Chapter 411: Illicit Rumors

The Black Lake Sect were getting rather suspicious of Azaroth's relationship with Erica. They felt that it was an unusually close one.

To them, it seemed as though Erica was unusually excited and motivated to obey Azaroth. There could be a hint of romantic intent hidden that followed Azaroth. All of them agreed that Azaroth was an extremely handsome individual.

He was so damn gorgeous that a woman would try to think about gaining his favor when she saw him first. The more the elders considered this option, the more certain they became of it.

Azaroth was actually aware that these kinds of thoughts were circulating within these elders' heads. However, he didn't warn Erica or try to stop these rumors. They worked to his own benefit.

Erica would always have a good reason to obey Azaroth's commands. Her reputation would, of course, be tarnished to some extent. After all, she had a husband and a daughter. These actions had the potential to sever her relationship with her husband and devastate her happy family.

Azaroth naturally didn't care about something as useless as Erica's reputation. As long as she obeyed his order, everything was fine to him.

Meanwhile, Erica still hadn't realized that this sort of rumor had begun to spread within her close group of elders. The rumors reached the point that even some core disciples and the inner disciples had begun to talk about Azaroth and Erica's relationship.

A few elders were disgusted that Erica was betraying her husband like that. They wanted to inform her husband about this and went to his spot where he was supposed to be patrolling.

Meanwhile, Erica thought about the Demon Emperor's Ardor that she witnessed and fought against.

She had never expected that a Demon Emperor was residing within those chasms. No texts detailed this Demon Emperor in the Black Lake Sect's passed knowledge.

The Night Mountain Sect knew about it. In reality, their sect was created to keep a tight leash on the Demonic Emperor. The Night Mountain Sect was initially the Royal Family's lapdog and would wage its tails to whichever side the Royal Family commanded.

However, after some time, the Night Mountain Sect freed themselves from the direct control of the Royal Family. Now, they held some autonomy and made their own decisions.

Naturally, their primary task of keeping a tight leash on the Demon Emperor was lost during this transition. Also, they found a method to empower the Demonic Emperor.

The Night Mountain Sect would throw down an orb full of Flames and then wait for it to be devoured by the Demonic Ardor. Demonic Ardor would begin to be released from that chasm a few days later.

The one who threw down this Flame Orb belonged to the Black Lake Sect. This man was one of the spies of the Night Mountain Sect.

He possessed considerable wealth and could throw a Flame Orb like that without affecting his financial conditions. He wasn't told exactly what would occur if he did this. However, this man had reached his own conclusions.

He thought that after throwing this Flame Orb in that chasm that's been rumored to release Demonic Ardor, some demons would be released from that chasm, and the Black Lake Sect would be pincer attacked by the Night Mountain Sect and those demons.

The appearance of demons seemed like a logical conclusion to him because the demons attacked the Origin Sect's Branches. He had absolutely no idea that this would awaken a Demon Emperor from his slumber and have him unleash his devastating Demonic Energy on the disciples of the Black Lake Sect.

The battle wouldn't be as simple as fighting against the demons and the Night Mountain Sect. The disciples of the Black Lake Sect would have been forced to battle among themselves. They would have no idea about their allies or enemies. And in this confused state, they won't realize just who killed them.

Azaroth had noticed Erica's solemn expression as he left her near the chasm and returned to the camp. He was sure that she was thinking of running away after finding out about the Demon Emperor within that chasm.

Even though Azaroth had created a barrier to prevent any more incidents regarding the Demon Emperor from occurring, she had no idea for how long that barrier would be sustained.

The more she lingered near the chasm, the more she pondered, and her terror grew. This was actually very dangerous. If a demon sensed that a human was terrified, they would be excited, and their fighting prowess would actually be boosted.

If not for the barrier preventing any Demon Ardor from escaping, Erica would have been battling against an even greater quantity of Demonic Ardor. And this battle wouldn't exactly be short.

The Demon Emperor knew he could regain his energy after absorbing the Yin Energy belonging to this woman. He wasn't going to let her off easily. He might even implant one of his Demonic Seeds within her that would slowly grow inside her body and suddenly activate after reaching a particular point.

The Demon Emperor would absorb all the energy that Erica had gathered until that point. Thus, allowing him to recover and at the least get out of this chasm.

The only thing puzzling Azaroth was just what kind of injury did this Demon Emperor have or if he was sealed, just what kind of seal it was.

Azaroth knew he had to check out the seal personally to find that out. However, the Demon Emperor's power would be extremely great within that chasm, and Azaroth didn't plan to risk his life for something so small.

At this moment, he received a voice message from Sargan, "Dylan Ross has finished meeting up with everyone. He and that woman named Camille are departing for the Lamhilhan Theocracy. From their route, it seems that they plan to go through the Olisville Town."

Azaroth's eyes slowly widened for a few seconds. He then spoke, "Very well. Your task is done. Focus on gathering information about the other important individuals in the Glerian Kingdom. Start by targeting the ministers in the Royal Court. I want to hear about their dark deeds by the end of this month."

Sargan was extremely shocked to hear this order. He didn't think that this mission would end after this report. He was quite excited that he had accomplished this nerve-wracking mission. Nearly all his time was spent overthinking about various possibilities where he could lose his life.

He was also losing contact with a few of his informers. He had to meet them and provide them an even greater incentive to keep them active.

Or, at worst, he would hire another person to be his informer. There was no shortage of wealth due to his deal with Ruben Kari. Ever since Ruben Kari acquired a few artifacts from the Underground Labyrinth of the Demons, his entire fate had been overturned. He also treated his subordinates very well.

He was always ready to deal with the official formalities on behalf of Sargan. This was because he knew in this conscience that all this wealth, prestige, and status belonged due to Sargan's assistance.

He could never reject a task from Sargan, or else he would feel extremely guilty for a very long time.

According to his mentality, he knew that he couldn't become a good leader. But still, he wanted to try it. He was ready to take the hard decisions but not betray the trust of someone he considered his own. Sargan was one such person.

In reality, Sargan also deeply valued his bond with him. Even though Sargan was a demon, his heart wasn't made up of stone. He felt some emotions of friendship and brotherhood when he talked and spent his time with Ruben Kari.

This was all because Ruben was extremely genuine when he talked to Sargan. He seemed like an open book to Sargan. And Sargan believed that he would ever need to betray him.