Chapter 379 — Encounter with Assira

Since the Universe Chamber of Commerce had summoned several Greater Devils, they had already been prepared and had shut the building to ordinary customers.

Still, the building was packed with people.

The moment Liora stepped into the chamber of commerce, she sensed dozens of auras, all belonging to Greater Devils.

Clearly, she was not the only one who had discovered this "easy" mission and chosen to accept it.

Many thoughts raced through her mind, but Liora showed none of them on the surface.

She led Alpha and found a random place to sit down along the vast hall.

After taking her seat, her eyes wandered through the room and locked onto the Greater Devils, sizing them all up.

Most of them were only at the Indestructible Body stage, while only a few had forged an Indestructible Soul.

Besides Liora, only four other people were True Spirit Greater Devils.

Liora’s expression was calm at first, but as her gaze landed on one of these four, a flicker flashed across her eyes.

Not because of the opponent’s strength, but because she recognized them.

It was one of the few people she had met while in Hollow City, an Astral Pavilion employee—Assira.

The woman also noticed Liora’s gaze and turned her head in her direction.

Upon seeing Liora, her eyes flashed with a bright light, and she nodded with a subtle smile on her face.

Liora nodded back before leaning back into her chair.

She did not think much of their meeting, guessing that it was most likely a coincidence.

"Of course, even if it is not...", Liora’s eyes narrowed briefly before she closed them.

Then, she remained silent like the rest of the Greater Devils, waiting for the representative of the Universe Chamber of Commerce to arrive.

The wait lasted for a few hours.

Several Devils arrived during this time, but none of them were worthy of Liora’s attention. The strongest of them was only at the Indestructible Soul stage.

Ignoring them, she didn’t even open her eyes to try to investigate them.

That was, until suddenly, a short, chubby figure wearing an oversized tuxedo walked into the room.

Originally, everyone thought that it was another Devil who was planning to try their luck.

However, when the gentleman-looking Devil showed no signs of sitting down but instead walked to the center of the hall, everyone realized that the time had come.

Liora’s eyes opened, and she stared at the gentleman.

Though he only showed an aura at the Indestructible Soul stage, she didn’t dare to underestimate him.

She could sense a threat emanating from him. Although it was very faint, it was evidence that he possessed the ability to harm her if she let her guard down.

The gentleman Devil did not display any fear despite being under the gaze of dozens of Greater Devils.

After coughing awkwardly to attract everyone’s attention, he finally broke the silence in the room.

"I believe that everyone here already knows roughly why the Universe Chamber of Commerce summoned you.", he said, and the audience nodded.

"The Universe Chamber of Commerce has recently discovered a medium-level world. Under the command of our organization’s powerhouses, we were able to invade that world shortly after."

"Originally, the situation went well, and we were able to suppress the Will of the World successfully. However, just when we were preparing to establish an outpost and replace that Will, invaders from another world arrived and stopped us."

Seeing their inquiring looks, the gentleman did not keep them waiting.

"These people belong to the Zerg race!", he stated.

"You should all understand why we requested help from the Slaughter Tavern."

"Although our side is currently stronger than the Zerg, their nearly infinite numbers are enough to put the Chamber of Commerce into a tight spot."

"As time goes by, the scales of balance constantly tilt to the other side."

All the people in the hall were Greater Devils who had lived for at least tens of thousands of years.

Therefore, they understood very well what the Zerg race represented.

Even Liora, who had only been in two worlds so far, knew of them.

In fact, not only did she know what the Zerg were, but she had also encountered and fought against one in the past.

At that time, the Zerg Queen had basically controlled the entire world despite having been weakened and subsequently sealed.

If it were not for Liora’s unexpected arrival, it wouldn’t have taken long for the world of Knights to be destroyed and completely devoured.

The threat of a Zerg Queen was obvious, not any weaker than that of members belonging to the Devil race.

Although everyone understood this, there were still people with doubts in their minds.

"Is there any reason why you have to fight with the Zerg? With the Universe Chamber of Commerce’s capabilities, plundering its World Origin should be quite easy."

"All you have to do is hold the Zerg back for a while. Once the World Origin is devoured, the Zerg will not fight you for no reason."

The person who spoke up was none other than Assira.

With a smile on her face, she gazed at the gentleman at the hall’s center with a deep gaze, seemingly wishing to pry his secrets.

The gentleman Devil did not avert his gaze and stared back at her.

"Haven’t you already guessed it?", he shook his head.

"That medium-level world is extraordinary. According to our investigation, it was downgraded from a higher-level world."

"Although most of its World Origin has disappeared, and it’s now far less valuable than even the weakest higher-level world, its value far surpasses that of other medium-level worlds."

"Inheritances, treasures, resources, secrets... These are all things that the Universe Chamber of Commerce wishes to obtain!"

His answer solved everyone’s doubts, and they understood the Chamber of Commerce’s main purpose.

Indeed. Other Devils might have simply destroyed the world and plundered its World Origin before leaving.

But as an organization rather than a lone individual, the Universe Chamber of Commerce cared more about the other benefits that could be gained through controlling such a world.

If they were successful, the business of the organization would surely expand.

At the same time, another doubt, that of why the mission had a limit on the number of participants, was answered.

A medium-level world could only contain so many powerful beings.

Clearly, adding the Chamber of Commerce’s own people, five extra Greater Devils had reached that limit.

Silence shrouded the hall as the gentleman paused and gave everyone a moment to think.

It was only a heartbeat later that a voice cut through the silence.

"How will we decide the participants?"

After the representative turned around and saw that it came from a red-haired woman who was also one of the few True Spirit Devils, his frown disappeared, and he responded with a faint smile:

"This is actually quite simple..."