A troubled demon
Oscar had originally intended to ask the Demon, the Greater Demon named ' Marius,' whether he usually sent a human.
Although it's confirmed that the Greater Demon ' Marius ' exists, and judging from the tone, it seems that even the third-tier Demon team on the other side is quite wary of this name.
But even if there's some truth to it, does the fact that ' Lai ' was sent by the other side necessarily mean it's true?
In short, he wanted to ask about the specifics. Since they were in the basement, even if things really came to a head, they could still take down ' Lai '.
As an underground working group, they all prioritized ensuring the smooth progress of their tasks and did not overly concern themselves with losses or gains.
However, for some reason, the black tentacles on this piece of meat suddenly drooped limply, like a squid nearing death.
"We've never seen this thing turn out like this before, and we just replenished its energy yesterday..." someone reminded Oscar.
This made Oscar look at ' Lai ' with some helplessness, and he could only slowly say:
"Since we have all received the Demon's orders, we will naturally be allies."
That's all he could say. The Demon above him admitted that the Demon ' Lai ' mentioned was indeed a Greater Demon, but whether ' Lai ' was truly sent by the Greater Demon, no one knew, and he couldn't get any more information for the time being.
He dared not gamble that the whole thing was fake; what if he killed the person first, and then the Demon above him said:
"What?! You dare kill the Greater Demon's subordinate?! I think you can forget about becoming Demon!!"
Therefore, he could only adopt a conservative strategy and truly accept ' Lai '.
Of course, this acceptance was done with a certain level of discretion; they wouldn't tell ' Lai ' the truly core matters, nor would they allow him to participate, since who knew if he was actually a member of the guard?
This was the only way for them to contact the Demon above them.
"It's a great honor to be your colleague. I think I can already see this place become another land occupied by Demon tomorrow." ' Lai ' said some platitudes, and then asked very directly.
"By the way, I also want to know all the information that the Demon gave you." Her eyes turned somewhat fierce.
"This..." Oscar hadn't expected that ' Lai ' would want their crucial information right from the start.
He rubbed his hands on the table, and the other Second Order Profession User reacted in the same way. In their view, the information being demanded was a direct attack on their Achilles' heel, and they would never hand it over under any circumstances.
All Oscar has to do is give a signal, and they'll launch a coordinated attack.
"May I ask why? That Demon told me a lot of crucial information, and we've already made arrangements within the city; we can't just reveal it casually."
' Lai ' smiled and said very firmly:
"This is the Greater Demon's will; it wants to examine whether what these Lesser Demon have given you is compliant..."
"You see, these little Demon always tamper with these little gadgets, and since we don't know the situation on the ground, the Greater Demon always miss out on some of their profits..."
Oscar felt he couldn't refuse, because the reasons ' Lai ' gave were simply too compelling.
As a businessman, he probably knew that this was likely someone sent by the Greater Demon behind the scenes to 'inspect taxes'.
Although it's unclear what the Demon use to measure their profits, it's likely similar to the taxes levied by lords.
More importantly, he couldn't verify the truth of what ' Lai ' said; he wasn't a real Demon, and even if he were presented with evidence, he wouldn't know.
"I don't care what arrangements you've made here. Give me back all the information he gave you, exactly as it is."
"As for that Demon, if it doesn't want to conquer this place now, then you'll probably have to wait until next week to speak again..."
Oscar's eyes widened, remembering that the Demon above had just cut off the communication after saying "that's a Greater Demon".
Could it be that the ' Lai ' in front of them shut herself off? She only needed to verify her identity; the Demon over there didn't need to say a word. Any further words might alert them...
Thinking about this, Oscar's neck was already soaked with sweat.
' Lai ' blinked, seeing Oscar's extremely nervous expression, and realized that her psychological strategy had worked.
She had no idea why the Demon hung up immediately after saying ' Marius is a Greater Demon,' and that's exactly where she got stuck.
She had originally wanted to hear what these Demon thought of a Greater Demon like Marius; if she knew in the Spirit Realm, she wouldn't have to pay tuition in the Material Realm.
She didn't know what was wrong with the Demon over there, and since the Communication Device was currently unusable, she thought of making up a reason to get these people to cooperate with her.
The Demon won't give these people much information; after all, it came to conquer this place, not to teach those who have sided with the Demon the basics of the Abyss.
So if she works fast, it will only take her an hour or two at most to completely extract all the knowledge about the Abyss from these people's minds.
This is also a gamble that the Demon won't make contact with these people anytime soon.
If the Demon can make contact with these people in a short time, she will have no choice but to admit defeat and resort to force.
The people in the room looked at each other after hearing this conversation, unsure of what to do. ' Lai's ' reasoning sounded very legitimate, and they should cooperate.
But if everyone refrains from killing, and actually hands over this information, wouldn't that put themselves in danger? Their plan to become Demon might even be ruined.
Ultimately, it was Oscar who made the decision.
"Please wait a moment. We don't usually write this information down on paper, so it will take some time to write it down..."
"Okay, you'd better hurry." ' Lai ' glanced at the stairs behind him. There was only one exit; he wouldn't be able to leave until he finished writing.
Outside the city, the river branches off along its waterway due to years of erosion and changes in the terrain.
One of the narrower branching channels is a small stream, where you can only see the water flowing over the stones and finally reaching the entrance of a cave covered by rubble.
The water flowed through the pebbles, reached the cave entrance, and dripped onto a patch of dark skin.
The Demon Ivo lay prone in the somewhat cramped cave. He had filled the rubble at the entrance with a special method, so most people could hardly tell that the place had been moved.
It lay in the cave for a full three hours, until the somewhat abrupt sound of boots hitting the ground three hours earlier ceased to reappear, and only then did it slowly relax its body.
"They must have left..." It suddenly realized that it had actually spoken to itself, so it quickly covered its mouth.
After another five minutes of silence, it finally relaxed and extended its paw.
"The Greater Demon Marius..." Just thinking of that name sent shivers down its spine, and in a moment of carelessness, it lost control of the Communication Device...
Of course, shutting down Communication Device is a very delicate task; after all, that's how Demon things are, and it can't say for sure whether it was scared into doing it that way.
But there was nothing it could do; for First Order Demon like itself, the name of the Greater Demon Marius was simply too terrifying.
It's important to understand that such a Fourth Order Demon is known as the Abyssal Overlord in the Abyss, and has countless Formal Rank Demon under its command. It's perfectly normal for it to feel fear upon hearing such a name.
Most importantly, this First Order Demon somehow suddenly appeared outside the Abyss and was determined to conquer the small town in front of it in order to advance to the second tier.
While advancement within the Abyss is difficult, outside the Abyss, as long as Demon doesn't die, advancement is almost inevitable.
However, it also knows that the so-called "easy promotion" means that high-level Profession will keep fighting these Demon. It's either you or them who die. If you kill enough of these high-level Profession, you will naturally be able to promote.
Moreover, the population of this small city is enough for it to advance to the second tier three or four times, so it definitely has great potential.
However, the problem lay in the town's defenses. When Ivo sensed that intense third-tier aura, he completely collapsed.
How could a Third Order Professional appear in such a small city?
Moreover, it wasn't just Third Order Professional; the city also had a large number of second-tier and First Order Profession, making it almost like an army composed entirely of formal Profession.
Don't ask how it knows, because it occasionally 'spawns' some Tier 1 or 2 Demon around the city.
It was actually very curious about where these second-tier Demon came from. If it could find out the entrance to these second-tier Demon, it would be great. It wanted to go back to the Abyss now.
The Third Order Professional outside the city had been searching everywhere, looking for something. It had been spotted several times, but apparently because it was a First Order, the Third Order Professional couldn't find it.
However, this Third Order Professional seems to have changed its search logic. Last time, it saw a brainless Demon trying to blend into the crowd entering the city, and then it was caught by this Tier 3.
After that, whenever this third-tier monster encountered Demon, he would simply kill it on the spot. So now, in order to save his life, Ivo can only hide in caves like those Magic Creature.
"Why am I here? What would a First Order Demon like me possibly want to come to a place like this?"
Ivo felt his mind was in complete disarray. He remembered that he had originally come here to take over the place, but after seeing the strong defenses, he lost all interest.
"And why am I still in contact with those humans in the city who want to collude with Demon? Is this something a First Order Demon like me should do?"
It scratched its horns with its paws, completely baffled by this kind of communication and division of the rear—how could it possibly be its place?
Upon scanning its memory again, it discovered yet another point that confused it.
"What? The people I contacted actually included Second Order Profession User, and not just one? My Abyss?!"
Isn't this something only a third-tier Demon is qualified to get involved in? How come it, a First Order demon, is getting involved?
Ivo gazed at the light filtering through the rubble, and could vaguely make out the small river leading to the city.
Something within him was telling him to hurry to the edge of the city, that it would grant him immense power, but Ivo was thinking of the Third Order Professional still flying around searching for him.
It also greatly feared the fully armed squads of Profession warriors on the riverbank.
"If there really is a third-tier Demon, I'd even be willing to be its Demon, just so I don't get caught by humans..."
It had heard that humans wanted to subject Demon to every kind of torture imaginable. Since it was relatively resilient, it dared not be captured by humans and subjected to all sorts of torture.
So Ivo chose to stay inside the cave.