Modern World Warlock-Chapter 87: Astaroth’s Scheme

On the night of Malgaroth’s demise, a tall demon was watching Dante and his group leave the scene from the top of a skyscraper.

The creature had pitch-black skin and eyes fully coated in gold. He had bat wings on his back and large, white horns extruding from the top of his head, which went down his spine all the way to his tail.

His body was as bulky and defined as the bodybuilders Dante met at the gym, and the demon’s demeanor seemed quite calm when spotting the warlock on the street.

As soon as Dante lifted his head towards the skyscraper, the demon flapped his wings and left the area in an instant before getting caught.

"Hmm, interesting…" the demon muttered to himself as he flew away.

After flying for some time, the demon passed by a sign that read "Highpoint Town," arriving at a plaza with a cathedral in front.

A few hooded figures were walking around the plaza, wholly ignoring the demon’s presence. As the creature approached the cathedral’s entrance, two of these men opened the doors for him.

More hooded figures were sitting on the church’s benches, their hands clasped in prayer, while Astaroth stood tall before the altar in the back like a divine entity.

"Nihilor… Did you complete the task?" Astaroth asked, his deep voice echoing inside the cathedral.

"I was too late, my king. By the time I arrived, a group of humans were leaving the area, and Malgaroth’s aura had disappeared," Nihilor replied.

Astaroth’s eye slightly twitched with annoyance, but the demon remained calm and asked Nihilor if he had seen the humans who did it.

"I did… However, I cannot say who it was that killed Malgaroth," Nihilor said, explaining that none of the people who left the sewer should have been able to defeat the monster.

Still, there was one man who was able to feel his presence at the top of the building, giving Astaroth a description of Dante.

"Crimson eyes, huh?" Astaroth muttered, inquisitively placing his claw on his chin.

The demon boss explained that having red eyes wasn’t common in that world and remembered a set of eyes of the same color that once sent heavy chills down his spine.

"But, there is no way he would be here…" Astaroth continued.

Nihilor seemed curious about his boss’ thoughts and inquired what he meant.

"You’ve heard of Hellslayer, correct?" Astaroth asked.

Nihilor nodded affirmatively, saying that he didn’t know a single demon who hadn’t heard the story.

Moreover, he didn’t believe that Dante could be "Hellslayer," as the umbra flowing from him didn’t seem powerful to the demon at all.

Astaroth mentioned that some warlocks would suppress their aura to socialize with other humans and warned Nihilor not to underestimate him.

Still, while Nihilor was confident that the man wouldn’t be much of a threat, Astaroth ordered the Ruby Vipers to keep drugging people with his blood.

"If it truly is Hellslayer, then having more power isn’t a bad idea…" the demon said.

Nihilor delved into his thoughts momentarily, thinking that his superior was paranoid, but was brought back to reality when Astaroth asked him about the others who were present at the scene.

The demon couldn’t fully describe Megan because her suit covered her most recognizable features, but he mentioned a redhead and a group of younger ones who left the scene before the others.

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Astaroth smiled mischievously. "Younger ones?" he asked.

Nihilor smiled back, saying that he knew where the kids gathered, and asked his boss what he wanted from him.

"See if you can get them to tell you more about that crimson-eyed man… You can do as you wish with the bodies," Astaroth commanded.

After Nihilor received his orders, he bowed before Astaroth and left the cathedral, prompting Sabelio to enter the scene as he watched from the side of the room.

"Sabelio… You’ve served me well," The demon commented.

"You honor me with your praise," Sabelio replied, bowing with reverence.

"Prepare a few more summoning rituals," Astaroth coldly said.

The old man got a bit nervous at his words, as every summoning required the sacrifice of dozens of people.

Sabelio didn’t feel remorse about killing innocents but was mostly afraid of getting caught since the police were getting showered with reports of a missing person.

"You are worried? I thought it was clear that this ’police’ wouldn’t have a chance against us…" Astaroth commented, feeling the slight discomfort in Sabelio’s umbra.

The old man sighed with a hint of relief. "You are right, my king… Maybe it was my human nature to feel worried," he said.

After stating that he would prepare the rituals in the following days, Sabelio sauntered out of the cathedral and met with a group of hooded strangers in the plaza, where he gave a detailed description of Astaroth’s command.

____________________

The following morning, while Dante and his group had gone to the high school to ensure the teenagers were safe, Camille worked tirelessly in her office.

She was communicating with Trinity, who had been working on decrypting more secret information about the Blood Dragons.

The hacker ended up finding a digital address that allowed her to connect to another computer, which supposedly belonged to Sabelio. However, she couldn’t break through the firewalls Spook placed.

Apart from learning about Nihilor’s past actions, Camille and Trinity discovered that the Novis police were completely ignoring most of the "missing person" cases they received.

The handler knew that cops wouldn’t take any "supernatural" cases seriously, and most of the time, they would be thrown in the trash. However, some of those documents seemed like real cases that were purposely ignored.

["My friend went to the sewers and hasn’t come back…"] read one of the ignored reports that Camille was investigating.

"That doesn’t sound like a supernatural thing… Why would they deliberately ignore it?" Camille muttered to herself.

"Well, I know why…" she continued, letting out a tired sigh.

’I should call Alice…’ Camille thought, looking at her phone on her desk with a severe expression.