Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

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 with each death, while the other side grows more ferocious with each killing. This ebb and flow naturally leads to the strong becoming stronger. But 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."

(End of this chapter)