Villain MMORPG: Almighty Devil Emperor and His Seven Demonic Wives - Chapter 1582

Chapter 1582: Wasted Among Mediocrity
Villain Ch 1582. Wasted Among Mediocrity

“You mean the one where you called me emotionally unstable and said your talents were being ‘wasted among mediocrity’?” Kael replied, eyes cold. “No. Why would I be mad?”

She gave a practiced shrug. “It wasn’t personal. It was… factual.”

“Yeah. That’s the problem. You never know the difference,” he muttered, walking past her.

She said nothing, but the smile on her lips was tight, unreadable. She could feel the eyes on her. Some glances from allies—confused or suspicious. Others simply too tired to care.

Sophia had a plan.

She always did.

She didn’t need to shine now. Not during the early fights. No, the smart move was to wait. Wait until the mana ran dry. Until the frontline faltered. Until Father^Alex collapsed from overchanneling and all the potions were gone. Then she’d step forward. Cast her radiant chain heals, unleash her stored holy skills in a brilliant display, and save the raid.

And they’d remember her for that.

Not for the drama.

Not for the guild split.

But for the moment she “turned it all around.”

Let them sweat now.

The group began regrouping—checking inventories, healing injuries, pulling down respawn timers and buff durations.

Players shifted with quiet urgency.

They were pros—elites. And they knew this tempo.

No chatter.

No delay.

Just movement. The moment their boots hit cursed dirt again, they started calculating their cooldowns and timing their skills for the next horror show.

They moved fast. Like a machine that had lost a few bolts but still kept driving forward. Buffs were already rolling in. Rearmored, re-stealthed, repositioned.

Then—

“Hey. What’s that?” one of the scouts called out, voice sharp.

Everyone froze.

Weapons flicked up. Eyes scanned ahead.

Just up ahead, nestled in the shadow of a jagged altar, something glowed.

Something wrong.

Low. Pulsing. Like it was breathing.

Shrines.

Three of them.

Small, but ominous. Hovering a few feet above the ground, rotating slowly like they were caught in gravity loops. The shrines emitted a low hum.

Golden runes mixed with corrupted purple light spiraled along the base, casting a glow that didn’t match any known system element.

Three shrines. Each slightly different in shape. One shaped like a twisted crown. Another like an inverted tree with roots clawing skyward. The last, a floating cube that bled faint wisps of smoke from its corners.

“Those aren’t just for show,” Mastercraft murmured, squinting. “I think that’s abyssal script. Mid-tier infernal. Someone’s warded these things.”

“You can read that?” Gil asked, inching closer with narrowed eyes. “Wait, don’t answer. Of course you can.” He snorted, hands on his hips. “You’re such a freak. Who even grinds mid-tier infernal just to read cursed runes? You’re that guy who takes every single side quest even if it’s from a talking rock, just to collect weird-ass passive skills like ‘Enhanced Toenail Growth’ or something.”

“First of all, it was ‘Underground Language Comprehension.’ Second, that talking rock gave me a permanent resistance to echo-based magic. Which, by the way, saved your ass during the Siren Queen dungeon,” Mastercraft answered.

Gil blinked. “…Okay, fine, one time.”

“Three,” Mastercraft corrected.

Azura tilted her head, her silver wingbeast circling above them lazily. “Okay… but what are they? Loot spawns? Puzzle mechanics? Boss reset nodes?”

“Maybe checkpoints?” Elio offered, still catching his breath. “Or… resurrection anchors?”

“Don’t tempt fate,” Red_King muttered.

James raised a hand, one eye still twitching from the last boss fight. “So, uh. Can I shoot one? Just to be safe?”

“No!” a chorus of voices snapped at once.

Even Arcana raised a hand. “Let’s not poke the glowing nightmare cubes with a stick just yet.”

Father^Alex stood further back, visibly hesitant. “There’s something… off. Like they’re watching us. But not like the boss. This feels more—personal.”

“That’s not a good word to use right now, Alex,” Noah said quietly, bow drawn. “Definitely not.”

Azura circled one slowly, staying a good five feet away, eyes glinting with a mix of suspicion and awe. “So what’s the move? Do we check them or wait?”

Arcana stepped forward a little, his armor softly clinking with each motion. The sky above them still bled red, the blood moon lingering like a voyeur. He studied the nearest shrine—the one shaped like a crown—and his voice dropped.

“Be careful. These weren’t in the dev notes. This isn’t in the raid leak map either.”

Gil rolled his eyes. “So what now? We just… stare at them?”

Red_King made a low grumble. “We could vote. Hands up if you wanna poke the demon thing.”

“Seriously, don’t—” Arcana started.

But it was too late.

One of the younger DPS players—over-eager and cocky—stepped closer with a grin. “C’mon, it’s just a visual effect—”

[FATAL WARD TRIGGERED – ABYSSAL MINI-EVENT INITIATED]

[WARNING: Shrine Defense Protocol Online – Corruption Surge Imminent]

-BOOM!

A blast of cursed fire erupted from the shrine’s base, launching the player backward like a ragdoll. He slammed into a ruined wall with a sickening crunch, his HP plummeting into red before the emergency revive kicked in.

“WHAT THE—?!” he gasped, coughing. “I didn’t even touch it!”

The ground quaked beneath them.

And then they heard it.

Howling.

Low at first. Then layered. Dozens—no, hundreds—of voices snarling, overlapping, echoing across the corrupted terrain like a promise of pain.

The first hound burst from the earth in a wave of black sludge. Then another. And another.

Abyssal Hounds.

Their skeletal frames snapped as they moved, flame-cracked jaws open wide. Eyes glowed with cursed light. They were wrong. Too fast. Too many legs. Too much drool—some of it bubbling like acid.

[ENEMY WAVE: ABYSSAL HOUNDS – LEVEL RANGE: 80–95]

[Elites Detected – Random Affixes Enabled]

“God fucking damn it, Gil,” Red_King snapped. “I blame you on principle.”

Gil raised his hands. “I didn’t touch it! He did!”

“DOESN’T MATTER! FORM UP!” Arcana roared, drawing his sword. “Ranged behind me! Front line hold! Don’t let them near the healers!”

And the war resumed. Again.

Because the Devil Emperor never let them breathe for long.