(Some Minutes Ago)
A group of people covered by black cloaks ran across the Crystal Caves mounting corrupted monsters which they had taken over with Miasma. The group of cloaked people reached up to twenty, and they were all overflowing with great amounts of Magic and Miasma, which they had acquired the power to conjure through Magic thanks to the Contract they had created with the Demon King of Miasma.
Their leader, the one with the strongest Magic Power within all of them led the group, running across the caverns while mounting a large Drakon King, an evolution of the Drakon with even greater strength, size, and speed.
"We are almost there… We are getting closer. These damn caverns are filled with so many monsters. I can't drain all my Magic dealing with them so we've had to take so many goddamn turns!" Sighed Jeremias internally, gritting his teeth. "If it wasn't for that damn lowly creature that resulted to be a Player, I wouldn't had delayed my plans so much… I was foolish to think I could deal with Players normally."
It has been some time since he left Lily fighting his Drakon, and also since he felt the Drakon getting all killed by a mysterious new group of allies helping Lily. Whoever these people helping her were, they were strong enough to deal with the powerful Drakon which were infected with Miasma, which usually made monsters twice as strong as they originally are.
"Whoever those guys are, I cannot let them catch to me while we have yet to even reach the Roots and then begin the Ritual…" Jeremias thought, his blue hair waved around as he felt a slight amount of wind flow from the crevices of the caverns connecting to the surface. "Wind Reading."
F L A S H!
Suddenly, he used a bit of his Magic Power, conjuring Wind Reading, a basic Spell learned by most magicians which composed the series of "Daily Life Magic Spells" Skill Book, which most people learn to do their daily lives.
With that, he suddenly was able to scan the wind coming from the surface which traveled all the way where he came from as well. enhancing it with his large quantities of Magic Power and various new Skills granted to him by harboring Miasma within his body, he suddenly noticed they were coming for him…
"I can detect them, they're coming already?! It might take them just a few minutes to catch up to us! Just how fast are they?!" Jeremias muttered in fury.
All his life he had lived as someone that was below others. Even as an apprentice of an incredible Wizard regarded as a Sage of Humanity, he was always seen as someone below, someone incompetent, and that his ideas were beyond what Magic was taught for. He still remembers bitterly how much his Master told him, time and time again that meddling with Dark Magic and Miasma itself was an incredibly dangerous thing.
Yet here he was, with incredible powers and having done a pact with the Demon King himself, becoming a Warlock no less. Something his master could had never imagined the "incompetent" fool of Jeremias would ever become. Unlike his old master who sought to protect the world that resurfaced after the Fragmentation and the Rehashing, Jeremias joined the Cult of Miasma, a Cult made to make history change as a whole.
Those that didn't wanted the same to happen to this world became tempted to make a change themselves. The Demon King of Miasma himself, who knew that in the future, the same things would repeat themselves if he was slain, decided to move his own shadow strings and create a Cult within the humans to control them. Jeremias joined believing in his ideals of "changing the world" for the better, despite the sacrifices being too severe for any coward to agree with them.
"This is my mission, the mission that old man has never dared to do! I was made for this… I must continue doing as our Master says, he knows better about how this world can be saved than those foolish old nobles and that stupid wizard's guild!" Jeremias gritted his teeth in anger. "If sacrifices are necessary, so be it!" Jeremias quickly stopped marching forward and ordered all his group to stop.
"Our enemies are coming closer. The ones that want this world to stagnate and go back to the destruction we all suffered in the future. They don't understand that the Demon King of Miasma is only doing these things because he wants to preserve the world, not destroy it! For these foolish souls, we must sacrifice our lives for the greater good! Everyone, lend me your strength, and your lives!"
The nineteen other Cult Members felt inspired by Jeremias words, since they were children that they had dreamed of being heroes, but were neglected by society for trying to find new ways to improve magic, and try to find some sort of solution to the issues of the past.
"You're right, Jeremias!"
"Jeremias, tell us what to do…"
"We have made up our minds, for the greater good… We'll give up our lives."
"You need to live and do the Ritual as soon as possible, we cannot allow this forest to exist any longer, it is a big enemy of our Master."
Jeremias smiled as his eyes shone bright red, his manipulative words of inspiration quickly made even these people throw away their lives.
"We are against Players, beings that can revive endlessly. However, they can still be defeated. Half of you, stay here and fight till the bitter end, buy us as much time as you possibly can, do anything you can to stop them!" Jeremias said. "Throw away your lives for our master's plans! For the future of our world as a whole!"
The Cultists obeyed Jeremias, as they prepared to confront the incoming enemies… their faces looked to be completely filled with utter fanatism.
