Most of the cults had now agreed to take the blame for our operation or, in simple words, use our operation to spread the faith of their god.

But—

There was one major cult that was still hell-bent on not going with the deal that we had proposed to them.

Though the availability of the existing cults was enough, I wanted to use every major cult that was present in the world.

The more cults that go along with our plan, the better it was for me.

At first Julien was going to head there alone, but I decided to tag along to speed things up.

The good thing was that Arthur too volunteered to come along...

I had been planning to ask him to tag along with us, but knowing that his daughter was just cured, I had changed my plans.

But surprisingly, Arthur looked determined to come with me.

Using the teleportation passage, we were teleported to Syma’s alchemy branch that was the nearest to the cult that we had to negotiate the deal with.

"Sir!"

The regular scene greeted me at the branch, as soldiers stood on either side of the room guarding the passage. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

As it was rare for the three of us to travel together, the confusion on the faces of the soldiers was reasonable.

Though they had managed to keep their expressions neutral, such things could never escape my observation.

"Prepare a vehicle for us."

Julien quickly instructed one of the soldiers, who, after nodding his head, went to one of the corners of the room and uttered some words into the communication device that was connected to the devices of all the soldiers in this place.

Walking out of the branch, an unexpected sight of greenery greeted me, as tall trees could be seen on either side of the street.

The city we were in was closer to a town.

Though the streets were relatively developed, with huge shops lining them on both sides... seeing the atmosphere, it was clear that the city was still developing.

A car appeared beside us, as one of the soldiers rushed to open the door.

The car was a normal one, and not an armoured vehicle.

I mean... it would be suspicious for people in the city to use armoured vehicles for daily use.

And the other thing being... there was no need to attract unnecessary attention.

Syma already had many eyes on most of its branches, so there was no need to increase the surveillance in any way.

Julien sat in the front, while I took a back seat along with Arthur.

Moving through the streets, I observed that many of the streets were still under construction, with labourers working to either repair them or build new ones.

Sigh.

The cult had surely chosen a remote area for the meeting.

Not even for a second did I think that the cult had its main base in this city.

Though the people in every cult were lunatics, they weren’t stupid enough to make such rookie mistakes.

After all, it took a considerable amount of skill to stay hidden from the Authorities, who were always in search of the cults in order to completely eliminate them.

But it was easier said than done.

A cult wasn’t some organization with a fixed number of members and a few leaders who were the core of the group.

No.

The cults were based on faith toward their god, so recruiting new members without having to increase their expenditure was an easy thing for them.

That meant that no matter how much the Authorities tried, there was no way to completely eliminate a cult with moderate resources.

To truly kill every member of the cult, the Authorities had to employ a vast amount of resources, given that they had already collected sufficient intel.

If not... then it became the same game of cat and mouse, where neither side is able to gain leverage.

Still... despite all their advantages, the cults still operated in the shadows, as they couldn’t afford an open war with the authorities.

And how could they?

Many of the members of the cults were ordinary citizens, with very few having sufficient combat power.

Though considering the total members in a cult, those few were indeed high in number.

Still... it was only the major cults that truly had decent enough manpower to combat the Authorities head-on, and the cult that we were going to visit today was one of them.

"Who was tasked with this cult?"

At my question, Julien opened his device to view the records.

"It was first given to No. 10, but due to his unavailability, No. 5, who had completed his quota of cults, insisted on taking charge. But even he couldn’t finalise the deal with them. From the recent reports, the top leadership of the cult is asking for an enormous amount of resources."

That... was indeed an issue, but not big enough to truly worry about.

"What’s their highest combat strength?"

At my question, Julien turned to look at me with wide eyes.

"Uh... most of their top leadership is at the Platinum and Diamond rank, but there’s credible intel suggesting that they might even have an Immortal in their ranks... though it’s still unverified."

An Immortal, huh.

I gave a short glance to Arthur, who had his entire focus on Julien’s words.

Sensing my gaze, he turned to return it, as Julien observed both of us in silence.

"I don’t think it would be in our best interest to use force, as that could draw unnecessary attention—"

"What’s the rank of the Immortal?"

Arthur interrupted Julien with a question of his own.

"I can’t say for sure, but maybe it’s below Immortal 3."

"I can manage."

Arthur uttered the words while looking at me.

I could sense the soldier in the driver’s seat becoming tense from the level of our discussion.

As for what I wanted?

There was no need to kill someone who could become good bait for us in the future.

"We will only negotiate, nothing else."

I clarified my stance, making Julien sigh in relief.

No matter how quickly Arthur could kill the Immortal or at least neutralise him... there was no need to risk all our plans over a single cult.