Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"No."

"And yet you hate him for what he did, but alas your dream would come true soon enough.

Leave him to me, and I'll slowly choke the life out of his eyes, and when you return to the rest nobody will know what happened and the blame will fall onto me, a monster!" Not for a moment did the offer sound tempting to the mage, instead, holding the head of a friend in his hands, all he felt was an unbristled rage.

"I'll turn you to dust if you so much as touch any of them," for as much of an egoistic bastard he was, Raven couldn't fathom a world where he wouldn't sunder any and all for their safety.

Hearing the voice of the monster laughing in the darkness, his resolve remained unshaken even though he didn't have a clue as to how he was supposed to get out. But then, there was a flicker–a gap in the monster's control, and seizing that moment he put every bit of his mana into breaking out of the mind prison.

The next thing he knew, there was a flash of white light, and then his mind fell victim to exhaustion. Slipping from an illusion to a dream, the mage was free from the prison, but before he would wake up, his companions had a lot more anxiety-ridden hours to deal with.

"What happened to them?" Quickly after bringing the unconscious bodies of their friends inside the tent, Aria turned over to Helga with the question. "Why are they not waking up?!"

Ignoring the elf for a moment, Helga's eyes kept glaring at something on the unconscious bodies. Noticing her stern gaze, both she and Erika followed it to Mel's fingers. Like the branches of a tree, her fingers had turned to wood. Struck with the realization of the changes, their eyes scanned through the rest and found something similar on Amedith's back.

"H-his spine…" Running her finger up his spine, Erika couldn't believe what was happening. The flesh and bones on Amedith were slowly turning into solid stone. Shifting quickly back to Raven whom she'd already checked, she couldn't find any changes in him, but that especially didn't set well.

"Get away," moving closer, Helga brushed everyone away from the bodies. Then slowly kneeling over to Raven, she opened up his eyelids.

"AUGH! NONONONO!" Vicerally revolting at the sight of his left eye now squirming with gooey white worms, Erika could not bear to even look at Raven's face.

Feeling just as disgusted if not more, Aria rushed out of the tent to vomit, while the high priestess wore the most unamused of looks.

"Told you you'd die," she said with a sarcastic smile.

"Shut up Kara, just heal their bodies!" Barking orders at the high priestess, Helga rose back to her feet, her eyes still glaring at Kara. "It's your duty to help the goddess's chosen."

"Not without a price," shifting her eyes from the barbarian to Erika, Kara smiled a knowing smile. "What do you say, priestess? Want me to heal your friends? Better be ready to pay out with your bodies if it comes down to it."

Though her demand was quite concerning, thinking only of her friends' survival, Erika took a deep gulp and nodded.

"Yes! I'll manage something!" And with that, the high priestess began the cleansing.

In the meantime, still stuck in the monster's illusions, the Hero, amedith had found himself turning into an idol. Not one people looked up to, but a scorned sculpture spitted and pissed on. And while he watched himself being degraded, the voice of the monster desperately kept hold of his mind with the worst of intentions.

"You're unfit to be the hero," the voice laughed in his head and continued. "No wonder your goddess no longer believes in your judgment, ahahaah! Who would after you ran away from your friends right after he threw himself headfirst into danger to save your life."

'I-I was scared! I didn't want to run but I–'

"Lies, and you know it." With yet another cackle, the voice added. "But if you truly believe that, then riddle me this, would you die for Melicia, your friend?"

"Yes!" It didn't take him a moment to respond.

"What about Erika and the dark elf?" The voice pursued further.

"I already said yes! I will die fo–"

"What about Raven?" The voice interjected, and Amedith fell silent.

Somehow, despite knowing his answer should've been the same, he didn't know if he would die for Raven. And in that moment of realization, his heart bled like a river pouring everything into the ocean. The horror, of course, relished in the sweet taste of his agony, yet his joy was short-lived.

"I'm an idiot," looking around himself idolized at the very center of the city, he finally realized his problem. "I'm a hypocrite…"

"Wait–"

"I should've sought his help, he's a better leader but…" With a sigh, he peered into his jealous heart. "I wanted the glory, and so I ended up marching us to our deaths in that cave filled with minotaurs." Realizing what Helga had once said to him in the Boartooth, Amedith finally came to accept that he wasn't the best option at everything. "You're right.

I'm no hero; just another adventurer in a party like any other. I think that should've been enough, but I kept trying to reach for some greatness that was never there."

'The right piece of the puzzle, without it you would never finish the whole thing.' With the realization that he wasn't capable of leading his group, the monster's grip on him quickly loosened. The next thing he knew, he'd also slipped into a dream.

Its control now completely gone, it was only a matter of time until everyone woke up, and then the horror would be forced out of their mind. Making matters worse for the mind parasite, the greatest adventurer in all of Athenia was waiting outside to burn it down the moment he was forced outside.