Chapter 575: Being a Devil Is Really Hard!
The fifth layer of the Nine Hells, Stygia.
In stark contrast to Phlegethos, the layer above, this was another desolate realm of cold and ice.
Most of this plane lay submerged beneath an ocean filled with heavy floes and icebergs. The only flowing water was the raging River Styx, though icebergs and infernal sharks made navigation exceptionally dangerous. Violent, frenzied lightning constantly tore across the sky, making flying creatures exceedingly rare here, save for those immune to electricity.
Tantlin, known as the City of Ice, was the largest city on this layer.
Like the other smaller cities, Tantlin had been built atop a floating ice floe, but it possessed a bustling port adjacent to the River Styx.
The city was ruled by a relatively rare female pit fiend. Though she seldom left her fortress, her policy of "noninterference" left the streets to various factions, who were eager to impose their own rules upon one another's dealings. Although its streets were a chaotic mess, Tantlin's special location on the River Styx meant that it had long served as a transplanar trade hub, and was in fact one of the busiest River Styx port city-states in Hell.
Yet the residents of Tantlin could never forget the ruler of this layer—Prince Levistus.
No one knew what he looked like, for he was frozen deep within the heart of an iceberg floating at the center of the harbor—an iceberg so ancient that even by Baator standards, it was unimaginably old.
Viewed dimly through the layers of ice from outside, the prince looked like nothing more than a huge mass of black shadow.
And in truth, he controlled the city like a shadow lurking behind the curtain. Though unable to move, he was fully aware of everything