This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 603 - 536: This is Hell

Chapter 603: Chapter 536: This is Hell

Blood River Fortress, a colossal fortress as vast as a small kingdom.

No one could count how many devils resided within the fortress, just as no one could count how many demons had died outside its walls.

Every corner of the walls had been covered by a flesh of corpses, grown over with various malignant tumors of flesh, obscuring their original form completely.

These flesh tumors were neither devils nor demons, but hybrids formed from the flesh of both.

Any creature that approached these tumors would face a lottery, possibly triggering a deadly poison upon contact, perhaps mouths bristling with sharp teeth, or even tentacles equipped with hooks and suckers.

No matter whether you were a demon, a devil, or anything else, these malignant entities slaughtered any life indifferently, even Zariel would be attacked by these monsters upon her arrival.

However, these evil entities ultimately served the devils more because the devils needed to defend Blood River Fortress, and the demons had to supply copious amounts of flesh daily to nourish these creatures to even glimpse what the parapets of the fortress looked like.

The devils simply had to periodically clean up those revolting monsters that climbed to the ramparts.

Most devils could only gaze from afar at the silhouette of Blood River Fortress throughout their lifetimes, until after their death, if they were lucky, a fragment of their soul would land within the fortress, only to be disdainfully picked up and reluctantly eaten by a minion coward demon guarding the city.

But the liveliest place within Blood River Fortress was not the constantly besieged walls, it was the central square of merit inside.

This was a place of love and hatred for the devils, because as long as you killed enough demons, there were rewards aplenty.

Melina, with her subordinates Cambion and Monica the Succubus, arrived within this majestic fortress.

Normally, Hell Lords had no right to teleport directly to Blood River Fortress, only during the times when the fortress periodically opened could those lords with territories use a special Teleportation Circle to teleport here.

Officially, this was to prevent demons from exploiting a loophole to teleport inside Blood River Fortress, but all the Hell Lords felt it was an excuse for Blood River Fortress to glean a hefty harvest.

Every time they opened teleportation privileges, the lords had to pay a substantial amount of Soul Currency for direct transportation; Melina and her two companions had spent thirty thousand Soul Currency to teleport to Blood River Fortress.

Monica the Succubus was still pained by this expense, knowing her own territory altogether amassed only a hundred thousand Soul Currency. Just the transport fee being thirty thousand made her feel like the sky had fallen. This new master might be strong, but seemed not too bright, not even able to do basic math.

Monica couldn’t resist saying, "Master, we really didn’t need to spend this kind of money. The demons we intermittently caught recently aren’t worth thirty thousand Soul Currency in merit."

Melina said surprisingly, "How so? Isn’t any Balor Flame Demon worth a thousand?"

Melina’s trip to exchange merits had been Amberser’s request. Blood River Fortress had unexpectedly opened teleportation early because Amberser sought an excuse by coaxing Zariel, suggesting that it allowed Hell Lords to spend money first, hence making loans from the bank more feasible.

Zariel didn’t feel anything was amiss. Since Mammon thought it was fine, he decisively opened teleportation privileges for Blood River Fortress.

No one knew how many demon corpses Amberser had sent Melina, but she too had to play her part fully, so during this time she had also organized her subordinates to capture some isolated demons at the edges of Blood River Battlefield, accruing a few warehouses of demon corpses, thinking that pretending to that extent was enough before teleporting.

And yet, Monica claimed this was not even enough to cover the teleport costs?

That wasn’t right, Blood River Fortress had clear pricing; demon corpses were calculated based on species, body parts, and weight, everything was written very clearly.

As Melina was about to inquire, Monica pointed towards a registration desk not far away.

On the blood-stained scales lay a large arm, clearly severed from a powerful Balor Flame Demon.

A Cambion covered in scars was standing in front of the scales, waiting for his merit calculation.

It was evident that he was not one of the Hell Lords, but a lone mercenary fighting on Blood River Battlefield. It was unknown whether he had found or stolen this arm, or perhaps it was from a severely injured Balor Flame Demon he had encountered. Regardless, this single arm from a Flame Demon was enough to provide him a small fortune.

A payout of thirty to forty Soul Currency coins was enough to transform the life of this Cambion; though not enough for land, it should suffice for a decent set of Magic Equipment.

However, the Minor Coward Demon in charge of registration wrote carelessly in the record book, "Hellhound’s broken claw, forelimb integrity poor, weight less than one kilogram..."

Hellhounds, that’s tens of times cheaper than a Balor Flame Demon!

This young Cambion angrily said, "Are you blind? This is the arm of a Balor Flame Demon, and such a complete one weighs only one kilogram?! It’s dozens of times heavier than your skeletal body!"

But as soon as these words left his mouth, the unremarkable-looking Minor Coward Demon pulled out a whip and lashed it viciously across the Cambion’s body.

After a painful scream, the Cambion’s arm was whipped off cleanly at the shoulder.

The Cambion had not expected to have his arm severed by a Minor Coward Demon, the weakest of the devils in Hell.

The recording Minor Coward Demon casually added the severed arm to the scale and then said, "Hmm, now it weighs one kilogram."

After saying this, the Minor Coward Demon casually threw some Soul Fragments and then kicked the half-dead Cambion away.

As for the Balor Flame Demon’s arm, it fell through a mechanism under the scale and was sent directly for harmless treatment.

This blatant skimming was met with no opposition from the devils around, as if they were already accustomed to it.

Monica the Succubus then said to Melina, "Master, how can you ever trust a devil’s contract? Here at the Blood River Fortress, even if you brought Dimogorgen’s corpse, they’d dare say it was a Hell Worm’s illusion. A devil’s greed is endless."

This was why Monica believed that this merit exchange was bound to be a loss. Most Hell Lords only came here to claim territory. Even if it meant being cheated to death, acquiring territorial authority was still essential. Thus, they would endure the cuts from the Blood River Fortress. Once they became Hell Lords, they primarily managed their own territories and rarely returned here for exchanges.

The devils here were too corrupt, and with Zariel backing them as the archduke, nobody could play them at their own game.

This shocked the barely two-year-old Melina deeply. Was this what Hell was like? It was even more brutal than the world of the undead.

As Melina showed a surprised expression, mocking laughter came from nearby.

"Where did this idiotic undead come from? Daring to venture into the Blood River Fortress, how stupid must you two be to be enslaved by such an outsider? Better to come with me. Oh, forget the Cambion, but you, the Succubus, might be of some use."

Melina turned to look, and it was a Spider-transformed Drow.

The sinful souls that fall into Hell often retain their forms from before death, then get new bodies sculpted in Hell. That’s why Hell devils encompass various creatures from other planes, while Abyssal Demon races tend to be more uniform.

This Spider-transformed Drow, about the size of your enchanted card, covered in dark red magic runes, was probably someone who had betrayed the Rose Spider Queen and fallen into Hell; otherwise, Spider-transformed Drows rarely appear in Hell. And for such a traitor to escape Rose’s punishment, he must be somewhat capable.

Monica quietly told Melina, "We shouldn’t mess with this Spider-transformed Drow, Master, let’s avoid them."

The main reason being the number of devils following this Spider-transformed Drow, which numbered more than a dozen. The cost of teleportation in Blood River Fortress is enormous; the fact this individual could bring so many indicated he was very wealthy. And in Hell, wealth equates to power.

Yet, Melina curiously asked Monica, "Can you fight in Blood River Fortress?"

Monica immediately became nervous, was about to advise caution, but Cambion spoke up first, "Just finish it within one minute. If it goes over a minute, the fortress guard will intervene, and regardless of who wins or loses, everyone will be arrested and punished."

"Within one minute?" Melina asked again, "No matter dead or alive?"

Cambion said, "No matter dead or alive, but if someone dies, you’ll have to pay a corpse disposal fee."

Melina turned around and said to the Spider-transformed Drow, "Kneel down, or else, die!"

Cambion sneered as he looked towards the arrogant Spider-transformed Drow, thinking, ’That’s what you get for discriminating against Cambions, this guy is done for!’