The moment Roly saw the smile on Ethan's face, her long, pointed ears flattened tightly against the sides of her head, her eyes filled with absolute terror.
“What are you afraid of? Oh, I found your people, and quite a few of them too. Do you have anything to say? Do you want to save them?”
The corners of Ethan's mouth slowly curled upward.
He turned around, his gaze falling upon Roly.
Seeing that smile on Ethan's face, her long, pointed ears pressed flat against the sides of her head, her eyes wide with terror.
“Roly,” Ethan crouched down, bringing his gaze level with hers. “You said your mother was a Guardian Priest and that you grew up in the Sacred City. Then do you know what 'clansmen' means?”
Roly's lips trembled.
“Clansmen are those who share the same blood as you. You Amons believe in the World Tree and that Mother Goddess of yours, thinking all Amons are children of the World Tree, that you're all one big family.” Ethan's voice was calm and unhurried. “So tell me, do you want to save your people?”
Roly's eyes suddenly went wide.
“What... what do you mean?”
“Literally.” Ethan stood up, spreading the five fingers of his right hand. Emerald-green light welled up from his palm and seeped into the gravelly ground beneath his feet. Deep underground, the buried plant roots moved in unison, weaving and intertwining through the sand. They burrowed out from the depths of the ruins, condensing into thirty-seven thumb-sized emerald-green light spots in the open space behind Ethan.
The light spots hovered in midair, arranged in an arc.
Each light spot represented the location of an underground bunker.
“Beneath this ground, your people are hiding.” Ethan stepped aside so Roly could see the light spots clearly. “A total of thirty-seven bunkers, each harboring over a thousand people. The elderly, women, children, lightly wounded soldiers, and a few warriors maintaining order. They are still alive, hiding deep underground, thinking they can escape this way.”
Roly stared at the light spots, her eyes trembling violently.
“How... how do you know...”
“You don't need to know. Of course, you can also choose not to believe me. So, now, I will give you a chance.” Ethan extended his right hand, tapping his index finger toward the light spots. “Thirty-seven bunkers. You choose ten. I will destroy those ten. As for the remaining twenty-seven, I will spare them.”
Roly's body froze instantly.
She snapped her head up, staring blankly at Ethan. Every trace of expression on her pale green face froze at that exact moment, the fear in her eyes replaced by a much deeper emotion.
“No.”
Her voice was very soft.
“No!” The second cry was much louder, sharp and piercing. “You demon! I won't choose! I'd rather die than choose!”
“Oh, so you do believe me. But do you think I won't do it?”
Ethan lightly flicked his right index finger.
The first light spot went out.
At the same time, deep underground, the plant roots in one of the bunkers moved in unison.
The roots that had been quietly dormant in the crevices of the stone walls suddenly came to life. They burrowed out of the stone cracks, burst through the soil, and dangled from the gaps in the wooden planks of the bunker's ceiling.
Some were as thick as an adult's arm, others as thin as hair, spreading silently through the darkness.
An old man dozed against the stone wall, a woman softly hummed a lullaby while holding her child, and several lightly wounded soldiers lay on beds made of tattered rags.
In a corner, three warriors sat with their weapons close at hand, but none of them were on alert. Deep underground like this, it was impossible for the outsiders to find them.
Then, the vines dropped.
A thick vine plummeted from the dome, wrapping around a warrior's neck and tightening. The sound of fracturing bones was exceptionally crisp in the enclosed space.
Before the warrior could even scream, his body was hoisted into the air, his limbs twitching a few times before going completely still.
The bunker erupted into chaos.
Screams, cries, and the sound of crushing bones intermingled.
Vines surged from all directions, wrapping around anything and everything they could reach.
Old men were dragged from the stone walls, women clutched their children and shrank into corners, and warriors grabbed their weapons to slash frantically. But there were simply too many vines; for every one cut down, ten more would take its place.
Three seconds later, the bunker fell silent.
Wrapping around the corpses, the vines crawled out from the bunker's entrance, threaded through the underground soil, and burst out from the gravel of the ruins.
One by one, the corpses were dragged to the surface, piling up in the open space behind Ethan.
Their pale green skin was covered in sand, severed limbs hung at grotesque angles, and some corpses still held the embrace they had shared in their final moments.
Ethan looked down at Roly.
“The first bunker, one thousand one hundred and thirty-four people.”
Roly's pupils contracted sharply.
She stared at the pile of corpses, her lips quivering as a faint sound squeezed from her throat, “No... no...”
“That was only the first one.” Ethan's voice remained entirely flat. “Are you going to continue to refuse?”
“You beast!” Roly struggled violently, making the vines binding her creak as deep purple bruises formed on her pale green skin. Her eyes were bloodshot, her amber irises drenched in tears. “You demon! You lunatic! You killed them! You killed them!”
She struggled desperately, her body twisting frantically within the vines' grasp. Her fingernails dug into the flesh of her palms, pale green blood dripping from between her fingers. Her voice grew increasingly sharp and hoarse, turning into a near-savage roar.
“I won't choose! Kill me! Just kill me!”
“Oh, it seems you still haven't learned to respect me.”
Ethan flicked his finger.
The second light spot went out.
Deep underground, another bunker was swallowed by vines.
A second pile of corpses dropped onto the open ground.
“The second one, one thousand eighty-nine people.” Ethan read out the number. “Out of thirty-seven bunkers, thirty-five remain. Roly, how many more times are you going to refuse?”
Roly's roar caught in her throat.
Her mouth hung open, her lips trembling violently as tears mixed with sand streamed down her face.
She stared at the two piles of corpses, looking at her clansmen who had been strangled beyond recognition by the vines, her chest heaving violently.
“I won't choose.” The words squeezed through her clenched teeth. “I won't choose. Go ahead and kill. Kill everyone. My mother is dead, my companions are dead, my people are dead. Kill them all. I curse you, outsider. I curse your soul to be torn apart by the Mother Goddess, your flesh to be sucked dry by thorns, and your bones to be ground to dust by tree roots!”
Ethan flicked his finger a third time.
The third light spot went out.
Vines spread underground, burrowing into the third bunker.
This bunker was larger than the first two, harboring even more people.
It took Ethan slightly longer this time—a full five seconds.
A third pile of corpses dropped onto the open ground.
“The third one, one thousand seven hundred and twenty-three people.”
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