The communication crystal connecting him to the royal palace drained enormous energy. That was to be expected as the mana consumption increased exponentially with distance, yet Percy didn’t think he would only have enough mana to maintain the connection for a minute.
“Good afternoon, Your Excellency. Do you wish to talk to your parents, or–...” The recipient of all communication crystals in the royal palace responded, but Percy intercepted.
“Sorry, Herbert, but I don’t have any time to talk to my parents. This is important, so hold your scribe tightly and note what I’m going to tell you,” Percy told Herbert, the man of all communication, “Are you ready?”
Herbert had been in his job long enough to understand what was happening. “You can start, Your Excellency.”
“We encountered a group of roughly 250 Demons near Lithuan, a small town probably six days of traveling from the Beastland border. There were no winged demonic creatures but 207 Lesser Demons, 37 Elite Demons, including Cursias and Lifefeeder, and three Greater Demons. Three Thousand-eyed Hellhounds, to be precise. They were powerful, but I’d say they were weakened to three-quarters, maybe less, of a Greater Demon’s usual power. Of course, I cannot be sure since I’ve never before fought a Greater Demon, let alone three at once.”
Percy had more to say, but he waited for Herbert’s response to keep going, and all he heard was the scribe falling to the ground.
“Y-your Ex…Excellency…Could you repeat yourself, please?”
Percy raised an eyebrow but complied.
“There was a Demon horde of roughly 250 Demons near Lithuan. 207 Lesser Demons, 37 Elite Demons, including special Elite Demons, and three Greater Demons, though they were weakened. Please forward the news to my family. They should start with countermeasures to fight more Greater Demons in the future. I don’t know why the Hellhounds were weakened, but I’d guess the Infernal Lair I’ve located was not nourished enough to endure the strain of three fully empowered Greater Demons.”
“A-alright Sir…I’ve taken the note,”
Percy hadn’t talked to Herbert often before, but he had never heard of the middle-aged man being this scared.
“Don’t worry about it, Herbert. Everyone is still alive. Only one of us got injured, which Fiona took care of,” Percy finished the sentence right before his mana reserves were sucked dry. He could have told the others to infuse their mana to grant him a few more minutes with Herbert, but Percy was certain Herbert would be busy for a while now.
Once he was done talking, the Abomination also digested the Demon carcasses.
Why does it feel like you’re satisfied with whatever is going on? You feel like you are over the moon now that you’ve consumed a bunch of Demons…
The Abomination didn’t respond to him. It didn’t even vibrate within him, but Percy could sense how content it was nonetheless. But that was the confusing part. His Abomination had always been overly eager when it came to consuming Demons, Humans, and corrupted monsters. However, today, I was even more eager than before. It was almost like the Abomination couldn’t wait for Percy and the envoy to encounter more Demon hordes…as if it was certain they would encounter more Demons on their path…
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Stop overthinking, will you? Everything will be fine. You haven’t lost control of the Abomination since…that fight with the Adventurers. You learned how to control the Abomination to the fullest. Even if you were to kill more humans, which WILL NOT happen, everything will be fine. You have the upper hand against the Abomination!
Even though he shouted this in his mind, Percy wasn’t fully convinced. He sighed deeply and sought distraction in the interfaces.
[207 Lesser Demons (Minos, Gnylds) have been consumed. 2,401,901 Prosperity has been added.]
[37 Elite Demons (Cursias, Lifefeeder, Pleacis) have been consumed. 6,893,325 Prosperity has been added.]
[Three Thousand-eyed Hellhounds have been consumed. 7,001,095 Prosperity has been added.]
The gains were already extensive, but there was one more boon to take into consideration. Percy had ordered the Blueflame Hawk to search for the Infernal Lair Seed. Since the Infernal Lair collapsed, it should have returned to its original shape as a seemingly ordinary marble. That was the case, and it added even more Prosperity to his little fortune.
[Infernal Lair Seed (Enhanced/Damaged) has been consumed. 1,924,914 Prosperity has been added.]
His savings were finally high enough again to upgrade his Monster Cards, which was needed for their future encounters with more Elite Demons and fully-empowered Greater Demons.
[Gnoll Warrior Card’s Potential -[Elite ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐] has been upgraded. 5,000,000 Prosperity has been consumed.]
[Blueflame Hawk Card’s Potential -[Elite ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐] has been upgraded. 5,000,000 Prosperity has been consumed.]
The upgrade was more expensive than expected, but Percy was willing to invest this much, hoping the Monster Cards would receive an extensive upgrade. Unfortunately, neither of the Cards evolved. They might have reached Evolved potential and were thus stronger than their peers, but they didn’t evolve into a greater version of their current self, which was unfortunate. Still, Percy felt the Gnoll Warrior and Blueflame Hawk were getting closer to evolving.
“Did you report the incident to the mayor?” Percy asked Melissa when she returned from the town. Even though they didn’t have to explain anything to the mayor or townspeople, it was still better to calm the folk by telling them everything was fine and that they’d dealt with the Demons.
“I reassured them that the kingdom’s forces are on the way and that they will remove all future threats if there are any major threats in the first place. However, I’m still wondering how exactly they got to us. The Demons were heading to us in a straight line until they discovered the town. Does that make sense to you?” She asked.
Unfortunately, it makes sense. But understanding something doesn’t mean it makes everything better. Sometimes, knowledge is like poison. You might be fine with traces of poisoned knowledge, but too much of it and you will go down whether you want or not.
The back of his head, the Devil’s mark, felt like it was burning when Melissa asked the question, but Percy only shrugged. He couldn’t respond to her in the way he wanted.
“Since we’re done here…let’s leave,” Percy said instead, trying to sound nonchalant, but the way Fiona stared at him through her dead, milky-white eyes made clear that he had just been exposed.
He winced inwardly and cursed himself.