467 Lover (1/2)
Hell's Seven Circles were now embroiled in an utterly chaotic battle where nobody would be able to predict what would happen next.
”How did he know…?”
When one of my incarnations informed me that Karwenz was actually right before the Pillar of Ice, I felt that it was inconceivable after my first reaction of shock.
The Four Pillars were the core support for Hell, along with being Hell's only weakness. The main reason why all our dead individuals and existences were able to fight evenly against the Main Gods here was all because of Hell's dimensional laws supporting us. The simplest and most direct dimensional law of being undying gave us the confidence to fight on no matter how many times we were killed.
However, becoming undying obviously had its price. Hell's own support would also expose its secrets. Still, I intentionally concealed as much as I could, and I highly doubted that the Main Gods trapped within the Seven Circles would be able to find out about the true foundation of the dimension of Hell—the Four Pillars.
The Seven Circles of Hell, also known as the Seven Infernos, were sub-dimensions of Hell. Although they were all important, it would still be alright to sacrifice these sub-dimensions and reconstruct them if necessary.
The incredibly powerful and ridiculously difficult to kill Seven Kings (the Seven Sins) of Hell would doubtlessly be some of the best fighters in Hell. But if you looked at their overall strategic objective, they were nothing more than red herrings to mislead the Main Gods.
The Four Halls were the operating system for Hell. It would seem that the Four Halls had many functions, and the Hell Gods and devils were guarding the Four Halls, plus the Four Halls would be quite obvious to look at since they were connected to the Seven Circles. But, actually, the Four Halls could also be reconstructed if they were lost. Plus, the Four Halls supported and covered for each other, making them into the strongest fortress in all of Hell.
But, the Four Pillars…
”…Hell is still currently under construction. The Four Pillars right now are basically the providers for the four elements of hell (the construction materials). The Four Pillars are the source of all materials in Hell, along with being the core control panel. It will be possible to replace a destroyed Pillar after Hell is complete, but if we lose one right now, that will unbalance the elements, which will quite likely result in destroying the entirety of Hell that's been created so far.”
Even without considering the chain reactions that were sure to occur, if we lost the Pillar of Ice, our undead would lose their physical bodies, greatly diminishing their combat strength. If we lost the Pillar of Death, our undying natures would be gone. If we lost the Pillar of Law, perhaps all of Hell would start collapsing as Law was the equivalent of Space in Hell. Since these Pillars were our greatest weakness, of course I would try to protect them.
Of the Four Pillars, the Pillar of Holy Light was at the very top of Hell. I had special arrangements there. Although it appeared defenseless, it was actually one of the safest. I wasn't worried about that one at all.
The Pillar of Death was the very source of the Hades Mist, as well as the greatest foundational block of Hell. It would be impossible even for me to locate it unless all the other three Pillars were destroyed. This was by far the safest Pillar.
The Pillar of Law was surrounded and protected by the Four Halls. If this Pillar was lost, that would mean that the Four Halls and Seven Circles had all been broken through already. Trying to hold on anymore then would be meaningless.
It was only the Pillar of Ice that I needed to worry about… this Pillar was located deep within the Inferno which I presided over, the Indifference Inferno of Sloth. This was the fourth layer of the Seven Circles, the central layer. Every undead in all the Seven Circles would be given new lives and physical bodies by this Pillar of Ice.
Each Pillar had its own function. The Pillar of Holy Light was at the top of Hell, guiding the living and the dead at the boundary between life and death. The Pillar of Law illuminated the Four Halls, overseeing and ensuring a just enforcement of the laws. The Pillar of Ice gave lives and physical bodies to the undead in the Seven Circles. The Pillar of Death was the very foundation of Hell. These Four Pillars were just like different supports that created a house. It would be impossible to change their locations even if I wanted to.
By now, it should be apparent that I was able to arrange highly safe locations for three out of the Four Pillars. However, the Pillar of Ice was destined to be exposed on the battlefield.
I placed the Indifference Inferno of Sloth as the fourth and central layer, meaning that I would personally guard it. This would decrease the chances of exposing this weakness. And, I also intentionally changed locations to the Mountain Inferno because I had hoped that this would lower the chances of Karwenz discovering this weakness. Yet the Pillar of Ice was mysteriously exposed to him after all. Obviously, I would be shocked by this.
”…A traitor? That's almost impossible because so few know about this. In that case, does that mean that Karwenz is capable of instantly analyzing the foundational workings of Hell? That's even more impossible—just how would he have so much knowledge on how dimensions function? Hell even involves my knowledge from Earth, which he couldn't possibly know about.”
Schemers always had a bad habit. If anything went wrong with their plans, they would always overthink things. And, thinking too much on the battlefield would not only cause suspicion to be directed at one's allies—even worse was that fact that overthinking would weaken one's combat capabilities.
”Forget it, there's no time to worry about that now! Ilmisya, go to the Pillar of Ice and stop that person!”
Apart from the Hell Gods and Devil King who were all currently sleeping and completing their transformations, one of the only high-level-combat-strength individuals left who was free was the Queen of Temptation and Allure Devils, Ilmisya.
As I was the master of Hell, only I possessed the ability to freely allow others to teleport as I wished. With one snap of my fingers, a teleportation portal appeared right before Ilmisya. She would easily be able to reach the Pillar of Ice before Karwenz as long as she stepped through this portal.
Of course, I didn't count on her being able to truly stop Karwenz at all. I had given most of my Hades Mist to Kamiltias to help him complete his transformation from devil to Hell Devil. So, unfortunately for Ilmisya, she hadn't transformed into a Hell Devil yet. That meant she could only be revived as an undead if she died in battle here.
The undead bloodline was definitely weaker than the devil bloodline. Plus, if anyone was forced into a transformation where your very traits, body, and bloodline were changed into a completely different type, that would obviously decrease one's combat strength even further.
I had completely zero hopes for how long Ilmisya would be able to stall Karwenz, as she was well known already for being sly, unreliable, and never sticking to her promises.
”I can't rely on others, so I have to deal with this enemy before me as quickly as possible… Omar, just how long do you intend to sleep for!”
My angry roar echoed throughout the Inferno. The danger to the Pillar of Ice put me on a time limit in the battle against Ladvioka here. By now, I absolutely wanted to kill the Lord of Putrefaction more than anything. I also mentally prepared myself to sacrifice the entire Mountain Inferno if need be. I didn't have any free time to drag this fight out any longer.
”Love and peace! That's what I believe in!” a thick masculine voice responded to my roar, arriving together while flashing his disgustingly shiny muscles.
Omar showed off his muscular body which resembled Hercules from my original world. He constantly flexed all the muscles on his chest, performing exercises to perfection. After Omar became a Hell King and gained the buffs of Hell, it could be said that he had changed both the most and the least.
Omar was now significantly taller, and his physical appearance became even more handsome and beautiful. He even wore a pair of gold-rimmed eyeglasses now, and his eyebrows gave him the scholarly aura of a literary girl… But, what didn't change about him was his abnormal view of beauty, his even more ridiculous muscles, and how he loved to make all sorts of poses in nothing but his underwear! The abnormal fitness exercise routines he showed off as he twisted his body would make anyone witnessing the sight incredibly frustrated to the point where they would only want to throw a fit.