A surprise attack from the Black Bat Tribe

At that thought, Roger suddenly felt that keeping two Soul Seeds active over the long term was very necessary.

Once he became a Highgod, maintaining four or more Soul Seeds over the long term would be essential.

Although the Four Divine Beasts were super divine beasts, and their Fusion Innate Divine Ability could amplify their strength more than ten thousandfold, that was not everything.

If their base strength was weak, and they were only Lowgods or Midgods, the threat they posed would not actually be all that great.

Roger only needed to reach the Asura level to forcibly enslave them.

"Although I arrived a little too early in the timeline, there are still plenty of opportunities." Roger considered the opportunities available during this period.

He was currently in the Netherworld. Although he did not know exactly where in the Netherworld he was, that did not really matter.

From the original novel, Roger knew that the Netherworld was an extraordinarily vast continent.

Countless undead lived in the north of the continent, and that region was called the "Undead Realm."

The southern region of the continent was what people called the "Netherworld."

Undead Sacred Mountain, where the teleportation arrays were located, stood at the border between the Netherworld and the Undead Realm.

Thus, he only needed to find Undead Sacred Mountain to determine his location.

But Roger was still too weak. As a mere Midgod, he was not qualified to venture through the Netherworld.

That remained true even though Highgods were very rare in the Netherworld at present.

If he was surrounded and his defense and speed could not keep up, he would still be in great danger.

I wonder whether the Heart of the Netherworld has appeared yet...

Suddenly.

Roger thought of a treasure that had appeared in the original novel.

The original novel stated that the Heart of the Netherworld could locate any living being reincarnated into the Netherworld, and that it was controlled by the Sovereign of Death.

But its functions should not have been that simple.

Otherwise, how could the Sovereign of Death, the only one of the Four Rules Sovereigns who was not a Paragon, stand nominally on equal footing with the other three Sovereigns?

After all, the other seven Elemental Sovereigns were no pushovers either.

Only strength that placed them utterly above those seven could make the standing of the Four Rules Sovereigns so unshakable.

Once I'm stronger, I must explore the Netherworld thoroughly and see whether I can find the Heart of the Netherworld. I'll also need to watch for any trace of the Sovereign of Death.

In theory, as long as Roger found the Sovereign of Death from the original novel and stayed by her side, he would certainly witness the descent of a Sovereign Spark.

But the same reasoning still applied.

The Sovereign of Death was the first life form in the Netherworld, an unknown plant. Her divine body was extraordinarily powerful, fully comparable to a Sovereign Artifact, and she also had her own strength and innate divine ability.

Roger had no intention of provoking her before his own strength reached the Paragon level...

Leaving aside her unknown innate divine ability.

Her body alone, comparable to a Sovereign Artifact, would let her thrash any Midgod even if she was still only a Lowgod.

Unless a Highgod specialized in soul attacks, even they could only meet a bitter end against her.

And that was if she was merely a Lowgod.

If she had already become a Highgod, she would be invincible beneath the Paragon level!

Thus, Roger did not dare provoke her rashly.

The Four Divine Beasts, on the other hand, were different.

It could be clearly inferred from the original novel that, although all four of them were also super divine beasts, they had their limitations.

Their bodies had only been strengthened to the level of Sovereign Artifacts after they became Sovereigns.

Thus, while they were still deities, the Four Divine Beasts would have obvious weaknesses.

That was also why Roger had set his sights on the Four Divine Beasts first.

Of course.

If the Four Divine Beasts had already become Highgods by the time Roger found them, he would have to be careful as well.

The power of their Fusion Innate Divine Ability was simply absurd.

Roger reckoned that only by becoming a Paragon could he be sure of suppressing them.

Alas, no matter how I look at it, becoming a Paragon is the safest bet...

Roger felt deeply frustrated.

As someone born an ordinary human, he was naturally at a disadvantage against those super divine beasts.

He could only overcome that by far surpassing their level of comprehension of the edicts.

Luckily, I have the Jade Butterfly. Otherwise, even if I arrived at the dawn of creation with so many opportunities available, competing with those super divine beasts would still be far too difficult.

Thinking of how more than half of the seventy-seven Sovereigns in later eras had been born divine beasts or special life forms, Roger understood why.

The Coiling Dragon World actually favored those divine beasts and special life forms.

Although humans had somewhat greater comprehension, that advantage only went so far.

It was actually very difficult for them to grow powerful.

There's no point overthinking it. Back to cultivating!

Focusing his mind, Roger began working through the other branches of the Death Edict.

Roger had already tried.

The branches of the edict could not be fused. He had spent a great deal of time and effort without finding a point of compatibility between the three branches he had already comprehended.

Before, he could have explained that as a lack of comprehension.

But now that Roger's soul and comprehension had both reached a respectable level, it clearly made no sense that he could not find even the slightest point of compatibility.

The only explanation was that they truly could not be fused.

Then there was the description of a "layered cake" in Charles's cultivation notes.

Roger suspected that, if Highgods who cultivated the edicts wanted to improve their strength further, they might only be able to delve deeper into each major branch.

After all, once they had fully understood the outermost layer of the cake, there was more beneath it.

There was still the next layer, and the layer after that...

The branches of the edict found deeper down might be different.

Time passed especially quickly when he was immersed in cultivation.

Just as Roger was getting into his cultivation, someone knocked on the door of his secluded chamber.

"Roger, Roger, come out quickly! The Black Bat Tribe is attacking!"

Allen's urgent voice carried through the stone slab.

"The Black Bat Tribe?"

Roger was startled at first, but after sensing his current strength, he quickly calmed down.

He pushed open the stone door. Allen stood there with a weapon in hand, his face full of anxiety.

"Don't panic, Allen. Stay close to me." Roger took out his divine artifact longsword and held it in his hand, while his divine artifact armor also reappeared over his body.

However, the armor was still only a Lowgod Artifact, and needed a little more nurturing before it became a Midgod Artifact.

Still, having it was better than having nothing.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

When Roger and Allen reached the courtyard, three more figures flew over in quick succession.

Leading them was none other than Hagson.

"Brother Roger, you've come out of seclusion? Perfect timing!"

Hagson looked fairly composed. "The one on my left is Beverly, chief of the Black Wolf Tribe. The one on my right is Croya, chief of the Night Wind Tribe."

"Hello, Roger." ×2

Both chiefs greeted him with smiles.

"I guessed long ago that the Black Bat Tribe might lash out in desperation, so I invited Brother Beverly and Brother Croya over several months ago." Hagson laughed heartily. "Sure enough, I was right. Let's go meet them in battle. They only have two Midgods, while we have four. We have a huge advantage!"

As he spoke, Hagson transformed into a translucent gust of wind and flew west.

Seeing this, Roger and the others hurried after him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!!

They had not yet reached the center of the battlefield.

The violent sound of divine power tearing through the air and the roars of elemental beasts already reached them.

The Lowgods of the Fire Rhino Tribe stationed along the perimeter fought as they retreated.

"Hmph, you scum! None of you are getting away today!"

In the air.

An enormous black humanoid bat was roaring in fury.

Judging by the aura he gave off, he was clearly considerably stronger than veteran Midgods such as Hagson.