Horam waited and waited, but the blood-curdling screams never ca. Did he just die instantaneously? Just as he was wondering this, the first elder of the order appeared with a green glow surrounding him.
"What happened, Horam? Why did you ask to co here so urgently? Where is the intruder?" The elder did not look pleased.
Horam looked at the thin, gaunt man who barely had a couple of ounces of flesh on his old bones. To others, the man might look like a starving beggar on the verge of death, but Horam knew better than to think like that.
This man in front of him was none other than the seventh elder, Seroth Vyn, a na whispered even among the Nine Hidden Orders with a mix of awe and dread. The "Living Plague," they called him.
His blood was said to be so venomous that even standing too close for too long could rot a person from the inside out. Every breath he took exhaled faint green mist, the concentrated fus of toxins his body constantly refined and exuded.
Horam imdiately dropped to one knee, bowing his head so low it almost touched the ground. "Elder Seroth, I... an intruder appeared in the Dune. He survived the miasma outside and..." He hesitated, licking his lips nervously. "He ca down to the base and went into the beast hall."
Seroth’s dull gray eyes blinked once. "And you thought it wise to summon for what might be a corpse?" His tone wasn’t angry, it was calm, which made it all the more terrifying.
Horam swallowed. "Please forgive . I didn’t think he would enter the beast hall. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have summoned you."
Seroth snorted in disdain. "Young recruits these days are just not good enough. You need to be put through tougher training. Fine, bring the corpse without killing yourself. I am curious about how he managed to walk through the miasma. Perhaps there is sothing odd about his body. Since I am free anyways, I might as well dissect his corpse and get done with analyzing it."
Horam hurriedly nodded and ran into the beast hall, thanking his lucky stars that the elder hadn’t decided to kill him right then and there. However, before he could get in, a figure non-chalantly walked out, making Horam freeze in his tracks.
"Why... why are you..." He stamred, his eyes almost popping out of the socket. But Damon ignored him and walked over to the old dude behind him who was pretty much a dead husk. Well, except he had a powerful aura seeping out of him.
"So you are soone who runs this place?" Damon walked over to the guy.
Seroth’s cloudy eyes lifted, the faint green mist around him curling upward like venomous smoke sensing prey. "So, you’re the intruder," he rasped, voice brittle and dry like rust scraping bone. "You don’t look half as impressive as the commotion you’ve caused."
Damon stopped just a few feet away, the poison-laden air thick enough to lt flesh, but he didn’t even flinch. The miasma danced harmlessly across his skin, drawn into him instead of pushing him away. "And you don’t look half as alive as your reputation claims," he replied, smirking faintly.
Horam’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest. Was this lunatic mocking Elder Seroth?! He wanted to run, but his legs refused to move.
Seroth, however, only let out a thin chuckle. "Ah, a sharp tongue. It’s been a while since sothing dared to talk back to before dissolving." His aura surged in a slow, deliberate wave. The floor corroded beneath him, turning black and slick as acid. A ring of poisonous aura spread out, completely entrapping Damon.
Seroth’s eyes indifferently watched the poisonous miasma fully drown Damon. But the old man’s dead eyes suddenly lit up when his domain completely failed. "You are indeed soone exceptional-"
Damon interrupted him. "Wait, you showed yours. Let show mine." Without hesitation, Damon unleashed his poison domain. The next mont, black purple miasma spread everywhere, wild and unrestrained.
Seroth staggered backward, his skeletal hand instinctively raising to stabilize his own aura. "This...," he muttered hoarsely but all he could do was choke and beco paralyzed. His body dropped on the ground, barely alive.
Damon was quick to react. He imdiately lowered the intensity of the poison domain. He wanted to use these people, not kill them. "Sorry about that." He smiled and helped the old man recover a little by drawing out the poison in his body. "You are lucky. If we had t each other a few days ago, I wouldn’t have been able to do that."
Damon played around with his poison manipulation for a few seconds, making the old man scream and shudder intermittently. When he was finally done adjusting the levels, he stood up, grinned at the several other faces staring at him in absolute dread.
"Welco. I am assuming this is the whole order? Or is there anyone else left?"
No one dared to answer him, all of them watching Seroth’s writhing figure in disbelief.
"Alright. I am short on ti at the mont. So how about we do this another way. Here. These are system slave contracts. From today on, I am your master. If you accept it, you can continue living and breathing. If you don’t accept it, then you can all die."
Damon took out a teleportation sealing scroll and activated it. His poisonous miasma also started spreading everywhere, giving the order mbers very less ti to think. But Damon knew that just this much was not enough. These were old shrewd assholes, many of them extrely prideful. They would rather die than beco soone else’s slave.
So he also threw it another key detail.
"Is any of you familiar with the Venom King? A poison god who once existed that made the entire multiverse tremble before him. I am his heir. If you follow , you can reach great heights. You don’t have to be confined to this small world in the corner of nowhere."
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