Advancing to Devourer

After waking up again, Solana immediately threw on her black robe, took Vincent's collection that her main body had previously looted, and rushed to the Crafters' Association.

Pushing open the door of the shop, Solana immediately threw a large sack filled with valuables onto the table.

The moment the sack came loose, a huge pile of metal items rolled out, covering the entire countertop.

The man in brass glasses sitting behind the counter widened his eyes in shock.

“Th-this is...”

“Explosive hand crossbows, Crafter's Sigils, Protection Sigils, Petrification Sigils... I want some of each,” Solana said coldly.

“Al-alright, honored guest, please wait a moment.”

Just as the bespectacled man was about to turn around to get the wooden box, Solana suddenly called out to him:

“Wait.”

“Uh, do you have any other requests?” The bespectacled man turned back and asked respectfully.

“Do you have those golems with sigils on them here?”

In the previous loop, when Solana became an Apostle of Calamity and engaged in extraordinary battles, she had encountered a golem. Its surface was covered with various strange sigils, leading her to guess that they were highly likely creations of the Crafters' Association.

“Yes, yes, but we only have small ones about half a person tall here,” the bespectacled man explained patiently. “The large ones require a mana core to drive them and are considered important strategic resources. They are usually made by Beyonders of our Rank Three Crafter pathway and are generally not put up for sale.”

“Can these small golems deal with a Rank Two Beyonder of the Demon pathway?” Solana asked.

Hearing “Beyonder of the Demon pathway,” the bespectacled man's expression visibly stiffened, but he quickly replied:

“Against a Rank Two Beyonder, one probably wouldn't be enough, but if there are enough of them, it's still possible to take them down.”

“Then I need those golems,” Solana nodded slightly, and after a moment's thought, added, “Give me a few of each type.”

“Alright, alright.”

The bespectacled man slowly backed up and turned around again.

“Wait once more,” Solana stopped him again.

“What is it?”

“Do you have explosives here?” Solana asked.

“Yes, yes, we have regular alchemical gunpowder here,” the bespectacled man said. “We also have exploding crystal gravel, a specialty of our Northern Territory. Those things are slightly more powerful than alchemical gunpowder, but they require mana infusion to use, preferably fire-attribute mana. There's also Dragon's Breath Powder, which is powerful enough to blow up half a street, but ordinary people can't control its power.”

“Can that exploding crystal gravel be detonated from a distance?”

As she spoke, Solana glanced at the clock on the wall, roughly calculating the time.

“If the person controlling the exploding crystal gravel is a Beyonder of the Elemental pathway, I think it should be possible,” the bespectacled man said.

“Fine, exchange all the remaining money for exploding crystal gravel and install them onto those golems. Load as much as they can carry.”

“Huh? Strapping them to the golems? B-but...”

“But what?” Solana turned her face slightly, looking puzzled.

“But doing that means those golems will be completely ruined after just one use. It would be a huge waste for you...”

“I don't care,” Solana interrupted him, her tone flat.

...

On a warm, sunny afternoon, Winster, disguised as the long-haired man, was leisurely drinking in the Old Oak Tavern.

He and his younger brother, Vincent, were originally secret envoys sent by the Blood Order to discuss cooperation with the Abyssal Order.

They had planned to use the plague and the potions from the underground exchange to cause a small-scale mass death, sacrificing a certain amount of blood to please their Mother.

Speaking of blood-heart disease, this was a curse, an ability of Rank Two of their Blood pathway.

The conditions to trigger the curse were very simple: as long as someone drank his blood, or if he obtained the other party's blood, he could inflict the curse upon them.

Causing the chest to bleed was just one of the many types of curses.

However, during this cooperation, his brother had been betrayed by the Abyssal Order and died in the underground exchange.

Out of extreme rage, he decided to seek revenge on the Abyssal Order.

Coincidentally, at the same time, he discovered that a Sister of the Church of Life seemed to be investigating the blood-heart disease. Thus, he wanted to take advantage of this great opportunity today to pit the two factions against each other.

And now, everything was going according to plan.

A faint smile curled at the corner of Winster's mouth.

...His own sudden death from blood-heart disease, the Sister investigating the people around her, the instantaneous deaths of everyone in the tavern, the Sister being tricked into leaving by the cloaked man...

This series of events had all occurred as expected. Next, as long as he followed that Sister to the cellar, disguised himself as a corpse to obtain blood, and easily disposed of those two, everything would be over...

Lying on the ground, Winster smiled inwardly and was about to get up. Suddenly, he felt something slap onto his forehead, and his entire body instantly petrified in place, unable to move.

What was going on...?

What was stuck to his forehead? Why couldn't he move?

And... who else was in this tavern...?

Weren't all the people here already dead?

In the darkness, he could vaguely hear the "thud-thud" of someone moving things, and Winster grew a bit nervous.

After a while, the petrification wore off, and just as he was about to get up to investigate, another Petrification Sigil was slapped onto him.

His entire body was petrified once more.

Immediately after, those "thud-thud" sounds grew louder, surrounding him as if deliberately provoking him.

He was furious. Completely furious!

He would make that person pay the price!

Finally, the petrification wore off again, and he sat up abruptly!

But right at that moment...

Intense explosions rang out one after another, and countless flames instantly spread out. The entire tavern was blasted to pieces, with rubble and charred wooden beams continuously crashing down.

Before Winster could even react, he was sent flying by a powerful shockwave!

Winster's consciousness felt completely chaotic. He wanted to stand up, but the excruciating pain coming from every bone and muscle pinned him to the ground.

He had wanted to wait for his wounds to slowly heal, but a second wave of explosions followed immediately!

Under this violent impact, Winster was sent flying several meters once again, collapsing completely, unable to get back up.

Just then, a young girl walked up to Winster. She merely cast a casual glance at him, then began to focus on drawing a magic circle beside him, as if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with her.

Lying on the ground, Winster slightly opened his eyes. Following the girl's fingertips, he saw the bizarre horned demon pattern on the ground, and his eyes suddenly widened.

A demon magic circle...

It's someone from the Abyssal Order...

Why is it them again?!

Just how many of our plans do these people want to ruin?!

Intense burning pain interrupted his thoughts. Just then, the magic circle suddenly lit up, and pitch-black flames began to ignite all over Winster's body!

Soon, Winster was completely incinerated by the flames, leaving behind only human-shaped ashes and a silver ring on the ground.

At the same time, countless plumes of black smoke instantly surged out of the magic circle, rushing toward Solana!

Solana only felt strange scales starting to sprout from her body, along with wisps of black smoke.

Gradually, those wisps of black smoke merged with the black smoke rushing from the magic circle, growing denser and more massive...

In moments, Solana was completely enveloped in a cloud of black mist, her figure growing hazy and indistinct...

She felt that she was getting a little hungry again...