Once he heard of Nazaran's shocking betrayal, Burkan asked, "Master, what exactly happened?"

Mahakan was no fool. He knew that in the elite troops' absence, the Evil God Worshippers could strike at the Rakan Temple. Thus, he asked Valan to guard the temple.

"Sraka showed up," Valan said.

The Devil's Sword, Sraka. He was the hardest to deal with. After all, he was a Grandmaster, so only Valan could contend with him in one-on-one combat.

"While I was fighting him, Nazaran fled with the sacred treasure."

"Mm." Burkan bit his lip.

Nazaran's betrayal was an issue. They had prepared for an enemy invasion, but they hadn't realized that they had a traitor in their midst.

"Why would that child...?" Mahakan was in disbelief.

Nazaran was his apprentice, so he knew him best. Betrayal just wasn't in his nature!

"T-That's not possible. Brother would never do such a thing!" Mahakan's second disciple, Saru, yelled. He refused to accept that Nazaran had betrayed them.

"You never know what one might do," Valan said curtly.

Sraka had shown up, Nazaran had betrayed them, and they'd lost the sacred treasure to boot. All of this had happened like clockwork. This had definitely been planned.

"Are we just going to sit here and twiddle our thumbs? We have to follow Nazaran and..." Burkan began.

"They have a woman that's capable of teleportation. That woman already took him away. It's too late," Valan interrupted.

Valan was referring to the Evil God's Second Disciple, Bewitching Sora. She specialized in Jaila's wicked magic and illusions.

Now they understood why only Lubatchi was with the demon army.

Sraka drew Valan's attention, and Amak manipulated Nazaran into stealing the sacred treasure. Once he did his job, Sora teleported him away, and Garup was in charge of transporting their ceremonial tools to their secondary church.

Ultimately, everything went as the Evil God Worshippers wanted. They were probably drinking to celebrate their success right now.

"What do we do now?" Burkan asked.

"War," Valan said.

"Excuse me?"

'Did he just say war?'

"The Evil God Worshippers have reclaimed all of their sacred treasures. Their next step is obvious."

"...Bringing Jaila into this world," Mahakan muttered.

"Those crazy bastards!" Burkan yelled furiously.

A long, long time ago, the Evil God Worshippers started a war that spread across the entire continent. At the time, their goal had been to bring Jaila into this world.

In order to do that, they had to offer up tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of lives. To that end, the Evil God Worshippers started a war, which began an era of misery and tragedy.

And now...

They were trying to go back to that time.

* * *

Countless free cities existed within Arth's central region. Some of them were large cities like Altein, while others were small like Icerin.

Franco was a large city; there were more than 1 million people that lived there!

It was once the capital of the Franco Kingdom, a monarchy that existed before the Altein Empire! It was also called the Mural City.

To this day, Franco's walls retained the murals of the Franco Kingdom. Wherever you went, you'd be able to see these murals all across the city.

Morning, a painting left behind by the genius painter, Leora, was the most famous of them.

Franco was also renowned for its spicy cuisine, as well as their jewelry. Thus, there were always plenty of women shopping for jewelry here.

There was an Adventurer Guild, a bank, an auction house, a department store, etc. Befitting a large city, it had everything you might need.

But no one could have guessed that this city would become a place of tragedy and despair in a single day.

All of a sudden, an oval portal appeared within Franco's largest plaza, Marcione Square. The Evil God Worshippers came out of that very portal.

"Kneel!" Jaila's High Priest, Amak, yelled. He held Jaila's Bronze Knife in his left hand, and Ilunati's Snake in his right. Nemeth's Skull hung from his neck.

Sraka, Sora, Lubatchi, and Garup stood behind him. Hundreds of Evil God Worshippers and starving monsters accompanied them too.

Whir.

Nemeth's Skull began to glow, and purple mist began to spread around Amak.

"Aah!"

"Uaaah!"

Those who inhaled the mist grabbed their heads.

A short while later...

With a vacant look in their eyes, the civilians said only one word.

"Jaila."

"Jaila."

This was the power of Nemeth's Skull.

Forced Conversion!

It was a tremendous ability that transformed normal people into Evil God Worshippers! The sacred treasure's only weakness was its inability to affect the strong-minded. A player with a high Mental stat wouldn't be affected.

"Ugh, Evil God Worshippers!"

"R-Run away!"

"What the hell is going on!?"

"You bastards!"

NPCs and players who'd resisted the effects of Nemeth's Skull defiantly stood before them.

"We'll use the heretics as offerings," Amak said.

Then, the Evil God Worshippers grabbed those who resisted the Forced Conversion.

"Grr, you demons!"

"Die!"

They tried to resist, but the Evil God Worshippers were much too wicked and powerful.

"Let's go." Amak led, and was followed by a long procession of people. This included the Evil God's Disciples, the Evil God Worshippers, and those forcefully converted to serve Jaila.

"Jaila."

"Jaila."

Thousands had been forcefully converted. Plus, this number rapidly increased. The mist, which forced people to serve the Evil God, began spreading throughout the city.

But then...

"Evacuate the civilians! Hurry!"

Franco's guards stood in defiance. There were 10,000 of them.

However, a portion of them had been forcefully converted into Evil God Worshippers, and the other half was forced to retreat, as they couldn't attack the mind controlled civilians.

Jaila's followers went on a rampage, especially Sraka. He showed why he was called the Devil's Sword. None could stop him!

"Uaaahk!"

It was a complete massacre. The bodies began to pile up in the streets.

Once the city's guards were killed, there was no one that could stand up to the Evil God Worshippers.

Although there were plenty of guilds set up here, they either fled the city or hid within their guild headquarters. They had neither the strength nor a reason to get involved.

Thus, Franco City was completely seized by the Evil God Worshippers.

"Set up the altar!" Amak yelled.

"Jaila!"

"Jaila!"

The forcefully converted civilians gathered the ruins of their beloved walls, and used them to construct a giant altar.

The altar was necessary to conduct the ritual to bring Jaila into this world.

"I'll create the Metamorphosis Pool," Sora said.

The Metamorphosis Pool was essentially a monster breeding factory. If corpses or sacrifices were dumped into the pool, then new demons would be spawned.

Amak nodded his head and stared at Garup. "Garup!"

"Yes?" Garup, who was busy eating a corpse, stared at Amak wide-eyed.

"Go to the nearby cities and gather offerings. If we want to call the Supreme One, create more demons, and revive our fallen comrades with Ilunati's Snake, then we'll need more offerings."

"Hehe. Yes, sir." Garup grinned, showing his shining bronze teeth.

"Let's go, Mr. Lubatchi."

Lubatchi, Garup, and the demon army went west of Franco. There was a small city there called Tilan.

* * *

News that the Evil God Worshippers had seized Franco spread far and wide.

Bam!

Burkan forcefully pounded the table with his fist.

"Those crazy bastards!"

He was surrounded by Mahakan, Valan, and the churches' representatives, such as Barus, Odir, and Tasla.

"I told you. War," Valan said firmly. He knew that it'd come to this as soon as they lost the last sacred treasure.

"We have to take care of them ASAP," Burkan said strongly.

Mahakan nodded his head.

"From what we know, Franco is covered by a purple mist of some kind. This mist is probably..." the Bright Paladin, Barus, said.

"Forced Conversion. The power of Nemeth's Skull, which has the Evil God's power to convert others to his cause," Mahakan said.

He was the one who sealed and safeguarded Nemeth's Skull. Thus, he knew exactly what power it held.

"Indeed. Most of Franco's citizens must be under their control by now," Barus said concernedly. They knew what he was worried about.

"Mm."

"So we have to kill innocent civilians!?"

"If we do nothing, they'll bring the Evil God into this world," Judge Odir said. He believed that sometimes, the few had to be sacrificed for the many.

This ideology of his applied to Franco's citizens as well.

"Is there a way to undo the Forced Conversion?" Tasla asked.

"If we kill the disciple who carries it, or we take Nemeth's Skull away from him, then the effects will be undone. But it won't be easy," Mahakan said.

"We should never have lost Nemeth's Skull." Odir furrowed his brow and glanced at Mahakan.

Nazaran's betrayal cut deep. Thus, his teacher, Mahakan, bore the brunt of the responsibility.

Of course, Mahakan wasn't the type of person to avoid taking responsibility for his student's actions. After this war, he planned on giving up his seat as High Priest.

"It's already water under the bridge. Let's deal with that particular issue later, and figure out what we'll do now," Burkan said.

"Yes, let's do that."

"Agreed."

They began a long discussion.

During the meeting, they got word that Tilan, the small city closest to Franco, was destroyed.

Everyone was well aware of the implications. This was only the beginning. The Evil God Worshippers' forces would spread like wildfire, just like in the past.

"We have to deal with this as quickly as possible," Burkan said.

Valan and Mahakan nodded their heads.

"How?" Tasla asked.

"A small group of elite troops will enter the heart of enemy territory," Valan said.

He wanted these people to head over to Franco immediately, and end the threat of the Evil God Worshippers once and for all.

"What if you fail?"

"He's right. There's a high chance you'll fail. And we don't have enough strength on our own," Barus said. In other words, the churches weren't enough.

"We need to gather more manpower," Tasla said. "We need to ask the free cities, the eastern kingdoms, the western grasslands, and the Great Forest for aid. After all, this is an issue that determines the future of the continent," she added.

"While we're busy gathering strength, the Evil God Worshippers will become that much stronger. We have to take into account Nemeth's Skull," Burkan said.

Forced Conversion was too dangerous of an ability to leave in the hands of the enemy. 'You want to leave that with them for the time being!? Are you crazy!?'

"They'll also perform the ceremony to bring Jaila into this world. What if the Evil God appears before we're ready?"

"Mm."

"Hmm."

Mahakan, who'd been quietly listening in, said, "You're both right. So... Let's proceed with both plans!"

It was at this moment that the Protectors of the Continent Brigade was created, a force meant to annihilate the Evil God Worshippers to the last man.

Mahakan was the leader. Although he was at fault for Nazaran's betrayal, he was still the best leader they had.

"Lord Valan, Lord Burkan. I'm counting on you. We'll try to gather reinforcements as fast as we can."

Valan, Burkan, and the 100 Fighters were given the task of keeping the Evil God Worshippers at bay.

"Mr. Barus, please head to the Great Forest. Ms. Tasla, I need you to head to the west. And Mr. Odir, please go to the eastern kingdoms. Tell them what has happened and ask for their aid."

The three representatives went their separate ways in order to unite the continent's forces under one banner.

* * *

When the Evil God Worshippers seized control of Franco, Kang Oh heard the Whispers of the Earth.

"The Evil God Worshippers are preparing a ritual to bring the Evil God into this world. You must stop them."

Then, a quest called 'Stop the Evil God's Descent' appeared. As always, it didn't offer him a single reward.

'Ah, what a pain in the ass,' he thought honestly.

However, he couldn't postpone it, and he couldn't afford not to do it either.

'But Franco? Is that the same Franco I know?'

Kang Oh immediately sent Man Bok a message.

- Did something big happen recently?

- It's absolute chaos.

- Why is that?

- Evil God Worshippers seized Franco City.

- Is it the same Franco that you and I know?

- Yes. The Mural City, Franco.

- Thank you for telling me.

- Please let me know if you need anything.

- I will.

Kang Oh returned to Altein. He needed to see Valan.