"It is truly an honor to receive the praise of a Hell Lord!"
The old devil bowed to Leilin with a standard noble's bow, his expression humble yet cautious.
"You arrived as I was taking the first item. So then... tell me now — what is your purpose?"
Leilin's eyes narrowed slightly, while the old devil's body shuddered and cold sweat streamed down his face.
"Freedom! Of course it's for freedom! Bound to this dark, cold place, spending every single day guarding treasure — I've had enough of it..."
The old devil clenched his teeth and cried out.
"I can sense the terrifying laws of Devouring upon you, as well as the power and glory that once belonged to
"Hmm! Not a bad offer!"
Leilin regarded the clever devil before him with interest — quite possibly the most powerful guardian in the entire iron tower. "What makes you so certain I can dissolve your contract?"
"Because Beelzebub bound me in the name of the Lord of the
"As expected — devils are all cunning creatures..."
Clearly, Beelzebub would never have agreed to such a condition of his own accord. This was a concession the old devil had wrangled for himself.
The old devil had never been particularly loyal when he first joined Beelzebub's ranks, and Beelzebub had clearly been far too confident in himself, believing he would sit upon the throne of Hell Lord forever — and then... his tragic downfall came.
"Very well! I accept!"
However, this would cost Leilin nothing, so he agreed readily — though he did not draw up a contract. After all, once he officially became a Hell Lord, the contract on the old devil would automatically transfer to him, and he could do with the old devil as he pleased.
With devils of such long standing, Leilin instinctively felt distrustful and had no confidence in any terms they proposed.
"My master!" The old devil clearly saw through this as well, and could only smile bitterly in resignation and agree.
"Then... tell me your name. And as the administrator here — do you know the whereabouts of a disc called the Mandehuk Treasure..."
Leilin asked directly.
Before his overwhelming pressure. Even an ancient devil like this had not the slightest power to resist.
"I am called Buke! Great Master..."
But at this moment, the old devil Buke's expression was somewhat strange. "The Mandehuk Disc... of course I know it, because it was originally mine! But Beilusebab! That vile and despicable robber — he stole it from me..."
"Yours?" A flash of surprise crossed Leilin's eyes. After all, Beilusebab had always been extremely guarded regarding his memories of the Mandehuk Disc, so Leilin hadn't been able to extract much useful information — some of it was even extremely vague.
Now meeting the original owner of this Artifact naturally piqued Leilin's interest.
"Very well... Buke! Tell me, where did you obtain the Mandehuk Disc?"
Clearly, Leilin had a strong research interest in this object suspected to be a fragment of the Tablet of Destiny.
"Master... that is my thing..." Buke noticed the gleam in Leilin's eyes and protested weakly.
"It used to be, once — but the ownership has already transferred to Beilusebab, hasn't it? And also... do you still want to regain your freedom or not?"
Leilin cast a glance. He had never trusted devils like this, and his strategy had always been to squeeze and squeeze again.
And he doubted the other party would be honest with him — there were probably verbal traps already set.
However, no matter how carefully the traps were laid, some real information had to slip through, didn't it?
"That was... so many Hell-years ago, in a history so ancient I can barely remember it. Back then, even the City of Dis had not yet been built, and the entire second plane was nothing but wasteland..."
The old devil Buke murmured, his eyes unfocused, as if he had sunk into some distant recollection.
"As a devil, I possess eternal, undying life — bound to the ages of Hell itself. And so, when I was not venturing into the Material World to harvest souls, wandering the endless wastelands became my pastime... The Mandehuk Disc was something I stumbled upon by chance in a ravine out in those wastes..."
"I used its power to commune with the various planes, climbing all the way to the pinnacle of the devil hierarchy — even reaching the threshold of an Arch-Devil... But alas, I then encountered the Lord of
A clear look of regret flickered in Buke's eyes.
Leilin's eyes flashed with understanding. "It appears that he only discovered the Mandehuk Disc's ability to commune with various planes, but never attempted to break through the crystalline barrier of the gods' world!"
Communicating from Hell to the Material Plane and breaking through the crystalline barrier were two entirely different levels of difficulty.
But then, ordinary devils would never even think of such a thing. From this, Leilin could tell that Buke's research into the Mandehuk Disc was still extremely superficial — probably even inferior to Beilusebab's, and certainly nowhere near uncovering anything about the Tablet of Destiny.
"Hmm… it's also entirely possible that he's deliberately deceiving me! In order to get a chance to reclaim the treasure later…"
Countless thoughts flashed through Leilin's mind as he pressed on without pause, greedily sweeping up the resources stored in the treasury. This was nearly half the net worth of a Devil Lord — even with his half-god's perspective, it was enough to make his heart race.
"Let's put that aside for now. Do you know where Beilusebab went?"
"He's been missing for a very long time, ever since he was gravely wounded during a plane exploration…"
On this matter, Buke was remarkably forthcoming — after all, the hope of breaking free from his shackles now rested entirely in Leilin's hands.
"Through a certain soul detection and contract resonance, I know that his soul is in an extremely weak state right now… even a Pit Fiend could easily defeat him at this point!"
Buke exaggerated the extent of the injuries as much as he could, terrified that Leilin would lose his nerve and back down.
"Unfortunately, since being wounded, he's hidden himself with extreme caution — even I haven't been able to find any trace of him…"
The old devil wore a sinister grin, his face mingled with regret and greed.
It seemed that if the opportunity arose to devour Beilusebab, he would seize it without a moment's hesitation.
"So you're saying that even you don't know his whereabouts — not a single clue?"
Leilin's brow furrowed slightly. This made things considerably more troublesome.
"I'm sorry, my master! Due to the contract's restrictions, my range of activity is limited to the L-shaped corridor and its surrounding area… Even if he were secretly hiding somewhere inside the Iron Tower, I would have no way of detecting him right now. After all… he is the master of this place!"
Buke's reasoning was impeccable, but Leilin couldn't shake the feeling that the old devil was concealing something.
Given the cunning and devious nature of devils, that was practically a certainty!
Rumble…
At that very moment, violent explosive waves mingled with spatial ripples from high-level teleportation magic surged toward them, causing the corridor to tremble slightly. Both Leilin and Buke turned their heads in unison toward the direction of the Palace of Gluttony.
"That's the aura of a Pit Fiend! To break through Beilusebab's seal would require at least ten Pit Fiends working together!"
Leilin instantly estimated their numbers. "This level of coordination suggests something has happened that I'm not aware of…"
"But…" Leilin glanced at Buke, who had recovered from his momentary shock almost immediately, and a trace of amusement appeared on his face. He too was in no rush.
"The Feast Lord's council chamber has special defenses — a group of Pit Fiends wouldn't find it easy to break through… Moreover, there are special arrangements inside. There's no treasure or wealth to speak of, but there's no shortage of guardians either — not a single one weaker than a Hellhound…"
Seeing that Leilin hadn't taken the bait, Buke felt a twinge of regret, but he dutifully continued his explanation.
"Where are Beilusebab's laboratory and private chambers? Mark them for me!"
Although Leilin's plans hadn't been thrown off by these reckless interlopers, accelerating the timetable was now a necessity — he had no intention of letting the good ends up in the hands of other devils.
"What a shame… the remaining bit of wealth, wasted…"
His figure gradually faded, dissolving into the void, leaving Buke staring thoughtfully after where he had been.
……
"Balzephon! It's been quite a while since I last saw you looking this pathetic…"
The massive corpse of a three-headed Hellhound lay toppled by the roadside. Several high-ranking devils who had just used Advanced Teleportation and Dimensional Leap to launch their ambush withdrew their claws from the Hellhound's body, still in good enough spirits to taunt Balzephon.
"Zaphan… and Laiel, you're all here…"
Balzephon's expression shifted several times before settling into his most obsequious smile: "I was just about to contact you all… I've made a major discovery here…"
"Oh, really?" Zaphan paid Balzephon little mind, while the other infernal commanders wore expressions of eager anticipation, as if watching a show.
"Open the Hall of Gluttony!"
Zaphan ordered. Immediately after, several towering snake-scorpion demons moved forward with a speed wholly at odds with their bloated frames, catching the Hellhound's blood and smearing it onto the colossal iron gate.
The vast quantity of blood was absorbed with astonishing swiftness. The entire iron gate seemed like a ravenous beast, greedily gulping down the Hellhound's blood. A crack slowly appeared at its center and spread outward toward both sides.