After work, start to speedrun the other world

However, Xiyel's expression froze, and she felt a hand on her shoulder as the woman beside her confidently spoke.

"We've been looking for you for a long time. If it wasn't for the hood you sent out, we would have had to wait for your arrival at the temple to take action."

"Who are you?" Xiyel didn't turn her head to look at the woman beside her, her demeanor remaining very calm.

As a deity, she had no concept of death and didn't have to worry about being killed.

"Kronos," the woman beside her answered, and then it seemed as though time itself came to a standstill.

Xiyel turned her head, looking at the woman with black hair wearing a witch's robe, her pupils unconsciously shrinking — this woman should have been dead.

Kronos smiled seductively, her hand sliding from Xiyel's shoulder to gently pinch her chin, with cold indifference reflected in her black pupils.

"You are the first god to die." As she spoke, a black dagger pierced through the stands and subsequently through Xiyel's heart.

Blood, staining her garment.

Xiyel spat out a mouthful of blood violently, turning her head abruptly just to see a woman with blue wavy hair pulling out the black dagger that had been used for the assassination, and then mercilessly stabbing towards her throat, silencing any sound she had wanted to make.

Why... why is the Witch of Death here, wasn't she sealed forever in the crevice between life and death?

No one answered her.

"..." The Witch of Death pulled out the black dagger, flipped it over, and stabbed it into Xiyel's forehead, ending the Goddess of Plague's life completely.

Gods have no concept of death.

But that does not mean they cannot be killed; as long as someone instils the concept of death into a god, that god can be killed.

And she was the one who could endow gods with the concept of death.

"He's coming," Kronos chuckled, standing up and removing her witch hat, placing it on the face of Xiyel, whose eyes would not close in death.

"Leave the rest to me."

"Mm." The Witch of Death nodded slightly, taking a step back as her body dissolved into a wisp of blue ghost fire and vanished on the spot.

The dagger in her hand also fell from thin air.

"Snap~" Kronos caught the falling dagger, and time resumed its flow, while the Goddess of Plague, lying in the stands of the arena, her blood becoming a curse that began to spread, turning the moon in the sky blood-red in an instant.

Blood flowing, the curse of resentment from death spreading.

"Ahhh!!!" Screams suddenly echoed throughout the arena as blood burst from the orifices of all spectators and their blood vessels exploded, splattering vast amounts of blood everywhere. In the blink of an eye, everyone in the arena died.

The curse continued to spread throughout the Lionheart Castle with a speed visible to the naked eye, and anyone who even slightly came into contact with the aura of the curse began vomiting blood uncontrollably.

Only a few stronger individuals could resist this unintentional curse from the verge of death, unlike the majority who died the moment they made contact.

Even if they didn't die, they would be constantly plagued by disease.

"What on earth is this?" Letixia's eyes showed a hint of confusion, but then quickly regained her composure as she observed the streets littered with corpses.

Although she didn't understand why everyone seemed to have exploded from internal bombs all at once, she was deeply aware of one thing.

"Let's go, we need to get out of here immediately!" She pulled Ahtal, the knight beside her, and hurriedly fled towards the outskirts of the Lionheart Castle.

As they fled, the scenes they came across were horrifying: suddenly exploded bodies had stained the walls and the floors red, and the painful cries and wails of the few lucky survivors made one's skin crawl.

Something was not right; it was very, very wrong.

Letixia bit her lower lip, looking up at the sky and then at the state of the dead bodies before directing her gaze toward the arena.

The source of the crisis was in the arena.

"Don't think too much; our job is to get out," Xi Mu said, gripping Letixia's slender hand and pulling her towards the outskirts of the city.

To resist a curse from a dead god, the simplest way is to have magic power or to possess an alchemical item that resists abnormal states.

And it happened that he owned an item that could resist curses, the Crow Hood given to him by the God of Plague himself, which was effective in warding off curses associated with the God of Plague.

Otherwise, at the moment of the Goddess of Plague's death, he and Letixia would have been impacted and feel sick to their stomachs... if not fall unconscious.

Letixia nodded, she had no intention of investigating why there was a mass death, as she knew the limits of her own abilities all too well.

As the two of them fled, more and more survivors came into view, all escaping outwards from Lionheart Castle.

They didn't understand the current situation, but none planned to investigate.

...

...

The next day.

On a hill far from Lionheart Castle.

"There shouldn't be any curse spreading here, right?" Letixia gasped for breath, hands on knees, her golden hair sticking to her face because of sweat.

She and Xi Mu had been running all night, thinking about finding a horse to ride, only to discover that apart from a few people, hardly any living thing had survived.

They had no choice but to run on foot.

"This is beyond my knowledge," Xi Mu shook his head, glancing in the direction of Lionheart Castle, knowing of course that escaping here meant the curse wouldn't reach them.

However, he couldn't explain why he understood the range of the curse's spread.

"Anyway, we should keep our distance," Letixia said, brushing back the golden strands clinging to her face, then revealed a somewhat awkward expression.

She was nervous but carefully asked Xi Mu,

"Lord Ahtal, where do you plan to go next?"

"I want to go to Sky City," Xi Mu revealed his thoughts, and upon hearing this, Letixia's face fell.

Now that her hands and feet were healed, it made sense for Ahtal to go his separate way. He wasn't her knight, and there was no issue with him leaving now.

She had been prepared for this eventuality.

"I still need to have an audience with the divine," Letixia stated her intent. She needed to affirm her legitimacy as the Iris Flower Kingdom's heir through this act of seeking divine audience.

Upon hearing this, Xi Mu nodded as if understanding, "I want to seek mentorship from Siegfried. With the aid of this dragon-slaying hero, it should greatly help you reclaim your nation."

He watched as Letixia's countenance shifted from despondence to surprise.

"Siegfried has the intention of teaching me all he knows."

"If that's the case, could I join you to Sky City to visit Siegfried after I have my divine audience?" Letixia tentatively suggested, her voice soft as she lost her stern confidence, resembling an unsure little girl.

In theory, parting ways with Ahtal now would be the most efficient choice.

But she didn't really wish to separate from Ahtal.

"Okay," Xi Mu agreed readily, looking towards a distant town, "First, let's find a place to rest."

"Alright," with a gentle nod, Letixia headed toward the small town with Xi Mu, one following the other, through the pathways in the forest.

Letixia, looking at the knight leading the way in front, asked with some awkwardness, "By the way, Lord Ahtal, how should I repay you?"

Offer myself in marriage.

Of course, that wasn't something one could truly say. Given the virgin character of the Mysterious Gate game officials, there was no hope of receiving physical compensation from Letixia.

Even if they were to marry, they would only gain the status on paper; even a wardrobe malfunction would be obscured by Holy Light, limited merely to holding hands and hugging.

To go a step further, like kissing, was impossible.

"Sorry, it seems I don't want to get anything," Xi Mu lied without a change in expression, his step steady as he moved forward.

"Consider it a commission for the adventure; just pay me a few tens of thousands of Gold Coin afterwards."

Letixia: "..."

This is when you shouldn't be so bound by knightly honor; you can make more excessive demands, she might not refuse.