Discarded Pawns

After Shelley grew suspicious, her Divine Clone in the Sky Sacrifice Mountain Range sent the news to Tia Nemo, Patriarch of the Vermillion Bird Clan.

As for what the Patriarchs thought, that was beyond her control.

However, Shelley did not think the clan would abandon the refinement of Soul Gold Beads for the sake of a mere Seven-star Demon.

At most, they would simply keep Elder Roy from learning where they were being refined.

Presumably, Elder Roy already knew that much.

After all, she had been the one to give him the Soul Gold Beads that had allowed him to advance to a High-level God ahead of time.

Three days later, Roy and Shelley arrived at the Demon Hall once more. After being led to the second floor by an attendant, they met the Demons who had accepted the mission.

"Is everyone here?"

"My lord, everyone is here."

The attendant bowed respectfully to Roy.

Roy looked at the seventeen people before him and said solemnly, "Everyone, I will be leading this mission. Do any of you have objections?"

"No."

The Demons all shook their heads repeatedly.

What a joke. This was the renowned Star Demon. A Star Demon who had become a High-level God was, at the very least, a Six-star Devil.

That was strength comparable to the City Lord of Middle City.

With a Star Demon leading them, their safety would be assured.

Only an idiot would object.

"Then let us depart."

After leading the group out of Nichols City, Shelley took out a Metal Life. Under Roy's guidance, the dozen or so people all boarded it.

"Five Three-star Demons, step forward. Since we are heading to the Gers Tribe, the five of you will take turns supplying divine power to pilot the Metal Life."

"Yes, Lord Star Demon."

Five High-level Gods stepped forward, accepted control of the Metal Life from Shelley, and poured divine power into it.

"Whoosh..."

The Metal Life transformed into a streak of black light and flew toward the Gers Tribe.

More than ten years later, Roy's group had arrived above the Gers Tribe.

With a sweep of his Spiritual Sense, Roy detected the auras within the Gers Tribe.

There were five High-level Gods, thirteen Mid-level Gods, and more than two hundred Low-level Gods. They were no weaker than Sanhe City had been over ten thousand years ago.

Without Roy needing to say anything, the Demons had already made their way onto the deck of the Metal Life airship.

Seeing this, Roy nodded slightly.

"Alright, we have reached our destination. I'll assign the tasks now."

"Two of you are Five-star Demons. The Patriarch of the Gers Tribe is yours."

"Yes."

"The Patriarchs from the surrounding tribes coming to aid the Gers Tribe will be handled by you ten Four-star Devils."

"The remaining five Three-star Demons will each lie in ambush around the Gers Tribe. Do not let a single evil person escape."

"Yes!"

"Rest assured and fight freely. If you are in danger, I will intervene."

"Thank you, Lord Star Demon."

The Demons were overjoyed when Roy said this.

Though they did not know how likely it was, it was at least a guarantee. If their lives were in danger, they could seek help from Lord Star Demon.

Compared with other powerful Demons, Star Demons were far more humane.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

After thanking Roy, they charged down from the Metal Life.

Other than the five Three-star Demons, who flew around the Gers Tribe and took up positions in a pentagonal formation, the other twelve Demons charged directly toward the tallest palace in the Gers Tribe.

As God-level experts, their Spiritual Sense had also scanned the situation below.

Naturally, if they could sense the God-level experts of the Gers Tribe, the people of the Gers Tribe could sense them as well.

The next moment, eighteen figures flew out from the palace and charged toward the Demons.

Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

For a moment, the seven lights of Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Light, Dark, and Lightning erupted.

In an instant, three of the eighteen figures that had flown up fell from the sky.

The Patriarchs of small and medium-sized tribes were simply too weak when facing Demons.

Aside from the Patriarch of the Gers Tribe, who lasted a few seconds longer against the two Five-star Demons, the other Demons killed their opponents in roughly two or three moves.

After the tribe's Patriarchs died, the Mid-level Gods and Low-level Gods within the tribe also failed to escape the Demons' pursuit.

In less than ten minutes, every God-level expert in the Gers Tribe had fallen.

"Lord Star Demon."

After killing those God-level experts, the Demons all returned to the Metal Life.

"Mm."

After nodding at them, Roy moved his Spiritual Sense, and all the Storage Rings held by the dead God-level experts floated before him.

After recognizing them one by one as master and examining their contents, Roy sighed.

Then, he released the recognition of those Spatial Rings and tossed them to the Demons who had completed the mission.

"Alright, whoever killed them can take the items in these rings. Consider what is inside your spoils of war."

"Thank you, Lord Star Demon."

"No need. You have earned them."

"Next, leave a few people here for a while to protect the people here, or simply send them to other tribes so their safety can be ensured."

"After that, return to the Demon Castle yourselves to claim the mission reward."

"Yes, Lord Star Demon."

After the Demons left the Metal Life, Shelley poured divine power into it and flew toward the Sky Sacrifice Mountain Range.

"Ah..."

On the Metal Life, Roy looked at the scenery flashing past before his eyes and sighed.

Seeing Roy like this, Shelley could not help asking, "Elder Roy, hasn't this mission already been completed? Why are you still sighing?"

"Shelley, do you really think this mission has been completed?"

"Hasn't it? The Patriarch of the Gers Tribe and those people from the other tribes who came to help were all killed, weren't they?"

"You are still thinking too simply."

Hearing Shelley's words, Roy could not help shaking his head with a smile. "Shelley, God-level experts who specialize in the Soul Path can refine mortal souls into Soul Gold Beads to strengthen their own souls."

"At first, I thought the people of the Gers Tribe were also experts who specialized in the Soul Path."

"However, I examined the Spatial Rings dropped by those people from the Gers Tribe after their deaths. Let alone Soul Gold Beads, there were no Soul Gold Granules or even Soul Essence inside."

"This proves that it is true someone here used large numbers of mortal souls to refine Soul Gold Beads, and it is also true that someone escaped and exposed this place. However, it was not the work of a single God-level expert."

"It was the work of a major force."

"I suspect that this force is one or several families within Nichols City."

"After the Gers Tribe was exposed, they abandoned this place. The gods stationed in the Gers Tribe were merely discarded pawns they threw out."

"Do you believe that, aside from this place, there are definitely other nearby tribes where they harvest souls?"