"P-please! Spare this lowly life of mine! Please!" An old man groveling on the ground pleaded.
Covering my forehead I sighed, "It is happening again..."
I watched the notification floating in front of me while ignoring the words of the old man.
[A total of one hundred partecipants entered the dungeon and now the current objective for the hundred participants is to play the character that the dungeon will soon send to each participant and survive as that character. Mirroring that character the participant will temporary have the same powers and status as that character. The so-called NPC will regard you as that character no matter how you behave but that cannot be said for other partecipants.]
[Character: Servant of the Devil, chaotic evil, as a devotee of the Devil you are hunted by everyone and feared by everyone. In order to use the Devil's power you'll need to sacrifice a body each time you need to do so.]
[The first round will end the moment half of the participants dies. At the end of the first round each participant will have their powers return to normal.]
[ Current participants: 100]
It became more and more complicated with this notification. Firstly, my powers are sealed and consequently I cannot spread my aura to search for my wives nor it seems that Violetta or Perpetua can appear in this dungeon meaning I'm on my own. Secondly, my current status does affect my ability to find information in peace and the only method to do so is to reveal myself and by doing that other partecipants might target me.
"Old man, where's the nearest city?"
The old man was startled by such question. As he swallowed his saliva he carefully observed my face. He was struggling to whether tell me the location and live or ready to feel guilt by doing so. Just by the description alone I could understand that my character is feared not because of the status of being the servant of a Devil but that to use its power I require to sacrifice a body.
Tormenting the old man and playing with his feelings might be really interesting to spend time but the current situation cannot be said to be the best.
"...T-to the west...after two days you can reach the nearest city from here..." Clenching his fists, the old man said the direction.
"Tell me, you know about my identity, don't you...?"
"I-"
"You know it. Then, you know what will happen in that city, right?Answer me."
I pressured him with both my stern gaze and my authoritative tone.
"Why you don't open that mouth of yours? Tell me in detail what will happen and I'll let you live." A cold and mocking laugh escaped from my mouth.
Under my jeers and taunts the old man trembled to the point that he bit his lips causing them to bleed but nontheless after a minute started to talk.
"The young and elders will fall under your wicked hands and...and their bodies and souls sacrified to the Devil just for your desire for more power..." As he finished he hung low his head in shame as if escaping from the gaze of guilt itself.
"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..." It didn't take long for his conscience to hit him. "My Lord, please forgive this sinful follower...I want to repent..." The old man didn't care whether I was there or not, as he bawled his tears filled his old wrinkled face.
In the dirty ground the old man prayed and pleaded for forgiveness, whether there was really a higher being listening to him that willl remain a mystery.
The old man is weak, extremely so. If...I were to squeeze that frail neck of his he would easily die.
*crack*
Distracted and defenseless the old man didn't resist the moment I squeezed his neck with both of my hands.
The body collapsed in the ground leaving a soft *thud*.
"Nothing is happening...Mmm, maybe I have to do something?" Disregarding the body, I muttered.
Since it is a sacrifice then I need to pray or conduct a ritual.
"Oh! I offer you this body as a sacrifice!" I raised my arms towards the skies.
"..."
Nothing.
"This servant of yours offers you this sacrifice, oh, Devil, both his body and soul will be yours!"
Finally something appeared, to be more precise a mark appeared in the back of my hand. A demonic and distorted '1' if I were to describe it.
"I want information about my powers." I said but nothing occurred. Do I need to...?
"This servant of yours desires to know more in depth about how your demonic blessing works, oh Devil!"
And if responding to that a surge of information was forcefully put in my head and the '1' on the back of my hand was replaced with a '0'.
"Oh...so it's like that..." Despite the sharp headache from the information given to me I walked towards the location the old man told me.
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While Deva was going towards the nearest city from her location Velena and the others were also racking their brains to find Deva as fast as possible and reunite.
[Character: Drug dealer, neutral evil, you sell illegal drugs to the rich and to the desperate who wants for more. Drugs created by you will be more effective by a tenfold.]
Velena woke up in a dark place surrounded by empty vials and various ingredients.
[Character: Scholar, true neutral, extremely sought after by everyone as your knowledge is vast. Information and knowledge will be learnt more efficiently and faster while never leaving the mind.]
Ira instead found herself inside of a desolate library.
[Character: Commander, lawful neutral, skilled both in military tactics and combat you command thousands of loyal soldiers. A map inside your head will appear displaying every information around you]
Theresa found herself sitting in the saddle of a horse as thousands of soldiers surrounded her protecting her.
[Character: Scammer, neutral evil, skilled in several tricks on scamming people or convincing them with your looks and silver tongue. People will be more prone to believe you.]
Edea instead found herself in the streets as people gazed at her merchandise.
[Character: Queen, chaotic good, you rule an entire kingdom at your disposal. Your status or reputation won't be worsened even if you commit the most brutal of atrocities, and your subjects will blindly follow your words.]
And lastly, Era found herself sitting in a golden throne.
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