"Is it over? Did we win?" asked Alice as she saw Five rush into the room.

The latter nodded, "Yes... The trial is finally over!" declared Five. He naturally turned his attention towards Angela and was relieved to see her gently smiling. It seemed that she recovered to her usual self but there was no way to confirm that.

Behind Five, Dreidus and Lyra also entered the room and enquired about Angela's state. Everyone was relieved, but the victory left a sour taste in everyone's mouth.

It was way too close for comfort. All the normal monsters were dead while Angela almost perished too... The dungeon really needed to improve considerably! But that had to be reported for another time.

The atmosphere was quite gloomy as everyone was still concerned about the young harpy. To brighten the mood, Five simply went to the desk of the room and opened his interface. Angela's room reflected her personality; a lot of flowers and decorative objects could be found everywhere. There was especially a lot of plushes of cute animals; the young harpy was even hugging one at the moment.

Without a word, Five browsed through the dungeon shop and madly purchased a bunch of items. The monsters naturally noticed, "Master... What are you doing? This is so expensive!" said Ariel.

Five did not answer, he simply smiled and continued. Quickly, the desk was filled with delicacies from Earth; lobster, foie gras, caviar, Duck, Crab, Wagyu Beef and so much more. Each one of these ingredients was cooked to perfection to bring out all their flavor!

The dishes were all sparkling as they emitted their fragrance, tempting everyone to take a bite! All the senses of the harpies were stimulated. The delicious fragrance made them salivate as their eyes were feasting on the glowing color of the food. They could feel the warmth of the dishes from a distance as their ears heard the melodious sizzle of some dishes. Even their taste buds were affected.

"We won a battle today! This is our reward! Don't worry about the price, didn't you all say that you've always wanted to try food from my world but that it is too expensive? Here's the occasion! Let's celebrate our victory!" said Five as he prompted everyone to join him and eat.

In fact, all the harpies were already salivating. They indeed always wanted to try these special foods, but they were just too expensive. A normal meal would cost about 5 DP, at most, it would go to 20 DP if they were fancy but the dishes Five just purchased, the cheapest one would cost 1000 DP! What was so special about them was that not only were these dishes delicious, they also had special effects!

Seeing the monsters' hesitation, Five continued, "Come on, this is the one and only occasion! I am motivating you to work harder! Come and..."

"Gurgle gurgle!" out of nowhere, as Five was tempting the harpies, the loud rumbling sound of an empty stomach filled the room. Alice immediately flushed red as she tried to hide her face.

At the sight of the usually daring harpy behaving shyly, everyone broke into a friendly laugh.

"But, there is not much DP left, right? And we also need to be ready to fight tomorrow... Although we went through the trial, nothing is stopping the barbarians from coming to the dungeon tomorrow too..." said Ariel.

"Don't worry about that! There is more than enough to summon the regular monsters. As for the barbarians, it's not as if they were immediately threatening the core. It is fine to take a day of rest! You all deserved it"

Finally, as the harpies were still hesitating, Dreidus stood up before grabbing a bowl of shark fin soup. He was an undead and did not have any taste buds. It would be a waste if he drank it but in front of everyone, Dreidus handed the bowl of soup to Lyra who shyly took it.

Although the Banshee Queen was an undead, she was closer to a human being that Dreidus and still had a body.

Seeing the scene, Five decided to change his strategy. "Fine, if you are not hungry, I can finish all of it myself! I get really hungry when I am stressed, this should be enough to calm me down..." said Five as he turned to grab the nearest piece of Foie Gras.

At that moment, Alice could no longer hold it in. "Ahh how dare you! Don't take everything for yourself! You are so selfis.h.!.+" She quickly stepped forward and started serving herself.

As their sister already showed the example, Ariel and Angela also followed and quickly, the atmosphere turned to a more relaxed one.

"By the way Dreidus, I should also reward the undead monsters, but I don't know what they would like…"

"There is no need for rewards master! But if you insist… I will think of something!"

Dawn was only a few hours away but for the moment, no one was thinking about the barbarians or the dungeons, for now, they were all enjoying themselves with the good food and the good company.

...

Capital of the Sylvester Empire, Saint Cathedral

An old man was quietly sitting on a sparkling throne covered with jewels. Behind him, 3 statues of jade could be seen standing with different expressions; one of them looked ferocious and bloodthirsty, another looked calmed and composed while the last one looked deep in thoughts.

On the left of the old man, a group of devoted followers was expressing their most fervent prayers. The room of the old man was separated from the praying area of the followers by a thin wall and a one-sided mirror such that the old man was still able to see the followers, but they could not see him.

Although he was separated by a wall, the old man could clearly hear all the prayers of the followers:

"Oh Lord and Savior! Please bless my child and save him from the hands of that seductress! My son is innocent, under the temptation of the demons, his faith wavered but got is merciful! It is all because of the demons, these sinful creatures..."

"Oh G.o.d! Thank you! Thank you for saving our village from the demons! My people will forever be faithful..."

"..."

Hundreds of devoted followers were loudly reciting their own prayers and although they were all saying different things, the old man was able to clearly hear each and every one of them clearly. All the prayers were either asking for help or expressing grat.i.tude for the help received but all these prayers had one thing in common! They all mentioned the demons.

While the old man was listening to all the prayers, he was intently focusing on a crystal ball placed in front of him. The crystal ball was completely empty except for a few white particles dancing in it. However, the old man kept staring at it with great attention as if he was able to see something within that emptiness.

Suddenly, in the middle of the prayers, a faint "knock knock" resonated through the room.

The old man frowned before touching one of the runes on the side of the throne. Magically, the room became completely silent as the door at the end of the room opened by itself.

A few m.u.f.fled footsteps were heard as a young man walked to the side of the old man.

"Your Grace! I am here to report!"

The old man nodded without a word.

"Just as the oracle predicted, starting three days ago, several abnormalities have been observed all over zero; random beasts tides, rebellions, exterminations of random groups of bandits and even the destruction of a town!"

"In the Sylvester Empire itself, during these 3 days, our agents reported more than 400 cases, but we don't know how many had occurred unnoticed!"

"The other empires are also reporting the same thing. There is no concrete evidence that these events are linked to the demons. More investigations are required!"

As he said the last 2 sentences, the young man suddenly felt a chill on his shoulders and immediately stopped his report.

The old man was staring at him, if stares could kill, then the young man would have long been lying dead on the floor.

"Are you insinuating that the oracle of the Pope might be flawed? The Pope himself stated that this was a vision from the G.o.ds! Are you doubting his words?" the old man clearly spoke each word, especially stressing the last sentence.

"Your grace! I would not dare! I am just reading the reports, I will tell those informants to be more careful about their choice of words next time!" respectfully answered the young man while sweating.

Immediately, the atmosphere of the room returned to normal, "mmm, good! For one second, I thought you were one of those spies, but your reaction was genuine... There are no doubts that these incidents are all linked to the demons!"

"As the pope stated, new dungeons, the house of the demons had sp.a.w.ned! These incidents must have something to do with them! They all probably occurred near the dungeons! This is our chance to deal a heavy blow to the demons!"

"Please give the orders, your grace!" said the young man while bowing. He already closed the scroll containing his report as he was listening to the words of the old man.

"This is more complicated than it looks. We cannot simply send our troops to destroy the dungeons... That would both break the thin balance between us and the demons and also expose ourselves to the other potential threats..."

"..."

"I remember that you said that the recruitment exercise is going well! I was thinking of using these young recruits to destroy these dungeons! They are all relatively weak and would not arise suspicion from those high demons... Are you confident in training them to a level where they would be able to destroy those dungeons? The dungeons are relatively new and are obviously not at the same level as the ones we are used to..."

"Of course your grace! We will give it our all to train the recruits properly!"

"Good good... One month! I will give you one month to train well before attacking those dungeons... They are not strong enough at the moment and if we delay the operation too much, then I don't know how the high demons would react! They would probably shelter those with high potential... It is best to crush them when they are still weak!"

"Yes your grace! I will immediately pa.s.s the order!" quickly said the young man.

"mmm, wait a second... What about those otherworlders... I heard that you recruited some fine men recently... What was the name Oden praised already?"

"Two, your grace! His name is Two!"

"Good... Train him well and his friends... With their ability to naturally revive, they are perfect for this operation! We can easily reduce our losses! Pa.s.s my orders! Train those otherworlders but keep an eye on them for any suspicious movements! Especially on that Two... If the reports are accurate... Then he might be extremely useful in dealing with that hidden faction!"

....

Author's thoughts... Because I exceed the limit of 500 characters...

Well idk if it is a cliff hanger but in my opinion it is ^^

This chapter marks the end of volume 2 and also the beginning of a long hiatus...

Uni is restarting and I need to focus on the studies. My grades last year took a heavy blow and well, writing is nice but I do not get anything from it.

I need a good degree if I want to secure a job later.

That's why sorry... But this story will continue! In fact, I will probably still write during this time but I will keep the chapters to myself ^^ Also, I am thinking of focusing on the book of 2 which is New Earth- Blessings and Curses ^^