The transaction went by smoothly and three of them quickly gathered information of four other small towns. There were about twenty to forty antimage apprentices in each city, and none of the cities had a qualified antimage.
Adam paid 20 points and the three gladly accepted the points. The three of them originally participated in the trial with this idea.
Once the transaction was complete, Adam bid them farewell and flew directly to the nearest city.
The devil reminded Adam that antimages couldn't be this stupid, and that they plan to let the apprentices waste all of their magic on the little towns before pouncing on them.
Adam spent a total of two days razing the four cities to the ground, garnering a total of 200 points. However, because of his frequent use of powerful, town-scaping magic, his mana regeneration could no longer keep up, and he had no choice but to raze only two cities per day.
"Sure enough, the antimages have made a mode. I don't know if they are going to defend or attack, though," Adam muttered to himself.
Adam hovered over the fourth city he destroyed -- he was almost too late, as the leader of the city was already preparing to flee. When Adam came, the leader of the city desperately sacrificed the entire town to summon a monster to stop him, but once again, the monster was subdued by Adam.
The devil had a strange habit after Adam was done smiting an entire city. They enjoyed rummaging through the ruins of the cities for spoils despite never finding anything.
"Master, haven't you heard?"
"No."
"In many stories, whenever the protagonist defeats an enemy, they will gain rewards in the form of treasure! You might even be able to promote!"
"You idiot. If this was true, I would've destroyed the loot alongside the antimage apprentices with my lightning. Besides..."
"...aren't you on the verge of promoting yourself?" Adam asked.
"Of course! As long as you promote, I'll promote too!" the devil replied gleefully.
Adam continued staring at the devil, and the devil felt their breath hitch in their throat, feeling very uncomfortable.
They soon flew aimlessly for an entire day, hovering over two towns that have already been razed to the ground. Apparently, the antimages have started to counterattack and deployed their own forces. Adam decided to split with the devil, hoping to confront an antimage for more points.
Another day passed, and at midnight, Adam could hear a voice transmission from the devil, "Master! There's people here... it seems like they are preparing to abandon the town to flee!"
"Stay there," Adam ordered, emitting a strong magnetic field from his body. The space around his body began to distort violently before engulfing him, and Adam appeared right beside the devil.
His teleportation method was still somewhat clumsy. He thought about buying knowledge to gain access to the fundamentals behind teleportation, but found that he needed explicit permission, so he gave up.
"Master, this is big -- this seems to be a big city. Look! There are nearly sixty antimage apprentices underground."
The Aum family was getting hasty -- antimage apprentices flew at low altitudes, killing any stray mortals they countered and storing their flesh and soul in magical containers. Upon sensing Adam's presence, they fled to the centre of the city.
The devil waited contentedly for Adam's orders, but found that their master was just staring at them, "Master? Are you okay?"
"This time... you'll attack. I've used up too much mana, so I need some time to recover using meditation."
"Me?"
Adam conjured an electric whip and flayed it around playfully, "Are you planning to leech off of me until the end of time?"
"N-no! Are you insulting my capabilities as the devil?! I don't participate in ruthless killings, I need contracts! I'm ele-"
Before the devil could finish speaking, Adam had already kicked their amorphous form down towards the city before conjuring a bolt of lightning in the air.
"Watch out! Is... is that a devil? Such strong negative energy..."
"Nonsense! Look! There's electricity! This must be the familiar of the blasphemer!"
The antimage apprentices shot out two negative energy orbs, but the devil simply absorbed it, "Do you want to sign a contract? Don't you want... power?"
They had no intention of replying to the devil and shouted, "Use your elemental magic!"
As soon as the order fell, overwhelming elemental magic showered upon the devil. The devil ducked and dodged through the rain of elements, but still did not fight back.
After a holy pillar of light showered upon the devil, the devil growled loudly, their voice booming through the air, "I don't like to fight... I hate being ugly -- but you forced my hand!"
The devil's body began to mutate, and their chaotic form grew rapidly. Large pieces of dark purple flesh and blood appeared on their large body, and tentacles sprouted out violently -- a second head popped out of their ugly neck as well.
The negative aura spread across the city like a wave, and a large number of mortals fleeing began to commit suicide as their souls were consumed by the devil.
"Die!"
With a deafening roar, the devil's other mouth spewed out a purple torrent, and their tentacles shot out various magics one by one.
"It's a monster!"
"Run!"
Adam sat cross-legged in the sky, holding his chin as he witnessed the scene below. He already felt like the devil was hiding something from him, but was pleasantly surprised anyways.
"Have they always had this ability?"
