━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━

In the darkness, a hundred players huddled together, their faces ashen.

Many were repeatedly pressing their menu, trying to run from this madness!

Log-Out Now Will Be Considered A Death! Confirm? Y

/N?

Fuck! They didn't want to lose their precious XP! But was it wise to stay here? It wasn't like things were turning for the better either…

World Corruption Has Increased To 51%!

Next Level of Corruption Reached!

Hunters Are Now more Powerful!

They were **ed!

But as they were panicking, a man's soothing voice resonated.

"Follow my lead, and salvation will be yours! Now, repeat after me….

" The red-robbed old man began to chant!

Many complied as they shouted the same verses over and over. What was wrong with them?

With every repetition, they became bolder and their volume increased. It was akin to a crescendo from Hell!

Then it even reached a point where they were shouting so loud that it made the miasma tremble!

"I believe in The Demon King, the almighty leader, creator of the Demonic Legion! Eternal God, whose power is endless, give us the strength to face this new enemy! Allow us to prosper in your shadow and accomplish your bidding in this world!

"

At this moment, many just wanted hope! It just happened that the sweet promises of the fanatical old man struck a chord in them.

Chant for protection? They could do that!

Of course, not everyone would just go along with a crazy cultist— but he was pretty darn convincing.

"—Humph! I'll kick anyone not chanting out of the group! Mess up the verses, and you get a warning! Mess up again, and you're out!

" He thundered.

Hearing this, many had a sudden inexplicable change of heart. Perhaps shouting with the homies wasn't that bad after all!

They all redoubled fervor as they screamed their fear away, getting louder and louder!

They were so goddamn loud that they even managed to startle the hunters! — Not that it would stop their feast…

But what it did was summon Jack!

He had been watching the scene all this time with a wry smile. Now that the prayers were reaching their peak, he suddenly appeared as if a miracle!

"W-what?!

"

"H-he really came?!

"

"You're obviously new here, haha!

"

"Welcome to the cult! We do plenty of fun stuff like blood drawings!

"

"Hehe, you should see the Demon King summoning rituals. Now those are impressive!

"

Many members of D.L. were already advertising their cult. But why did they sound like this was a casual lazy Saturday morning? This wasn't the time!

"There are still hunters here!

"

"Don't let your guard down just yet!

"

"Why are you all lowering their weapons?!

"

Many random players were already wondering what the hell was wrong with their attitude. How could they be so naive and reckless!

Even their temporary leader frowned, watching them.

"What do you guys think you're doing?!

" He bellowed. He would finally talk some sense into them! Right?!

"Stop gossiping and start cheering!!! Tch— Newcomers nowadays, gotta teach them everything!

" The cult leader grumbled.

Wait, what?! Four hunters were surrounding his so-called God, and all this guy thought about was **ing cheering?! Not running, not helping, mother**ing cheering!!!

"Go, Demon King! Show them who's Boss! Banish these evil creatures who dared go against your will!

"— And then he kept going.

But the man's reaction was even worse. He just gave a thumb up before he began to trash the creatures completely.

Many noobs still thought that the mad tales of the Demon King's prowesses were inaccurate. Oh, they were inaccurate AF… for the man was even stronger!

They felt like they were watching a scene straight out of a movie. He slapped the creatures so hard that he looked like a Gallic drunk on magical potion!

Some found themselves cheering from the bottom of their hearts, while others just followed the mood.

As they kept the encouragements going, more creatures suddenly appeared! They were coming out of nowhere as if one's distant relatives after winning the jackpot.

But as they saw the Demon King's valiant fighting stance, the players couldn't help but scoff. So what if there were tens of them?! Jack would effortlessly defeat them all!!

Their eyes shined with boundless trust! His presence was a godsend…

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Jack made it look so easy, but he suddenly drew a cold breath. There was something so very wrong with the current situation!

He was supposed to

"finish

" this group of creatures then meet up with the Chief for the rest of the show, but then this happened:

World Corruption Has Increased To 66%!

The corruption itself shouldn't have been an issue.

Thanks to his contract with the Devil, it would never be able to take over New Leaf without his permission— or that's how it was supposed to be.

But he could suddenly feel a different air about the monsters: it was malevolent. They weren't playing anymore and were truly gunning for his head.

This didn't make any sense! How was this possible?! It would have needed the Devil to bypass its words somehow.

Sadly, he didn't have time to ponder this mystery. The creatures were almost upon him, ready to tear him to pieces!

Could he handle this assault alone? There was no freaking way, especially since Moon Moon had stayed at the Butcher shop for a snack.

He was akin to a pay-per-view wrestler suddenly thrown into an actual deathmatch without warning!

Nearby, the groups of cultists and randoms were watching intently. They were all eagerly cheering him on. But at this moment, Jack had to make a decision.

His Life VS All of Theirs

Yep, ** them all! As for that one loyal old man, he'd make it up to him later on— maybe teach him some runes or something.

Jack turned their way and then uttered with a large grin.

"You know….only the worthy deserves to be saved.

"

His gentle voice contrasted so much with what he was saying! Was he abandoning them?! But a second later, they began wishing that it had been the case. No, it was far worse!

He charged straight in their midst, akin to an agile monkey! He then gave a playful smile as he glanced at the dozen hunters approaching, then back at the players.

"Show me what you got.

"

Fuck! What kind of sadist was he?!

He had kindled their hopes, only to plunge them right back in the despair!

They felt like crying. No, they were already sobbing…

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

A

/N Hype! Feb Mass Release Time! 🔥

Day 5: A storm is brewing….and tea. • ☁ • (4

/4)