Chapter 141
Ye Bai surveyed the surrounding terrain from the high platform before venturing forward along the flow of the magma river.
As she walked through this hellish space, her need for water doubled compared to when she was on the surface. Fortunately, she had prepared well and brought enough water with her.
After walking for a while, Ye Bai suddenly halted, quickly hiding behind a massive rock.
About fifty to sixty meters ahead, a group of six horned demons was dragging a crude cart loaded with goods, moving in a specific direction.
The horned demons, hellish creatures ranging from level 45 to 55, formed the backbone of the infernal army, commonly found in the third to seventh layers of hell.
However, it was clear that these horned demons were hard at work, indicating they were subordinates of some powerful being.
In hell, that powerful being could only be one thing: the lord of that layer.
Hellish creatures are embodiments of chaos, and there is rarely any factionalism among them; only the strongest in each layer can command them.
The strongest lord of each layer, the boss of that layer, naturally grows stronger the higher the layer.
After scanning the goods being dragged by the horned demons, Ye Bai's gaze sharpened, and she couldn't help but show a look of surprise.
What was in that crude cart was not the usual crystalline magic stones or other common hellish items, but rather… colorful corals and shells of various sizes.
Ye Bai even spotted a shining pearl nestled within an open shell.
Such items are normal on land or by the sea, but how could there be so many deep-sea treasures in hell? Moreover, deep-sea creatures are natural predators of hellish beings.
If they had come through a spatial rift, three conditions must be met: first, there must be a stable underground rift; second, these hellish creatures must have a way to traverse the rift; and third, the rift must open at the seabed.
Meeting any one of these conditions is exceedingly difficult.
This unusual situation clearly felt off. After a moment's thought, Ye Bai decided to stealthily follow, keeping a safe distance behind the group of horned demons.
As she trailed the horned demons, they moved forward for quite a while until a fortress with a hellish design came into view.
The fortress was rugged, clinging to the cliffside, with a magma river below forming a sort of "moat." Various hellish creatures roamed around the fortress.
【You have discovered the ‘Hell Cliff Fortress,’ gaining 10 historical experience points and 100,000 experience points.】
Indeed, this was the fortress of the lord of this layer of hell.
The horned demons pulled the cart filled with "sea products" into the fortress. Ye Bai found a safe spot to linger, her gaze sweeping over the fortress's outline when suddenly, her eyes lit up.
Above a platform next to the fortress, she spotted a bright red rift.
It seemed to be a spatial rift!
Initially curious about the presence of sea products, she had unexpectedly discovered the rift.
She needed to confirm how long that rift would remain.
There were no hellish creatures guarding the area around the rift, but many hellish beings were still moving nearby.
Ye Bai opened her equipment panel and double-checked that her 【Perfect Mask】 was equipped.
It was this piece of gear that gave her the courage to wander in hell.
But what about Ottofis?
Turning around, she saw Ottofis tilting its head at her, its eyes seemingly asking why she had stopped.
Ye Bai suddenly remembered that this creature possessed a unique magical aura, allowing it to be instinctively overlooked by others as long as it didn’t cause a scene like last time.
Its risk of exposure was probably even lower than her own.
Steeling herself, Ye Bai cautiously stepped into the territory of the unknown lord of hell.
---
To reach that area, she first had to cross the magma moat beneath the fortress, where many hellish creatures lingered.
Ye Bai passed by a group of little demons playing with their tails dipped in the magma pool.
These little demons were the hellish creatures that the hellish servants had attempted to summon earlier. They stood about half a human's height, sporting bat-like wings and tails, primarily attacking by spitting molten fireballs and draining the enemy's spiritual energy. They ranged from level 30 to 40, making them the most common low-tier creatures in hell.
Thanks to the properties of the Perfect Mask, these little demons mistook Ye Bai for one of their own. One particularly mischievous little demon flicked its tail in the magma, splashing some towards her.
Fortunately, Ye Bai remained alert and quickly dodged, her heart racing.
The magma damage itself was negligible, but being seen as an attack from a little demon would trigger her combat state and nullify her disguise. If exposed, it would alert all the creatures in the fortress.
“Grrr-ack!”
Seeing that Ye Bai ignored it, the little demon let out a strange cry, then turned back to play with the other little demons near the magma.
Hellish creatures are bizarre and varied; even among those born in hell, there is a vast difference in strength and intelligence between low-tier and high-tier beings.
For instance, while little demons and true demons differ by just one character, true demons are level 60 and above, representing the elite forces of the infernal army. The intelligence gap between them is akin to that between beasts and sentient beings.
True demons possess their own system of hellish magic and communicate using a magical language related to souls, known as 【Demon Language】, while many lower-tier hellish creatures lack a systematic language and simply obey higher-ranking beings.
Having navigated past one challenge, Ye Bai then crossed paths with two hellish warhorses, carefully avoiding the carts they were pulling.
In one of the carts, she saw numerous empty shells that had been pried open. There were no clams or pearls inside, but as she got closer, she could still catch a whiff of the lingering salty scent of seawater, almost fresh.
These items, rare in hell, seemed to be offerings for the lord of this fortress.
This indicated that the lord had tastes different from other hellish beings, transporting not various seafood or meats, but decorative items like pearls and corals.
Crossing a "bridge" made of floating black stones over the magma, Ye Bai passed by a hellish three-headed dog that seemed to be on guard.
The sulfurous breath of the hellish three-headed dog wafted through the air, with two of its heads closed in slumber while the remaining one stood watch.
As Ye Bai walked by, the only awake head of the three-headed dog twitched its nose, seemingly puzzled, but upon seeing Ye Bai, it found nothing amiss.
By the time the three-headed dog hesitated, Ye Bai had already moved five meters away.
Eventually, the only alert head of the three-headed dog yawned, nudged one of the sleeping heads awake, and then closed its own eyes, dismissing everything.
After traversing a distance of a hundred meters, Ye Bai finally reached the rift she had seen from afar, her heart racing with anticipation.
Looking up at the rift about ten meters away, her tense emotions relaxed significantly.
At this distance, even if nearby hellish creatures discovered her disguise, she could still return to the surface through the rift.
Just as Ye Bai prepared to approach and sense where the rift led and how long it might last, a voice suddenly reached her ears.
“Hey! Friend over there!”
Ye Bai froze, startled.
That strange yet magnetic voice clearly did not belong to a paper figure or Ottofis.
She quickly turned towards the source of the voice and spotted a gap between the boulders behind the spatial rift.
Within that gap was a metal fence, and from its familiar design, Ye Bai quickly deduced that it was a cell built into the cliffside.
Her gaze sharpened as she located the one who had just called out to her—a "person" locked inside the cell.
The figure appeared to be a well-dressed, courteous human noble from the waist up, but from the waist down, their legs were shrouded in a semi-transparent mist, resembling a spirit from a magic lamp.
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