So Many Ink Stones?

"I don't want to die!"

The hooked-nose man had narrowly escaped death for the moment, but he still hadn't recovered from his mental collapse.

His face was twisted in a grimace, and his mind was in a state of confusion.

"Freya is dead!"

"Haha, I'm going to die too!"

He had gone mad.

It wasn't as though he had directly caused the hooked-nose man's death. He had merely refused to stand in front of Freya.

In Blocking Castle, that meant refusing to stand near the side with the stone wall.

Because of the Yellow Sand Domain!

The walls and floors could become attack points for the Black Armored Persons and Yellow Armored Persons at any moment.

Of course!

From Freya's point of view, the hooked-nose man had undoubtedly been nothing but a tormentor.

It was only natural for people to see things differently.

"Bang~!"

At last, the Black Heavy Armored Person attacked through the stone wall again.

After losing one companion after another, the hooked-nose man was on the verge of a mental breakdown. There was no way he could mount an effective defense.

He couldn't defend himself at all.

Every Black Heavy Armored Person had the strength of a High God.

The headless corpse crashed heavily to the ground.

No Saint Domain Original Body escaped from the Soul Ocean either. Apparently, this might have been someone whose original body had become a god.

After a long while.

"Are they all dead?"

After hearing no screams for quite some time, Hermes couldn't help wondering.

With the silver canopy over the Soul Ocean, the mist rising through Blocking Castle couldn't hinder his Spiritual Sense at all.

The other Demon Assessment candidates had been left blind and deaf, but Hermes was fine.

He could still watch the spectacle.

It was a little cruel, but watching the Demon Assessment candidates who had disliked him one by one meet their deaths was actually rather satisfying.

As for candidates who had nothing to do with him, he had no intention of saving them either.

People should think of themselves first.

At the same time, outside the castle, the wind and black mist continued to surge across the desert, as if waiting for something.

The fighting inside the castle was raging as well. Every Demon Assessment candidate was fighting for survival and for their goal.

Demon Assessments had always been deadly battles. Only the truly strong could survive to the end.

This Demon Assessment mission seemed to have gone wrong. The Star Demons hadn't appeared where they were supposed to.

At least, they hadn't appeared in time!

In just this short while, the Demon Assessment candidates had already been nearly wiped out.

But that wasn't really the case.

After all, when had a Demon Assessment ever been any different?

Demon Castle didn't create special Demon Assessment missions for the candidates.

It only selected them!

"Die~!"

The long saber in Salif's hand burst into scorching flames. A terrifying blade aura cleaved off a Black Heavy Armored Person's head.

The instant the Black Heavy Armored Person tried to use divine power to heal the wound, Salif turned his saber, changing a downward slash into a diagonal thrust.

The tip of the blade struck the Black Heavy Armored Person's tumbling head with pinpoint accuracy.

"Boom~!" Crimson divine flames surged forth, instantly engulfing the black Divine Spark inside the head.

The soul contained within the Divine Spark was pulverized in an instant. A heavy armored man with the strength of a High God had fallen.

"Quick, clear out the castle, or not a single candidate will survive this Demon Assessment."

Salif was kindhearted, after all.

"Yes, boss."

The High God who had followed Salif for billions of years replied indifferently.

Save people?

They had no motivation to do that.

Blocking Castle.

In another part of the castle.

Conrad stayed close behind Saba, never leaving his side.

"Have you found Hermes?"

"No."

Conrad answered matter-of-factly.

"By now, most of the Demon Assessment candidates should be dead. Hermes is probably dead too."

A trace of satisfaction struggled to appear on Saba's skull-like face.

He couldn't help it!

With a face that ugly and barely any facial muscles, Saba couldn't manage a more complicated expression.

"Boom~!"

Another wave of mist swept over them. Conrad's bewildered expression flickered, then returned to normal.

A short distance away, a masked Black-robed Person appeared, holding a Withered Wood Scepter as well.

"Has he already been controlled? No wonder he resisted my Soul Mist again and again!"

A hoarse, dry voice rang out in the souls of the five remaining Black Heavy Armored Persons.

"Blocking Knight, have you still not dealt with those bugs?"

"That blond, muscular man is strange. We can't break through his defense. The other candidates have been held back by those few Star Demons."

The Black Heavy Armored Person answered in alarm.

"Useless~!"

"Concentrate your forces and take down that blond giant. I'll deal with these two stragglers."

"Bang~!"

After killing a Yellow Armored Person, Salif's companions gathered around. One of them casually put away the Yellow Armored Person's corpse, ignoring the few Middle Gods staring at it hungrily.

"You want the Blocking Gold Saber?"

"Eight hundred thousand Ink Stones. Not a single one less!"

A gruff voice came from beneath the black helmet.

The man was probably a dwarf. He was short and stocky, with oversized hands and feet and muscles knotted all over his body.

Only dwarves were built like that.

Dwarves and beastmen were both races of life widely distributed throughout the Material Plane.

Without removing his helmet,

no one could tell exactly which branch of which race he belonged to.

"I'll take it!"

A Purple-haired Youth hurried over to the dwarf and handed him a Space Ring.

"Lucky you!"

The dwarf really did take out the Blocking Gold Saber and hand it to the Purple-haired Youth.

"What, he actually sold it?"

The Black Armored dwarf's actions made the few surviving Demon Assessment candidates green with envy.

"Isn't it obvious? The people from Demon Castle said they only recognize the tokens, not the people."

The survivors transmitted to one another.

"Then what if we..."

"You want to get yourself killed? Don't count me in! If the Purple-haired Youth dares to buy a token right in front of everyone, he's not afraid of you trying to steal it."

The Purple-haired Youth put away the saber and glanced at the candidates exchanging messages with an amused smile.

He said nothing and continued following not far behind Salif and the others.

Why?

Because everyone who didn't follow them had died!

Blocking Castle looked like it was made of sturdy stone, but that restriction only applied to Demon Assessment candidates.

Salif, along with the Yellow Armored Persons and Black Armored Persons who appeared from time to time, could come and go freely.

Salif and his companions broke through the walls of Blocking Castle by force, while the Yellow Armored Persons and Black Armored Persons walked straight through them.

They were the local powers here.

By now, apart from the gatekeepers, a handful of Yellow Armored Persons, and a few Black Heavy Armored Persons, only three groups from Demon Castle were still alive in Blocking Castle.

Saba, with Conrad following behind him;

Salif and his companions, with the candidates following behind them;

And Hermes, on his own.

The High Gods who had once thought themselves extraordinary, convinced that passing the assessment would be easy with their strength, had been wiped out in a single battle.

Even the High Godheads within them had become spoils for the Black Heavy Armored Persons.

In the end, they had all become Hermes's spoils as well.

"So many Ink Stones?"

Hermes shook his battered Middle God Artifact Armor and happily counted his wealth.