…

While things on the side of the Maze Forest were going a little smoother, Diablo finally caught up with the Dragon Centipede after following the traces that it left behind.

During the entire journey, he encountered the scouts from different organizations that seemed to be tracking the giant centipede. It was clear that they were planning to take advantage of the current chaos to hunt down the Dragon Centipede or use it to destroy the kingdom.

Most of the scouts came from the forces that were invading the Sacred Light Kingdom. They were the people that Heckles had sent to track down the giant centipede so that they could control it and use its powers to destroy the Maze Forest.

The rest were the scavengers that came from the forces outside the Sacred Light Kingdom, wanting to catch some benefits in the middle of troubled waters.

Understanding their thoughts, Diablo did not hesitate to eliminate all the scouts that he came across. He even slowed down his search for the Dragon Centipede so that he could clear all the scouts in the entire area.

After making sure that he did not leave anyone behind, he continued his search and arrived at the peak of a mountain.

This mountain looked like a volcano due to the deep pit that it had on its peak which resembled the mouth of a volcano. It was so deep that all Diablo could see from the top was total darkness.

Squinting his eyes as he activated his ocular skill, he tried to peer through the darkness and see what was hidden underneath.

But despite how good his ocular skill and eyesight were, he was still unable to completely unveil the darkness shrouding the mouth of the mountain.

After contemplating it for a moment, Diablo decided to explore inside. He jumped straight into the pit without hesitation. Right after he fell into the darkness, his surrounding was immediately shrouded with it.

He also noticed that his senses were getting duller as he went deeper into the pit. Realizing this, he quickly covered himself with his unique mana, protecting himself from the foreign energies that seemed to be trying to invade his body.

After an unknown time, Diablo was finally able to see the bottom of the pit. He quickly adjusted his body in the air, twisting and somersaulting multiple times in midair to lessen the momentum of his descent.

When he was dozens of meters away from the ground, he suddenly took out a huge crossbow from his inventory and fired a bolt toward the nearby wall below before firing another to the opposite side.

He then quickly kept the crossbow before stretching his arm and catching the rope attached to each end of the arrow bolts that he fired earlier.

Catching the rope, he suddenly flipped a couple of times in the air, seemingly using it as an armbar used by acrobats.

He then threw himself in the air and flipped multiple times before landing steadily on the ground.

He quickly put his guard up as he knew that the giant centipede must be hiding somewhere. He did not know what it wanted from this place, but he could tell that it must be something big or important given that an Emperor Class Monster wanted it.

Diablo did not dare to light up a fire or use an illuminating stone to brighten up the surroundings as he was afraid that he would attract the attention of the monsters residing there. No matter how he looked, he felt that this place must be a monster lair or something similar. 𝑖𝘦.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Fortunately, his Demon’s Eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, giving him enough vision that he needed.

After a couple of turns, he noticed that there was a huge hole in the wall nearby. It looked like a cave, but from Diablo’s observation, he could tell that it was made by the Dragon Centipede that he was chasing.

He suspected that there might be a car here previously, but it was enlarged by the giant centipede for some unknown reason.

After thinking for about a minute, Diablo decided to enter and explore it. He was already here, so it would be a waste not to continue.

He did not encounter anything special along the way, but he felt a little uncomfortable due to the foreign energy that was filling the air.

After a close observation, he noticed that this energy was starting to become much denser and transforming into a dark haze. It was hard to notice in the darkness, but his special eyes made it possible for him to notice them.

It was at that moment that he realized that this miasma was coming from the deeper part of the cave. Noticing this, Diablo quickly increased his speed and even sprinted when he was about to reach the end of it.

He could see a faint light coming from the other side.

Swoosh!

He quickly slowed down when he was about to reach the edge of the cave. He leaned closely to the wall while peeking outside.

It was at that moment that he saw a very spacious area outside. There was nothing special in it aside from the dark and crimson runes engraved on the walls.

These runes covered the entire cave up to the ceiling. They seemed to be alive as they were emitting a sanguine light with a constant rhythm. They looked like a beating heart that had a rhythmic pattern.

Following the runes all the way up in the ceiling, Diablo finally saw something that sent shivers down his spine.

He saw the Dragon Centipede curled up into a ball up there. It seemed to be coiling around a spherical object that was attached to the ceiling and connected to the crimson runes drawn in the cave.

Diablo did not know what the giant centipede was doing, but he felt that he had to stop it if he did not want something bad to happen.

But before he did anything, he decided to contact Shin first since he felt that the latter might have discovered something. From their earlier conversation, it felt like Shin had realized the real plot that the Pandemonium Troupe was scheming.

…

*Ding*

Shin, who was observing the battle between Leonard’s group and the forces of the Big Three, suddenly received a message.

When he glanced at the sender’s name and saw that it was Diablo, he immediately got the idea of what it was about.

But when he opened the message and skimmed through the contents that it had, his eyes suddenly turned wide. It was as if lightning struck him as he realized something.

To make sure that his suspicion was right, Shin asked Diablo to send him some images of what he had sent.

*Ding*

Not long after, Shin received the taken images from Diablo. When he saw them, he finally found the final piece of the puzzle. He now found where Paimon and the rest of the Pandemonium Descendants were storing the stolen life forces.

“This must be their storage space, and whatever that Dragon Centipede was coiling must be the core that will store all the life energy that they will be getting from the purification ceremony,” mumbled Shin.

He then realized what the Emperor Class Monster was planning to do. “It must want to use the life energy from that core to elevate its strength to the next stage. If it was successful, then-…”

Shin did not dare to think of the outcome when it happened. At the current stage of the game, the highest rank of that monster that most people were aware of was the ‘World Bosses’ which were a notch higher than Emperor Class Monster.

If it was a monster of that level with the Third Evolutionary Stage (Tier 3 Monsters) was born, then the consequences would be much more dire than their current situation.

Shin now had another problem that he had to solve. The first two cases had a clear way to solve them.

The problem with the Corrupted Cult was much easier to solve since they only had to prevent them from reaching the main base and destroy it. So long as they held on to their positions persistently, they would be able to stop the spreading of the corruption called the ‘Withering’.

As for the problem with the Demonic Churches, it was a little tricky since they had to consider the success of the purification ceremony as well. They had to stop it so that they could prevent them from harvesting more life energy, which would also help the Corrupted Cult somehow.

Now, he had another problem which was the evolution of an Emperor Class Monster. This was similar to the previous two problems but was equally troublesome. After all, dealing with such monsters was not that easy, especially when they greatly lacked the manpower.

Since he now knew where the core was located, he could at least solve the root of the problem. As long as he severed the connection between the core and the land of the Sacred Light Kingdom, they would be fine.

They could proceed with the original plan.

Thinking about this, Shin quickly raised his head and looked at the elven seer, who was kneeling in front of the altar and seemed to be praying with a series of elven chants.

There was also a series of glowing runes in elven language floating around the elder, revolving around him and moving at a constant speed.

After watching the process for a couple of moments, Shin turned toward the elders who were kneeling on the ground behind the elven seer and around the altar.

He was keeping a close eye on them as he was afraid that the traitor would make his move at the most crucial moment. He became even more concerned since he would have to leave this place to help Diablo with the other side.

He was concerned that the traitor hidden among their ranks would make his move once they learned about the destruction of the core and interrupt the purification ceremony instead as a backup plan.

Thinking about that, Shin turned to his side. “Sister Adept Hands, I have to leave for now and deal with another problem. I will be leaving this place in your hands.”

Hearing that, Adept Hand suddenly raised her brows and complained. “Eh!? What do you think of me? I am not like my sister! I am not good at managing things and dealing with this war tactics thing. I will only mess up your plans.”

“Don’t worry, I will inform Lorraine to lend a hand,” said Shin, trying to reassure her.

But Adept Hand was still concerned. “I don’t think that she will be enough. Even the scale of the battle and the current state that we are in, I’m afraid that it is too overwhelming for her.”

“She is only a Commander of an Adventurer Team. I don’t think she has enough experience to handle such a situation and carry such a burden.”

Shin chuckled as he said. “That is why I am leaving you to take over my position.”

Adept Hands rolled her eyes and refused. “As I said, I am not my sister. This is not my thing. I can’t do much.”

But Shin still insisted. “You don’t have to do much. Just guarding this place and keeping an eye out for any kind of ambush that can interfere with the purification ceremony. That will be more than enough.”

“As for commanding the forces on our side, you can leave it to me and Lorraine. I will keep an eye on the state of the battle through the command channel and control everything remotely as it has always been.”

“But you must promise me that you will take serious precautions against the traitors,” he added with a serious warning. “This will determine whether our mission here will fail or be a success.”

Adept Hands was still wearing a deep frown as she was still not satisfied with the arrangement. But Shin immediately ignored her expression and walked toward the pair of siblings not far away.

“I will be leaving this base in your care. Can I trust you with the tasks on this side?” he asked Samael.

Samael was slightly taken aback before slowly nodding his head. “You can count on us.”

Seeing his serious expression, Shin smiled before turning to Huahua and patting her head. “Support your brother well. I will gift you something good when I get back.”

Huahua pouted when she saw Shin treating her like a child, but still let him pat her.

After that, Shin walked toward the exit of the base before contacting Leonard. “Leo, stop toying with your opponents and finish them off, then leave the rest to Legolas, Aragorn, and Tinker.”

“We have another playmate to entertain. I will be sending the coordinates,” he then ended the call without waiting for the other response before contacting Diablo.

“We will arrive there in a couple of minutes at the very least. Don’t do anything for the time being and continue to observe the situation. Leave if anything dangerous happens.”

…

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