.

Colonel Set: Known to the humans’ camp as Colonel Roy of the Blue Spark army. In the original story, he would try to go against the heroes and even frame a few wrongdoings on them, ending up being locked up after the heroes revealed his history of accepting bribes from his soldiers who committed multiple war crimes against the survivors inside the danger zone.

He wasn’t such a great antagonist, but he was still a torn to humanity as his unruly troops were too troublesome, and the higher-ups were unable to do much against him or his people since they had no clear proof against them.

To add to the fact that he was also a spy for the demonic followers, he was getting a great deal of backing from his brother, who was a [Priest] ranked inside the cult and also one of the commanders of a city. Adding all this together, Darius reached the conclusion that the earlier he got rid of him, the better.

Dr Graham: Known by both the cult and the army as Dr Graham, he was a greedy old man who valued knowledge over his own subjects, even more so than his own life, as most of the time he forgot to eat, drink, or sleep only to deepen in his studies and experiments over miasma. He had no problem betraying anyone for his goals. After finishing his research on how to control miasma outside the body using the power of the mind with the help of some devices, Graham immediately found the DRF no longer useful to him and decided to completely turn to the cult, knowing of their higher technology.

Thanks to his genius, he was able to make the DRF accept human experiments and make victims out of thousands of humans, be they innocents or criminals, inside or outside the cult. The victims would normally turn into demonified creatures, released in secret around the city and masked as sudden waves of demons released by the rift. When the heroes unmasked their wrongdoings, they tried to catch everyone with no exception, but Graham, using his miasma-controlling device, turned everyone captured into demons and released them inside the city, creating chaos that helped him escape and group up with the followers.

Knowing that these two would bring no major changes in powering up the heroes but only lower the humans’ numbers, Darius decided to get rid of one and use the other until he no longer needed him.

The only antagonist of the story he truly needed was Jacob, who, out of jealousy over Graham’s genius and out of spite for the Eastern City’s commander, would use the commander’s daughter for a last experiment that he would call successful, turning her into a boss-tier demon that could be controlled by Jacob with his mind.

.

To choose the area and give out a plan for the laboratory, it took about a whole week, as Darius was also overseeing it himself for the beginning part. Because of that, he was stuck in a secluded place beside the city, where workers were building his laboratory. So everything could work as fast as possible, Darius accepted the idea of using rough and used containers for the laboratory’s exterior. From the outside, it would look like a deserted containers’ cemetery, while on the inside, a crazy laboratory would be hidden.

.

After the design was clear for the builders to start working and everyone knew what Darius wanted, he left them do their work while he finally decided on his next plan.

I guess it’s time to infiltrate the cult, but to have access to the higher pieces of information, I need a high rank. To actually gain one, I have two options: either defeat a high-ranked follower and take his rank, or get a recommendation from someone of even higher rank… Shit, I need the rank of a [King] at least, but I can’t ask anyone for a recommendation, and without my gadgets, I can’t fight any [King] rank….

Darius continued on towards the pub that Graham called the Meeting Bar. It wasn’t that far from his laboratory, which was also situated in the basement of a seemingly rundown building.

Just like before, he made sure to hide his face and head as well as possible with his mask and hoodie.

It was the place where followers would come and exchange anonymous information along with quests and missions given by one another. The rank of the mission will be decided by the rank of the person who requested it and will be posted by the bartenders who are administering the place.

Inside the cult, they created a secret system based on symbols, which represent the ranks inside the cult. Nobody is aware of the exact number of ranks because, as you rise through the ranks within the cult, you will learn more about it but never fully understand it because only the Demon Lord and the bartenders who received branding from the Great One himself are aware of all the ranks.

And so there won’t be any fools to go against their superiors. There are ways to separate between a high rank and a lower rank through the examination of the symbol through a phone app. For a lower rank, it would only show that the other symbol is superior to his, while for a higher rank, it would show all the information about the lower symbol and even the wearer of the symbol, since each symbol is personalized with a hidden QR code and also works as the ID card in the cult.

I guess I have no other choice now…

Darius sighed irritated, and went towards the bartender.

"Want a drink, my sir?"

"… Here to be branded."

"I understand. In that case, please come with me."

The bartender smiled after hearing that a new member was joining them and invited Darius behind the bar to another room. After the bartender left, another one appeared to take his place immediately since the bartender’s spot couldn’t be empty.

"I suppose you already know that you’ll need to be tested for your abilities to reach the right ranking, yes? Since you’re only a human, we’ll pass the magic evaluation and physical tests. I could also give you the rank of a [Soldier] immediately. But if you want to aim higher, then we could at least test your overall abilities in combat; which would you prefer?"

The bartender spoke with great manners as he offered Darius a short explanation about his choices. Hearing this, Darius nodded and spoke in his modified voice.

"I want to try gaining a better rank than a soldier."

"Very well. This way, please."

There were many bartenders behind the bar that were either preparing drinks, working on computers, or managing some documents. It wasn’t easy to keep order in such a secretive organization and have the outside world think of you as only an urban legend.

They were a group of hackers and former secret intelligence agency members, uniting together and creating a separate hidden force that was keeping an eye on any data, be it on paper or digital, that could help them in their mission.

And this is only one base… These fuckers are everywhere in almost every city near the borders.

He glanced around while following the bartender, and finally, after a while, they arrived in a large room with an elevated arena in the middle. On the opposite side of the arena, there was another large iron door.

"Do you have a plasma knife? Or should we offer one to you?"

"I’d appreciate getting one."

"Alright. But don’t forget, this is the only weapon we can offer."

"That’s fine. I have what I need right here."

Darius grabbed his Deagle and took the plasma knife the bartender handed him, then opened his backpack and placed the belt with magazines on his waist. He left his back to the bartender and stepped on top of the arena.

The next moment, a cage sustained by chains descended over the arena and locked Darius in while the iron gate from the opposite side opened.

"For starters, how about we start with a lowest-rank beast, yes?"

The next moment, a dark bat as big as half Darius’ body flew in a straight line towards him, its razor-sharp fangs going for his neck.

-POW!-

However, with a simple bullet in its head, the bat flew beside Darius and crashed onto the cage’s bars, turning into smoke right after.

"Hey bartender. How about we leave the small fries and give me a real challenge? How about a high-ranked monster, yes? That’s good enough for a warm-up."

"… That sounds interesting."

The man smiled, amused by Darius’ confidence, then took out his phone and sent a message. In a few minutes, the iron gate opened again, and a large monster that seemed to be made of mud appeared in front of Darius.

"…."

What a bastard... He chose a monster that’s normally dealt with from a great range.

The monster was normally found in swampy areas. It was such a pain that even in-game it was considered to be the most annoying since, if you got too close, you could risk getting damaged by the acidic and toxic mud that covered its whole body. This type of monster was the bane of melee fighters.

"How is a Swamp Golem? Is it enough for a warm-up, sir?"

"… Pretty good."

Darius answered annoyed and circled the monster that was closing in slowly, leaving behind a toxic trail.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

-GHROAH!-

The monster shouted after seeing Darius, and it swung one of its arms, sending out large droplets of toxic mud.

"Disgusting bastard."

Darius easily dodged the droplets by dashing aside, then continued to run around the monster while mud was being thrown at him constantly.

The golem-type monsters normally have a core at the center of their bodies. However, the Swamp Golem has it as a head since it was unable to morph the mud well enough to create a head on its own.

Darius shot a few bullets towards its head, but no bullet was able to penetrate as the metal melted the moment it touched the protective layer of acidic mud.

The Swamp Golem wasn’t a high-ranked monster because it had impenetrable defense or vitality like the other golems, nor because it had great attack power or AOE abilities. It’s rank was given simply because of that ridiculously acidic field, which gave anyone who wanted to get closer a ridiculously hard time. It was normally easily dealt with by using rockets, grenades, or other such explosives, but anyone near it would suffer greatly since highly concentrated acid would spray around like rain after that monster exploded, destroying everything around.

-GROOAH!-

The monster roared furiously, and from within, more tentacles appeared and shot out at Darius.

Good, it finally used this ability.

Darius got further away, and the tentacles spread out all the way to him.

I guess this is the end of his struggles.

The bartender observed with a neutral look on his face how the tentacles already surrounded Darius and were about to cover him completely, when a sharp glow in his eyes made the bartender feel some surprise for a moment, wondering just what Darius was plotting.

He fired his gun once more, but not at the tentacles around him but at the monster’s core.

-Crack!-

With a barely audible cracking sound, the monster roared terrified as all the tentacles retracted back in, but Darius gave it no time as he continued on shooting the remaining single bullet, then quickly changed magazines to empty another one.

The speed at which the damaged area would normally recover greatly surpassed the inflicted damage. But since a large quantity of mud has been wasted by both throwing and creating the tentacles to surround Darius, the recovery drastically lowered while its core’s shell started to appear from bellow the acidic layer. The moment the tentacles were the furthest away, that was when the core was almost visible, giving Darius a chance to shoot at it and crack it at first, now struggling to even unvield it.

"Stop struggling."

Changing magazine after magazine by shooting bullet after bullet at the same exact point, Darius finally revealed a small portion of the core, drilling one final bullet right through its crack.

-BOOM!-

The core got destroyed, and the monster fell with a last roar, a final muffled groan resounding after its body melted into mud. The core rolled to the ground while dark smoke was being released from inside it, dissipating in thin air.

"Great job, sir. This alone won you the right to be a [Knight]. Would you like to receive your rank? Or would you wish to continue?"

"…."

[Knight] my ass. Killing such a high-difficulty monster with just a gun, I should’ve gotten at least [Colonel] or even [Priest] rank. It must be because I used some tricks and I’m a simple human. I would’ve been the first human to reach [Priest], and that could damage the bartenders’ reputation. As for continuing….

Darius looked at his belt and saw that he had only two more magazines. He also had no explosives while he was dressed only in simple clothes, no armor whatsoever. If he was fully equipped, he was confident enough to take on even a Boss-rank since he knew their weaknesses. But the way he was now, he would have quite a challenge if the monster that followed was another pain like this one.

If the monster was a beast-type, I would’ve finished the fight faster and lost less resources, since all they have is speed and ferocity. But if I’ll get a monster with ridiculous defense like a golem, or maybe a monster with great AOE skills like a bombing beetle inside this little space, then I’ll be dead before I could make another move.

Reaching this point, Darius sighed irritated since the bartender would waste no time finding him his match, and just gave up.

"Excellent choice. Here's your phone. You will find all the missions and information befitting your rank inside of it, together with your ranking’s symbol. Since you’re a [Knight], you’re part of the [Royal Guards] and a subordinate of the [Royalty]. That means if you get a message from anyone who’s part of the royalty, you will have the obligation to answer it, no matter what. In exchange, you will receive a sum of money as payment."

Darius opened his phone and saw his own symbol that represented he was a [Knight]. The bartender then showed him where to add his information, such as his name, age, gender, and reason for joining the cult. Not thinking twice, Darius added his reason, and the bartender chuckled, amused.

"Desire for power…? What a generic reason, but beautiful and straightforward nonetheless. As the administrator of this bar, I welcome you, dear Daniel, into our cult. I wish you’ll give us your full support in spreading the greatness of the Rift."

"I’ll do my best."

Darius shook hands with the bartender, glancing at his own phone once again.

A [Knight]… If I’m not wrong, I must now be placed under a [Prince/Princess]-ranked royalty. Basically a royalty’s toy, but has higher authority than a [Soldier] or a [Monk].

The [royalty]-ranked followers are normally those who gained undercover authority over a company, over a residency, over a city, or over a whole territory with multiple cities. Since Darius’ superior is a prince, that means his superior will be someone with undercover authority over a company or a group with great armed forces.

This is bullshit…

Just as his data finished uploading, he then received a command from his immediate superior in the form of a message.

[You're my new subordinate? Only a human? Meet me at the tallest building in the city ASAP. I’ll give you time until the end of the day.]

Look at this prick… Tallest building? That's inside the miasma-infested territory...

Darius’ eyes turned sharp while staring at the message, and the bartender glanced at him, amused.

"I must tell you, in case of insubordination, then your superior has the right over your life."

"But what if I kill this guy in a fair fight? Will I be able to become a higher rank myself?"

"If you send a declaration first, then sure."

"Good to know."

The bartender showed Darius how to register a declaration, and his smile widened. But first, he decided to just go where he was told to.

Before anything, let’s make some preparations….

Going right back to his deposit, Darius prepared an armored suit, more grenades, and more magazines.

.

Now standing on top of a 6-story building, he just climbed while inside the danger zone of the Eastern City. He used his sniper to gaze in the distance at the tallest building he was told to come to, and through the ruins that were still standing, a 12-story building appeared in sight around the central area. That building was the tallest inside the city, both inside the still-usable and the ruined parts of the city.

There, he looked at the base of the building and saw a few people patrolling the perimeter, with or without weapons on them, looking around for any possible intruders or curious monsters. After confirming the building, he tried to look through the windows and saw that inside there were also people on all floors.

"So the Prince I’m under rules a group of bandits... How amusing."

He looked at the last floor but was unable to see anything since the windows were covered by curtains.

From his memory, [Prince] ranked were normally either very powerful mages or weaker Spirit Wielders. To get the rank of a [Prince] you must be able to prove yourself by defeating a field-boss-ranked monster. Even if you used tricks, traps, or subordinates as meat shields, as long as you were the one to kill them, it counted as your personal kill.

I don’t know who the bastard up there is or what abilities he has. If I challenge him with no information, I might just end up dead. However, I’m not dumb enough to simply show myself to them just yet.

Darius smirked and left the area in the opposite direction, searching for a hunting ground.

Since he left the phone he received in the deposit, they were unable to track his position or find out who he was, making Darius just do as he wished.

Since he thought he could get the rank of a Colonel or Priest, Darius wanted to use his authority to get some information about the Human Coalition, but since his rank was lower than planned, he decided to keep it on hold until he got his gadgets to grow stronger.

The reason why Darius wanted intel about the Human Coalition was simply because, just like the Demonic Followers, they were more or less the same, as not many knew where the main base was or what the Lords, the rulers of the coalition, were like. Everyone simply knew of their existence, while even the commanders of the cities were unsure who they were as their orders were received through different assistants.

The chances of infiltrating too deep inside either one or the other were close to impossible, as no one knew where the higher ranks were, while the higher ranks themselves weren’t sure how high their rank was in the first place. The bartenders were also impossible to extract information from as they were mysteriously cursed with miasma, and once they even thought to speak about it, they would suddenly die by having miasma released in their bodies, turning them into mad demonic beasts.

This world is one huge bubble of suspicion and distrust. But thanks to that, I can infiltrate so much easier.

The only person who actually had enough knowledge of both camps was Darius, who, in his past life, was the ruler of one camp and the destroyer of the other.

In the Human Coalition’s last push, the Lords showed themselves to boost morale and fight against the demonic followers who started destroying the coalition from inside.

Some of the Lords tried to run, but they were easily captured and killed by Darius’ underlings, who were able to infiltrate between the Lords’ immediate underlings.

This is just crazy how deeply one coalition infiltrated the other while remaining unknown like a ghost.

Darius sighed and simply went on his way to an area where the DRF dumped their failed experiments. More exactly, where all the humanoid demons were.

It was especially a good hunting ground because of how high the chances are to find a crystal inside a corrupted being rather than inside a miasma monster.

There were generally two types of monsters. Those that were born from miasma through miasma, like the Dark Wolves, the Shadow Spiders, or some other monsters who just melt after being killed, rarely have crystals in them. The crystals are normally created by mana that can’t be expelled and gathered together into a solidified crystal form. The mana inside a miasma body is normally gathered together since it can’t be expelled and crystalized, so it won’t circulate through the miasma body. It could be compared to a stone that entered inside a shell, slowly turning it into a valuable pearl so it won't harm the sensitive insides of the shell. Monsters born from miasma with a body created through such energy rarely end up collecting such residual mana energy, only if they live for a prolonged period of time in an area outside the danger zone, where mana is normally more present.

Then there are the demonic creatures, who were born after miasma corruption. Such monsters were normally living beings or simple objects that got possessed by a miasma spirit that couldn’t create its own body. Since the body it took over was created in a world of mana, it automatically gathers all that mana into a crystal close to the core and deposits it there while replacing the emptied slots with miasma. The more mana has been replaced with miasma, the stronger and smarter the monster gets. And obviously, more dangerous.

Here we are…

At the very edge of the city, walking between multiple buildings so as not to attract the attention of any monster wandering around the area, Darius was able to find a large ravine in which multiple humanoid monsters with red cracks all over their bodies and red eyes were wandering around aimlessly, their eyes completely unfocused.