Ember Dragon

Chapter 694: Devil Refining in Hell
Souls are the primary currency of Baator, and the mortal souls dragged into Hell are called petitioners, or soul shells.

When a shipload of petitioners is brought to the Land of Torment, the devil bureaucrat Anzumo reads the mark of each soul and records the name of the devil responsible for harvesting it in a thick ledger.

According to the terms of the "Primeval Pact" signed between Asmodeus and the gods, as every bit of the petitioner's remaining personality is slowly stripped away, magical energy will be released and flow to the lord of this layer.

Torturers mercilessly terrorize and mutilate fallen souls, subjecting them to a range of horrific tortures until every ounce of extractable magic has been drained from their bodies.

After the last vestiges of humanity are violently torn from a Soul Shell's body, the shivering, empty husk is cast into a deep pit—such as the terrible Maggot Den within Avernus.

There they will quickly die, decay, and be reborn as mindless lemures.

Hell lords like Zariel and Mephitos are at the top of the soul harvesting in each layer of hell, enjoying the soul supply of the entire layer of hell.

As the lord of the nine hells, Asmodeus stands at the apex of Baator, and all the souls of hell will eventually flow to him.

But as cunning, selfish creatures, the devils are naturally unwilling to hand over all the souls, so they often walk on the edge of the rules and use loopholes to profit for themselves - such as smuggling souls.

Uriel's Modin Casino served the upper devil Valerius and smuggled many souls for him over the decades. As a result, it received many conveniences and became the most prosperous casino in the East City District of the Twelve Rings.

In the basement of the Modin Casino there is a secret lava river called the River of Sin, which leads all the way to the inner ring of the Bronze Fortress - the residence of Valerius.

At this time, in the underground secret room of the Modin Casino, accompanied by the sound of messy footsteps, the old torches on the walls were lit one after another, and the flickering lights illuminated the broken skeletons in the corners, making it look particularly eerie and terrifying.

"crunch, crunch"

The sound of bones rubbing together sounded.

In the drifting shadows, several hideous faces poked out with flattering smiles on them, and their withered skins were almost blending together.

The entrance to the River of Sin is guarded by four Bone Demon Scythes, and when there is no smuggling mission, anyone who trespasses will be ruthlessly killed - except their master Uriel.

At this time, Uriel was wearing a robe, and behind him was a group of humanoid creatures wearing cloaks that concealed their aura, emitting an alluring soul breath. Their identities were obvious - the Prayers.

In the eyes of the Bone Demons, Uriel was going to smuggle fresh petitioners into the Inner Ring again, smuggling for that mysterious big man.

But if they could get even half of the petitioners, that would be great.

The bone demon in the front licked his lips, lowered his head, and asked cautiously: "Master, you are finally here, is there any mission over there?"

Uriel's face under the black hood was particularly gloomy, and he said impatiently: "Get out of the way! If you delay the great event of that upper devil, you will all be buried with him!"

"Yes, Master, we understand."

Uriel scolded, "Now that you know, why don't you get out of here right away! Do you want me to kick you out?"

The bone demons trembled with fear on their faces, and retreated one after another with the sound of bones cracking, gradually disappearing into the shadows, waiting for the arrival of the invaders.

Uriel led the humanoid creatures into the stone gate, boarded a bronze boat, and sailed on the boiling lava river.

"How long will it take to reach the inner ring?"

A voice came from behind the bronze ship.

Uriel changed his attitude and said with a little fear: "It will only take one day to get there."

"one day?"

Langli Baitiao pulled off his cloak, walked up and pressed it on Uriel's shoulder, his tone full of doubt: "From the Twelve Rings to the center of the Bronze Fortress, the distance is at most ten miles, why does it take so long?
Are you calling your friends and subordinates to capture us all in one fell swoop?"

After being pinned down, Uriel seemed to remember something, his whole body trembling violently, and he said tremblingly: "Lang, Mr. Langli Baitiao, you misunderstood!
Just like you said, since we signed the contract, we are already ants on the same boat. As long as Zariel, no, that crazy woman's subordinates find my mark, they will definitely throw me into the land of torture and suffer for a thousand years!"

After saying this, the devil untied his robe, revealing his upper body covered in scars from torture - and the glowing Bayer emblem on his chest.

Langli Baitiao glanced at the emblem on Uriel's chest, stroking his chin, still a little suspicious: "Why does it take so long?"

Uriel whispered, “There are twelve isolation magic circles running through the ground inside the bronze fortress. Anyone who attempts to sneak across may trigger the magic circle and attract the attention of the guards.

Therefore, the River of Sin can only meander and pass through the weakest points of each layer of the magic circle, so that it can successfully sneak into the inner circle. "

The little devil in the cage muttered quietly, "Why should I go too?"

The white shark smiled kindly: "You can also choose to be thrown into the lava river by us."

"Is that the isolation array?" The Night Wolf standing behind suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed at the film flashing red light in the distance.

Uriel nodded quickly: "Yes, that's it. Everyone, put on the magic network resonance cloak quickly, otherwise you will be discovered even if you pass through the weak point of the magic circle."

"it is good."

In this way, the bronze ship shuttled along the lava river underground, passed through several protective magic circles in succession, and finally arrived at the fourth ring of the bronze fortress.

Along the way, they encountered many monsters such as hell bats and lava monsters, but they were all solved by the natural warrior with one punch each.

A level 12 Dragon Vein Berserker is definitely not a weakling even in Baator Hell, and is strong enough to become the leader of a small devil army.

"My Lords, we are here."

Uriel pointed to the simple stone door in the distance and said softly, "This leads directly to Lord Valerius's mansion. He has a special secret room where he feeds the petitioners smuggled in."

"Why don't you leave?"

"Everyone, go and complete the task assigned by Lord Bayer first. I will wait here to pick you up. Don't go. Can't I go?"

The devil who had run the casino for many years was in tears. He turned to look at the little devil, his eyes filled with deep resentment, and he wished he could eat him alive.

From a high and mighty casino owner to someone else's prisoner, there is no greater gap in the world than this.

Tiansheng Zhan Kuang had a serious expression, but his dragon-like golden eyes were filled with excitement: "Everyone, I feel many powerful auras that I have never felt before!
The challenge level of our opponent this time is definitely above level 15! He may even be a legendary existence!"

Legend, in any plane of the multiverse, is considered a genuine strong man - even in Baator Hell.

A being with such power is enough to become the leader of a large devil army, be able to manipulate the outcome of a small-scale bloody battle, and even become the favorite general of the lord of hell.

Until now, even though the level cap has been raised to level 12, no player has been able to solo a legendary boss.

Seeing the increasingly excited Tiansheng Zhan Kuang, Ou Huang was a little scared: "Brother Zhan Kuang, don't rush in. We have no chance of winning against a big devil of that level. We have finally entered the inner circle, and we can't die like this."

The Langli Baitiao next to him also showed a strange smile and reached into his cloak: "Not bad, not bad, I actually encountered a boss of this level just after arriving here. It's worth it that I spent all my family wealth and used various connections to get this thing."

As he spoke, he pulled out a round metal ball from his cloak.

"What is this thing?" Uriel and Dick, two devils from hell, stared at the ordinary metal ball, feeling confused and bewildered.

Is this the confidence they have in fighting against the big devil?
But the remaining three players had horrified expressions on their faces, as if they had seen a ghost.

"Fuck, you can get this thing?"

"Isn't this the miniature space collapse bomb mentioned in the last Imperial Military Equipment Seminar? This is the lifeblood of the Mechanicus. Did you sell them a hook?"

Langli Baitiao chuckled: "What do you know? This is the face of the chief of Nocturne! Even a high-ranking devil can't take my shot at close range, right?"

"Then will we have to be buried there as well? There are still many tasks to follow." The Night Wolf asked in a low voice.

Hearing this, Emperor Europe seemed to have made up his mind. He gritted his teeth and took out a piece of parchment with the imperial emblem sewn on it from his robe: "Even the beast has taken out such a good thing, so I won't hide it.

This is the heirloom of our Magic Coin Guild - a scroll of the Flame Portal made by Emperor Kai himself, no, made by his own claws.

It can ignore the anti-magic force field below the ninth ring and instantly jump to any place within a five-kilometer radius, making it a great escape weapon. "The hand of the European Emperor holding the scroll trembled slightly.

This scroll is worth thousands of gold coins, comparable to rare equipment. If he uses the scroll this time and the mission fails, Charlotte will beat him half to death when he returns.

"In that case, let's..."

The four of them looked at each other, and finally made up their minds. They said in unison: "Let's take a gamble!"

In the East District of the fourth ring of the Bronze Fortress stands a tall, majestic, and rugged castle.

This is the residence of Valerius, Count of Hell, the commander of the 13th Legion under Zariel. The entire castle is carved from cooled and solidified lava. The surface is covered with spikes, demon reliefs and burning runes, and shrill wails can be heard from underground.

And in the hall deep in the castle, a hideous devil was bathing in boiling magma. He held a silver cup in his hand, enjoying the aged wine made from mortal souls.

That pair of huge fiery red wings and eyes burning like embers made this huge devil exude a terrifying aura - this was the Hell Fiend, a high-ranking devil born from Nessus in the deepest part of the Nine Hells.

Strong, tenacious, and extremely intelligent.

These ruling classes of Hell are granted a considerable degree of self-determination, whether they are serving the Grand Dukes, enforcing their own laws in the fiefdoms of the Nine Hells, or exercising power in the mortal world.

A Konark flapped its wings, knelt respectfully beside the magma pool, and whispered: "Captain, your servant - the weak smuggler is here."

Valerius swirled his wine glass, enjoying the breath of fear and listening to the wailing of the soul in the glass, and said nonchalantly, "It's that Uriel, he has done a good job in the past few decades, bringing in seven or eight petitioners every year.

But Lord Zariel is planning something big recently and is cracking down on smuggling. Uriel knows too much, and his casino has too many connections with us. It's time to get rid of him.

When he hands the things over to me, you will wipe him out completely, and clean up the casino as well. You must not let other legions find any traces of us, as they are all eyeing us covetously. "

"Yes, legion commander."

"By the way, how many petitioners did he bring this time?"

"About twenty, and according to him, he also brought a precious treasure whose value is equivalent to a thousand mortal souls."

"What? Bring them in!"

The abyss demon suddenly sat up, causing magma to splash and create shallow pits on the ground.

"Yes, legion commander."

The Horrorna responded in a deep voice, then flapped its wings and flew out of the hall.

Valerius raised his head, drank the wine in one gulp with the cry of his soul, and laughed: "Hahahaha, I didn't expect that a chess piece that is about to be abandoned can bring me such a surprise!

Not long after, under the guidance of the Terrorna, Uriel entered the hall with a group of humanoid creatures in black robes.

"Big, my lord.

This is the cargo you requested, I brought it for you.”

"Uriel, you did a good job."

Under the pressure of the powerful aura of the Hell Devil, Uriel's legs shook, his whole body became weak, and even his voice became stuttering.

When he was within a hundred meters of the Abyss Demon, Uriel knelt down under the heavy burden and buried his head deep in the ground.

Although he had met him dozens of times, he could still feel the fear that came from his instinct and soul - this was the hierarchical suppression of the upper devils, the embodiment of the order of hell for tens of millions of years.

Uriel raised his head with difficulty, and looked at the Hell Demon bathing in the magma pool with flattering and fearful eyes.

"In addition, I found an extremely precious treasure. I hope you will be satisfied."

As the voice fell, a golem following behind heard the order, holding an ancient pottery jar, and walked towards the Hell Demon with mechanized steps.

"Bring it up here."

Looking at the pottery jar filled with rich soul scent, Valerius's face revealed undisguised greed and eagerness, and there was nothing else in his eyes except the pottery jar.

The distance between the golem and the Hell Demon is getting closer and closer.

One hundred meters, fifty meters.

Twenty meters.

When the distance was less than ten meters, the golem suddenly jumped up, took out a metal ball from the pottery jar, and threw it at the Hell Demon.

"You didn't expect that! Surprise motherfucker!"

"I want you to die !!"

"Enemy attack!"

"Quick, everyone, come here, I'm going to tear up the scroll!"

"boom--"

The explosion was earth-shaking, mixed with roars of shock and anger.

The entire bronze fortress seemed to tremble, and a terrible explosion occurred in the lava castle. The entire space where it was located was twisted and folded, turning into a void.

The space collapsed!

(End of this chapter)