Chapter 184 - Lightning Strikes Twice

"Shit, shit!!" a woman cursed aggressively.

The woman, whose skin was as white as snow, was Julia Vilkova—an apostle who served the Masters of Evil and an executive member of the Demon Cult.

Her beautiful face crumpled into a scowl as she bit her lip.

'He got me.'

She'd prepared a group of politicians to disband Guardians. Yet, those relationships that she'd spent years building had been taken from her in an instant. It was so pathetic that it was not even funny.

"Shit!"

Julia had fallen for a trivial and pathetic scheme. It had been totally unexpected; that man actually gave them a poisoned bottle of wine and manipulated them with an antidote… It was a strategy that a villain in a martial arts novel would use.

'The problem is…'

She clenched her hand into a fist.

It didn't matter if it was an old-fashioned or cliche strategy.

'It's effective.'

That man had threatened them with death… He gave them the fear that they might die after suffering immense pain if they didn't take an antidote within a week.

She didn't think the corrupt politicians she'd chosen would have the mental fortitude to overcome such fear. They would do anything as long as it meant that they could get the antidote.

"Fuuu."

Julia sighed deeply and narrowed her eyes.

'I'll have to create an antidote first.'

For her to be able to continue using the corrupt politicians who had become slaves of Guardians, she would have to create an antidote first.

"And…"

She touched her stomach.

As for the most important reason why she had to create an antidote…

'I drank it as well.'

Julia wasn't sure if the poison the man had used would affect her too. Since accepting demonic energy, her body had become closer to that of a demon rather than a human.

'But still, I can't just do nothing.'

Even if she had the body of a demon, that didn't mean she had become immune to poison.

'I have to go to Tibet.'

The Tibet branch was one of the top five branches of the Demon Cult.

'I'll have to develop an antidote there.'

At the same time, she had to get rid of the poison that was left in her body.

"Fuuu."

She took a deep breath. Her boiling emotions calmed down, and her gaze sank.

"Oh Kang-Woo, huh?"

Oh Kang-Woo was a twisted man who wasn't a good fit for Guardians at all. Julia remembered the way he had looked at her. It gave her the chills.

'He's definitely hiding something.'

With an anxious expression, she walked out of the White House and went to the airport where the private jet that she'd used to get there had already been prepared for her next flight.

'I have to go there for matters regarding the Master of Fire anyway.'

Julia boarded the jet, and it took off toward Tibet. She clenched her hands, which were trembling from an unfamiliar sense of anxiety.

* * *

A little earlier in the White House, where the summit was taking place…

Kang-Woo went out to the balcony for some fresh air, and a woman approached him from behind.

"Is it okay that we let her go?" she asked.

The woman had a pure and elegant appearance, but her sensual expressions and movements could not be concealed.

Kang-Woo stretched as he answered Kurosaki Yurie—no, Lilith, "It's okay. I let her go on purpose."

He watched Julia's limousine disappear into the horizon.

Then he turned and entered a room. It was the private room that the American government had prepared for him. The luxurious pieces of furniture made it resemble a palace.

Kang-Woo sat down in a chair made of high-quality leather. Lilith approached and sat down on the armrest, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"How long have you known that she was a Demon Cultist?" she asked.

"From the moment I met her."

"Hmm. But you didn't feel demonic energy from her, did you? I wasn't able to feel it when I checked every single human that attended the banquet."

Lilith extended her left arm. which transformed into a sticky tentacle. The tentacle extended, grabbed a cup of coffee that was out of her hand's reach, and gave it to Kang-Woo.

"The Demon Cultists are capable of hiding their demonic energy inside their heart. Even I can't tell them apart just by looking at them."

"Then, my king, how did you—"

"I told you not to call me that."

"Ah, hohoho. My apologies. How did you find out, Master Kang-Woo?"

Kang-Woo took a sip of coffee and answered, "By scent."

"Scent?"

"She used a scent that forcibly incites your desires."

It was similar to the sensation a human felt when they first accepted demonic energy in their body and transformed into a demon. Although it had been a long time since that had happened to Kang-Woo, he couldn't forget it.

As for why he could remember it so vividly…

'I'm still holding it back.'

The desire for blood and destruction, the nightmarish thirst of the constant need to fulfill one's desires—he was still restraining all of the impulses that he'd gotten with his demon body. He had never stopped holding them back for even a single moment.

"The only ones on Earth who can create the desires of a demon so perfectly are the Demon Cult."

Considering that the Demon Cult had spread worldwide, Kang-Woo had thought of the possibility that they might have already spread their influence internationally to politicians. That was why he wasn't at all bewildered about the Demon Cult taking part in the summit.

'It's actually a good opportunity.'

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that meeting a Demon Cultist at the summit was like winning the lottery.

Kang-Woo looked at the hand he'd used to exchange a handshake with Julia. A drop of black blood dripped from his right index finger.

He was about to take a tissue and clean it when…

"Ah, let me clean that for you."

Lilith grabbed Kang-Woo's hand, licking her lips as if she were a predator aiming for its prey. She licked the blood, and the black drops of blood mixed with Lilith's saliva and disappeared into her mouth.

A tickling sensation stimulated Kang-Woo's finger.

"...Aren't you going to ask me why I'm bleeding?"

"Fufu. I can more or less guess why."

Kang-Woo smirked at Lilith's calm answer. It was nice that Lilith caught on to things like this very quickly.

'If it were Balrog, he would've made a fuss out of it.'

He thought of Balrog, whom he didn't dare bring with him to the USA.

"Right. How should I manage the humans that have ingested the poison?" Lilith asked.

"Oh, you don't need to do that."

"You don't need to look over them?" Lilith tilted her head. Then she uttered in understanding, "Ah. I see. Fufufu. Yes, I guess not."

A wide smile appeared on Lilith's face. She extended her hand and stroked Kang-Woo's cheek.

"That human Julia is quite stupid. There is no way something like a beauty trap would work on you, my lord De— I mean, Master Kang-Woo."

"Hmm?"

That wasn't true. After all, when the beautiful women that Julia had prepared tried to seduce him, he had barely been able to hold on to his reason.

Eighteen eyes suddenly appeared on Lilith's face, and the hand that was touching his cheek turned into horrendous green tentacles.

"After all, your body can no longer be satisfied by anyone else but me."

'No.'

"You act as if you don't like it, but your body is honest."

'I fucking said no.'

Kang-Woo pushed Lilith away softly. Disappointed, Lilith stepped back.

"Now that we have gained the cooperation of each country, we should make our preparations," Kang-Woo said as he stood up from the chair.

"Of course." Lilith lifted the hem of the dress and elegantly bent her waist. "May your will be done, my king."

* * *

In the mountains of Tibet, there was a giant Demon Cult branch that the Demon Cult had built inside an entire mountain. It was a branch that thousands of Demon Cultists lived in. The interior was made of such modern facilities that it was hard to believe that a practically pseudo-religious cult resided in it.

Among the countless rooms that were spread out like an ant nest, there was a room that this Demon Cult branch treated as an emergency treatment room. Inside it was an old priest in a black robe standing next to an operating table, on which a woman lay.

The priest slowly opened his mouth and stated, "...There is nothing."

"What?" Julia, the woman lying on the operating table, asked in disbelief while frowning.

The old priest explained, "There are no signs of poison. We've analyzed your body with black magic, regular magic, and even with cutting-edge medical technology, but there are no abnormalities whatsoever with your body, Madam Julia."

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"...What?" Julia felt as if she'd been hit in the back of the head. "There's no poison?"

"I also considered the possibility of it being a parasite, so I checked for that as well, but… that was not it either."

"…"

Silence fell over the room. Her mind became foggy, and an inexplicable sense of uneasiness spread through her body.

"W-Wait," she said with a shaking voice.

Memories of the alcohol that Kang-Woo had given her and everything that had happened afterward passed through her mind.

"No way," she muttered.

Kang-Woo had said that he had put poison in the wine and that everyone would die in one week if they didn't receive the antidote.

Moreover, as proof…

"Proof…"

Emmanuel Amon—he'd screamed while struggling in pain. However, he had been the only one.

Furthermore, Emmanuel wasn't even a Player; he was a normal human being. Ordinary humans were so weak that a high-level Player could cause them to have a seizure just by applying pressure on them with mana.

Aside from that demonstration with Emmanuel, there was no proof that Kang-Woo had put poison in the wine.

"But… why?" Julia murmured uneasily.

She became even more confused.

Moreover, the lie about the poison wasn't the only thing she couldn't understand. Julia had believed Kang-Woo far too easily. Why had she trusted his words without any suspicion?

She replayed the events of that night in her mind.

'I don't know.'

However, she still couldn't figure out why.

Had it been because of his overly confident attitude or his eyes, which were full of certainty? Perhaps it was the cliché of putting poison in wine?

She thought of many possibilities but couldn't find an answer.

Julia frowned and raised her right hand to place on her forehead.

"...Huh?"

At that moment, she noticed something on her hand.

It was a black liquid.

"What's this?"

She frowned and took a closer look at the black liquid.

Sniff.

She sniffed it. It smelled a bit metallic.

"Blood…?"

Julia tilted her head confusedly.

* * *

"Prepare… for war?" Gaia asked with a bewildered expression after hearing Kang-Woo's words.

Kang-Woo nodded. "Yes. Now that we've been promised support from all countries, it's about time we prepare to engage in war against the Demon Cult."

"B-But…!" Gaia made a flustered expression. "We… still don't know where they are."

"I've found one," Kang-Woo said with a smile. "The Chinese branch is located in the mountainous area of Tibet."