Devotion

[*3rd person POV*]

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In the middle of a dimly lit cave, a woman could be seen on her knees with a helpless and despair-filled expression as she looked up at the five skeletons that surrounded her.

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She had just witnessed them kill her party members and they were now standing in front of her while the corpses of her teammates were on the floor.

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Even in such a condition she didn't beg or cry, It was as if reality wasn't being processed by her brain as she looked up without moving her body. Waiting for everything to end.

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She had completely given up on life, Fortunately for her it wasn't her time to die yet as the sounds of heavy footsteps caught everyone's attention.

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*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

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As the steps kept getting closer Tulip just smiled as her mental stability had gone to shambles and she couldn't even react properly anymore.

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The skeletons immediately kneeled in the direction of the footsteps to show their respect for their master. From the shadows finally emerged the monster that was responsible for everything. The one who was pulling the strings the entire time.

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[*Tulip POV*]

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It was as if reality finally set in as I laid my eyes on the towering monster that appeared from the shadows, It was a giant beast that had an overwhelming aura that made it difficult for me to even breathe. 

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"hehe" I couldn't help myself as I started to laugh at the terrifying situation, We never had a chance to begin with. We couldn't ever win. The moment we stepped into this dungeon we were guaranteed to lose.

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Even while I laughed the tears in my eyes continued to fall, My emotions were in a turmoil and All of the regrets of my life started to come out together all at once. 'I DON'T WANT TO DIE!' was all I could think as I completely broke down right there in front of my own death.

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[*Mc POV*]

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Looking down at the distressed woman, I couldn't help but smirk. This was exactly what I wanted, I purposely chose to let her be the last one alive after all she was the one that has contributed the most towards the death of her party members.

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Her own carelessness and childish behavior had cost the lives of each and every one of her close friends.

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'What better way to break a mind than to overwhelm them with guilt' I thought to myself as my eyes shone with an evil red glint. It was finally time to move on to the next stage of the plan.

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[*3rd person POV*]

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Tulip could only watch as the giant monster approached her, His steps were painfully slow yet she was helpless as her body refused to do anything under his presence. At one point instead of looking at him with Hate, she started to look at him as the savior who would end her suffering.

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[Slave Mark]

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His hands shone with a bright pink light as she was caught up in a trace just by looking at the light, At that instant it was as if she had forgotten everything about what had just taken place.

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Her eyes changed from hate to worship as she saw him moving closer, He looked like a merciful God that was here to save her from all of the misery of this cruel world.

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"You have suffered enough" He whispered into her ear with a soothing voice taking advantage of her mental turmoil, She was being brainwashed without even realizing it.

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The more she was being brainwashed the more control he gained over her, He held her hand and the pink mana started to flow into her body increasing the corruption even more.

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He started to make all of the bad memories of her past, Where she was discriminated against for being poor, where she resented the nobles for having everything.

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Where she started to hate humans.

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He merely planted a small seed of doubt and her mental state and the overwhelming guilt transformed that small seed into a much larger parasite.

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No one likes to take the blame, Baphomet just gave her something to blame everything on and she immediately followed and blamed everything on humans. She blamed everything on the kingdom's discrimination.

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"Serve me, I will take revenge for your fallen teammates" He said with his soothing voice and that was all she needed, In her weakened state she needed someone to follow and just like a hungry person being offered food she immediately accepted.

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"Yes, My liege" She whispered and bowed her head in front of him just like the skeleton and unbeknownst to her a mark was imprinted on her soul itself.

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She had just made a deal with the devil, At the cost of her soul.

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Baphomet just smirked as he watched her bow her head with respect, There was not a hint of doubt in her mind anymore. Her eyes were filled with loyalty and devotion. She was completely at his mercy.

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"Good choice" He stated and turned his hands towards the skeletons who immediately understood their orders and they lifted the corpses and took them towards the rotating dungeon core.

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Meanwhile, he looked back to his new slave who was still on one knee waiting for her order.

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"You need to leave this dungeon and go back to the guild and inform them that the dungeon has been cleared, Except all of the party members died during the attack" He ordered her.

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Although she didn't understand the reason, she was in no place to question her master. Without a doubt, she immediately got up to her feet and walked out of the dungeon.

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'This way the higher-ups won't be suspicious about their sudden disappearance and it will also prevent any attacks from higher-ranked adventurers' He thought to himself as he returned back to his throne and sat down.

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[* D-rank adventurer sacrificed: gained 10 dungeon points *]

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[* D-rank adventurer sacrificed: gained 10 dungeon points *]

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Four blue panels appeared in front of his eyes and he looked at them with satisfaction, Now he had 40 dungeon points which he could use to make even more monsters while he also had the equipment from the adventurers.

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"It looks like my army is going to grow" He said to himself with a smirk while checking out the store again, But then he noticed another unique panel.

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[* Would the host like to extract the memories and spells of these adventurers? *]

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"What?" He asked with surprise, This was quite overpowered. Extracting their memories is already quite useful but their skills too? There had to be some kind of drawbacks to this.

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It seemed too good to be true, "What are the drawbacks?" He asked bluntly with a calculative gaze.

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[* The memories can only be directly transferred to another creature and there is a high chance that the mind of the creature will explode due to an overload of information *]

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"That's it?" He asked himself surprised by the new information, This could easily be overcome by transferring the memories into a mindless organism like the skeleton which doesn't have any memories to begin with.

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In other words, he could pretty much revive the being by transferring its memories into a skeleton... That's way too overpowered not that he was complaining.

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"What about the skills?" He asked curious about the most important part.

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[* The skills will be extracted in the form of a book and in order to learn them you will need to put the same amount of efforts into them *]

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"Hehehehehe" He started to laugh like a psychopath as he realized just how terrifying his abilities were, With this he could easily conquer the world as long as he remained cautious and didn't commit the same mistake as last time.

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In his last life, he may have dropped his guard down and easily trusted everyone, But in this one, he would make sure to keep his guard up and no matter how powerful he became he would still remain grounded.

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He stood up and walked towards the core with a smirk, "Transfer the memories into the skeletons" He commanded and with a single order the core started to release energy which enveloped four of the skeletons.

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[* Estimated time for the transfer: 8 hours *]

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Looking at the new notification he smiled with satisfaction while moving on to his next command, "extract the skills too" He said which made the core rotate harder.

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[* Estimated time for extraction: 4 hours *]

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And just like that he returned to his throne and waited.

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Meanwhile, outside the dungeon, Tulip traveled towards the adventure guild with a heartbroken expression. She needed to make it look real after all.

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In truth she was just thinking about when she would be able to be in the presence of her liege again, 'If I do well, He will praise me~' She thought to herself while she continued on her journey.

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Unbeknownst to the nobles who were enjoying their lives, The corruption of the town had begun...