MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

"Mammon, your sacrifice will pave the way for our freedom, just like Lilith's did," A voice sounded, carrying a ravenous hunger, each word dripping with insatiable desire.

The one to speak was a similarly twisted creature with such a grotesque appearance that a common individual would want to gouge their eyes.

The chimeric creature was a blend of various insects, bore the face of a house fly with hundreds of eyes, his physique being lany and bony cloaked in withered flesh, standing at the towering height of close to ten meters.

A set of large, thin, dull, and transparent insectoid wings on his back, its elongated arms hung just inches above the ground, with two sets of ant-like legs supporting his figure.

"Beelzebub, my friend, I will go into a deep slumber for absuming my law of greed and will wake up a few decades later when the promised freedom will be granted to us,"

"But, do you believe that our king, who has a goal to plunge the entire world into an apocalypse, turn all its inhabitants into vitality vessels that will grant him immense power, achieve all that with decades of meticulous work and, in the end, share a portion of that power with us,"

"If it was me, I would just erase the puppets, meaning us, the Embodiments of Sin, and keep all the power to myself because what use will I have for weaklings when I ascended to the wider cosmos?" The demon seated on the throne said, as his deep crimson eyes shifted to the demon standing by his side.

"Mammon, You are the Embodiment of Greed, and if given the chance, you will take away even the powers of the king and every living soul in this world, so it is in your nature to hold such questions,"

"While I would not say that your worries are baseless because we are just tools, but tools that are useful, so I could see ourselves staying alive, and then again, do we have a choice in the matter of obeying the Demon King,"

"Now, it's about time you start creating the Essence Conduit crystals," Beelzebub said, and the dark crimson-skinned demon emitted a low growl as if in agreement with his friend.

Mammon raised his hand, a greenish aura oozing out from his behemoth of a figure, swiftly taking the symbol of a massive fox behind him, and a moment later, the demon opened his mouth unnaturally wide, making the fox behind him do the same.

A breath of green energy gushed out from the massive maw of the fox, spreading into the vast chamber of riches and horror like an untamed flood, cloaking everything in the surrounding area, removing the blinding light that permeated the room, and plunging it into pure darkness.

If one could see in the darkness, one would see how, underneath the blanket of verdant energy, everything was turning dark, red, yellow, and a plethora of other colors, like layers of its essence were being peeled off.

The mountains of gold turned dark like a pile of dust, and the same was true for other minerals and treasures, while the frozen figures of living beings underwent a similar transformation, their bodies eroding away in a matter of moments.

After everything turned to dust, the fine dust began to gather in a few spots under the influence of the verdant energy, taking the form of small lumps that grew bigger and denser by the instant.

Mammon's mouth closed, and so did his eyes as he drifted into a slumber, and the fox behind him vanished while the verdant energy returned to nothingness.

"Rest well, my friend," Beelzebub said as he raised his hand, and the multiple dark crystals floating in the darkness rushed before him.

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(Human Continent)

"Sir, we were not able to locate the whereabouts of the crown prince of the Gold Kingdom or the other figure you told us about, but we will keep looking for them and will inform you of any success." A feminine voice sounded in Alex's mind, and he couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment.

It had been ten days since Alex secured help from clan leader Azgral, securing a team of seventy Beastmen, with each and every one of them being a Sixth Rank warrior, with there also being two Elemental Rulers among their Rank.

Alex had made the group search for influential figures of the Demonic Cult, and Caden Silver was on the priority list because, as the Sin Champion, he could very well know about the plan of the Demons.

But they had no success in locating Caden nor any figures like Ernest Schröpfer, an Elemental Ruler whom Alex met in the gladiator city, or the ones whose names were written in the diary.

The cult members staying around the prisons of Chaos Generals were mere pawns, and even the strongest among them were peak-stage Elementalists who knew nothing about the plan.

There was a possibility that the Elven Empress knew something about the plan, but that was also unlikely, and even if she did, extracting the information from a figure like her, even by his guardian, would be near impossible.

Elder Darrien, Lady Margaret, and even Varon told him to take things easy as they assured him that they were making efforts to find whatever was at play.

They believed that with time, things would come to light because it was impossible to start an event that could cause the annihilation of billions without leaving big clues.

Even then, Alex could not help but be anxious about what Ahrimon was plotting, but knowing the elders knew about that man more than anyone and had far more means of finding things, he found some solace in that, and he could only hope things would not end in a disaster.

'It looks like they found him,' Alex thought as he accepted the communication call.

"Sir, we have located the target matching your given description, and he is currently present in the Tipsy Griffon pub located on the north side of the city,"

"I will keep watch on him and wait for you outside the pub," The man spoke before cutting the connection.

Alex stood up from his medication, summoned his sword, and used the Temporal Beacon skill to teleport into a dark ally before sprinting toward the pub.

Alex swiftly reached the pub and found a skinny man standing by the door, who smiled ear to ear seeing him approaching, and without saying a word, he threw a bag at the man, giving him the promised amount before entering the pub.

Alex scanned the rowdy hall and quickly located the player named Yakari, a man whom Alex remembered as a menace for his archery skills and the great use of his broken knives of doom.

As Alex approached Yakari's table, he casually grabbed an empty chair on his way and settled into it amidst the group of players, and the gathering quickly fell silent, all eyes now fixed on him.

"Hey, what do you want?" The player next to Alex said, placing his hand on his shoulder and leaning forward to look into his eyes.

"I have some business to discuss with your friend Yakari, and I would appreciate it if you guys left us alone, and for your troubles, I will settle your bill," Alex said as he scanned through the stats of Yakari, finding it lackluster compared to what he expected them to be but still much better then average.

"We may pay our own bill, so leave and stop running our victory celebration," The player decked in the most valuable armor among the players spoke with an irritated tone.

"I don't have time for this," Alex said as he appeared behind Yakari, and the two vanished into a quick blur.

"Now we can talk in private," Alex said with a calm smile, but to Yakari, it was nothing short of terrifying.

"I am a member of the Shadow Oblivion organization, and I want the chakram knives in your possession."

"Rest assured, I'm willing to offer a fair price for them, so may I have a look at them, or do you want to discuss the price first?" Alex inquired, but Yakari remained motionless, his legs trembling.

"You... You may have them for free. I don't want any trouble," Yakari said, his words trembling with palpable fear, as with shaky hands, he retrieved the knives from his inventory and extended them toward Alex.

Alex was quite surprised seeing the behavior of the man, whom he knew as a fearless and indomitable man, picking fights with big guilds merely to test his skills, but the one before him was nothing like the lion he knew but was just a scared rabbit.

"Fuck You, You fucking thief."

"Why should I give my treasure to you still if you are a member of that big organization," Yakari roared as he stepped back, holding the two knives with his arms raised into a defensive stance, his jaw clenched and the previous fear nowhere to be seen in his eyes.