Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Eren suddenly detected a strong smell of metal and flesh.

"Hmmm!"

Eren breathed out hard through his nose, and streams of blood flowed from both his nostrils, running down his mouth and staining his clothes. Strangely, he felt much better after the release of blood, as if a significant weight had been lifted from inside his head.

If his headache was previously like an enraged demon wolf constantly howling, it had now transformed into a dog's low growl, post the relief obtained from the bleeding. The headache was still there and it was bound to stay with him for a few days.

"I tried to minimize the damage, but—"

Shallot spoke in a low voice as she gently caressed Eren's back. However, her small figure and hands weren't sufficient to provide him with relief.

Nonetheless, he could sense her genuine care and smiled at her. Wiping the blood stains below his nostrils, he snapped his fingers and used his bloodline ability to heal himself.

Eren wasn't nearly as damaged as Nira was. All his injuries were superficial, and his Soul Space was mostly undamaged even after the detonation of the pseudo-avatar.

This was a significant advantage of the perma-clone technique he had developed on his own with Shallot's assistance. Sansara Sage would have been impressed with Eren's findings had he known what his legacy holder was up to.

The butcher was quite decisive in his handling of the situation. Having accepted that retaining Lemaar as one of his clones was no longer feasible, Eren decided to sacrifice him to safeguard his interests in Labh Salem.

He didn't want Nira to connect Lemaar, him, or any of his subordinates to the True Inheritor of the Elder Ichor bloodline making news in Agora. So blowing everything to the smithereens was his only option left.

Cultivating a pseudo-avatar was not easy. It required a lot of patience, careful selection, demon hunting, investment of various resources, active monitoring of the entire experimental batch, and a bit of luck.

The butcher had just finished crafting his seventh pseudo-avatar. He felt like he needed to do the same stuff all over again in order to restore his seventh perma-clone. After all, the more clones he had the better it was for him to execute a lot of his plans.

"It's fine, Shallot dear. I had already predicted this much damage. So there's no need to worry."

Eren comforted Shallot as he caressed her little cheeks before rising to his feet. Despite feeling dizzy and experiencing a brief bout of vertigo, he shook his head, and his blurred vision soon cleared.

"Ugh! These side-effects," Eren ran his fingers through his hair and massaged his scalp. He then took out an A-Ranked soul-nurturing potion vial, uncorked it, and gulped the contents down.

The possession of this precious potion alone could allow someone to buy the entire mortal-dominated city of Sunhaven for themselves.

However, Eren was never frugal when it came to taking care of himself and consumed a few more premium-grade potions to return to his usual condition.

***

Eren instructed Shallot to return to the Mirror World before walking out of the underground facility. As soon as he emerged, he faced the inquisitive gazes of Reen, Kayara, and Roza Thaglas, who had been waiting for him for quite some time.

"How did it go?" Reen asked with a serious expression. However, she soon realized that Eren had managed to resolve things after seeing the smile on his face.

"Things are fine," Eren reassured his three allies. "At least for now." He then turned to Roza and issued a command.

"You need to leave Sunhaven and meet with a team of fiends waiting for you at this location," Eren retrieved his Spectral Screen and sent Roza geographical coordinates.

"Lemaar Saaya used to run a demon cult near this place. Ensure you destroy the whole cult and eliminate everyone in it. No need to capture talented demon seedlings like in the past. Neutralize everyone you lay your eyes on.

Conduct targeted killings on the cult members who are not present at the time of your raid. Even kittens belonging to this sect should not survive your assault.

Loot the cult's treasury but sell everything in it as soon as you can. Turn the precious resources into Menaka's Runes and scrap everything up in the black market.

You have only a week. Act swiftly and then disappear for a while before finding your way back to me. Is that clear?" Eren spoke with a serious tone.

Eren had already assembled a team of fiends for the purging task. Some of Eren's fiends from Anfang had managed to find him during the last five years. He had utilized them effectively, employing them in hunting demonic entities.

For this specific job, Eren appointed Ashton and Hilda as fiend team captains. These two were a couple whom he had revived as fiends after extracting their souls from Purgatory's prison. While technically capable of completing the task with enough fiends under their command, Eren decided to expedite the process by sending Roza along.

"Yes, my liege," Roza bowed and accepted Eren's task immediately. "What would be my objective?" she asked carefully as she raised her head to look at Eren.

"If that elf is half as smart as I give her credit for, she'll send someone to investigate Lemaar's identity," Eren smiled like an old fox as he spoke.

"That bitch would want to know where Lemaar came from and when he disappeared from the scene, leaving his own cult behind.

Your job is to ensure that she finds nothing useful about Lemaar. You know how to muddy the waters.

Use your channels to spread rumors about him, create fake trails, and employ people and money to blur the lines between reality and fiction.

Utilize your powers as the incarnation of one of the 72 Ars Goetia Immortal demons to influence local demonic forces if necessary. Lemaar's cult was dedicated to one of Ars Goetia demons as well if my memory serves right.

Ask Immortal Vepaar to move all of the cults under her against that Immortal demon. This way, it would look like it was a clash between two Immortal demons and the cults associated with them.

As long as you execute the tasks I assign you correctly, we won't have to worry about anything."

Eren said before taking out a Sativa Stick from his storage and lighting it up.

Sansara Sage was unaware that his legacy holder had anticipated his move and initiated countermeasures.

Before Lehan or Nira could contemplate unraveling the mystery of Eren's perma-clones, he had already begun constructing an impenetrable veil to conceal himself.

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AN: Ashton and Hilda were first introduced in chapter 302. They were turned into fiends in chapter 1497. They were used as fiends for the first time in chapter 1537.