271 Dekan began researching the next opponent.
Karlst glared furiously at Dekan, who was letting loose in the Demon King’s tomb, where no gravestones remained.
Even without asking anything,
Karlst understood.
He had been scammed.
The little succubus hadn’t been possessed at all!
Everything that happened before was just her acting!
And,
Dekan hadn’t told a single direct lie.
All the information and instructions were merely hints to Karlst.
Dekan had let Karlst piece things together on his own.
So Dekan hadn’t violated the rule of not lying, hence raising no suspicion from Karlst.
“For…why…”
Karlst’s lips quivered. He felt more confused than resentful.
He couldn’t figure out.
Why could this little succubus gain the Demon King’s approval!
It was as if the Demon King had imprinted their soul onto her!
And this Demon King was not one she acquired in the Demon King’s tomb.
It had existed within her since the start!
She was certainly not the Demon King from this tomb.
Her emblem was different from any other Demon King!
But she was undoubtedly a real Demon King!
Karlst’s complexion paled instantly.
If he had already fallen entirely into the little succubus’s trap.
Then now,
the Demon King’s gravestones had been severed.
And the little succubus possessed the only Demon King in the Demon King’s tomb who retained will.
She must have successfully acquired full control over the Demon King’s power.
“Ha ha.”
With Dekan’s light laugh, she gently raised her palm. The faint Demon King’s mark appeared, like an emblem floating in the air. Instantly, all the Demon King’s power on the eighth floor seemed to have become Dekan’s possession.
Dekan and the master were now the rulers of this floor.
Under Dekan’s control, the Demon King’s power, which previously sealed their comrades, now climbed up Karlst’s body, ready to seal him.
Karlst did not struggle.
Because he knew he was no longer a match for Dekan.
Sometimes, that’s how things go.
He did everything he could for the matters he needed to attend to.
And what he could not accomplish despite his best efforts, he could only let it be.
Even if he could resist for a period relying on his power,
what would be the use of suffering anyway?
He accepted his fate.
Just as Karlst was about to be sealed, Dekan suddenly stopped.
He looked at Karlst’s reaction with interest, then waved and dispersed the Demon King’s power.
“?”
Karlst looked at Dekan in confusion.
“Karlst, do you want to be an enlightened ghost or a confused one?”
Dekan looked at Karlst teasingly and asked.
He was like a brutal monarch mercilessly announcing the execution of his subject.
But, he was willing to give Karlst a chance before his death.
After all, the dying demon might also agree to pay a price for an answer.
Particularly someone like Karlst with no real sense of vengeance.
There was no strong resentment against the enemy from him.
He was likely not to refuse this deal out of anger, dissatisfaction, or pride.
“I want to know what you truly are.”
Karlst answered as Dekan anticipated.
“The value of this answer isn’t low. You’ll need to honestly answer my questions for me to let you hear the answer before you die.”
Dekan’s allure-imbued voice sounded like an ancient deity’s whisper resonating around Karlst’s ears.
“What would you like to know from me?”
After a brief internal struggle, Karlst eventually chose to yield.
For Karlst,
his death was already certain.
Since the moment he fought against this Demon King, he had no possible way out.
He did not have the sufficient cost to buy his life from Dekan.
Either way, he was going to die, so it might as well be a clear death, a profitable one.
Dekan: “Do you have any information on the Warden?”
Karlst: “No, I’ve long been stationed here, almost completely isolated from the other floors.”
Dekan nodded.
It was normal for the Wardens of the 2nd, 5th, and 8th floors, which were zones of exile, to lack intelligence.
Karlst was not alarmed by being unable to answer the question.
Because Dekan did not seem disappointed from his expression.
It seemed the intelligence Dekan wanted to ask for was supposed to be something else.
Soon, Dekan’s expression became much more serious.
He even cut the live stream.
He stared at Karlst intently.
It looked as if he was about to ask something truly crucial.
This even made Karlst nervous.
What could remain on me that could be such important intelligence for a Demon King?
Could it be a forbidden history of the Demon Realm related to the Demon King? Or intelligence that could turn the tide of the Holy War?
Karlst could not help but ponder.
However, the next second,
Dekan pulled out a small notebook bought from the third floor and started writing down while asking,
“Please begin your self-introduction.”
Dekan gave an absurd instruction that made Karlst feel incredulous.
“Ah?”
Karlst suspected that he had misheard.
Dekan explained:
“Talk about key experiences in your life that made an impression, all the magic you have mastered, your personality traits, your hobbies, etc…”
Karlst: “???”
Are you taking a confession here or trying to set me up?
Karlst was baffled by Dekan.
“Don’t want to? Then I’ll send you off right now.”
Dekan, somewhat impatiently, put down the pen and asked.
“Are you sure just supplying this information is enough?”
Karlst still doubted.
“Hmm, tell me these, and I’ll tell you the answer and give you a swift death.”
“I am Karlst, the Warden who has guarded the tomb for two hundred years, I like…”
Karlst no longer cared what was asked of him.
Afterwards,
At Dekan’s request, Karlst truthfully provided additional information.
The entire questioning lasted tens of minutes, after which Dekan fully understood Karlst’s situation.
“Good.”
Dekan was satisfied and put away the notebook.
Speaking of the most significant gain in this Shadow World,
It must undoubtedly be this intelligence.
Because Dekan discovered,
It seemed the demons in this Shadow World all had counterparts in the real world.
Whether their personalities, abilities, or characteristics were quite similar in some aspects.
Even their experiences had a fated resemblance.
Like the Rotten Bishop Fahim and the Forbidden Fahim, the Warden of the sixth floor.
They were similar whether in ability, style, or outcomes—”Being deceived by Dekan, being ‘single-handedly challenged’, being betrayed by the team, being beaten up, almost dead, being taken in by Dekan and Chloix”—it was as if their fates were overlapping.
After the prior confrontation, Dekan was confident, the warden of the eighth floor, Illusory Karlst, must correspond to the False Bishop Carlos in the real world.
By the time Dekan thoroughly interrogated Karlst,
It was as if the False Bishop Carlos’s secrets had been laid bare before Dekan.
