Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Goddammit, stop rushing me!” Connoris snapped at Lin Li. Actually, the ancient deity would have sensed the urgency of the situation without Lin Li saying anything. But, what could he do? He was not an ancient deity anymore. In fact, he was just a pathetic soul that had been sealed by Osric…
“I don’t want to rush you…” Lin Li smiled helplessly as he stood on the back of the Humerus Wyrm. “But, I can only urge you on… Hey, almighty Soul Trader, can you do something about this? How could you not have a way to weaken the powers of the Lord of Darkness? What about your spells that are written in the ancient Demon Language? You can just recite any of them. I just need your help to weaken the Lord of Darkness by a little, and I would be able to create the illusion of both parties suffering a great injury…”
“What on earth are you saying? Recite any of them?” Connoris nearly jumped on Lin Li’s back in rage. Damn it, what was this fella thinking of the demonic runes? Were they white cabbage that could be sold by weight? Although Connoris was a bona fide ancient deity, how could he have retained his strong powers when all the High Elves had been turned into the dust of history? If it were before, why would a Lord of Darkness matter? As long as the Dragon of Destruction did not descend, he would have the ability to smash the Lord of Darkness with a finger…
“You really have no idea?”
“Let me think…” Connoris muttered under his breath, and stayed silent for a moment. He was racking his brain, trying to come up with a way to deal with the Lord of Darkness.
“F*ck you! I knew that you couldn’t be trusted…” Lin Li cussed. He had no other choice but to continue to raise his mental strength to suppress the threat of the bite of mana, and continued to empty more potion bottles like plain water.
The mana within him continued to stir, and Lin Li felt as though his organs were stirring as well. The sense of dizziness and nauseousness came in waves, and the pain from exerting too much mental strength was like countless needles pricking his brain. There was even a moment that Lin Li felt like he was going to die. People who had not experienced it would never know how horrifying it felt to have to depend on potions to raise their magic powers and exert their mental strength to suppress the bite of mana…
Time trickled by. The Lord of Darkness was like a slaughtering machine that would never get exhausted. Its sharp sword that carried blazing black flames was like the scythe of a Grim Reaper as it continued to destroy Lin Li’s Magical Domain. There were numerous lives being destroyed and numerous lives being created at every point in time, and it was as though the two Legendary powerhouses were battling on a thin thread…
At this time, it was not a contest that celebrated whoever that would win, but rather whoever could endure longer…
Being an invincible force within the Magical Domain he created, Lin Li would stay uninjured as long as his Magical Domain did not collapse. With the powers of the Dragon of Destruction, the lord was an insurmountable presence. With the force of the Abyss of Tharlen entering the body of the lord consistently, it would never get exhausted.
That battle was fated to last.
The fact that Lin Li had the magical crystal of the Dragon of Destruction but could not use it to swallow the Lord of Darkness was insulting. After all, the Lord of Darkness was merely a form of energy. The body of the Dragon of Destruction could be engulfed instantaneously without the Dragon Crystal, regardless if it was the dragon horn or bones. It couldn’t be helped. His unjust fate was determined the very moment the Dragon of Destruction sent his reincarnation to Tharlen. Being the main body of the Lord of Darkness, the Dragon of Destruction could withdraw the force any time he wished.
Unfortunately, Lin Li would never dare to do that…
Mephistos was hiding in the shadows, and could appear anytime. His sole reason for not doing that was only out of fear of the Lord of Darkness. The Lord of Darkness had to have a certain way to control Mephistos. Otherwise, the terrible Mephistos would not be that afraid of him.
Hence, Lin Li had to create an illusion that both the Lord of Darkness and himself were greatly injured, misleading Mephistos into thinking that neither of them had the ability to threaten him… Lin Li had yet to send the 100 Angels of Light and Dark onto the battlefield as he was worried he might lose his final card. If both the Lord of Darkness and himself were to be really worn out, that would be a great advantage for Mephistos…
Lin Li had already drunk his 20th Seethe of Mana Potion. After feeling the number of potion bottles left in his pocket, his expression turned awful. “Oh gosh, trouble is really huge…”
Just when Lin Li was hesitating whether not to use the Dragon Crystal to swallow the Lord of Darkness before he proceeded to gamble with Mephistos, Connoris suddenly jumped on his back.
“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!”
Since he acquired the hammer from the Eternal Furnace, Lin Li had never felt that the demon that was full of lies could be so adorable. Tears welled up in Lin Li’s eyes as soon as he heard Connoris’ voice. All of his blabbering turned into a single sentence in that very moment…
“Goddammit, speak!”
“…” Connoris might be the only ancient deity who had ever suffered a scolding. His heavy panting managed to help him suppress his urge to return the scolding to Lin Li. “I can tell you the method, but you have to promise not to spread this word to anyone. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any more demons in the entire Tharlen…” Connoris spoke in a negotiatory tone.
“What could be so powerful?”
“It is a paragraph of demonic runes that had been passed down from the prehistoric times, otherwise known as the ancient Demon Language. I’m not very sure who was the creator of this language, though. I’d only vaguely heard that its creator might be the father of us, the 99 ancient deities…”
“Are you certain that it is not the mother?”
“Damn it, that is just a salutation!” Connoris snapped angrily. He could not help it. No matter how astute and shrewd Connoris was, he would not allow people to make such jokes. “To the demons in the Endless Abyss, this paragraph of demonic runes is like a sharpened sword hanging above their heads. If it dropped, it would mean doomsday to all of the demons in the Endless Abyss. During the prehistoric times, the 99 ancient deities had sworn together not to divulge this paragraph of the demonic runes to external parties… Alright, although I’ve not seen myself as an ancient deity since a long time ago, I still do not wish that a human mage could make use of this demonic rune to create havoc in the Endless Abyss for my kind…”
“Sure…” Lin Li replied in a grave tone as he put away his earlier trickster figure. This had to be the concept of provincialism. No matter how many years had passed, and how many things had happened, it would be impossible to remove that sense of homesickness and nostalgia for his birth place. Connoris’ words made Lin Li think of that familiar world he came from…
“I hereby swear that if I were to divulge this paragraph of demonic runes, I will never be able to progress in the field of magic in my whole life!”
“That’s more like it…” Connoris sounded very satisfied. To a mage, there would be no other vow that could be as serious. Every mage had the ambition to progress to a higher realm and attain greater magic powers. The failure to improve in the field of magic would be more terrifying than death for any mage.
“So, can you tell me what demonic runes they are faster? I’m really not going to last if there is any more delay. I’m not sure what that bastard lord consumed not to feel any exhaustion. If this continues, I’ll really have to use the Dragon Crystal…” Lin Li urged Connoris as he touched the last two bottles of the Seethe of Mana Potion in his pocket. He had no time to waste.
“Do you think you can understand what I tell you when you don’t know the ancient Demon Language? The only way now is to open your mental strength entirely and let me transfer this paragraph of demonic runes into it.”
“Erm…” Connoris’ request made Lin Li hesitate. For a mage, opening his mental strength was a very dangerous action. He had to risk being controlled by Connoris. Even if the intruder’s mental strength was not powerful enough to control the mind of a mage entirely, it might still leave behind a trap to prevent the mage from perfecting his mental strength and making further progress in the field of magic. Unless there was absolute trust involved, no mage would expose his mental strength to others completely.
However, the situation now required him to open his mental strength to receive the demonic runes. If not, he had to utilize the Dragon Crystal of the Dragon of Destruction and face Mephistos’ sneak attack directly. Having been left with two bottles of the Seethe of Mana Potion, Lin Li really had no confidence to face Mephistos as a level-19 Archmage…
“Alright then!” Lin Li agreed after weighing the pros and cons of both sides. He gritted his teeth and chose to believe Connoris. After all, he had little choice left. He could only decide between waiting for death with closed eyes and gambling on his luck…
Lin Li did not like to gamble, but if it was required for him to make crucial decisions, his readiness to gamble would surpass anyone else’s.
Lin Li did not give himself any room for regret. He opened his mental strength immediately after replying to Connoris. Even an ancient deity like Connoris could not help but admire how swiftly Lin Li made his decision to expose his vast sea of mental strength…
Lin Li could feel a wave of obscure ideas rushing into his mind like a tide. There were countless pictures and information that overwhelmed Lin Li. Despite having a powerful mental strength to begin with, Lin Li had no ability to understand all the data. He could only accept the information passively.
The ancient Demon Language is really complex. It is indeed an ancient script worthy of being next to the ancient Dragon and Titan Language…
Lin Li could not help but feel amazed by all the information. Although the ancient Demon Language was not known to humans, any knowledgeable mage would know that it was one of the three most powerful ancient scripts of Anril. Each and every rune conveyed invincible powers.
If the High Elves Print was the most appropriate language to record the magic spells, the Dragon Language and Titan Print that were more ancient than it had to be magic spells per se. Both of them were even stronger than magic spells.
It was a dream of every mage to learn the three ancient scripts. The mastery of these scripts would render all spells and gestures useless. Each and every rune within the scripts had infinite powers. Anyone would be able to cast Legendary-level spells instantaneously with just a few syllables…
And now, what Lin Li was learning was one of these three scripts1, the ancient Demon Language!
Although it was a short paragraph, it was sufficient for a man who was about to break into the Legendary-realm. After he reached that stage, he would have all the time to study the language. As long as he had enough patience and precision in the research, and had the advice from the formal ancient deity, Connoris, he would be able to derive the entire ancient Demon Language. When that time came, any complicated or difficult magic spells would pose zero challenge to him.
Would there be any other fatal temptation to a mage who was in pursuit of higher powers?
It was this reason that motivated Lin Li to open his mental strength to risk a mission he had no confidence in. If he were to lose the gamble, he could drag Connoris down to hell with him. If he were to win it, however, not only could he resolve all problems before him, he could also gain an opportunity to learn the ancient Demon Language. Lin Li, who had always been cautious, could never resist this temptation.
