Chapter 4: The Crimson Rock Lord
First chapter of the day!
Inside a private dining room on the upper floor of a restaurant in Flamebone Territory.
“Alright, don’t come in unless I call for you.” Linley instructed.
“Yes, sir.”
The server carrying the tray left the private room, closing the door behind them.
“Boss, hurry up and take out those documents and memory projections.” Bebe urged impatiently. They hadn’t had a chance to seriously examine the materials since obtaining them—there simply hadn’t been a suitable place, and they certainly couldn’t look through them on the street.
“No rush.” Linley smiled, and with a thought, the large chest materialized on the floor beside the table.
Linley moved the few small dishes and drinks aside, then lifted the thick stack of documents onto the table.
“So much.” Bebe reached out to grab the papers.
“Let’s make good use of time, Bebe. You take half, I’ll take half, and we’ll skim through everything. See which of the Nine Nether Lords would be a suitable target.” Linley said, beginning to read through the pile. He started with the section explaining the rules for challenging a Lord.
To challenge a Lord, understanding the rules was crucial.
As he read, Bebe suddenly looked at Linley and asked, “Boss, are you going to challenge them, or should I?”
Linley glanced up at Bebe and couldn’t help but laugh. “Bebe, challenging a Nine Nether Lord isn’t something just anyone can do. The prerequisite is to achieve a hundred consecutive victories in his territory, fighting ten battles each day. Bebe… do you think you could easily win ten in a row?”
“Of course I could! With my divine ability, Soul Devourer, I don’t believe anyone could stop me.” Bebe said confidently.
“And aside from that divine ability?” Linley pressed with a smile.
Bebe was momentarily speechless.
Without his Soul Devourer divine ability, Bebe was only strong in defense. For offense, he relied solely on a divine artifact weapon. That might let him defeat an average Highgod, but anyone daring to step onto the Blood Battle Arena wouldn’t be weak. Otherwise, they’d just be walking to their death. For Bebe to win… it would indeed be difficult.
“I… I have my divine ability. Your hypothetical doesn’t exist.” Bebe retorted.
Linley’s smile faded, and he spoke seriously. “Bebe, if you rely on your divine ability for all one hundred battles on the Blood Battle Arena, first of all, your soul force can only sustain two uses. For the remaining battles, you’d need to replenish it with amethysts and soul pearls, which would be very taxing. Second!”
Bebe raised an eyebrow.
Linley continued, “Second, we’re going to challenge a Nine Nether Lord. So it’s best not to reveal all our trump cards beforehand. Think about it, Bebe—if you display your divine ability during the Blood Battle Arena fights, that Nine Nether Lord will know your hand. He’ll study a way to counter you!”
“Counter me?” Bebe was taken aback. “What could he do?”
“Strike first and kill you.” Linley said with a faint smile.
“I’m not afraid.” Bebe replied.
“If he’s not sure he can kill you, maybe that Nine Nether Lord will secretly leave his island and announce publicly that he’s gone on important business, making you wait a thousand or ten thousand years. Can you afford that?” Linley countered. “I know that a challenge can be delayed for up to ten thousand years.” Linley had just learned this from the rules.
Bebe was left speechless.
Indeed, challenging a Nine Nether Lord didn’t mean the battle would happen immediately.
If the Nine Nether Lord wasn’t even in the Infernal Realm, even if you issued the challenge, you’d have to wait for him to receive the news and return before the fight.
“Bebe, what we can’t afford to waste right now is time!” Linley said gravely.
“Oh.” Bebe said helplessly.
What Linley feared most if Bebe went was that the Nine Nether Lord, upon seeing Bebe use his Soul Devourer divine ability, would be too scared to fight and would sneak away. This was actually quite common. If a Lord knew he had no chance of winning, fighting would be suicide.
But admitting defeat outright was shameful.
So many Nine Nether Lords chose a different method—secretly leaving and delaying until the ten-thousand-year period expired.
If a challenge wasn’t answered within ten thousand years, the Lord’s position would be transferred directly to the challenger.
This allowed the challenger to obtain the Lord’s position while letting the original Lord save face. In theory, it was a win-win. But for Linley, he had to join the planar war as soon as possible. And the planar war was only eight hundred years away. He couldn’t afford delays!
“Hmm.” Bebe nodded slightly.
“Bebe, if I go, I can completely hide my true strength. For example, I won’t undergo Dragonform, and I won’t use my divine ability. I’ll only show a little—the Gravitational Space. Even then, I’ll reduce its power. Dealing with Five Star Fiends, Six Star Fiends, or even Seven Star Fiends will be more than enough.” Linley said with a faint smile.
Reducing the Gravitational Space’s power would make it comparable to when he was still a Demigod.
When Linley fully unleashed his Gravitational Space, even ordinary Seven Star Fiends could barely resist, reduced to being almost helplessly slaughtered.
If he only used ten percent of the Gravitational Space’s power, it would still be sufficient for Linley.
“If I show just a little strength, it should be enough to win a hundred consecutive victories. I believe that Nine Nether Lord won’t refuse to fight just because he sees that much. Then, during the actual battle, I’ll reveal my full power. Bebe, carefully look through the documents now and see which Lord’s special techniques happen to be countered by mine.” Linley said.
Bebe grinned. “Hehe, Boss, you’re planning to ambush him. Alright, let me check and see whose strength you can counter.”
Linley also began to read through the materials carefully, his eyes lighting up.
“This guy is like you, Boss—an Earth-type expert.” Bebe laughed.
“Oh?” Linley’s eyes brightened. In truth, Linley was most comfortable facing Earth-type opponents, since he had studied the Laws of the Earth most thoroughly and would find it easier to handle them.
Bebe continued, “This person has extremely strong soul defense. In recorded battles, soul attacks had no effect on him at all. His soul defense is freakishly powerful! But he’s not skilled in soul attacks, and there’s no record of him using any powerful soul techniques. The intelligence speculates that he might possess a soul defense Overgod artifact.”
Linley nodded slightly.
The Laws of the Earth, while involving Earth Pulse and touching on the soul, weren’t particularly strong in that area.
The rules that excelled in soul attacks were the Laws of Life, Laws of Death, Laws of Fate, and Laws of Fire.
“His strongest point is material attack. A single punch can easily shatter a Highgod artifact! His fists and that battle blade of his have terrifying offensive power. Also… he’s exceptionally fast. His speed is freakishly high! Several challengers were sent flying with a single punch before they could even touch him, and they conceded.” Bebe explained.
Linley grinned.
Speed? Strong material attacks?
No matter how fast, how fast could he be within Linley’s full-power Gravitational Space?
Material attacks?
After Dragonform, using the Shadow of the Godsword to execute Void Split, the power of that one strike probably wouldn’t be much weaker than his opponent’s.
“And there’s the divine ability, Dragon Roar.” Linley smiled.
“Boss, I’ve looked through this whole pile of documents. I feel that this particular Nine Nether Lord is perfectly countered by you. You should have over eighty percent certainty. I just don’t know… whether this Nine Nether Lord is hiding anything.” Bebe said helplessly.
Hiding anything?
For an Earth-type, even if he understood soul attacks, he couldn’t be as terrifying as a Death-type or Fire-type expert. After all, the Laws of Death mostly involved the soul. The Laws of Fate were almost entirely soul-related.
“When it comes to hiding things, anyone could be doing it. But since he’s Earth-type, I still have some confidence.”
“Let me see.” Linley quickly took the document from Bebe.
He began to carefully examine it, studying the records of this Nine Nether Lord’s past battles. Linley relaxed a little. This Nine Nether Lord’s most notable traits were his speed and material attacks, which together made him nearly invincible. Unfortunately for him, he was perfectly countered by Linley.
Perhaps this Nine Nether Lord could easily defeat experts skilled in soul attacks. But against Linley…
“From the Crimson Rock Territory?”
Linley nodded slightly. “He’s the one!”
PS: First chapter is here!