Chapter 206: Free Exp

"He’s right! Find the demons!"

"How could this happen? Why were we killing each other?"

"Great God... we’ve committed a crime!"

As Daniel’s voice echoed and the influence affecting their minds was lifted, everyone suddenly came to their senses and realized what kind of atrocity they had been committing.

Both sides stopped immediately, looking at each other before dropping the weapons in their hands.

"Damn it... how is this possible?" Rowan muttered in frustration as he watched everything fall apart, throwing a sharp look at Daniel.

"Who is he? Who the hell is this bastard?! How did he break Velina’s skill?" His eyes filled with killing intent, but he didn’t dare make a move now.

’Retreat. Right now.’ He immediately sent a mental message to all the players, ordering them to drop their weapons and act like the rest of the pilgrims.

Still, he, Zarek, and Velina left the area at once. With smoke still lingering, escaping through the crowd and chaos wasn’t too difficult.

He couldn’t risk staying. If he did, everything would fall on him for sure.

"Nariok, go after them." Daniel, of course, noticed the three trying to escape. How could he just let them run away so easily?

Without hesitation, he sent Nariok after them. As a Dark Elf, Nariok could easily hide in the shadows and track them.

Daniel then turned back to the crowd. His eyes landed on some of the "pilgrims"—or rather, those only dressed like pilgrims, who were actually just players.

"My brothers and sisters! I’ve identified all the demons! The ones who disguised themselves in our sacred robes and infiltrated our gathering! They’re the ones who started the killing—no doubt they’re demons!"

Of course, he couldn’t allow the threat to remain.

He raised his hand, and suddenly death energy burst forth. A wave of black energy surged toward many of the fake pilgrims, and the word demon appeared on their foreheads.

"I’ve marked them! Find them and hunt them down!" Daniel shouted, and the pilgrims immediately charged toward the players.

"Kill the demons! Don’t let those wicked beasts survive!"

"They’re escaping! Don’t let them get away!"

Seeing the crowd rush toward them, the players panicked and immediately tried to flee.

What terrified them even more was how that white-haired guy had identified their identities—who the hell was that bastard?!

"Haha, where do you think you’re running to? This place will be your graveyard!" the pilgrims shouted, some using weapons, others using just fists as they engaged the players in combat.

Realizing they had no choice, the players clenched their teeth and began fighting back.

But the difference in numbers was just too great. There were maybe 200 or 300 players, but the pilgrims numbered in the thousands.

It was basically a one-sided slaughter.

[Ding. You’ve successfully killed a rank-D player. Gained 300 EXP.]

[Ding. You’ve successfully killed a rank-D player. Gained 520 EXP.]

[Ding. You’ve successfully killed a rank-D player. Gained 700 EXP.]

[Ding... ]

As Daniel stood atop the platform watching the players get massacred, a stream of system messages kept appearing in front of him.

A smile slowly formed on his face.

"My plan really was perfect." Naturally, it wasn’t like he was just standing there doing nothing and still earning EXP.

The mark he had placed on the players’ foreheads wasn’t just a word. That demon symbol wasn’t just a visual effect—it contained death energy.

Whenever the pilgrims beat the players near death, that energy would activate, seep into their bodies, and deliver the final blow, killing them.

That way, every single kill would count as his. He was essentially letting the pilgrims do all the work while he harvested the EXP.

"What a mess." A soft, beautiful voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"You came? I thought you’d decide to kill those demons yourself." Daniel glanced at Evangelin.

"Well, their followers will kill them. There’s no need for me to step in."

"Are you okay?" He asked, noticing the sadness in Evangelin’s voice.

"How could I be? Dozens, maybe even hundreds of innocents were killed... and for what? For those filthy demons." Tears welled up in her eyes.

’She believed my words too?’ Daniel didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Not that it was a bad thing.

"It wasn’t your fault. They used some sort of mind control skill to turn the Endurers and Ashbound against each other." He placed his hand gently on her head and gave it a light pat.

"Ah... I understand." Her face immediately flushed red from the unexpected affection.

Still, she didn’t pull away...

It didn’t take long for a large number of guards to storm into the area and begin calming the situation.

Most of the players had been killed by the followers of Eternity. Only about ten to twenty of them were still alive, and they were quickly arrested.

The guards also didn’t forget to carry away the corpses of the dead. Fortunately, many of them weren’t actually dead—just severely injured.

Once this became clear, what was assumed to be a death toll in the hundreds turned out to be just several dozen. The rest were quickly brought to healers and medics.

After ensuring the players were captured and things were under control, the guards began dispersing the pilgrims.

Daniel and Evangelin were about to leave as well, but then something unexpected blocked their path.

Thousands of pilgrims stood in front of them—and more precisely, in front of Daniel—and bowed deeply.

"Thank you so much! If it weren’t for you, we never would’ve realized the vile plot of the demons!"

"I didn’t do anything. I only did what any follower of Eternity should do," Daniel said with a smile as he looked at them.

"Please don’t be so humble. Without you, many more innocent people would’ve died. Maybe even the great god and the Prophet would’ve truly lost faith in us."

Daniel nodded and accepted their thanks. Once the pilgrims felt they had expressed enough gratitude, they began leaving the area.

"I think you’re going to become really popular among the followers of Eternity after this," Evangelin laughed with a faint smile, though sadness still lingered in her eyes.

"How’s the structure of your religion organized? Because when something like this happened, nobody showed up except the guards. Even Paragon Evern ran away." Daniel ignored her comment and asked what had really been on his mind.