Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

"Put me down!" Fidel tried to grab Reslaufer's lower body from the opposite direction, but how could Dopler make such a basic mistake? All of Fidel's struggles eventually turned into his head making intimate contact with the ground, again and again, until he had no strength left to continue resisting.

This marked the end of Fidel's battle, but not the end for Raslaufer. The weight of his own body and the pressure from Raslaufer's hands were transmitted to his head, which was now inverted and engorged with blood. Fidel desperately braced himself against the ground with his horns, but all he could hear was the constant scraping and snapping of his bones against the ground—his head might be harder than the ground, but this wouldn't last long.

"What are you doing?!" Fidel panicked. He realized that his neck was being forced to bend uncontrollably, as this was the only way he could feel a little more comfortable. But the pain in his lower body made him realize that this temporary comfort was unsustainable.

“Keep my promise,” Raslaufer said, looking down at him expressionlessly, his hands and arms outstretched to the sides, slowly, powerfully, and irresistibly. “I said I would let you see the color of your own insides.”

Do dragons also have reproductive organs? Leslaufer didn't know, nor did he care. He knew that as he continued to exert force with his arms, the flesh and joints of the other's lower body were slowly being torn apart, and this trend would soon spread to Fidel's upper body.

The life force of the dragon's finger slowly flowed into Dobulle's body, helping him to exert even more power and finally kill the tragically upside-down corpse before him. As this process progressed, the power would continue to enrich Reslaufer. It was a virtuous cycle—though Fidel might not agree with that.

But he no longer had the opportunity to express his opinion.

"Open it!" Raslaufer roared, his hoarse howl ripping the dragon's finger in front of him in two. Raslaufer, clutching one leg in each hand, tossed the unequal halves of the body off the hillside amidst a spray of blood and entrails. The fire serpents and fire lizards that had been waiting nearby leaped with glee, screeching as they began to devour their enemy's flesh.

The flesh and blood of the dragon demon are not delicious and even contain deadly poison, but for elemental creatures, this kind of ritual is what they need most, and everything else can be ignored or accepted.

"Roar!" At the same time, beside Raslaufer, the green dragon's body was once again thrown out, covered in wounds. Even with Adas's blessing, there was still a considerable gap between Esmir and Tiamat's avatar.

Even so, seeing the five-headed dragons that were also struggling to survive, such a victory was still incredibly inspiring.

“I… I can still manage,” the green dragon struggled for a moment, but ultimately couldn’t get up. “From now on, none of you should interfere. Let me…”

“You should rest for a bit,” Bella struggled to get closer to its head, reaching out to pat its cold, frost-covered scales. “What’s next…”

“You can’t do it,” the green dragon struggled again, and now even Bella and Verunara were unsure whether it was telling the truth or not. “You can’t destroy it unless… someone continues the ritual.”

One of its claws pointed to the spot on the mountaintop that had completely turned into a crater: "The residual power is still there, but only dragon blood can activate it. You can use my blood, but it's there, closer than you are."

Upon hearing this, everyone hurriedly looked over, and sure enough, the avatar was immersing most of its body in the lava. It was easy to imagine that if it were completely submerged, the weight of a recovered avatar would be unbearable for everyone!

"I can!" Among the dragonborn, the one with the least injury, Shardstone, stood up and hurriedly ran towards the mountaintop. She possessed a gift from a powerful dragon, and this bloodline could even allow her to serve the dragon itself as if it were a god. She was undoubtedly the best candidate.

However, before she could get close, the volcano that had submerged half of her form erupted without warning. If Shanli hadn't dodged in time, she would have been burned to ashes by the raging flames!

“Little Flash, you’re not up to the task, let me do it,” Ember Crown pulled Flash Stone back and turned to look at her younger siblings. “I have the blood of a red dragon, so I’m obviously the most suitable one.”

"Not to mention, I'm older than all of you."

After saying that, the Red Dragon descendant climbed up without looking back, getting closer and closer to the seemingly unreachable crater.

However, although as a red dragon descendant, Ember Crown could indeed withstand the high temperature of flames to a certain extent, it was not completely immune. Especially when the avatar realized that a dragon descendant dared to approach it, it immediately became furious and spewed a mouthful of intense crimson flames at Ember Crown, engulfing her entire body.

Its scales were charred into black charcoal dust, its eyes could barely see, its flesh was burnt, and even its blood was almost boiling and evaporating, but Jinmian was still climbing upwards, trying to reach that unattainable end.

She could hardly do it, Jinmian knew it very well, but besides her, probably no one else could do it...

Seeing that the young dragonborn still refused to give up, Tiamat's avatar immediately intensified its attack. Ember Crown roared in a low voice. In unimaginable pain, the charred scales on her body peeled off inch by inch, revealing the blood-red skin texture beneath. As the dragon breath scorched her, something seemed to be growing out of Ember Crown's body. It was a cluster of crystalline spores, like red crystals or glass, covering Ember Crown's body with a rose-cloud-like color.

If she can hold on, perhaps this life-or-death experience will bring her a transformative change, but before that, the more likely outcome is that she will be completely burned to ashes, becoming part of the dust of this volcano—Tiamat has never been known for her kindness and compassion.

Jinmian could sense that her body and will were nearing their limits. If she had been well-prepared, she could have made it through, but now, the halfway point was probably her end.

Is it... about to end?

Jinmian even saw an illusion: a dark figure suddenly appeared in front of her, bringing her a brief moment of coolness.

Is this some kind of final burst of energy before death? The Red Dragonborn gave a bitter smile; it seemed she was indeed going to die.

However, the next second, a large hand grabbed her arm and threw her into the air into the distance!

Chapter 686 Bathing in Dragon Blood

"Reslaufer, you!"

Suddenly thrown into the air while on the verge of death, Jinmian fainted before she could even say anything. Shanli and Shuanghai caught her, but they all looked at the mercenary who had somehow appeared in front of Jinmian in confusion.

What is he going to do?

“She may be older than all of you, but compared to me, she’s still just a kid,” Leslaufer waved his hand casually behind him. “Let the adults handle these things.”

“But you didn’t—” Flashstone wanted to remind the other person, but saw that Raslaufer had straightened up and continued walking up the mountain without looking back.

Yes, walk! While the Ember Crown had to use both hands and feet to move, Raslaufer could even stand up straight and stride towards the Tiamat avatar above!

A light blue curtain spread out around Reslaufer. The dragon's breath scorched Reslaufer's sideburns, but it could not cause him any real harm. When the dragon's claws swung down, the barrier became as indestructible as adamantite, protecting Reslaufer completely!

Edas's favor could only last for a minute, during which time Raslaufer could not launch any attacks. But at this moment, one minute was more than enough, and Raslaufer did not need to make a move against her at all!

All he had to do was rush to the crater and take out the bloodstone that had been burning hot against his chest!

Standing at the crater's edge, Raslaufer looked down. The lingering arcane energy still clung to the churning lava, but now, more prominently, was Tiamat's avatar. It continued its ferocious attack on Raslaufer, attempting to prevent him from sharing its power. However, despite Dople's momentary inaction, the bloodstone in his hand suddenly shone brightly. In an instant, a torrent of molten lava erupted from beneath the avatar, like a volcanic eruption, and as it fell from the sky, it splattered Raslaufer's entire body!

Before him, a portal made entirely of magma suddenly appeared!

"No!" the avatar roared, trying to tear the portal apart with brute force. It could indeed do that, but to everyone's surprise, just as the portal was about to collapse due to the avatar's attack, one fire serpent after another was thrown up by the fire lizards below and rushed into the portal one after another. As these elemental creatures transformed into pure fire energy, they actually stabilized the portal again.

Without hesitation, Raslaufer dodged the claw that the avatar was sweeping towards him, and leaped into the air, stepping into the scorching lava!

In less than a day, less than an hour, and not even a second's interval, the next moment, a giant black claw belonging to Raslaufer, but seemingly forged from steel and fire, emerged from behind the portal and ripped open the throat of the unsuspecting white dragon!

Old wounds hadn't healed before new ones appeared. With a pained roar from Tiamat's avatar, Raslaufer emerged from within, but this time, he no longer resembled a human at all.

The broken spear and his body merged and blended, forming a body of steel. Dragon scales covered his body like armor, and enormous leathery wings, somewhere between dragon wings and horned demon wings, stretched out from his back. Aside from the thick tail, which also possessed two distinct characteristics, a strikingly stitched appearance appeared atop Reslaufer's head—a majestic axe-blade dragon horn and a devil's spiraling ram horn coexisted. His once icy blue eyes were now replaced by two bright, grayish-white spots of light. A chaotic and evil power rippled outwards from Dople, and even Tiamat's avatar could feel the life being stripped away and devoured by Reslaufer!

What on earth is this thing?!

Raslaufer gave the avatar no time to think; he seemed to have completely abandoned all reason and thought, transforming into a pure killing machine. As his already imposing body swelled further after this transformation, although still small compared to a dragon's physique, it was enough to threaten the avatar's existence! With the remaining power in the magma completely drained, the avatar, deprived of healing energy, was defeated in just a few exchanges by the reborn Duple.

Raslaufer swung his steel-like tail, as if he were born to use this limb, and easily shattered the black dragon's jaw. The weakest white dragon's head, already severely injured, was now torn off by him with his bare hands and used as a war hammer to smash the green dragon's head into the rapidly cooling magma. The most powerful red dragon's head tried to resist, but just as it opened its blood-red maw to spew flames, Raslaufer had already begun his own breath attack!

The energy contained in that breath was not fire, not ice, not lightning, not poison or strong acid, but pure death power. The gale he exhaled seemed to rush from a mass grave, and anything that blocked his path would fall into eternal decay and death!

The avatar still wanted to resist its fate, but at this moment, victory was no longer on its side. The avatar raised its two front paws in vain to try to resist, but in the end, all it got was a gray statue that remained in the same position, embedded in the equally cooled volcano!

However, even such a breath was still a huge burden for Raslaufer. He tried to raise his claws to deliver the final blow to the avatar and shatter the statue completely, but he failed in the end. He slumped down and sat on the spot, and even his breathing and heartbeat temporarily stopped.

Angrita hurriedly prepared to go and check the situation, but just as she passed a pile of bones that had long been ignored, a scarlet light flashed again from the skull dust that Bella had already pulverized. Before anyone could react, the massive amount of bone fragments coalesced into a chain in an amorphous way, instantly binding Angrita in place. Meanwhile, the skull belonging to the ancient mage reassembled above the girl's head, glaring intensely at the surrounding crowd.

"Don't come any closer! If anyone dares to move, this girl will die right here!"

Having said that, the feigning-death Chargigi glared fiercely at Raslaufer, who remained motionless atop the mountain: "Raslaufer! I know you're still alive, stop pretending! This little girl is in my hands now. If you want to exchange her life, fine, but hand over this power of yours. It doesn't belong to—"

However, the undead threat didn't even receive a response from Leslaufer. In an instant, a streak of emerald green sword light pierced the air, transforming into a warhammer with the head of an owl and slamming into Chargigi's head. Simultaneously, Angrita's icy shout rang out:

"You demon, you're asking for death!"

Chapter 687 Emperor Richard sends his greetings

When in Patrick Cormon's hands, the Guardian Long Poem mostly appeared as a half-sword or shield, but in reality, it could take on many other forms. When facing a skeleton, the blunt weapon warhammer was naturally more useful.

However, Chargigi is no ordinary skeleton, especially after it was crushed by Bella once.

An eerie, grotesque laugh enveloped Angrita, and her once-solid skull shattered into countless fragments as the warhammer struck, easily evading the attack.

"You think you can defeat me with such petty tricks?" the demon mocked, showing no sign of loosening his control over Angrita. "I've waited so long to obtain the power of the ritual! I never expected that a mere mercenary would beat me to it. But it doesn't matter, as long as you're here, I'm not worried that he won't obediently submit."

"Reslaufer! Do you think I'm bluffing?! I know you're a tough guy, and you won't give in unless you get serious."

Chargi easily dodged Angelita's counterattack again. Although the girl could also use arcane magic, compared to this sorcerer, Angelita's magic was almost no different from a street performer's trick: "Be good and don't move, then I only need to break a few of your bones. Otherwise, if any parts are missing, I won't be responsible!"

As she spoke, several pieces of bone transformed into sharp bone spikes, which mercilessly pierced towards Angelita's joints!

"Stop—" Bella and Verunara rushed to help, but Chargigi was prepared. It used most of its remaining magic to create a barrier, keeping the unicorn and druid outside and preventing them from getting any closer. Meanwhile, on the mountaintop, Leslaufer remained motionless, as if tacitly approving of everything that was happening.

It wasn't that Raslaufer didn't want to move, but rather that he was genuinely unaware of the changes in his surroundings. Although to outsiders it seemed like only a moment had passed between him stepping into the lava gate and emerging, in reality, only his body had emerged, while Raslaufer himself remained inside, just like in the demonologist's laboratory.

The starry sky lay beneath his feet, while the earth swirled above his head. The only difference was that the essence around him had been completely exhausted in this battle, and at this moment, there was nothing else in the space except for Raslaufer himself.

Reason still prevailed over him, but leaving this place had become exceptionally difficult.

However, Chargigi outside had no way of knowing any of this. He only knew that Raslaufer was unwilling to give up the power she had gained, so she did not hesitate any longer and stabbed the bone spikes into the joints of Angelita's limbs at the same time.

This attack wouldn't be fatal, but it would cause Angelita extraordinary pain—however, the moment Chargigi unleashed his full power, as the bone spurs pierced her skin, the demon was astonished to discover that the drops of blood flowing from Angelita were not red or any similar color, but a brilliant gold like gold!

"This..." Everyone else saw this scene as well, but Bella was the most surprised among them. As a companion who had traveled half of the Empire and the Garnass, she knew very well that Angrita's blood was definitely not this color before. In fact, she was no different from most people after being injured!

But why now—

“…So that’s how it is,” the excruciating pain did indeed throb in Angelita’s heart, but it also calmed the girl down. After a moment’s thought, she understood the reason behind it all. “Chargigi, you…you should still be loyal to Emperor Richard the Great, right?”

"What do you mean?" If the skeleton still had a heart, it would have stopped by now, because at the same moment it asked the question, it realized the problem. "But that's impossible! My prophecies have never been wrong. Richard's descendants should have all died out on the land of Inasas long ago!"

As Richard's most trusted subordinate, Chargigi's loyalty to Richard was almost limitless. This was not only because the two were kindred spirits, but also because Chargigi repaid Richard for helping him exterminate his own family members. Therefore, he did indeed swear an oath of eternal loyalty to Richard and his descendants—but that was because he had long foreseen in a prophecy that Richard the Great's descendants would kill each other! To avoid getting involved, he even wanted to die before Richard!

But after so much time has passed, where did this girl suddenly appear from?!

“Inasas is vast, but beyond it lies another empire,” Angelita whispered in a voice only Chargigi could hear, instead of pulling out the bone spikes, she plunged one of them even deeper into her body. “Angelita of the Matt family sends her regards on behalf of her ancestor, Emperor Richard the Great.”

"And goodbye."

That extraordinary blood immediately transformed into golden chains, binding Chargigi, who was dispersing in the air, and forcibly reforming him into a skeleton. The next second, without giving Chargigi a chance to speak, the chains instantly turned into golden flames, beginning to burn the almost immortal soul of the undead!

"Richard!" Chargigi's agonizing scream echoed through the flames, "You betrayed me! I curse you, I curse your children—"

No one could hear clearly what this sorcerer of the past cursed in the very end, but whatever the content, it's unlikely that Richard the Great's descendants could ever bring it to fruition.

“You should have remained loyal,” Angelita said quietly, watching him turn to ashes in the flames. She shook her hand, and as the last drop of golden liquid flowed, crimson blood welled up again—that was how it should be. “Bella, don’t worry about me, please go check on Uncle Leslaufer…”

Before Angelita could finish speaking, the earth suddenly shook. The survivors stared wide-eyed in disbelief at the source of the tremor—the avatar that had been turned to stone by Raslaufer, now showing a crack in its body.

"So that's how it is... Hehe, hehehehahaha!" As the voice rang out from the shattered stone statue, the unicorn Verunara instantly knelt on the ground, two lines of bloody tears streaming from her eyes. Compared to her, the mortals present were less affected, but for them, the impact did not come from the invisible mysterious realm, but from all the senses they could use.

With a rumbling sound, the stone statue in front of Raslaufer suddenly shattered. The dragon, which originally had only four heads, had somehow returned to its five-headed form. Not only that, all the wounds on its body had disappeared without a trace!

Even as an incarnation, it is still an incarnation of one of the oldest deities in the world! For the vast majority of mortals, it is the embodiment of the word "invincible"!

"So that's how it is! No wonder this avatar was summoned here!" The red dragon head spoke in human language, with an arrogant disdain for all existence in the world. "It's just a pity that time is so precious to mortals. No matter how many plans one has, in the end, all that's left is a skeleton, not worth a laugh. Compared to it, you 'mortal' are more interesting."

The enormous dragon claws seized the unresponsive body of Reslaufer, and the next moment, the colossal dragon soared into the air, then swooped down towards the volcano that had become active again: "Consider yourself lucky, kid—go and take this avatar, Afonas, with you!"

Chapter 688 Avernas

What kind of place is this...?

Raslaufer couldn't remember how he regained consciousness. It was as if he was riding a dragon, roaring through the familiar yet strange laboratory illusion, and finally reintroducing the last vestiges of his sanity into his body.

However, this was not enough to wake him up. What truly made him open his eyes, get up, and re-examine his surroundings was the pungent smell of sulfur that entered his nostrils.

As far as the eye could see, there was only a desolate wasteland. Blood flowed, poisonous flies swarmed, and fiery comets, trailing long, dim flames, occasionally plummeted from the gloomy sky to the earth. To the left of Raslaufer was a crater more than five meters in diameter, while to the right lay piles of white bones and scattered, broken weapons and equipment.

Raslaufer looked at his arms and the rest of his body. The Broken Halberd had separated from his flesh again. Although this second heavy armor of the same name was once again in pieces, like the previous Broken Halberd, it had perfectly fulfilled its mission, allowing Raslaufer to survive until now.

Although the greatsword was nowhere to be seen beside him, the Hellfire Blade was still with him. This meant that even in this unknown region, Raslaufer still possessed considerable fighting power. Anyone who tried to take a bite out of him would have to be prepared to give up their life.

This is clearly not within the territory of the Kingdom of Latour; he should find his way back as soon as possible.

Raslaufer casually swung his sword a couple of times, sensing the state of his body—exhausted, with both visible and hidden injuries, but still able to move.

"Barbusa Balon!" Raslaufer called out. Nothing could help him figure out the situation faster than summoning a little devil. And as he called, the little devil did not disappoint him, immediately appearing beside Raslaufer. Whether it was an illusion or not, Barbasabalon seemed more active and more dangerous than ever before.

Of course, the so-called "danger" wasn't directed at Raslaufer; no matter how powerful a little devil might be, it would ultimately be no match for him. Even in his sleep, Raslaufer was confident he could crush Barbasaballon with one hand.

"Oh, my master, you've finally come to visit!" The little devil exclaimed as soon as he appeared, offering his usual exaggerated flattery. "Not in spirit, not in soul, but in flesh! Look, this barren land shines brightly because of your arrival, and plants are even starting to grow..."

"Let's save the flattery for later," Leslaufer interrupted him. "What did you mean just now? What do you mean by 'I came here in my physical body'? Where exactly is this place?"

Otherwise, how else could he have come?

“Oh, you’re still a little groggy, aren’t you?” Barbasabalon said with an understanding expression. “Yes, the incarnation of the Dark Lady cast you here and then left. Such a great being is far too transcendent for even a mortal like you to be worthy of her attention. But it’s alright, Barbasabalon is a native of this place, and I will serve as my master’s most attentive guide…”

Raslaw grabbed him and pulled him in front of him. Barbasabalone shuddered and dared not continue with his nonsense: "In short, you're in hell, uh, in every sense of the word."

"Hell?" Even though Leslaufer had already guessed a thing or two from the little devil's rambling description, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "So that means this place should be..."

“Avernus, of course you know,” the little devil said hastily, “the gates to the Abominations, the Nine Hells, and all the planes, the eternal battlefield of the Blood War, and also the territory of the former master of Barbasabalon, the Duke of Zariel.”

"Of course, the Dark Lady Tiamat also resides here."

Raslaufer nodded. Although he didn't know the cause and effect, if this was also Tiamat's territory, it didn't seem unthinkable that His avatar would bring him here on the way back. But that didn't matter.

How do I leave here and go back?

“Well,” Barbasabalon rubbed his hands together somewhat awkwardly, “generally, we go through a portal, but the portals are owned by someone. People like us who are on official business only need a pass, while travelers need to pay a large sum of tax to pass through—and they also need a pass.”

“You don’t want to be smuggled. If you get caught, the consequences will be terrible, really terrible.”

This is the devil's territory, and Raslaufer has no intention of defying the rules of the lower plane. The problem is that he is clearly not a well-prepared guest. If he were to follow the rules and "go through the front door," he would have neither a pass nor much money.

Dople stood by the crater on the left for a while, then walked to the skeletons on the other level. He bent down and searched through them, but found almost nothing except some worthless fragments of broken equipment: "Then tell me, how do you get the pass?"

“Guys like Barbasabalon get their passes from their superiors,” the little devil said helplessly, spreading his paws. “Other methods… I really don’t know—maybe they’re sold in some underground markets, but only if you can disguise yourself as the person on the pass. These things can’t be lent out or transferred.”