Chapter 199: Eastward (1/2)

With regards to those two Fire Elemental Cores, I decided to put it aside for now after some deliberation. As for the reason why I did so…in part it had to do with my mistrust of No.3 and Big 4. However, the biggest reason had to be that I felt no sense of security at all.

Because of my once-trusted subordinates, I was forced into a foreign environment where a single mistake might just be my last.

Right now, the only person I could completely trust was Mo Na and no one else, not even No.3 and Big 4.

In my mind, I knew very well that giving them the two cores would make our journey a lot safer but my heart simply wouldn’t settle down. I was afraid that once they evolved into Five-stars, the Four-stars Mo Na and I would…I was afraid of betrayal, that’s all.

The evolution of a Four-stars into five wasn’t just a simple raise in level. For the devils, it represented a turning point, a jump from one tier to another. The majority of the lower ranked devils found themselves stuck at the level of Four-stars for the rest of their lives. Those who managed to evolve however, were blessed with an original sin and a clan name. Compared to the imps they were before, such devils might as well have been a completely different lifeform.

If one wanted to see how huge the power gap between having a sin and not having one was, Mo Na and I would probably the best examples available.

Compared to an ordinary imp, we completely outclassed them in terms of raw strength. For example, when I evolved for the first time and gained the ability to use magic, none of the imps at my level were a match for me. When I advanced into a Three-stars, I was able to even challenge those of a higher level than me thanks to my original sin blessing countering some of my opponents completely; like One-eye or Dawson.

As for Mo Na, she was able to destroy Nine-finger in an instant with her magic despite being born not too long ago. While that might not have sounded all that impressive for Mo Na who was a Four-stars, one had to know that it was basically impossible for Flame Demon Childes to learn magic and yet Mo Na knew it from birth.

The impact an original sin made on one’s power simply couldn’t be overstated when seen in that light.

Mo Na was a Four-stars Primal Lust Demon. Just from appearances alone, she seemed to be of the martial branch; I wouldn’t be surprised if she was able to take on No.3 and Big 4 alone even though they were of the same star level.

Naturally, if both of them evolved into Five-stars, she wouldn’t stand a chance at all…if those two were to harbor any rebellious thoughts then…it would be the end for us. Moreover, whether or not they would still be loyal to me after gaining an original sin, was in still in question.

That was why I didn’t give them the elemental cores. Originally, I wanted to have Mo Na consume the cores instead but unfortunately for me, she couldn’t use them. Fire Elemental Cores were able to aid a devil’s evolution, that much was proven. However, that only applied to Flame Demon Childes and Mo Na was already a Lust Demon. Her elemental nature was one of darkness, fire and death. A pure fire crystal like that wasn’t enough to force an evolution for her. Not only that, it might end up harming her instead.

By using such a pure elemental core of the fire element, her body might just get purged of every other element but fire. In other words, by using the elemental core, these three scenarios might happen:

One, nothing.

Two, the fire element in her might get strengthened.

Three, after having her fire element strengthened, her other elements might get purged completely.

In a sense, the Fire Elemental Core was like a rare cleaning tool, one attuned to fire, to be exact.

Because Arca pointed out a general direction for us, our general goal was set for now. We simply had to follow the route and to be honest, it wasn’t really all that hard as it sounded since Purgatory’s terrain was rather simple.

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Basically, you couldn’t get lost unless you tried. Neither would you encounter many problems as long as you kept your head down and went on your merry way. Naturally, we did just that. Other than catching the odd Demon Fire Worm and foraging for Red Lotuses, we mostly steered away from everything else. Even when encountering the lone fish or two, we would ignore them entirely.

After three days of journeying eastward, we came upon a huge school of fishes. From the looks of things, they were headed to Flame’s End. Thanks to the fact that they could only move about in the lava lake however, we were basically safe where we were.

Even so, I had to admit that I almost had a heart attack when I saw them swim by us for the first time.

With their countless numbers, these fishes were actually able to fill up the entire lava lake as they swam in unison towards Flame’s End. If someone with Trypophobia were to look at them right now, they would probably faint from all the swimming black dots. What was even more frightening was that the fish leading the school was actually the size of a shark, a Great White Shark to be specific. By my estimation, it had to be at least 6 metres long.