Divine Path System

The journey from Teran City to the Demon Abyss capital was a bit too short.

Varian initially thought they'd be traveling with a space awakener or a spaceship, but it was through an entirely different method.

"Why the surprised face?" Accompanying the ten contestants into the Duke's castle, Angus smiled at Varian.

"…" Varian, as expected, responded with a shrug.

"You really don't speak at all." Angus shook his head in amusement and led them to a secret floor down the castle.

For some reason, Varian felt a sense of deja vu.

It only increased as they passed through black stone corridors, prisons with half-human half-monsters, labs with human scientists, and finally…

"Our space awakeners are all engaged in the frontlines now. It's just for this once, but we're allowed to use the sacred altar."

Varian once again found himself in a room with a strange altar and filled with aura crystals.

The altar lit up along with the circular formation around it. It seemed like it'd take some time to activate.

Varian along with the others stood inside a particular circle of the formation. But he couldn't stop staring at the giant altar.

'There was an altar in a level 3 abyss' castle. There is one here too. Enigma got chased by an archduke because she destroyed an altar. Just what exactly are these altars?'

He had no idea. But for some reason, anxiety gripped his heart and his brows furrowed.

Seeing Var's reaction, Angus rubbed the back of his head with an awkward smile. "As I said, this is a special use, okay? We aren't supposed to use a sacred altar, but our Holy altar is gone after all. Sacred Altars practically lost their purpose."

'Purpose?'

Varian froze at his words on the inside but relaxed his brows and sighed on the outside as if he was no longer feeling uncomfortable.

On the other hand, Angus' words seemed to have poked a nerve as the nine contestants jumped into the discussion.

"You're right."

"It's very shameful that we lost our Holy Altar, but we should use what we have. What else can we do?"

"What can we do? Kill that bitch, of course."

They didn't even mention her name, but everyone seemed to know who they were referring to.

Including Varian. 'She's chased by Demon Abyss' archduke, so…'

"Yes. Skin her alive and hang her corpse on the castle."

"We still got seven holy altars. As long as we rip her apart, they'll be safe."

The expressions of the participants seemed to calm down.

Indeed, if Enigma was gone, then no one coul—

"What about Dreamer…I mean, V-Varian?" one of the participants muttered, his voice shivering to utter that dreadful name.

The atmosphere of the room plummeted in an instant and Varian felt like he stepped into an ice cellar.

The eyes of the participants were only filled with hatred when Enigma's name was muttered, but when 'Varian' came up, their breathing turned rough and their eyes slowly grew red.

It was as if Varian was someone that killed their parents and children and was the number one villain in their life.

'…Wow.' Varian was inwardly surprised, but outwardly his breathing also turned haggard and his eyes also turned red.

"T-That son of a bitch!"

"If not for him, we'd already end this war."

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

War of Valos.

"Enigma would already be dead without him!"

"That son of a bitch toyed us in the Pluto!"

"He even cleared up her reputation!"

Enigma's Pluto Incident.

"As if it wasn't enough, he even found out the potion defects!"

"Imagine, if we were successful in the ploy, humanity's army would crumble due to side effects in a few years."

"We'd have won a war without much fighting."

"My blood boils….If only not for that bastard!"

Gamma potion expo.

One by one, the abyssals spat out Varian's deeds, each of which was nothing short of legendary.

Every time abyssals were about to succeed in a plan that would give them a complete victory, Varian showed up and ruined their plan that took years, if not decades to come close to fruition.

Listening to their words, Varian also took a deep breath.

How many times had humans come close to extinction?

Valos and Gamma potion might seem obvious, but if Enigma was killed, the secret about a traitor sovereign would be buried forever.

While this sovereign might be confident in securing the artifacts and reaching the celestial rank, it's inherently a risky plan. Risky enough that failure would ensue the extinction of humanity.

'They almost killed Sia…these fuckers!' A horrible killing intent shot out of Varian and filled the room.

The gentle wind seemed to turn into sharp, icy blades and seemed to cut on their skin.

Angus looked at Varian and his smile turned even brighter. "You seem to hate Varian a lot."

He mistook the killing intent to be directed at Varian.

Varian was a bit surprised but he stiffly nodded.

His actions also inspired the rest and filled them with courage.

So, they began venting their emotions.

"He's 18? Fucking 18? And reached level 7 in 3 months? Are you fucking kidding?"

Disbelief.

"Arghhh! We need to kill this monster before it kills us!"

Fear.

"Why isn't the demon king doing anything?"

Confusion.

"Did he inform this to his majesty, the emperor?"

Doubt.

The emotions of the group were in turmoil. They went from courteous and logical to emotional and disrespectful.

In the end, they were even questioning the competence of the demon king for not asking the abyss emperor for help.

"Mind your words." In the end, Angus intervened.

His voice was so cold and sharp that everyone instinctively shut up.

Even though he wasn't a prince candidate, he might as well be one.

In fact, there was a provision for him to challenge the winners and get into the group—but he rejected it with contempt.

Despite not being selected, he was, after all, the second strongest in the group. So, his words carried a heavy weight.

"Once we learned about Varian, our king is already doing his best to convey the news to the emperor. In fact, it's the only thing he's been focused on.

If not for Earth's Sovereign keeping him engaged, and he stayed in the abyss, we'd get news of him screaming at the communicators every day.

Trust him, he knows the gravity of the situation. He's trying his best." Angus said with a heavy expression.

"Then why…" A member lowered his head with a dejected expression.

The situation was infinitely more dangerous than they wanted to admit.

If Varian could reach level 7 in 3 months, what would happen after 3 more months? After a year?

Most of their plans were long-term and aimed at winning without causing much damage to themselves.

But since humanity had such a monster, they should rush everything.

Beacuse if they didn't…

They might actually lose. And loss meant total destruction, not just for them but also for their homeland.

"The situation there isn't ideal." Angus looked around and whispered in a low voice.

Varian perked his ears and listened.

'There? The abyssal home base? The one where their emperor is residing?'

"W-What happened…?" Gulping her saliva, a female abyssal asked through chattering teeth.

"I don't know much but….those zion dogs led an attack at a critical point."

Hearing his words, the faces of every abyssal turned gloomy.

'Their homeland is under attack? By whom? Zion dogs?' Varian was surprised. This trip was giving him way more information than expected. He wasn't complaining though.

"Don't worry too much about it. His Majesty the emperor will take care of it. He's just busy." Angus cheered them up.

The participants nodded and clenched their fists.

With eyes filled with burning intensity, they said. "Yeah. His majesty is invincible. We just need to do our job right."

"Yeah, if we get the level 7s can hunt down humans and establish our dominance in the space…"

"We can take down the planetoids one by one!"

"Once we have enough planetoids at hand, we can launch an attack on earth and damage their foundation."

"Yeah! If the balance is broken, we can quickly push them to the edge!"

"Indeed. What if they have Enigma? What if it's even Varian? They can't stop us."

"I'd like Varian to try. Can he even stop us?"

"Even we don't know the location of our princes and princesses on hunting. If not for shortage, we won't be added to the hunt. What can he do?"

"There's no way he could stop us."

Varian's eyes flashed.

'You have no idea.'