Chapter 708: An Unexpected Encounter
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 708: An Unexpected Encounter
A precise mechanism slid into the keyhole.
The surface, etched with mana circuits, rotated continuously, causing the miniature formations carved within to shift repeatedly in the blink of an eye. After roughly a hundred permutations, the miniature formation finally successfully interfaced with the restriction on the door lock and located its triggering core.
Click.
With a gentle twist from Ariel, the lock opened easily.
For a door specifically designed to imprison elite human adventurers active in the Abyss, this method of breaching was far too simple. It seemed no different from pouring a specialized corrosive solution directly into the lock cylinder to dissolve it.
In reality, however, this was an incredibly sophisticated method of cracking.
Without a tool crafted by a Grand Magister as experienced as Ariel’s teacher, one would be forced to do what Nian had done—using self-made alchemical tools to painstakingly test for errors, cautiously picking the lock without triggering the overarching restriction.
"Five minutes. I doubt anyone is faster than me."
Ariel glanced triumphantly at the clock on the wall, then peered into the room. After confirming that the poor, pessimistic beauty Julia was still deep in sleep under Fei’s magic, she quietly placed her hand on the doorknob.
"Don't worry, I'll come back for you. But right now, I have someone even more important to save!"
With a light press, the door was slowly pushed open.
Given that two others had already escaped before her, Ariel felt there was no need to be overly cautious. The fact that they could escape so easily after opening their doors suggested that the security here was lax.
It made sense when she thought about it. From the perspective of the Grand Duke of Bewitchment, she certainly wouldn't want too many irrelevant people lingering in her "pleasure harem." Thus, she would rather go through the trouble of creating a place like this than stationing a large number of guards.
Of course, from another perspective, the Demon Race was indeed short-staffed lately. After all, even the task of capturing human adventurers now required the intervention of Demon Generals and the Grand Duke of Bewitchment’s most direct subordinates.
Even so, instincts honed through countless crises forced Ariel into a state of peak alertness the moment her hand gripped the handle.
"Goddess above, I hope my luck holds as always... Let me find the person I'm looking for as quickly as possible."
Ariel muttered a few silent prayers and quickly squeezed her body through the gap in the door.
The sheer majesty of her chest caused an unexpected clumsiness in a movement that used to be second nature to her. She even stunned herself for a moment, but Ariel adjusted with extreme speed. Her perception then fanned out, instantly blanketing the entire corridor.
As expected, it was empty. Only the mirror at the end of the hallway reflected half of her slightly excited face.
"So there really aren't any guards?"
Ariel was about to breathe a sigh of relief.
However, at that moment...
Creak—
The sudden sound of a door opening made Ariel’s heart tighten. She spun around violently, her hand reaching behind her, ready to draw her sword at any second.
Creak—
The door opened slowly, but after swaying in place a few times, it seemed to lose all momentum and swung back the way it came, clicking shut softly.
Other than that, there was nothing.
"Was it just the wind?"
In fact, back in the room, Ariel had felt a faint breeze blowing from somewhere. It was likely the ventilation formation inherent to the building, so a door being blown ajar wasn't particularly strange.
But that was assuming...
Ariel’s furrowed brow gradually relaxed. She walked over to the door labeled with the number "Thirteen"—written in the Demon script, but decipherable through the lens of Ancient Script.
With a gentle pull, the door indeed opened easily.
"Unlocked?" Ariel murmured in surprise.
She remembered this room; it was the one the Grand Duke of Bewitchment had visited last night.
Did that Grand Duke simply not have the habit of closing doors behind her?
Ariel tilted her head and cautiously peered through the crack into the room.
It was the same familiar orange candlelight. The layout of the entire room was identical to the one Ariel had just occupied. Aside from the number on the door, there was no difference at all.
But the only problem was...
"Where is the person in this room?"
The room was empty. The silence was so profound it made her hair stand on end. There wasn't even a trace of the room being used; even the sheets on the large bed behind the pink gauze curtains were as smooth as new.
It wasn't just that no one was there; it looked as if no one had ever been there.
"Did they escape too?"
Ariel rubbed her chin, pondering the probability of the girls originally in this room still having the strength to escape after being put through a whole night of the Grand Duke’s "ministrations."
Though she lacked practical experience in such matters, based on the knowledge she’d gleaned from books, after a battle that intense, even an iron man would be as soft as a beautiful girl’s lips by now.
"Something's fishy."
Ariel didn't rashly enter the room to investigate. Instead, she focused her attention even more vigilantly on her surroundings.
If this was a trap, then according to experience, the next thing that should happen was...
Still nothing.
The entire corridor was so quiet she could hear her own breathing.
"This is getting weirder and weirder. Even if these doors have some soundproofing, with so many people imprisoned here, it shouldn't be this..." Ariel whispered to herself.
Suddenly,
Creak.
The sound of another door being pushed open drifted over.
Ariel’s gaze snapped to the door numbered Fourteen.
"Wind again?"
Another door opening—had the person inside escaped?
Dammit, was this a cage for prisoners or a tourist hotel? How could everyone just slip away whenever they felt like it?
If this kept up and the Grand Duke of Bewitchment came rushing over tonight only to find everyone gone, wouldn't she just blow a fuse? If she realized people were escaping this early, it would be a disaster...
"Wait, no!"
Ariel suddenly snapped to her senses.
"It's not that the person inside has already escaped, it's..."
The door was being pushed open slowly.
But unlike before, the doorknob was clearly being pressed down.
Wind couldn't do that.
They hadn't escaped yet—they were about to!
Ariel’s eyes lit up. Anyone who could escape on their own certainly wasn't simple. More importantly, maybe it was another beautiful girl who fell right into her strike zone!
The door finally opened wide enough to see inside.
Ariel hurried to look. Unsurprisingly, the first thing she saw was an exquisite, dignified, and flawless face. This made her quite excited; having such a beauty as a companion for the journey ahead would be a treat.
But in the next heartbeat, her heart constricted.
Because when she looked a second time, she saw within those calm eyes... a vivid, brilliant crimson!
The red eyes of the Demon Race!
Ariel’s gaze flicked upward. Sure enough, amidst the meticulously pinned-up black hair, a pair of small demon horns peeked out like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.
A Demon?
But why would a Demon be coming out from the inside?
Was it an ambush?
Was the empty room just now a trap after all?
There was no time for deep thought. In this lightning-fast instant, a moment’s hesitation could mean the difference between life and death.
Ariel didn't hesitate. She drew the Heavenly Fire Greatsword and swung it violently at the High-Class Demon!
Flames erupted from the gaps in the bandages, interlacing with sharp sword qi. In an instant, the brilliant firelight turned the entire corridor stark white.
Though it was a hasty strike, Ariel didn't hold back. The intense heat and razor-sharp sword qi were enough to turn an ordinary High-Class Demon into ash and debris instantly.
But...
Ariel didn't feel the physical sensation of flesh being torn or burned.
Instead...
Screech—
She heard the piercing sound of metal clashing against metal. Her hands trembled slightly; that strike felt like it had hit a block of solid pig iron!
The surging flames seemed to hit an obstruction, unable to advance an inch, and were forced to dissipate into a wall of fire that spread outward.
Ariel’s pupils shrank. Sensing something, she tapped her toes on the ground, instantly shifting from an offensive stance to a graceful backward leap.
Clang!
Another ear-piercing sound of clashing metal.
From behind the still-roaring wall of fire, dozens of twisted metal bars transformed into a jungle of thorns with a grotesque beauty. They scraped against the walls, sending sparks flying, and lunged forward with terrifying momentum!
It looked like some man-eating demonic flower. Every steel thorn bloomed outward in its sharpest form. A casual expansion was enough to crack the walls, and the entire corridor was filled in an instant, leaving no room to dodge.
Simultaneously, metal spikes grew wildly, rapidly covering every inch of the floor beneath Ariel’s feet, continuously shrinking her landing space!
"Metal magic?"
Ariel was shocked. "So fast!"
She thought her move had been incredibly swift, but she hadn't expected the opponent's counterattack to be even more ferocious.
"In that case..."
At the final moment before the metal spikes completely covered the floor, Ariel landed one last time.
But this time, she didn't retreat.
"Heavenly Fire..."
Ariel gripped the greatsword.
The bandages wrapped around the ruler-shaped sword fell away automatically, revealing a blade etched with glowing crimson-gold patterns.
Ariel raised her hand, and flames shot toward the ceiling. Then, the raised blade suddenly rotated and crashed down!
"Judgment!"
Boom!
The flames condensed into a spiraling tornado, swallowing all the steel thorns and spikes in an instant. The unimaginable heat could melt metal in a heartbeat; the wall that had blocked Ariel’s previous strike turned into molten red liquid, flowing along the cracked floor.
Ariel’s strike blasted a massive hole through the metal barrier, revealing the figure of the High-Class Demon once more.
Amidst the scorching steam, her black dress swayed slightly. Her faintly visible, beautiful face remained calm and dignified.
Her crimson eyes flickered with light, and she suddenly stepped forward.
Metal condensed again, transforming into a massive, menacing scythe in her palm.
The High-Class Demon leaped lightly, gripping the giant scythe and spinning gracefully.
Her skirt flared out like the wings of a fluttering butterfly. She seemed to be dancing—leaping, spinning, leaping, spinning.
Every spin and every leap seemed meticulously calculated and measured. There was no variation in her movements; they were so beautiful it was breathtaking.
She seemed to have lost all weight, yet the massive scythe she gripped let out an increasingly terrifying howl!
"You want to go head-to-head with me?"
Ariel grinned fiercely and swung her sword to meet the attack. "Bring it!"
Hmm?
Suddenly, Ariel felt the greatsword in her hand tremble slightly, as if influenced by something. For a moment, her strength even wavered.
Fortunately, she steadied herself in the blink of an eye.
Boom!
The next moment, the giant scythe and the greatsword collided with a roar. The resulting shockwave instantly shattered the walls on both sides, and the pink gauze curtains were burned to ash in the collateral flames.
But Ariel had no time to worry about the oddities. Her eyes widened as she braced the greatsword with both hands. Her arms trembled, and she was slowly forced into a low crouch under the pressure of the scythe.
So heavy!
The floor had long since been pulverized, and Ariel’s knees were gradually buckling under the staggering weight. Anyone could see she was currently at a disadvantage...
In a direct clash, she was actually being suppressed by this High-Class Demon? The opponent’s realm seemed to be only around the Fourth-Tier, perhaps even slightly lower than her own...
This had never happened before. Even that damn Muen Campbell couldn't do this!
Wait... no!
"It's the scythe!"
Ariel realized it instantly. It wasn't the strength of the blow that was heavy, but the giant scythe itself!
When that scythe condensed, it had been imbued with an unfathomable weight.
But...
With such terrifying weight, how was this Demon swinging it so lightly?
Ariel recalled her movements—so light, so elegant, like a dance...
"I see."
Ariel’s gaze fell on the Demon’s hands.
She wasn't gripping it; she was manipulating it!
Just like those steel thorns from before that had absolutely no casting delay, she wasn't casting magic at all. She was simply manipulating the metal!
"This isn't metal magic. This is... a Metal Divine Blessing!!"
A blessing of metal bestowed by the legendary deity who governed metal and smelting!
That was why she could control metal so easily, even exerting a degree of influence over the Heavenly Fire Greatsword, an Ancient Artifact.
Everything made sense now.
But...
"I've never heard of the Demon Race, abandoned by the gods, receiving a divine blessing."
Ariel stared into those crimson eyes. "Who exactly are you?"
"..."
The massive weight vanished abruptly.
The High-Class Demon drifted back. The scythe in her hand spun, turned into liquid, flowed through her fingers, and merged into the floor beneath her.
She habitually folded her hands over her lower abdomen, her dignified face tilting up slightly as she scrutinized Ariel.
"I see."
The "High-Class Demon" spoke in a cold tone:
"I was wondering why there was a familiar stench in the air. So it's you, Ariel Bugard."