1924 Chapter 1924. The Reason for Satan’s Absence
On a desolate landscape in Western Hydrurond, a group of ten players sneaked through the land. They moved while using whatever little covers they could find. After the underworld forces stormed through this region, everything was in ruin. Only a few trees survived. Most had toppled or were broken.
It was nighttime. The players hoped the cover of the night was enough to hide their presence. They avoided the wilderness monsters still roaming the place. They continued moving until the lead player gave them the signal to stop. This lead player checked his map to ensure they were at their target location.
This player was Giddo, a member of the State of Galhana, and Sizhad's right-hand man. Giddo looked around the place. The ruined landscape made it hard for them to sneak around, but it also let them survey their surroundings easily.
It was open space all around. Giddo turned in a full circle twice, making sure no one was around except for the wilderness monsters.
One of his teammates wore a God-eye monocle. "No green dot was on my radar except for us," that player said.
Giddo nodded. He ordered his men. "Spread out! Send a message if any of you see even one demon."
His men nodded. Eight players spread out in different directions, leaving only Giddo and the player with the God-eye Monocle. He waited until the eight were in position.
"Clear."
"Clear."
Giddo received their messages one by one. After all eight players confirmed no demon was around, he took out a Mana Purifier. Seeing how effective these items slowed the underworld forces, Master gave Sizhad a second batch of Mana Purifiers. Sizhad sent his guild members to repeat the errand.
When Giddo was about to use the Mana Purifier, a black hole suddenly appeared where his hand was. He was so startled that he dropped the Mana Purifier and jumped away.
The mana purifier didn't drop to the ground. It was sucked by the black hole and vanished.
Giddo was still unsure what was happening when he heard a voice from above. At the same time this voice was heard, a heavy and suffocating aura washed over him. He found himself unable to move due to the heaviness of this aura.
"You are right. We have some rats sneaking among us."
Giddo looked up. There was nothing up there, but he was sure something was there. Not because of the voice but because of the aura.
"He can't see us. Drop your optic veil. I no longer conceal my aura, so there is no use for it anymore."
Once the words ended, two beings appeared up there. Giddo dropped to the ground from what he saw. His teammate did the same. The two were now sitting on the ground while looking up at two unusual beings. One was a colossal demon with fiery wings and a fiery halo. The other was a giant meatball with an eyeball filling three-quarters of its body. The mana purifier was floating beside the giant eyeball demon.
'How… How did they escape God-eye monocle's detection?' The one with the God-eye monocle sent Giddo a message.
'They are both eternal grades…,' Giddo answered.
"Mana purifier…," Satan muttered. He plucked the floating item from Dajja's side. "So, this despicable thing is the reason why our reinforcements had slowed down."
Flames burst from Satan's hand holding the mana purifier. The flames blanketed the item. Satan then squeezed. Rays of light shot out from the flames. The flames shook. The shaking got stronger as Satan exerted more pressure. A loud breaking sound was heard followed by a flash of light inside the flames in Satan's hand.
Satan opened that hand. The flames were doused. Broken pieces of what used to be the mana purifier fell to the ground.
"Considering the widespread deceleration of the corrupted mana, we can safely assume many mana purifiers have been used," Dajja said.
"But now that we have located the rats, we should be able to prevent more from getting used," Satan said.
Giddo finally built up his courage. He rose and spoke, "Great Lord Satan. If you let me speak, I want to assure you that–"
"How about you sit the f*ck down!!" Satan growled. His voice was as if a hammer slamming into Giddo's head. Giddo was forced back to the ground.
"Now, where were we?" Satan asked Dajja.
Giddo's mind was spinning, and his ears were ringing. He couldn't hear Satan's conversation. When the ringing lessened in intensity, he heard messages from the team he sent to watch the perimeter.
"Demons! Demons incoming! Lots of them!"
"They are too fast! We can't outrun them. Ahh…!!"
He heard similar messages from all eight men he sent out. He came to a realization then. While they thought they were undetected, the demons had somehow spied on them. The demons lay in wait while Satan and Dajja came under a veil of invisibility. The hidden demons only moved after their intention was revealed.
The chaotic messages sent by his team were soon silenced. All of them had been killed.
While Giddo's mind was still in chaos about what to do, the conversation between the two beings above caught his attention.
"Now that we know these outworlders who we granted asylum opposed us, things are easier. We just need to crush them," Satan said.
"Stopping the mana purifiers comes first. We can deal with those backstabbing outworlders hiding in their headquarters later," Dajja said. "Or we can let Lord Lucifer deal with them. They are close to where he is. All we need to do is send a transmission. He should take care of them. As for us, we need to prioritize dealing with the rest of the mana purifiers and the resisting upperworld's armies."
"The mana purifiers should be with a small team like this. It is a hassle to hunt them down. It will require time."
"Not if we know where they are," Dajja said.
"How do you suppose we get that information?" Satan asked.
"That is why I requested to keep these two alive," Dajja answered. "They are the leaders of this team. They should know where the other teams are, or at least their target locations."
It took Satan a second before he uttered, "Ah, yes. You have that mind-reading skill."
Hearing that, Giddo shouted at his partner. "Kill me! We can't let them find out about the others!"
Although they appeared petrified by fear, they were not in true danger. Ever since they started this mission, all members wore an Amulet of Rebirth. They would return to life again after dying with only a loss of one level. The reason Giddo had not yet killed himself was because he had a philosophy of trying every possible solution before giving up. That's why he continued to think of a way out despite their seemingly impossible situation. This changed when he learned about Dajja's mind-reading ability.
Both Giddo and his partner were assassins. They unequipped all their armor to discard their defense. they were about to use their strongest skill, Assassinate Soul, on one another. However, before their daggers touched each other, multiple fire rings materialized around them. These fire rings tightened around their bodies and stopped them from moving.
"Urghh…!" Giddo tried to break out. He used a non-standard skill that removed movement restriction, but the skill's effect only took out one of the three fire rings binding his body. The other two remained.
The fire binds came from Satan. "Hehe, nice try, but you won't die without our say-so," he mocked.
"We still have several more methods to incapacitate you, so no need to waste your energy pointlessly," Dajja added.
The eyeball demon floated down. His humongous eye almost touched Giddo's face. Being stared by such a huge eye from close range was extremely disturbing. Giddo had the urge to head-butt the eyeball. He wondered if it would have the same effect as someone getting poked in the eye, but he decided not to antagonize these demons needlessly. They had incapacitated him. They might not give him true death. But as a war veteran, he knew there were worse things than death.
"Now, look at me, please," Dajja told Giddo.
Giddo didn't respond. He felt defeated, but his soldier spirit made him defiant.
"Sir, I said, please. Don't make this difficult… for you." Dajja's tone was gentle, but Giddo felt like he had just heard the most threatening words in his life.
"Maybe you should try the other one," Satan suggested.
"Nah, I can see from their eye contact that this one is the leader," Dajja said. "I prefer not wasting time. The other one is a backup in case I break this one's mind."
Giddo's partner shrunk away hearing that.
Giddo sighed. He could see no way out of this. "Just get this over with," he uttered weakly and had his eyes looked at the giant eyeball before him.
"Good boy," Dajja said.
The two locked eyes. In Giddo's vision, Dajja's black pupil seemed to move away at a rapid speed. Yet, the remaining white portion of the eye seemed to enlarge, enshrouding him. Giddo felt like he was falling into a white abyss, a white abyss with no way of escaping. All thoughts within his mind cease by then.