Chapter 26: You Cannot Kill Me
The battle at Moon Lake Castle had reached its final moments. The castle lord had already transformed into his true form—a massive black dragon, hundreds of meters long, with ferocious spikes covering its back. Even in this form, the castle lord had no confidence to fight the demons!
In a hidden room beside the empty hall.
Linley and his three companions were quietly peering through the crack in the door at the scene outside. In truth, the demons could have detected Linley and the others if they wanted to. But sensing that Linley’s group were only mid-level gods, the demons simply couldn’t be bothered.
“That Loyce… he said the black dragon is the castle lord?” Linley looked puzzled.
Beside him, Delia explained, “Linley, you suddenly entered a meditative state earlier, and we didn’t dare disturb you. At that time, the castle lord fled here to this empty hall while being pursued. Seeing six demons around, he probably lost all confidence.”
Linley nodded slightly.
“Hmm?” Linley’s heart stirred.
“Moon Lake Castle has fallen to this state. Even if the Golden-Robed Guards are still alive, they’ve likely all fled the castle by now,” Linley thought to himself. He understood that whether the Golden-Robed Guards were dead or not, it would be difficult for him to encounter any more of them now.
After all, those hundreds of Golden-Robed Guards weren’t idiots. When even the castle lord had reached this point, if they were still alive, wouldn’t they flee?
“Bebe, check this out.” Linley tossed a spatial ring to Bebe. “See if there’s a Moon Ring inside.”
“Got it.” Bebe immediately dripped blood onto it to bind it.
Linley, meanwhile, examined the other spatial ring.
Earlier, Linley and his group had been ambushed by four others also participating in the demon trial. The ambush failed, and two of the attackers were killed instead, leaving behind these two spatial rings.
“We’ve only obtained two Moon Rings so far. We still need one more.” Linley felt a hint of worry.
Delia also watched Linley and Bebe.
“Boss, this spatial ring has some Inkstones and Azure Stones, but no Moon Ring,” Bebe said helplessly.
Delia and Bebe both looked at Linley. Now it all depended on whether the spatial ring in Linley’s hand contained a Moon Ring.
“There is one! There really is a Moon Ring!” Linley checked and his face lit up with surprise and delight. The owner of this spatial ring was the leader of that four-person group, Fettis. It made sense that he would have obtained a Moon Ring first.
“Haha! We’ve got all our Moon Rings now!” Bebe was ecstatic.
Regina stared at Linley. “Linley, just one?”
“Just one.” Linley gave an apologetic smile. He knew that Regina desperately wanted a Moon Ring too, but the three of them only had three Moon Rings in total. There was no spare to give Regina, and he could do nothing to help.
Regina felt disappointed inside, but she forced a smile onto her face. “It’s fine. We’ll see if there’s another chance when we go out later.”
Suddenly, a furious roar came from the hall—
“Don’t push me too far! I can give you immense wealth, even gift you this entire castle. I can even… find a way to make you Six-Star Demons. Isn’t completing this task what gets you that rank?” The dragon bellowed.
The black dragon, hundreds of meters long, coiled in the empty hall, while Loyce and his companion stood in midair. In terms of size, the contrast was enormous.
Yet now, the black dragon was begging them.
“Hmph, make us Six-Star Demons? Becoming a higher-ranked demon only comes from completing tasks. There’s no other path.” Loyce stared at the pale green curved blade in his hand and said slowly, “Stop struggling. Prepare to die!”
“Brother, let me do it,” the green-haired man urged eagerly. “Let me avenge Second Sister.”
“No.”
Loyce glanced at the black dragon. “He’s already used two soul attacks. His soul power is probably nearly exhausted. But we can’t take risks. I’ll do it.” Loyce was already gathering his strength. He was absolutely confident.
“I am Ulnisen!” the black dragon roared. “You cannot kill me! You cannot kill me!!!”
“Ulnisen?”
Loyce sneered. “Who is Ulnisen? If you’re going to boast before you die, at least pick an impressive name. Say you’re a Purple Blood Demon, or even claim to be a great Sovereign… Haha, I don’t care who you are. Die!”
As he spoke, Loyce’s curved blade came slashing down.
It was light and ethereal. The space didn’t ripple at all, not even a breeze stirred. It was as if the blade didn’t even exist.
The black dragon roared.
“You cannot kill me!” Though furious beyond measure, as that light slash descended, the black dragon went berserk. Abandoning all caution, he unleashed his innate divine ability. The black dragon let out a low, guttural roar—
“Whoosh~” Space trembled.
“Pfft!”
Loyce’s blade struck down. A green blade shadow streaked through the air and landed on the black dragon’s head. Strangely… the dragon’s scales, flesh, and blood instantly withered and split apart. The blade cut straight into the skull, piercing the divine spark within.
“You will regret this!!!”
The black dragon’s dying roar echoed through the hall.
“Boom!”
The massive dragon corpse crashed to the ground. Loyce, pale-faced, withdrew his blade. Glancing at the enormous corpse on the floor, he snorted. “Hmph. That innate divine ability is indeed formidable. But you say I’ll regret this? In the entire Yemo Prefecture, the people I fear are only a handful, and I know them all. You’re dead now. What makes you think you can make me regret anything?”
“Brother!” The green-haired man looked at Loyce with concern. “Are you alright?”
His second sister had died from the castle lord’s innate divine ability attack. Loyce had already endured one such attack while fighting the castle lord on the fifth floor, and now he had taken another.
“I’m fine.” Loyce forced a smile at his brother. “Third Brother, let’s go back. It’s a pity… Second Sister is dead.”
The green-haired man was deeply pained.
“When we set out, Second Sister said that after completing this mission, we’d become Six-Star Demons. Then we’d find a place to build a castle for the three of us, to cultivate in peace. But… there’s no chance now.” The green-haired man spoke in a low voice.
Loyce sighed softly. “Let’s go.”
Without even glancing at the other six demons, the two of them flew straight out.
The six demons who had witnessed this great battle were deeply shaken. When experts fought to the death, the battle could end in just one or two exchanges.
“That Loyce’s strength is truly terrifying. That one slash… even this high-level god beast couldn’t withstand it,” one demon remarked with awe.
In ordinary material planes, divine beasts might be extremely rare.
But in Hell, a plane where countless experts gathered, there were quite a few divine beasts. The most fearsome thing about divine beasts was their ‘innate divine ability.’ Regardless of the type of divine beast, when they reached maturity, they were all at the level of low-level gods. On the surface, there wasn’t much difference.
However, the gap between divine beasts was enormous.
The difference lay in their ‘talent.’
Some divine beasts had talents that were special soul-attacking abilities, while others had special material-attacking abilities… For example, the Devourer Beast and the Bashe were simply a kind of devouring power. As long as the opponent could withstand that devouring force, they would be fine.
Bebe was different. ‘God Devouring’—the talent of devouring divine sparks—was undoubtedly an extremely perverse ability.
The more perverse and terrifying the talent, the rarer the number of such divine beasts would be, to the extreme!
“Loyce cultivates the Laws of Life. The Four Laws are all troublesome to deal with. Loyce is indeed terrifying.” The six demons exchanged a few words of admiration before finally leaving the hall. Before leaving, one of them directly collected the massive corpse.
“This high-level god beast corpse is valuable. Can’t let it go to waste.” The demon laughed as he stored the enormous body into his spatial ring.
After the six demons had left, Linley and his three companions finally emerged from the room.
“Tch!” Bebe was a bit dissatisfied. “I wanted to take that corpse, but that demon snatched it away.”
Certain parts of a divine beast’s corpse were excellent ingredients for fine cuisine. A corpse that had reached the high-level god level was even rarer. That massive body, if sold for materials, could probably fetch several hundred thousand Inkstones, maybe even close to a million.
That was no small fortune.
“Still thinking about that?” Linley shook his head with a wry smile. “Let’s go. We’re heading back to the metal lifeform.”
The gains from this trip were enormous. The biggest monetary gain, in fact, was the Death God Puppet and the corpse of the Black-Robed Guard. The Black-Robed Guard himself had a high-level god divine spark, and his spatial ring contained a massive fortune.
“Could you… take a look around the castle with me?” Regina asked with difficulty.
Linley, Delia, and Bebe were taken aback.
“I… I just want to see if there are any Golden-Robed Guards left.” Regina felt embarrassed. She was asking Linley’s group to take another risk. Although Linley’s group plus Regina could handle Golden-Robed Guards without much danger, who knew how many they might encounter?
Delia and Bebe both looked at Linley, waiting for his decision. Linley thought for a moment, then looked at Regina and said, “Regina, we can’t run all over the castle with you. How about this: we’re leaving the castle now anyway. We can take a slightly roundabout route and see if we run into any Golden-Robed Guards. If we do, we’ll help. If not, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Thank you.” Regina quickly said.
She knew her request was a bit unreasonable. It was already generous of Linley to agree to this much.
Linley, Delia, Bebe, and Regina headed straight up through Moon Lake Castle. They went back to the third floor, then the second, and finally the first floor, before exiting the castle through a window. Regina hoped to encounter a Golden-Robed Guard.
But by now, there truly wasn’t a single Golden-Robed Guard left in Moon Lake Castle.
Above the shimmering, wave-kissed Moon Lake, the pink poisonous mist had completely dissipated. Five participants in the demon trial were hovering over the lake.
“Someone’s coming out.”
Seeing Linley’s group of four fly out, the five immediately approached.
“Oh? What do you want?” Linley frowned and said coldly. Having been ambushed inside Moon Lake Castle, he wasn’t about to let his guard down.
One of the five spoke up. “I wanted to ask if any of you have extra Moon Rings? We’d like to buy them from you.”
“I wish I had one to spare,” Regina snorted.
The five looked disappointed. They could tell that Linley’s group didn’t have enough Moon Rings for themselves.
“You five shouldn’t wait out here. I don’t think there’s anyone left in the castle,” Linley said. When they came out, they had gone from the fourth floor to the first, checking most areas. If anyone had been there, they would have noticed.
Linley’s group was already among the last to leave.
With that, Linley and his three companions flew straight toward the metal lifeform. Soon, they spotted it hovering in midair. Through its transparent metal walls, they could faintly see the sparse figures inside.
“So few people.” Linley sighed inwardly as he entered the metal lifeform.
In the corridor, the silver-haired old man saw Linley’s group and said with a smile, “Congratulations on making it back alive.”
“Making it back alive? Congratulations.” As Linley stepped into the rear cabin, he swept his gaze across the room. There were enough seats for a thousand people, but now most were empty, with only a scattered handful of occupants. “A thousand came. Fewer than a hundred made it out alive.”
He looked at Delia and Bebe beside him, feeling a surge of relief. At least his wife and brother were still alive. “That silver-haired old man was right. It really is worth congratulating.”