The frenzied swarm of Amons seemed unable to adapt to the power of Paths. But that was understandable—
even a Prometheus, after stealing a beyonder ability, still had to rely mainly on their own spirituality to drive it.
Wild Amons were extremely adaptable and essentially had no natural enemies. Because of that, they could survive in all sorts of extreme environments and reproduce rapidly.
But this force from outside the world seemed to be too "overpowered" for them.If they'd only stolen a little bit, it wouldn't have had much effect.
But Sairuis had deliberately lowered his defenses because he wanted to see what would happen to them after contacting the Paths in full.
It was like sticking a straw into a highly pressurized tank—the gas inside would burst out and blow the straw apart.
The Amons had thought that stealing from someone this powerful would be difficult, so they all went all-out. In doing so, they'd fallen right into his trap.
With a series of crackling sounds, the unlucky Amons who had drawn Destruction, Hunt, or Nihility turned into Time Worms, clattering to the ground.
The luckier ones still had to flee with all sorts of twisted, grotesque mutations.
A few Time Worms a month—what kind of life is that? Even avatars' lives are still lives!Next time I'll send a few avatars-of-avatars to test the waters instead.
Only the very first Amon remained unscathed.
He locked eyes with Sairuis for a moment, then his form flickered and abruptly vanished—he had stolen the distance between himself and a streetlight across the street. Appearing on the opposite side, Amon shrank rapidly back into the stray dog he had been parasitizing, and swiftly disappeared into the crowd.
Sairuis didn't stop him. He watched Amon escape, then looked up at the empty sky.Bending down, he picked up one of the Time Worms and squeezed it playfully between his fingers. It made a soft squish-squish sound—quite fun.
Then, with a casual motion, he reached out and snatched the dog Amon had been hiding in. Gripping it by the scruff of his neck, he dragged it back to the tavern.
Inside the tavern, Sairuis tossed Amon onto a sofa and sat down opposite him.
"Alright. I've dealt with the other Amons for you. Now it's time to talk about cooperation."As he spoke, Sairuis took out his own mask and waved it in front of Amon.
Amon reverted to his true form again, sitting on the sofa and looking at Sairuis's mask. "A mask? What does that mean?"
Sairuis chuckled, stood up, and reached into the inner pocket of Amon's robe. After feeling around a bit, he pulled out a black mask.
The mask's base was black, with facial features painted in white. Around the right eye, twelve faintly golden, translucent worms circled, head to tail, forming a ring.
Sairuis grinned and waved the mask in his hand. "You, you…"
Amon reached out and took the mask back. "So you know where this came from?"
Sairuis raised an eyebrow. "He didn't tell you?"
"He? No. I suddenly had it after a dream."
"Is that so?" Sairuis sat back down. "Looks like I'll have to give you a little lesson."
Amon put on an expression of rapt attention, staring at Sairuis. But after a few seconds of silence, without seeing any response, Sairuis frowned. "What, you're trying to freeload?"
Amon looked equally surprised. "Huh? Weren't you here to explain it to me on purpose? I thought you were like one of those newbie-guide NPCs Roselle talked about."
He then pursed his lips. "Alright, then what am I supposed to pay?"
(End of Chapter)