But among the Profound Mysteries he had fused, not a single one was a high-grade Profound Mystery. He only had one mid-grade Profound Mystery at most, making him practically the weakest kind of Six-Star Fiend. He merely excelled at speed and concealing his aura, while his material attack was only slightly stronger than Quite's, who cultivated the Laws of Destruction.
This was why he specialized in assassination rather than frontal assaults. The reason he had chosen to lead the charge now was, first, because they held an overwhelming numerical advantage, and second, because of the support from Sack's Gravity Space. He believed he could absolutely contend with Simon and Fanny head-on.
But he had never imagined that Simon had Ice Wind Space as well. The bandits who escaped had never mentioned it!
In truth, the bandits who had escaped were innocent too. They had merely taken a distant glance to confirm Quite's death. How could they have had the spare time to tell whether Quite had been trapped in a domain? They had assumed Quite was merely caught in an ordinary Wind Space.
How powerful could a Midgod's Wind Space possibly be? They had not bothered telling Romson about it.
Thus, after barely blocking three of Fanny's attacks, Romson finally could no longer withstand her fourth attack under the effects of the powerful binding force. During that time, he had tried to use the Shadow Clone Technique to escape, but the fragile shadow clones could not endure the crushing restraints of Ice Wind Space. The moment they appeared, they were squeezed apart.
That became the final straw. Having lost every means of escape, Romson could only forcibly clash head-on with Fanny. But because Fanny was faster and more agile, he could only defend passively. After barely enduring three strikes, he was finally unable to block the fourth.
That was because Fanny's attacks, infused with the Profound Mystery of Explosion, became faster and fiercer with every strike.
Fanny's fourth attack landed on Romson's armor. The Highgod Artifact-grade armor instantly shattered. Romson, having recovered his senses, wanted to swing his blade to block Fanny's next attack, but how could Fanny, whose attack speed had already built up, give him the chance?
Her short sword traced a graceful arc and slashed directly into Romson's head.
In an instant, Romson's skull exploded, just like the Flower-shaped Metal Lifeform he had blown apart earlier.
"I, Fanny, keep my word! I said I'd blow up your head!"
Fanny said viciously after finishing him off.
At the instant Fanny's short sword cleaved into Romson's skull, the bandit leader, who had been a tyrant in his own right, saw all the major events he had experienced over the countless millennia flash through his mind.
He had been born on a Material Plane and quickly cultivated to the Saint Realm. Then, deceived by the Plane Guardian, he had come to Hell, beginning his nightmare-like life.
Fortunately, he had already reached the Saint Realm Limit before coming here. Not long after arriving, he broke through to godhood amid a life-or-death crisis. But dangerous Hell did not allow him to split his soul. Left with no choice, he could only choose Inner-Body Godhood, leaving himself no period of weakness.
Fortunately, he had been cautious enough to survive through all those hardships. In the end, he even fused three Profound Mysteries of the Darkness Element, built up a large bandit group, and ruled over the tens of millions of kilometers around Black Wind Mountain.
Romson's life could be called legendary, but unfortunately, he had encountered Simon and Fanny.
And so, one legend came to an end while a new legend began to rise.
Fanny and Romson's battle sounded slow when described, but in reality, only a few seconds had passed from the moment Sack, the bandits' second leader, released Gravity Space, to Simon countering with Ice Wind Space, to Fanny killing Romson.
In a battle between Highgods, a single second could decide life and death thousands of times.
It had taken this long only because Gravity Space had affected their speed to some extent.
But with Fanny unleashing the full power of her Profound Mystery of Explosion, she instantly reduced gravity's effects to a minimum and killed Romson with thunderous force.
Poor Romson. He had dominated Hell for tens of millions of years and struggled his way to prominence, yet he had ultimately died because of his identity as a bandit.
Simon, who had been harvesting Midgods across the battlefield, heaved a huge sigh of relief when he saw Fanny successfully eliminate Romson, their greatest threat.
If Fanny and Romson had fallen into a hard battle, Simon would have had no choice but to stop hiding his strength and unleash his full power to help Fanny kill Romson.
But fortunately, with the support of Ice Wind Space, Fanny had cleanly and decisively killed Romson.
Once the chief leader died, the remaining Midgod bandits fell into complete despair. They could only vent their rage by continuing to unleash their powerful—or not so powerful—Soul Attacks, then watch helplessly as Simon gracefully dodged them all and cut down one small fry after another with a single sword strike.
Fanny, having dealt with Romson, did not remain idle either. She turned and charged toward the Black Wind Bandit Group's other Highgod leader.
Sack, the second leader who cultivated the Laws of Earth, was only a Five-Star Fiend. The Profound Mysteries he had fused were merely Earth Element and Earth Walk Technique, so both his speed and attack power were ordinary.
Trapped within Ice Wind Space, his speed was reduced to only a quarter of its original level. If he had fled from the very beginning, he might have had a chance to escape the range of Ice Wind Space. But he had naively believed that Romson could still deal with Fanny, a Highgod, even under Ice Wind Space's effects.
But Romson had failed to hold out, and Sack had lost his best chance to flee.
Thus, just as Sack realized he needed to run, Fanny caught up to him. Her short sword stabbed directly at Sack.
Sack was also a battle-hardened bandit. With a burst of divine power, he swung his War Blade across and barely blocked Fanny's short sword.
Fanny was not annoyed when her attack was blocked. Her figure flickered, and she arrived behind Sack. Her short sword stabbed out once more. This time, Sack no longer had time to defend. The back of his head was pierced straight through by Fanny's short sword.
With that, all three Highgod leaders of the Black Wind Bandit Group had been slain by Fanny!
Arrival at Timbu City
Simon had already harvested hundreds of Midgods. Seeing Fanny fight so fiercely, he accelerated his own harvesting as well.
After all, maintaining Ice Wind Space at full strength while restraining so many Midgods placed enormous pressure on Simon.
Fortunately, the enemy's two Highgods had both died. The remaining Midgods were merely lambs waiting for slaughter.
Under Simon and Fanny's combined attacks, these Midgod bandits fell in swathes like weeds.
A few more seconds later, the Black Wind Bandit Group was completely wiped out.
This infamous bandit group, which had harmed countless people, was erased from Hell from that day onward.
"Phew, Simon! I actually killed a Six-Star Fiend! Aren't I amazing?"
Fanny put away her short sword, came to Simon's side, and spoke excitedly.
"That was indeed impressive. I thought it would be a fierce battle, but Romson happened to be restrained by us. He was just unlucky, I suppose."
Simon swiftly cleaned up the battlefield, collecting all the divine artifacts and Spatial Rings left behind by the Midgods.
"The moment I fought that bandit leader Romson, I knew he had fused at least three Profound Mysteries of the Laws of Darkness and possessed nearly the strength of a Six-Star Fiend. But the Profound Mysteries he fused seemed rather ordinary. His frontal combat strength was weak, and he was affected by your domain. I actually killed him without using much effort. It's unbelievable."
Fanny sighed. With a domain providing support, fighting was simply too satisfying. She was now immensely glad that she had chosen to return with Simon back then—and had fed him so many treasures along the way.
It was also thanks to Fanny's selfless generosity that Simon's soul had grown much stronger. It had even surpassed the soul strength of many ordinary Highgods.
That was why he did not fear Soul Attacks. It was not merely because his soul defense was powerful; the essence of his soul was powerful too.
As Simon and Fanny chatted while cleaning up the battlefield, he realized that after experiencing a series of battles, he had become increasingly adept at scavenging the battlefield.
After sweeping everything away at high speed, Fanny took out another Flower-shaped Metal Lifeform. The two boarded it and continued flying toward Timbu City.
Inside the cave of the Black Wind Mountain bandits' base camp, some bandits still remained. Their leader was Sack's Wind Element Midgod Divine Clone.
"It's over, it's over. Completely over. Big Brother achieved Inner-Body Godhood and only had one body. Now that he's dead, he's truly dead. The thousand-plus Midgods he took with him are probably almost all dead too."
Sack anxiously paced in circles.
"Don't panic, don't panic. Those two don't know where our base camp is, but I can't rule out the possibility that they'll torture the information out of someone. I need to pack up and flee immediately."
Having made his decision, Sack immediately swept up all the remaining valuables in the cave. Then, taking dozens of Midgod bandits who had stayed behind at the base camp, he fled in the direction opposite Timbu City.
All he could think of now was finding a small mountain range to hide in temporarily with his subordinates, then slowly rebuilding his strength. Fortunately, this Wind Element Divine Clone of his was also about to break through to become a Highgod. Its strength was not bad, so he did not need to worry about his subordinates rebelling.
If things truly came to the worst, he could only refine the Wind Element Highgod Godhead he had prepared long ago to stabilize his position and ensure his safety.
Unlike Sack, who was fleeing in panic, Simon and Fanny were leisurely counting their spoils.
There were too many Spatial Rings, and Simon simply could not manage them all. Left with no choice, he had Fanny help him count them.
It took quite a while before the two finally finished.
There were dozens of Spatial Rings they could not open, including Sack's. Simon guessed that the owners of those rings still had divine clones alive.
But he did not care much. After all, the vast majority of this bandit group's wealth had to be on Romson. Fortunately, Romson's Spatial Ring could be opened normally.
As Simon had expected, Romson's Spatial Ring contained more than one hundred billion Inkstones alone, along with large quantities of treasures such as Soul Golden Beads and Purple Crystals.
Simon accepted them all without hesitation.
Meanwhile, all the Inkstones possessed by the other Midgod bandits combined amounted to only a little over one hundred million. The gap was simply absurd.
But that was normal. This should have been all the wealth Romson had accumulated over countless years. Since he had no divine clones, he had most likely achieved Inner-Body Godhood, so naturally, he carried all his wealth with him.
This greatly benefited Simon.
After two major battles, Simon's wealth had soared to the level of a Six-Star Fiend.
Even in Hell, having such wealth was quite impressive. Of course, it could not compare to the little rich girl beside him.
When Simon opened Romson's Spatial Ring and cried out in surprise at the enormous amount of Inkstones, Fanny thought he had discovered something incredible.
When she learned it was only a bit of Inkstone, she laughed at Simon for quite a while.
Simon could only feel helpless about that.
How could becoming rich overnight compare to being born into wealth for three generations? Simon had originally intended to split the loot evenly, but Fanny had only said that she had an entire Spatial Ring full of Inkstones...
From then on, Simon tacitly stopped mentioning dividing the spoils.
Though he did not know how large Fanny's Spatial Ring for storing Inkstones was, judging from the one in his hand, he conservatively estimated that it contained at least tens of trillions of Inkstones.
"Poverty really limits my imagination."
Still, Simon was very happy. After all, he had earned these Inkstones through hard work...
He could spend them with peace of mind, couldn't he?
Having gained so many Inkstones and treasures, Simon planned to indulge himself properly once they reached Timbu City.
He also intended to buy Fanny some gifts. Wealthy as she was, these two battles had truly depended on her.
Otherwise, if Simon had faced so many bandits alone, he would probably have had no choice but to flee.
After all, if he used his current soul power to restrain a large number of enemies at once, he could only maintain it for a limited time. If he failed to finish them within that time, his situation would become dangerous.
Although Simon's defense was powerful, facing the combined siege of several Highgods and over a thousand Midgods was still extremely dangerous.
Thus, Fanny deserved much of the credit.
This little rich girl's frontal offensive strength was truly formidable. Combined with his Ice Wind Space, they were simply a perfect match.
The journey ahead became much safer. Even when they encountered small groups of foolish bandits, those bandits would flee in disgrace as soon as they discovered Fanny was a Highgod.
Simon could not be bothered to chase them down.
Thus, several days passed, and the towering Timbu City appeared before them.
"We finally made it. That wasn't easy."
Fanny put away the Metal Lifeform and arrived before Timbu City with Simon, preparing to pay the entry fee.
"Huh, Fanny, why are those people over there entering the city without paying?" Simon asked Fanny, pretending not to know.
"They're Fiends. Fiends don't need to line up and pay to enter the city. I forgot to tell you before."
"Oh, so that's how it is. Then where's your Fiend Medal, Fanny? Don't tell me you don't even have one..."
"Well, this... that... a strong person like me can't be bothered to become a Fiend just to prove herself."
"Hahaha, really? Then it looks like a weakling like me should get a Fiend Medal. It'd look respectable pinned to my chest, and I wouldn't have to line up to enter the city either."
Simon teased.
Before you continue