[Waylan's mansion]

"Ugh."

Slumping down on a large sofa, Waylan let out a pained groan.

"That actually hurt."

"Don't be so overly dramatic."

Douglas replied with a slight smile, sitting on the seat opposite to him.

"If you act like that, no one will believe you."

"You think? And here I thought I was convincing enough. Gotta say acting is quite hard, eh?"

"I really think that your acting was fine, though." Douglas chuckled from the side.

"I swear that I will kill you! Your scream was so loud that even I could hear it. Stellar acting, Waylan," He added.

"Maybe I was just too into it. After all, you don't often get fun chances like this." Waylan smiled wryly.

"There was nothing funny about what happened. It was very risky, and even you could've died," Douglas chided.

Giving Douglas a look, Waylan spat.

"As if"

From the very beginning, he had never been poisoned.

In fact, everything went according to Ren's plan.

Not once had he been in danger.

It went so according to plan that Waylan actually felt a little afraid. Just how amazing was that kid's foresight? Does he even know how good he is?

Nonetheless, Waylan was pleased. Lifting his head, he chuckled, "Haha, those bastards will never think that everything that happened today was part of our plan, including the leak!"

Just remembering Angus's triumphant face made Waylan chuckle to no end.

"I wonder what kind of face those bastards would make once they realize it all. They'd been duped and had just invited in a calamity called Ren Dover!"

"..."

Listening to Waylan's words, Douglas kept a calm smile on his face. His friend was in a good mood, and it made him happy.

Especially when what Waylan said was true.

They were indeed the ones that purposely leaked out the location of where Jomnuk was staying.

Not explicitly, but through the use of the spies sent by Inferno.

Since Waylan was responsible for picking some of the people that were allowed to be selected in the protection mission, he purposely chose two spies from Inferno.

One of them was Angus.

The reason they were able to select Angus was because they weren't working alone.

After sharing their plan with Jomnuk, he readily agreed and helped them get in contact with one of the top dwarven executives.

As he was quite high up, he was able to tell them the right candidate to choose from.

Much to Waylan and Douglas's surprise, the selection was quite large. There were a lot of spies they could've chosen from.

Although the dwarves could not find every single spy that was in their midst, for those that had been found out, they wouldn't immediately arrest them but use them to their advantage such as in situations like this.

That aside, in total, only around five people knew about what was happening.

Since there were spies everywhere, the fewer people that knew, the better.

With a worried frown, Waylan looked towards Douglas and asked.

"Hey, you think he's going to be alright?"

"I have no idea," Douglas shook his head, "We will know soon enough. If that child succeeds, then we will have an upper hand against the demons that are attacking."

"Finally, an upper hand in the war" Waylan muttered.

Putting his arms around the couch, Waylan stared at the ceiling of the room.

"I sure hope you're right..."

If Ren truly succeeded in the operation, then they truly would be able to land a massive blow to Inferno, which in turn would make the dwarves owe them a massive favor.

From the very beginning, their goal was to improve their relationship with the dwarves.

If they succeeded in this mission, they would finally be able to go back home.

"In any case, we have already done everything that we could've done to help him. The rest is up to him."

Stroking his beard, Douglas looked towards the door of the room.

"That aside, we'll have more pressing matters to attend to."

Bang!

And right as his words faded, the door slammed open and an enraged dwarf walked in.

Glaring at Douglas, he shouted.

"Douglas!"

***

"Master Karl, is everything okay?"

Barging into the room was another blue-skinned dwarf.

Upon entering the room, the duergar spotted Karl standing in the middle of the room. He seemed to be staring at a dwarf wearing a large helmet.

Fiddling with the helmet in the dwarf's head, different colored lights flashed.

Tick!

A subtle ticking sound rang by the corner of the room, but this went unnoticed as the duergar's attention was on Karl.

Turning his head, Karl glared at the dwarf that had just entered.

"What are doing there standing in a daze? What the fuck are you doing and why have you disturbed me?"

"I apologize."

Karl's words caused the duergar to flinch.

Standing still, and mustering all of his courage, the guard spoke up.

"The surveillance system is not working, so I thought that something was wrong."

"The surveillance system is not working?"

Raising his brow, Karl looked towards a certain spot of the room where a surveillance device was installed.

Touching his brow, he muttered.

"Strange."

Seeing Karl calm down, the Duergar also managed to relax a little.

"That's right. The reason why I decided to intrude was to make sure that you were safe and that nothing had happened."

Pinching his brows, Karl's eyes soon lit up.

"I think I know what the problem is."

With his back still facing the duergar that came in, Karl patted the helmet on Jomnuk's head and asked.

"Let me ask you a question. Did the device stop working once I activated the helmet?"

Frowning, the duergar swiped left and looked back at the video footage. After a while, his eyes lit up in surprise.

"Yes, you're correct."

Smiling, Karl patted the helmet.

"Then, it's probably because of this. The device requires a lot of energy, so it short-circuited the system. Don't worry about it. With you guarding me outside, there should be no problems."

"I understand, sir."

Sighing in relief, the duergar bowed and put the device away.

"I apologize for disturbing you and wish you the best with your task."

Click! Clank!

After that, he turned around and left the room.

Once the duergar guard left the room, Ren, who was disguised as Karl, touched his face.

'Seems like the coast is clear for now.'

His plan had worked.

He had managed to successfully infiltrate Inferno.

"There's still stuff to do."

Infiltrating the place was only step one of the plan.

It was also the easiest step.

What he was about to do next was definitely going to be much harder than what he had done before.

Turning his attention back to Angelica in the corner of the room, Ren called out.

"Angelica, it's time."

At his call, Angelica instantly reappeared before him.

At the moment, her complexion was quite pale, and in order to remain standing, she had to lean on the wall.

It became apparent to Ren that transforming twice took quite a toll on her.

Walking up to her, Ren extended his hand in her direction.

"I'm sorry, Angelica. But, we don't have much time. Do you have it ready?"

"Yes, I do."

Lifting her head, Angelica nodded her head.

Then, waving her hand, a thin scroll appeared in her hand.

"Check it. Tell me if there's anything you're unsatisfied with."

Taking the scroll floating mid-air, I carefully checked its contents.

"Looks good."

I nodded in satisfaction as I looked at what was written on the scroll.

The contents were almost identical to that of the mana contract I signed with Angelica. However, the only difference was that the contract would only last for half a year as opposed to the mana contract which was five.

"As per the main mana contract, even if I want to harm you, I can't do anything to you. So, you don't have to worry about me trying to scam you."

"No, I understand."

The contract in Ren's hands at the moment wasn't a mana contract, but in fact, a demon contract.

In order to infiltrate the facility properly, after pondering over the issue for a long time, Ren decided to sign a contract with Angelica.

By signing a contract with her, he was essentially going to turn into a 'villain' or 'contractee'

His mana would become tainted with demonic energy, and his emotions would become more erratic.

But this was a risk that Ren was willing to take.

Once his mana became tainted, not only would it reduce the chances of him getting caught drastically, but it would also grant him a small power boost.

Unfortunately, as he had not consumed any devil fruit, his boost wouldn't be anything impressive. He'd probably be at around <C+>.

"Alright, let's sign it."

Biting his thumb till he bled, Ren placed his thumb on the contract.

Shia!

The moment his thumb pressed onto the contract, the contract showed a dark hue and slowly levitated upwards.

Then, small threads of demonic energy encircled the contract in a circular and random manner.

With each passing second, the threads of demonic energy in the air increased, and before long, the whole contract was enveloped by a black ball of demonic energy.

Ren, who was standing below, watched this scene in amazement.

'So, that's how my words and ideas manifested. This is how a demon contract takes place'

Before he could finish staring at the scene, the black ball expanded, only stopping until it reached the size of a basketball.

Similarly staring at the contract in the air, Angelica eventually snapped out of it and said, "Get ready, Ren."

"I'm ready."

Looking at Angelica, Ren slowly closed his eyes. Right as he was about to close his eyes, from the gap in-between his eyelids, the last thing he saw was Angelica raising her hand and placing it on his head.

The moment her hand touched his head, his eyes turned white and he passed out.

Fortunately, Angelica was there for him. She swiftly supported his body.

Plop

On another note, the moment he passed out, the mask on his face fell off.

Fortunately, for a little bit, the coast was still clear.

Dragging Ren's unconscious body to the side, Angelica leaned him on the side of the wall.

Tch! Tch! Tch!

From time to time, his body would twitch as thin black threads of demonic energy seeped into his skin as though they were worms.

Taking her eyes away from Ren, Angelica didn't turn herself back into a tooth.

Not that she was interested in once again becoming one.

Sitting opposite of Ren, with her legs crossed, Angelica closed her eyes and tried to recuperate her demonic energy.