Chapter 293 Lemure

This was Abi's first time entering the Misty Forest alone.

He had been an adventurer for a while now, and had completed his fair share of Association commissions.

But previously, he had always followed the veterans in his squad, wandering the forest's outskirts to clear out small goblin tribes.

He had never ventured this deep.

A lingering sense of uncertainty gnawed at him.

"Relax. With me here, not even the sharpest dog nose could catch your scent."

"Besides, we've already been in the forest for two days. See? You haven't run into a single bit of danger, have you?"

The hoarse, magnetic male voice echoed leisurely within his skull, carrying a comforting tone.

Over the past few days, the subtle mental conditioning had taken effect. At the devil's words, Abi's tense body relaxed slightly.

"You're right. I... I'm just a little nervous."

"Lord Saloyan, how much longer until we reach our destination?"

"Don't worry," the male voice echoed softly, as if carrying some sort of magic that soothed the young man's turbulent emotions. "Soon. We will be there very soon."

Their goal, naturally, was the Goblin Lair located deep within the Misty Forest—one that, according to Saloyan's intelligence, had already been wiped out by a high-level adventurer squad.

According to his original plan, he should have made Abi venture even deeper and descend through the lair's main passage near the core zone of the Misty Forest.

But given the youth's meager strength and slow pace, even with his cover, such a long journey would inevitably invite accidents.

Thus, Saloyan modified the destination, locking onto a different target: a branch of the Goblin Lair located at the border between the Misty Forest's outskirts and its depths.

From there, they could use the underground tunnels left behind by that massive goblin settlement to reach the core.

He sensed the young man gripping an iron sword, his left hand tightly clutching an iron-studded wooden shield as he took careful, measured steps forward. It was a pitiful, laughable display of caution.

Saloyan initially thought about urging him to speed up.

But considering the current pressure was already heavy on this thoroughly inexperienced youth, adding more might force him into an unwise decision and compromise the upcoming plans. Thus, Saloyan stopped pushing and deliberately feigned concern, comforting him in a soft voice.

Truthfully, under normal circumstances, any ordinary person with a shred of reason and sanity would never agree to such a dangerous demand as venturing deep into the Misty Forest alone.

Much less an adventurer living in Rivervale Town, who dealt with the forest's monsters year-round.

Abi might not be all that experienced, but he was no fool.

If Saloyan had stated his demands right from the start, the youth absolutely would not have agreed.

But as a devil skilled in bewitching mortal hearts, Saloyan knew clearly:

Jumping from one to ten was too massive a leap; the vast majority of people could never accept it.

But going from one to three, then three to seven, and finally from seven to ten—advancing step by step—would exploit the innate nature of intelligent beings and ultimately achieve the result he desired.

Using gold coins as bait and a string of victories at the card table, he had gradually built an image of being harmless and looking out for him, establishing authority in the youth's mind.

By using a sliver of magical power to blur his perception and weaken his psychological defenses, he slowly twisted the youth's mindset from 'As long as I trust the numbers he calls, I'll win gold' to 'As long as I obey, I'll get rewarded.'

He forged a causal link between "obeying orders" and "gaining benefits."

With that foundation laid, paired with verbal manipulation and empty promises painting a beautiful picture of his future life...

...Abi completely lost his capacity for judgment, reduced to a puppet on the devil's strings.

With only a slight nudge, he resolutely stepped alone into this perilous territory where humans did not belong.

This made it possible for Saloyan—whose true body hadn't descended and who existed here merely as a temporary consciousness—to cross spatial barriers and reach the Goblin Lair.

Magic particles carrying a very faint whiff of sulfur floated through the air, masking Abi's scent.

While driving away small, dangerous creatures that acted purely on instinct, it also shielded him from the perception of the vast majority of powerful monsters.

It was a profound and exquisite application of magic.

Because of this, even when setting up camp to rest at night over the past two days, Abi hadn't suffered a single attack. His journey had been unprecedentedly smooth.

But in stark contrast to his relatively healthy and energetic body, his mind had grown increasingly exhausted and muddled from being constantly on edge and hyper-focused.

Which was exactly what Saloyan wanted.

...

He hadn't lied to Abi; after a two-day trek, they were already quite close to their destination.

After heading deeper into the forest for another two hours, Abi came to a halt at Saloyan's reminder.

"Is that it, Lord Saloyan?"

Breathing slightly heavily, the iron sword-wielding youth stared nervously at the cave in the woodland ahead. He lowered his voice as much as possible, asking cautiously.

"This is the place, but..."

Saloyan's voice trailed off, as if he had sensed something.

Hailing from the Baator Nine Hells, the devil noble's mental consciousness silently spread downward.

Immediately, a massive, bloated silhouette appeared within his perception.

'Is this... a Petrification Lizard?'

Saloyan found it troublesome.

His intelligence hadn't mentioned that this branch Goblin Lair—which had gradually fallen into ruin following the annihilation of the goblin main camp—had already been occupied by another monster.

He made a decision right then and there: once he returned, he was going to send the spy responsible for the intelligence network in Cloudclimb Province's Rivervale Town to the Blood War as cannon fodder.

Truthfully, even if it were another monster with potentially stronger combat capabilities, such as an Owlbear, it would make no difference to him. He could easily use his own abilities to guide Abi into the tunnels deep inside the cave.

But it just had to be a Petrification Lizard—a creature whose Challenge Rating was propped up entirely by its special abilities.

As merely a consciousness temporarily anchored via a special item, he had no way to help Abi resist a Petrification Gaze attack.

And given the youth's physical constitution, as long as he was within the ability's trigger range, meeting its gaze even once would almost certainly result in petrification. He had zero ability to resist.

'This is troublesome.'

The devil from hell began pondering countermeasures.

"Lord Saloyan, is there a problem?"

The sudden silence from the male voice in his head caused Abi—whose mind had gradually fallen under its influence and control—to panic, and he asked nervously.

"Heh, it's nothing major. We just might have to switch to another..."

Saloyan voiced his usual comfort, but halfway through, it seemed he noticed something else.

With a hint of surprise in his tone, he instructed Abi to look to the northwest.

His scent masked by magic particles, the young man crawling in the bushes cast his gaze toward the tall grass up ahead and to the side.

Three fully armed figures abruptly entered his vision.

An adventurer squad!

In almost an instant, Abi recognized the familiar back of the figure in the center.

"Boss Adeline!? Why is she here?"

"Oh?" the devil's voice echoed in his skull once more. "You know them?"

At those words, Abi subconsciously pursed his dry, bloodless lips. He hesitated for a moment before answering slowly.

"I don't recognize the other two, but the short-haired woman in the middle is the veteran who brought me into the business. Her name is Adeline, and I heard she recently attained a Class Level."

Without needing to make contact or ask, the devil guessed the relationship between Adeline and the others just from the details of their interactions.

"Hm, the three of them don't seem very familiar with each other. They shouldn't be regular teammates," the devil mused. "So... a temporary party for a promotion quest?"

"Perfect timing. It saves us the trouble of going any deeper into the forest."

Hearing Saloyan's tone, Abi realized the devil might be planning something.

His expression showed clear hesitation. He stammered for a while before cautiously pleading.

"My lord, could you spare that woman? She was quite good to me in the past, and I..."

Before he could finish, Saloyan—sensing signs that Abi was slipping from his control—interrupted him with a remarkably stern question.

"Good to you?"

"If she was truly so good to you, why didn't you keep following her instead of leaving to form a party with others?"

Under the devil's verbal control over the past few days, Abi had divulged everything down to the names of his childhood neighbors, so Saloyan naturally knew about his departure from the Green Blood Squad.

"I, I..."

Abi opened his mouth but couldn't speak.

"Wasn't it because those veterans relied on their few extra years in the business to claim the highest cuts on seniority alone, while leaving all the dirty, exhausting work to you?"

"You're both adventurers; she couldn't possibly be blind to the immense pressure you're under. Playing a few rounds at the casino and having a few drinks with friends—did that get in her way? What right did she have to control you so much?"

"I'd bet she was just worried that if you interacted with others too much, you'd slip from her grasp and stop obeying her. That's why she meddled in everything."

"Thinking about it that way, this Adeline... is she really as good as you thought?"

The subtly accelerating pace and the warning-like sternness in his tone instinctively suppressed any doubts Abi might have had.

At first, he felt that the devil's words were slightly off. But as they unearthed the buried conflicts that had prompted him to leave the team, his emotions were subtly swayed, and rage surged within him.

'Yeah! I risk my life and work my ass off for my money, why shouldn't I enjoy it?'

'Even if I throw it all away on the card table or drink it all away, I earned it myself! It has nothing to do with that rigid, stubborn woman!'

'Now that I've finally stumbled onto an opportunity and have Lord Saloyan's guidance, what is she showing up for?'

'Don't tell me she wants to...'

The young man's fluctuating, visibly darkened expression made the devil from hell laugh silently.

Yet he didn't follow the youth's train of thought. Instead, he deliberately shifted his attitude.

"Don't overthink it," he advised in a gentle tone. "That's all in the past, and you've long since left the Green Blood Squad, haven't you?"

"Relax. You don't need to do anything. Leave it all to me."

"Just stay put right here and wait for my orders."

Hearing this, profound gratitude immediately surfaced on Abi's face, and he nodded vigorously.

He stopped bringing up the past and simply lay quietly deep in the bushes, waiting for the devil's next command.

Then, Saloyan began his operation.

First, he extended his consciousness to its maximum range. Outside the field of vision of Abi and the adventurers up ahead, he drew an incredibly simple magic circle on the floor of the passage just past the cave entrance.

He channeled magic into it.

Buzz—

The magical radiance flared and vanished in a flash as space distorted for a split second.

Accompanied by a foul stench of sulfur that quickly dissipated, an ugly, almost paste-like mound of flesh sprawled across the ground.

Its legs were replaced by a mass of molten-looking flesh that squirmed to move forward. Two arms of unequal length protruded from ribs that vaguely resembled a torso, twitching incessantly.

Its face was a bizarre, deformed horror. The facial features were all there, but arranged like a puzzle assembled by a toddler: the nose pressed against an ear, an eye sitting below the mouth, completely chaotic and unstable.

A banished, twisted soul; deformed flesh cursed by the Nine Hells.

This was a—

Lemure!

Its inherently fragile consciousness was actively shattered by its summoner the instant it was teleported to the Material Plane, turning it into a stiff, broken husk of meat.

Saloyan remotely controlled the Lemure's body, making it squirm quietly deeper into the lair.

Its sludgy, contorted method of movement actually drastically reduced the noise it made.

Combined with a few trivial tricks, the deeply slumbering Petrification Lizard noticed absolutely nothing.

Just as planned, the Lemure stealthily bypassed the Petrification Lizard's massive frame and arrived behind it.

Soon, the three oval, grayish-blue lizard eggs that Saloyan had sensed earlier appeared in the Lemure's line of sight.

Having ventured too deep and gradually stepping outside his control range, his connection with the Lemure was rapidly fading.

Without a shred of hesitation, Saloyan manipulated the Lemure's body, deliberately emitting the scent of sulfur as it lunged at the three eggs.

"Crack."

The crisp sound echoed faintly through the cavern.

Roar—

A furious bellow abruptly erupted from behind, and his connection to the Lemure was instantly severed.

Feeling the faint tremors rapidly ascending from deep underground, a bizarre smile surfaced on Saloyan's unseen face.

He controlled the magic particles, gently gathering them upon those three unlucky adventurers.

A faint trace of sulfur—beyond ordinary human perception but well within a monster's olfactory range—subsequently surfaced on their bodies.

This couldn't even be called the lowest level of cantrip; it was merely the simplest application of magic particles.

In less than five minutes, the weak scent would naturally dissipate on its own.

But at this very moment, it was enough to make them the target for the deeply enraged monster to vent its violence.

Roar—

The massive grayish-blue silhouette charged wildly, vanishing into the depths of the ruined dense forest with exaggerated burst speed.

Sensing the tension and fear in the youth below him, Saloyan softened his tone and said softly, "It's fine now. Get up."

"Head into the cave."