This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 605 - 538: Truly Worthy of That Great Person

Chapter 605: Chapter 538: Truly Worthy of That Great Person

The Merit Exchange Plaza at the Blood River Fortress was immensely large, almost as colossal as a city housing tens of thousands, covered densely with numerous registration booths, and theoretically, the open spaces were enough to stack the corpses of any demon.

But this Minor Coward Demon, having worked at the Blood River Fortress as a registrar for over two thousand years, had never seen demon corpses that were numerous enough to surge forth like a torrential flood.

Balor Flame Demon, Six-armed Snake Demon, Bullhead Demon, Lion-tail Scorpion... Countless well-known classic demons appeared, as if they were collected after a massive battle, abundant in numbers and variety.

No one marveled anymore at the vast space within Melina’s small mirror; instead, they were astounded by the origin of so many demon corpses.

Could they actually have been collected from the Blood River Battlefield? It would take a ferociously intense battle to leave behind so many powerful demon corpses, and how had the Undead Girl managed to collect them without anyone contesting her?

The Devils around murmured to each other, yet no one dared to sneak away with any severed limbs or broken arms.

"Just what is the background of this Undead, is she the daughter of some Grand Duke of Hell?"

"Is there even a Devil in Hell who cares for their offspring? Not eating them already counts as merciful, let alone handing over materials worth millions of Soul Currency, do you think she is Duke Zariel’s daughter?"

"Would the daughter of Duke Zariel even need to tally her merits here?"

...

The Devils debated hotly while Cambion had already dug the Minor Coward Demon out from the pile of corpses; the poor creature was petrified, almost dissolved by the demonic blood if buried any longer.

Meanwhile, Monica was so excited her legs were shaking.

Truly worthy of being the legendary Deceiver, his moves shocked Hell itself.

Where had he gotten so many demon corpses? Could it be he had robbed the Blood River Fortress? Seemingly meant to be captured and tortured by Duke Zariel, why was he able to move freely and make a fortune in Hell in such a short time?

Monica felt she could hardly contain herself anymore, she truly wished to meet this Deceiver soon, willing to kneel and kiss his toes.

Piled up like a small hill, the demonic carcasses waited until the smoke-covered Minor Coward Demon regained its senses and resumed the computations.

Seeing a chance for a huge profit, the Minor Coward Demon did not skimp at all.

It was not his money to make; this money was too hot to handle.

After meticulous verification and weighing, it took several hours to finally tally everything up, and Melina ended up with five million, four hundred forty-seven thousand, eight hundred twenty-three Soul Currency.

With some in fractions, the calculations were extremely precise.

This enormous sum made all the Devils who heard the number exclaim in surprise.

Throughout the First Layer of Hell, those who could casually throw around millions of Soul Currency could be counted on one hand.

And Zariel and Goddess Tiamat already accounted for two of them.

Numerous Devils speculated about Melina’s identity, and the smart were certainly not limited to Monica alone.

That thunderous name in Hell began to be mentioned and quickly reached everyone’s ears.

The Deceiver, the legendary one who even made Grand Dukes of Hell lose half their fortunes, this Undead Girl was his daughter!

Melina’s name also was swiftly brought up; this Undead Princess, although with few known feats, was quite favored by Zariel who had personally invited her more than once to join his legion.

With such an eminent status, no wonder she instantly overthrew that arrogant Spider-transformed Drow.

Melina, unbothered by the surrounding murmurs, simply said to the Minor Coward Demon, "I want to exchange for Lord privileges."

Although the Blood River Fortress needed time to coordinate, fortunately, what Melina wanted wasn’t cash, but the Minor Coward Demon dared not decide on his own and quickly added, "Lady Melina, please wait a moment."

Flapping his wings, the Minor Coward Demon went to inform others, and soon a stocky Devil approached Melina.

This Devil was as stout as a wall, extremely robust.

Although he was roughly the same height as Cambion-kind like Cambion, he appeared multiple times more formidable, with sharp fangs and a huge nose, resembling a boar’s head.

But he was really not a boar; he was a renowned Ancestor Demon in Hell, with most of Duke Zariel’s personal guard being Ancestor Demons.

Only the strongest and bravest warriors could earn Zariel’s approval, and when these warriors’ souls entered Hell, Zariel would transform them into Ancestor Demons. Ancestor Demons are immune to all mind-affecting Magic, have strong Magic Resistance and regenerative abilities, making them extremely powerful Devils.

The Minor Coward Demon delicately introduced, "Lord Satouk, this lady here needs to exchange for Lord privileges."

This Ancestor Demon named Satouk approached Melina, surveyed her for a moment, then declared with a grin, "Very well, brave soul; it’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a distinguished warrior. These are the Lord privileges you can exchange for; pick whichever you like!"

Satouk opened his palm, and Flames morphed into rows of Hell script appearing before Melina.

Melina had only glanced at it when she felt a searing pain in her eyes and seemingly heard countless wails and roars, giving her an urge to destroy everything.

However, as a streak of deep blue vine wrapped around her body, that sensation quickly vanished.

Hellish texts had a strong mental impact, and mortals who viewed them too much would fall into Hell. Melina, who had a direct and straightforward character, was particularly susceptible to the influence of these texts.

Satouk, the devil, harbored ill intentions as well. By enhancing suggestions within these hellish texts, he aimed to hypnotize Melina, compelling her to join as a member of Zariel’s personal guard. Such an outstanding warrior would certainly be greatly favored by Duke Zariel for a position among the guards.

Unfortunately, Melina was not that easy to control. The Whispering Tree shielded her from these mental influences, and she had long received guidance from Amberser, understanding which Lordly rights she ought to choose.

The rights of the Hell Lords were of various types, and these densely packed texts detailed millions of different effects. Some affected the Lord personally, such as gaining magic immunity, damage sharing, and magic power enhancements within their territories—these rights all started with values in the millions.

Or even enhancing all the devils within the territory, which belonged to a legion-type of magic enhancement effect, equally costly.

In addition to these direct enhancements to combat abilities, there were also effects specifically tailored to fortify the territory itself. Melina had spent most of her Soul Currency to choose three types of Lordly rights.

The first was Soul Fertility, the highest level of Soul Fragment enhancement effect. Within the territories controlled by Melina, the chance of Soul Fragment emergence was maximized, sufficient to sustain a large number of devils.

Usually, a Hell Lord wouldn’t choose this as the base yield of Soul Fragments from their territories was already much higher than that of the wilderness; why spend money on such rights?

Planning to hoard supplies? Afraid the neighbors won’t come to plunder, right? And no matter how many Soul Fragments there were, collecting them was troublesome—most were secretly gobbled up by the devils under them, rendering them unavailable for taxation.

The second right was the Territory Weaving Art, similar to a weakened version of the World Weaving Spell that couldn’t transform the climate or environment but allowed the creation of fortress structures at will. It could be used once a month, very useful for building fortresses and greatly reducing maintenance work.

But this too, was a right nobody would choose.

Building one’s own fortress? What were the slaves for? Spending so much money to ease the workload of slaves—was that something a devil would do?

The devils couldn’t understand why Melina would choose these two especially expensive and seemingly useless Lordly rights. With the Deceiver as her backing, no one dared to compete with this young lady over territories, right?

The third right seemed much more normal, the Binding Magic Circle, covering the entire territory, possessing effects like anti-magic, silence, and time stopping; a very comprehensive defensive magic circle with very little lethality but highly versatile functions. However, this magic circle was not only costly to exchange, but it also required a large amount of Soul Currency to use.

These three rights had left Melina with just a small amount left from her recently exchanged Soul Currency, yet none of them related directly to her.

Was this young miss so confident that she completely did not need to enhance herself?

The devils could not understand, and even Satouk couldn’t help but remind her to exchange for rights to enhance her combat abilities, fearing such a lush territory might attract others’ attentions. If something happened to Melina, Duke Zariel would definitely regret it deeply.

But Melina was whimsical, directly integrating the emblem representing the Hell Law into herself. A flash of fiery red appeared in the palm of her hand—this was the Lord’s seal, which Melina could use to scan unclaimed areas and bring them under her control.

After finishing these tasks, Melina didn’t want to stay in the Blood River Fortress any longer; she wanted to hurry back, to build up her territory as per Amberser’s requirements.

However, before leaving, Melina seemed to have thought of something. Turning to the devils that were still observing, she said, "You have all seen, my territory is rich in resources and newly established, seriously lacking in necessary personnel. My name is Melina, and this is the location. I will be waiting for your allegiance in my territory."

The map coordinates projected over the square lingered for a long time, and all the devils saw the location marked on it. Although it was negligible in size compared to the entire Blood River Battlefield, anyone knowledgeable could see that it was a vast territory unattainable by ordinary devils.

Moreover, this was a territory of the highest level of fertility, almost littered with Soul Fragments; one could lie down anywhere and have their fill.

Shortly, Melina’s reputation began to spread.

She was not just the daughter of the Deceiver, but also the wealthiest Lord by the Blood River.

Many devils were itching to move; such a Lord was worth serving—a clear potential stock, and following her early might mean soaring to great heights.

Although devils all harbored ulterior motives, signing a contract could ensure basic loyalty; nobody wanted to fight hellhounds for food in the wilderness for the rest of their lives.

After making a high-profile appearance, Melina quickly returned to her territory. While Melina was busy consolidating her lands, Monica couldn’t help but ask, "Master, has your father regained his freedom yet?"

Melina glanced at Monica with puzzlement and said, "Why do you ask that?"

Monica’s massive body promptly knelt on the ground, saying fervently, "Master, may I meet the great Deceiver, sir? I would do anything!"

Melina frowned; why did this succubus suddenly want to see her father? Melina wanted to outright refuse, but after a moment’s thought, she altered her words, "Wait, there will be a chance."

After so much experience, Melina had also begun learning how to keep people hopeful.

Monica quickly said, "Thank you, master. I will do my best to serve you!"

Melina nodded, then said, "Go prepare; a large influx of devils will soon enter."

Monica asked with bewilderment, "Master, may I ask why are we keeping so many devils? Shouldn’t we be selecting only the elite? Excess population is just wasting resources."

Melina replied, "I don’t know; it’s my father’s command. By the way, there are many Magic Mirrors in the storage; each devil in the territory gets one, that’s also my father’s command."

Upon hearing this, Monica became immediately excited.

Was it part of the Deceiver’s plan? How honored she felt to be part of it!

But what exactly was the plan? Monica found herself completely at a loss; the Deceiver’s schemes were truly out of this world, not a single clue to grasp—was this a crushing defeat by intelligence?

Truly worthy of that Lord indeed!