Chapter 254: INTERLUDE. The trap

The two messages came almost at the same time, interrupting Rey and Ashe’s pleasant pastime of catching and killing spreading demons. The content of them, though, differed like Hell and Heaven. Rey found it to be an amusing coincidence. His companion had a different, much more focused opinion.

“He hid in Hell all that time? Damn! Rey, you were there—and you didn’t see it?” Ashe asked, staring at Rey in disbelief.

From the two news, the one that was brought by Goddess of Warlocks was, perhaps, the most shocking. She was the only one who managed to successfully interrogate a demon, and the result was astounding.

He raised his hands in a calming gesture, smiling before Ashe jumped to a conclusion and her anger turned on him. Even if he deserved it, even if it was beautiful, Rey didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it. Erupting volcanoes were something any reasonable person would prefer to watch from afar.

“Ashe, don’t you remember? I went there long before got even a wind of Devourer! I didn’t even have his signature to search with… And if he was there at the time, he didn’t attract so much attention that I’d notice his presence.” Rey sighed. The fact that he found him when he did was an accident, as it was. An accident born from a lot of looking around and searching, but still an accident. “We must’ve missed each other.”

Ashe cooled down, and her red lips pulled into a pout. “Too bad. If not for that, we could’ve blasted him much earlier, and now we lost Paladins as well… Not to say he doesn’t deserve to get some of his arrogance beaten out, but to die from Devourer’s jaws?” She shuddered. “Can’t wish that on an enemy. Better to just quickly get annihilated. Snap—and you’re in Heavenly Judgement already.” Ashe cocked her hip and loudly snapped her fingers.

“And Rangers with Wizards got through that twice already… I guess they shouldn’t have followed Paladins together, weakened as they are,” Rey mused aloud.

Inwardly, though, he was doing a much more complex math. Six more gods were hunting for Devourer right now, six more gods Rey wanted for him to kill—here, in the mortal realm, where it will just make them lose the power they accumulated over the years. Power that, to listen to some people, shouldn’t have belonged to them in the first place.

Rey wasn’t sure that if they jumped on Devourer all together they will win. Wasn’t sure at all… But maybe it was the time to step back and just see how events will turn out. Maybe he didn’t get as much as he wanted, but a good gambler knew when to walk out of the game with his winnings.

“Let’s go blast him once and for all!” Ashe exclaimed, almost jumping on her spot with excitement. Rey caught her arm before she could teleport away without him.

“Not so fast. If we just kill him here, we won’t find him in our life again. He’ll just return to Hell somewhere… Or reincarnate from the scratch. Do you want to get this story repeated?” Rey frowned. Of course, angels that guarded Heavenly Judgement were warned against Devourer, but what if he slipped past them somehow? No, one thing Rey knew he and other gods couldn’t let Devourer do is to start it all over.

Ashe paused. “What do you suggest, Rey? And if your answer is going to guard Heavenly Judgement, then I refuse. I’m not going to stand there and do nothing!”

Rey grimaced. He wouldn’t have wanted to stay and guard, either. “Let’s try to convince our recently dead to do that. They are nearby, anyway… Even Wizards will admit that this is only rational.” He smirked, remembering the zeal with which God of Paladins wanted to kill Devourer in the past. “Yes, only rational.”

⠀⠀

God of Paladins disagreed with the rationality of the suggestion, but was outvoted. Goddess of Druids took the role of Goddess of Wizards and cast the searching spell. They flew through the world, seeking the signature brought in a drop of blood—or slime. It was hard to decide what it looked more like, in Rey’s opinion.

And found it.

“At last,” Goddess of Druids said when they teleported. They didn’t go directly at the place, but stood a kilometre away—close enough to scan the village where Devourer hid with magic, far enough to not be noticed.

“At last.” Ashe grinned and lit a tongue of flame on her finger. “What’s the plan?”

“Surround him from all sides. I will send roots through the ground—”

“Then I’ll rain fire from the sky!” Ashe interrupted Goddess of Druids. “And the rest can just do their thing.”

The gods didn’t need explanations of how to do their thing. Centuries of fighting together gave them an excellent knowledge of each other’s abilities and preferred tactics. Looking at all this, Rey even smiled, feeling a sudden bout of nostalgia.

They all forgot about a traitor in their midst, and he didn’t want to remind them. No, when Devourer will be too gone to tell about him out of spite, Rey will come and put the blame on some angel… He already picked one in his head.

And Heaven will be a little better without the most stiff member of their society. Just enough for Rey to live comfortably.

They arrived in the village itself with a second synchronised teleport and spread around its edges. A spell told them where Devourer was hiding—waiting for them, surely—but they kept silent. If he noticed their approach, he didn’t move either, and Rey thought that this was like a game of cards. Both sides knew the other cheated, but didn’t say it aloud.

But the village itself wasn’t quiet. Deserted by its inhabitants—yes—but not quiet. Loud laughter and voices came from the middle of it, and it soon became obvious whose.

“More demons!” The magic message from Goddess of Druids came directly to the ears of other gods, impossible to hear for anyone else. “Weak ones, I presume. Devourer is near them. Let’s keep going.”

They didn’t follow—they all just came to the same conclusion about what to do. Soon, the eight gods stood around the main square, looking in mixed feelings at how two obviously drunk demons threw food at each other.

The darkness—the sun had set, but the moon barely rose over the horizon—wasn’t a problem for them despite the lack of any fires. Nor was the presence of the gods—the demons didn’t notice them at all.

That was the point of coming quietly, without flashing auras and halos, but… Rey scratched his nose and thought that it’s a wonder how with an army like that Devourer killed as many gods as he did.

“Aha! Demons!” Ashe had no such thoughts, apparently. Instead of pausing for even a moment, she just threw a blazing ball of blue fire at one of them, turning the demon into ashes before he could even scream, and jumping to the other one.

This action broke the fragile moment of peace.

The first thing Rey sensed was a slight movement of air around, but he was too busy looking out for Devourer to pay too much heed to it. Then there became just too many distractions.

Devourer hid in a house at the edge of the square, and this was where Goddess of Warlocks shot her rays of dark energy. She was too slow, though—he flew out, leaving the rubble and burning wood behind.

He had to immediately dodge an attack from the roots grown out by Goddess of Druids, and by then God of Fighters crossed his path with a spear in hands. Devourer changed the direction of his flight in an instant, but Ashe rained all four elements from above, as if unsure which to pick against him, but still aiming to not hit other gods.

For a moment, Rey thought he overestimated Devourer, and three gods would’ve been enough. Then, with a wild, beastly grin, Devourer showed that he actually underestimated him.

He darted around again, but when God of Fighters followed, he halted, as if hit by an immobilising spell. Or, Rey realised in the next moment, caught in a web.

His eyes widened. Darkness wasn’t an obstruction for gods—their vision was better than that—but… He looked harder around him, and still could barely glimpse the slightest hint of invisible lines. What’s worse, they were all around him, and around all gods, both those that moved and those that were still standing still, waiting for their moment to strike.

‘But we were just here… How we didn’t step in them on our way in?’ Rey wondered. He shouldn’t have said someone aloud, too, but hesitated. To help Devourer or not to help…

“This is a web of some sort! Careful!” God of Fighters solved his dilemma.

“Yes! Or did you think I will let you kill me again this easily?!”