Facing the Truth

Any medium-sized city had a staggering number of Five-Star Fiends.

As for big cities and Prefecture Cities, there was no need to mention them.

Anyone capable of serving as the City Lord of a big city had at least the strength of a Seven-Star Fiend.

A Prefect was ten times stronger than a Seven-Star Fiend. In Fiend Castles, powerhouses of this level had already surpassed the ranks of Seven-Star Fiends!

They had a far more fearsome title: Asura!

"Since that's the case, why did you agree to carry out a Fiend Mission with me?"

After learning this secret, Aier felt relieved that his strength had increased so much that he hadn't considered Olga much of a threat and attacked him.

Otherwise, he would have violated the Fiend Contract. Even though Aier no longer feared the Fiend Castle's mission to hunt him down, it would still have caused him a great deal of trouble.

After all, the souls of those wanted by the Fiend Castle were recorded at Fiend Castles in every city. In other words, wanted criminals couldn't enter cities.

If Aier were wanted, being unable to enter cities to buy what he needed would severely restrict his growth.

Still, Aier was curious. "If you hadn't accepted this mission, couldn't you have attacked me directly?"

"Maybe I was afraid!"

After a brief silence, Olga regarded Aier gravely and said in a deep voice, "You knew I wanted to kill you, yet you still acted as though it didn't matter. That means you're either a fool or absolutely certain of your abilities."

"I don't believe someone who hid right under my nose for over a million years could be a fool."

"So accepting the same Fiend Mission also puts limits on you."

"If we run into enemies, I can see what you're really capable of."

"Then I can reconsider whether to build up my strength and attack you, or run away."

"Lord Olga truly lives up to his reputation as the leader of the Crimson Blood Tribe. You're cautious even when dealing with someone like me, who was still in the Saint Realm a hundred thousand years ago..."

Aier praised him. "I suppose you're telling me all this now because, if my strength really does exceed your expectations, you hope I won't hold you accountable for everything you've done to me, right?"

Olga said nothing.

But silence often meant consent!

"Lord Olga, give it up!"

"My strength has far surpassed anything you can imagine."

Aier patted Olga on the shoulder. "In Hell, there are hardly any tribal leaders like you who give the Saints a chance."

"I can say I owe it to your protection that I made it through my weakest years."

"I can consider everything that happened before as the price I had to pay in return for your protection while I grew stronger."

"Your choices from here on will decide whether the Crimson Blood Tribe survives or is wiped out..."

With that, Aier paid no more attention to Olga, whose feelings were in turmoil behind him, and leisurely admired the scenery around them.

Aier hadn't lied to Olga.

It was true that, when he was weak, Olga's threats had made him want to kill Olga and even destroy the Crimson Blood Tribe.

But as Aier's strength grew, his outlook changed as well.

Perhaps because he no longer saw Olga as a threat, he began thinking back to the past.

Although he'd been sold off to the Crimson Blood Tribe as a miner when he was little, aside from the hard work, the tribe had never treated the miners as less than human.

If danger arose, as long as they weren't killed outright, the divine guards would rush over as quickly as possible to rescue them and hold back the threat.

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

The first item Aier refined was Blood Ore dug out of the Crimson Blood Tribe's mines.

He'd increased his physical strength by refining large quantities of Crimson Blood Essence Ore.

The Inkstone he'd used to buy Godheads had been the Crimson Blood Tribe's payment.

In a world where divine experts earned one Inkstone every thousand years, Olga gave the Saints one every ten thousand years. That made him practically a saintly benefactor.

Most other tribes didn't even treat the Saints as human.

Even the Blood-Red Source Crystal that had allowed Aier to leap forward in his rapid growth had come from the Crimson Blood Tribe.

He could never repay Lord Olga's kindness!

Of course, Aier also felt conflicted about simply letting Olga go.

And so, this Fiend Mission had come about.

It was a chance for Olga, and also a way for Aier to settle things with his former self.

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

For the rest of the journey, Olga was noticeably quieter.

Aier had no idea what Olga would ultimately decide.

Nor did he care.

Over the course of a hundred thousand years, Aier had refined over thirty thousand Earth-element Godheads. As a result, he had now completely fused five of the Laws and Profound Mysteries of Earth.

On top of that, the divine essence from those thirty thousand Godheads had strengthened Aier's body to its limit, making it comparable to a Godhead.

In other words, Aier could now be considered a super powerhouse, only slightly weaker than an Asura Prefect with a Material Defense Overgod Artifact and an Offensive Overgod Artifact.

He was a renowned powerhouse not just in Hell, but even across the Seven Divine Planes and the Four Supreme Planes.

The thirty thousand or so Godheads hadn't helped Aier reach the level of a Paragon. That wasn't because his Equipment Slot was useless, but because he was too poor.

Whether he was searching for points of compatibility between the Laws and Profound Mysteries or trying to break through the bottleneck of complete fusion, he needed to comprehend a sufficient number of the same Laws and Profound Mysteries.

Mid-God Sparks contained, at most, five fully developed Laws and Profound Mysteries. So for now, Aier's cultivation had reached its limit at fusing five of them.

To find the points of compatibility among the six Laws and Profound Mysteries of Earth, speed up his cultivation toward fusing all six, and ultimately fuse the six Laws of the Earth completely, Aier needed a sufficient number of High-God Sparks.

One High-God Spark cost ten million Inkstones. Aier couldn't afford one.

A small city like Caeles City didn't have enough High-God Sparks to supply his cultivation, either.

That was the main reason Aier had left Caeles City.

If refining Low-God Sparks and Mid-God Sparks alone had been enough to help him break through, Aier would certainly have waited until after reaching the level of a Paragon before considering moving to another city, continent, or even plane.

Aier's gaze swept over the surroundings as his divine sense spread outward, keeping watch at all times.

Although, with his current strength, practically no one in Hell apart from an Overgod could kill him, his Fiend Mission this time was to escort the members of this merchant association to the next city.

Those merchants weren't as strong as he was.

He didn't want his first mission to end in failure.