Baator Hell Promotion

This principle applies throughout the multiverse. In the Pearl City on the Water Elemental Plane, even the rarest, completely unpolluted pure water wouldn't be a rare commodity; any noble household would have several bottles. But in Avernus, even a sip of water that wouldn't instantly poison you was a luxury.

To be precise, Avernus is not short of water. Though barren and arid, with no rainfall, the ever-flowing River Styx, with its countless tributaries, flows endlessly across the brick-red wasteland. Avernus is arguably the busiest shipping layer in all of Baator. The only problem is that ordinary people, if they don't want to lose their memory or be poisoned to death, should avoid the waters of the Styx.

Carlo's team faced this dilemma. Even though the team members were very hardworking, the inhabitants of the Prime Material Plane could not completely escape the need for food and water. As the team leader, Carlo had to take on the task of finding a water source.

Carlo was a desert orc. In his native land, finding a tree was like finding a source of water. So when the entire team discovered this black oak forest, their water bladders had long since dried up, and they were so excited that they almost cried. As the leader, Carlo remained rational. He instructed the other team members to find a campsite first, while he, the one most adept at stealth, went into the woods to explore the area.

Compared to the howling wind in the wilderness, the woods seemed quite quiet. But it was a reassuring silence. Carlo could hear the chirping of unknown insects and the occasional chirping of birds.

How strange! Are there birds and insects even in Hell? Carlo thought. Suddenly, his ears twitched, and his heart pounded. Was it an illusion caused by thirst? He seemed to hear the sound of water. Carlo paused, closed his eyes, and held his breath. As a thief skilled in operating in the dark, he had many experiences where his sight was no match for his ears.

It’s true, between the sound of the wind and the birdsong, there is really a subtle splashing sound.

He suddenly opened his eyes, carefully observed his surroundings, and quickly walked along the beast path toward the sound of water. The path eventually disappeared behind a circle of forcibly opened gaps. The sound of water became more and more obvious, and the orc approached the gap more cautiously, then stuck his head out.

Carlo rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Behind the bushes was a pond less than thirty feet wide, and a steamy wind blew towards him. But the orc was completely oblivious to all that. He actually saw a burly female orc bathing in the pond with her back to him!

What was going on? Were there other adventurers nearby? Was she alone? Carlo wasn't very good at thinking, and such an unusual presence left him momentarily unable to react. At that moment, the female orc, seemingly finished washing, stood up from the water, and turned around.

Carlo couldn't control his thoughts and eyes, staring straight at the female orc's wet chest hair that extended to her legs.

Then he felt pain in his feet, the world spun around him, and he was hanging upside down on a tree branch.

The horrified orc saw the orc's figure twist in the water and explode into a ball of colorful foam. A veiled woman with black wings sat on a branch, a long sword pointed at his throat.

"Carlo's been gone for a while," Frodis said, her voice filled with worry. She wasn't bad-looking; her copper-colored hair and the fine, same-colored scales around her eyes gave this human a certain exotic charm. Unfortunately, the crooked corner of her mouth ruined any beauty.

"Don't worry, since Carlo can lead us out of the encirclement of demons, a small forest can't stop him from escaping." The black-bearded dwarf sitting by the fire said casually. His clothes were the most exquisite among this group of mercenaries. Even after a long period of hard work, he kept his clothes as neat as possible.

"Someone is coming." The one watching at the cave entrance was also an orc. He clenched the axe in his hand, ready to chop it down at any time.

Frodisi and the dwarf also drew their weapons, ready to attack at any time.

There were knocking sounds on the rocks used as a cover, and the orcs counted silently.

"Short and long, it's Carlo." He relaxed and knocked the answer signal on the rock with his axe.

After a while, a small crack was pushed open in the rock, and the skinny Carlo slipped in sideways. When the orc guarding the gate saw him clearly, he immediately tightened his grip on his weapon, which had just been slightly relaxed. A rope was tied around Carlo's neck, and the other end extended outside the cave.

"Don't do it! Ugo!" Carlo raised his hands. "I mean no harm."

He stepped aside, knelt on the ground with his hands raised, and lay down on all fours.

The lust demon walked into this shelter.

"This is Master Hopper," the thief lying on the ground explained to his teammates who were sweating coldly, "She means no harm."

"A succubus without malicious intent?" Frodis couldn't help but retort, "And a fully armed succubus, what could be more outrageous than that?"

"Since such an outrageous combination of dragon veins, dwarves and orcs can form a team," Hopper walked towards Carlo leisurely, then sat on his back with his legs crossed, playing with the rope in his hand, "then what's so difficult about trusting my good intentions?"

"If I were you, I'd put the sword down. Holding it up all the time is tiring, Miss Frodis." The succubus's face was hidden behind a veil, but the subtle teasing in his voice filled Lady Dragon Vein with even more anger than fear. "And you, Mr. Brand, please remove your fingers from your strings, or I cannot guarantee their safety."

"It seems Carlo sold us out completely," Frodis said, sheathing her sword with a certain air of self-abandonment. "Is there anything else he hasn't told you?"

"Honesty is the foundation of cooperation, isn't it?" The demon's tone became more cheerful. She stretched out her finger and hooked it at the orc standing at the cave entrance who hadn't reacted yet. "Don't you think so, Mr. Ugo?"

The tan orc looked blankly at the brains of the group, the dark-haired dwarf who had remained silent.

The dwarf sighed, stood up straight, and adjusted his slightly greasy collar.

He hadn't even said a word when his teammates were caught and questioned one by one. There was no point in struggling anymore.

"It is a pleasure to serve you, my beautiful lord." The dwarf's voice was hoarse from long-term thirst, and he tried to keep his tone pleasant. "Although you kindly and euphemistically used the word cooperation instead of slavery, I think you think too highly of us. A small group of escapees probably doesn't have any resources you would consider for exchange. Even if you sell us to the slave market, it will not add anything to your glorious deeds. As for our souls, they are even less worth mentioning."

"Who can say for sure?" The succubus rubbed the orc's head and stiffened for a moment. Then, she pursed her lips behind her veil and calmly rubbed the oil on her hands back onto Carlo's leather armor. "I noticed you have a lute, Mr. Dwarf. Why don't you play a tune and tell me your story? Let me understand why you risked your life in a foreign land to come to Batol."

Chapter 54 Ballad

Weary traveler, weary traveler,

Please come and rest your feet, what do you want?

Hot water, hot meals and a cold beer;

The bustling Thousand Rocks Hall has it all.

O fearful traveler, O fearful traveler,

Please don't shout, what are you afraid of?

Thunder, smoke, and a whimper;

The silent Hall of a Thousand Rocks swallows everything.

Confused traveler, confused traveler;

Please go quickly, there is nothing here;

Laughter, treasure and all;

The Hall of Thousand Rocks, nowhere to be found, cries and howls alone.

The last note trembled, the lute made a thud, and the cave fell silent. The dwarf stopped singing, took off his bonnet, and bowed to the ogreon.

Hopper fished a handful of coppers from his bag and dropped them into his hat, clapping softly with his fingertips.

"What a wonderful song! I rarely see singers and poets among dwarves." The succubus stood up and stretched. The cramped cave was beginning to make her feel bored. "So the stone dwellers can sing and dance?"

"The residents of the Hall of a Thousand Rocks are either good at singing and dancing, or good at speaking. If that's not possible, they can only be good at fighting." The dwarf carefully placed the lute away from the fire and counted the coppers carefully. "We no longer have a home."

Then he took out a dirty, yellowed embroidered linen handkerchief, shook it, and put it to his nose, making a loud blowing sound.

"So, you came to hell just to find this City of Thousand Rocks?" The Desire Demon asked, moving away from him unnoticed.

"As the song says, beauty and passion, especially the exceptional wealth of the Thousand Rocks, ultimately attracted its greatest enemy," replied Frodis. The scales around her eyes looked like real copper in the firelight.

The succubus studied her carefully. Unlike dragonborn like Professor Biguan, dragon veins weren't strictly a race or subspecies. As the name suggests, dragon veins were a form of atavism, where the blood of ancient dragon ancestors suddenly manifested within a living being. This brought many benefits, including increased physical strength, blade-proof scales, and a lifespan far exceeding that of a true dragon, though not on par with that of a true dragon.

However, in Avernus, because the Mother of Dragons's domain is on this level, and she actively expands her influence in any place where Grand Duke Bayer cannot intervene or pays no attention, let alone the dragon veins which are essentially native creatures, the rarer dragonborn and half-dragons, and even living dragons are not uncommon.

"The specific identity of the great enemy is no longer known," Longmai continued. "From stories, legends, and the records of the few survivors, it could be a red dragon, a black dragon, or a blue dragon. In the darkness of the underground and in extreme fear, each surviving person had a different story. Some said its eyes were as red as coal, some said its scales were as black as the night, and some even said it was a wyvern."

"A wyvern destroyed a city," Frodis said with a snort of disdain. "Anyway, some kind of giant dragon destroyed almost the entire city overnight."

"That's all the facts we know." The dwarf carefully put the handkerchief back into his pocket and drank a few sips of the water that Carlo brought back. The tarry smell in it made him retch a few times. "What I'm going to say next is pure legend and myth."

"When the other dwarven kingdoms arrived with their armies to defeat the dragon, they discovered that the central castle of the Thousand Rocks had vanished. The entire cavern was like a bucket of butter with a spoonful scooped out of the center, leaving only a smooth, polished pit where the castle had stood."

"Whether it's the displaced residents of Thousand Rocks or other travelers harboring ill intentions towards Thousand Rocks, they've tried dozens of times to summon the gods, divine, and enter the spirit realm, but ultimately, there's still no consensus."

The dwarf named Brand sighed.

"If it weren't for my father's dying wish, I wouldn't have bothered searching for a hometown where I've never lived even a single day. According to rumors, the great enemy of Thousand Rocks caught the attention of their queen on the night of their invasion. Whether it was the Dragon Queen coveting Thousand Rocks' wealth, or the great enemy offending this five-headed shrew, legend has it that it was the Five-Colored Dragon Queen herself who completely wiped out the great enemy and Thousand Rocks."

"And so, hundreds of years passed. After searching fruitlessly, the survivors of the City of Thousand Rocks put aside their grief and returned to their own lives. It wasn't until recent years that rumors reached the ears of the exiled dwarves. Legend has it that some devils or travelers who got lost in the bloody battle accidentally entered a valley and discovered an empty dwarven fortress. They found supplies and treasures inside."

"You're not going to believe that, are you?" Hopper couldn't help but interrupt the dwarf. "Just a vague rumor? Maybe it's just some drunken mercenary's nonsense."

The dwarf was silent, then took out a small purse from the lining of his clothes, opened it, poured out two gold coins and handed them to the succubus.

Hopper examined the gold coin in his hand. It was heavy, probably pure gold. The front of the coin was engraved with a laughing dwarf with a short beard, and the other side was embossed with stalactites and stalagmites.

"This is the Rock City coin. The portrait on it is Queen Shirley, the Cave Carver and niece of Em, the King of Infinite Greed," he explained. "It's the legal tender of the City of Thousand Rocks. The mercenaries who returned from Hell sold it to my father as an antique. They said they found it in that empty dwarven fortress."

A bearded...queen. Okay, I forgot dwarves have beards, Hopper thought. But that wasn't what he said.

"You dare to rush into hell with two coins? This is not like you dwarves."

"Of course it's more than that. In fact, my father, uncle, and other surviving elders spent nearly fifteen years verifying its authenticity, and an equal amount of time locating and teleporting it." The dwarf took the gold coin handed back by the succubus, carefully wrapped it, and put it back. "Perhaps it was the curse of the Greedy Queen, or perhaps the Five-Colored Dragon Queen is still watching over my unfortunate people. Who knows? Anyway, after everything was ready, the newly united survivors of Thousand Rocks City argued over who should be the first to cross the portal, and it turned into a fight. In the end, my father pushed me through the portal and collapsed in front of it himself."

"Have other dwarves passed through the portal? And what about your three companions?"

"From what I know, about eight or ten dwarves crossed the portal before me. But after I was teleported here, I didn't meet any of my kind. Carlo and Ugo had nothing to do with this matter. They were just unlucky guys who were tied up and taken to the battlefield. While escaping, they met Frodis and saved me who fainted. Then we became exiles together in this damn place."

"This is the tragic fate of a poor singer who has never held a sword in his first fifty years of life." The dwarf took out his handkerchief again and blew a loud trumpet from behind it.

"Wait a minute," the succubus observed the dwarf's actions, recalled his drawn-out tone and upward interjections, and asked in shock, "Are you a female dwarf?"

"You bastard!" The dwarf jumped up after hearing this, throwing his handkerchief. His snot splashed all over Frodis, and his voice cracked with excitement. "I'm a perfect man. Don't think I'm a sissy just because I see a poet. This is standard occupational discrimination!"

Chapter 55: Omen

The cave wasn't large, but the fire in the center still flickered, providing the exiles with warmth. Compared to the icy seas of the fifth layer and the biting winds of the eighth layer, Avernus seemed relatively harmless. However, unless you were a demon or devil resistant to cold, Avernus's pervasive dry winds would quickly teach you a lesson—the consequence being a dried corpse slumbering eternally in the wilderness due to hypothermia.

With the exception of Hopper, everyone in the cave was fast asleep. After all, with a succubus already beside them, what greater danger could there be to disturb their sleep?

Hopper idly fiddled with the parchment in her hands. It was given to her "voluntarily" by Brand. It showed a bird nailed to a board, its abdomen slit open, revealing all its internal organs.

Like all other layers of Hell, Avernus is unchartable. Even a map intended for simple annotation would be a tangled mess. Among the exiles of Thousand Rocks, there must be a skilled prophet. Rather than attempting to depict Avernus, he used avian divination to connect to the mana pulses of his destination, charting the general direction of travel through his viscera.

No matter where they are now, the heart of the bird in the picture is where they are. They just need to follow the direction of the heart tip and move all the way to the small intestine to reach their destination.

"So this is the guidance Baator is giving me?" Hopper muttered to himself. "Looks like I have to go to the City of Thousand Rocks with them. Even if the portal isn't inside, there must be guidance for our next move there."

After initially acting alone, the succubus quickly found several imps to conduct a spiritual ritual, seeking the location of the portal from Hell itself. However, it was clear that the teachers at Emberhold did not want their students to take shortcuts. They must have cast a spell to avoid detection on the portal itself, resulting in completely irrelevant responses when directly questioning the portal during each ritual.

Hopper tried asking in various ways, only to receive vague responses. Finally, in a fit of anger, she directly asked how she should complete her current mission. To her surprise, this question received a clear answer. The divination fire led her to wait for the first orc she encountered by the watering hole.

Now it seems that this advice is obviously very correct.

Hopper doubted that all four travelers in the cave were telling the truth. At the very least, some were certainly lying about their respective motives. The two orcs might genuinely have come for survival and treasure, but the dwarf's motives were likely far more complex. As for the dragon vein, she seemed to be after the treasure, but Hopper had a hunch that her ambitions went far beyond taking a chest of gold home for marriage. The succubus didn't bother to consider their thoughts. She knew they were worried about their own safety and the possibility of her robbing them of any treasure they might find upon reaching Thousand Rocks. But Hopper knew they had no idea she was after something far more than just material possessions.

She felt the trembling of the black iron torch as Carlo was hung. This confirmed her suspicions: the torch must be driven by emotion, and quite possibly capable of absorbing it. This was a straightforward conclusion, considering that most succubi excelled only at shooting and melee combat, rarely performing the delicate manipulations of emotional extraction. However, only succubi could become Nemaeds; the goddess of vengeance couldn't reasonably demand that a group of succubi suddenly acquire abilities they lacked. Therefore, if emotional extraction was necessary, it was likely accomplished by the torch itself.

Frodis's mumbling interrupted her thoughts. Longmai was sleeping rather restlessly, as if she had dreamed of something horrible. She tossed and turned on the mat, her brow furrowed, mumbling to herself, her face covered in sweat. Beads of sweat and her scales gleamed in the firelight.

The dragon vein became increasingly restless, its hands and feet began to frantically claw at the air, and its muttering turned into loud shouts.

Hopper glanced at the cave entrance. The silencing spell Brand had cast was still in effect. Her screams probably wouldn't be heard, but they were enough to wake her teammates. Ugo woke up the fastest. The tall orc quickly got up, picked up the Dragon Vein Lady, and patted her face, trying to wake her.

"Aaaa, it's in front, she is in front, he is in front!" She sat up suddenly, staring at an invisible target in front of her, and an unstoppable scream burst out of her mouth, as if she wanted to shout out all the sounds in her life at once.

"Shh, shh, quiet, quiet." The brown-skinned orc tried to cover her mouth. Her screams turned into whimpers, and then her legs kicked wildly, and her whimpers turned into struggles.

"Let go, you're suffocating her to death." Hopper couldn't stand it anymore. The idiot orc covered Ms. Dragon Vein's nose and mouth in a hurry, and her face turned red.

Frodis breathed heavily and it took her a while to recover.

"A, a foreboding dream." Before anyone else could ask, she couldn't wait to say, "I dreamt of an omen."

Many mortals who have received divine office experience dreams from their gods, especially when events affecting them are imminent. These dreams are called premonitions. However, in Avernus, this is much more complex; misleading mortals through dreams, leading them into poor decisions, is a common tactic of demons. Furthermore, various otherworldly creatures skilled in mental magic often engage in this practice, such as succubi, nightmare demons, hags, ghosts, and even some goblins simply out for mischief.

Furthermore, in Hopper's opinion, Miss Frodis possessed no divine power at all, and only a faint stench of sulfur, though that was insignificant in Hell. While dragon veins were still human in nature, perfect beings considered these hybrids to be traitors to human bloodlines. Therefore, she could never be a cleric of perfect beings, let alone a cleric of a dragon god—dragon gods wouldn't even heed the prayers of a wyvern.

"What did you dream about?" the dwarf came closer and asked, "Thousand Rocks?"

"I saw flashes of light, a huge fire, a dusty hall, and a blue devil. She sat on all our corpses, playing the piano and singing." Frodis, still terrified, glanced at the succubus. "It wasn't this devil. Although I didn't see her face, the devils in dreams don't have wings."

"That's really rare, blue devil." The demon yawned in boredom and said sarcastically, "In the blood battle, I could shoot an arrow and hit five blue-skinned Cambions."

"What I'm more curious about is which god gave you such a precise dream~" The succubus raised her chin, and the veil outlined her straight nose and beautifully curved lips.

Frodis was a little embarrassed for a moment, and finally said hesitantly: "I think it's Ms. Yongjin."

The succubus didn't realize which god's name it was, but the dwarf did.

"You mean, the Lady with the Golden Crown and Silverbeard? The Lady of Wealth of our tribe?" Brand jumped up and asked in disbelief, "Why didn't she appear in my dream but you?"

"Maybe it's because I'm the only woman who can send dreams." After she finished speaking, Lady Longmai was obviously less embarrassed. "Don't you dwarves regard female dwarves as your most precious treasures? I heard that the dwarf goddess never gives omens to male dwarves."

Brand finally realized what was happening and nodded, saying, "That's pretty much it. Unless there's absolutely no other choice, goddesses never appear in male dwarves' dreams—at most, they'll have their fathers or husbands convey it."

"Then should we still set out to look for the treasure of Qianyan City?" Ugo seemed to have no idea what they were talking about and just wanted to know the result.

"Ugo, this is not up to us to decide," the thin Carlo patted the big man's shoulder. After he reminded them, the dwarf and the dragon vein also turned to look at Hopper.

"Why not?" the demon said. "Ms. Yongjin didn't tell you not to go any further, nor did she even mention the Thousand Rocks City. If there was real danger, she would have appeared in your dreams."

Chapter 56: All Parties

"Ouch~what are you doing~"

Vera screamed, leaping back to avoid the acidic fluids from the giant insect in front of her, and glared angrily at Lexi, who had just retracted her finger. It wasn't that she thought Lexi's magic energy explosion could hurt her, but Vera never liked wearing too much armor, and being drenched in insect juice would be too disgusting.

As succubi, not wearing armor is also a kind of strategy. They are not afraid of damage from ordinary swords and knives. There are also many fools who use their necks to meet the swords of succubi because they are tempted by the beauty of succubi or despise their unarmored bodies.

But in this situation, Vera didn't have the same advantage as her two armored companions. Lexi was essentially a spellcaster, so the task of delivering the final blow at close range fell to Vera, who had the highest combat power. This also meant that Vera had to be closest to the corpse.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just worried about you, don't be angry." Lei Xi also knew that she had offended the proud little princess, so she quickly landed from the sky, grabbed her hand and shook it.

Danya also landed and took out a handkerchief to wipe Vera's face. She and Leixi both knew that Vera had a quick temper and her anger came and went quickly.