Athena in Tower Defense Game! [LitRPG]

0034 – The Truth Before Her Eyes



0034 – The Truth Before Her Eyes

In the dim and lightless outside, there came the sound of a large number of trees falling. Inside the house, Athena tightly hugged the three small creatures, placing a bright candle beside her. The ground she sat on began to tremble slightly, and the thunderous heartbeat abruptly stopped.

Even the raging wind became unusually quiet at this moment, as if the whole world had lost its sound, and Athena could only hear her own breathing.

"..."

The high-frequency chanting was inaudible to humans, but the excessively high audio waves were spreading. Athena just sat there, feeling as if her ears were receiving something, her head roaring like an old television with dense color distortions.

As if everything around her had distorted similarly to a buggy game.

Warm liquid flowed from her nostrils, dripping onto Paopao's body, and at this moment, the three small creatures fainted directly.

She didn't know when it had stopped.

Her eyes were bloodshot red.

After Athena reacted, whatever was outside seemed to be moving away in another direction. Perhaps its initial target was not Athena but somewhere further away.

Athena raised her hand and tapped her head twice. The roaring in her head gradually began to show signs of relief.

"What was that?"

The darkness outside enveloped everything, making it impossible for her to see anything at all.

She didn't know where that monster was going. At least it hadn't noticed her small house.

She still had some lingering fear, but before she could even rejoice, she received a system prompt.

[ GALORE ]
Detected the movement of the city-destroying monster Galore,
currently detecting direction...
Emergency system mission: Witness its demise!
Yes / No

This was not something she could meddle in. She clicked 'No' several times in a row, but the system panel remained unresponsive.

Automatically accepted in ten seconds...

"Accept"

Athena couldn't help but laugh. Wasn't this a case of coercion?

The monster that had passed by earlier should have been [ Galore ]. Witness whose demise? This monster's?

The portal has been triggered.
The destination of this teleportation is Sun City.
The emergency mission teleportation fee is covered by the system, no need to use World Stones.
Disguise in progress...

Athena only felt a warmth in her eyes, now return to normal, similar to the last time she was teleported to Sun City. Her eyes turned golden. Her attire also refreshed, changing from hemp gray to silver.

She seemed to have become that capable soldier again.

The deep portal appeared in the room, as if urging her to hurry.

Only players can pass!

This was a reminder to herself that she couldn't take the three small creatures with her. Athena stared at the portal, the system had always instructed them to guard the tower, this was the first time a task was issued, and it was an emergency task.

However one thought about it, this time was too rushed, and it didn't fit the system's usual style.

Sun City, isn't it too coincidental?

She opened her system panel. It was peaceful inside, with no warning prompts.

Choosing the regional chat channel, there was no abnormality. Although everyone was discussing the early arrival of darkness, no one mentioned anything else.

What was mentioned most frequently was tomorrow's tower defense.

Please teleport quickly!

Knowing that she couldn't escape this time, Athena took a deep breath and walked into the portal.

The dizzying feeling of weightlessness came again, and it was still that familiar wall. Athena reached out to support herself against the wall and began to retch, the familiar scene replaying.

The old soldier who loved to wander saw Athena again, but this time he knew she wasn't afraid of the battlefield.


"Captain, is your stomach still so delicate? How many times has this been now?" His tone carried a teasing note, and compared to the last time they met, there was gradually hope in his eyes. "Hurry up and go in, this is a rare celebration feast!"

The last time Athena came here was during the day, but this time it was at night, yet inside the city still retained the appearance of daytime. However, when she approached the city wall and looked outside, it was still dark. The sky seemed to be split in half, with endless darkness outside while this side remained in daylight. This made it hard for her to determine whether it was currently day or night.

At this moment, this place felt like two different places, awkwardly stitched together.

Last time she was here, she deduced that the time here should be synchronized with her own time. If that's the case, it should be nighttime now. The old soldier beside her urged her to hurry back for tonight's celebration feast. Athena deeply looked at this eerie scene and eventually followed the old soldier back.

They arrived in front of a dilapidated house with its door open, and from afar, the sound of laughter and chatter could be heard. She walked in and quickly found her table with the help of the others. She saw familiar faces - the young mage, the female mercenary, and the swordsman...

When the swordsman appeared, Athena was surprised. Although she occasionally cared about whether the swordsman survived in the end, the scene of that day was vivid in her mind.

With injuries of that severity, the swordsman had no hope of surviving at all. Even when Athena held him up after falling from his horse, the major artery she inadvertently touched had stopped beating, and even when sent for treatment, this fact didn't change.

So, what was going on now? How?

Seeing her, everyone greeted her despite her confusion. The female mercenary held a bottle of beer and directly chugged it down. Then she opened another unopened bottle and handed it to Athena, gesturing to her.

The swordsman on the side persuaded, "Don't trouble the captain anymore. She just vomited from drinking, and went out to sober up."

Although that's what he said, both the young mage and him were actually looking forward to seeing Athena embarrassed. After all, the captain was usually hard to talk to, and it was rare for them to catch her off guard.

Athena held the beer in her hand but hesitated to drink. "How many monsters have we killed? If you can answer, then I'll drink."

They had killed too many monsters, and each person couldn't possibly know what the others were doing while killing monsters, so this question was almost impossible to answer.

Sure enough, the three fell silent.

"I'll answer. We killed a total of 468 Snowstorm Beasts..." Athena watched their expressions and intentionally left a part of her sentence, then looked at them to continue.

"681 Iron Beetles." This was the answer from the female mercenary.

Athena left a question to intentionally prompt them to speak, and how they interpreted it depended entirely on them.

Now it seemed that after they killed the Snowstorm Beasts, they went to kill the Iron Beetles together. This confirmed Athena's previous guess that the time on both sides was synchronized.

But the problem was she didn't participate in their siege of the Iron Beetles, yet the time she disappeared was filled in. This was also why everyone's attitude towards her was like this.

As if I was here after I left.

Athena picked up the beer and brought it to her lips, casually asking, "Is your wound healed?" The question was directed at the swordsman.

"Of course!"

Athena raised her eyebrows, feeling somewhat incredulous. The swordsman immediately took off his shirt, revealing his intact belly. It was as smooth as new, without a single trace of injury.

Not even a scar...

It couldn't be ruled out that there was something in Sun City for healing wounds, leaving no scars wasn't uncommon in this world.

Just as she was somewhat relaxed, she inadvertently glanced at the swordsman's belly again.

Judgment in progress...
Mental strength insufficient...
"Proactive Warrior" title amplification in progress...
Judgement successful! Illusion nullified!

"...?!"

As her mental strength increased, she could see more things that she couldn't see before.

The intact skin dispersed like thin mist, revealing only bones when she looked back at the belly.

Then the swordsman's entire body turned into a moving skeleton, and then everyone else... except for the young mage and the middle-aged man who previously commanded the battlefield, remained in human form.


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