Setting Out

After pinning the Demon Badge to his chest, Aier asked a staff member at Fiend Castle, "If there's one available, I'd like to take a Five-Star Fiend mission as my promotion test."

"A Five-Star Fiend mission?"

Olga, standing nearby, heard him and his pupils abruptly contracted.

Had Aier really managed to fuse two Laws and Profound Mysteries?

But things had come this far. Olga couldn't just give up now.

The Fiend Castle employee was taken aback by Aier's words. Then the smile on his face grew more respectful.

"My lord, Caeles City is just a small city in a remote region. We rarely have missions that require a Five-Star Fiend."

As he spoke, the employee cautiously sized up Aier.

This was a Five-Star Fiend!

In all of Caeles City, the only person confirmed to have the strength of a Five-Star Fiend was City Lord Caeles.

Did the High-God before him really have the strength of a Five-Star Fiend, or was he just a reckless fool who couldn't gauge his own strength?

He couldn't tell...

But whoever Aier was, his rank as a High-God was genuine.

He was at least a Four-Star Fiend who had become a god through independent cultivation!

"All right..."

Aier sighed.

As expected, this place was still too remote. There weren't even any Five-Star Fiend missions in the city.

"Are there any escort missions to other cities?"

"There are."

The employee quickly pulled a contract from a stack of documents beside him and handed it to Aier. "This is an escort mission for the Green Chamber of Commerce. Their caravan was attacked by bandits and suffered heavy losses. They need two Fiends of Three-Star rank or higher and ten Two-Star Fiends for protection."

"If you're interested, Lord Aier, I can register you. Once we find a second Three-Star Fiend willing to accept the mission, we'll let you know when it's time to depart."

"We're still one Three-Star Fiend short?"

"Perfect timing. Lord Olga, why don't you join me on this mission?"

Aier turned to Olga and asked with a smile.

Olga gave Aier a long look, nodded, and took out his Demon Badge, handing it to the Fiend Castle employee.

"Register me. I'll take the mission!"

"Lord Aier, Lord Olga, when do you plan to set out?"

"As soon as possible."

Olga answered before Aier could speak.

When the Fiend Castle employee looked toward him, Aier nodded as well.

"Let's do as Lord Olga says. As soon as possible."

"Understood, Lord Olga, Lord Aier. Fiend Castle will immediately notify the caravan and the other Fiends who accepted the mission. Sorry for the trouble, but please wait here a little longer."

It had to be said: the strong had their privileges.

Aier remembered that when he'd read Coiling Dragon, Linley and the others had needed to wait before setting out on their Fiend missions after taking the Fiend assessment.

Now he was the one who could make others wait—or not wait.

In less than half a day, the people from the Green Chamber of Commerce and the other ten Two-Star Fiends had arrived at Fiend Castle.

"Lord Aier, Lord Olga, we'll be relying on you both for this trip."

The president of the Green Chamber of Commerce was named Eric. He was an old man with graying hair, and his aura was unmistakably that of a High-God.

But from the way he bowed and scraped before Aier and Olga, it was clear he had become a High-God by refining a divine spark.

The other merchants in the chamber of commerce also exuded the divine power of Mid-Gods.

It made sense when you thought about it. Merchants bought goods cheaply and sold them at a profit, transporting each city's specialties to other cities. They could earn tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of Inkstones from a single trip.

A High-God Spark cost ten million Inkstones, while a Mid-God spark cost ten thousand. For these merchants, neither was unaffordable.

Besides, having traveled far and wide, they understood better than ordinary people that strength was the guarantee of safety and confidence.

Of course, compared with the ten Two-Star Fiends, these Mid-God merchants lacked the aura of slaughter.

If the two groups fought, the Fiends could easily kill all the Mid-Gods in the chamber of commerce.

"Mm. Let's go."

Olga nodded coldly and led the way out of Fiend Castle.

After they left Caeles City, the group had no Metal Castle, so they could only fly to their destination.

This naturally added a great deal of risk.

However, there were more than thirty people in Aier's group, including two High-Gods wearing Demon Badges. Even ordinary bandits who spotted them didn't dare show themselves; instead, they kept well away.

As if! If they went after them, who'd end up robbing whom?

A month later, Aier's group chose a mountain at random and descended. The group then split into two teams, taking turns absorbing the elemental essences of heaven and earth and refining divine power.

Although flying consumed little divine power for a god-level expert, when traveling away from home, divine power was the foundation of one's combat strength in a sudden battle.

Fortunately, if they didn't encounter a fight, they could replenish the divine power consumed by a month of flying in just two or three days of absorption and refinement.

"What's the matter, Lord Olga? It's been a whole month. Why haven't you made a move?"

Aier walked up to Olga and asked curiously.

Aier knew Olga wanted to kill him, and Olga knew Aier was aware of it.

But in the past month, Aier's group had traveled more than seven million kilometers from Caeles City, and Olga still hadn't made a move.

In Hell, there was generally a city every twenty million kilometers or so. In other words, they had already covered a third of the distance for this Fiend mission.

"Hmph!"

Olga snorted. "So you really were just lucky."

"Did you think the contract we signed when we accepted the Fiend mission was just a blank sheet of paper?"

"I see."

At Olga's explanation, Aier understood.

He'd forgotten that "contracts" existed in the Coiling Dragon Universe.

The most basic ones were the enslavement contract and the Equal Contract.

Fiend Castle could post missions and let Fiends earn Inkstones by completing them instead of robbing their employers because every Fiend who accepted a Fiend mission signed a contract with Fiend Castle and the employer.

As long as their own lives weren't in danger, completing the mission would be the Fiends' highest priority.

If they violated the contract, they would be marked by it and become targets for Fiend Castle's pursuit.

Aside from some assassination missions commissioned by other employers, the pursuit missions posted by Fiend Castle were all for people who had violated their contracts.

Olga was only a Five-Star Fiend.

Perhaps in a small city like Caeles, Olga counted as a strong person.

But beneath the Fiend Castles that spanned Hell, Olga was no more than an ant.