63
After healing my ego I bring up the mask situation and she stops playing with her demonic energy.
"Alright, I am ready to go when you are." I nod at her and then I focus on the lower level of the mine Infront of the seal I saw that holds in the earth elementals and the other hidden races.
----------
We arrive outside the seal and walk through it carefully not to break it, don't want anyone escaping till we got the mask.
"There should still be some Tauren's and Medusa's down here, they are fighting the earth elementals off since the earth elementals are under the control of the possessed earth king. I kind of want to stop by them on the way and let them know we will be fixing their problems so they will join up with me after and I can have the Tauren's smith for me." Catherine smiles. "what's up?"
"Always scheming, if I am not careful I won't even know when I get screwed over." I laugh as I close the distance and take her hand.
"Oh, you will know when I screw you." wiggling my brows she gives a challenging look in return.
"Will I now? I could have sworn I screwed you last time, or am I just imagining things?" I shake my head in clear denial of her claims.
"I remember you begging me to show you some mercy and to hold off to not damage your fragile frame." she gives me a ' just you wait ' look and turns forward, I grip her hand tighter and lean into her as she responds with leaning back into me.
Breaking up the good atmosphere a large fly shoots out a side passage and gets hit by an arrow, we both watch as a medusa slithers out and points her bow at us. I hope my devil speak works on all races here, I know that they should have their own language.
"Hello, we came to kill the one responsible for the flies and that will also get rid of the earth elemental's corruption so your people won't be attacked anymore." An arrow is released and I send it back causing it to pass straight through her shoulder. to her credit the medusa doesn't scream or show pain and only tries to retreat. "well I tried to talk first." I pull metal from the ground and lock her tail in place, we then both walk toward her.
"Well, medusas don't speak basic demon language so there is that." I turn the medusa to face us by twirling the metal around her and up to her neck.
"I do believe you are correct, but devils have the natural ability to always be understood and understand. not sure where it comes from but it's useful that's for sure." Catherine raises a brow and I ignore it since there might have been a few things I left out of the brochure when I was excited to reincarnate her. I stressed to her the downsides and the major upsides but I might have forgotten a few things like familiars and the devil's language.
"You do understand us right?" seeing no reply I let the metal fall from her neck. "we are here to kill the man responsible for your tribe's suffering, nod if you understand."
"I am not stupid, I understand I just don't trust you." she practically spits on me but I still pull out a Phenex tear in its patent-pending bottle, was a tough cookie getting some imps to help to make. after dropping it on her struggling body her wound closes and she stops struggling and looks wide-eyed at where the hole was. "Is that fountain of life?"
I freeze up remembering the three fountains in this world, life, vitality, and finally resurrection. how did I forget about those? what if I use their water instead of normal water for different alcohols and other products? I remember the original mc did that with some kind of rice wine and made a killing. and Phenex tears, like what would come out of it if I made them with a fountain of resurrection? a big paycheck is what will come out is all I know.
"No. it's a special medicine, we are going to head to end the earth kings problems. you should tell your leader I will come by later to discuss her new employment." I scan the area and when I find the earth king palace I begin to tunnel straight to it while reinforcing the walls to not collapse.
As we descend I spot the Taurens to the side and mentally note the location, there are more large caverns where the other extinct races used to be. after a few minutes of tunneling I break through into an opening and we spot the earth realm. a giant palace made of different colored stones lay in the middle, a few earth elementals are already heading toward us and I throw them out of the way as we keep walking.
"I feel something ahead, it's very dense and makes me feel kind of... hungry?" I look around at the abundance of Gluttony sin and nod, it seems he has accumulated a ton of it while trying to consume the earth king's body for his use.
"That should be the sin of gluttony that is radiating off of the mask, it's like a triple whammy. the soul lets off gluttony and the mask as well as the act of trying to take control of the earth king. you should practice detecting sin since it is a part of your very existence at this point and even sustains it. normally people leak their sin outwardly and some objects like the artifacts do as well. but devils absorb it." she nods as I blow down walls and doors heading straight for the mask.
"WHO DARES!" a roar echo's as I remove the last wall in the way. sitting on a throne is a man made of stone and has a mask on his face. the mask is black and has no features other than the eyes and mouth.
Catherine lets go of my hand as she blinks from beside me and appears Infront of the earth king, with a wave a flame of rebirth comes out and when it hits the mask it drops. she catches it and turns back around and walks toward me, she hands it over and I send it to the temple.
"He probably didn't even have time to understand what just happened." Catherine smiles as I look through the system options.
[ Temple of sin detecting artifact compatible with Alter of Gluttony - integrate? ]
After confirming it slots itself into the hole and the alter lights up before the light dims and only the bottom remains lit almost like embers. out of the corner of my eye, I notice the lust alter with the cloak on it is light fully. not sure what that's about but I will find out eventually.
After a moment a green stone the size of a fist pops out, confused about what it is I remember the stone given when I converted Broc's arm into sin. storing it in my inventory for later investigation, I then receive the notifications I was waiting on.
[ Congratulations on acquiring the Artifact of Gluttony! ]
[ Royal Bloodline unlocked - Beelzebub ]
[ Trait unlocked - Beelzebub - Lord of flies ]
[ Artifact available - God Devouring Mask ]
[ Sin absorbed = 325322 ]
Not feeling any changes I pause as I pat down my features, Catherine noticing my actions raise an inquisitive brow.
"What are you doing?" I don't find any changes and Sigh in relief, it's one thing to get pointy ears but if I got something weird I would be upset.
"Trying to see if anything changed like when I bound the Shadow cloak, how do I look?" she tilts her head and eyes me up and down.
"As goofy as ever." I freeze, quickly recovering I spring on her and go for her armpits. "Wait!"
It's too late as I already have a grip and she is going to be tickled, only for an awkward gravely cough attracts my attention. turning I see the recovered earth king as he looks at us, I let go of Catherine as I wave.
"Hello earth king, as I am sure you are aware we have assisted you in removing the mask and you are now free." he nods and earth elementals start to make their way into the room from the floor and also the blown-down wall, no one comes through the door though. I say it was an improvement to the earth realm.
"I see that, what are your names? you have saved me and by extension my people and realm, I would like to sincerely thank you on behalf of all of us."
"I am Catherine Asmodeus and he is Nova." she makes some weird hand signals and the earth king returns them, I can't help but feel like I missed something but then I remember there are ancient greetings for powerhouses.
"Thank you, Catherine and Nova, consider yourself eternal friends of the earth elementals for your assistance. I can't help but ask if you have that soul under control in that artifact though."
"Yea he will be disposed of and never heard from again." Earth king nods and reaches for his chest as he pulls out two lights and they fly into us.
[ blessing of the earth king gained! ]
"Again, thank you for your help it is appreciated." I nod as I observe him with all-seeing eyes and notice the light and dark lock that was on Glorfindel Beelzebub is inside of the earth king. in canon this was crystalized and then given to Shea for a powerup and mutation. she is currently on the very edge of breaking into overlord and is already getting the hand of territory, with this, she should break into overlord.
"Earth king, do you need help with the light and dark lock that seems to have been left inside of you?" his Stoney eyes widen a bit as the elementals that are bowing around him look up at him concerned.
"Very special senses you have there, I was masking it so my people would not worry. I can remove it, the skill with which the mask was removed allowed me to hold onto the power that was mine that Glorfindel had some hold on. I only need a few days to slowly destroy it from my system, thank you for your concern though." I wasn't too concerned, to be honest, I was fishing for benefits.
"To be honest with you it is the power of Lord of Midnight Sun and I am friends with a few of his descendants. if it's possible could you allow them to attempt to absorb it, they might be accepted by their family artifact if they can integrate some of his power." he leans back on his throne and closes his eyes.
"I can work it out and try to keep it intact if that would be of help." I agree and he stands up from his throne. "ok, come and see me when you have the time, I will have it done soon but it will take longer than just destroying it. I need to check the state of the earth realm and repair some damages."
"We will be getting out of your way then." I teleport us back to the medusa tribe.
---------
"So you're going to have the Tauren's forge weapons using some of the ore being mined in the mines above this place?"
"Yea, with their king being reincarnated and given double devil fruits he managed to get to peak demon emperor so they are pretty excited to work for me. I plan on reincarnating a few into bishops and training them into enchanting, there among the best forgers according to the books I looked at a while back. the downside is that they have no magic power so I plan to help them with that and let them learn enchanting to improve their craft."
"Smart, what about the Medusas? they were much tamer when you came back and after you reincarnated their leader they seemed to be completely obedient."
"I am going to look into making some ranged weapons for them, I have a few ideas but their accuracy is among the best in the demon world and it would do good for a ranged unit build I am designing." I briefly remember the medusas at white spirit estate but they are above a hidden lost empire and I will need some time if I plan to invest in that project.
"Build? what like a training program or something of that nature?"
"Sorta, they will be trained with the weapons but a build is like a set of gear that gives benefits, it will be expensive to outfit them all but after the investment, it will be worth it to have them able to rain bullet hell down." she hums as she looks at the mask on my face, I am currently trying out all the effects minus a few. to top it off this mask makes me immune to soul control of any kind up to peak false god, which is one rank below true god. that means I can't have my soul influenced by anyone in this setting unless the sleeping true gods wake up in that space world.
"I look forward to what you can cook up, is there anything else you want to do here?" I shake my head and she opens a teleporting circle.
----------
Looking around I recognize her garden we just saw not too long ago and send the mask to the temple.
"You doing anything now that we got that done?" I ask as she continues to study her magic circle.
"I don't have anywhere to be today. why, do you want to do something?" I wrap an arm around her shoulder causing her circle to dissipate.
"Let's go explore your capital!" I enthusiastically lead on as she shakes her head with a smile on her face.
"Alright but let me get changed first so I don't get recognized, it will ruin the fun if we attract a crowd. it won't take me long to put on my disguise."