Desperate Predicament

This was Hell,

and every Space Ring, of course, was filled with Ink Stones.

He didn't mind. Ink Stones and Earth Crystals could be exchanged for each other.

The exchange fee was very low.

Several Black Armored corpses lay sprawled beside Hermes.

Sitting beside the headless corpses, he openly tallied the total number of Ink Stones he'd gained this time.

"Not nearly enough. This bit of wealth still isn't enough!"

Hermes hadn't cared about wealth in Ink Stones or Earth Crystals before.

But ever since he'd discovered the Golden Space inside him and the possibility that it might let him refine Sovereign's Might,

Hermes had grown eager.

Sovereign's Might! It was hard currency across the Four Supreme and Seven Great Elements God Plane.

Who wouldn't want it?

He'd holed up in the Chongxuan Mountain Range, then eventually left the Great Earth God Realm altogether. As a result, he hadn't become a Sovereign's Emissary while still a Lowgod, as he had in the original timeline.

Still,

Hermes didn't regret it.

Becoming a Sovereign's Emissary while weak was definitely no good. Apart from Paragons, Sovereigns treated their Emissaries like servants.

Maybe his situation would be different, but Hermes wasn't sure.

If he had to become an Emissary to some Sovereign, he'd at least choose one he liked.

"Forget it!"

Hermes put away the Space Rings and stopped thinking about it for now.

Though he had no idea how many Ink Stones it would take to refine a drop of Sovereign's Might,

judging from the few scattered hints in the original story, the number was probably enormous—tens of trillions of Ink Stones, perhaps.

Given that, he put aside the idea of refining Sovereign's Might for now.

Hermes had let it go, but the gatekeeper of Blocking Castle hadn't.

Basim, the gatekeeper, wore a black-gray robe and held a Withered Wood Scepter. A strange mask covered his face.

"This is impossible," he said in disbelief. "Absolutely impossible! Is he really a Middle God?"

"How can he be so strong?"

"Attack!"

Apparently unable to accept reality, he sent Saba charging at Hermes. Conrad followed close behind, but Hermes smashed Saba's disgusting skull with a single punch, then cut Conrad down with a sword.

"Pah! I've put up with you long enough!"

Hermes surged his divine power, wiping away the remnants on his golden fist. He felt a little disgusted—his fist had been too convenient.

That was why he'd used his sword to kill Conrad.

"What useless trash!"

"Compared to Hermes, what use are you two good for?"

He'd already lost all his Yellow Armored and Black Armored men, and now Hermes had killed Saba. All Basim could rely on was Blocking Castle and himself.

"Why? Why isn't this Middle God affected by my Soul Control?"

Basim, supposedly the gatekeeper of Blocking Castle, was a Five-star Demon who cultivated the Laws of Death.

He'd hidden in Blocking Castle to cultivate the laws. The Yellow Armored Person and Black Heavy Armored Person were the results of countless years of effort.

"Right, there's Salif!"

Basim suddenly remembered that he'd used Soul Control on a Five-star Demon.

What did it matter if the Black Armored and Yellow Armored men were gone? Salif alone could make up for their losses.

"No, I can't let those thirty Middle Gods go, either!"

"Lord Salif, where are you?"

Under the endless veil of yellow sand, only thirty of the original thousand Demon Assessment candidates remained besides Hermes.

But now they'd lost Salif's protection completely.

Basim wasn't faring much better. To gain control of Salif's soul, he'd sacrificed almost all his strength.

"I didn't expect Salif to be so weak when it came to the soul."

"Hmph, Hermes, is it? Once I've dealt with those candidates, let's see how you handle me!"

"Now, it's finally time to put what I've gained to the test."

Beneath his sinister mask, Basim's dark green eyes glimmered.

"Huh? Lord Salif?"

Hermes had wandered aimlessly throughout Blocking Castle, but still hadn't found the exit.

When he suddenly came across someone he knew, he naturally asked for directions.

No one answered. Salif only strode toward Hermes with heavy steps.

"Boom! Boom!"

Before Hermes could ask again, a flaming broadsword swung down at an angle.

"Clang!"

The battle sword in Hermes's hand snapped. A Midgod Artifact empowered by Middle God Power was no match for a Five-star Demon's full-strength strike. The weapon broke, just as expected.

"Damn, something's wrong!"

At the critical moment, he swung a fist and knocked aside the broadsword as it came down again.

"He's under Soul Control?"

In the Coiling Dragon World,

Soul Control under the Laws of Death was extremely advanced. It didn't destroy the victim's will at all.

Instead, it left behind a Soul Seed, making the victim obey the controller's commands at a spiritual level.

But there were still signs.

For example, Dylan and Tarossa, who'd been placed under Mos's Soul Control, always looked a little vacant.

Now Hermes saw the same blankness in Salif's eyes.

"Thud!"

He'd noticed it, but when the opportunity came, he still smashed his fist into Salif's face.

Salif flew backward.

"Rumble!"

Mist Shadow Heavy activated. Hermes's figure darted through a space dozens of meters across.

Wisps of mist appeared, obscuring Spiritual Sense, as he unleashed his ultimate move, combining fusion power with the Mysteries of Gravity Space.

He fought on instinct.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Freshly placed under Soul Control, Salif's divine body and soul were no longer working in harmony.

As soon as the fight began, he fell completely onto the defensive.

"This Hermes must be hiding a huge secret!"

All of Basim's frustration at Hermes repeatedly resisting his Soul Control vanished.

"Excellent!"

Basim grew more and more excited.

"If I can uncover the secret this fellow is hiding, why would I keep rotting in this godforsaken place?"

"Salif, use Soul Attack to distract Hermes!"

The raspy voice rang directly in Salif's soul.

Beneath his helmet, a flicker of struggle crossed Salif's eyes.

But his Soul Ocean convulsed, and automatically took control of his actions.

"Boom!"

Rings of fiery red light appeared out of nowhere, and a ball of flame burst through them like Sun Wukong charging out of a ring of fire.

The instant it shot from Salif's eyes, it lunged straight at Hermes.

The Soul Attack arrived in an instant.

"Boom!"

A crimson, illusory flame suddenly flared around Hermes.

The fire seemed almost tangible.

But he felt no pain, and the crimson phantom flames caused no real harm. They simply burned straight into his Soul Ocean.

"Rumble!"

A towering blaze immediately surged across Hermes's Soul Ocean.

"I'm coming!"

Noticing that Hermes had gone rigid, Basim shot forward, his pale fingers reaching straight for Hermes's head.

"Hahaha!"

His hand was pale. His laugh was savage.

"Let's see you withstand this!"

Under the Laws of Death, unless the soul was perfect and without flaw, a paralyzed soul meant death.

Once a person was placed under Soul Control, they would remain a slave forever unless the controller released them or they broke through to Paragon.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The Death High-level God Power around Basim boiled, and terrifying soul power poured into his palm.

"As long as I can place Hermes under Soul Control, I don't care if I have to spend centuries recovering."

At that moment,

he was willing to damage the very foundation of his soul to use a Soul Seed.

The opportunity would vanish in an instant!

With Salif's Soul Attack to support him, Basim didn't believe he could fail.