Chapter 137. Demon Cult
After escaping from the Magic Association’s encirclement, Verdian escaped toward the human territory. Specifically, the Fruelin Kingdom. The kingdom where he has invested many of his subordinates to help a prince raise his strength by creating weak demons for the prince to kill.
After such a long time, the prince has matured into a strong candidate for the throne. With the king now older and weaker, the prince's succession is imminent.
Inside a secret base prepared by his subordinates, Verdian sat calmly, reviewing information they had gathered.
“The other radical faction has been ousted?” When he learned that the remaining members of the radical faction at the Magic Association had escaped, Verdian sighed and grumbled while writing several invitation letters. "This backward place without Elder Elisa’s network is so frustrating. With the network, I could simply message them in our usual code." He summoned his trusted subordinates, handed them the letters, and instructed, "Send these invitations to their hideout. Then, prepare the conference room in base number 3.”
Just like Verdian, every other member of the radical faction has maintained several secret bases within human territory. One of these bases is known by other members of the radical faction to facilitate exchanging letters during emergencies.
Upon receiving Verdian’s invitation, most of the high-ranking members of the radical faction chose to attend.
They took a few strong subordinates and secretly visited Verdian’s base number 3.
Inside base number 3, a spacious room with a circular table has been set up. Several middle-aged or elderly magicians sit quietly, discussing in subdued tones.
When Verdian entered, the others cast him unkind looks. One of the older magicians quickly scolded him, saying, "Verdian, how many times have I told you to be cautious? Our current strength isn't enough to even manage others in the Magic Association, let alone the Temple! Didn't we all agree to keep a low profile until we fully control the Magic Association? What part of openly creating demons is low key?!”
Sitting in his chair, Verdian gazed calmly and asked, “How long should we wait? After so much time, more and more members have left our faction. While everyone’s strength has grown, so has everyone else's in the world. If we hesitate longer, more people will leave, and our existence will eventually be uncovered.
“That’s why I’ve decided to take a bold step, to seize the chance to destroy the Temple!” Verdian shouted. “This is the perfect moment for us to act! Since the creator built the valley to connect the northern part of the continent with the souther part where humans resided, the Temple has concentrated most of its efforts there. If we play our cards right, we can definitely take down the Temple!”
The other fell silent after hearing Verdian’s explanation.
Everyone discussed among themselves while Verdian remained calm and patient.
Eventually, an elderly magician nodded and said, “I must agree with some of your point. Compared to when I was young, the number of Magic Association council members from our faction has decreased. Most have joined other factions within the Association. I also agree that our faction's presence will become known sooner or later.”
“But that doesn't change the fact that your actions caused a major mistake that hurt our faction's foundation! If you had coordinated with us, we could have seized more assets from the Association or moved most of our resources, which are mainly stored at the Association's headquarters.”
When Verdian overheard the old man berating him, he inwardly sneered, thinking, “If you guys hadn't been ousted so suddenly, would we even be having this meeting to plan an attack against the Temple? You old fools definitely wouldn't dare do such a bold thing if you weren't already cornered.”
Still, he outwardly appeared regretful, saying, “I apologize for my ineptitude. I've tried my best to conceal my trail, but it seems I still underestimate the abilities of the other Magic Association member.”
Verdian then briefly explained his hiding method to demonstrate that he has genuinely tried his best.
When the others heard how extensively he had hidden his traces, their angry expressions gradually softened. One of them also showed understanding, saying, “It seems Verdian’s trace being discovered was truly an accident.”
Upon regaining everyone's trust, Verdian took the opportunity to explain his personal plan.
“For my next move, I want our faction to stay low profile. I have established an organization to create confusion, but I'll need everyone's help to increase the chaos."
Someone inquired, “What kind of organization is it?”
Verdian smiled, "A cult, specifically a demon summoning cult."
Based on the name and Verdian’s actions, they could roughly guess the organization's nature. However, one of them proactively asked, “How do you plan to use that organization to harm the Temple?”
“My plan is fairly straightforward. First, I intend to use the cults to generate more demons and create chaos within the areas governed by the Temples. Once the demons' numbers and strength reach a certain point, we will drive them toward the Temple's headquarters, while sending in assassins, which should be enough to eliminate most of the leaders, plunging the Temple into disarray.”
Verdian elaborated on his plan in detail until one of the observers interrupted him. "Verdian, your plan sounds convincing. With some refinement on the plan, we can use it to finally destroy the Temple for good," the interrupter said. "But have you arranged a location to store those demons, and have you found a way to guide them to the Temple's headquarters? Small aount of demons won’t be enough to help us. We need to secretly accumulate a massive amount of demons and cause an outbreak.”
Verdian grinned, “Of course. For the last few years, my subordinates has been using earth element blessed power and spells to create massive underground prisons where we kept some of the extra demons we created. That prison is placed near the border between the Fruelin Kingdom and the Human Empire where the Temple’s headquarters is located.”
Realizing he has over-explained, Verdian changed the topic, “Regarding the herding method, my teacher has done deep research on this area. Although it still needs more testing to ensure it's effective in herding thousands or even tens of thousands of demons.”
The others nodded in acknowledgment, with some gradually accepting Verdian’s subtle attempts at leadership.
His ongoing effort to steer the conversation during meetings made it clear to everyone that he aimed to lead the radical faction.
When Verdian saw that most had silently recognized his authority, he finally revealed his key point. "As everyone knows, my subordinates have been creating demons, mainly focusing on the Fruelin Kingdoms.”
The others nodded.
They obviously knew, since that's the root of all this chaos. However, what Verdian said afterward thrilled everyone.
“Those subordinates of mine are actually senior members of the cult I've assembled.”
“Through that cult, I've effectively entered the succession struggle in the Fruelin Kingdom by covertly backing a prince with a high chance of ascending. I've discreetly sent agents to poison the king, leaving him bedridden. When the current king passes without choosing a successor, the cult can influence part of the Fruelin kingdom by turning the prince into a political puppet.”
One of the middle aged magician asked, “One of the princes? Is it the crown Prince, or prince Karlen? Or is it prince Orevann?”
Verdian only gave a mysterious smile in response to the other's question.
He confidently declared, “I am sure I can manage the situation in the Fruelin kingdom. I just hope everyone will establish their own demon cults in other kingdoms and empires to further complicate matters while gathering demons simultaneously.”
“Once we distribute the demon cults across human territories, we can begin our phases of accumulation.”
Everyone exchanged glances and concurred to implement his plan.
They spent the entire day discussing its details before heading back to their secret hideouts to begin their individual schemes.
The fact that members of the radical faction had established themselves in various kingdoms and empires facilitated the plan's smooth execution. Once they understood the basic strategy, the process for creating demons, and the fabricated ritual devised by Verdian, they formed their respective demon-creating cult.
Some used monetary reward to recruit members, some used brainwashing, or a unique ideology that sounds good only on paper. A few also used all three means concurrently to madly expand the cult’s influence across different social classes from nobility, to commoners and even slaves.
Although they keep their movements highly secret, Cedric still watches everything closely as he considers his next move.
Honestly, after reviewing their plans, Cedric believes they will fail to defeat the Temple if they rely solely on a wave of demons to attack it.
Even if they summoned a demon king, there's a pretty high chance they won't be able to defeat the Temple.
Not for anything else. But simply for the fact that Lacius usually lived at the Temple.
Cedric always questioned Lacius's morality, but he never doubted his power.
As long as Lacius is willing to use his faith energy without reservation, Cedric believes he could even fight against a demon king at Level 6 while only at Level 5.
With this mess happening in Lacius’s territory, Cedric believes he'll take action. After all, for now, he depends on faith energy to maintain his power and lifespan.
“Now, what should I do to take advantage and further the growth of the Crystal Cube world?” Cedric commented.
‘The cult’s demon creation plan has pretty obvious benefits and disadvantages for the world. The disadvantages lies in the chaos, the death of innocent people that'll be tortured to create demons, and the chance of a demon king to be born.’
‘The benefits are the quick rise in the world's overall power. Which means, I'll also gain more GP. At least enough to quickly refill the GP I used to expand the world. Furthermore, I still need to purchase more mana to fill the world and increase the mana density within. So, I'm indeed currently extremely short on GP.’
Cedric still remembers that he hasn't added more mana to the world after it levels up.
“Oh, I forgot to ask, how much mana can I add to my world now?”
[After reaching world Level 3, the maximum mana your world can hold has increased to the equivalent of 5.000 GP. Which means, you may add 3.000 GP worth of mana.]
[The System suggests you quickly add more mana to your world, to increase the speed of generating high-level creatures.]
“I know. That's why I've been saving my GP.”
After some thought, Cedric ultimately chose to allow the demon cult to do as they pleased until he gathered 5.000 GP or they crossed his limit.
Although he only required 3.000 GP for the mana, Cedric felt insecure without additional emergency funds. That's why he set his goal at 5.000 GP.
Since Cedric intended to use the demons created by the cult to raise more high-ranking blessed and wait for their natural death to harvest more GP, he naturally couldn't allow them to gather demons peacefully.
After a few years of giving them time to develop their plans undisturbed, Cedric finally intervened.
He focused his mental energy on the Temple and inspected the secret room where Lacius had turned himself to stone.
Taking a leftover [Divine Intervention: Word], he told Lacius about the demon cult’s existence and their plan to create demons and cause chaos.
Of course, he didn't reveal the entire plan of the Magic Association's radical group. Nor did he tell Lacius the location where they kept their demons.
After all, he wanted to keep some balance between them so they would continue to compete and level up quickly.
Right after he sent the message, the [Divine Intervention: Word], which should have about 10% energy remaining, suddenly lost all its energy.
Cedric looked at the empty [Divine Intervention: Word] and frowned. “After the world leveled up to level 3 and my true level advanced to peak Level 6, the energy cost of using [Divine Intervention: Word] increased significantly.”
“I can only imagine how expensive it will become as my real level rises further.”