Chapter 147 : Cult Leader of Greed (1)
Cult Leader of Greed (1)
Preben, Aris, Roxy, Silence, Scarlet, Judy, and Ian.
An expedition composed of five Grandmasters and two Ancient Vampires set out.
The first task was to secretly cross the northern front.
This expedition was a secret mission not even disclosed to the Heavenly Sword Lord.
They had to cross the northern front without being caught by any faction.
'That was surprisingly easy.'
Thanks to Aris, who had prepared a secret route in advance, they managed to cross the northern front in an instant.
As soon as they reached the far north, the expedition split into two groups.
Team 1: Preben, Judy, Scarlet, Sword Fiend.
Team 2: Ian, Aris, Roxy.
There were a total of nineteen demonic human bases to search.
'If we're fast, we can catch the Sin of Greed Cult Leader before the day is over.'
The far north was relentlessly vast, and with razor-sharp mana storms raging all year round, it was practically impossible to find hiding demonic humans here without prior intel.
However, Ian and his companions had information extracted from Bertolf, so they could just break through the hidden bases as if following tracks laid out before them.
Even if there were a large number of unit leader-level powerhouses stationed at the bases, it didn't matter.
Preben or Ian could easily take care of them all.
Even if the Sin of Greed Cult Leader sensed something odd and fled the north, it wasn't a problem.
With Judy's blood scent mind reading, they could easily pick up the trail and track him down.
'We couldn't be better prepared. This is going to be a fun hunt.'
The expedition had overwhelming force and flawless intel.
To the Sin of Greed Cult Leader, they would seem like unavoidable heavenly punishment descending upon him.
* * *
The far north of Hisperion. The snowy mountains.
The nest of Mobius, the Sin of Greed Cult Leader.
"What...? Bertolf disappeared?"
Mobius had just been informed of the disappearance of Archbishop Bertolf.
"Are you sure about this?"
The one reporting was Ilyas, the cult leader's right hand.
"Yes. It's been two days since all contact was lost, and we've checked every one of Bertolf's strongholds, but he's nowhere to be found. After looking into the cause... It seems the vampire blood kin of Noxcar, who have been a headache for years, did it. We haven't found Bertolf's body, but there are many traces of battle with vampires, so it's definitely related."
"Hah..."
Mobius snorted as if the situation was absurd.
"That fool... Every year he let at least one bat slip through his fingers... Looks like he finally got it. What about the other vampires? Surely Bertolf didn't lose them all?"
"Well... It seems the location info of prisoners was leaked. The Noxcar blood kin hit Bertolf's strongholds guerrilla-style and we've already lost more than half of the prisoners..."
"What...? Ah!"
Mobius's face contorted in anger.
"Completely useless bastard... I should've replaced him earlier—trusting him was my mistake. Now he's ruining all my plans..."
Bertolf had been the key supplier who extracted magic power from vampire prisoners and supplied it here.
But now Bertolf was gone, and the vampires had all escaped, leaving a major setback in supplying magic power to the local bases.
Worse, Bertolf apparently spilled a ton of internal intel about the Cult of Greed before being captured.
Because of one incompetent archbishop, they were facing trouble both with magic power supply and with the possibility of having to relocate all northern bases very soon.
"tsk tsk."
A slew of headaches had hit all at once.
Mobius decided to start by filling Bertolf's vacant spot.
"Let's pick a new archbishop."
"Yes, I will obey at once. Who shall I bring?"
"There's no nominee. I'll select the best through competition. I'm done with incompetent guys."
Mobius drummed his fingers on the golden throne's armrest as he spoke.
"Call Archbishop Evandel. Gather all the bishops under his command, too. Let's give their faction a chance since they've performed well recently."
"Yes, sir. I'll report at once."
Ilyas retreated out of the audience chamber.
Five minutes later, ilyas returned alone with a troubled expression.
Mobius knit his eyebrows and asked, "What now?"
"... My apologies, Cult Leader. I tried to contact Archbishop Evandel but got no response. Something seems wrong with their communication device, but there's no record of it being fixed."
"What? Haa..."
- thud! thud!
Mobius scratched his own head irritably.
"What is it, today? That guy, this guy..."
Because of the year-round mana storms in the far north, communication and warp devices and all kinds of artifacts broke down frequently.
That's why there was a manual to check all devices every 30 minutes, and as long as it was followed, these problems almost never occurred.
"This is all due to a lack of greed. When you lack greed, you do everything half-heartedly. That's why you end up like Bertolf, or miss your chance like Evandel."
Mobius pinched his nose and kept talking.
"Forget Evandel. I was favorably watching him recently because of his performance... but I can't entrust the supplier of magic power to a guy who can't even properly maintain a communicator."
"... Then who should I call next?"
"Call Archbishop Molgos. And his bishops, too. I'll hear them out and select the next archbishop."
"Yes, sir. I'll bring them at once."
Ilyas again backed out of the audience chamber.
Five minutes later, he returned alone, looking even more troubled.
A look of murderous rage appeared on Mobius's face.
"What again! Why are you back alone again!"
"T-that is..."
Ilyas looked even paler than before.
It didn't seem like he was only nervous about angering Mobius.
"T-this time, the communication did connect, but..."
"But what? Spit it out!"
"I only heard desolate winds."
"What?"
"S-something was strange. Cult Leader, the communicator should be indoors, but there was clearly the sound of a wild storm. It was as if the base's roof had been ripped off... I have a bad feeling. There's never been a time when archbishops were all unreachable at once. We even just lost Bertolf. Maybe... The vampires are moving north and hitting us...!"
"Nonsense!!"
Mobius finally exploded and shouted.
"For vampires to come here, they'd have to cross the Hisperion northern defense line! How would they even do that!"
"They might have captured some of our demonic humans and used one of our secret passages!"
"If they did, the alarm would have sounded! Everyone coming through those passages is logged by race and group and sent in! How do you not know that when you're my lieutenant!?"
"I-I know that, but...! They might have used some unknown method...!"
At that moment—
- Wee-oo! Wee-oo! Wee-oo!
The mana stone embedded in the ceiling began to glow a menacing red and wail.
It was the alarm.
Mobius and Ilyas's faces twisted at the same time.
"What...!"
"Cult Leader! You have to get out! They're here!"
"D-damn it! How could they come right after the report...!!"
Mobius leapt down from his throne.
"Head to the control room right now! You too, go! Run!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
Were the vampires really here?
Still, it wasn't a huge problem yet.
After all, this was a base facing off against Hisperion—surely there were basic defenses in place.
Traps acquired through the dimensional shop were plentiful in this place.
No matter how ancient the invading vampires might be—even with a thousand years behind them—they would bleed plenty just to get through all those traps.
'I'll check the status in the control room, deal with things personally if I can, and if it looks bad, escape by warp!'
That was the Sin of Greed Cult Leader Mobius's plan.
But then—
"C-cult leader!"
As soon as he entered the control room, a demonic human standing at the magic power dashboard screamed.
"Th-the demonic energy is in the magic power storage tank! T-the gauge!"
"What?"
Mobius hurried forward to look at the dashboard.
"W-what the hell!"
The demonic energy in the storage tank was dropping at an alarming rate.
"W-what the hell is this! What kind of shit situation is this!"
No sooner had he heard the news of Bertolf's disappearance—
Other archbishops were unresponsive, intruders broke in, and the magic power needed to activate traps was evaporating like droplets on a hot plate.
― KWAANG!!
Mobius smashed the gauge panel in a fit of rage.
Well, it only showed depleted magic power anyway. It was useless now.
"Everyone, follow me now! We're moving to the deepest storeroom!"
The innermost storeroom was packed with all the arms and artifacts Mobius had collected.
Those items were his strength and the sum of his life.
Even if he ran, he had to take as many as possible.
But—
"It's already too late."
"W-what!"
Suddenly, someone was standing in the control room entrance.
A human in a thick robe.
Shining blonde hair, flaming red eyes, snow-white skin.
The very image of Hisperion's symbolism.
A beautiful face with a single distinct scar across it.
Everyone present recognized her immediately.
"P-Preben Hisperion!?"
The most-watched of the main players in the Hisperion faction.
World's strongest knight order's commander. Preben Hisperion was blocking the entrance.
"C-crazy! Crazy!"
Mobius stumbled backward in panic, sputtering curses.
He thought the intruders were vampires, but now suddenly it was the Heavenly Sword knight order commander.
Were the intruders Hisperion? How did they know the base's location!?
'D-danger!'
Preben was a Grandmaster of the peak-stage.
Mobius was an 8th-circle peak-stage mage.
Their levels were similar in terms of realm, but at this distance, mobius was overwhelmingly at a disadvantage.
'I have to escape!'
― Poof!
Mobius hastily poured magic power into his warp necklace and teleported.
He arrived at the base's innermost storeroom—the artifact vault.
'I'll grab as much as I can and get out!'
If the Heavenly Sword knight order commander was here, then the Heavenly Sword Lord was likely nearby.
Not only that, but probably the Family Head's closest monsters and her eldest son, Theo Hisperion.
With such forces, there's no way the Sin of Greed Cult Leader could handle it alone.
Even the archduke of the demon realm of greed wouldn't survive—a mere cult leader could do nothing.
― KWAAK! KWAK! KWAAK!
Mobius frantically pulled levers in the vault.
They were for this very situation, devices planned so he could quickly retrieve valuables from the vault.
― SHRAAA!
The arms and artifacts displayed on the shelves poured into the center of the floor at once.
'Open dimensional shop!'
Mobius spread out the dimensional shop window and sucked in the gathered items.
'Damn, what a waste!'
The dimensional shop provided basic inventory functions, but its storage was far too small for all this.
So there was only one way to move all these valuables at once through the dimensional shop.
He had to take the loss of a quick sale and convert everything to dimensional currency.
― SHRAAA!
But there was no faster way.
There were easily thousands of arms and artifacts here, but if he could stay another 30 seconds, he could convert it all to dimensional currency.
However, in a battlefield where Grandmasters rampaged, 30 seconds was all too long.