Expedition Group (1)

Ian made sure that the magic power was being properly extracted from the demonic humans before stepping outside.

As expected of high-ranking executives of the Demon Cult.

The amount of magic power being extracted was substantial.

‘I need to keep diligently capturing more.’

The more demonic beings he put to the containment facility, the greater the stored magic power would become.

‘Once the accumulation of magic power picks up speed, there won’t ever be a time when I run out of magic power to use the Authority of Projection.’

There was no need to bother with purifying demonic energy, either.

Thanks to the Demon-Infused Constitution he had projected from the Sword Fiend, Ian could absorb and use demonic energy as it was without any issues.

The demonic energy he had gathered like this would someday be useful for breaking through to the demigod realm, and it would be of tremendous help in distributing magic power during the Human-Demon War.

‘Looks like I’ve finished everything I need to do here.’

The next thing to do was to head north.

He had to thwart the dreadful plot that the Sin of Greed Cult Leader was concocting—murdering the Heavenly Sword Lord and using him as a sacrifice to summon a grand duke of the Demon Realm.

‘You have to strike swiftly when you have intel.’

While reading Archbishop Bertolf’s memories, Ian had grasped all the strongholds where the Sin of Greed Cult Leader might be hiding.

‘There’s more than just a couple of hideouts, so I don’t know exactly where he is…’

It didn’t matter.

All he needed to do was raid every known stronghold.

If he caught all the demonic humans in those places and extracted their memories, he’d eventually find out the exact location of the Sin of Greed Cult Leader.

‘This plan will become a crucial turning point.’

If he succeeded in capturing the Sin of Greed Cult Leader, humanity’s chance of defeating the demons would greatly increase.

Perhaps he could unravel the fundamental cause behind the Heavenly Sword Family Lord’s disappearance in his previous life, and capture a large group of powerful demonic humans under the Greed High Priest to use as magic power banks.

‘And…’

All the divine relics in the Sin of Greed Cult Leader’s possession.

If Ian could read his memories, he could lay claim to every one of those relics as spoils.

Those relics were all extraordinary things, and they would be of tremendous help when confronting the grand dukes of the Demon Realm one day.

‘But capturing him won’t be so easy.’

The Sin of Greed Cult Leader’s plan was excessively ambitious.

To capture Darkan, the strongest being in this world—Heavenly Sword Lord.

‘No matter how greedy he is, he’s not a fool…’

He probably had a powerful helper or collaborator.

He wouldn’t push forward with such a grand plan unless he had a strong backer.

‘If another High Priest from a different cult is aiding him…’

Even for Ian, at the pinnacle of Grandmaster, it was hard to handle alone.

In truth, a single High Priest was a formidable opponent.

If it was one-on-one, Ian had a fair chance, but High Priests always had powerful minions with them.

If Ian recklessly rushed in alone, he would likely end up surrounded and killed by a group.

And if another High Priest joined in…

Even if Ian had recently become one of the world’s top ten powers, stopping this conspiracy alone would be nearly impossible.

‘I need allies, strong ones.’

The first to come to mind was the Heavenly Sword Lord.

‘If only I could get the Heavenly Sword Lord’s help, that would be for the best.’

To him, a High Priest was but an “insignificant creature.”

A few swings of the Heavenly Sword Lord’s blade would decimate all the High Priests.

‘But it seems difficult to get his help this time.’

The Heavenly Sword Lord wasn’t just idling in the north.

Even now, he was defending the frontline, fending off the endless surge of aberrant monsters.

If he left his post even for a moment, the northern front would suffer great losses.

‘If I really forced him, perhaps I could get his help…’

The Sin of Greed Cult Leader was behind the monster tsunami in the north.

Bertolf’s memories had revealed that.

The Sin of Greed Cult Leader was continually summoning aberrant monsters through some sort of authority.

If Ian told the Heavenly Sword Lord, he would certainly move to eliminate the Sin of Greed Cult Leader.

‘But the process of persuading him is far too risky.’

The Heavenly Sword Lord liked Ian, in his own way.

He’d shown interest from the start, saying he saw a rare energy flow in Ian.

But he wasn’t the kind of person to blindly follow whatever Ian said.

He had too many responsibilities.

To move him, Ian would need to convincingly prove his information was real—which meant explaining how he’d obtained it.

He wouldn’t get away with clumsy lies or omissions.

The Heavenly Sword Lord could tell if someone was lying through their energy flow, and if anything was even slightly unconvincing, he would dig deep.

In the process of explaining, Ian would end up revealing many of his own secrets.

His ties to vampires, his Authority of Projection, possibly even his regression.

Ian couldn’t predict how the Heavenly Sword Lord would respond if he laid all those secrets bare.

Since they were such unbelievable stories, perhaps he’d simply not believe them—but the most worrying thing was whether he’d keep Ian’s secrets.

If he told even just his children, Ian’s secret would spread throughout the whole Heavenly Sword Palace in an instant, and if it spread there, it wouldn’t take long before it was all over the continent.

And, naturally, the Demon Cult would soon get word of all the trump cards Ian was hiding.

‘That’s why, even with the Heavenly Sword Lord, revealing my secrets is a huge risk.’

Unless Ian was resolved to disclose everything to him, it was best not to even try.

If he started and then awkwardly cut off with, “That’s all I can say,” he might only lose trust.

‘It’s better to find another ally.’

Fortunately, Ian had plenty of other strong potential allies besides the Heavenly Sword Lord.

The vampire clan of Noxcar, Sword Fiend Silence Doomraven, Captain of the Heavenly Sword Knights Preben Hisperion, the eldest daughter of the Heavenly Sword Family Aris Hisperion, commander of the Heavenly Beast Knights Roxy Lockberman…

Of course, even gathering all of them might not match the Heavenly Sword Lord alone.

Still, for dealing with a High Priest or even several, it was more than enough power.

‘Even gathering half of them should be enough to capture the Sin of Greed Cult Leader.’

If he pulled together a decent team, he would immediately set off for the north.

‘Let’s hurry. Time is of the essence.’

The first candidate he would meet was Sword Spirit Silence Doomraven.

He would talk to him on the way to Sunshine Castle for some maintenance.

* * *

—Swaaahhh!

The far northern lands, where blizzards raged year-round.

Deep at the bottom of a thickly frozen lake, in a cave hidden away.

The Sin of Greed Cult Leader, Morbius, sat on a luxurious throne, a gentle smile on his lips.

‘All is going smoothly.’

In front of him floated a translucent yellow status window.

Displayed on the window were countless lines of text.

The Sin of Greed Cult Leader was looking at requests that had come up in the dimensional store, which he could access through his authority.

─《Dimensional Store: Request List》─

◆Request: Waste Disposal

― Content: Hazardous materials will be transmitted to the customer’s dimension. Please dispose or recycle them safely.

― Compensation: Dimensional Currency [40,000,000] coins.

― Notice: This is high-concentration radioactive waste. If you accept the job without preparation, you may be exposed.

.

.

──────────────

‘There are quite a few good requests this week. Looks like earnings will be nice.’

Morbius licked his lips greedily.

‘First, I should favorite all the monster extermination requests.’

─《Dimensional Store: Favorite Requests》─

◆Request: Monster Disposal

― Content: Due to staff error at the herb farm operated by the dimensional store, a massive amount of plant-type monsters have appeared. For cleanliness, the monsters will be sent to the membership customer’s dimension. Please eliminate them.

― Compensation: Dimensional Currency [30,000,000] coins.

― Notice: When you accept, monsters will appear within a 1km radius in 10 minutes. Prepare before accepting.

◆Request: Hazard Test

― Content: We wish to test the hazard level of a new species of monster discovered in Dimension A-37. If you gather combat data in your dimension and send it, we will compensate you.

― Compensation: Dimensional Currency [45,000,000] coins.

― Notice: This species breeds extremely fast and can seize an ecosystem within weeks if left unattended. For safety, please carry out the job in an isolated location.

.

.

───────────────────

All the monsters transmitted for extermination requests were being sent to the northern front of the Hisperion.

Various artifacts for controlling monsters were also prepared in a wide variety, so handling them like underlings was no trouble at all.

‘The waste disposal requests are not bad either. Highly radioactive material, huh…’

If he dumped this on the northern front as well, Hisperion’s soldiers would grow ill.

They were a force that needed to be destroyed eventually.

By periodically throwing such “crap” at them, he could gradually sap their strength.

‘Hehehe…’

Monster extermination, waste disposal, all sorts of other requests…

He made Hisperion take care of the requests, and he pocketed the rewards.

Sometimes, when an extermination request for a particularly powerful divine beast-level monster came up, that day was a jackpot.

A divine beast-level monster was catastrophic even for the Sin of Greed Cult Leader to handle himself, but if he shifted the burden onto the Heavenly Sword Lord, it was easily resolved.

Since such disasters brought tremendous rewards, the collateral damage inflicted on Hisperion was also huge.

—Tap. Tap. Tap.

Morbius tapped the armrest of his throne with a satisfied look.

‘At this rate, it won’t take much longer to catch Darkan.’

He was steadily accumulating dimensional currency by handling such requests.

To purchase the chains capable of binding a demigod.

───《Dimensional Store: Weapons》───

▶The Old Chains of Tartarus

◆Grade

[Mythical++]

◆Description

—Chains once used to bind the evil god imprisoned in the abyss. Steeped for countless ages in the blood, pus, curses, and wails of the god, the chains transformed.

—Even after the evil god’s death, the chains relentlessly craved divinity. They possess will and will blindly attack any being with divinity.

—Can seal any divinity below [Mythical++] grade.

※ Warning! This product emits extremely high concentrations of demonic energy.

─────────────────

‘It’s intoxicating every time I see it.’

It was a divine relic of such high class that it was hard to imagine it could ever be fully accommodated in this world.

If he could just get his hands on this, Darkan was as good as caught.

If these chains once bound a supreme evil god, catching a mere demigod not yet fully ascended as a Sword God… would be easy.

Moreover, Darkan had exceptionally high divinity even among demigods.

With his ascension to Sword God so close, these chains would go wild upon him.

But accordingly, the price was exorbitant—dimensional currency required beyond the stars.

‘Still, five years at most…’

At this rate, he could buy the chains capable of capturing Darkan within five years.

‘Hehehehe…’

As long as there were no fatal variables.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

Oh, dimensional Store has made its appearance…

It seems Ian will get it from the High Priest.

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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