Chapter 108 — Necronomicon [6] - Devil

Liora followed Alpha deeper into the manor, soon entering its main building.

Since Alpha had already dealt with every possible threat, no one came forward to stop the pair.

Even as the two went down a long spiral staircase and arrived before a room, nothing out of the ordinary occurred.

"This is the place. I was originally planning to break in, but my intuition warned me of danger as soon as that thought arose. I can be certain that I will die the very moment I trespass into this room."

"This holds true despite my relative immortality.", Alpha explained to Liora as her index finger pointed at the metal door securing the room.

Liora didn’t respond immediately. She closed her eyes and controlled her senses to spread outward, probing into the room.

Unfortunately, her attempt ultimately resulted in failure.

"With my advancement to a True Knight, both Spear of the Blighted Sun and Void Whisper have been unsealed. There should only be a few things in this world that can interfere with my investigation.", Liora thought, and her analysis confirmed Alpha’s previous worries.

She could be certain that there was indeed something unusual hidden within the room.

Thinking this, she didn’t rush to enter. Instead, she turned to Alpha and was about to gesture for her to step aside.

But just when she raised her hand, she suddenly changed her mind.

She felt that stepping aside might not be enough.

"You should leave and find a place to hide. Preferably, out of the manor.", she instructed.

Though her words surprised Alpha, she didn’t voice her inner thoughts.

She cast a faint glance at Liora and seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she swallowed the words that were about to come out of her mouth.

"Lord, be careful.", her indifferent voice echoed as her figure gradually faded away.

Soon, Liora was the only person left in the long corridor.

After she summoned the System and confirmed that the earlier battle had helped her recover some Evolution Points, which she could consume to further unseal her power, she stopped hesitating.

With a stretch of her hand, she reached for the door’s handle and lightly twisted it.

Originally, Liora believed that it was impossible for a secret room secured by a thick metal door to be unprotected.

Yet, the moment she touched the handle, she discovered that the door was unlocked. Effortlessly, a click sounded and, following a gentle push, the door swung open.

The absolute darkness inside parted sideways as the outside light seeped in, as if it were inviting Liora to enter.

Of course, Liora would not be scared by such a scene. With no hesitation, she stepped inside.

Her crimson eyes shone as they dispelled the darkness, allowing her to peek into the room and examine her surroundings.

Almost empty—these were the words that could best describe the room. Apart from a single standing object, the entirety of the room had nothing noteworthy.

But Liora didn’t have the time to care about this.

The moment she stepped into the room, her eyes focused on the stone statue erected at its very center.

Under her gaze, the statue seemed to lack a material form.

Sometimes it looked like an ordinary human, others like a crazy beast, and at other times a bloodthirsty Devil.

Its appearance and structure changed with every passing second, seemingly ever-changing and formless.

Or at the very least, that was what Liora witnessed at first.

But when she urged her demonic energy and Life Force, all these illusions were instantly broken.

The stone statue’s mysteriousness disappeared, as it gradually set into the image of a middle-aged man.

The man had short hair of unknown color and a well-trimmed beard, and emanated an aura of kindness, generosity, and, above all, warmth.

Liora could be certain that anyone who gazed upon him would immediately develop a subconscious trust in him, the kind that a child would hold towards a kind elder.

But Liora was not fooled by the statue’s appearance.

The moment the illusion burst, and its true form was revealed, Liora sensed an extremely familiar aura—an aura that she had also discovered on the small statue that Baron Bloodshield was carrying.

"Demonic energy...", Liora whispered.

Although she had already expected it, it took a lot of effort for her to keep her composure.

After all, the appearance of demonic energy meant that there was at least another Devil that had descended to this world.

Moreover, unlike her—who had been lucky to obtain the mysterious blood—other Lesser Devils had no way of traveling through the Heavens.

Therefore, the Devil that had succeeded in getting to this world had to be at least a True Devil.

Of course, Liora had no way of knowing whether the time of their descent was now or in the distant ancient past.

But she could make an educated guess.

"Based on this statue, this person should have descended a long time ago.", Liora judged.

She didn’t think so because of the traces of decay on the stone statue, but because she had noticed another familiar energy besides the demonic one.

"Faith...", Liora’s eyes fell on the invisible white mist enveloping the statue.

Other people might not have recognized it, but she could—because she had seen it before.

It was during her battle against the Blasphemer.

At that time, the Blasphemer had used the faith and will of his subjects to construct another space, where he had trapped her for quite some time.

Although a lot of time had passed, the memories of that battle were still fresh in her mind. She knew that if she had not been cautious and made ample preparations, it would have been difficult for her to defeat him.

And, from what she knew, the Blasphemer’s main source of power was the white mist she was currently seeing—faith.

"Was this statue left behind by that Devil? Is their goal to collect faith?", Liora pondered.

According to her inherited memories, faith could be used in a variety of ways.

However, despite its seemingly omnipotent power, few strong people actually made use of it.

The reason was perfectly clear. Using faith to obtain power was bound to affect its user sooner or later.

It was exactly by taking advantage of this drawback that Liora had managed to restrain the Blasphemer. If she—a Young Devil at the time—could find a way to exploit this weakness, other—stronger—Devils could do it too.

Shaking her head, Liora pushed those thoughts aside and returned to reality.

While remaining alert, she reached into her clothes and took a small orb from inside.

The orb was golden and shone with the brilliance of a rainbow, while a small, almost unnoticeable crack could be seen across its surface.

If the Blasphemer were here, he would immediately recognize this orb as the core of his Holy Domain, the item that his domain relied upon to exist.

After she fiddled with the orb and felt its unexpectedly soft texture, Liora finally stepped forward, approaching the statue with cautious yet steady steps.

Once she arrived before it, she brought the orb close to the white mist.

This action of hers instantly caused a violent reaction.