When Athena had eaten the fruit, nothing had happened at the time, and she concluded that maybe it was just a meal that the boss devil enjoyed.
However, what she did not know was that the fruit had a long incubating period, and right now, it had finally kicked in.
It merged with her current powers, morphing them into something different.
In addition to the recent improvement into becoming a Rank 1 lesser demon, it had changed even more.
What she did not know was that aside from physical defense, the Boss of the first level of the Devil Dungeon also had mental defense. It was this mental defense that it used against the devils of the second level and prevented them from invading his territory.
When the boss devil died, its shield was left behind as well as this fruit for mental defense.
At the time, she did not have sufficient capabilities to digest it.
However, Lenny's gifting them names totally changed that.
Now, it had merged with her mind and was displaying its power.
She looked all around her.
Things were not as she had seen them earlier on.
This place. It was not what they thought it was.
The moment that the effects of the fruit kicked in, it felt as if she had been walking her whole life blind and was suddenly granted enlightenment.
It absolutely opened up her mind.
She looked around her. The trees were not trees, and even the grasses were not grasses.
No, there was something else. Things she could not describe with words.
It was as if a person had been turned inside out and then the showing organs were punctured with holes like a bee's nest.
Instantly, she vomitted to the side. She was unable to hold back her disgust.
She was a gladiator and had seen very terrible things, but this one was on another level.
However, there was more.
She noticed that little wisps of negative magic seemed to ooze off these 'trees, grasses, and other plant life.
This negative magic was subtle. However, slowly and silently, it flowed into the bodies of her teammates.
This happened without their knowledge.
But she could see it enter through their orifices, and then she should see something else leaving their bodies.
What was left was white. It left their bodies as the negative magic entered. And as it left, it was absorbed by the plant life.
This was a constant for all of them. Well, all of them except Lenny.
For him, it looked as if a hue of white light like a flame was about his body.
However, this did not stop the negative energy. Instead, it revolved around him as if waiting for an opportunity for the white hue to go low before rushing into his body.
In fact, a terrifying amount of negative magic was about him.
This was far more than the amount that had entered everyone else's
It had only been five days in this place, and it seemed like the amount that had gathered around Lenny was so potent that it was like she was looking at the dark sky surrounding the full moon.
She shook her head in denial and surprise at the things she was seeing.
When she looked at Hector, it was even worse.
It was not just the negative spirit. There was something else. Something of raw chaos magic was inside him, and the moment she looked at it, an inverted eye appeared as it looked back at her.
Instantly, She screamed at the top of her voice.
"STOP!!! ALL OF YOU JUST STOP!"
A low hum blasted out of her body, and as it went in a wave, it reached all of the others, chasing the negative magic away.
All of them paused.
Whatever she had done came at the most opportune time, too.
Because at the moment, Hector was already contemplating taking another Chaos pill to match Lenny's strength.
However, her scream did two things:
Firstly, it quenched the whisper in his head, and secondly, it chased the negative magic around.
The moment it did, everyone suddenly realized what they were doing and stopped.
Crusher stood up from on top of Perseus and even presented a hand to help him up.
And Hector hid the red devil pill back into his undergarment.
They all turned to her.
"This place... is... causing all this. It's making us fight one another. It's the freaking trees and the grasses... and EVERYTHING!"
Hearing this, Lenny immediately spread out his senses. However, he could not feel anything.
However, when he turned to the Satanic System, things were different.
And it was not just the mission that had been staring him in the face that he now wondered what had made him not accept in the first place, but also the fact that at the top right corner, there was a low red alert beeping there.
Athena was right. All this time, negative magic had been influencing them. Even the System had been warning him, but the heavy weight of the negative magic on him had been preventing him from noticing.
Just then, Perseus pointed behind Athena, and all eyes turned in that direction.
There it was. The cottage that they had been trying to reach for three days straight
It was right in front of them.
However, only moments ago, it had not been there.
Now that it was closer, it was actually bigger than they thought.
In fact, calling it a cottage would have been too much.
........
Meanwhile, Cuban sat in the comfort of a grand hall.
This hall, like any other place, had been made to display both wealth and carry the feel of a king's palace.
Of course, at the higher end of the hall, there was just one seat. However, a better description of it would have been a throne.
After all, it looked like one. It was made of gold, a mineral that had little to no value to demons, and adorned with beautiful decorations...
(Author's note: Hold up! So why haven't dropped a review if you have read this far? Please do so)
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