Queen of the Succubi Malcanthet—maybe not the most powerful by raw strength, but unrivaled for her vast web of connections and intelligence networks. She could twitch a single finger and set all kinds of resources in motion, rallying forces to crush any rival Demon Lords she disliked. Both her beauty and her ruthless reputation were legendary.
And Ines... was actually her personal spy planted at Montport's side? Seriously?
Charles scratched the back of his head, thinking, Just my luck—why did I have to start messing with a literal Big Shot?
"Whatever. Let's not worry about it now," he muttered, shaking his head. "The Queen of the Succubi's out there in the Infinite Layers of the Abyss—we're not running into her any time soon. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
"Sophia, can you check what kind of news Ines actually handed over to Montport? Just how much of our intel got leaked to that Demon Lord?"
At his request, Sophia closed her eyes, casting her innate magical abilities. After a few moments, she opened them again, her expression oddly tense. "Pretty much... everything's been leaked."
Charles felt a cold pit in his stomach. "What do you mean, everything?"
"Just like I said—everything." Sophia held out her hands, gesturing as she listed, "The exact location of our new camp, the terrain around it, how many people are left, our top fighters, even the details on all our sentries, everything..."
"And Montport totally trusts her, too—told her she'd done a great job and promised that soon, he'll personally bring his entire force and wipe this camp off the map."
"Oh, and according to Ines's info, Montport's force now includes goristros, and even the silhouette of a balor…"
Charles felt his blood pressure spike. "Oh, hell no. We gotta get out—now!"
He jumped up. All thoughts of his so-called covenant forgotten, Charles just wanted to grab everyone he cared about and run. If they had to break their word, so be it—no way was he facing Montport right now.
Montport was already a hell-level Abyssal Lord, and now, apparently, he'd summoned a balor.
A flying, combat monster—challenge rating twenty! That thing was four notches above Theresa on the power scale—not even remotely something they could take on.
And that's not even counting the challenge rating seventeen goristros—brutal brutes, almost as strong as Theresa but without flight. Who knew how many of those things were marching with Montport now?
Basically, if even one demon army like that came rolling in, there was no way the Mountain Purifiers could hold. The whole organization would blow apart in the first salvo!
Sophia glanced up, worry etched on her face. Charles took a couple deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down and sit. He asked, "What about Ines—what did she report back to Malcanthet? Is the Queen of the Succubi planning to take Montport out, or does she want him as her lapdog?"
For the third time, Sophia closed her eyes, searching the remnants of memory. Suddenly her brow furrowed, as if seeing something she wished she hadn't.
Charles waited, nerves jumping. Finally, Sophia opened her eyes and spoke slowly. "Malcanthet seems to think Montport's gained too much lately—he needs to be knocked down a peg."
"So she ordered several more succubus spies under Ines to use special cultist channels to leak Montport's exact location. The idea is to lure Liberl Port into trying to assassinate him—egg them on to kill this Demon Lord themselves."
Charles's eyes lit up. "Any way we can tap into that channel? Monitor Montport's location ourselves?"
Sophia shook her head, her frown deepening. "I couldn't find anything specific in Ines's memories—maybe it's already lost. I did see that they were streaming info to certain targets outside, especially to Liberl Port's newly formed hunting group."
Charles stroked his chin. So, Golden Dragon Bank's team found Montport so fast last time because the Queen of the Succubi was helping them behind the scenes?
Too bad they were weak as hell—didn't even manage to put a dent in Montport…
Alright, time to clue in Anno, who can then contact the Blackstaff Tower higher-ups. If those higher-ups talk to the current assassination squad, maybe we can get live pings on Montport's movements too, and pull an evacuation in time?
God, I hope we're not too late…
With that, he tousled Sophia's hair. "Thanks, you did great." Then he turned and headed straight for Anno's tent.
Inside, Anno was brooding, still worrying about upper management's plans, her beautiful brows knotted in a permanent frown.
Charles came up from behind and grabbed her soft body in a hug, whispering, "Hey, can you check with your Blackstaff Tower higher-ups? Is there any way they can share Montport's location info with us?"
Anno turned in shock. "The Tower higher-ups know Montport's exact location? No one told me that."
Charles forced a smile. "I only just found out—apparently, everyone hunting Montport is getting real-time updates, must be some secret channel relaying it."
"I figured your people know too, so maybe you could ask?"
Anno nodded slowly, then her eyes suddenly brightened. "You want in? You want to join the hunt and help take Montport down?"
Charles shook his head vigorously. "Hell no. I wanna dodge his route and stay alive."
At that, the girl's face fell. "Come on, Charles, where's your spine? He's rampaging through the mountains, slaughtering innocents—we all have a duty to fight demons."
Charles poked her cheek, smirking. "I'd rather save my own neck, thanks. Wake up, Anno. We're nowhere near strong enough to take on an Abyssal Lord. What would we even do against an army like that?"
"We'll let the real heroes claim the glory—and then we'll sweep up the stragglers afterwards. That's plenty heroic for folks like us."
Anno gazed down, crestfallen. "I'm just too weak. Not good enough. That's why HQ left me here, stuck in a job anyone could do…"
Charles's hands slid a little lower, giving her chest a firm squeeze through her shirt. "Told you—with all these weirdos in the Alliance of the Mountain Purifiers, you're the only one who can keep things in order. No one else could do your job."
Anno didn't push him away, letting him comfort her and absentmindedly mumbling, "I'll file a report and ask HQ about Montport's location… but seriously, I just wish I could go out and kill some demons myself…"