If he'd had a hard-control ability back then, Hermes would never have let Nick get away in the Great Earth God Realm.
His attack power was dozens of times greater than his enemy's, yet he'd still let him escape. No wonder he hadn't collected all the Sovereign Artifacts even after billions of years.
He deserved to get kited.
The gravity of the Mist Shadow Space, enhanced by the Yellow Sand Domain, was no ordinary force.
It multiplied the already terrifying gravity of the Mist Shadow Space countless times over.
That gravity and restraining force—
as long as someone entered the range of Mist Shadow Heavy, no one below a Seven-star Demon could hope to escape!
"Hahaha, great! Old Black's luck has finally turned. Things aren't quite so miserable anymore."
Getting this Blocking Bead made Hermes even happier than fusing another Mystery.
This hard-control skill was incredibly important to him.
Hermes could match the Material Attack of a Water Element Paragon with only four fused Mysteries.
But with his short legs and no hard-control move, people had often kited him on the Plane Battlefield.
Just thinking about it was infuriating.
"Now, who would dare come within a thousand meters of me?"
If he weren't still too weak,
if it weren't for the fact that it wasn't Plane War season yet, Hermes would have wanted to stand in the Star River Channel and roar—
Who else?
Well!
That was just something he imagined.
If he really did it, he'd be blasted into an idiot by the swarm of attacks pouring through the Star River Channel.
There was no helping it. That was how terrifying the power of a Plane War was!
Even the foot soldiers were Six-star Demons, Commanders were everywhere, and even Paragons had to be cautious.
Although, with a Paragon's speed, they probably wouldn't get hit by an attack from a Commander-level expert.
But what if they did?
Even a Paragon would be helpless if they fell into Spatial Turbulence. Without a Sovereign God to rescue them, they wouldn't be able to get out.
Gazing at the Blocking Bead, Hermes couldn't help but sigh:
"Such a treasure would be safer in the Golden Space."
Although Hermes suspected that if he swallowed the Blocking Bead, his Earth Talent might improve even further.
But he couldn't bear to try it just yet.
"I can't test it. The Blocking Bead probably isn't as hard as Silver Moon. If I swallowed it in one go, there'd be no way to undo it."
Apart from Silver Moon, the Golden Space's devouring power could swallow anything—even Divine Sparks.
"Why hasn't Bamer woken up yet?"
He put his research on the Blocking Bead on hold and looked up at Bamer, who still hadn't emerged from his cultivation.
"Ah, I'd better go to the Demon Castle first."
After killing Basim, Hermes had gained tens of trillions of Ink Stones.
They were probably the result of Basim's accumulation over countless years. After all, he was a Five-star Demon, and one who could control the souls of a whole bunch of High Gods at that.
Hermes didn't know that Basim had built his lair in the desert specifically to rob passing merchants.
That was how he'd amassed his fortune in Ink Stones.
Who would have thought that after so much time, all that wealth would end up in Hermes's hands overnight?
Besides, Basim had wanted to use this Demon Assessment to control a few more exceptionally gifted future experts.
He'd planned to expand his forces,
strengthen the power of Blocking Castle, and use that to earn even more wealth.
But instead, his whole operation had been wiped out.
In the end, no plan could outwit fate.
If Hermes hadn't shown up, Basim would have nearly succeeded.
Although he'd lost almost all the experts under his command, he'd controlled Bamer's soul, and Bamer was a Five-star Demon.
Basim himself was only as powerful as a Five-star Demon, yet he'd successfully taken control of another Five-star Demon.
The power of Blocking Castle had grown enormously.
If Basim had only been given a little more time, he would surely have built an even more powerful band of Blocking Sand Bandits.
Such was fate!
Demon Castle, first-floor hall.
"Look, isn't that Hermes? He disappeared thousands of years ago!"
The moment Hermes entered the Demon Castle, countless eyes locked onto him.
Even though thousands of years had passed,
the Star Demons gathered there weren't super experts, and their movements were confined to a relatively small area.
Even when they went out on missions, they returned to Yilan City once they were done.
Many Demon experts had chosen to invest in property in the city.
If their home tribes were also near Yilan City, they had even more reason to invest there.
"That's him, no mistake!"
One Star Demon confirmed.
They were close enough to communicate with each other using Spiritual Sense over short distances.
It was a compromise that respected the Demon Castle's rules while still being convenient for them.
"What's he doing here? He disappeared for thousands of years. Did he go to another city to take on a Demon Mission?"
"Impossible!"
"Do you know how far away the nearest city to Yilan City is?"
"Going farther when there's a closer option makes no sense."
The Star Demons whispered among themselves. The commotion had even piqued the curiosity of the Demon Castle staff, who craned their necks to look.
They couldn't help it!
Hermes was far too famous.
He'd gained the allegiance of Salif, a powerful Five-star Demon, and completed a Five-star extermination mission right after finishing the Demon Assessment.
His terrifying number of points had taken him straight from a One-star Demon to a Five-star Demon.
He'd set a record for Yilan City.
At least, in the official records of the Demon Castle, no one except the city lord had achieved anything more astonishing than Hermes.
The moment word of him spread, he became a favorite topic of conversation throughout Yilan City.
Even a random God-level Expert on the street might have heard of him.
They might not know Hermes's name or the details of what he'd done, but they'd at least have heard that something had happened.
They knew that a Five-star Demon with the strength of a Middle God had appeared in Yilan City.
And that he'd even taken a Five-star Demon as his follower.
The Follower Ritual had been held in front of the Demon Castle staff, no less.
The buzz around that?
It was off the charts!
Ignoring the Star Demons whispering in the hall, Hermes walked into the Demon Castle's first-floor hall.
Then he kept walking.
The first-floor hall covered an enormous area and was divided into multiple sections.
No matter where he went, he immediately became the center of attention.
Talk about him spread through the entire Demon Castle in no time.
The buzz was off the charts!
His disappearance for thousands of years hadn't made the Demon experts forget him. If anything, it had added to his air of mystery.
Some said he'd been cultivating in seclusion; others said he'd gone into hiding because he was afraid people would challenge him.
Still others claimed he'd bought property in Yilan City and planned to open a shop.
People said all sorts of things, and the rumors grew more outrageous with every retelling.
What had started as fairly respectable stories soon veered into vulgar gossip.
Back when Susimita had taken a liking to Hermes, it had sparked the Skeleton Man Saba's hostility toward him.
That story had already been retold countless times.
And dozens of versions had sprung up.
That was just how simple and unpretentious the gossip-loving nature of God-level beings was.
"What's he here for?"
Hermes walked toward the front desk.
A Demon expert quietly asked his companion, his eyes bright with curiosity.
"Who knows? Maybe he's back to make a big move again!"
The other Demon expert replied, his tone tinged with awe.
One thing was certain: Hermes had survived Explosive Thunder's Five-star Demon Mission.
People had looked into it afterward. The sixteen other lucky ones who had passed the Demon Assessment had all reached the same conclusion as Bamer.
"Just watch. Hermes might make headlines again!"
Before you continue