Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Mage Felic, look… look at this quickly…” Just as Lin Li was muttering to himself, Hutton suddenly stopped in front.
“What is it?” Lin Li paused when he heard his panicked voice. Hutton was a high-ranking Archmage, after all; just what could make him lose his cool like this?
Lin Li hurried over with a look of doubt before he realized that this was a dead end!
Oh, no…
Well, not quite a dead end.
It was just that it would be quite tricky to move on…
There was a massive, circular structure in front of Lin Li—it looked like one of those fighting arenas that were common in the Dark Age, only it was far bigger than any of those from the Dark Age. It had to be the size of at least a few Black Clouds Towns and the arena was about 200 meters below the platform where the spectators sat. It was as though they were looking down the edge of a cliff…
The worst thing was that all was not calm beneath this cliff. As Lin Li looked down from the spectators’ platform, he could clearly see that there were hundreds of cages at the edge of the arena, and there were many demons and magical beasts in each cage. Howls and growls came from every direction, making Lin Li frown when he heard it.
“Bloody hell…” Lin Li felt his head throb suddenly. The Palace of Darkness was a strange place indeed. Lin Li was still wondering to himself why they hadn’t seen a single guard at all as they walked into this place. The only thing they had seen were the sculptures on the pillars. Now, he knew that the Palace of Darkness did have guards, after all, and not just a few of them, but a whole army…
This arena filled with demons and magical beasts was more powerful than any guard. Moreover, this was a path that they had to take in order to enter the inner parts of the Palace of Darkness. They had to cross through the arena, and there was no shortcut they could take.
Well, an Archmage could fly, but this arena was filled with Anti-flight Mageweaths. If they still went ahead and used the Levitation Spell, they would risk a drop of more than 100 meters if their mana was disrupted by the mageweaths. They would fall to their deaths before they even got to face the demons and magical beasts.
“Hey, Connoris, come out for a minute!”
“What is it…”
“Come take a look, do you know this place?”
“Of course I do…” The hammer with Connoris’ soul sealed in it floated suddenly and twirled around the spectator platform before firmly saying, “This is the Abyss Arena.”
“What’s that?”
“There are 99 levels in the Abyss, and countless demons live in each level. Some of these demons will only remain a Netherspawn or a Minion Demon, but some of them will keep evolving to become a true Demon, or even a Greater Demon… Once they become a Greater Demon, they will have the opportunity to fight for the throne to become the Lord of the Abyss. That was what Mephistos did then, and so did the Lord of Darkness. Anyway, the Abyss is a fair but cruel world: every demon born in the Abyss has a chance to sit on the coveted throne as long as they are able to triumph over the current Lord of the Abyss. However, before they can do that, they will have to go through a test, and that is the Abyss Arena…”
“This is it?”
“Yes, only the Greater Demons that make it out of the Abyss Arena alive have the chance to challenge the current Lord of the Abyss!”
“Bloody hell, I thought you said that the Lord of Darkness had already fallen?” Lin Li felt his head throb suddenly. Are you kidding me? So this is something used to test Greater Demons…
“I did say that the Lord of Darkness had fallen, but I never said that the Abyss Arena disappeared after his fall. Truth be told, the Abyss Arena has nothing to do with the Lord of Darkness, as this is something left behind by the ancient demon deities, and so are the rules of the fight. Unless the Lord of Darkness became an ancient deity himself, his fall would not affect the Abyss Arena in any way. The Abyss Arena will continue to exist until the ancient demon deities have completely fallen…”
“Bloody hell!”
No way, this was too risky for them. This place was used to test Greater Demons; it’d be too dangerous for three Archmages to barge in like that. If something were to happen, Lin Li might not make it out alive even if he had the Holy Light and the Gloomy Dark to protect himself.
Lin Li thought about it, but refused to give up, so he secretly let out a Warlock’s Eyes to try and find a shortcut. Unfortunately, countless Greater Demons had tried to do the same for thousands of years, only to fail. How could Lin Li succeed just like that? The Warlock’s Eyes circled around the Abyss Arena once before returning to Lin Li’s hand again.
“It’s no use. If there was any other way to get past the Abyss Arena, there would be way more than just 37 Greater Demons that fought for the throne of the Abyss of Tharlen. See those mageweaths? Those were left behind by the Lord of the 72nd level of the Abyss, Kazakh, the Lord of the Purgatory. With the cover of these mageweath, even a Legendary-mage would not be able to pass through the Abyss Arena using the Power of Flight, much less the few of you…”
“That damned Kazakh…” Lin Li gritted his teeth and cursed. This was because Lin Li knew that whatever Connoris said was true—under the cover of these Anti-flight mageweaths, even a Legendary-mage would not be able to use the Power of Flight to pass through the Abyss Arena.
How ironic. Lin Li was a Guru of Inscription himself, yet here he was, stumped by an advanced mageweath…
It was not difficult for Lin Li to get rid of these Anti-flight mageweaths. There were at least 50 methods he had at his disposal. The problem was that none of these methods allowed him to work from a distance, as every single method required him to be within 10 meters of the mageweath.
That was sure death…
“Alright…” Lin Li stood there for a good minute before he accepted his loss, and indignantly spoke to Connoris, “What the hell is the rule for this bloody Abyss Arena?”
“The rule of the Abyss Arena is that there are no rules. The second you enter the Abyss Arena, the fight begins. Those cages you see below will open and release the demons and magical beasts inside. Remember, this is truly a fight to death, and there is no victory or defeat—only life and death. Only when one of you falls will the fight end.”
“Then what kind of monsters will we meet?”
“Who knows, even the Lord of Darkness has no say over which cage will open…” Connoris suddenly started smiling with gloating. “But one thing for sure is that no matter which cage opens, your enemy will be nothing less than a level-18. Well, that is the most scary thing about the Abyss Arena. Every magical beast here was hunted down by the Lord of the Abyss of Tharlen, and it was even said that there was once a level-21 two-headed poison flame dragon closed in one of these cages. The Greater Demons here are even more formidable: almost all of them are prisoners of war from the Abyss battles. Heheh, when the Lord of Darkness was still sitting on the throne, he had basically burned down the first 35 levels of the Abyss with his battles, and there were countless demons taken prisoner. Even Greater Demons and Demon Lords have once appeared in these cages. Hah, who knows if you might meet one of the previous Lords of the Abyss…”
“Why don’t you hurry along to your death…” Lin Li cursed angrily.
“But you do have an advantage…”
“What advantage?”
“When the Lord of Darkness was still in power, the Greater Demons could only enter the Abyss Arena alone, so no matter how powerful the armies of the Greater Demons were, they had to rely on themselves to win against the magical beasts and demons in the Abyss Arena. Since the Lord of Darkness had fallen, the three of you may enter together and increase your chances of survival…”
“F*ck…” Lin Li nearly cursed again. Now that Connoris mentioned that, Lin Li suddenly remembered that Stephen had been acting suspiciously. Who knew what he was up to? It would not be an issue in other circumstances, but now that they were about to enter the Abyss Arena, there would be huge trouble if this fellow tried something funny…
Why don’t I just get rid of Stephen first? A thought flashed through Lin Li’s mind, but he quickly dismissed it.
It would only arouse Mephistos’ suspicion if he got rid of Stephen first. Lin Li did not want to have to deal with this ex-Lord of the Abyss so early.
In Lin Li’s opinion, it was a good thing that there was Mephistos’ aura on Stephen. He would be able to use this aura to deceive Mephistos through Stephen and stall this Legendary-level Spirit Walker.
It sounded almost too good to be true to trick a level-20 Greater Demon1, but it was not nearly as hard as it seemed—especially for Lin Li. After all, he had a Demon Magic Lamp that had the Lord of Nightmares sealed in it!
The greatest strength of the Lord of Nightmares was that he could manipulate dreams and soundlessly create false memories.
Mephistos was not here himself, after all, and everything he heard and saw had to be done through the aura on Stephen. It would not be as easy to see through the dream created by the Lord of Nightmares, then…
It was not an issue for Lin Li to create the dream, either. All he had to do was use a sleeping potion, and Stephen would be out for weeks. The Lord of Nightmares would be able to do whatever he wanted in that time.
With this reason alone, Lin Li decided he was not going to get rid of Stephen. Moreover, he was presenting Lin Li with a chance too—a chance to kill Mephistos…
But this was too risky, and if he was not left with no alternative, Lin Li would never consider taking such risk.
After discussing with Connoris, Lin Li then spent another several minutes to go through the situation with his companions.
“Anyway, this Abyss Arena is kind of tricky, and there is no way we will be able to avoid it. The two of you should start preparing, it will be a difficult fight later on.”
“Why should we believe what you said?” Stephen continued to stand against Lin Li as usual.
“You can choose not to.” Lin Li had no intention to explain at all, and all he did was spare Stephen a hostile glance before he took out the Demon Magic Lamp and chanted softly. Before Hutton and Stephen even realized what was going on, the growl of a dragon could be heard…
“Hume… Humerus Wyrm!” Hutton’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. This was his second time seeing a Humerus Wyrm. The first time was with the Syer Bandits, when the Humerus Wyrm suddenly appeared and killed hundreds of the Syer Bandits in the blink of an eye.
Hutton still held onto a trace of hope that this Mage Felic was able to summon a Humerus Wyrm only because of some special circumstances, like giving offerings, or perhaps there was a limit to how many times he could summon one. After all, it was unheard of for an Archmage to be able to summon a Legendary-realm creature…
However, now it seemed like this fellow was able to summon a Humerus Wyrm as and when he liked. There was even no need for any summoning ritual—all it took was a chant. This fellow was even more terrifying than Sendros.
The appearance of the Humerus Wyrm came as a shock indeed as even the usually composed and self-assured Stephen could not hide his stiff expression with a hint of fear when he saw the Humerus Wyrm.
While he might not know what the Supreme Council meant nor the power of a Maze Mageweath, he surely knew the extent of damage a Humerus Wyrm could inflict.
Such was the power of a Legendary creature: everyone else who was not of the Legendary-realm would fear it.
A Legendary creature, even one as basic as a Humerus Wyrm, was as strong as an army. Any Archmage above level-15 would be able to destroy a city easily with the help of a Humerus Wyrm, and they could even be as powerful as a Legendary-realm powerhouse together.
There was no way Stephen did not fear something as powerful as this.
Stephen had mixed feelings—envy, jealousy, regret, fear… Even he could not describe what he was feeling.
This Felic was too lucky indeed to own a Humerus Wyrm he could summon. How could this be? How could he gain the recognition of a Humerus Wyrm just as an Archmage? He must have used some tricks, that’s right, that must be it! His contract with the Humerus Wyrm can’t be a true summoning contract…
When he thought of this, Stephen’s eyes lit up, and he began to look at the Humerus Wyrm with greed in his eyes.
The contract that a mage had with their summoning creatures was crucial. The most reliable one was a Soul Contract, where they each left a Spiritual Brand on each other, which would allow them to communicate using mental strength and share memories and knowledge. Once the Soul Contract was signed, even death would not terminate it.
There were other less binding contracts other than the Soul Contract, for example, a Summoning Contract, an Equals Contract, an Offering Contract, etc…
These contracts were not very binding, and as long as a criterion was fulfilled, it could be terminated anytime. Also, if the summoner died, the contract would be terminated immediately as well.
Hmph, wait and see. Mephistos promised me, after all… Stephen couldn’t help letting out a sinister laugh when he thought of this.
How could his greed escape Lin Li’s eyes? Truth be told, Lin Li had summoned the Humerus Wyrm not only for battle, but also to test Stephen. With the change in his demeanor alone, Lin Li was at least half sure that Stephen had the intention of killing him.
But this was not a good time to deal with Stephen; hence, Lin Li merely spared him a glance before he climbed on the Humerus Wyrm’s back.
“Alright, let’s go.” After sitting down firmly on the Humerus Wyrm’s back, Lin Li tightly held his Bone magic staff and grabbed onto a bone of the Humerus Wyrm with his other hand. Using his powerful mental strength, Lin Li coaxed the Humerus Wyrm into charging towards the center of the Abyss Arena with a strong chilly aura.
Hutton flew with Lin Li, but Stephen hesitated for a moment before he cast a Levitation Spell as well.
The three young mages landed in the center of the Abyss Arena, and the door to one of the cages immediately opened…
“We’re in luck!” Lin Li looked from afar and felt his heart relax.
There were three magical beasts charging out from one of the cages.
They were not unfamiliar to Lin Li. Level-18 Rainbow Manticore King, said to be the servant of Minotaurs.
The rainbow-colored spike on their tail was their greatest weapon as besides containing deadly poison, it could also release seven types of elemental magic. The level of the magic was determined by the level of the Rainbow Manticore King, but the beast was usually below level-10. Even though it was released at an incredibly fast speed, the spells were usually of no threat to an Archmage.
However, once they reached level-18, they would become true Rainbow Manticore Kings, and while they’d experience great improvements in strength, their elemental magic could also reach level-15. Some mutants might also master destructive magic like Thousand Miles of Ice and Pyroblasts.
But mutant or not, these three Rainbow Manticore Kings were not too big of an issue for Lin Li. Well, not quite as much as a dozen of Azteks above level-18…
