This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 587 - 523: The Devil’s Roadblock Fortress

Chapter 587: Chapter 523: The Devil’s Roadblock Fortress

Disguising herself was not difficult for Melina, just a switch of her sealed helmet and an addition of shapeshifting.

After all, as long as no one could recognize her real face, it didn’t matter if people realized it was a disguise.

According to Cambion, hiding one’s identity in Hell was quite normal. Which devil wasn’t heavily in debt? Others owed the devils, and the devils owed the greater devils... Thus, disguising oneself was a common affair.

There was a saying in Hell, "A devil that doesn’t lend isn’t a successful devil, a devil that doesn’t evade debts is a dead devil."

When Melina transformed back into a Drow Elf, she felt completely immersed in her role, casting different gazes towards the Cambions.

"Humph, despicable male, lead the way. Our target is the Blood River Battlefield!"

Melina summoned her Whispering Tree Warhorse and galloped into the endless wasteland.

She trampled over countless broken specters trapped in the wilderness, paying them no heed. Cambion and the remaining Cambions could only spread their wings and follow, not daring to slacken.

Out of the thirteen Cambions, only eleven were still alive, as two had turned into zombies.

Originally, only the first one who lied was killed.

However, to ensure Melina’s safety, Withered Rose allowed Melina to transport all the Cambions’ hair into her hand, and then she publicly displayed her legendary abilities.

An unlucky Cambion who did nothing wrong was transformed alive into a zombie.

No matter what this Cambion tried, he could only watch as his body slowly turned into a color of dead ash, and finally, his soul was corrupted, trapped within that undead body.

"If Melina encounters any mishap, you will become zombies; if our communication is disrupted, you will too become zombies; if I suspect any suspicious behavior from you, you will also become zombies."

This was the warning Withered Rose issued to all Cambions.

This curse that transcended time and space terrified the living Cambions like hell worms, shivering incessantly and unable to do anything else.

What kind of master had they come across, to be so terrifying?

Cambion finally understood that Melina wasn’t some foolish girl who stumbled upon a divine artifact, but a second-generation inheritor of a divine artifact, gifted by family elders. Her journey to Hell was meant for her training, with family elders safeguarding her from behind.

There was nothing left to say, just to obey.

The Cambions, flapping their wings, struggled to keep up with Melina. Though flying was faster than running, Melina’s innate dark magic power was far stronger than theirs, and as undead, as long as the dark magic power didn’t deplete, they would know no fatigue.

The horse Melina rode was conjured from magic power, so after running in the wilderness for half a day, Cambion could no longer bear it and pleaded, "Master! Wait up, if you keep running, we’ll die on the road!"

Only then did Melina stop and disdainfully said to these Cambions, "You tire even from flying?"

Cambion didn’t know what to say anymore; undead truly lacked humanity.

Though she spoke this way, Melina still halted, allowing the Cambions to rest a bit.

Cambion hastily pulled out a pile of food resembling cakes, found a spot to sit, and started eating voraciously.

The other Cambions did similarly, each taking out various oddly shaped items and stuffing them into their mouths to replenish their energy.

Watching them with curiosity, Melina asked Cambion, "What are you eating?"

Cambion said, "Bonecrumb Cake."

"Devils need to eat bones?" Melina exclaimed in surprise.

Cambion grimaced and said, "Of course it’s not about eating bones, but consuming the souls that linger on them. We Cambions only need souls, but the souls here in Hell are so precious. You have seen those broken and fragmented soulfires along the way, haven’t you? Those are our everyday food, but soul fragments are hard to preserve, so we need to store them using corpse materials."

Cambion lifted a grayish "cake" in his hand and said, "This is made of shattered skulls and can store a certain amount of soul fragments. What they eat is the same, either bones or rotten flesh, anything that can carry soul fragments, but..."

Cambion hadn’t finished speaking when the cake in his hand suddenly cracked, releasing a few firefly-like lights, which startled him into quickly sucking them into his mouth.

Only after swallowing all the scattered lights did Cambion say helplessly, "But these are not durable. Forcing souls into mismatched corpses also continues to degrade them, and these bonecrumb cakes only last a few days."

Melina looked at the other Cambions and indeed, as Cambion had said, they were not eating what was in their hands, but the soul fragments contained within.

Melina couldn’t help but sigh, "So, in Hell, souls are not just strategic materials but also food."

"Strategic materials?" Cambion said puzzledly, "You aren’t talking about soul fragments, are you? Only complete soul currencies count as strategic materials. Those modified devils have a Hell Engine inside them, a device that needs to burn soul currency to operate. That’s something we lesser hybrid devils can’t hope for."

Melina smiled smugly; this so-called soul currency was something her father handled by the millions.

Suddenly, Melina felt a sense of superiority as if she were a super-rich heiress, but she felt no need to show off in front of these minor Cambions. Besides, the thought of her father undergoing torment at the hands of Duke Zariel made Melina urgently say, "Everyone eat faster, I’m in a hurry!"

The Cambions dared not complain and hurriedly finished their "dry food," then scoured the wilderness for a bit to replenish some soul remnants before continuing on their way.

No matter how much Cambion portrayed himself as the lowest in Hell, the Cambion race was considered elite among devils, otherwise, they wouldn’t have been worthy of the divine artifacts given by Zariel.

These thirteen Cambions had kept up with Melina for an entire day and were still holding up, but when dark shadows loomed over the battered wasteland, all Cambions instinctively slowed down.

Cambion quickly warned, "Master, the shadow ahead is the Hell Fortress, the domain of some Lord. We can’t just barge in; it would start a battle!"

Melina looked at the grim shadow that seemingly brought a massive fortress into view ahead.

"So, how do we get through now?" Melina asked.

Cambion said, "That depends on what you think, Master. Although there’s no direct teleportation to Duke Zariel’s official residence inside the fortress, the nearby major fortresses are linked, and borrowing their Teleportation Circle would save some time and take us directly to the next Lord’s domain. If you don’t want to take the risk, then we should take a detour, brandishing the banner of going to the Blood River Battlefield. Typically, that shouldn’t invite opposition."

Hell welcomes everyone to participate in the Blood River Battle, but Devil Lords won’t just let anyone into their domain; who knows if someone displaying the banner of joining the battle is actually planning a surprise attack.

None of the Hell Devils are kind-hearted; they always assume the worst in others.

"How far is the detour?" Melina asked.

Cambion said, "About three days, but if we detour here, we’ll have to bypass the next Lord as well, and that will take even longer. Taking this route all the way to the Blood River would take at least two to three months."

Melina frowned and said, "That’s too long. Is there another way?"

There was no way she could allow her father to endure such long torment under Duke Zariel; she wished she could fly to Zariel’s side right now.

Cambion said helplessly, "Then we’ll have to take a risk and talk to the Lord of this fortress. As long as you can pay enough, borrowing the Teleportation Circle isn’t impossible. However, Master, you should understand that in Hell there are only greedy devils and extremely greedy devils. Carelessly, we might all get devoured. Are you sure you want to take the risk?"

Melina nodded and said, "Yes, we must at least try. If it doesn’t work, we can take the detour."

After turning into a Drow Elf, Melina had also begun to think things through, no longer the fool who knew nothing but sword waving.

Cambion sighed in relief, glad that the girl wasn’t stubborn. If she had insisted on barging in, it would have been truly dangerous.

Melina stretched out her hand and patted Cambion’s shoulder saying, "You go talk to the Devil Lord of that fortress ahead, tell him our intentions, and ask how much it would cost for us to use the Teleportation Circle."

"Me go?!"

Cambion’s eyes widened, wishing he could cut off his own tongue.