Chapter 469: Fire and Water

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Inferno self-destruction was the most disgusting ability that Inferno Demons possessed. That was why adventurers would hate dealing with Inferno Demons more than any other demon. It was common to spend so much effort on defeating a high-level Inferno Demon, only to die as the Inferno Demon laughed maniacally and self-destructed.

In the battle between Chaos and Order, these red Inferno Demons that always charged forward in the vanguard, laughing maniacally while summoning meteor showers and hellfire on all the surrounding enemies were always a species that everyone would be afraid of. But, everyone would have an even deeper impression of how whenever an Inferno Demon was forced to the brink, a single Inferno self-destruction could create a gigantic crater out of any important strategic location, or transform an entire city into rubble, or destroy an entire army. Such self-destruction would kill all the heroes that had defeated him.

And the most disgusting part was that it was incredibly difficult to kill a demon. If the Inferno Demon self-destructed an incarnation, the self-destruction would have much less power, but the demon would only suffer light injuries to his true body.

And even if an Inferno Demon was forced to self-destruct his true body, it was possible for him to survive as long as the Inferno Demon made preparations beforehand. It was actually known that powerful Inferno Demons were capable of transferring their souls onto their descendants. Although this meant they would have to start all over from the power level of zero again, it wouldn’t be that hard for them to become powerful again with their previously accumulated treasures and connections. Typically, an Inferno Demon would only require three or four hundred years to reach a powerful level again.

However, only incredibly few existences knew that Inferno Demons would never choose to self-destruct unless they were forced to the very brink or had gone insane. That was because their self-destruction carried far more of a price than even losing an incarnation.

Self-destructing wasn’t an ability limited to Inferno Demons at all. Plenty of elemental creatures, especially fire elemental creatures, had such abilities. In fact, many mages also loved to self-destruct if they were in an absolutely unwinnable battle. Out of all the self-destruction magic spells out there, a spell known as “Archmage’s Final Attack” was ranked #1 in power for all self-destruction spells. After all, a mage’s magic self-destruction wouldn’t attack with only the power of their life force, it would also include the power of their soul that had gathered so much magic power over the years.

An Inferno Demon’s Inferno self-destruction would probably be similar in power to “Archmage’s Final Attack”. That was because Inferno Demons also weren’t self-destructing only their life force. They were also using their fire mana and Chaos essence, which meant that even if an Inferno Demon self-destructed an incarnation, they would definitely lose that amount of Chaos essence forever, leading to a certain loss of power level!

A demon’s Chaos essence was an absolute necessity for a demon to evolve. Chaos essence was the greatest reward that the will of the Chaos Abyss gave to demons. This would be the purest energy of Chaos, as well as the energy source demons possessed which was equivalent to the Order True Gods’ divine power. Losing their Chaos essence would mean that the demon would lose all those years of hard work and have to start over from the very beginning again.

For True Gods and God Envoys, losing an incarnation in the mortal plane usually didn’t affect them too severely. While they would drop in power level, this could be made up for with time. However, a high-level demon losing a power level would mean that his subordinates and enemies wouldn’t possibly miss such a chance. That was why most Inferno Demons were more willing to simply let their incarnations die rather than self-destruct as an incarnation.

Only in a “factional battle” like the Holy War would it be possible to see large-scale self-destructions from the Inferno Demons as this was a weapon that could easily tilt the scales of any battle. Under the command of the will of the Chaos Abyss, the Inferno Demons didn’t have any right to choose for themselves. Naturally, the Inferno Demons were used for all they were worth.

However, even an Inferno Demon’s self-destruction which could destroy an entire army wouldn’t be anywhere near as frightening as Ladvioka’s self-destruction. He was a veteran Demon Lord Main God who had experienced at minimum two Holy Wars. His accumulated Chaos essence and fire mana would be incalculable. If he ignited all of this and exploded, any forbidden spell would likely seem like nothing more than a tiny spark in comparison.

“If I had a choice, I wouldn’t have wanted to force an Inferno Demon like him to the brink…”

But with the situation at the time, the Beast of Armageddon was about to collapse, and it was a battle where only one side could be allowed to live. This dictated that I couldn’t possibly hold back against Ladvioka at all. Holding back would be nothing more than suicide.

After he was forced to the brink, the oldest Inferno Demon of all unhesitatingly chose the strongest counterattack remaining in his arsenal. At that moment, the entire Mountain Inferno was vaporized, while I, Omar, and Marsolit were all instantly killed and entered states of revival. All of Hell itself shook from the tremors of that frightening explosion.

And this was actually the result of me going all out and not hesitating to break past Ladvioka’s defenses at any cost. I forcefully tore off an incredibly important body part from the Demon Lord Main God. If it wasn’t for this, if Ladvioka had successfully completed a full-powered self-destruction, perhaps the entirety of Hell would have been vaporized.

“Half of the heart of the most ancient Inferno Demon. Hearts are a special body part for demons…”

When I furiously tore off half of Ladvioka’s heart, it wasn’t actually to decrease the power of the Lord of Putrefaction’s self-destruction. I already knew that Ladvioka’s self-destruction would absolutely send me back to the Pillar of Law in a state of revival.

I did it all in order to take one final look at the pretty figure who stood protecting the Pillar of Ice by herself.

But, I was no longer able to send my present over to her, which was why I called out a name forgotten by everyone, hoping that he would help me—even if he had a grudge against me.

Right as my tattered body was vaporized into dust by Ladvioka’s explosion, I gave my final blessing as I watched Elisa standing in the snow.

“…Live, Elisa.”

Her long silver hair flowed in the wind, and she was still as expressionless as always under her gold-rimmed eyeglasses. However, Elisa was currently in a terrible condition. Her black-and-white maid attire was tattered all over, torn by a sword. She was unable to stop the bleeding from her mouth. Her right arm was also completely limp due to a large injury that obviously caused her to lose control of her right arm. And, this was all the result of Karwenz’s single attack when he had gone easy.

“There’s actually such a large difference…?”

Elisa’s vision was now hazy. Her physical body’s injuries were only minor compared to the damage inflicted upon her soul. In fact, the Demon Marchioness hadn’t even had time to show her combat form when the Abyss Prince seriously injured her with one swing of his sword.

Although she still had the will to fight until the end, the tremendous difference between their power levels made her willpower meaningless. At this moment, Elisa even considered using an Inferno self-destruction. But, the next instant, she discovered that Karwenz even sealed off this possibility.

That’s right, Ladvioka wasn’t the only Inferno Demon in Hell right now. Elisa, the Flame Sea Marchioness, had obtained her power level through absorbing the Fire Elemental God. She was the combination product of Chaos essence and fire mana, naturally making her an Inferno Demon as well.

But currently, Elisa was far, far weaker than Karwenz was. She was a Demon noble who had speedily obtained her power level with outside help, while Karwenz was the spoiled child of the Chaos Abyss, favored by the Chaos Goddess herself—one of the two highest-ranked existences in Eich. If it wasn’t for the fact that Karwenz had gone easy on her, Elisa would likely have died already.

Karwenz simply smiled while proceeding onward, while Elisa blocked his way yet again. Her eyes were still filled with iciness and logical reason that represented her will to fight until the very end.

“…Sister-in-law, can’t you just obediently stay there on the ground? Don’t make things difficult for me, I have important things to be doing right now. And, if I really kill you, my older brother will probably come at me with everything he’s got…”

Karwenz awkwardly scratched his head, but then he suddenly started smiling happily as if he had just come up with an interesting idea. The Abyss Prince smiled as purely as if he was a young child, a smile that was somewhat embarrassed, awkward, yet also excited.

“…Wouldn’t that mean I can finally see my older brother seriously trying to take revenge on me? Ha, I’m really looking forward to it now just by imagining it. Don’t tempt me into killing you.”

Karwenz slowly reached out with a frightening amount of pressure. At this moment, he had suddenly become unexpectedly serious. This sudden flash of inspiration in his chaotic mind started blooming, making him want to act on his powerful curiosity and expectations.

He really wanted right now to see how Roland would react if he killed Elisa. Perhaps, the unknown was the most interesting thing in life.

“…If you die, he’ll probably attack me no matter what the cost. He’ll probably come swinging his sword at me while filled with regret and hatred. Perhaps I should eliminate you right now just for this reason.”

Karwenz’s calm words seemed to announce Elisa’s death sentence. But even so, Elisa still coldly stared at him with zero intentions of stepping aside, as if Karwenz was the one who was about to die.

“My little lover, please don’t forget our goal. Getting into unnecessary troubles is a bad habit…”

However, the Queen of Temptations suddenly walked over and used a gentle hug to obstruct Karwenz’s killing intentions towards Elisa.

“…Besides, we have a new visitor. Don’t let him view us as nothing more than joke.”

The Devil Lord looked at the Tower of Ice which was now visible in the distance. An unignorable existence had suddenly focused his attention on them.

Before Ilmisya even finished speaking, a blue figure suddenly appeared above everyone. He was gigantic and wore an exquisite crown on his forehead. His upper body was extremely well-toned and muscular, while his lower body was actually a colorful mermaid’s tail. His face was very handsome, yet he had a bitter expression. His blue eyes were filled with sorrow, as if he had just experienced the worst fate in the world.

He was clearly standing there, yet he seemed to be flickering between being physical and ethereal, impossible to determine.

He lowered his head. His hand was currently holding onto a red shard which kept jumping as if it was a living heart.

That’s right, this was Roland’s present to him, half of the Inferno Demon Lord Ladvioka’s heart!

Inferno Demons were immune to all fire magic. Hearts were the energy source for all demons, so of course their hearts would also be immune to their personal element. After that self-destruction which vaporized everything in the Mountain Inferno, this torn-off half a heart was all that remained.

This blue giant now shielded Elisa with his back as he handed this red shard… the half of Ladvioka’s torn-off heart to Elisa who was astonished to see all this.

“That person wanted me to give you this. Originally, I didn’t intend to help him. Even though he revived me, he forced my little mermaid to die so that I could be revived. I was intending on having a reckoning with him for this. But, when I saw how stubborn you were, I felt as if I was seeing my equally stubborn little mermaid. That’s why I’m helping you, rather than helping that heartless bastard.”

When this blue giant turned around, his melancholic eyes contained sadness as if he had experienced countless tragedies. The next instant, all his will to fight transformed into a pure desire to kill. This was a divine might that seemed like the fiercest tempest, a pure power that would cause anything to shrivel in fear.

“A Main God level True God?”

Karwenz was astonished at this scene. He couldn’t recall such an unknown Main God existing anywhere. A suddenly appearing Main God would easily change the overall combat situation, so it would be impossible to overlook any Main God from the very start. However, Ilmisya inhaled a cold breath as she was a Devil Lord with a long history who recognized him!

“Sidunwar!? The immemorial Ocean God Sidunwar! How can you possibly be alive?! You should have died long ago!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep