While Theresa was seriously contemplating her future job prospects, Adam was facing a more complicated situation as he contemplated his chances of failure and the ensuing repeated deaths on that front as he looked over the page of the Book of Genesis that showed him a new set of ordeals for him to accomplish.
『 Epic Ordeal: White Knight
Description: For reasons unknown, Azazel— the Archangel of Death has managed to stop the descent of Lucifer on this world. But in his place, another High ranked Devil of Hell, Xezbeth, the Devil of Lies was sent to accomplish his tasks and allow him to descend on this plane. He is severely wounded right now and cannot bring out the full extent of his devilish powers. Fight him, defeat him, and save the cultists from the devil's grasp as all humans are deserving of a second chance. Every Cultist saved gives an additional 30 karma points to you. An additional 60 karma points will be rewarded for every person you convert into your follower.
Reward: 20000 Karma Points
People Saved: 0/35
People Converted: 0/35 』
『 Epic Ordeal: Grey Knight
Description: Devils are the enemies of humanity. But are they your enemies? As you may or may not be a human… Make a deal with Xezbeth. Sign a contract with him and become a warlock under his rule and ensure the descent of the legions of hell on this plane.
Reward: 10000 Karma Points 』
『 Epic Ordeal: Black Knight
Description: No one deserves a second chance. A sin done once is a sin done forever. Everyone must pay for their insolence. Leave no one alive. An additional reward will be given if you manage to kill Xezbeth along the way.
Base Reward: 15000 Karma Points
Additional Reward: 10000 Karma Points 』
Adam slowly came down from the skies as he read through the conditions, rewards, and details of his latest set of ordeals. He could take the easy way out from this one— fly away and announce what he witnessed and come back with reinforcement.
But…Could he ever come across the same situation ever again? What if they already leave before he came back?
Adam dismissed the book, making it dematerialize and return to its own dimension attached to his soul. Once again, the three quests were all very enticing to him and all were acceptable in a certain way to his own morales.
Putting his hand in his belt, specifically the weapon sheath housing his newest weapon, Adam took out the holy dagger as well as the golden holy water from his other pocket that he had received from his visit to the church. In the next moment, he threw them as far as possible while making sure to slow down their fall with his domain.
"Time to face my destiny, I guess."
Devils could be beaten without holy power but only holy power could truly erase them from existence.
Those things might become an invaluable trump card for him even if he decided to take the path of the Grey Knight so he had to make sure that the devil was not able to detect their presence.
———
When Adam walked through the island, a small uneasiness kept creeping up in his heart. But he did not stop his advance no matter the uneasiness he felt within.
In order to prepare for the eventuality of being blitzed, he even considerably reduced the coverage of his domain, bringing it to only a few tens of meters where he had absolute control of the space surrounding him. His fight against Cecilia had taught him that when fighting potentially superior enemies, having a domain that covered a large area would only drag down his computation power and bring no particular advantage to the battle. And by compressing it to such a small state, he would be able to receive near godlike perception in the vicinity of his domain.
———
While Adam was approaching the devil with caution in his every step, on the altar, an eerie scene was taking place.
Above, in the high skies, a golden light seemed to be mixing up with a crimson light and fighting for dominance. However, at a glance, it was easy to see that the golden light was barely able to take its ground and fight against the malevolent crimson light of horror and violence.
Meanwhile, down below…
Crunch~!
Standing on the altar, a small kid he was able to recognize opened his mouth wider than should be humanly possible and chomped down the head of a woman, entirely draped in a white holy cloth, with immense force that could even grind down the toughest materials in existence.
On the face of said woman, there was no fear even up to the last moment as her head was crushed under the grotesque multilayered teeth of the young kid. Her body was limbless, the stumps where her arms and legs should have been, still bleeding, and her head now inside the monstrous boy's stomach. She was deader than dead.
There were many rows of humans, all kneeling and looking at the kid with faces filled with an expression of worship and reverence. They even looked at the woman being devoured by the kid as if she was someone extremely lucky to have been given the chance of being devoured by their one true Lord and wished for nothing more than to take her place. A sickening scene of horrors was ensuing in this place filled with unimaginable darkness and malevolence…
Crunch~! Chomp~!
Blood, brain matter, and protruding pieces of skull splashed and covered the face of the innocent-looking kid, giving him a look that would make even the greatest of veterans in the horror scene feel like their blood going cold at the sight. However, he seemed to show no care as he continued to munch on at the head of the dead woman while showing a frowning and disgusted expression as though he was devouring the worst food in the world.
Spat~!
"Disgusting…! Not even a trace of Prana in the meat's body. This is very low-grade meat. Every single one of them. Utterly pathetic…"
Next to the kid, Kang Ho kneeled down on the ground, his mind blank and filled with trepidation.
"I am terribly sorry. Most hunters are…"
"Failure. I do not need your pitiful excuses, worm…"
The kid turned a gaze filled with disdain and wrath at the crouching and trembling figure of Kang Ho— his summoner…
"You dared to try to summon the spirit of our Great King in a body that was baptized by the church. Were you trying to prepare a trap for us, you insignificant worm!?"
His voice was low and filled with irrefutable menace. But this caused Kang Ho to feel even more fear and made his whole body, mind, and soul tremble in utter fright. "No! My faith in the Lord knows no bounds. I would never do such a thing. I could not even hope to betray my Lord! Believe me!"
"Obviously. The only reason you are still alive is because of that, after all. After having read the memories of this body, I realized that he was baptized this morning at the demand of his mother."
Kang Ho's eyes opened wide and his face contorted in a mixture of anger, wrath, indignance, and frustration when he realized just how much Hae-Won had screwed him over even after her death.
The kid sneered and ignored the pitiful human that was worse than a lowly worm in his eyes. The man would be useful to him in the future, so he could not deal with him yet. If the ritual had taken place a few days later or at a time different from Thanksgiving, then they would have surely failed to even summon him.
Thankfully for him, this failure was a golden opportunity that he could not miss out on. He was given the chance to descend to Earth— the mortal plane of existence. This was something that would have never happened in a normal scenario.
Even though he was constantly taking damage and this body was already doomed to disintegrate, if he was careful with it he would be able to inhabit the body for a few weeks and spread his power and faith throughout the world. Azazel may be an immensely powerful being and an Archangel of the highest order but it was impossible for him to beat their King. No matter what he did.
'Hahaha~'
He wiped his mouth with his sleeves, cleaning up the stinky blood and worthless meat and flesh of the low-quality meat he was provided with, and stood up before looking in Adam's direction. His head, tilted until it was more than 90 degrees to the side was staring intently at the slowly advancing figure of the newcomer…
Then, a bloody large smile that reached up to his very ears appeared on the face of the devil inhabiting the body of the boy…
"Though… It seems like some high-grade food is coming to me of its own volition."
Biting down once more on the headless torso of the woman and tearing away her breasts with a huge bite, he chuckled and stood up before slowly starting to float up in the air and appearing before Adam's sight.
"Tell me, intruder… Will you come and kneel before me? Or will you suffer endless pain before being devoured by thyself?"
The only answer he received from Adam was a middle finger and a sneer.
———
(AN: Okay, one more chapter to make three today. Might even try two. But I won't rush. This will be Adam's most important fight after a long while. Gotta write this carefully. Would be happy to get your opinion on the arc until now.)
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