Showdown

In any medium-sized city, the number of Five-Star Fiends is staggering.

Large cities and Prefectural Cities go without saying.

Anyone capable of serving as the lord of a large city possesses at least the strength of a Seven-Star Fiend.

A Prefect, however, is ten times more powerful than a Seven-Star Fiend; within the Fiend Castle, such a powerhouse transcends the category of Seven-Star Fiend entirely!

They have a more terrifying title—Asura!

"Since that is the case, why did you still choose to execute this Fiend Mission with me?"

Upon learning this secret, Aier felt fortunate that, due to his massive increase in strength, he hadn't viewed Olga as much of a threat and thus hadn't taken the initiative to strike him.

Otherwise, violating the Fiend Contract would have caused Aier quite a bit of trouble, even if he no longer feared the punitive missions issued by the Fiend Castle.

After all, the soul signatures of those wanted by the Fiend Castle are synchronized to the Fiend Castles in every city, which means wanted criminals cannot enter cities.

If Aier were to be wanted, he would be unable to enter cities to purchase the items he needed, which would severely limit his growth.

However, Aier remained curious: "If you weren't going to accept this mission, couldn't you have just attacked me directly?"

"Perhaps it is because I am afraid!"

After a moment of silence, Olga stared solemnly at Aier and said in a low voice: "Since you knew I wanted to kill you yet still acted so nonchalantly, you are either a fool or you possess absolute certainty."

"I do not believe that someone who could hide under my nose for over a million years would be a fool."

"Therefore, accepting the same Fiend Mission is also a restriction on you."

"If we encounter an enemy, I can also gauge your true mettle."

"When the time comes, I can reconsider whether to accumulate the strength to strike you or to flee."

"Lord Olga is truly worthy of being the leader of the Crimson Blood Tribe; even when dealing with someone like me, who was still in the Saint Realm a hundred thousand years ago, you are this cautious..."

Aier praised: "I suppose Lord Olga is telling me this now because you hope that if my strength truly exceeds your expectations, I might overlook everything you have done to me, is that right?"

Olga remained silent.

But often, silence implies consent!

"Lord Olga, stop now!"

"My strength has already far exceeded your imagination."

Aier patted Olga on the shoulder: "In Hell, there is almost no tribe leader who can provide hope to those in the Saint Realm like you do."

"I can consider myself to have been under your protection, which allowed me to survive my weakest stage."

"I can treat everything that happened before as the price I had to pay in exchange for your protection during my growth."

"Your choices from here on out will determine the future of the Crimson Blood Tribe—whether it continues or is wiped out..."

After speaking, Aier ignored Olga, who was left behind with complex emotions, and leisurely enjoyed the surrounding scenery.

Aier was not lying to Olga.

It was true that when he was weak, Olga's threat had caused Aier to harbor killing intent toward both Olga and the Crimson Blood Tribe.

But as Aier's strength increased, his state of mind had also undergone a great change.

Perhaps because he no longer viewed Olga as a threat, Aier began to reflect on the past.

Although he had been packed up and sold to the Crimson Blood Tribe as a miner from a young age, aside from the exhaustion, the Crimson Blood Tribe never truly treated the miners as anything less than human.

When there was danger, as long as it wasn't an instantaneous death, the god-level guards would arrive as quickly as possible to rescue them and fend off the crisis.

Aier had done the same after he became a guard in the mining area.

The first item Aier refined was the Crimson Blood Ore dug out from the Crimson Blood Tribe.

The increase in his physical strength came from refining a large amount of Crimson Blood Essence Ore.

The Inkstone used to purchase his Godhead was the compensation provided by the Crimson Blood Tribe.

In this world where god-level powerhouses earned one Inkstone every thousand years, Olga giving those in the Saint Realm one Inkstone every ten thousand years made him a saintly figure.

Other tribes often didn't even treat those in the Saint Realm as human beings.

Even the resource that allowed Aier to embark on his rapid growth, that single Blood-Red Source Crystal, was obtained from the Crimson Blood Tribe.

The debt of gratitude to Lord Olga is impossible to repay!

Of course, letting Olga off just like that still felt a bit awkward for Aier.

Thus, this Fiend Mission came to be.

This was a chance Aier was giving to Olga, and at the same time, a resolution for his former self.

If Olga made a move, Aier would not only kill him but also go to the Crimson Blood Tribe to send West on his way.

For the remainder of the journey, Olga was noticeably much quieter.

Aier did not know what choice Olga would ultimately make.

He would not concern himself with that.

One hundred thousand years, and a full thirty thousand-plus Earth Element divine sparks had been refined by Aier, allowing him to progress in the Laws and Profound Mysteries of the Earth Element; as of now, Aier had completely fused five types of Laws and Profound Mysteries.

Beyond that, the divine spark essence from over thirty thousand divine sparks had strengthened Aier's body to a limit, reaching a level comparable to a divine spark itself.

In other words, the current Aier could be considered a super powerhouse only slightly inferior to a Prefect who possessed both a material defense Overgod Artifact and an offensive Overgod Artifact.

Never mind Hell; even counting the seven Divine Planes and the four Supreme Planes, Aier could now be considered a powerhouse of significant standing.

The thirty thousand-plus divine sparks had failed to let Aier break through to become a Paragon, not because his Equipment Slot was ineffective, but because Aier was too poor.

Whether it was the convergence points of the Laws and Profound Mysteries or the bottleneck of complete fusion, both required a sufficient quantity of insights into the corresponding Laws and Profound Mysteries to break through.

A Mid-God divine spark contained at most five perfected Laws and Profound Mysteries, so Aier's cultivation in the Laws and Profound Mysteries was currently stalled at the fusion of five.

To find the convergence point for the six Laws and Profound Mysteries of the Earth Element, to accelerate the cultivation of the six-fold fusion, and eventually to have all six Laws of the Earth completely fused, Aier needed a sufficient quantity of High-God divine sparks.

A single High-God divine spark cost ten million Inkstones, and Aier could not afford it.

A small city like Caeles City did not have enough High-God divine sparks to supply Aier's cultivation either.

This was the primary reason Aier had left Caeles City.

If he could have broken through by merely refining Demigod divine sparks and Mid-God divine sparks, Aier would certainly have waited until he became a Paragon before considering changing cities, continents, or even planes.

Aier's gaze was distant, his divine sense radiating outward, constantly monitoring the situation around him.

Although, with his current strength, there was almost no one in Hell capable of killing him, save for the Overgods.

But this time, his Fiend Mission was to escort these people from the merchant guild to the next city.

These merchants did not possess strength like his own.

He did not want his first mission to end in failure.