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 outcla.s.sed 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 l.u.s.t 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 l.u.s.t 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.

Initially, I didn"t even notice that there was a gigantic shark-sized Flame Devouring Fish swimming underneath lava. After all, that endless sea of black fishes behind it was enough of a shock already. The moment its humongous head broke through the surface, revealing a glossy coat of obsidian black scales that almost seemed like armor in the process, it turned its bloodshot eyes towards me. It was then that I knew what it felt like to have a reaper stare you right in the eyes. I could have sworn that my soul was being sucked into the b.l.o.o.d.y abyss that was its eyes. Yet amidst all that, I stood there paralyzed, unable to do a thing before the embrace of death.

Time slowed down and my thoughts seemed to freeze up there and then. Then, it all went black. I knew nothing of what happened afterwards and by the time I woke up, the school of fishes was already long gone.

Should I celebrate the fact that the fishes weren"t able to walk on land? Or perhaps I should thank the heavens that they weren"t interested in land creatures…

“Mama… that monster…was so scary…” She dove into my embrace and tightly wrapped her arms around me, body shaking and lovely eyes crying. Seeing her like that, my heart couldn"t help but ache.

"Even my little sweetie is shaking right now…I guess it can"t be helped…she"s a newborn after all and that had to be her first brush with death."

Naturally, we weren"t the only two affected by that sharklike fish"s stare; No.3 and Big 4 were scared stiff as well. In fact, they literally stood there frozen, not daring to move a muscle, let alone cry or tremble.

“It"s alright Sweetie, Papa"s…” I gently rubbed her head and tried to comfort her. However, just as I was about to say "Papa"s here to protect you", I abruptly stopped.

"What If that happened again…what if a creature of that level were to take an interest in us or perhaps we stumbled on it while it was hungry…" I dared not ponder that question any further. In a vast world like this, there existed too many unknowns for the current me to handle. Exactly, what kind of fate would await us if I wasn"t strong enough? That was something I didn"t dare to think about but most likely it wouldn"t be good.

For now, I should at least celebrate my decision not to accept Arca"s request otherwise we might just end up meeting that fish in battle…

With that in mind, I suddenly had the urge to consume those two cores right away. However, I abandoned that impractical idea in the end. Putting aside the question of whether or not my body was even suited to that, so what if I consumed them? The majority of the energy would most likely be absorbed by Ferti"nier, leaving nothing but sc.r.a.ps for me.

Who was this Ferti"nier, one might ask. Well, she used to be an existence who almost became a Devil G.o.d. At the very least, she was a demiG.o.d. While I might not know how powerful that actually was, it didn"t stop me from guessing.

"DemiG.o.d huh…kinda reminds me of Hercules and his trials…oops…almost went off course again…"

DemiG.o.ds were at a level beyond me, and Ferti"nier was the elite of elites even amongst such beings. Looking at that from another perspective, there was no way the energy needed to awaken her would be small. For now at least, evolving would be harder than climbing the heavens themselves.

In that case, the only option would be to raise Mo Na"s level. Thus began our frantic search for Red Lotuses and souls. Anything that moved was killed and its soul harvested for Mo Na. By doing so, I hoped to raise her level to Five-stars in a short period of time. Only when she evolved would I have the confidence to give No.3 and Big 4 those two elemental cores.

Perhaps it had something to do with her absorbing the Grimoire of the Dead, but ever since then, I"ve never heard her say that she was full. Naturally, that didn"t mean she starved all the time either.

Just like that, our journey proceeded uneventfully for over a month. Along the way, we harvested whatever we could and hunted whomever we found.

By now, I was beginning to wonder if Arca was messing with me with that so-called hint of his, but just as I did so, I found, to my great surprise, a lifeform that could be cla.s.sified as a devil.

"…at long last…"

It was a h.e.l.lhound with fur as black as the night. Not only that, it was a h.e.l.lhound with three heads —a Cerberus.

According to my inherited memories, Cerberuses had to at least be at the level of a Four-stars. That meant the h.e.l.lhound spitting fire at a platform right in front of me was at least at the level of No.3 and Big 4. Even though we weren"t that far off from it, there was something obscuring our vision so I couldn"t discern what it was spitting at.

The moment I spotted it however, the Cerberus stopped spitting fire and turned all six of its eyeb.a.l.l.s towards us. It opened its jaws and growled at us in a low voice. Naturally, I didn"t understand a word it said but having been with Violet Snow for so long, I could roughly figure out that it was warning us not to approach.

However, there was no way I would listen to that warning. After all, this was the first sighting of something devil-like in over a month! There"s no way I would leave without saying h.e.l.lo at least.

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