The Commandments

Chapter 4

He paused his laughter and immediately adopted a solemn expression.

The hunters were alarmed because they thought it was their time to die and they would follow Caleb's example.

"No, no, I'm not going to kill you guys right now."

He intended to mock them by laughing at them, but the hunters' faces were as lifeless and pale as usual.

"Tsk! What an uninteresting fellow."

He then explained what would happen to them from now on, and he told them that if they passed some sort of test, they would have a chance to live, but if they failed, they would die horribly.

"I'm in a good mood today, so if you pass this test, I'll give you all a chance to live."

The hunters were confused by what he said, but at the same time, the hope that they had lost was restored.

"I-is that true?"

Jarred dared to question the demon about the authenticity of his words. The demon was enraged by it.

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE RIGHT NOW?"

Estaros yelled angrily at Jarred.

"N-no, I'm s-sorry."

He knelt down and asked for forgiveness while stammering his words.

Estaros did not kill him because he believed that killing an insect was a waste of time.

"From now on, none of you dare respond to me if I don't permit it."

Estaros was threatening them.

"All right, then, let's get started."

Estaros snapped his fingers while raising his arms to his sides.

SNAP

RUMBLE

The ground was rumbling.

Jarred and the others were taken aback by what was going on right now.

As he snapped his fingers, statues began to rise from the ground beside the wall.

RUMBLE

There are numerous statues surrounding them. Different statues hold various weapons and instruments.

It took Jarred and the others by surprise. They didn't understand what it meant, which added to their confusion.

On each side of the door, there were two knight statues. Each possessed a long stone sword. They appear to serve as a guard.

But wait, there's more. The one in the room's middle caught their attention because it surprised them the most.

The statue, which resembled the demon Estaros, was enormous.

A humanoid monster with five horns instead of two. It had the shape of a crown.

The statue was enormous, twice the size of any other statue in the room.

"Be thankful, humans. This is the face of our king, Demon King Lucifiero."

They were all taken aback. Their eyes were wide open, as were their mouths. They had never seen the demon king's face before.

Their expressions revealed that they were terrified.

That statue of the demon king stood frozen beside Estarosa.

"Oh, I almost forgot. "

SNAP

He snapped his fingers once more.

Then, out of nowhere, a stone tablet with the rune language written on it appeared in front of them.

The Rune language is a language found only in dungeons. Only an experienced hunter will be able to decipher them.

Mike approached it, curious, and called Ben.

"There's something written here, Mr. Ben."

Ben walked over to the tablet.

"It's called a rune language."

The other hunters were muttering about it being a rune alphabet.

Ben then read it out loud.

The Commandments for Serving the King

1. Worship the king

2. Praise the king

3. Prove your devotion to the king.

Those who do not obey these commands will perish at the hands of the king.

When the others heard it, they were confused. They started conversing and asking each other questions about it.

"What does this all mean?"

Ben was also perplexed and didn't comprehend the situation or the rationale behind the creation of the three Commandments.

"Good luck to you all."

Estaros said something to them, then vanished into thin air.

RUMBLE!!

The ground began to tremble suddenly, and behind the large statue, a throne rose out of the ground.

THUD!

The statue of the demon king began to approach the throne.

THUD!

THUD!

"What exactly was it?"

THUD!

The rumbling came to a halt, and he sat on the throne.

"What will happen now?"

They were at a loss for what to do.

Jarred noticed his teammates trembling in fear. Of course, he was also trembling in fear.

The room became strangely silent and eerie all of a sudden.

"What's with the silence?"

Even the sounds of the torches burning could no longer be heard.

"What should we do from now on, Mr. Ben?"

Ashley inquired, her eyes welling up with tears.

"I have no idea!"

Ben was frustrated and didn't know what to do, so he reacted angrily to Ashley.

"..."

Wendy's expression changed abruptly, and Mike was taken aback by what he saw.

"Are you okay, Ms. Wendy?"

"T-the statue."

Wendy's trembling pointer finger drew Mike's attention. She was pointing to the statue of the demon kings.

"What's the problem?"

Mike cocked his head, confused.

Jarred was picking up on some strange feelings at the same time.

While Ben was reading the contents of the stone tablet earlier, Jarred heard Ben's voice in his mind.

'Worship the king, Praise the king, Prove your devotion to the king; Those who do not obey these commands will perish at the hands of the king.'

Jarred looked at the demon kings' statue as he continued thinking about the commandments that were written on the stone tablet.

The statue's mouth was slowly opening, and light could be seen emanating from it.

Jarred's perception was already at its best, and he could foresee what would happen next.

"E-everyone!! Get down!! We are going to die! "

Almost simultaneously, a white beam shot from the mouth of the demon king statue.

ZAAAP!!

They quickly dropped their bodies to the ground after Jarred yelled. To avoid it, Jarred clutched Shaine.

Jarred was directly in the path of the beam while he was standing there.

Unfortunately, not everyone had Jarred's good fortune.

"Kyaaaaak!"

Wendy let out an ear-piercing scream.

"N-NOOO!!"

Wendy observed Jacob being engulfed by the white beam. It had melted his body so completely that his foot was all that remained.

"Blaargh!"

Ashley started to throw up when she saw it.

The surviving hunters started to panic.

"Kyaaaaakkk!"

None of them had ever before in their life endured a severe onslaught like that.

Jarred noticed Shaine's fear when he saw her. He also observed that the beam had severed Joe's left arm.

"Mr. Joe, y-your hand."

"Yeah, but thanks to your scream earlier, I managed to survive, though my left arm did not."

He said to Jarred and swiftly requested his assistance in stopping the bleeding.

He reached into his bag for a bandage and wrapped it around Joe's left side.

He then instructed Shaine to stop the bleeding in Joe's arm.

"Mr. Jarred, h-how did you know?"

Ben inquired, as he was taken aback by the notion that, thanks to Jarred, he was still alive.

"I was just thinking something was amiss when I noticed the statue opening its mouth."

"I see."

Ben started to lose his self-confidence, which is unusual for him.

"Could you possibly have some information, Mr. Jarred?"

The other hunters heard Joe's query and gazed at Jarred as they awaited his response.

"I-I think I know how to survive on this test."

Jarred informed them that they had a chance of survival and instructed them on how to accomplish it. He also explained the precepts written on the stone tablet to them.

"The commandments... We must obey them in order to survive."

The surviving hunters were puzzled by what Jarred had said.

"What exactly do you mean?"

Joe questioned Jarred since he didn't know what he was getting at.

"The first commandment is to worship the king. The demon king statue approached the throne but didn't attack us until he sat down.

"..."

"Does it indicate the test has already begun, Mr. Jarred?"

Ben inquired, nervously swallowing his saliva.

"Yes."

"Did we pass the test already?"

Ashley inquired, her knees quivering with terror.

"I hope so, but I don't think so."

"Can you explain why?"

Joe had no idea what Jarred was talking about.

"There should be changes if we pass, but there aren't."

Jarred looked at the demon king statue while the hunters continued to lay on the ground shivering in fear.

Jarred tried to lift his body up, thinking that he needed to do something here, but someone grabbed him and pulled him down.

It was Shaine, and even though she was quivering in terror and her breathing was becoming more difficult by the second, she was still worried about Jarred.

"D-don't..."

Her voice was stuttering, and she had tears in her eyes. Jarred was unhappy, but he did as she was told.

"Everyone, let's stay right where we are."

Everyone's gaze was fixed on Jarred. Because of Jarred, they were able to survive, therefore they listened to him.

'There must have been something we overlooked, something...'

He had been thinking about it continuously, and he understood that the key to their salvation was hidden in that 'something.'

It was then.

"I can't stay like this forever."

Ben rose to his feet and braced himself for battle. He grabbed his shield and mace and dashed towards the statue to attack it. Ben was ready to be hired by a large guild after his abilities were recognized by them.

"N-no!!"

Jarred warned Ben not to attack it.

"I'm not going to die here today."

The statue was his target.

He sprinted toward the statue and utilized all of his abilities.

"D*mn it..."

Jarred couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Unfortunately, the statue opened its mouth again and discharged the light beam.

ZAAAP!

Ben was hit by the beam and vaporized, just as Jarred had predicted. Even his flesh and blood had vanished as if he had been teleported somewhere else.

"Kyaaak!"

There was a clearly audible cry from Ashley.

It will not attack them as long as they stay low to the ground.

The other hunters' expressions were frozen.

"Oh my goodness."

"B-blerrgh!"

Ashley started to empty her stomach.

Jarred's face was frozen as well.

'As I suspected, the statue could easily murder us if it so desired, so why hadn't it?'

It was an entirely different pattern of behavior than monsters who attacked as soon as they saw humans.

"As I suspected, the commandments, I believe those are the rules, and we should follow them."

"...Worship your king."

That was the first commandment.

"What should we do if we have to worship a king?"

Jarred had questions for them and was looking for answers.

"..."

"Everyone, we must bow and kneel before the king."

After hearing from Jarred, the others became perplexed and tilted their heads.

"To kneel and bow...?"

The other hunters started to exchange glances with one another.

"What bullshi*t are you talking about, Mr. Jarred?"

"Have you gone insane?"

Mike's cheeks turned bright crimson as he felt enraged by Jarred's suggestion.

"Keok"

Jarred bit the inside of his bottom lip.

Three of their teammates died. As a result, the other hunter would curse him for telling them to kneel in front of that thing.

It was easy to understand how these hunters felt at the time.

Jarred's theory has no logical explanation or facts to back it up. He simply has his instincts.

However...

"I'll do as Jarred instructed."

Joe had agreed to do what Jarred had proposed. Everyone's gaze was drawn to him right away.

"I-i'll do that as well."

Shaine agreed with Jarred since she trusted him.

"Can't you guys trust Mr. Jarred? He was the only reason we all lived at this point."

"..."

Following Joe's words, everyone fell silent.

"Are you going to kneel before that fucking statue?"

As the other hunters started to panic, Joe turned to stare at Jarred.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Mr. Jarred?"

Jarred simply nodded his head.

"We must all try rather than do nothing."

Jarred and Shaine were the first to kneel, followed by Joe.

When the hunters noticed Joe kneeling before the statue, the atmosphere became awkward and silent.

"He really is doing it."

"Everyone, please kneel and bow before the statue; we might make it out alive."

Jarred yelled pleadingly at them.

Might live.

These are just a simple words, but they have a great impact.

"We might get out of here alive?"

"With only kneeling?"

Gradually more of the hesitant hunters knelt down on the ground, and even Mike, who was whining, was kneeling before the statue himself.

However, no noticeable changes have occurred in the scenario.

'Did I make a mistake?'

Jarred looked around to see if there was anything he had overlooked. He then noticed Wendy, who was so terrified, like a scared cat, that she wasn't properly bowing to the statue.

When Joe noticed Jarred looking at Wendy, he knew what it meant. Joe and Wendy locked gazes. Wendy followed what Joe meant to her as he nodded slowly at her.

Jarred was grateful to Joe.

"I appreciate it."

Jarred spoke in a quiet voice.

They all knelt and bowed to the statue. Something finally began to change.

"H-huh??!"

Jarred was the first to notice the changes and raised his voice.