Chapter 139 Baals Faction 6 (2/2)
Mammon showed no outward indication of his thoughts about the new dessert. The Demon Lord was dressed very conservatively. An oversized hooded cloak much like Hades' covered most of his body. If one looked closer, they would find horrifyingly dark circles underneath Mammon's eyes and very sickly pale skin. The Demon Lord looked as if he would keel over at any moment. His long bony fingers gripped onto the silver spoon steadily and his forest green eyes sparkled at the thought of investing in Baal's new business venture.
”I must say,” Mammon admitted. ”That this is very good. I'll be more than willing to partake in your business venture. Let me know what resources you require, I'll come up with the capital. It looks like you finally found capable followers.”
Lilith grinned. ”Oh! That reminds me... is this wonderful thing called ice-cream made by my beloved child?”
Baal groaned. Coux was supposed to be here an hour ago. Unfortunately, something happened at her little shop and the trader had to attend to urgent matters personally, leaving him to attend to his two guests alone. Qin Yun was busy in the kitchen and Amaraline was tending to Zero in the room. Wiser was still cracking his head over the mystery of those stones while Sekkin was making trips to the village for the strategist. They were making slow progress and Baal couldn't help but feel a little anxious. A month had gone by already in the abyss and the only thing that significantly improved was his bank account.
”Coux will be here later. She has some important business to handle personally on short notice. Also, I didn't call the both of you here just to talk about this. There is something of far more importance that has come to my attention lately. It's best to stop the fire while it is still small.”
Mammon trained his eyes on Baal who looked uncharacteristically serious. Lilith stopped fooling around and sat up straight.
”Is it regarding the magic draining stones in circulation?” Lilith asked.
Mammon sighed. ”To think that it has already reached you... I was trying to contain it within our territories too.”
Baal shrugged. ”What's done is done. Why don't you fill me up on the details since I've been asleep for a long while now?”
Mammon and Lilith started recounting how they discovered the first unusual magic signature in their underground market. Gangs have gotten rowdier than usual and many strange casualties were reported. The first death happened in Mammon's territory and the findings were shocking.
”They had no mana in their mana channels. Their cultivated essences were also drained completely. Normally, it would be impossible to drain mana and qi completely in a demon due to our natural physical constitution. In our exhausted state, we fall back into our original forms. However, these demons that died didn't revert. In fact, their bodies were in their prime. It's very strange.”
Lilith agreed. ”I personally went to see one of those bodies. It was strange. Although there was no mana left in them, there was a strange trace of something foreign. We tracked that back to the cursed stone. It's very similar to a lich's curse but deadlier. We haven't been able to identify where all the harvested mana and qi were going to. They seem to be sucked into a void within the stone.”
Baal frowned. He'd seen some of those stones after Coux attended an auction and met a dealer. The succubus and fox demoness did their best to get information from the dealer but there was a strong memory sealing spell. When they tried to pry further, the informant died. They later discovered that there was a binding contract mark on the dealer. Whoever it was working behind the scenes, they certainly knew what they were doing.
”I have some of my family working on this case. The dealer we met was killed. We found a binding contract mark and a strong memory sealing spell. Whatever that stone is, the curse isn't a product of magic. Or at least, not completely.”
Mammon grunted and Lilith pouted. ”Is there no way to trace where all the mana is being syphoned to? Also, where did all these stones come from? Can't we do anything about it?”
Baal stared at the stone on the table. ”It's not from the abyss for sure... the stone doesn't look like anything I know in my domain.”
Mammon stared at it. ”You're right about that. It's not from mine either. It's too smooth as if it had been sitting in a river for many years.”
Lilith blinked. ”Hold on a second... river? There are no rivers in the abyss.”
That caught Baal's attention. From Coux's report, the stone stole mana and enslaved low-tier demons to milk them for everything they had.It was no coincidence that Mammon's bank decided to value magic stones either.
”I know this may sound like a silly thing to ask but I've been asleep for a long time now. Mammon, does your bank accept anything other than cursed coins and notes for payment?”
The Demon King raised a brow. ”Unless there is devil gold involved, I don't think anyone can afford to pay using any other currency.”
”What about magic stones?”
At that, the Demon King snorted. ”That trash commoners sell in the flea markets? Forget it! Why would I accept such a useless thing?”
The last piece of the puzzle fit. Baal grinned sinisterly and Lilith became curious. ”You know something?”
The Demon Lord chuckled. ”Looks like we need to visit a certain employee of yours, Mammon. We will have the answers we seek in no time at all.”