Chapter 288 Assault on Hell’s Gate - 06
Now standing on the rooftop of the ruined high-rise building nearby, Mammon glared at Daniel with a mixture of hatred and frustration.
"You damn mortal! Don't you have manners!? You should wait for your opponent to finish their transformation first, then fight! You… damn… uncultured barbarian!!" Mammon roared at Daniel.
Like words falling on deaf ears, Daniel looked blandly at Mammon, as if regarding an idiot.
"Have you read too much manhwa, or do you watch too many 5-color ranger shows? We are trying to kill each other here. I would be an idiot if I were to wait for your transformation to complete," Daniel retorted, his judging gaze worsening as if Mammon was a terminal idiot and not just an everyday fool.
Hearing the disparaging words from Daniel, Mammon felt like a fool and wanted to scream. Of course, he read manhwa and watched a lot of 5-color ranger shows for kids from the perspective of Greed's eyes, finding them quite entertaining.
He thought that the content he watched represented something mortals would do in real life if it were to happen, as he never saw a transformation scene interrupted even once in those types of shows. Also, he received a lot of venomous words from Envy admonishing him about being uncultured, barbaric, or lacking noble decorum, and it really got to him.
"Aren't you humans putting a lot of importance on manners, decorum, and custom? Those useless things?" Mammon retorted.
"Well… We do put a lot of importance on such things, as you said, but it is just that we keep those things for those who earned our respect," Daniel stated matter-of-factly.
But when Mammon heard what Daniel said, it somehow made him feel even more anger! Doesn't he deserve such respect? He is the Hell Lord of Greed! Who could grant mortals unimaginable wealth! He has both power and wealth! Why doesn't he deserve such respect!?
"You! Don't get cocky! You are just a mere mortal! A human! You will always be in my control!" Mammon roared and used all of his power to generate the corruption of Greed once again. But instead of distributing this corruption force around, he concentrated it into one person, and that was Daniel.
Seeing this, Christopher quickly warned Daniel.
"Magitek! Quickly! Retreat behind this shield! We'll protect you from his corruption."
But it was too late; the power of corruption rushed into Daniel's body, immediately attacking his mind.
Daniel felt uncomfortable, as if something crept up into his consciousness. Myriad whispers asked him what he desired.
But instead of being enticed or feeling uncontrollable desires, he didn't feel it at all. At most, he just felt the urge to open a new card box and get some nice, juicy legendary cards. That's all.
He didn't know if it was because of the unknown power within him that reduced the power of corruption to this degree or if this corruption counted as the Enchantment-Curse that would affect players like his card game, where he needed to comply or suffer consequences under the rules of the game.
But this effect would never cause the players themselves to go deranged or insane, as players needed their minds to be sane to play the card game. In conclusion, it did affect him, but it didn't affect his reasoning or his sane mind at all.
[Hmmm… this is interesting,] Daniel thought to himself and sank his mind into the mindscape to take a good look at the card and the situation surrounding him.
He checked the surroundings and the state of his body. His body was in good health, everything seemed fine.
As for his mind, aside from the nagging from the corruption urging him to state his Greed and follow it, there was nothing else wrong. No uncontrollable urges or greed, everything appeared normal.
Daniel then attempted to use a card, but he couldn't. It felt like something was blocking him, demanding that he declare his desire and follow through before proceeding—a phenomenon similar to when he encountered a curse from a card effect that mandated sacrificing one creature each turn before any other action.
[I see… this is more troublesome than I thought,] Daniel reflected, realizing that this was one of his weaknesses that he needed to address.
If he were to be affected by similar effects in the future, requiring him to kill or sacrifice a loved one, it could compromise his conscience. Even though he knew some cards could bring them back, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
But for now, he needed to fix the current situation. With a bright idea in mind, he proceeded to implement a solution to counter the current situation.
—
Outside of Daniel's mindscape, his Hecatonchires avatar suddenly vanishes, and his body falls to the ground on all fours, trembling as if using all of his power to resist the corruption.
The scene was witnessed by everyone there, and Mammon felt glee and delight. He knew the full extent of Daniel's power well.
The corruption he had just used moments ago was not the kind that would drive others mad with greed, but rather the kind that would bind both him and the target if Mammon granted the other such greed. So, Daniel would have no choice but to follow his command.
"So, human… no, my Envoy. State thy wish. What is thy desire?" Mammon asked in an enticing tone. He was confident that he could grant Daniel what he wanted. Even if he couldn't, he would have protection from Daniel's attacks, as both of them couldn't harm each other as long as the contract hadn't been fulfilled.
At that moment, a blessed blade flew straight toward Daniel's head while he still knelt on all fours, trying to resist the power of corruption. However, it was stopped by Mammon's hand, who quickly blocked such a pathetic strike.
The blessed blade was thrown by none other than Christopher Ward. He knew exactly what would happen if a mage as powerful as Daniel were to give in to the corruption. The only thing that came to mind for this Grand Paladin was that they would have no chance at winning!
"You! What are you trying to do!?" Penthesilea roared at Christopher in anger, quickly picking up her spear and battleaxe, intending to fight this traitorous priest.
"Didn't you see that your boss is going to give in to the corruption? We need to kill him before that happens; otherwise, we will have no chance at winning if Mammon gains control of your boss!" Christopher roared back at Penthesilea.
"Even so! My loyalty still lies with him, and no one else!" Penthesilea declared. If her lord were to be in the hands of Mammon, so be it. She would still serve her lord and find a way to undo this corruption while doing so, or die trying.
At this moment, the one who was delighted the most was none other than Mammon himself.
"Aaaaahhh HAHAHAHAHA! Now you're fighting each other!? That's good! I commend your loyalty, girl," Mammon said in delight, then manifested his new armor and clothes, adorned in gold and jewelry.
At this time, Daniel slowly gets up, showing no signs of shaking or resistance against the corruption.
"No…" uttered the Grand Paladin. This is the scenario that he didn't want to happen the most. The most powerful mage he knows has fallen to demonic corruption, retaining all of their power.
Fighting Daniel now is even worse than fighting Mammon at full power. At least, there would be a chance at winning against Mammon, but Daniel at full power? He didn't even stand a chance.
"Now, my Envoy! State thy wish, and I shall grant it!" Mammon asks in delight.
"Heh…" Daniel's eyes open, glowing in a golden hue as demonic power resides within them, coercing his desire to the limit. "You don't even need to ask me that," spoke Daniel before rushing toward Mammon and pinning him to the ground.
"What!? What are you trying to do!?" Mammon asks, startled, looking at Daniel's predatory eyes and expression.
Mammon wanted to resist, but with the power of Hecatonchires manifesting within Daniel's body and its power sealing all of Mammon's abilities, he didn't even have the power to transform.
Crack! Quake! Creak!
Daniel manifests his Hecatonchires avatar, but in a version the same size as a normal human, and its hundred arms begin tearing away all of Mammon's golden armor, jewelry, golden cloth, and even his pants and underwear made of gold were not spared.
"Arrggghh NoooO! What are you doing! What are you trying to do!? You and I are both male! Nooo!!!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Even if you scream until your throat bursts, no one is going to help you!" Daniel roars and laughs like some kind of villain straight out of a cheap TV show.
Penthesilea: "....."
Christopher: "Holy… Shit…."
One of the female paladins: "Kyaaaaaaaaaaahh! The Magitek x Mammon ship! This is soooo spicy!"
"Hahahaha!" Danial laughs once again after he strips all of Mammon's clothes and valuables from his body. He then goes straight toward Mammon's hell guard that has the same armor made out of gold and jewelry.
The same scene occurs again. Daniel laughs like a maniac while stripping all of the valuables from those demons out of their bodies. But this time, Daniel releases all of his metal scarabs that he had kept within his 'Universal Pocket.'
The large dark cloud of metal scarabs quickly begins stripping all of the demons there until they are butt naked before taking those valuable things to be kept in Daniel's 'Universal Pocket.'
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by (f)reew𝒆b(n)ovel.com