The Infernal Dragon Nest—the lair of the Infernal Blood Dragon.
For half-god dragons, their lairs are the embryonic form of their divine kingdom, which they will fully establish upon ascending to godhood.
Inside the dragon nest, Rosen used his Omniscient Magic Eye to observe the Nightmare Dragon Spider and let out a sigh of relief upon seeing it begin to recall its avatars.
The more avatars the Nightmare Dragon Spider sends out, the weaker its main body becomes. Conversely, the more avatars it recalls, the stronger its true form grows.
To hunt down the Infernal Blood Dragon, the Nightmare Dragon Spider would inevitably withdraw almost all of its avatars to concentrate its power.
Of course, it would still keep a few hidden away as a safeguard, but the fewer avatars it had, the easier it would be to deal with.
Although the Nightmare Dragon Spider had taken the bait, simply luring it in wasn't enough to kill it.
While it wasn't as proficient in combat as an Elemental True God, it was undoubtedly among the top tier of True Gods.
Rosen was confident he could kill the Nightmare Dragon Spider, but he wasn't sure he could do so quickly.
If he failed to eliminate it swiftly, he would inevitably alarm the other Evil Gods.
Ordinary Evil Gods weren't a problem, but there was one among them with the power of an Eternal God-Demon—someone Rosen absolutely couldn't afford to provoke.
Evil Gods may be universally despised, but in the eyes of the World Will, they were like beloved children.
That's why Evil Gods thrived in the New World. Otherwise, past hegemonic civilizations would have wiped them out long ago.
Over the eons, seven Evil Gods had ascended to Forbidden True Gods.
However, six of them later transformed into Forbidden True Demons, betraying the World Will after becoming Great True Gods.
When the World Will was sealed back then, these six Evil Gods had undoubtedly played a part in the conspiracy.
The sole exception—the strongest among them—had not betrayed the World Will. Instead, after receiving its guidance, it discovered the Eternal Source of the Ancient Gods and used it to ascend to an Eternal God-Demon, becoming the trump card the World Will used to deter the World Government.
Rosen's Omniscient Magic Eye was powerful, but it wasn't quite strong enough to glimpse into the information of an Eternal God-Demon.
His knowledge about the Evil Gods came from secrets he had gleaned using the Omniscient Magic Eye on Barry—the strongest human knight.
It had to be said that the Great True Gods behind the World Government placed immense trust in Barry.
Within the World Government, Barry's status was on par with any True God.
In fact, when it came to matters regarding the Old Continent and the secrets of the World Will, Barry knew more than many True Gods.
The reason the Eternal Evil God in Hell remained in slumber was due to an injury it had suffered during its ascension.
Although it had successfully ascended, its Eternal World had fallen into the hands of the six Forbidden Evil Gods.
Its very foundation had been wounded, forcing it into deep hibernation, where it required long periods of rest just to awaken momentarily.
Rosen wasn't sure whether killing the Nightmare Dragon Spider would awaken the Eternal Evil God.
Sealing an Evil God was one thing—but killing one outright would inevitably offend the World Will.
Because once an Evil God died, all the resentment it had absorbed would disperse back into the world, forcing the World Will to bear the burden itself.
The reason Barry had been able to convince the World Will to grant him a position so easily was very likely linked to his past slaying of the Mother of Flesh.
Thus, if Rosen wanted to hunt the Nightmare Dragon Spider, he had to act swiftly and leave no room for error.
His gaze, through the Omniscient Magic Eye, fell upon the Deception Evil God. Perhaps it could be useful.
The Nightmare Dragon Spider believed it had enslaved the Deception Evil God, successfully turning it into its subordinate deity.
However, what it didn't realize was that the Deception Evil God had been acting all along.
The Nightmare Dragon Spider had fallen completely for the Deception Evil God's lies.
Even if Rosen didn't kill the Nightmare Dragon Spider, that cunning spider would sooner or later die at the hands of the Deception Evil God.
—Inside the Maze of Deception, the divine kingdom of the Deception Evil God.
In one section of the labyrinth, countless spider-type Beyonder creatures were being reared.
The Deception Evil God swung the Blade of Deception, cutting down spiders one by one—not killing them, but leaving them gravely wounded. Behind him, the ground was littered with spiders writhing in agony, their piercing screams bringing a sickly smile to his face.
As an Evil God, the Deception Evil God had his own pride.
He could lower himself and pretend to be a subordinate deity to deceive the Nightmare Dragon Spider, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it.
So after every meeting with the Nightmare Dragon Spider, he needed to vent his resentment.
"Evil Gods are all a little twisted," Rosen muttered with a frown as he followed behind the Deception Evil God.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?"
The Deception Evil God's expression flickered with surprise as he spun around to face Rosen in shock.
This was his divine kingdom—yet someone had snuck up behind him unnoticed.
Upon realizing it was the Infernal Blood Dragon, the Deception Evil God instantly understood. This couldn't be the real Infernal Blood Dragon. The fake dragon had to be here for the Nightmare Dragon Spider—and worse, it probably knew he was only pretending to be a subordinate deity. Otherwise, it wouldn't have appeared here.
Rosen dispelled his disguise. Seeing his true face, the Deception Evil God was even more certain of his guess.
"You've come to join forces against the Nightmare Dragon Spider."
"Correct."
Rosen nodded firmly.
The Deception Evil God looked at Rosen's confident demeanor and, for a moment, found him even more infuriating than the Nightmare Dragon Spider.
The fact that Rosen was here instead of the Infernal Blood Dragon meant that the dragons of the Dragon Realm had already been wiped out.
Given what he had learned about the Arcane Emperor's past battle with Rosen, this monster—despite only being Sequence 0—possessed power that wasn't just equal to his own but might even surpass it.
If he dared to refuse, Rosen would likely strike him down on the spot.
"We need to discuss this properly," the Deception Evil God said helplessly.
Inside the Deception Evil God's divine palace, the two exchanged information on the Nightmare Dragon Spider.
To his shock, the Deception Evil God realized that Rosen knew almost as much about the Nightmare Dragon Spider as he did.
Rosen had come to him for one reason alone—he was worried that the Nightmare Dragon Spider wouldn't die fast enough and might awaken an Eternal Evil God.
The Deception Evil God had never known that an Eternal God-Demon lay dormant in the depths of Hell.
If this information spread, every Evil God in Hell would likely flee.
Although Evil Gods rarely engaged in fights to the death due to pressure from the World Will and the other gods, that didn't mean they never clashed.
What if the Eternal Evil God decided to enslave them all as his subordinate deities?
The Deception Evil God had already made up his mind. Once the Nightmare Dragon Spider was dead, he would leave Hell far behind.
To completely kill the Nightmare Dragon Spider, they had to eliminate all its avatars.
In the past, the Nightmare Dragon Spider had made an enemy of a hegemonic civilization, ultimately drawing the wrath of a Great True God and dozens of True Gods. Together, they had dragged it out of hiding, captured it alive, and interrogated its divinity to annihilate every known avatar.
Yet even that wasn't enough to truly kill the Nightmare Dragon Spider—because aside from its known avatars, it had unknown ones as well.
The Nightmare Dragon Spider could plant some of its avatars inside the dreams of long-lived creatures, sever its connection to them through a special technique, then erase all divine awareness linked to those avatars.
Even the Nightmare Dragon Spider itself didn't know where some of its avatars were hidden.
In the end, it wasn't until that hegemonic civilization was completely destroyed that the Nightmare Dragon Spider managed to resurrect itself through a mere Sequence 9 avatar and return to the world.
Once it regained its strength, it launched a crazed vendetta, exterminating every last descendant of that civilization.
All of this was information the Nightmare Dragon Spider had deliberately leaked, and it had been verified as completely true.
Its message was simple: If you fail to kill me, be prepared to suffer my endless revenge.
Because the Nightmare Dragon Spider was too difficult to deal with—too hard to kill—True Gods of all races preferred not to provoke it.
Of course, that didn't mean the Nightmare Dragon Spider acted recklessly. It knew better than to go too far and be hunted down like a stray dog over and over again.
One of the reasons the Deception Evil God targeted the Nightmare Dragon Spider was tied to that destroyed civilization.
The person he cherished most had been one of its descendants—ultimately slain by the Nightmare Dragon Spider's fangs.
Since a subordinate deity could never betray their main god, the Nightmare Dragon Spider placed great trust in the Deception Evil God.
After serving as a subordinate deity for tens of thousands of years, the Deception Evil God had largely figured out the Nightmare Dragon Spider's resurrection mechanism.
First and foremost, as long as the main body remained alive, all avatars had to remain in eternal slumber.
Since these avatars were completely severed from the main body, if one were to awaken while the main body still lived, it would naturally develop independently and believe itself to be the true body. At that point, either the main body or the avatar would have to die.
Thus, the Nightmare Dragon Spider had mastered a method to awaken its avatars the moment its main body perished.
Through his investigations, the Deception Evil God discovered that this method was linked to the Will of the World.
The Nightmare Dragon Spider had struck some kind of deal with the Will of the World—if its main body ever truly perished, the Will of the World would awaken its avatars.
Therefore, to completely eradicate the Nightmare Dragon Spider, one had to rely on the Will of the World to locate all the sleeping avatars.
Because this secret involved the Will of the World, the Deception Evil God had never spoken of it, and even Rosen's Omniscient Magic Eye couldn't peer into it.
Now that they knew the truth, it was clear—killing the Nightmare Dragon Spider completely was impossible.
...
In the Nightmare Abyss, the Deception Evil God suppressed his nervousness as he cautiously ventured deeper.
The Nightmare Dragon Spider's web of nightmares stretched throughout the abyss, and the moment the Deception Evil God set foot inside, it sensed his presence.
If it had been anyone else, they would have been attacked immediately. Only the Deception Evil God was allowed to approach the Nightmare Dragon Spider's true form.
"You're back so soon. What good news have you brought me?"
The Nightmare Dragon Spider gazed down at the Deception Evil God with anticipation.
In that instant, an identical Deception Evil God appeared behind it—looking exactly like the one standing beneath its divine throne.
Gripping the Blade of Deception, he thrust it forward, piercing straight through the Nightmare Dragon Spider's heart.
Meanwhile, the Nightmare Dragon Spider remained oblivious, continuing its conversation with the Deception Evil God at its feet.
Seizing the opportunity, the Deception Evil God behind it drove the Blade of Deception with full force into the back of the Nightmare Dragon Spider's head, stabbing directly into its Sea of Consciousness.
Only then did the Nightmare Dragon Spider finally sense that something was wrong.
Just as the Deception Evil God understood the Nightmare Dragon Spider, the Nightmare Dragon Spider also understood its subordinate deity.
Though the Deception Evil God had concealed his core techniques, most of his methods couldn't escape the Nightmare Dragon Spider's notice.
It immediately realized what had happened—the Deception Evil God beneath its throne was a fake, nothing more than an illusion of deception. The real one was the figure who had suddenly appeared behind it, dealing devastating blows to both its heart and its Sea of Consciousness.
Because the Deception Evil God had deceived its perception, it hadn't even realized its heart had been injured.
It wasn't until its Sea of Consciousness suffered severe damage that it finally broke free from the deception.
Had the Nightmare Dragon Spider remained highly vigilant, the Deception Evil God's perceptual deception would have been nearly impossible to achieve.
But after serving as its subordinate deity for tens of thousands of years, the Nightmare Dragon Spider had long since lowered its guard against the Deception Evil God, never once considering the possibility of betrayal.
Enraged beyond reason, the Nightmare Dragon Spider immediately invoked its dominion over its subordinate deity.
A subordinate deity was akin to a servant because its divinity was not under its own control but in the hands of its main god. The main god could destroy the subordinate deity's divinity at any time, erasing even the divine essence fused within it.
Yet, what infuriated the Nightmare Dragon Spider even more was that it had lost control over the Deception Evil God's divinity.
This meant that the Deception Evil God had never been its true subordinate deity. From the very beginning, it had been deceived.
In an instant, the Nightmare Dragon Spider reverted to its true form—a black spider no larger than a fist.
Its Nightmare Domain expanded, drawing upon the nightmare laws of the entire Nightmare Abyss, enveloping the Deception Evil God as he attempted to escape and forcibly dragging him into a dream.
But at that very moment, the Deception Evil God beneath the throne also made his move.
Rosen, disguised as the Deception Evil God, revealed the long-prepared Wrath of the Dragon God—a transcendent bullet.
This single bullet contained the Judgment of the Sacred Relic, a Tier 13 magical artifact.
It was the most powerful single-target magic controlled by the Goddess of Magic. Judgment of the Sacred Relic unleashed devastating power by completely annihilating an extraordinary artifact—the stronger the destroyed relic, the greater the resulting damage.
And Rosen had chosen to destroy the Winter Reliquary, a miracle artifact of a true god.
A terrifying frost erupted from the Nightmare Dragon Spider's divine palace, spreading outward in an instant and freezing the entire Nightmare Abyss.
Seizing this moment, the Deception Evil God unleashed the full extent of the Power of Deception he had accumulated over tens of thousands of years.
From the moment he had begun deceiving the Nightmare Dragon Spider, the longer it trusted him, the stronger this deceptive power became.
Thus, even the Nightmare Dragon Spider's memories had been deceived, causing it to involuntarily utter a phrase:
"I willingly offer my loyalty to the great Ancient God..."
In the Nightmare Dragon Spider's manipulated memories, it was not under attack. Instead, the Ancient God had suddenly awakened and stood before it.
Faced with the Ancient God, it dared not resist in the slightest, and under the Deception Evil God's guidance, it instinctively spoke those words.
And the moment those words were spoken, an invisible condition was met—activating Greedy Payment.
The miracle trait Greedy Payment allowed the acquisition of anything publicly offered for sale at zero cost.
A public offering wasn't limited to physical goods—loyalty could also be a commodity.
By offering loyalty, the Nightmare Dragon Spider had effectively sold its loyalty.
For a transaction to be public, there needed to be more than one other being present—this condition had already been fulfilled.
Thus, by merely uttering its pledge of loyalty to the Ancient God, the Nightmare Dragon Spider had met the criteria for a public sale.
The Golden Divine Bull, already prepared in advance, wasted no time activating Greedy Payment.
It forcibly purchased the Nightmare Dragon Spider's loyalty—allowing Rosen to claim it in an instant.
"Recall all your known avatars and take your divine kingdom into mine."
Rosen commanded.
The Nightmare Dragon Spider hesitated for a moment but ultimately recalled all its known avatars.
Then, unwillingly, it transformed the Nightmare Abyss into a dream, withdrew it into its Sea of Consciousness, and entered the Ancient God's True Realm.
Loyalty was an inherently unstable thing, prone to change over time.
Although Rosen had purchased the Nightmare Dragon Spider's loyalty through Greedy Payment, if he were to command it to commit suicide, its loyalty would instantly turn into hostility.
Thus, it was best to capture it in the Ancient Town Divine Realm before its loyalty had time to waver—trapping it like a turtle in a jar.
As for why loyalty was purchased instead of divine essence, divinity, or self-awareness, it was because even if the Nightmare Dragon Spider's memories had been deceived, making it mistake the Ancient God for having awakened before it, it would still be forced to express loyalty when asked. But if asked for its life, it would resist to the death.
The core principle of deception was to never force the target to act against its own will.
Convincing someone who didn't want to die to willingly embrace death was far harder than making someone who already wanted to die commit suicide.
Forcing the Nightmare Dragon Spider to kill itself through falsified memories would have been nearly impossible—unless the Deception Evil God had ascended to the rank of a Great True God.
But even without that, it made little difference. Now that the Nightmare Dragon Spider had entered the Ancient God's True Realm, there was no chance of it leaving alive.
Rosen activated Data Transmission to exit Hell, while the Deception Evil God immediately returned to the Labyrinth of Deception, preparing to flee.
Beneath the small World Tree of the Ancient God's True Realm, the Nightmare Dragon Spider paced back and forth, restless and uneasy. It couldn't understand—why had it sworn allegiance to Rosen?
After distancing himself from Hell, Rosen approached the Nightmare Dragon Spider without delay. "If I give you the chance to become an Immortal God-Demon, would you be willing to trade your Nightmare Law for it?"
"An Immortal God-Demon? Of course, I'd be willing." The Nightmare Dragon Spider blurted out the truth, unable to control itself.
"If I give you the chance to become an Immortal God-Demon, would you be willing to trade your Nightmare Dragon Source for it?" Rosen asked again.
"An Immortal God-Demon? Of course, I'd be willing." Once more, the Nightmare Dragon Spider spoke the truth involuntarily.
"If I give you the chance to become an Immortal God-Demon, would you be willing to trade your Curse Law for it?" Rosen asked one final time.
"I... I wouldn't..." The Nightmare Dragon Spider struggled to reply, barely restraining itself from attacking Rosen.
Rosen sighed. It seemed this was the most he could extract.
The Deception Evil God didn't just master deception—he also controlled the Law of Lies. After being deceived by him for tens of thousands of years, the Nightmare Dragon Spider had unknowingly revealed many secrets, its words influenced by the power of lies.
By mimicking the Deception Evil God's abilities, Rosen successfully guided it into speaking the truth repeatedly. However, for the Nightmare Dragon Spider, speaking the truth was actually against its own will.
Thus, after uttering just two truthful statements, its loyalty had already completely deteriorated. But that was enough.
The public sale conditions for Greedy Payment had been fulfilled.
The Golden Divine Bull activated the Greedy Wallet's Greedy Payment, forcibly acquiring the Nightmare Law and Nightmare Dragon Source at zero cost. These were exactly what the Miracle Fairy Dragon—the Little Dragon Girl—needed most. With them, she would have no difficulty becoming an Immortal God.
Through his discussions with the Deception Evil God, Rosen had also realized that he didn't need to kill the Nightmare Dragon Spider completely.
Hunter Points could be exchanged for its power. And as long as the Greedy Payment conditions were met, zero-cost acquisition would always be an option.
Now, having completely lost its Nightmare Law and Nightmare Dragon Source, the Nightmare Dragon Spider stared at Rosen in terror. All it had left was the Nightmare Abyss Divine Kingdom and the Curse Law, making it no different from an ordinary True God. Before it could even attempt to flee, it was already surrounded by the Golden Divine Bull and the Miracle Golem.
Less than half an hour later, the Nightmare Dragon Spider had been beaten to the brink of death and sealed away.
(End of Chapter)