In a village that was near Magnolia, there was a certain run-down hotel that was definitely very luxurious in the past. This building used to be owned by a noble to accommodate his secret mistresses, whom he couldn't meet publicly.
In fact, there was even a rumor that at that time, 50% of the newborns in the village were his descendants.
Although it has been about two centuries since that great noble died, the building he owned still stood tall despite there not having been anyone to take care of it.
In the past, some villagers tried to remodel the place to get the hotel back running for business since the village had been thriving in trade, but every time someone tried to do something, they would mysteriously commit suicide.
This scared the villagers so much that they issued quests to guilds and even to the council. But no matter how many teams of wizards came to investigate, they all found nothing.
Frustrated, the villagers had no choice but to completely treat the building as a haunted house and stay the hell away from it.
And like that, the place was long forgotten by everyone. So this made it the best place for a bunch of Zeref's cultists who worship Zeref.
They wanted to use all the villagers as sacrifices to revive the great demoness Lilith. Fortunately, the village chief, who accidentally stumbled upon this mystery by chance, quickly informed the council through his nephew, who was incidentally a part of the council's 4th platoon that had the task of wiping out cultists.
So in no time, a small squad was gathered, and the council swiftly ended the Zeref cultists' plot before they managed to revive her, saving the village. This should have been the end of this matter, but what if what everyone knew was an illusion all along?
In the gloomy building there was a room that, unlike the rest of the building, was not destroyed due to the river of time. In this room there was a small throne that was decorated like what someone would find in a horror movie.
On this throne stood a gorgeous-looking lady with long white hair. She wore a sexy black dress that was very revealing and alluring to any man. On top of her head, there were two cat ears that would twitch from time to time.
Her captivating red eyes looked at the village through the window with a cold and indifferent face.
Just then there was a knocking sound, and a person entered the room. This person was an old man who was in his late fifties, and he walked with the help of a cane.
The man knelt down and spoke in a respectable voice, " Lady Lilith, I have come to report about the ceremony. "
"Is there any problem so far? " the woman, Lilith, asked as she looked at the old man who is the current village chief of this small village.
"No, my lady. We have already finished creating the array, so we can start the ceremony as soon as possible. " The village chief said with clouded eyes.
"That's good. Make sure that everyone marked by me is present in the ritual. " Lilith said, making the old man very excited.
"Yes, my lady, I will definitely make sure everyone who is blessed by my lady is present for the ritual, no matter what. " The old man said as he bowed deeply.
"Good, go now. I'm waiting to hear the good news soon, " Lilith said as she gestured to the old man to leave.
After the old man left, the room descended into silence again. Lilith had a cold smile as she looked at the village through the windows.
"Finally, all my hard work is finally about to pay off. Soon I will be able to retain my full power and complete my lord Zeref's ultimate wish," Lilith said with a seductive smile as her fangs shone in the moonlight.
….
"It seems I was right to follow you guys here, " Akira said as he used his new magic to scout through the village.
"What did you see? " Wakaba asked as he puffed some rings of smoke.
"The whole village seems to be normal at first glance, but I noticed that many people here are abnormally very weak. They all looked like they were sucked dry," Akira said, making the three men who somewhat got his meaning gulp audibly.
"Did you find any traces of the demon or even a ritual site that the council must have sealed?" Gildarts asked. He was very restless and wanted to finish this as fast as possible.
"It's much worse, I think it's already unsealed," Akira said as he used his familiar to go to the abandoned building only to find his connection suddenly cut off.
"So, how strong of a demon are we dealing with, and isn't this place too quiet for a place where a demon is active? " Macao frowned as he looked at the village. Usually such villages would be either in ruins or in flames.
"Although I don't know how strong that person is but I could make an educated guess that they are probably very strong as an S-rank mage in a guild. And from what I saw, I think everyone in this village is hypnotized by this demon". Akira said. He did notice most of the villagers had dazed expressions while he was flying towards the building.
"This is troublesome, " Wakaba frowned as he heard what Akira said. If it is really what Akira said, then they would also have to deal with some mind-controlled villagers who may be thrown at them as cannon fodder.
Gildarts clenched his fists as he gritted his teeth in anger. Even though he wanted to solve this demon as soon as possible, he couldn't do it rashly. Even if he managed to kill that demon, it may be after some heavy casualties.
"Well, I may be able to do something about it, but I need some help. " Akira rubbed his chin as he spoke. He had this crazy invention that he was intending to try out lately. And now seems to be the perfect opportunity.
….
In a house that was built near an abandoned hotel, many people were coming to this house. If one looked closely, they would notice that these people all had a tattoo on the back of their necks and cloudy, dazed eyes.
And apart from that, there is also the fact that in the past few minutes, about thirty or so people entered this small house, but even then, this small house that looked like it could only hold five people wasn't crowded yet.
The answer to your question is that in this seemingly normal home, there is a secret passageway that goes underground. According to the rumors on the street, this was the same passageway that the noble used to come to this village for his mistresses under his tigress wife's watchful eyes.
And later, this passage was forgotten by everyone except the village chief, who wanted to use this passage in case of an emergency.
But now this tunnel was being used by him to make the road for their secret ritual hall, where everyone would be offering themselves to the great demon Lilith.
"Village chief, everyone is here. We can start the ceremony at your command, " a man who wore a dark cloak that hid his identity said as he looked at the old village chief respectfully.
If the members of the council were to see this man, they would recognize him as the guild master of the dark guild, Demon Cat, who was supposed to be arrested with the rest of its members recently.
"That's good. Then, Grand Priest, I'm counting on you. We must make this ritual a success and make our lady Lilith proud, " the village chief said with a fanatic look in his eyes.
"Yes, everything is for her ladyship, Lady Lilith." The guild master of Demon Cat also had a similar fanatical look as he spoke.
While the two fanatics were speaking passionately, they didn't notice the white smoke that was slowly filling the room.
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