Chapter 15: News of Olivia
After spending eighteen days, Linley finally perfected the sword technique he had been pondering and deducing for a long time. This move, Phantom Shadow, was now Linley's strongest material attack. After creating the Phantom Shadow technique, Linley peacefully accompanied Delia, Bebe, and the others.
When the metallic lifeform had waited outside Yilan City for a month, the white-horned old man finally went to welcome the hired demons. Soon, over a hundred demons followed the white-horned old man as he walked over.
"So there really are demons here too," some newly hired demons said with a smile when they saw Linley and his group.
"But there are so few of them, less than twenty in total."
"I guess this mission is really dangerous, just like they said."
"Dangerous? If they die on the mission, it just means they're useless!"
Listening to these discussions, the Edwards brothers, Rilmont, and the other demons who had been waiting there sneered inwardly---
"Few? How would you know? When we set out, there were over a hundred demons too!"
"Useless? Let's see how many of you survive."
Linley and the others seemed to foresee these demons meeting a tragic end as well.
The white-horned old man smiled and said, "Everyone, sorry for the wait. Please enter now; we're about to depart."
Immediately, a bustling crowd surged into the metallic lifeform. Linley, Delia, Bebe, Nisse, and Salomon walked side by side. "They hired so many?" Bebe muttered. "One hundred and ten demons, with a hundred being mid-level god demons and only ten being high-level god demons. Why hire so many mid-level god demons? As cannon fodder?"
Hearing Bebe say this, Linley thought to himself, "Cannon fodder? Probably having more demons makes it easier to hide Salomon's identity."
Linley suddenly recalled what Salomon had said to him earlier.
That time, Salomon had acted mysteriously, saying this escort mission was very dangerous, and that the starting point of the mission wasn't Diyi City either. He talked about how dangerous the mission was, telling Linley to prioritize survival if danger arose. Back then, Linley had even felt a bit grateful to Salomon.
Later, Linley found out...
The real focus of this escort mission was Salomon himself!
"I suspect that rumor was deliberately spread by him," Linley thought to himself. "When danger comes, he'll let the demons scatter and flee, and he'll take the chance to escape too. With so many people running, he'll blend in. The enemies will focus on the white-horned old man; who would think to target him?"
Linley had to admit that Salomon had indeed thought things through thoroughly.
Hiring more demons was just a smokescreen.
"I need to be careful with someone like him. Otherwise, I might get used by him without even realizing it." Linley couldn't help but become wary of Salomon. After staying for about a month, they set off again. Now the metallic lifeform had returned to the same size as when they left Diyi City. The interior of the metallic lifeform was quite lively.
Inside Linley and Delia's room in the metallic lifeform.
Delia was frowning, deep in thought, then looked up at Linley and said, "Linley, there's something I want to talk to you about."
"Hmm? What is it?" Linley turned to look at Delia. From her expression, it seemed like something very important.
Delia frowned and said, "Linley, we originally wanted to take a mission to make some progress on our journey. But this mission feels too dangerous. Do you know what we're escorting? It's the accumulated wealth of an ancient family from the Infernal Realm, gathered over countless years! We've already been attacked twice. I'm worried there will be a third time, and it might be even more dangerous than the first two. We do need some challenges in the Infernal Realm, but not this kind of danger, where we could lose our lives at any moment."
Linley nodded.
On this journey, the first attack was just from bandits and robbers, which was only a probe. The second attack at the desert castle was indeed perilous. If there was a third, how dangerous would it be?
Linley reached out and pulled Delia into his arms, gently saying, "Delia, I know. But we've already accepted this mission. Can we just back out now? Look at the other surviving demons. Has anyone retreated?"
If it were during a chaotic battle, leaving then could be excused as getting separated while fleeing.
But actively retreating?
If this were recorded in the mission logs of the Demon Castle and spread around, it would be a disgrace! In the Infernal Realm, bravery is honored and cowardice is scorned. Besides, the Infernal Realm is inherently dangerous; everyone already has a certain tolerance for risk.
"That's not what I mean," Delia quickly said. "I know we can't retreat now. If word got back to the Blue Prefecture and your ancestors found out, we really couldn't face that shame. I'm just saying that when we reach Blue Maple City in Rainbow Sun Prefecture and take on another mission, we should choose carefully. Pick something simpler."
"I know."
Linley nodded and comforted her, "Don't worry. We're already halfway through this journey. Just bear with it a little longer."
"Delia doesn't like too much danger," Linley thought to himself. In truth, walking the edge of life and death, fighting with blades, these dangerous things made Linley's blood boil. He wasn't afraid of it at all.
Instead, it reminded him of the sense of crisis he felt in the Magical Beast Mountain Range during his youth.
It was an exhilarating feeling.
"Creak!" Closing the door, Linley headed toward the main hall.
With so many demons around, the main hall of the metallic lifeform was quite lively. Seven or eight people were drinking and chatting there, including two Linley recognized. Several months had passed since leaving Yilan City, and Linley had naturally gotten to know some of the demons.
"Hey, Linley!" A demon called out to him from a distance.
Linley smiled and waved back, then sat alone at a round table, casually ordered two dishes and a bottle of wine, and began drinking by himself.
At that moment, a burly man about two meters tall with short golden hair walked over in surprise, looking at Linley curiously. He lowered his voice and asked, "You... are Linley?"
Linley looked up at him, puzzled. "Yes, I'm Linley."
"Are you Linley Baruch?" the golden-haired man suddenly inquired.
Linley was startled. Someone had actually said his full name. "You are?" Seeing Linley's expression, the golden-haired burly man smiled and sat down beside him. "Linley, don't be nervous. I've just heard some things about you in the past."
"Heard things about me?" Linley was confused.
He had no reputation in the Infernal Realm. How could a stranger know him?
"Let me introduce myself first. My name is Bachelor. As for how I know your name... Olivia. Do you know him?" the man said with a smile.
Linley said in surprise, "Bachelor, you know Olivia?"
After being in the Infernal Realm for so long, suddenly hearing the name Olivia stirred a special feeling in Linley's heart. After all, he was a fellow countryman from the Yulan Plane.
"Of course I know him." Bachelor held his wine glass and smiled. "Olivia and I have some connection. We came to the Infernal Realm together and were randomly dropped off by the Violet Thorn Legion, so we temporarily lived in a tribe."
Linley nodded inwardly. That was similar to his own experience.
"At that time, I was already a mid-level god, and Olivia was only a low-level god. But he trained very fast. In about fifty years, he reached the mid-level god stage in the Laws of Light," Bachelor said with emotion. "Later, we came to Yilan City together, took the demon assessment together, and both successfully became one-star demons!"
A smile appeared on Linley's face.
It seemed that Bachelor and Olivia indeed had a close relationship.
"And where is Olivia now?" Linley asked.
Bachelor shook his head helplessly. "After we became one-star demons, we took on a two-star mission. But we encountered danger midway, and caught off guard, we scattered and fled. I escaped back to Yilan City with some friends. As for Olivia, I never saw him again."
Linley frowned.
"Maybe Olivia is still alive. Who knows?" Bachelor drained his glass, set it down, and sighed. "Taking on missions as a demon is always full of danger. If you die, there's nothing to be done."
Linley nodded slightly.
In the Infernal Realm, he had seen enough death and was mentally prepared.
"When we were in the tribe, Olivia talked about you. You left a deep impression on him," Bachelor said with emotion. "Back then, I praised him for reaching the mid-level god stage so quickly, but he said he thought you had probably reached it too. And now, it seems he was right!"
Linley sighed.
Back in the Yulan Continent, he and Olivia had often been discussed together, called the peerless geniuses of the Yulan Continent over ten thousand years. But here in the boundless Infernal Realm, they were so insignificant.
"I hope Olivia is still alive," Linley silently wished for his fellow countryman.
"Meeting two geniuses from the same material plane in a row is fate. Cheers," Bachelor said with a smile.
Linley had a good impression of Bachelor and raised his glass in response.
Linley and Bachelor drank and chatted casually. Linley talked about the battle at Moonlake Castle, and Bachelor talked about his own assessment mission. But neither Linley nor Bachelor noticed that the metallic lifeform had now flown into a volcanic region.
"According to the map, this should be an ordinary mountain range. When did it become a volcanic group?"
Two demons by the window were discussing this.
Indeed, this volcanic group had just moved here not long ago!
Linley and Bachelor were still excitedly talking. "...with a 'chi' sound, Olivia suddenly appeared behind the enemy, stabbed straight through the back of his head with his sword, killing him in one blow. That's how I saved my life," Bachelor said excitedly.
But at that moment---
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"
Countless dense sounds tore through the air, and at the same time, the entire metallic lifeform exploded with a loud "Boom!" Countless fiery red boulders smashed into all the demons inside the metallic lifeform, causing utter chaos.
"Bang!" A demon not far away, who had been drinking in the hall, was directly hit by a fiery red boulder. His body was smashed into pulp, bones shattered and scattered, and a divine spark fell from midair.
A fiery red boulder hurtled toward Linley. He immediately dodged, but the boulder abruptly changed direction.
"Boom!" It slammed heavily into Linley.
Linley's body shook violently, and the Pulse Guard armor on his surface trembled slightly. "Thank goodness the Pulse Guard armor is strong enough," Linley thought with relief. "Oh no, Delia!" He tried to fly toward Delia's direction.
But all around were countless fiery red boulders.
Linley saw that Bachelor was also facing an incoming fiery red boulder. Bachelor roared and swung his greatsword, a violent and sharp energy clashing heavily with the boulder. The boulder was split in two. But the two halves still flew toward Bachelor.
Bachelor's face changed drastically.
"Whoosh!" A blurry, illusory purple sword shadow suddenly appeared, fast as lightning yet giving a slow, languid feeling as it swept past. Where the sword shadow passed, space trembled. The purple sword shadow grazed the two boulders, and the boulders were shaken apart, crumbling into countless fragments.
Bachelor breathed a sigh of relief and cast a grateful glance at Linley.
"Watch out!" Linley's face changed dramatically.
"Boom!"
A nearby fiery red boulder that had been targeting someone else suddenly turned and smashed directly into Bachelor's head. "Bang!" Bachelor's head exploded, and a divine spark fell from midair.