The pit fiend named Morlock was immensely powerful.
Not only could he easily block psionic communication, but he could also silence Klauthsura completely with a mere gesture. More remarkably still, he had seen straight through the psionic illusion covering the mind flayer's body and identified Renato as a Chosen of the Gods without error.
With all these signs before him, even Renato's shallow understanding of otherworldly power systems was enough for him to recognize the unbridgeable gulf between them.
Was this the power of a legendary devil?
"To be honest, you're the first sane Chosen of Dakoul I've ever met." Morlock looked Renato up and down, a trace of disbelief in his eyes, and clicked his tongue in wonder. "So even an eternal being as detached from worldly affairs as He is will deliberately elevate a Chosen One? What oracle did He give you? Would you care to share?"
Renato did not answer. The difference in their strength was enormous, but precisely because of that, he was all the more certain.
Morlock must have been under some restriction that prevented him from acting personally, leaving him no choice but to negotiate with an outsider, a mortal like Renato.
After all, putting himself in the devil's position, Renato would never waste so many words and so much time on an ant.
The fact that the devil had gone to such lengths to invite them into this private reception room rather than attack them outright was itself proof that he could not achieve his objective through violence.
In Ereel, devils were infamous. Even an Adventurer like Renato, whose knowledge of planar lore was hardly profound, was thoroughly familiar with their classic tricks of harvesting souls through contracts and tempting people into corruption, thanks to religious texts and the verses sung by bards.