**Place: Security Hall, Underground Floor, Level 3**

Standing behind the high-quality glass door with its gleaming silver handle, Satan peered into the security hall.

Inside, five security guards—one woman and four men—were intently watching computer screens displaying various camera angles, ensuring everything ran smoothly in the hotel.

Their eyes darted from screen to screen, scanning for any irregularities.

'Thanks to the map, it was quite easy to find this place; otherwise, it would have taken a few more minutes out of my Invisibility,' Satan thought, glancing at the ancient paper in his hand. Its parchment was stained with the rich, warm hue of aged parchment, the edges slightly burned with a faint black undertone.

This was a mid-class item known as "Truth And Seek," an item that provided the player with the entire layout of any specific area or dungeon. With it, Satan now held the exact blueprint of the entire hotel, though it lacked the specifics of the number of people present, hidden traps, or rooms concealed by anti-detection magic barriers.

This item was actually an inferior version of the skill {All Sense} from the Seeker class, one of the advanced classes of the thief class in Dark Descent. The {All Sense} skill automatically provided detailed information about any area or dungeon, revealing the exact number of monsters, hidden traps, and concealed rooms protected by anti-detection magic barriers.

Due to the incredible usefulness of this skill, it was essential for any party to have a Seeker.

"Let's see what these guys know about the Satanists," Satan thought as he slipped the "Truth And Seek" back into his player inventory, turning his gaze back to them. He slowly reached for the door handle, grasped it, and gently pushed the door open, entering silently.

"Wait... am I seeing things, or did the door just open by itself?" Haruki, the only woman among the security guards, asked, scratching her head in confusion.

"Must be due to some loose screws. As the security head, I've already told Lady Shoko many times to fix the door, but she always turns a blind eye to it," Satoshi, the head of the security guards, replied.

"Still... for some reason, it feels like someone entered," Haruki said, an uneasy feeling creeping over her. She looked at her fellow security guards. "Takeda, Moshizu, Matsuba? Do you three also feel that?"

The three looked at each other and shrugged.

"B-but there's something here, I believe!" Haruki insisted.

"Haruki, don't be so over paranoid," Takeda said. "Remember the ring we're wearing? As long as you have it, nothing will happen to you unless you're attacked by a super elite-class monster," he assured, displaying the ring. "Even if there was one here."

Satan glanced at the ring, his eyes widening in recognition.

'Ring of Epoch?! How do these guys have that?!'

For Satan, this was baffling. How in the world did they manage to get their hands on it?

It was impossible for them to have it... unless they were players like him or they knew a player who had given them the ring.

Whatever it was, Satan couldn't ignore the possibility that they could be a threat to him considering they were somehow related to Dark Descent, which he doubted considering they hadn't sensed his presence—something that should have been obvious. Perhaps it also meant they knew of his presence and were simply acting to make him make the first move, or things worked differently here.

Fortunately, he had something to allow him to see their level so he could come up with a plan, seeing how high their level was. Besides, it was a good time to see how this item worked in this world. He would have used it on Albedo, but it had simply slipped his mind at the time.

Satan put his hand into his inventory and brought out a golden bangle. It was slightly bigger than his wrist, fitting loosely. The design was intricate, resembling a snake with its two ends formed into snake heads connected together. The heads had small red rubies for eyes, glinting menacingly.

This was the super rare item called "Expose Level," which revealed the level of mobs and players who hid them using spells, skills, or items, completely bypassing their concealment. It had been handed to Satan after he became one of the first ten players to defeat an angel boss character called "Seraph Of The Seven Virtues," an extremely broken boss, just a few minutes before he was summoned by Elena.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Perhaps you are correct..." Haruki said. "I am still new to this Satanist thing. I was just a normal human before, so it's hard to not be paranoid, thinking about what would happen if some monster or those Vatican Christians came to hunt me."

"We understand it," Satoshi said. "All of us here felt the same thing when we first joined. Don't worry, as months pass by you will become more relaxed and comfortable. And if you are lucky enough, you might even be promoted to a higher rank and finally indulge yourself in sacrificial rituals."

"The Boss is correct," Moshizu said, with the other three agreeing. "Now, I think we should focus back on monitoring."

Then they all turned back to the computer screens monitoring.

Meanwhile, Satan wore the bangle on his left wrist, then activated the item's effect with a thought. The item, hearing Satan's mental command, began to estimate their levels, which appeared above their heads.

All of them were level 1.

Looking at this, Satan internally laughed. This was going to be easy; there was nothing that would protect these unsuspecting guards from him, not even the "Ring Of Epoch." After all, to him this item was nothing but trash.

Despite being labeled as a mid-level item in Dark Descent, the "Ring of Epoch" was considered trash by many players. It offered protection up to a certain threshold, around level 60, but beyond that, it became useless.

And Satan was level 150, at the pinnacle of power that a player from Dark Descent could possibly achieve.

This conversation of theirs had also given him some intriguing information.

If what they said about these so-called super elite-class monsters was true, he would need to be cautious around them. One of them or many of them could be a genuine threat to him.

However, that was a problem for the future. Right now, his focus was on these guards.

Satan cracked his neck as he readied himself.

His eyes glowed black for a split second as he activated one of his chantless spells, {Secrecy}. This ninth-tier dark utility spell wove a shroud of silence around him, ensuring that no sound he made—whether footsteps or whispers—would escape into the outside world for the next 5 minutes. In the game, it was particularly effective against certain types of mobs sensitive to sound, preventing them from detecting the player's presence unless directly seen. However, its effectiveness waned against more formidable foes above level 80, who possessed abilities to evade or nullify its effects outright.

Satisfied that no external noise would betray his presence, Satan proceeded cautiously by invoking two more additional chantless spells, {Dark Eyes} and {Land Step}. The former, a ninth-tier dark utility spell, enhanced Satan's perception, extending his awareness to sense any powerful presence within a hundred-meter radius.

The latter spell, {Land Step}, was equally crucial. A ninth-tier fire trap spell, it lay dormant, ready to unleash fiery devastation should anyone from outside breach the threshold. Typically effective within a 300-meter range, the spell's destructive potential had been halved to 150 meters, a calculated adjustment by Satan to minimize collateral damage while maintaining its lethal capability.

"Greetings of midnight, humans. Would you all be kind enough to turn around?" Satan's disembodied voice echoed softly through the room. "It would be much preferable if you all can talk to me looking at my face."

Startled by the unexpected voice, all the security guards quickly spun around, eyes wide with surprise and confusion. They scanned the room, but to their bewilderment, found it empty.

Satan remained invisible, observing their reactions keenly before deciding his next move.

"There's no way you all didn't hear it!" Haruki said, scared. "I told you there was someone here!"

"Calm down, Haruki," Satoshi said before he scanned the room. "Show yourself to us. Don't you dare hide, whether you're a monster or something else."

"A-a monster!" Haruki's expression turned worried and fearful.

"Don't worry, Haruki. Remember, as long as you have the ring, you will be safe from harm," Takeda said, hugging Haruki to calm her down.

"Hehehe... hehehee... so amusing," Satan said, giving out a disgusting laugh as he appeared in front of the security guards, fully equipped with all his gear.

All the security guards stared at Satan in disbelief.

"What kind of monster are you? Some sort of bull monster?" Satoshi asked.

"That's so offensive, my friend. I am not a monster; that's so much beneath me."

"Then tell us, what are you?" Satoshi demanded. "And what's your purpose?"

"What I am is none of your concern, nor my goals," Satan continued. "Simply submit yourself to me, or you shall receive cruel fates."

"Do you have any idea what you've gotten yourselves into?" Takeda continued. "This hotel houses around three hundred Satanists, nearly half of them are masters of binding spells capable of trapping even a low-tier super elite-class monster. And look at this..." He pointed to a large, red button

on the computer controls. "With just one press of this button, they'd converge on us in an instant."

"You sure you will be able to press that button?"

"We will, monster. You won't be able to touch us, as long as we have this ri—"

Takeda's words caught in his throat as his eyes widened in horror. He clutched his chest, feeling a sudden, excruciating pain. His heart pounded erratically, each beat more painful than the last. He gasped for air, his face contorting in agony.

"H-h-how..." Takeda managed weakly, unable to speak further. He collapsed to the ground, his body twitching before becoming completely still.

"This is instant death," Satan calmly explained. "Normally, it wouldn't work on someone at my level. However, given our power difference, it doesn't matter if you were immune to it. I can simply bypass it."

His words fell on deaf ears, as the remaining guards were too shocked to react, chills running down their spines.

"Boss, what will we do now?!" Haruki cried out.

Satoshi immediately attempted to press the red button for help, but Satan swiftly grabbed his arm, slamming him to the ground with a thunderous impact. Blood filled Satoshi's mouth as his spine snapped from the force of the fall.

Satan then lifted Satoshi by the neck with one hand, meeting his ugly stare.

"I see that you have resentment towards me," Satan said. "Don't worry, I will make sure you never see me again."

With his other hand, Satan tore out Satoshi's eyes, tossing them against the glass door where they burst, splattering blood like ruptured water balloons. Satoshi screamed in pain as Satan continued his brutal assault, piercing Satoshi's chest and extracting his heart, forcing it into his mouth.

"Well, two down," Satan remarked, dropping Satoshi's lifeless body to the ground, then gazing at Moshizu and Matsuba.

Moshizu and Matsuba made a frantic dash towards the door, their hands reaching out desperately for the handle. But before they could grasp it, Satan's swift intervention halted their escape. With a powerful grip, he yanked them back violently, sending them crashing into the nearby computer screens. The impact shattered the glass, which rained down in sharp, deadly shards that pierced their bodies, causing immediate pain and injury.

Stunned and wounded, Moshizu and Matsuba lay sprawled on the ground, struggling to regain their senses. Before they could react, Satan seized them by their legs, lifting them up with a brutal strength. With each swing, he slammed their heads mercilessly against the unyielding concrete floor. The sickening sound of bone against concrete echoed through the room, mingling with their cries of agony.

Blood sprayed from their wounds, mingling with the shattered glass and broken pieces of their skulls.

Satan then turned his gaze to Haruki, who was cowering in fear. He leaned toward her and said, "Don't be afraid of me, woman." He gently lifted her, kissed her, and then pinned her to the ground.

Haruki trembled, but looking at Satan's handsome face, her fear subsided, replaced by a disturbing sense of calmness and arousal.

"If you tell me what I want to know, I'll let you go," Satan whispered in her ear, his voice mesmerizing.

Haruki, compelled by his words, nodded.