The Greatest Sinner

"А? How do you know me?"

Evan was sure he had never met this girl before. He didn't understand how she could know him. Evan was wary, this situation seemed very strange to him.

"Don't worry, it's nothing unusual, my name is Avice Ront. As you have already realized, I'm a member of the "Demonic Tree." Before I answer your question, tell me the purpose of your watching us and following me." Avice guessed the reasons for Evan's actions, but she had to be sure of his intentions.

Evan was silent for a while. He decided to answer honestly, there was no point in hiding anything, "It's simple, I want to join you, and so I tried to find members of your organization to talk to. As you can see, I succeeded."

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," Avice suddenly laughed.

"Bitch, it even hurts to laugh, that monster's beat me up so badly, sorry, but it's really funny."

Avice's spatial ring glowed, and a small vial of blue liquid appeared in her hands. She quickly drank it and continued:

"How do you think new people come into a secretive organization like the "Demonic Tree"?" Avice said calmly.

This question threw Evan into a stupor. He wanted to answer that the recruits probably found the "Demonic Tree" members themselves, but he felt he had missed something. Some important detail kept slipping through him.

"Evan, about a year and a half ago, the "Demonic Tree" found out about you. It's not the recruits who find us. We pick the ones we want and offer to join us."

"Hmm, that makes sense, but you took your time, you said a year and a half ago you found out about me? And in all that time, you never once tried to contact me?"

It was strange for Evan, moreover, he didn't even know what criteria the "Demonic Tree" used to select people for its ranks.

"Well, it's not time yet. You must realize that not everyone is worthy of joining us. Sure, strength and skills are important, but there are many other factors as well. I'm not the one who chooses the decent. But I know that my seniors consider you an up-and-coming candidate."

"So why haven't you still come after me if I'm so important?" Evan asked, puzzled.

"It's simple, you're still too weak. You must break through the first "Barrier" on the "One-Pointed Star" stage to join us. That rule applies to everyone, with no exceptions. I was only noticed when I'd broken through my second "Barrier." If you haven't come here yourself, then as soon as you fulfilled the necessary conditions, you would have been found anyway."

"I see, but what do they do with those who refuse? I doubt so many people want to join you, you don't have the best reputation, I'd even say it's the other way around."

"Well, there are two options here. If a potential newcomer behaves aggressively, he will be killed, but they simply wipe their memory in other cases. It's not that hard to do to someone much weaker than you", Avice replied calmly.

Evan nodded: "Well, then, what should I do now?  To break through my first "Barrier" and wait for you coming?"

"Hmm, not really. You're a unique case, as far as I know, it's only happened a few times when a candidate figured out the location of the "Demonic Tree" on his own. You're really not allowed to join us now, but you don't have to wait for their coming. When you break through your first "Barrier," you'll come to us yourself. Here it is."

Avice said and threw a small, scarlet stone in Evan's direction.

"When you're ready, put some mana into this stone, and all the information about one of our bases will appear in your mind. Just be careful, you have to get there without a mask, your face is known, and so you won't be killed."

"Okay, to be honest, it was easier than I thought it would be," Evan mumbled, moving the stone into the spatial ring.

"Alright, I should be getting back now. I'll be glad to have you in our ranks."

Avice was about to leave, but suddenly Evan stopped her.

"Wait, I wanted to ask you something. Your commander, you called him Ryan, what was that spell he used? And what was the "Seven Princes of Hell?"

Evan was very interested in the spell that the magician in the red mask cast. He had never seen anything like it before, and given the power of this spell, Evan felt it had to do with demons.

"The thing is, as you haven't joined the organization yet, I can't fill you in on the details.  I can tell only one thing- to use this spell, you need to learn more about demons. That will be all."

Avice left quickly, she needed to meet her comrades and tell them about her sudden encounter.

<I see, now I'm pretty sure that the 'Demonic Tree" use some other power, it's different from mine...>.

Evan was sure that the "Demonic Tree" knew nothing about the 72 demons whose power Evan used. What's more, they had some kind of system of their own that Evan knew nothing about.

<Am I the only one in this world with this kind of power? This could be my greatest trump card...>.

Evan looked at the forest and wondered what he should do next. He didn't want to go back to Inlas right now, but he didn't particularly want to go to the Academy either.

Crack.

"What the..." While Evan was thinking over the situation, a clawed paw of a monster appeared in the cave. Sharp claws dug into the stone wall and slowly sliced through it.

"Fuck, I was too careless. This monster came here following the smell of Avice's blood."

Evan realized that he had acted recklessly. Blood attracted monsters, and Evan made the big mistake of staying in the cave.

The monster was quite large, it was five meters tall and could not fit into a cave that was only two meters high. It had a lean body, but it had incredibly long and sharp claws.

Evan used the "Eye of Truth" and frowned. The monster's "Pillar of Soul" had one platform and three flames burning brightly on it. His opponent was equal in strength to the magician on the "One-Pointed Star" stage with three broken "Barriers." Now Evan could not handle such an opponent.

In this situation, Evan had only one option - to run.

Whoosh.

He cast the "Ghost Step" and instantly got out of the cave. The monster didn't hesitate to follow him. Evan moved as fast as he could, but the monster kept up with him.

<Damn, I need to change tactics.>

Evan decided to stop running in a straight line and started changing his direction often to throw the monster off balance. But it didn't help. Whenever the monster encountered any obstacle, it simply sliced it apart with a single swing.

In just one minute of pursuit, the monster had already destroyed about a hundred trees.

Evan originally wanted to bump this monster into the Lightning Wolf but gave up on the idea. It was too dangerous, the wolf could take them both out with a single attack.

At that moment, Evan was heading for the two hills behind the forest.