a necessary process, but also to see if you really want to fight for the Serpent God."

"...I understand."

After a moment of silence, Habisa nodded.

Such a momentous matter certainly needs to be verified; this is a necessary process. In fact, if he had never met the Serpent God, he might have actually taken this news as an opportunity to return to the Sun God's command.

But now...

"I am willing to fight for the Serpent God."

Habisa simply drew his sword, about to cut his finger and press it to his forehead.

Blood was stained between his brows; it was an extremely solemn vow, at least for Habisa himself, a symbol of never betraying him.

But before the sword could be drawn, the strongman Setka pressed it down.

“There’s no need to make any oaths for this. After all, we’ve made oaths to the Sun God many times before… I just need to see what you do, since we’ll be going back together.”

"It's difficult to accomplish anything on my own; we need more people to find opportunities."

That's what Setka said.

This also changed Habiza's gaze towards Setka. He hadn't expected that this seemingly rough and tough warrior would be so meticulous—if Setka went back alone, based on his understanding of those sun god priests, Setka would definitely be imprisoned and treated as a spy.

After all, it's only natural that people like them, who rebelled once and then rebelled again, wouldn't be trusted.

But if there are too many people, things might change. Even if they are initially suspected, the priests of the Temple of the Sun will see it as a trend once they see more and more traitors returning. And these traitors are much stronger than the Sun God warriors who did not betray the Sun God. The priests of the Temple of the Sun will not let go of these combatants, and they will have a chance to be used sooner or later.

Once activated, they can infiltrate, and once they can infiltrate, they can find out things that shouldn't have been known to them.

“It’s not just the two of us, there are about ten people in total.”

It was at this moment that Setka spoke up again.

Just as Habisa had expected, it wasn't just the two of them who went back this time.

"However, as you can probably tell from your words, this is actually a gamble with our lives, a gamble that we won't be killed by the priests of the sun god immediately... It's a dangerous mission, and you can choose not to do it."