Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Chapter 495 The Broken Corner Tavern of White Bone Fortress

three days later.

Ian, with Nilos in tow, set off for White Bone Castle.

The Bloodslag Mine was handed over to Nix to manage, while the Crackhoof Mine was temporarily overseen by Nilos's men.

Before leaving, Ian confirmed two things: the quota would remain the same, and the miners could not stop working.

White Bone Fortress is a thousand miles from the mine, but at his current speed, he can get there in half a day.

The closer you get to White Bone Fortress, the denser the monster tracks on the ground become.

The skeletons of several horned demons lay scattered by the roadside, gnawed down to their bones. A lone Bone-Spiked Wolf spotted Ian in the distance, but instead of fleeing, it stopped and watched.

The monsters in this area aren't very wary; they've probably gotten used to strong people passing by.

As they approached White Bone Castle, Ian slowed his pace.

On the distant horizon, a huge gray-white building complex slowly emerged.

The entire White Bone Fortress was built on a natural cliff, with walls over fifty meters high, constructed from massive white rocks.

The city walls were covered with dense, intricate magical runes, emitting a faint, dark red glow.

The city gate was a huge skeletal archway, with a skeleton demon crouching on each side of the archway. The skeleton demons were a size larger than the three that Chuang Gu had brought. They held bone spears and remained motionless, like two bone sculptures.

The demons entering the city formed a long queue. Ian glanced at them and saw all sorts of strange demons coming and going.

Leading him was a group of short, stocky demons, their bodies covered in lava-like cracks, leaving a charred footprint with every step they took.

Seeing Ian's curious expression, Nilos whispered, "This is the Earthfire Demon."

Ian sensed that this demon had an extremely high body temperature, even higher than that of the Balrog.

They have short, curved horns on their heads, the tips of which gleam with a dark red light, like two pieces of red-hot iron.

Following the Earth Fire Demon was a six-armed snake demon.

It carried different weapons in each hand: bone knives, iron hammers, whips, bone shields, and all sorts of other things.

Its lower body is a snake's tail, with jet-black scales that rustle as it glides across the ground.

This race is extremely famous in the Abyss world, possessing formidable strength, and few demons dare to approach them.

At the very end of the procession was a short demon, entirely gray-white, with no distinct limbs, resembling a humanoid wisp of mist.

This is a special demonic howler, a mental demon that can emit high-frequency mental howls that directly damage the soul. Its body is misty and it is immune to most physical attacks.

"My lord," Nilos whispered in Ian's ear, "don't go near those shriekers, they're dangerous."

Ian nodded and withdrew his senses.

The queue was very long, and Ian and Nilos moved slowly behind them.

As Ian entered the city, the skeletal demon at the gate glanced at him, then at Nilos, and without asking any further questions, let him pass.

The interior of White Bone Castle appears larger than the exterior.

The main road is paved with polished white stone, and on both sides are various stone houses and caves, some with bone lamps hanging on them, and some with doors open, from which noisy sounds come out.

Demons came and went on the street, most of them low to medium level, with high-level demons appearing occasionally, each time causing a commotion in the surrounding area.

Instead of heading straight to the city center, Ian took Nilos for a stroll, attracting the attention of many demons along the way.

You can see Ian standing next to the succubus. He is tall and imposing, with a pair of terrifying curved horns on his head. No one dares to approach him.

Before long, they arrived at the middle section of White Bone Fortress, at a tavern called "Broken Horn".

A huge, dark yellow, curved horn hung at the entrance, half of it broken off; it was the horn of some kind of demon, I don't know.

Ian pushed open the door and went inside.

The tavern was much larger than it appeared from the outside, and several glowing red jade stones hung from the roof, casting a dim and gloomy light throughout the space.

Inside sat many demons of various races, drinking and chatting, making a great commotion.

Behind the counter stood a burly horned demon, missing a horn, with only a broken stump remaining.

It saw Ian enter, its gaze lingered on Ian's spiral horns for a moment, then swept over Nilos who was following behind.

"New here?"

Ian placed the piercing dominoes on the counter. The horned demon glanced down at them, and his expression changed rapidly.

It walked around the counter, quickly approached, bowed slightly, and spoke with much greater respect.

"Your Excellency, please come in."

Ian nodded and followed the horned demon to a corner of the tavern at the back.

The location is indeed excellent, a semi-circular stone platform with a wall behind it and a wide view on both sides.

The Horned Demon himself brought over two barrels of Horned Demon liquor.

"Please drink as much as you like, gentlemen. This is on me, treating you two."

Ian waved his hand, and the horned demon wisely retreated.

Nilos stood beside the stone platform, unsure whether to sit or stand, her hands clasped together, her gaze sweeping over the demons around her.

Ian glanced at her. "Sit down."

Nilos quickly sat down opposite her, sitting upright with her hands on her knees, like a tamed little animal.

Ian leaned against the stone wall, his eyes half-closed, but his ears were never idle.

The tavern was filled with a cacophony of conversations, mostly about trivial matters, such as how many demons had died or who had been killed on the road.

However, a few words appeared repeatedly.

"Recruiting soldiers, White Bone Fortress, Great Battle."

Ian didn't ask, but Nilos couldn't sit still for long.

Her eyes darted around, and the succubus's social instincts began to awaken.

Ian nodded to her, and Nilos's face lit up with joy.

She glanced at the counter first, then got up and walked to the bar, whispering a few words to the owner with the broken corner.

The owner quickly burst into laughter and pointed to several regular customers in the tavern.

Nilos carried two glasses of wine over to a Fire Demon, bowed slightly, and gave it a perfectly timed smile.

"My lord, this is my first time visiting White Bone Castle. I've heard that things have been rather unsettled in this area lately. Could you tell me about it?"

The Earthfire Demon raised its head, its turbid eyes sweeping over Nilos's face before its gaze began to daze.

This is a succubus's innate ability.

Nilos's voice was sweet, and her posture was elegant and charming, attracting the attention of all the demons around her.

The Earthfire Demon swallowed hard, then glanced at Nilos with increasingly unfocused eyes.

"Girl, things are more than just unsettled." Its rough, hoarse voice softened, sounding extremely awkward.

"Lord Bone Demon is going to war, haven't you heard?"

Nilos blinked. "A war? With whom?"

"Who else could it be?" The Earthfire Demon gestured westward with its chin, "The King of Flames, of course."

A multi-armed snake demon nearby also came over and chimed in.

"It's not just fighting, it's a full-scale war." The serpent demon's voice hissed, even more unpleasant than the earth fire demon's.

"I came from the west last week. There have been several battles over there. The Fire King's men have suffered minor losses and are currently redeploying troops."

"Lord Bone Demon is also adjusting things here," the Earthfire Demon quickly added.

"Bone-Chilling has been recruiting troops everywhere these past few days. If you don't want to fight, you'd better leave here as soon as possible."

Nilos's eyes flickered, and she chuckled softly, "I'm too weak to dare to get involved in something like this."

"Don't be afraid, girl." The Earthfire Demon chuckled, his gaze sweeping over Nilos.

"As long as you follow me, I promise to protect you."

"You little dwarf, get out of here." The multi-armed snake demon next to him stood up with a whoosh, hissing loudly as all six of his arms rose up at the same time.

"You dare to lie to me? Do you even have the guts? Believe me or not, I'll chop you up right now."

The Earthfire Demon's expression froze, and Hei Mo's face was unreadable, neither red nor black. After holding back for a long time, he slowly lowered his head and took a sip of wine, not daring to utter a word in response.

Nilos chuckled, glanced at the snake demon, and gracefully turned and walked away.

The six-armed serpent demon followed Nilos's movements and saw her walk to the stone platform and sit down naturally next to Ian.

Its face instantly darkened, and it followed, but then it saw the warlord's token on Ian's table, paused, turned around, and left the tavern.

Ian glanced at Nilos, somewhat speechless. It seemed he'd been given too much leeway these past few days, daring to be so presumptuous.

Nilos leaned closer to him, raised her glass as if to show it to all the devils in the tavern.

The meaning is clear: she belongs to this man.

Several demons around couldn't help but glance over, looking at Ian's spiral horns, then at Nilos, before looking away.

It makes perfect sense for a Balrog to have a beautiful succubus.

Ian didn't say anything, but picked up his glass and took a sip.

Nilos sat down next to her and quietly recounted the information she had just extracted from him.

"And another thing," Nilos whispered into Ian's ear, her voice barely a whisper, as if she were just blowing on him.

"That fiery demon said that this recruitment is being handled with extreme rigor, and the situation at the front is critical."

Ian nodded, tilting his head back slightly to avoid Nilos's lips.

This intelligence largely matches the information leaked by Chi Gu after drinking: the Bone Demon is preparing for war, and in a great hurry.

Seeing that he hadn't gained anything, he got up and walked outside.

"Let's go to the city lord's mansion."

Nilos stood up, and the two walked out of the tavern one after the other.

It was brighter outside than inside the tavern, and the gray-white city walls gleamed coldly in the distance.

After taking a few steps, Ian suddenly stopped, turned back to look at Nilos, and gave her a warning look.

"This is a one-time exception; there will be no next time. You are not of any use to me in this regard."

Nilos paused, then lowered her eyes, a slight smile playing on her lips, a look that was both reproachful and resentful.

"You're right, sir. I've got it."

She lowered her head in agreement, her tail tip swaying unconsciously.

This master was completely immune to her charm, a first in her memory.

The succubus's greatest weapon failed, but the earlier probing didn't kill her; instead, she was still kept by her side, indicating that she still had value.

After these few days of getting to know each other, she has gradually grasped Ian's temperament and knows that he is not a bloodthirsty demon.

This secretly pleased her and made her relax, allowing her to gradually let go of her true nature.

Ian didn't say anything more and continued walking forward.

Nilos followed behind, remaining quiet for a while.

There was a bone-carved warning post by the roadside ahead, and two low-level skeleton demons were squatting next to it, gnawing on a bone from some unknown animal.

As Nilos walked past the warning post, she caught a glimpse of a crack at the base of the post out of the corner of her eye.

A thumb-sized bone fragment, dark red in color, was lodged in the crack, its surface engraved with an extremely fine magic rune.

Upon seeing the magic rune, her heart skipped a beat. She slowed her pace and, feigning curiosity, touched the pillar.

It seems no one noticed.

Without making a sound, she picked up the bone fragment from the crack with her fingers and quickly stuffed it into her sleeve.

The bone fragment felt slightly cool to the touch, with a rough surface and magical patterns that resembled some kind of communication markings.

She didn't know who put it there, nor what information was hidden in the bone fragment, but she was familiar with the function of this magic rune; it was the communication magic rune used by the succubus race.

Nilos straightened up and quickly caught up with Ian, her expression unchanged, but her heart skipped a beat.

Ahead, Ian didn't look back, seemingly oblivious to everything.