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(I made a mistake from chapter 380 to 385. I misspelled Shade’s name as Warwraith. It’s actually Shade fighting all this while. Not Warwraith.)

The feeling of being stared at by five Overlords wasn’t pleasant. Putting aside that taunting smirk the Overlord Purgatory Shadowcat had on right now, those three horses had on glares that could kill.

“What’s the fun in hiding in that shell, come and out and play, why don’t you?” That cat beckoned at me with his paws. “Negotiations are always better face-to-face, are they not?”

‘Who said I even wanted to talk to you guys at all. I just wanted to watch you guys from the sidelines and munch on some popcorn…’

‘Screw it, since he even went through the trouble of singling me out, I’ll do him this favor. From the looks of things, a fight isn’t likely anyway.’

With that in mind, I confidently stepped out of Devil King Idol’s pocket dimensions, though I left Mo Na and the rest behind.

The moment I jumped out of the massive golem, the eyes of every Purgatory creature present fell on me. It almost felt like the temperature around me rose a few degrees at that instant… Actually, it wasn’t a feeling at all; the temperature of Purgatory was supposed to be a few degrees higher than that of the Devil King Idol’s pocket dimension.

“So about that… Hi, everyone…” I awkwardly said. In the end, only the Hellhound’s clan head gave me an obligatory nod while the four other Overlords ignored me entirely.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true either. The Overlord kitty did give me an intent look that made my hair stand while the Overlords horses all gave me a death stare.

‘Hey, you guys were the one who called me out here… how about showing some warm hospitality over here in Purgatory… Fine. Fine. You can guys just keep on burning over there.’

This awkward silence continued for a few seconds before that shadowy Nightmare Steed spoke up. “Devil, why have you invaded our territory?”

“Because I want the horn of a Nightmare Steed.”

I wasn’t really afraid of him, but a peaceful solution was always best. As everyone knew, I’m a pacifist to the bone.

“Lies!” The corporeal Nightmare Steed vehemently denied my statement. “Shade already stated at the beginning that he was willing to give you a horn and you still chose to fight!”

‘Please, did you think it was easy gathering all these troops to come attack you? You really think a simple horn is enough to satisfy me? Do I look like a beggar to you?’

Naturally, I wasn’t going to say that -that would be too direct. That was why I decided to use a more tactful approach. “Actually, we were here for a holi-”

“We wanted to subjugate you.” The Overlord kitty interrupted me abruptly and defiantly stuck his head up as if he was afraid those three horses wouldn’t get his message. “If everything had gone according to plan, you would have lost this fight already.”

The hiccup that Overlord kitty was alluding to was naturally the appearance of that last Nine-star Purgatory Warhorse. Based on the intelligence reports of the Hellhounds and the Purgatory Shadowcats, the Purgatory Warhorses should only have two Overlords. Yet here they were… with one additional Overlord…

While a new Overlord wasn’t going to be as strong as them, he was more than enough to bully a bunch of lower-starred creatures.

“Curse you! You really think our clan is that weak?!”

The corporeal Nightmare Steed would have already bitten that Overlord kitty if he could. Yet just when said cat had thoroughly earned the hatred of that Nightmare Steed, he unapologetically tossed that hot potato into my hands. “No use staring at me like that, it’s not like I was the one who started this whole war.”

So who was the one who started war? Naturally, that would be yours truly… Thus, I had no choice but to suffer three decidedly angry glares once more. If glares could kill a person, I would have died a million times over.

“I thought you guys called me here for a peace talk…”

‘I give up. Being stared at like that by three sets of eyes who clearly wanted me dead yesterday was pressure enough, but that blasted cat just had to make things worse for me. From the very beginning, he kept stirring them up then just tossed it all on me… if you’re looking for death, you didn’t have to find me, you know.’

“There’s no point staring at that Devil so hard. Not like your stares can kill.”

The moment he said that, their gazes were immediately drawn back to him. Faced with their withering glares, he not did not feel any pressure at all. He even seemed to be enjoying it as he lazily stretched his back and brushed his fur. “What? Not like I was lying or anything. No matter how much you stare at her, she isn’t going to drop dead. Not unless you plan on biting her to death.”

‘Cat brother, I was wrong… Even though I don’t know where I went wrong, but I was wrong. And aren’t we on the same side, why are you even asking him to bite me? I never offended you, have I?’

‘And that big horsie over there, just calm down. You’re scaring me over here. I should have just stayed in the Devil King Idol. I thought that warriors at your level would at least have some principles… clearly, I was wrong. Principles aren’t even worth the letters used to spell them. If only I had known…’

“Alright, that’s enough bullying the kid for now.” As always, it was the Hellhound’s clan head who came to the rescue. “You are right, there’s no need to fight now, so let’s talk this out.”

They were right, of course. There was no point continuing to fight. While the Purgatory Warhorses did have three Overlords, the other two Overlords weren’t exactly pushovers either. In a desperate fight, the both of them combined could at least drag another Overlord down with them, or maybe even two. Barring those battle maniacs, the stronger a warrior was, the more he valued his life. After all, the stronger they got, the longer was their lifespan as well.

Furthermore, the life of an Overlord was inextricably linked to the prosperity of a clan. Basically, unless one’s clan had an Overlord, they were nothing more than meat for the picking. The strength of an Overlord was just that overwhelming. Even though neither side had made a move yet, a simple stop was enough to pause a fight that was only getting more intense by the second.

Unless one forgot, other than my lifeless golems, every other combatant stopped fighting the moment that command was given, regardless of whether they were Hellhounds, Purgatory Shadowcats or Warhorses. Why? Because that was the authority an Overlord held inside a clan.

The Hellhound’s clan head interruption had brought our conversation back to the main point once more. The three enemy Overlords turned their gazes back to me at that very instant as well. Thankfully, I was now accustomed to their pressure partly due to that blasted cat’s tomfoolery.

Having given it some thought as well, I decided it was better to just speak the truth -I wasn’t exactly a gifted liar, after all. Naturally, if there were certain matters that were inconvenient to bring up, I would just avoid them.

“Not too long ago, I received a certain mission.” With that one opening, I had successfully drawn the attention of all the Overlords present. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. “My mission was to conquer the entirety of Sable Radiance…”

Shameless Self-promotion

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.