"Eat," I said dryly, staring at the cloaked woman who was staring at her food blankly. She slowly looked up at , then nodded as she reached for the fork.
"What am I gonna do with all of you?" I sighed to myself, staring at the various won sitting at the long table in my palace. They were all eating the different dishes that were laid out on the table, with pretty similar looks on their faces.
The majority of the won were nuns, as they consisted of the group of won I had saved from Diodora. Their expression were still blank and robotic as they ate, and they hadn't given much of a reaction at all when they had awoken.
It seed that even with the brainwashing magic being undone with Diodora's death, there was still lasting ntal damage done, as the won wouldn't even speak unless I ordered them to. They also robotically followed my instructions, doing whatever I told them to without arguing.
This was the group I was least certain about what to do with. None of them were particularly powerful, but having a group of healers and magic users, even weak ones, wasn't a bad thing. Talia and other fairies could also heal, but having too many was never an issue.
It felt a bit weird having the clearly ntally broken won working as healers, but I was keeping them around mainly because of the final nun at the table: Adalina.
The nun in question was praying over her food at the mont, but didn't need an order from to begin eating.
The woman who would've beco Diodora's queen was pretty spooked upon seeing what had happened to the other nuns, as many of them were famous and she had looked up to them. As a result, she had begged to let them stay here as she worked to help them return to normal.
I didn't see a reason to refuse her, so I agreed.
The final woman at the table wasn't a nun, as she was in fact the opposite of one. A devil, and the descendant of one of the original Maou's at that.
Katerea was still looking at from the corner of her eyes as she refused to eat, leaving the food sitting on her plate. She was clearly uncertain about what to make of her situation, and I couldn't bla her.
She'd essentially watched her comrade, who was also the descendant of one of the original Maou, be killed effortlessly. Then, she'd been forced to make a magical contract with . Now, she was at my rcy.
Well, mostly at my rcy. My [Contract Making] skill was a pretty high level, but for a genius mage who had access to Ophis's snakes, it might've been possible to break through.
Only one night had passed since I killed Creuserey, and she hadn't tried anything yet. Whether that was because she couldn't or because she was afraid to, I wasn't sure. Either way, if she did manage to break out of the contract, she wouldn't make it far.
She was the strongest subordinate I had now, aside from Tiamat, so I wasn't going to let her go easily.
Though the Dragon King was a familiar instead of a subordinate. She still let order her around, but that was more because she had gained respect for and bought into my plan instead of actual submission.
"You can eat too," I said casually, walking towards the gorgeous woman, "It's not poisoned or anything. I think you know as well as I do that I don't need to use such underhanded thods to kill you."
Katerea just nodded stiffly at my words, poking her fork into a chunk of at and finally raising it to her mouth. We both knew I could kill her whenever I wanted - I didn't need to poison her food.
Which was sothing I was happy about - not because I planned on killing her or anything, but because it made a bit more comfortable in my own power. Because Tiamat's power ca from her [Karma Control], defeating her hadn't given a great gauge on where I stood in the world.
My 'fight' with Creuserey, which could barely be considered a fight, had shed so more light on that. The man was decently powerful in the grand sche of things, as in the series he had forced Sirzechs to fight him seriously.
Granted, 'seriously' didn't an the Maou was using his full power, and after getting serious Sirzechs had defeated him effortlessly.
But I had also defeated him in just two attacks. I would consider that pretty effortless myself.
I wasn't sure if I could take on a Super-Devil even with all my skills at the mont, but I at least felt better about my odds now.
The final benefit from taking down the two Maou descendants ca in the form of my quests, which had piled up both during the ti since defeating Tiamat and after my actions in the Astaroth Territory.
The first one related directly to Katerea.
[Quest]
Conquer the Old Satan Faction
Subdue or Kill [Katerea Leviathan]
Subdue or Kill [Creuserey Asmodeus]
Subdue or Kill [Shalba Beelzebub]
Rewards:
All [Territory] owned by the [Old Satan Faction]
All [Subordinate]'s owned by the [Old Satan Faction]
10,000 INT
10,000 MP
10,000 MREG
10,000 HREG
All unclaid [Leviathan] related skills!
All unclaid [Asmodeus] related skills!
All unclaid [Beelzebub] related skills!
All [Leviathan] related skills will be raised to level 25!
All [Asmodeus] related skills will be raised to level 25!
All [Beelzebub] related skills will be raised to level 25!
Failure:
A Thorn in Your Side
For the rewards the quest gave, with the best rewards being the skills, the quest was pretty easy. I was already two-thirds done with it, and taking down Shalba Beelzebub would finish it off.
Speaking of skills, I already had a couple of the [Asmodeus] skills after using [Devour] on Creuserey. The first skill was [Starsend Mont].
[Starsend Mont] - Force an emotion.
The description was very vague for the Asmodeus Clan skill, but through a bit of testing I had learned that it essentially allowed to force an emotion onto soone. If I used it and willed for my opponent to feel helpless, then they would. In the sa vein, I could make them feel happy, sad, angry, etc.
Overall, it was a pretty good skill. Mid-fight, I could use it to goad soone into sothing, and I could overall use it for manipulation outside of a battle.
However, despite the second skill not being the clans main ability, I liked it even more: [Enhanced Flight].
[Enhanced Flight] - Take flight with the force of multiple pairs of wings.
The Asmodeus Clan was unique in its mbers having multiple pairs of wings instead of the typical two wings a devil had, and it seed they weren't just for show.
Overall, having the ability to fly was the main benefit of this. I could already jump pretty high, but being able to actually fly was far more useful and versatile.
I hoped the Leviathan and Beelzebub skills would be just as good, especially in comparison to the easy quest.
I won't complain about it being easy either - when it had first popped up, I had been worried it would include Rizevim Lucifer. While he wasn't a leader of the Old Satan Faction branch of the Khaos Brigade, he was still a Maou descendant who had been a part of the Old Satan Faction in the Civil War.
As a Super-Devil, he definitely would be more trouble than the other three. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about him yet. Though I was sure I'd get a quest to take him down eventually, and most likely one involving a certain world-ending beast.
Of course, taking down the Old Satan Faction wasn't the only quest I had gotten. There were many other factions that I needed to defeat to take over the Underworld.
[Quest]
Conquer the New Satan Faction
Subdue or Kill [Serafall Leviathan]
Subdue or Kill [Sirzechs Lucifer]
Subdue or Kill [Ajuka Beelzebub]
Subdue or Kill [Falbium Asmodeus]
Rewards:
All [Territory] owned by the [New Satan Faction]
All [Subordinate]'s owned by the [New Satan Faction]
50,000 STR
50,000 END
50,000 AGI
50,000 INT
50,000 CHA
50,000 LUK
50,000 HREG
50,000 MREG
All unclaid [Sitri] related skills!
All unclaid [Gremory] related skills!
All unclaid [Astaroth] related skills!
All unclaid [Glasya-Labolas] related skills!
All [Sitri] related skills will be raised to level 25!
All [Gremory] related skills will be raised to level 25!
All [Astaroth] related skills will be raised to level 25!
All [Glasya-Labolas] related skills will be raised to level 25!
Failure:
Eventual Death
This quest was much harder than the Old Satan Faction one, mainly because Sirzechs and Ajuka were included in the 'Subdue or Kill' list. The Super-Devils would be much harder to take down than the Maou descendants.
But, as a result, the rewards were much better as well. The stat rewards were pretty insane, with all the gains being double what I had gotten for defeating Tiamat. A bunch of my stats would practically double from completing the quest.
But this was a quest that was a bit farther down the line. I wasn't in a position to take down either Sirzechs or Ajuka at the mont, much less all of the Maou. Though, I'd hopefully take a step towards finishing the quest later today when Serafall arrives for our exchange.
Well, it was 'if' she arrived, but I was confident she would. This was her beloved little sister, whom she valued more than anything else in the world. I was willing to bet that she would co.
The next quest was a bit of a surprise when it appeared, and was different in nature from the rest. Instead of focusing on a faction or leaders, it was focused on clans.
[Quest]
Conquer a Pillar!
Subdue or Kill all direct bloodline mbers of a Pillar Clan!
Rewards:
All [Territory] owned by the Clan!
All [Subordinate]'s owned by the Clan!
10,000 STR
10,000 END
10,000 AGI
10,000 INT
10,000 CHA
10,000 LUK
10,000 HREG
10,000 MREG
All unclaid Clan-related skills!
All Clan-related skills will be raised to level 25!
Failure:
Dissatisfaction!
This [Quest] is repeatable!
I had assud I would complete this quest by taking Latia hostage, but I guess the ga didn't count that as subduing her yet. I likely needed to make her role within my faction a permanent one for the quest to be finished.
Overall, this quest was amazing because of its repeatability. I'd need to make all the devil clans submit to anyway to take over the Underworld, and getting a quest reward every ti was overpowered.
By the ti I had taken down all the Pillar families, I'd have gotten a 320,000 stat boost to every stat - which would roughly triple my current power overall. I'd be a lot stronger by the ti that happened, but it would still be a huge boost.
However, once again, there were more obstacles in taking over the Underworld than just devils. As a result, I still had two more difficult quests that were sitting in my quest log.
[Quest]
Conquer the Grigori!
Subdue or Kill [Azazel]
Subdue or Kill [Baraqiel]
Subdue or Kill [Shemhazai]
Subdue or Kill [Kokabiel]
Subdue or Kill [Benemue]
Rewards:
All [Territory] owned by the [Grigori]
All [Subordinate]'s owned by the [Grigori]
20,000 STR
20,000 END
20,000 AGI
20,000 INT
20,000 CHA
20,000 LUK
20,000 HREG
20,000 MREG
All unclaid [Fallen Angel] related skills!
All [Fallen Angel] related skills will be raised to level 25!
Failure:
Eventual Death
It was a fair bit easier than the New Satan Faction quest, and I had already started working towards it as Benemue was still chard by Velrissa. Despite being one of the Three Factions, the Grigori were definitely a step below the devils. Not just from a number standpoint, but in the sense of their top dogs.
Azazel was certainly powerful, and with his craftiness would be a tough opponent to handle, but he couldn't stand up to soone like Sirzechs. In the sa vein, the Grigori higher-ups were all far inferior to the Maou.
And, judging by the stat increase numbers, it seed the ga viewed the quest as being easier than the Tiamat one had been. It was kind of funny to think that taking down an entire faction was considered easier than taking down one dragon.
However, while both the New Satan Faction and Grigori quests looked like seriously tough quests to finish, there was still one remaining quest that could rival both of them in difficulty.
Ironically, it wasn't even to take down an entire faction. It was just one man.
[Quest]
Conquer the Realm of the Dead
Subdue or Kill [Hades]
Rewards:
All [Territory] owned by the [Hades]
All [Subordinate]'s owned by the [Hades]
25,000 STR
25,000 END
25,000 AGI
25,000 INT
25,000 CHA
25,000 LUK
25,000 HREG
25,000 MREG
All unclaid [Death God] related skills!
All [Death God] related skills will be raised to level 25!
Failure:
Eventual Death
Of course, it wasn't just as simple as barging into the Realm of the Daed and fighting Hades in a one-on-one fight, so it wasn't actually just one man.
The quest rewards reflected it, too. The stat rewards were the sa as I had gotten for taking down Tiamat, and I was sure whatever the 'Death God' skills were would be great.
"Don't look so upset," I pushed away my thoughts, grinning at Katerea as she slowly ate her food with a slightly depressed look on her face, "I told you, didn't I? The new Maou are in the way of my goals, so you'll get what you want in the end anyway. Besides..."
I grinned widely, locking eyes with Katerea.
"A Leviathan is about to be here. How would you like to greet her with ?"
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AN: Thank you for reading! The next Chapter will be out tomorrow!
You can also read Chapters early on Patreon/Koyon !
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