Chapter 88 Death God Naruto, I Donate My Blood

"I was only guessing before, but now your reaction tells me that all my deductions are true!"

"…"

"If you want to kill me, then kill me! Why are you wasting words?!"

The Innkeeper yelled in a fit of rage, but her outburst was merely to conceal her inner fear of Naruto.

His strength was enough to destroy the Great Snow Mountain and change the terrain, which was already terrifying enough. She hadn't expected him to possess such intelligence as well. He was definitely the biggest obstacle to the Demon God King's revival.

No!

Even if the Demon God King were to revive, would he necessarily be a match for this hero?

The Innkeeper couldn't help but fall into a daze.

The Dark People, for generations, had secretly schemed and acted to revive the Demon God King.

But, if the clansmen knew that even if their century-long plan succeeded and the Demon God King was revived, a hero would still eliminate the Demon God King, and all their efforts would be in vain, would their faith collapse?

Naruto said indifferently, "You might not be afraid of death, but what about your clansmen?"

"If I'm not mistaken, you Dark People disguised yourselves as humans,

and infiltrated Snow Village, and have been living and multiplying here, haven't you?"

"With my abilities, do you think the Dark People hidden in Snow Village can escape?"

Silently, Naruto put on the Shinigami title.

The effect activated immediately!

Creature favorability decreased by 50%!!

Deterrence increased by 200%!!

In the Innkeeper's eyes, the originally sunny and lovely young Naruto instantly became "hideous." His face seemed to be shrouded in a gray mist, his pair of azure eyes hidden behind the mist, like two cold ghostly flames, and wisps of tentacle-like black mist diffused around him, eroding in all directions.

Chilling!

Terrifying!

Majestic!

It was indeed the Shinigami!!

Naruto's voice was like a countdown to life, and Naruto's appearance was like the personification of death.

The Innkeeper's fear of Naruto was magnified countless times, scaring her into screaming, her limbs flailing desperately, terrified, trying to escape death.

"I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"

"Help! Can anyone save me!!"

"Shut up!!"

With a sharp reprimand from Naruto, the Innkeeper immediately shut her mouth in fright.

"Now, tell me all the secrets of the altar in the castle's secret room."

"Don't try to lie and get away with it. My eyes can see through all lies!"

"And the price of your lies will be all the Dark People hidden in Snow Village burying themselves with you!"

The Innkeeper closed her eyes tightly, trembling, her face pale with fright, but she bit her lip hard, not uttering a single word. Naruto knew why, so he changed his approach: "If you tell me everything truthfully, I can promise that I won't lay a hand on you Dark People tonight, and I'll let you escape."

"Otherwise, all the Dark People in Hot Spring Snow Village will be buried with your secret!"

Under the deterrence of the Shinigami and Naruto's verbal assault, the Innkeeper finally broke down and gave in.

"That altar, legend has it, can open a path to the origin of Goblins—Green Moon."

"But I've never been there, nor do I know what Green Moon is like, or why it's the origin of Goblins. I've also never heard any Goblin mention going to Green Moon."

"The altar's purpose is more for sacrificing to the god of awareness, offering tributes to the god of awareness, and begging for the god of awareness's blessings."

"Do the sacrifices have to be human?" Naruto asked in a deep voice.

"No." Naruto's slightly heavy tone, under the Shinigami title's blessing, became incredibly majestic.

The Innkeeper felt as if a heavy stone was pressing on her chest, making it hard to breathe.

"It doesn't have to be human. Sacrifices—any race will do. The god of awareness needs blood, fresh blood—"

"Then—accompanied by the prayer—'I offer my blood, awaken wisdom!'"

No sooner had she finished speaking than the Innkeeper, whose spirit had completely collapsed and could no longer hold on, fainted.

"I offer my blood, awaken wisdom?"

Naruto murmured, then put away the Shinigami title.

"I will keep my promise. I won't lay a hand on you tonight."

"As for whether you can survive tonight, that depends on your performance, Dark People."

"Haaah—I'm so sleepy. This is the first time I've been so exhausted. I'm dead tired."

"It's a good thing my physique is special; otherwise, with the Chakra consumption from today's battle, Kakashi would have been completely drained several times over."

Naruto yawned, turned and left the open-air hot spring, found a comfortable room, and went to sleep.

After a while.

The unconscious Innkeeper woke up with a gasp, sitting up abruptly from the ground.

"Is this hell!?"

The Innkeeper, still shaken, looked around, only then confirming that she was not dead, but alive and well, with all her limbs intact and no injuries, not even the bath towel wrapped around her graceful body had moved.

Although it had mostly come undone when she was pinned to the ground—

The surroundings were still the familiar open-air hot spring, only the "Shinigami" was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm still alive, I'm still alive—"

"No, I must quickly inform the old village chief and take Leo and the others. We must escape Hot Spring Village and the Great Snow Mountain as quickly as possible!"

"We must escape. He—he's too terrifying—"

"He's not a hero, he's the Shinigami! The most terrifying existence!!"

The Innkeeper hurriedly got up, her expression still showing lingering fear, and rushed out of the open-air hot spring to gather all the Dark People hidden in Snow Village.

Deep in the night, only sharp, owl-like cries echoed over Hot Spring Village.

Soon after, in every household, dark figures were "wriggling."

At the village entrance.

The old village chief and some villagers were gathered there.

They were all Dark People, and their number was surprisingly no less than a hundred, including the old, weak, women, and children!

"Greaves, didn't I tell you to seduce the hero and then assassinate him? Why are you making such a commotion in the middle of the night, gathering all of us here?"

"I told you Greaves was getting old, she's a middle-aged woman, why not let me go? I guarantee it would be a piece of cake."

"Just a yellow-haired boy, I'd charm him to death!"

"Oh, please, Greaves is a woman even a viscount covets. I trust the noble's judgment more."

"Alright, alright, stop arguing, listen to Greaves!"

The old village chief had the most prestige among the Dark People.

As soon as he spoke, the others immediately quieted down.

Greaves took a deep breath, calmed her complex and panicked emotions, and recounted everything about the failed assassination of Naruto.

"We've been exposed?"

"How is that possible!"

"The Dark Elves' disguise cannot be easily seen through. Otherwise, for so many years, not a single adventurer would have seen through us."

"Even in the Royal Capital, Water Capital, Fire Capital—"

"All of you, shut up!"

The old village chief slammed his staff down with both hands, roaring in anger.

"Have you gotten used to the easy life in Hot Spring Village, have you?"

"Have you become blindly arrogant?!"

"Didn't you hear Greaves?"

"This hero is absolutely not simple. As Greaves said, we leave now, and we must scatter and flee. After sunrise, we'll rendezvous at the old spot!"

"Village Chief, are we abandoning Hot Spring Village? We've managed it for so long—"

"The Goblin King in the Great Snow Mountain is dead, what's the point of us staying?"

"Village Chief, could it be that the hero is just trying to scare us, and his own strength isn't that great, or that he expended a lot of energy in today's Great Snow Mountain battle? Otherwise, why would he be so kind as to let us Dark People go?!"

"Exactly, I think if we all rush him, we might be able to kill him—"

"Stop talking nonsense, if we all rush him, it won't even be enough for the hero to kill us all by himself!"

"Now, scatter!!"

With a shout from the old village chief, the surrounding Dark People, though unwilling, dared not disobey, and one by one, they turned into afterimages, scattering and disappearing into the night.

"Sigh—what a pity—"

The old village chief looked back at Hot Spring Village shrouded in night, sighed deeply, then turned and left.

Not long after the Dark People dispersed, a Shadow Clone emerged from the shadows, scoffing coldly: "You treat humans like livestock to be herded and raised, yet you develop feelings for human villages? How utterly ridiculous!"

"Run, run with all your might."

"I am a man of my word. I said I wouldn't lay a hand on you tonight, and I won't."

Until night's end, as dawn approached.

The night sky was deep, but the horizon was already tinged with the color of a fish's belly. The Dark People who had scattered and fled from Hot Spring Village gathered again at the old spot the old village chief had mentioned.

After a night of life-or-death escape.

All these Dark People were exhausted.

The old village chief began to call out names, and found that not a single Dark Person was missing.

"What's going on...?

Did that hero just bluff and deceive us?!"

"Exactly, I thought there was really a pursuit, so I fled desperately, my heart pounding all the way."

"And what happened? The whole night was calm, not a single thing happened."

The old village chief snorted, "If the hero really wanted to pursue you, you wouldn't necessarily be happy about it!"

"Alright, it was a false alarm, a scare without danger."

"Old Village Chief, what do we do next? Should we look for Lester and the others?"

"Lester is also handling important matters, it's better not to interfere and disrupt their plans."

"Our plan failed. Right now—we can only find another village and temporarily lie low."

"Hehehe, we can kill people again!"

At this moment.

The sun rose slowly in the distance, its brilliant golden light like billions of divine steeds galloping across the continent of the Goblin Slayer World, ushering in the start of a new day.

"Look quickly, the sunrise, it's the sunrise."

"It's so beautiful!"

"Hehehe, why should we have to hide in the shadows to admire such a beautiful sunrise?"

"Humans, dwarves, those High Elves who call themselves true elves, they all deserve to die!"

The shadows of each Dark Person gradually became clear and distinct under the sunlight.

Following that, ripples, barely perceptible to the naked eye, appeared in the shadow behind each Dark Person.

Great Snow Mountain, Castle Fortress.

Naruto, who had slept soundly all night, stood on the castle wall, gazing at the magnificent spectacle of the "Golden Mountain bathed in sunlight" in the distance.

"Overnight, the mountain that had its snow blown away is covered in ice and snow again."

"It's worth it to witness such a beautiful sunrise."

Naruto murmured, then turned and leaped down from the castle wall, his robes flapping.

Landing steadily, in the massive shadow of the castle wall, one Shadow Clone after another emerged from below, and each Shadow Clone carried a Dark Person's corpse, following behind Naruto.