Bang—
The deep cold wind from the dark Hell carried a strong scent of burning sulfur.
The scorching aura in the air hadn’t dissipated yet, and the fishy sll unique to aquatic life surged up from the ripples stirred in the mire.
A layer of shattered heavy armor floated on the surface of the mud, like a piece of broken glass, with faint scorched marks along its edges;
The fluorescent moss on the surface of the cave walls remained extensively scorched, with a few strands of faint light illuminating a giant claw stuck into the ground like a tombstone by the wall.
Abi stood still.
The depth of his eyes a remnant of bewildernt.
It was as if the surging strength within him had receded like a tide, leaving only a few flickers of fla, the dark red fire from the Nine Prisons quickly dissipating off his skin.
He instinctively reached out his hand, grasping emptily at the air in front of him.
As though trying to retain this rapidly vanishing power that did not belong to him.
But it was futile.
Only a few breaths had passed since the battle ended.
He had once again turned from being a mighty individual who could roam the Dark Territory at will, easily defeating professionals and treating the dangers of the Mist Forest as nothing, back into the most humble, lowest adventurer in the tavern, whose boasting went unheard, who could barely make a little money in the casino only to have it snatched away.
Abi said nothing.
Yet the indescribable reluctance, hesitation, and longing for power had long since filled his heart to the brim, along with the swirling dark flas of Purgatory.
The creature called "Armored Monster" by Lord Saloyan, a dangerous demon resembling a patched-together, gigantic lobster, had been repelled by him.
To be precise, it was repelled by Lord Saloyan, who temporarily borrowed his body.
For Abi, it actually didn’t make much difference.
During the battle, his consciousness had not dissipated.
Precisely because of this, the temporarily enhanced perception under the dark red flas allowed him to clearly sense every strand of strength bursting from his originally weak and impoverished body under Lord Saloyan’s control.
The terror of that power was enough to twist together even the strongest adventurers he knew, and the fiery flas could burn the very mud itself to ash...
Abi realized for the first ti that he could be this strong; it turned out he wasn’t destined to spend his life in that squalid little room like an insect, being a low-level adventurer living from hand to mouth.
He could do it.
He should do it.
Having seen the light, it was unbearable to endure the pitch darkness of the night.
After the power subsided, regaining control over his body, the weak contrast nearly drove Abi mad.
He dread of claiming those powers for himself, regardless of the cost...
"Whoosh."
A cold wind suddenly blew from the depths of the cave, causing his body to shiver.
"No, no, I can’t do this, it’s not the ti, wait a little longer, just a little longer..."
He weakly reassured himself in his heart, the final step across the line suspended in mid-air.
At the sa ti.
Conscious projection attached to the remnant mirror, placed close to his chest, Saloyan felt the thoughts of this young adventurer and silently said a pity.
Just a little more, and he could have safely and properly claid this soul back to Hell.
No rush.
Patience is one of the few virtues that devils possess.
The train bound for Hell has already departed, with no turning back.
A fledgling who has tasted power is like the most severe addict, incapable of returning.
Just a little more push.
Of course, souls of this average quality are just supplental harvests, not the reason he projects his consciousness into the Material Realm.
The core of the enormous goblin nest, hidden in the deep branches of these dark territories, is his primary target.
It seems the path has been a bit too convoluted.
Saloyan was far from as relaxed as he appeared before Abi.
The identity of a Nine Prisons Devil Noble, even as a re baron, possesses power unimaginable to the low-level adventurers battling goblins in the Mist Forest.
If in front of his Purgatory entity, a small Armored Monster wouldn’t even require his intervention, his devils could easily tear it to pieces.
Yet, at present, the projection of Saloyan’s consciousness attached to Abi is but a shadow in the Material Realm. High-level skills such as hiding one’s presence and avoiding danger might work, but even calling his actual power ’one in ten’ is an overstatent.
Though he might slightly draw so power from his Purgatory essence, using Abi’s body for temporary enhancent, it remains severely limited.
The Armored Monster with a challenge level of around "4" already pushed him to his limits.
Managing to heavily wound the opponent and seemingly effortlessly repelling it was mainly thanks to the advantage of the Purgatory Flas.
"Turn back." A magnetic, husky male voice, with a hint of undisguisable fatigue, softly spoke to Abi, "The wrong options have almost been ruled out."
"Since this path doesn’t work... let’s just take another one."
"Yes, Lord Saloyan."
Abi nodded repeatedly, obediently turning around like a puppet, moving toward the entrance of the cave.
Behind him, fragnts of the Armored Monster’s shell floated in the mud, while the broken massive claw rested quietly against the stone wall.
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