Saying it was easy, but actually putting it into action was much more difficult.
Damien had received an in-depth explanation on the inner workings and layout of the demon city Acier from Demon King Lucius, but this information wasn’t enough to guarantee his success.
There were many factors blocking his path forward.
The main one, and the factor that was the most out of his control, was the massive restriction on his teleportation ability.
If he was as he was in the outside world, it would’ve been a simple matter to teleport into the Demon King’s Castle, grab the Demon King, and teleport out, entering the Sanctuary before anyone could regain their senses.
Honestly, thinking about how easy the mission would’ve been in such a scenario made Damien’s head hurt, so he decided to stop thinking about it altogether. What mattered was that such ease was impossible.
As he continued to use teleportation for movement within the Trial World, he had begun to slowly comprehend the restricted space around him, making it easier to move.
But as it was a restriction stemming from the comprehension of a true Demigod, even with Damien’s understanding he wasn’t able to increase the distance he could freely move by much.
But, he had managed to increase from his original one-meter teleportation to around three meters, which wasn’t too bad.
Whether this change would actually help him at all in the coming operation was yet to be known.
In Damien’s opinion, infiltrating was the easiest part. With the societal structure of the Trial World, the Demon race was incredibly arrogant, thinking that no human would dare enter their territory.
As such, even if Damien walked through the streets with his head held high, he didn’t think anyone would question it.
That is, as long as he possessed the aura of a Demon, which he could easily replicate by slightly stimulating his new Demonic Bloodline.
From what the Demon King Lucius had said, it seemed news of the concurrent losses of the Demon forces in recent days was also suppressed, most likely due to the Apostles’ pride.
There was no way they’d allow the lower Demons, who viewed them as gods amongst men, to understand that they had suffered multiple crushing defeats to outside forces. It was a heavy loss of face that they couldn’t endure.
This only served to make infiltration easier.
And Damien didn’t take much time to decide to act on his assumptions.
Since the Apostles had seen him through the record crystal planted on the Demon Generals he had fought before the battle with the Commanders’ army, he first took the chance to change his form.
Due to his newfound familiarity with his bloodlines, Damien had much better control over how he facilitated them. He was now able to take specific parts of his bloodline abilities and use them at will instead of being forced to draw out all their power at once.
For instance, he could now call out his wings alone and use them for simple movement purposes without having to call forth his full Dragon Transformation.
It was a development that made the utility of his bloodlines much more effective, so they didn’t only work as improved combat forms.
So, when Damien exited the Sanctuary, he looked like a completely different person.
His height remained the same, but he now had long flowing white hair and pale snow-like skin. His most defining feature was his eyes, but even they had changed. His sclera were entirely black from his Demonic Bloodline, while his pupils were now vertical slits.
Although he still appeared incredibly unique, it was hard to draw a connection between his current self and the Damien people had seen before unless they were aware of his bloodline abilities.
‘Good. Due to the fact that I’m only merging the appearances from both bloodlines instead of their power, there’s no consumption of vitality and stamina. If I really wanted to, I could stay in this appearance indefinitely.’
Damien smiled wryly at the thought. He could clearly imagine the scene of Rose beating his ass and forcing him to change back to normal even if he did make such a decision.
‘It’s time to move.’
Damien was still closest to Darknorth, while demon city Acier was close to Astoria. The travel time alone would take many hours.
Two pitch-black wings appeared from Damien’s back the second he had this thought. With a single flap, he had already moved hundreds of meters.
Like this, the many hours of travel were largely cut down. It didn’t take long for Damien to reach the vicinity of the mountain where Acier was located.
Withdrawing his wings, Damien calmly walked to the mountain and circled it until he found a relatively hidden walkway. This was the true entrance to the city that only demons were aware of.
And as he expected, he didn’t meet any resistance. The demons patrolling the path simply cast him odd or envious looks as he brushed past them, but sensing his aura, they didn’t dare get close.
“Who is this gigolo?”
“I’ve never seen a bastard like him before.”
“Shh! Don’t talk too loud. Didn’t you sense his aura? He has to at least be a General!”
“Brother, I owe you my life! From this moment on, I will never betray you!”
“So you would’ve betrayed me earlier?!”
“Hehe!”
Damien smiled at their hushed conversations as he observed the scenery around him. While the mountain did indeed have a gloomy and cold aura, the actual environment was nice.
There was beautiful foliage lining the mountain path that climbed towards the city, showing unique plants and flowers that were suited to growing in these gloomy conditions.
Even when he entered Acier, he retained his surprise. Unlike the demon city he was imagining on his way here, the actual thing wasn’t anything special.
‘This place is just a regular city, except the residents are demons…’
Damien suddenly remembered how even in the 3000 Beast Mountain Range, the beasts had formed clans and alliances, building cities and living relatively proper lives.
Unless they were on the ground level or they hadn’t yet developed their sentience, most of the beasts actually preferred a neater lifestyle.
If so, why couldn’t demons be the same?
Up to this point, Damien had only met their commanding officers and their army. Those were the Demons who had been totally indoctrinated and corrupted by their power and ideologies.
But these regular demons? They were no different than the human mortals who lived in the cities down below. They lived their lives like normal people, mostly unaware of the overall situation.
‘I’ve been too biased against them because of their connection with the Nox.’
The entire Demon race had been forcefully corrupted 10,000 years ago, and their descendants were born into this corruption. They worshipped the Nox as the Demon God without even the slightest knowledge of the truth.
Could they be blamed for this? Damien suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Ignorance was a sin. He knew that, but did that mean he could calmly call for the execution of innocents because of their unwitting association?
He wasn’t a good man, but he wouldn’t go out of his way to do evil either.
He didn’t need to concern himself with these commonfolk. His job was to wipe clean the Captains, Generals, Commanders, and Kings among them. As for what happened to the rest of them; that wasn’t his problem.
Sighing lightly, he continued his leisurely stroll down the street, his sight set on the mountain peak where the Demon King Castles stood.
