The Paladin in the Abyss

Every night after setting up camp, Lancelot would spend an hour mentoring young Isa, hoping to quickly enhance her combat abilities. It had to be said that the vampire girl's talent was unbelievably exceptional; she grasped many concepts at once, and Lancelot rarely needed to instruct her, most of the time only needing to act as a powerful opponent.

However, so far, Isa had not yet experienced real combat. With Lancelot's Spirit Perception scouting, their nightly camping locations were carefully chosen to be essentially safe from any danger.

The few attacks they had encountered occurred during the day when the group, under the command of the Human Knight, avoided large troops of bloodthirsty armies, but occasionally they were ambushed by Low Level Demons with intelligence not much higher than wild beasts. In this wilderness far from Tanari's iron fortresses of the Lords, there still remained some Low Rank Obyrith Demons.

Tanari Demons generally had humanoid forms, while Low Rank Obyrith Demons couldn't even be called creatures.

Take, for example, the Abyss Fiends they had killed most on their journey—a kind of demon that from a distance resembled a shrub, but up close was revealed to be a fleshy orb with a mouth that split its body in two, with eyes and claws randomly distributed across its other parts.

Their appearance was the very embodiment of madness and chaos. Everyone who saw an Obyrith Demon for the first time felt a strong assault on their sanity. Fortunately, the team included Priests and Holy Warriors, whose abilities helped everyone resist such shocks and avoid falling into madness simply from the sight of an Obyrith.

Luckily, aside from their frightening appearances, these monsters were not very powerful. Whether it was Bruto's hammer or Alamir's Holy Fire Technique, they could easily dispose of the creatures, and both were especially eager to eradicate these nauseating monsters.

Lancelot had to admit, when they turned into lumps of flesh or were burned to ashes, these Obyrith Demons were indeed a lot more pleasant to look at.
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The frequent detours to avoid the armies of bloodthirsty warriors cost them quite some time. It was only after ten days into the wilderness that the group finally encountered a red tributary of the Stygian River. This was twice the time they had originally anticipated, but it was obviously worth it.

"This tributary of the Stygian River is known as the Blood River. It branches off to the north at a place called the Plaguehorn, while the main river continues westward towards another plane known as the Red Prison Castery; this tributary here flows south, eventually pouring into the Great Abyss,"

Kalalin explained to the group. As a scholar of the Black Cult, his knowledge of the geography of the first layer of the Abyss was deeply ingrained, even though this was his first personal visit to these lands.

"The color of this river water... Could it really be dyed red with blood?" Bruto's face looked somewhat disgusted, "And this stench is truly repulsive."

"It's probably dyed red from the riverbed," Kalalin shrugged, "After all, Demons and Devils have been fighting on this wasteland for centuries, and their blood has long penetrated every inch of this land."

"To be precise, it has been centuries. The Blood War began before the first mortal was born, and will most likely witness the death of the last mortal," added the skull-headed Cromwell, whose brain contained an encyclopedia of the Outer Planes, albeit a slightly outdated version.

"We'd better keep our distance from it," Elothysia suggested, "This area is still a conflict zone, and Bartez's navy could emerge from underwater at any moment."

Naturally, no one had any objections to this. According to Tijana, all they needed to do was follow this red river southward to reach the edge of the Great Abyss. Moreover, the group included Elothysia, who, before converting to a benign alignment and becoming a Holy Warrior, had spent a long time in the Abyss, making her more than suitable to guide the group.

Seven days later, the group reached the edge of a vast lake. This was the famous Lake Meyne—where the Blood River formed a lake before branching into several tributaries towards the edge of the Great Abyss, creating a series of cascading waterfalls.

Because this area was close to the Great Abyss, the armies of Demons could easily receive reinforcements from other planes, so the Devil's legions had yet to make advances to this place, making it relatively safer.

And the Kai-Oine, Skeleton Tower they were searching for was situated on the southeastern horizon. The group began to advance towards that landmark building, but shortly after, a plume of dust was raised in front of them as a Demon patrol squad rapidly approached.

Lancelot had noticed the group of Demons earlier, but he did not instruct the team to hide. The surrounding area was under the influence of Mogrondale—a neutral city located at the base of Skeleton Tower—and purposely avoiding its patrol squad might not be a good idea.

The Demons arrived in front of the group swiftly. They were a pack of twelve large Demons resembling humanoid creatures, with developed muscles all over, giant wings and long tails on their backs, and heads like that of a rat.

According to the introduction by Kalalin before, these were Margo Demons, a kind of Middle Rank Demon that wasn't very intelligent and was one of the more common Demons found in the Great Abyss.

"Stop!" the leader of the Demons shouted at the group, "Who are you, and where are you heading?"

Upon hearing this, Lancelot frowned; these guys actually spoke the common tongue?

"We're going to Mogrondale City, that's how you say it, right?" Bruto answered nonchalantly, completely unaware of any anomaly.

"Ah! Mogrondale, it truly is a great place, with delicious food, soft cushions, and hospitable citizens."

"Yes, yes, a really great place!"

"You don't even feel like leaving once you're there!"

These responses were not problematic in themselves, but it was strange to hear them coming from the mouths of these Demons. Everyone sensed something was off, as Mogrondale, though a neutral city, seemed to have guards that were overly enthusiastic. With a soft jingle, Frostslash appeared in Lancelot's hand.

The Human Knight dismounted from his warhorse, positioning himself at the forefront of the team.

"Don't come any closer," Lancelot commanded, his Longsword pointing towards the group of Demons. With his gesture, everyone else also became alert, drawing their weapons and preparing for battle.

"Oh dear, you really don't need to guard against us!" The rat-faced Demons revealed smiles that should not exist on their faces, "Let us tell you where to find the best bars and restaurants in Mogrondale City!"

"Cut it out," Lancelot swung his sword again, halting the Demons from coming closer, "Who exactly are you guys?"

A look of innocence and confusion appeared on the faces of the Demons—emotions that should never manifest on such beings.

"Have we been exposed?" the leading Demon turned to its companions, and the rest of the Demons shrugged, a very clear sign.

"Then we'll just have to go straight to..."

The Demon turned back, but its declaration of flipping the script was left unfinished. The Human Knight's Longsword pierced out like a lightning bolt, simultaneously silencing the rest of its sentence and its throat. Lancelot was not one of those old-fashioned knights—if a battle was certain, he would not be the one standing still waiting for the opponent to make the first move.