Chapter 188: The Wicked Union
Sila noticed that his top speed had increased slightly. The way he currently felt reminded him of when he made a breakthrough with cultivation. It seemed his overall strength advanced a step further by going all-out against Shuran and Raidola.
Once he arrived at the Victorious Wolves Sect"s headquarters, Sila slowed down his pace and began to walk at a normal speed. It seemed there was a noticeable decrease in present players compared to when the party had started.
People seemed to be flocking around someone. From a distance, Sila noticed that the person in the center was none other than Lomyok.
"Big Brother Sila really came." Burapha was the first to notice Sila"s arrival. He stood up and came over to greet Sila.
"Who told you I was coming?" Sila followed Burapha to the main table. Most of the tables had been put away, so the once filled backyard was now s.p.a.cious and clear.
Burapha pointed at Lomyok. "Mister Lomyok said he met you at the rebirth zone, so we decided to wait for your arrival here."
As Sila didn"t revive immediately at the rebirth zone, which was supposed to happen if he was killed by Lucifer, people wondered what had happened to him.
More than twenty people sat around the main table. Of those, Sila recognised Lone Wolf, Ratri, Hermit, Rin, Shueria, Fargo, Cross, Nednapha, Elso, Beluga, Bluebird, White Swan, Tiger, Julia, Sebastian, Sangdao, and Varee. Other than them, there were a handful of players he didn"t know.
Lone Wolf turned to greet him. "Sila, how are you? You disappeared for two hours. Does that mean you weren"t killed by Lucifer?"
Sila replied, "Mn. I died from something else."
"So, Sila, you didn"t lose any skills, right? I heard from Sebastian that Lucifer"s qi can permanently destroy skills," asked Varee.
"Ah, I lost them. Most of my skills and items are gone, including the psychic power I got from Madmen"s Valley."
Shueria"s voice had a tinge of regret as he said, "That"s unfortunate. That quest can only be received once."
"It"s fine. Seeing Lucifer, I think that pure qi-types can become strong too."
Burapha said, "Erm, Big Bro. If every qi-type being could become that almighty, every player would have already selected qi type. I think Lucifer is a very, very special case. His rank is Emperor Rank, even."
Beluga placed a cup of sake down on the table. "Honestly speaking, I think it"s great that you can overcome the regret of your loss and move on. If Little Brother Sila would like any qi that I have, I will gladly transmit them to you."
Lone Wolf thought the same. "Me too. Lucifer got out because of me, so I will help."
Sila hurriedly declined their offers. "No worries. For the time being, I want to restudy my own qi."
Beluga thumped up. "Fantastic! Who cares about losing items or losing skills? As long as we are still alive, we can continue to seek something better."
"It"s exactly like you said, Mister Beluga." Sila nodded.
Varee looked at the broken ring in her hand. She knew that what Sila said was the truth. The reason why her Couple"s Ring of Commitment had broken must have been because Sila"s was destroyed.
Looking at Sila"s current outfit, although it seemed elegant, it wasn"t the same one. That meant his old outfit must have been broken too. Everyone thought that even though he wasn"t saying it, Sila must have felt sad deep down, so they didn"t ask him many questions.
"My matters aside, what about the party? Where is everyone?"
Hermit volunteered to summarize everything that had happened, to which Sila listened attentively and could conclude the events as follows:
After Lucifer left and the Five Dragons army retreated, the remaining players were impressed by Tiger"s charm and the Victorious Wolves Sect"s potential to resist the Heavenly Dragon Guild. As a result, all of them agreed to become a part of the alliance to oppose Montra together. Most of them went back to give the report to their guild, leaving only a handful of players behind.
The alliance was loosely established with many guilds as a part of it. No guild had more influence than others. The alliance"s intention was to share information and resources for the sake of taking down the Heavenly Dragon Guild in the upcoming war event.
Beluga was the one who gave the official name of the alliance. He had proposed the name "Wicked Union", which no one objected.
If a despicable guild like the Heavenly Dragon Guild was considered a righteous guild, they would be gladly become the wicked side.
As for the details regarding what actions they would take next, Hermit and the leader-level figures would put their heads together and announce what they decided the next day. Many things had occurred today and they believed it would be best for everyone to take a rest first.
The Victorious Wolves Sect offered to let everyone stay at their place for free, which most of the guests gladly accepted. Meanwhile, Sebastian and Bluebird pulled Sila out as they had a private matter they wished to discuss.
"Guys~ What are you talking about?" Out of nowhere, Lomyok approached them.
He was currently wearing elegant wuxia clothing that the Victorious Wolves Sect had given to him as a token of thanks. Though, in fact, they were just afraid that their guild"s reputation would plummet if there was a half-naked person walking around in their backyard.
Sila looked at Lomyok before looking once more at the flock of people he saw earlier. "Mister Lomyok? How can you be here? What about the you over there?"
Lomyok played with his hair gleefully. It seemed his confidence had returned to him. Sila guessed that the Victorious Wolves Sect had what Lomyok wanted and Lomyok had already obtained the skill he had lost.
"It"s my new skill. I name it "Double Handsomeness." I got it from my heroic deed of fighting off an army that consisted of thousands of people. In the end, I sacrificed my own life to save two peerless beauties. Would you like me to tell you the full story in greater detail?"
Sebastian secretly smirked as he was fully aware that Lomyok had no recollection of what he had done. He whispered to Sila.
"It"s the skill from the Seven Deadly Sins card, sir. It"s a skill to create a perfect copy of oneself."
Listening to Sebastian, Bluebird felt worried since he also possessed a card from the same series.
He asked, "Oi. Is it fine to use it to play around? What if another monster similar to Lucifer appears again? We will be doomed."
Sebastian waited until Lomyok left, to go talk to the people around the main table, before explaining.
"Belphegor in the card Mister Lomyok possesses is the demon of Sloth, sir. He is so lazy that, even if the chance for him to appear reaches 100%, he will most likely refuse to come out. It"s completely up to his mood whether he comes out or not. Moreover, you don"t have to be that worried, sir. Lord Lucifer is a pure fighter whose ability surpa.s.sed all of the demons of sin. He was one of the best even in the Monster Realm."
Bluebird felt relieved. "In that case, I don"t have to be worried, right? Just trying not to use the card"s skill should be enough, right?"
Sebastian shook his head. "Sorry to disappoint you, Mister Blue, but Asmodeus is the only demon that can directly manipulate the card wielder, sir. Even if she is in the card, she can still exert her power to some degree. She just showed her power so she will be staying dormant for the time being. The more you submit yourself to her, the more influence she will get over you. My recommendation is for Mister Blue to check the influence percentage frequently and train your mind to stay calm. Try to keep the influence percentage below 50%."
Bluebird gaped. Why didn"t he get Lomyok"s card instead? How come the cards from the same series have a vast difference in the difficulty level of how to use them?
"What will happen if it is over 50%?" Bluebird weakly asked.
"Generally, the l.u.s.t skill has no cooldown. Upon using it, you can exert the full potential of your skills. Moreover, unlike other Deadly Sins cards where the demons" emergence is up to a chance, Asmodeus won"t come out until the influence percentage between you and her reaches 100%. The influence percentage is the figure representing how much she can control you. When it is over 50%, she will be able to use your skills even without Mister Blue"s consent.
"I may be too pessimistic, sir. However, If I were Asmodeus, when the influence percentage is over 50%, I will use l.u.s.t repeatedly until it reaches 100% and free myself from the card."
"Oi!! She can do that?! That"s playing dirty!"
"Not as dirty as Mammon in Mister Sila"s card, I"d say, sir. In the case of Mammon, no one ever wanted to stay close to him. Anyway, it"s just my pessimistic thinking, maybe Asmodeus doesn"t think like me."
Bluebird inspected the card and found that the influence percentage was at 68%, which was already over the safe range. His face went pale. He didn"t know whether Asmodeus had mercy on him, was forgetful, or wasn"t aware of Sebastian"s idea. No matter what, he had to hurriedly decrease the rate before the situation that Sebastian had predicted happened for real.
Sila whispered to Bluebird, "What about Miss Yardpirun? What happened to her?"
Bluebird closed his system window and whispered back. "Boss sent me a message saying that she was fine. She"s going back to the Heavenly Dragon Guild. It seems Montra wants them to report on the attack."
"Glad to hear that." Sila turned back and looked around before asking Sebastian. "Where are Miss Franz and Asura? I haven"t seen them."
The corners of Sebastian"s mouth lifted up. "Once they discovered that I lost all of my skills, they abandoned me here and left, sir."
"Eh? Aren"t they your friends?" Sila wondered. Based on what he saw, those two seemed to get along well with Sebastian. They wouldn"t abandon their friend when he was suffering.
"They were already kind enough not to kill me, sir. Our relationship is somewhat complex. You need not worry, sir. Once I get my strength back, I will personally bring them back, with a big gift ready for them."
Listening to Sebastian, a chill ran down Bluebird"s spine even though Zhongsuyuan City was a city in a tropical area.
When Sila had found out that Lucifer"s qi destroyed skills, he suspected that Sebastian must have lost some when he obtained his wounds. However, Sila never would have guessed that Sebastian lost all of his skills.
"What can I do to help you? Do I need to purchase some sort of magic scroll so you can learn spells?" asked Sila.
"The moment I started learning Death Magic, I was forbidden from learning any other type, sir, and I doubt we can find a magic scroll containing Death Magic easily. However, I"m not completely defenseless. Before Mister Sila came back, I practiced some skills while waiting, so I now have Basic Magic Level 1 and Magic Power Reinforcement Level 1, which should be moderately useful given my pool of magic points."
Sila felt distressed. "Isn"t there a way to help you at all?"
"Mn. Actually, this is what I want to ask of you, sir. I would like Mister Sila to help me bring back my genuine form. If it"s successful, I will be able to exert my true power, and the six hundred and sixty-six spells that I lost will amount to nothing in comparison."
"How exactly can I help you achieve that?" Sila asked with enthusiasm.
"Bring me to meet one of the G.o.ds of Death, sir. The G.o.d of Death shall a.s.sign a mission for me. Once I finish the mission, I will regain my genuine form."
Bluebird frowned. "A G.o.d? Where can we find a G.o.d? And it has to be a G.o.d of Death at that."
Sebastian replied, "Before I lost my skills, I sensed that the nearest G.o.d of Death is residing in the Deadly Desert, sir. However, if I go there alone, I will surely not survive."
"Deadly Desert?" Both Sila and Bluebird exclaimed.
"Is the Deadly Desert and the Desert of Death the same place?" Sila asked Bluebird.
"Mn. Bistem Desert, the Desert of Death, the Deadly Desert, the Desert of Wishes, all of these names refer to the same place. It"s located to the west of Zhongsuyuan City, meaning it isn"t far. However, it"s as fearful as its name suggests. No living creatures can be found there. All you see in every direction is sand. Everyone that has entered met their end with no recollection of their time in there, including how they died."
"Well, I plan to go there anyway. Sebastian, you can simply tag along."
"Thank you very much, sir. In that case, I will go and make some preparations first. The news about me losing all of my skills seem to be spreading around, and I have a lot of enemies in this city. I will wait for you at the mansion, sir."
Sila nodded. "Fine, but please take Julia with you. Tell her I will have something to ask once I go back to the mansion."
Sebastian nodded and approached Julia. They exchanged words before teleporting to the mansion.
Sila and Bluebird returned to the main table in order to say goodbye to everyone.
"We all will be resting here today. If you want something, please don"t hesitate to come to find us, Sila. We will do anything we can," said Lone Wolf.
"Thank you. So, we will meet up again tomorrow to announce the direction of the Wicked Union, right?"
"Yes, tomorrow at 10 AM."
After confirming the time, Sila teleported back to the mansion. Although everyone seemed to be eager to discuss and determine the direction of the alliance, Sila didn"t think that kind of discussion suited him. Just listening to the summary later should suffice for him.
Once he finished teleporting, he called Sebastian and Julia over, then told them about his problematic armor. He was concerned that if he didn"t fix it soon, it might start to affect Lookhin negatively.
Julia politely bowed her head. "Julia only possesses information regarding items that were directly generated by the system, Master. I"m terribly sorry that I can"t be of any help."
"You don"t need to feel apologetic for that, Julia. I can just go ask the Android King."
Sebastian disagreed. "I don"t think that"s a good idea, sir. It"s better for everyone, including the Android King, to think that your previous armor was broken. The knowledge about Hidden Gifts is new even for me, though I"m still quite confused about them. In situations like this, there is no one more suitable than Mammon to explain what is going on. We better ask him, sir."
"But... Hidden Gifts seem useful. It may be valuable information for our team."
"Information is only valuable when it"s cla.s.sified, sir. I still insist that Mister Sila should consider this information top secret, and that you don"t tell anyone easily. Now, our problem at hand is that we don"t know if leaving Lookhin inside the inactive armor is dangerous or not. The first thing we should do is call Mammon out to inquire, sir."
Sila agreed and was about to summon Mamon, but Sebastian stopped him and talked to Julia.
"Miss Head Maid, could you configure it so that no one can enter the mansion for the time being? There is a possibility that someone may accidentally come. Better be safe than sorry, sir."
Julia turned her head to Sila, who nodded in agreement.
"...It"s done. For the next eighteen hours, until 8 AM tomorrow, no one will be able to come to this dimension. The timeframe can only be changed by Mister Sila."
"Then, come out, Mamon."
Mamon"s pet.i.te body emerged. He brushed the dust on his clothes away and looked around.
"d.a.m.n! How dare you imprison me! I thought we could talk things out so I spared you, but this time... Hm? Sebastian? What are you doing here?!!"
Mamon swept his gaze to search for a certain someone.
"Where is your master? That cheating human b.a.s.t.a.r.d?!!"
Sebastian laughed. "Hahaha. I thought I was the most unfortunate one, but it turns out there is someone who got it worse than me. Mamon has become a small kid."
"My name is MAMMON!! The most fearful Devil Prince from h.e.l.l!!"
Julia rubbed her hand on Mamon"s head. "You are so cute."
Mamon snapped and swept her hand away. "Don"t touch me, item girl!! You three dare to look down on me…! Behold! My secret move!"
Mamon"s eyes were gleaming red. The power emitting from him didn"t seem that powerful, so Sila decided to wait.
As for Sebastian, although he knew Mammon possessed some kind of fraudulent ability, he had never personally witnessed it. As he was left with no skills, he couldn"t do much except for clad himself with magic power reinforcement.
All three of them still didn"t know what Mamon was doing, though Sila"s intuition told him that Mamon already took action.
"Let"s start with the Hidden Gift that I stole from Satan."
As Mamon ended his sentence, the atmosphere changed completely. A feeling of irresistible fear overcame the three. Sila realized immediately that it was the same feeling he felt when he activated the Greed skill. A nauseating and disgusting sensation filled the entire mansion.
"Kiekkiekkiek. Do you feel it now? My true terror!"
Mamon let out his evil laugh. It was a burst of laughter that sounded awfully annoying.
Sila finally took action. He clad his palm with Yin Yang Energy and struck Mamon"s forehead with the intention of stopping his skill.
The slapping sound echoed, and Mamon soon became a ball of light before returning to Sila"s armor.
The system notification rang out.
Mamon, the Devil Prince, has died. Its level has fallen from Level 430 Marquis Rank to Level 420 Marquis Rank. It will take two hours until you can summon Mamon again.