The Abyss Cult was the last remaining organization of dark wizards on the continent.
True to their name as a cult, the organization was centered around their cult leader.
Currently, their leader, Bialom, was in a state of serious annoyance.
With the task of taking bloody revenge on those who had scorned them and bringing back the demon they worship to throw the continent into chaos now just around the corner, his foolish subordinates were dragging their feet with all sorts of excuses while gathering sacrifices.
He was struggling to restrain himself from wanting to draw their blood and offer it to the demon.
Though they were swine-like fools, without them, the plan would be delayed even further, so he had no choice but to endure.
“Leader! We seem to have an intruder in the cult right now!”
Just as Bialom was calming his rage, a disciple hurriedly rushed in to report.
“An intruder?”
“Yes! There seem to be no more than ten of them.”
Ten? They were probably just curious idiots who squeezed in after spotting the entrance dug by the burrowing serpent.
Most likely, they were adventurers or mercenaries.
Gratefully, they were coming in as sacrifices, thinking it might be a dungeon with something valuable.
“Well, that’s good news. We were running low on sacrifices anyway. Capture them and bring them to the storehouse.”
“Uh… um, it seems that several of our disciples have already been taken out by them.”
“What pathetic fools!”
To be taken out by such lowly beings and still call themselves members of the Abyss Cult, worshipping the demon?
Of course, it wasn’t impossible that a few of the mercenaries or adventurers could have decent skills, but it still felt disgraceful.
“I’ll handle this myself. Where are they?”
“I’ll guide you, Leader!”
While Bialom felt irritation at the shoddiness of his subordinates for dragging him into this, he also felt a slight thrill at the thought of tasting fresh blood again after such a long time.
It was a different pleasure from simply killing subordinates or commoners.
Adventurers and mercenaries are at least those who’ve learned how to fight; they would put up a bit of a struggle, but in the end, they were nothing more than bugs.
This wasn’t overconfidence; it was simply a fact.
Only someone like Yustaf, the greatest magician on the continent, could pose a real threat to him.
Perhaps he’d have to consider facing the imperial knights, who gathered the superhumans of the empire, as worthy opponents.
Others were merely objects for his amusement.
“Hah… even I find that laughable.”
Bialom chuckled to himself. Yustaf and the imperial knights?
Maybe it was because he had some desire to face Yustaf at least once?
Known as the Dragon-Human, he was a living legend, referred to as the continent’s greatest magician since Bialom was a child.
While he might fall short in magic, he had some confidence now that he had gained the demon’s power that he could possibly win against him.
However, this was merely a futile delusion.
Yustaf, now working as a principal at an academy, was practically retired. There was no way he would appear in a place like this.
The imperial knights? That made even less sense.
They hadn’t participated in the previous war either. They only prioritized the security of the imperial family, like dogs on a leash.
Sure, they were the only enemies capable of threatening him, but they would have no reason to come here, so there was no need for Bialom to worry.
“Ah, I’ll finally hear some fresh screams.”
Following his subordinate who was guiding him to the intruders, Bialom’s steps felt incredibly light.
*
“Damn it, what the hell is going on?”
Venom was hiding in the bushes, holding his breath.
After being ordered by the leader to gather sacrifices, he came across soldiers surrounding their hideout and immediately concealed himself in the bushes, observing the situation.
The entrances to the tunnels dug by the serpents they had been using for passage were all under control.
And to top it off, he saw his brothers, fellow organization members, fleeing from the inside, all slaughtered.
‘That guy seems to be the leader of the group?’
A black-haired young man was giving orders to the soldiers.
Just looking at him, he seemed of a high status, probably the one in charge of the troops.
If he could take that guy out, the scene would likely spiral into chaos, allowing him to break free alongside his brothers who were trying to escape.
Of course, Venom wasn’t powerful enough to get through the soldiers and the knights guarding the area.
But he didn’t need to use his own strength to get through.
Venom took out a black stone the size of a fist from his pocket.
As he infused it with magical power, it began to vibrate slightly, and tremors started to rock the ground from a distance.
“What the hell? Is this shaking an earthquake?”
The surrounding soldiers and knights, on high alert, were bewildered by the sudden tremor and soon learned its true nature.
“Kiieeek!!!”
As the ground collapsed, a massive creature erupted from it.
It was too large to be a snake, but too unimpressive to be a dragon.
“It’s a burrowing serpent!!!”
The creature’s identity was confirmed as a burrowing serpent.
If you pictured a massive worm covered in scales, with a giant mouth filled with sharp teeth, that was certainly its hideous form.
And given its size, it seemed like a small hill was moving, adding to the intimidation factor.
“Everyone step back!!! Only the bodyguard knights follow me!”
The ordinary soldiers were petrified by the overwhelming presence of the burrowing serpent, rendered immobile, while only the bodyguard knights moved.
The first to leap out was the commander, Kross.
With just a few steps, he leapt up to the height of the burrowing serpent’s head and swung his sword. His blade glimmered and traced a short arc in the air.
Fshhh!
An astonishing scene unfolded where the sharp scales of the burrowing serpent, known to shred rough ore underneath, were cut cleanly.
Unfortunately, such superhuman feats were not only Kross’s capability.
Though there were only five of them there, the other knights also drew their weapons and charged at the burrowing serpent.
The once impossible-to-defeat creature suddenly appeared pitiable.
‘What the heck are those crazy people!!!’
Watching from a distance, Venom was shocked.
He thought they were merely ordinary knights, but they were nothing like it. He had never seen knights perform with such finesse in his life.
Of course, this didn’t mean that the knights were weak. Even knights from ordinary rural territories could fend off dozens of armed commoners without a scratch.
Yet, he had summoned the burrowing serpent.
Considering how many lives he had sacrificed to control it, it should not be so easily defeated.
‘Do they think they’re some royal guard knights or something!!!’
Venom was in disbelief about the situation and entertained the thought that these guys could be the emperor’s direct knights, the royal guard.
But he quickly dismissed that ridiculous notion.
Sure, the leader gave off a black-haired aura, but aside from the royal family, there were often other black-haired nobles in the empire.
The emperor was already old, so any young black-haired males would either be the crown prince or the second prince.
Would these rascals and debauchers come here to wipe out dark wizards?
It was a laughable scenario.
‘In this case, I’ll have to rely on my last line of defense.’
Venom pulled out a crystal from his pocket.
Chaos Crystal.
This black crystal, which could be obtained by offering sacrifices to the demon, had the ability to control its creations.
While he could remotely command pathetic creatures with a mere finger-sized Chaos Crystal, to control something like the burrowing serpent, he needed a fist-sized one.
To create this crystal, hundreds of humans had to be sacrificed, making it a precious item even within the cult.
As the one responsible for gathering sacrifices, Venom had been given this, but it was a precious asset that should only be one.
However, Venom had two Chaos Crystals.
In fact, he had secretly stockpiled humans to sacrifice over time, making this his valuable hidden asset.
He had planned to keep this as his final resort, but now it seemed he had no choice but to use it to break free from this encirclement.
Since the first burrowing serpent was drawing the mad knights’ attention, if he struck the leader with insufficient guards right now, confusion would surely ensue and he could escape.
He had originally intended to rescue his fellow cult members as well, but trying to save them would likely get him killed too.
Anyway, the blood they spilled would surely be compensated by the demon later, so Venom thought he’d be fine with his fate.
As Venom internally prayed for the power to defeat the wicked foes, channeling his mana into the second Chaos Crystal, tremors began to occur again in the distance and rapidly approached.
“Don’t tell me there’s another one?”
While they had managed to corner the first burrowing serpent, the bodyguard knights realized too late.
They never imagined there would be another one.
The burrowing serpent, moving underground with terrifying speed, was coming at a pace no knight on horseback could match.
“Kiieek!!!”
Yet again, a massive serpentine creature emerged from the ground.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince!!!”
And unfortunately, this happened to be where the Crown Prince was.
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