From the very beginning, Elias was absolutely certain that this monster would never let him go easily.
Why?
In this world, all good intentions secretly came with a deadly price.
What’s more, the other party was a demon.
Recalling Guss’s brief yet highly informative conversation with Mester just now, the demon’s contempt for human life was like a human’s disregard for rats in the sewers.
No, even less than rats; in its eyes, humans were merely consumables to be juiced.
Based solely on that arrogant and cruel demeanor, Elias could conclude that this infernal demon was not a pushover that could be dismissed with a few sweet words.
Secondly, and most crucially, when Mester had used those blood-stained incentives to tempt Guss into action, Elias had clearly caught an undisguised, extreme greed in the demon’s dark yellow vertical pupils.
A demon that wouldn’t even spare his own soul, worth a mere three coins, how could it possibly be so merciful as to let him leave after he had killed its troublesome contractor and even helped it retrieve the spoils?
More importantly, the ominous-looking soul coin press was now in Guss’s hands.
However, from what Herm had just revealed, perhaps due to some rule, this massive creature couldn’t personally use the press to mass-produce soul coins.
Elias’s thoughts raced like lightning.
For a demon that had lived for countless centuries, what was so difficult about an agent dying? It would just find another obedient human puppet.
At this moment, Herm, pinned to the ground by The Roaring Cane, was still coughing up blood.
His face, half-conscious and half-desperate, was filled with a fervent desire for death.
He yearned to die, to finally end his sinful life.
But Elias had no intention of killing him easily.
More precisely, he absolutely couldn’t kill him now.
Firstly, Elias proposing a formal contract with Guss was a safeguard in itself. This safeguard was to imitate Mester’s method of exploiting contract loopholes to save his own life.
In other words, as long as Guss agreed to complete the unfinished contract ritual, whether or not to kill Herm, and how to kill him, would be up to Elias.
Moreover, as long as he didn’t kill Herm, Guss wouldn’t be able to attack him.
Secondly, Elias’s caution was screaming warnings. In this transcendent world, filled with strange powers, he feared that Herm, with his personality dissociation, might still have some triggered curse set by Mester, or some extremely malicious instant-death spell.
Herm’s eagerness to die, ironically, left Elias perplexed.
If Elias, for the sake of quick satisfaction, rashly shot him, wouldn’t he be falling right into Mester’s trap, becoming collateral damage?
'Although this bastard is sobbing with snot and tears right now, looking like a genuinely repentant wretch yearning for death…'
'But it’s wise to be wary of others; what if he’s putting on an act for me?'
Elias cast a cold glance at Herm on the ground, deciding he would absolutely not deliver the final blow himself.
Thirdly, and on a deeper level, there was an identity crisis.
Elias was well aware that in the eyes of Ms. Cecil, the cold Ms. Cecil from the Seventh Agency, he had already become an extremely dangerous suspect.
If he were to personally kill Mester (Herm) in this enclosed treatment room right now, and if he somehow survived today, then after this infernal demon left, the Seventh Agency agents would take over the scene.
With just a brief analysis using spirit-measuring devices, they would immediately discover that this horrific crime scene had once contained the spiritual residue of two “Moon Lord believers” simultaneously.
One was Mester, and the other was Elias himself.
Agent Finn, who was a bit flighty, might have a wild imagination and suspect it was the work of the mysterious “Batman.”
But would the incredibly perceptive Ms. Cecil be so naive? Absolutely not!
With that woman’s keen intuition, she might even see through the disguise and fatally link his secondary identity with his true self.
Once his identity was exposed, a containment facility with no end in sight would await him.
Of course, if he were to die directly under this infernal demon’s greatsword today, he wouldn’t have to bother with such troublesome aftermath planning.
Dead men didn’t have to worry about identity crises.
But currently, he still had a glimmer of hope for survival, and he would never give up easily.
Elias rapidly assessed his trump cards in his mind.
There were at least two possibilities for survival:
The first possibility: Blow the bone flute in his pocket.
If the mysterious lady’s words were true, this bone flute contained the power to summon some entity.
Then it might instantly scare away, or severely wound, the infernal demon before him.
But the cost was unknown; who knew if blowing it would first drain his spirituality?
The second possibility: Stall.
Use every means to buy time and wait for the transcendent reinforcements from the Seventh Agency.
However, this would completely expose his true identity as a transcendent to Ms. Cecil.
This was akin to jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.
But there was a small benefit to this.
That was, he hadn’t rashly killed Herm earlier, so he still held a “living witness” as evidence, leaving a final sliver of leeway.
At that point, he would just need to find a way to reach some mutual understanding with Ms. Cecil.
Coupled with his acquaintance, the easily fooled Agent Finn, he might just barely manage to get by.
“Human…”
Guss clearly didn’t catch Elias’s sarcasm.
He merely fiddled with the sword in his hand.
“Too bad, if you’re unwilling to do my bidding, you’ll just die here today.”
With that, Guss tightened his grip on his sword and approached, intending to cleave Elias in two.
“Wait!”
Elias slowly raised his head, looking directly into Guss’s bloodthirsty vertical pupils, and pointed his cane at Herm below his feet.
He planned to try and stall for time.
“Killing him and helping you open that box and safe over there is simple enough for me.”
Guss’s vertical pupils slightly constricted, as if scrutinizing this human who had suddenly changed his attitude.
Elias didn’t back down, continuing to offer his leverage:
“It’s just signing a contract.”
“That’s easy for you.”
“If what you say is true,”
“What? Is the great infernal demon of Calovius afraid to sign a contract?”
Elias’s voice was resounding.
“If you strike me down right now, you’ll have to go through all that trouble again, searching through the vast sea of humanity to find another Moon Lord believer who can withstand your spirituality.”
“Do you think you’ll still smoothly get what you want today?”
Elias slightly lifted his chin.
Upon hearing this, Guss’s massive body paused slightly.
Its enormous head actually began to weigh the pros and cons.
After all, it indeed needed someone to help it deal with its current trouble.
Just then, Herm, who had been pinned beneath Elias’s cane, heard this transaction and once again began to struggle frantically.
“Yes!”
Herm, his mouth full of blood, shouted madly, his expression wild.
“Guss, quickly agree to him!”
“Agree to him!!!”
“Let me be free!!!”
This piercing scream instantly shattered the negotiating atmosphere that had just been established.
“Noisy.”
Elias’s gaze instantly turned extremely cold.
He didn’t even look at Herm.
He lifted his heavy leather boot and impatiently kicked Herm’s face.
“Thud!”
Accompanied by a sickening thud, Herm winced in pain and instinctively shut his incessant mouth.
Silence descended.
On the other side, Guss seemed to have figured something out, slowly bending down with narrowed eyes.
“Human!”
“Are you trying to trick me again?”
Rate on N.U.
