A Divine Sacrifice

"No response? You must really be dead."

"..."

Of course, Furneus wasn't dead. He was simply too dumbfounded to speak.

After a moment's hesitation, Adad decided to offer some comfort.

"Well, these things happen in life. Other demons have fallen victim to it too, so don't take it to heart."

"..."

"Of course, I've never been tricked like that, but that's only because I'm exceptionally great and superior. A fellow like you probably couldn't help it."

Demons were truly terrible at offering comfort. Adad's "warm" words of consolation snapped Furneus back to reality.

This absolute Archisus of a bastard...

"You seem to have regained your senses, Furneus. I won't kill you today. Be grateful."

Furneus's blood boiled at Adad's arrogant words, but he had no choice but to swallow his rage. He was the one at a disadvantage here! If they fought to the bitter end right now, Furneus was highly likely to lose. He had no desire to die just to save a bit of pride.

Just you wait, Adad... You will pay for today's humiliation with your head!

Hmph. He's probably plotting against me in his head. What an idiot, getting done in by Archisus... He doesn't deserve to be a Demon Duke. The only reason I'm letting him live is to catch Archisus.

As a Demon Duke himself, Adad could easily read Furneus's mind. It was the nature of demons: treat them poorly, and they would think, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠How dare you treat me like this? I'll kill you! Treat them well, and they would think, What a fool to treat me well, kuku. I'll kill you! There was no way Furneus would feel grateful for being spared. He would view it as a humiliation and seek revenge.

But Adad didn't care. He trusted Furneus's demonic nature. If Furneus was a true demon, he would undoubtedly seek out Archisus first to kill him. A Demon Duke who lost his castle and all his subordinates and did nothing about it didn't deserve to be called a demon.

Besides, there's no way an idiot like you can defeat Archisus cleanly. You'll both end up destroying each other. Muhahaha!

Adad wanted Furneus and Archisus to clash and severely weaken each other. That way, he could easily clean up the survivors!

"Furneus. Out of my immense generosity, I shall offer you a piece of assistance."

Grind.

"...What is it?"

"I have prepared something in the past to capture that bastard Archisus."

"...!"

Furneus was intrigued. Indeed, the one he needed to destroy first was Archisus. Adad could wait!

I'll kill Archisus first, steal his power, and then use it to slaughter Adad!

"What is it?"

"A way to travel to the continent."

"Is that true?!"

Although the Demon Realm and the Central Continent were connected by dimensional gates, demons couldn't simply cross over whenever they pleased. Back when the gods still resided on the continent, they had erected a powerful barrier to prevent invasions from outer realms. Had they not, the continent would have been conquered by the demons of the Demon Realm long ago!

Because of this, demons had to suffer massive penalties to cross over to the continent. Lesser demons or intermediate demons had little power to lose, so they would force their way through, but advanced demons and above would never dream of doing so. They simply had too much to lose.

Then how did high-ranking demons travel to the continent? Through summoning. When black mages and demonologists on the continent offered sacrifices to call upon them, they would accept the price and be summoned. The barrier could not block summons initiated by the continent's inhabitants.

Of course, their power would still be heavily restricted, but even that was something to be grateful for! Furthermore, the mages who tried to summon and contract demons usually met a grim end—either failing to control the demon or getting slaughtered by them. Very few mortals could outsmart a demon who had survived all kinds of hellish battles in the Demon Realm.

Archisus was just an anomaly!

In any case, demons required immense preparation and resolve to travel to the continent, not to mention a stroke of luck. There was a reason why summoned demons struggled so desperately to stay on the continent as long as possible.

Yet Adad had already made preparations. Furneus couldn't help but be enticed.

"Since that bastard's base is on the continent, I have enticed some humans to pave the way for us."

To demon worshippers, the name of a Demon Duke carried the same weight as the name of Archisus did to young demons. They were superstars of the industry!

When Adad reached out to them, the demonologists and black mages bowed scraping, eagerly replying, "We shall obey your command, Lord Adad!" and busied themselves with the summoning preparations.

Summoning a Demon Duke required immense sacrifices and complex rituals, so it wasn't fully complete yet, but it was nearing its final stages.

"And you're willing to hand that over to me?"

"To deal with Archisus, I can easily yield that much."

Furneus felt a bit uneasy, but he nodded. It was too good an opportunity to pass up just because of a little suspicion.

"Which humans are they?"

"Ah... what was it again? It was a human kingdom... Ah, yes. It was the Auston ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kingdom."

The Auston Kingdom!

Because Tae-hyun had lied and claimed he was from the Auston Kingdom when he scammed them previously, the black mages Adad had contacted were indeed from the Auston Kingdom. The consequences of that lie were now coming back around.

By the way, that bastard Lalgrgal hasn't reported back properly since going down to the continent... Surely he hasn't betrayed me? Losing his poison like an idiot.

Of course, Lalgrgal was currently starving to death on a forced diet inside the Hunger Dungeon, but there was no way for Adad to know that. Under the circumstances, he couldn't help but suspect betrayal!

Now that Lalgrgal was on the continent, it wouldn't be surprising if he had started plotting and decided to supply Edaor with poison. After all, demons betrayed each other as naturally as breathing.

"If you find Lalgrgal, tell him I ordered him to assist you," Adad said, hiding his true intentions.

"Can that fellow really be trusted? His poison was unleashed in my territory."

It seemed Furneus harbored similar suspicions. Did that bastard team up with Edaor?

"He is not the type to betray."

"Yeah, right."

"If he does, you have my permission to dispose of him."

"Even without your orders, I'll do so if he gets in my way. And that damn Edaor... I won't forgive him either."

A stray spark of trouble flew toward Edaor, who was currently resting in his own castle!

Edaor had no idea that he was suddenly being treated as "a pride-less bastard who got done in by Archisus and then teamed up with him."

"Good. Do whatever you want, just go to the continent and unleash your wrath. That bastard Archisus must die."

"Tell me when the preparations are complete. I will head ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠down immediately!"

Go and perish together with Archisus, you fool.

I'll absorb Archisus's power and take your head next.

The two Demon Dukes stared at each other, both harboring their own dark designs.

Rumble! Crash! Boom!

With a deafening roar, the flying castle shook violently.

The journey was rough enough to inflict severe penalties on everyone aboard.

Tae-hyun struggled to maintain his balance amidst the violent shaking and asked the goblins, "Are we actually heading in the right direction?"

"Of course, Your Majesty! We're still alive, aren't we?!"

"..."

Isn't that a highly questionable metric?

"It's making plenty of noise!"

"And we're still moving!"

"There's absolutely nothing to worry about!"

Crash!

As if on cue, a massive impact reverberated through the vessel, and all movement ground to a sudden halt.

"I think we crashed."

"A crash?! How could you say such a thing!"

"It was a landing! A landing!"

The goblins were incredibly defensive when it came to their ancestors' relics. Failure was not an option! Even if it looked like a failure, it absolutely wasn't!

"If it stopped moving because it broke, that's a crash..."

"At worst, it was an emergency landing!"

"Whatever. Let's just check the situation outside first."

For now, Tae-hyun let out a sigh of relief. They had escaped the Demon Realm and landed—or rather, crashed—safely. He was just glad they had returned to the continent without the castle being completely obliterated. Wasn't this exactly what he had hoped for?

I feel like my expectations in life have drastically plummeted ever since I got involved with Archisus...

The quest rewards had a massive impact on the entire continent!

If a flood of demons poured down, it would inevitably bring disaster to the continent. He couldn't help but feel a lingering sense of guilt for causing this.

Right? Yeah, I thought so too.

...Sacrifice?

While the god, the divine beast, and the Pope shared a collective moment of unease, a new quest window popped up.

...Let's just ignore this.

Having cleared one Demon Realm quest, the follow-up quest was completely shameless. Granted, it was because Tae-hyun had cleared a high-difficulty quest in the first place, but still, there had to be a limit!

If I were to attempt this, I'd have to lure them to the continent somehow... Wait, why am I even contemplating this?

It was the habit of a pro gamer. No matter how absurdly difficult a challenge was, his mind automatically started brainstorming ways to solve it.

Let's check the details of the Sacrifice of Archisus.

"..."

[...]

Is Archisus actually an evil god?

In truth, skills that granted buffs through sacrifice existed in various religious orders. They weren't exclusive to evil gods. Even orders of benevolent gods possessed such sacrificial skills.

However, those skills usually required the caster to sacrifice themselves. In Tae-hyun's memory, there had never been a skill that sacrificed a party member.

...Copying an evil god's authority just because it "looked cool" is already highly questionable...

The god's reputation was sinking lower by the second!

Then again, looking at all of Archisus's authorities, there were quite a few skills that made one wonder, Why on earth is this an authority of Archisus?

Still, this authority is incredibly powerful.

Tae-hyun immediately recognized the value of the skill.

Sacrificing a party member sounded like an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠absurd condition, but Tae-hyun was a player. While rankers and high-level players dreaded the death penalty, there were countless low-level players in Pangaea Online who couldn't care less about dying.

The lower a player's level, the more trivial the death penalty became. All he had to do was invite one such player to his party!

If I mention this to the Power Warrior Guild members, they'll probably line up to volunteer.