Molten Wasteland

After adapting to the sky for a while.

Orsaga turned his gaze toward the nearby Demonic Beasts. Within dozens of kilometers, everything lay within the range of his sight.

Before long, he picked out a lucky passerby.

His flying body immediately changed direction and headed straight for the target.

Kro was a spider demon with the strength of a Lower Demon. Though he was not particularly strong, within several dozen kilometers of the area, he was still someone worth mentioning. At that moment, he was hiding more than ten meters underground, carrying out his daily hunt.

Through the hairs on his body, he could detect every creature moving across the ground within several kilometers. Even if the target was only the size of a fist, it was no exception.

He had already completed three hunts today and felt about half full.

Based on past experience, a herd of Magic Beasts would soon pass nearby. He decided to shift to the side a little so he would not be trampled underfoot.

Those Magic Beasts were large, but they were nothing but hard bones.

Unless he was starving, he did not much enjoy hunting such targets. They were rather dangerous and did not have much meat.

Better to catch a few small ones. They might not fill his stomach, but at least they could satisfy his cravings!

Just as his thoughts drifted and he wondered what prey he might catch next, his spiritual perception sensed movement in the sky.

Somewhat surprised, he tried to stick his head out to take a look.

The next moment, he felt a powerful impact directly above him.

Danger!

A fierce warning surged up from instinct, and he reflexively tried to dodge to the side!

But before he could move his several limbs, he saw a Claws wreathed in flames appear before his eyes.

Along with sharp pain, he clearly felt his hard skull being pierced through.

His soul was also drawn out and seized in the other party's hand...

Standing in the deep pit, Orsaga casually swallowed the other's soul.

He began extracting the information he needed from it.

Before long, the other's meager knowledge had entered Orsaga's mind. After discarding a large amount of meaningless trash, he obtained the information he needed.

Layer 6548257 of the Bottomless Abyss, the Molten Wasteland.

A world without night.

This was territory belonging to Demon Lord Karto.

The entire world had been built atop a sea of flowing magma.

The so-called land on the surface was merely residue formed by dust piling up day after day. Magma and flames were the true mainstream of this world!

Furthermore, through the other's memories, Orsaga learned where the central region of this layer of the abyss was.

It was a place this spider demon had never reached.

In his memories, according to the descriptions of other Lower Demons, flying continuously at several times the speed of sound would take roughly 1,344 Hourglass Hours to reach it.

After thinking it over, Orsaga flicked a small fireball toward a distant spot.

"Boom!"

A Big Hole several meters deep appeared there.

The speed of sound is 967 meters per second.

Based on the distance of the explosion and the time it took for the sound to reach him, Orsaga calculated the speed of sound in this layer of the abyss.

He then compared the timekeeping systems and concluded that one Hourglass Hour here was equivalent to roughly three hours on Earth.

Finally, the actual distance between himself and the central region appeared in Orsaga's mind.

Not too far. I can go take a look.

If he had only possessed the strength of a Lower Demon, Orsaga might have needed to weigh whether he could reach that place. But now that he had advanced to a Middle Demon, there was no need to think so much. Even in most Demon Legions, his strength would naturally earn him a position like squad captain. At any rate, he was no longer at the bottom of the food chain, so there was nothing for him to worry about.

This was strength he had piled up through slaughter, with millions of lives of every kind.

Even with the system's help, he had still proven that he was no useless trash.

He could act cautiously, but there was no need to fear anything.

Having made his decision, his body silently rose from the ground under the effect of anti-gravity.

He found the direction and began accelerating!

Amid piercing whistles and deafening sonic booms, he vanished from the spot at high speed...

276 Hourglass Hours later.

Looking at the towering cluster of buildings in the distance, anticipation flashed through Orsaga's heart.

This was the first time he had seen a creation of demon civilization with his own eyes.

The moment he saw that city, even though he could only make out a vague outline, the detailed locations of its entrances and exits automatically surfaced in his mind, as though some force were guiding him forward.

He knew it was a magical effect built into the structure, much like a lighthouse guiding ships into harbor.

Within his field of vision, the city's scale had already far surpassed anything conventional. It was like a gigantic kingdom.

The width of its walls was unknown. They stretched to the limits of his vision without an end in sight, and their height alone exceeded ten thousand meters!

It was formed entirely from Dark Red stone and covered in all manner of spikes. It stood in a vast sea of magma like an impassable barrier.

Standing before it, Orsaga was seized by a sense of smallness. He had never seen such a magnificent creation!

His anticipation for the city grew even stronger!

Several more Hourglass Hours passed before he finally reached the city gate.

It was a colossal gate built from countless piled bones, thousands of meters tall at the very least. Directly above it hung a golden skull burning with Black Flame. Looking through its eye sockets, it seemed as though countless souls were being scorched within, and faint cries and wails could be heard.

A god's bone?

Looking at that skull and sniffing the scent in the air, Orsaga used his Inheritance Memory to determine that it had come from a god. As for precisely what god, his knowledge was insufficient to tell.

However, if it could be hung up by a Demon Lord as a display of honor, it was probably one of the stronger gods.

Orsaga was actually somewhat curious about these so-called gods.

In his view, as a group that stood at the top of the multiverse's food chain alongside demons in countless legends, they should taste quite good and be rich in nutrients...

As for reverence or disgust, he felt neither. With his current strength, in quite a few lower planes he could serve as a genuine demon god, slaughtering nations and exterminating races. Thus, he had no particular feelings toward so-called gods. In his eyes, they were merely a kind of higher life-form, and their strength might not even surpass that of high-ranking demons.

The trophy hung above the city gate by Demon Lord Karto also illustrated this point well.

They might be unreachable heights to ordinary people, but to demons, who were likewise Supernatural Creatures, they were nothing much.

As he drew near and felt the suppressive force pressing in from every direction, Orsaga understood that the city's no-fly barrier was taking effect. No creature without permission was allowed to fly within this area, so he folded his wings and landed on the ground.

Like the other creatures, he began walking.

Not all these creatures were demons. Their varieties were as diverse as a garden in full bloom, filled with all sorts of strange and chaotic things. Some merely hurried along in silence, while others adhered more closely to the simple rules of the Bottomless Abyss, traveling while taking the opportunity to fight.

After walking some farther.

A bull-faced demon over ten meters tall and covered in pustules appeared beside Orsaga, wearing standardized armor.

The other party first sized up Aersaga's appearance and bearing, then said in a chilling tone, "Entry fee!"

His manner of operation was no different from a toll collector in the mortal world.

A Middle Demon. Not as strong as me.

Orsaga first habitually compared the other party with himself, then turned to look at the demons nearby who were also being charged entry fees. When he saw that one of them had produced a Soul Crystal as payment, he roughly understood the value based on its quality.

So he casually reached behind himself. A passing Lower Demon instantly exploded into countless flecks of blood, which he gathered into his hand through the air and purified into a freshly made Soul Crystal.

Ignoring the onlookers around him who had backed away several steps, Orsaga casually tossed the item in his hand to the toll collector and said indifferently, "Keep the change."

Catching the item, the bull-faced demon gave Orsaga a cold glance, casually tossed him a token, then turned and left to collect fees from other beings.

He did not offer a single opinion on the demon who had been casually crushed to death.

Even though demon cities had some rules similar to those of human cities, demons were still the masters here. Their chaotic alignment and habits did not change, and slaughtering one another remained perfectly normal. So long as there was no large-scale massacre, brawling, or destruction of the city's buildings, city guards like them would generally not intervene.

Moreover, the bull-faced demon could vaguely sense that he probably could not defeat the Flame Demon before him.

Though that did not stop him from giving Orsaga a sour face. Not being able to beat someone did not mean he could not put on airs before them. What was wrong with a civil servant putting on airs?

Watching the other party's departing back, Orsaga used Bloodflame to burn away the disgusting pus residue on the token. It was filth that had flowed from the other's surface pustules. Only then did he stroll unhurriedly into the city...

It's really big...

Looking at the road, which was over a thousand meters wide, Orsaga sighed like a country bumpkin.

Rubbing his chin, he felt that when he became an Abyss Lord in the future, he could not let his lair lose face. At the very least, it could not lose in terms of presence.

"So big..."

A similar remark reached his ears from behind.

Though he did not understand the other's language, Orsaga still understood the words through a demon's talent for languages.

Turning back, he discovered several humans dressed in different styles.

The one who had spoken was a relatively young man among them.

Orsaga had no thoughts about their identities or purpose, nor did he particularly want to target them.

It was not only him. Even demons who craved human souls were the same.

Because humans capable of venturing deep into the Bottomless Abyss had some skill no matter how weak they were, and they were generally difficult to handle. Thus, few demons here would seek trouble with them.

The other party clearly understood this as well. Though their faces still retained some caution, their actions were relatively casual.

However, when they noticed Orsaga's gaze examining them, they immediately gripped their weapons and prepared for battle.

Just outside the city gate, they had personally seen Orsaga casually crush another demon to death as if wringing the neck of a chick.

In their eyes, he was an out-and-out dangerous target!

Orsaga paid little attention to their hostility. He merely swept his gaze over them for a few seconds, then withdrew it and turned away.

Watching him leave, the leader quietly let out a breath. His master had once told him that the more human a demon looked, the more dangerous it was. Orsaga's somewhat human-like face gave him a very bad feeling, making him deeply unwilling to fight him.

This damned place. Let's finish the mission and get back as soon as possible...