Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 13, Northbone Prefecture
The vast continent of the Netherworld was filled with undead in the north, and thus it was known as the ‘Undead Realm’. The weak undead who lived there were at most Saint-level undead. Generally speaking, upon becoming Deities, the vast majority would fly to the south, entering the world of experts...the Netherworld.
South of Sacred Undead Mountain. That was the place which was viewed as the true Netherworld.
As one of the four Higher Planes, the management structure of the Netherworld was quite similar to that of the Infernal Realm; the Netherworld had a total of eighty one prefectures. As Linley and Bebe flew into the Netherworld from Sacred Undead Mountain, the first prefecture they entered was the number one prefecture of the northern Netherworld...Northbone Prefecture!
Currently, in the air above Northbone Prefecture, a metallic lifeform that was less than ten meters long was flying forward at high speed. Linley and Bebe were within it, but right now, Linley was frowning in concern. Just now, Linley and Bebe had gone to the borders of the Undead Realm to take a look. After doing so, Linley began to worry.
The slaughters happening in the Undead Realm were even more terrifying and even more common than the Infernal Realm’s! The undead constantly battled each other, devouring each other’s souls to strengthen their own, increasing their own power! “Father died nearly two thousand years ago, while George, Yale, and Dixie died a thousand years ago. So much time has passed...have they, too, died within in the battle between undead?”
Linley was worried about this.
Once the undead creature a departed soul was formed into was killed, the soul would be devoured, and the person would truly be dead! Even if Linley managed to find a Sovereign, it would be useless.
Linley couldn’t help but feel concerned. Too much time had passed, after all, and the battles in the Undead Realm were too vicious!
“Boss...don’t worry!” Bebe said hurriedly. “Your father, George, and Yale...none of them have weak souls. Even if they were transformed into undead upon entering the Netherworld, they would be powerful undead. The chances of a powerful undead surviving are much better.”
“That’s all I can say to myself.” Linley nodded slightly.
But Linley understood that with each passing moment in the Undead Realm, countless powerful undead were being killed and devoured.
“What we need to do is make use of every moment.” Linley frowned. “If I want to find a Sovereign, I can’t just run about blindly. It’s best to find a Sovereign’s Emissary or a Lord Prefect and make an inquiry.”
“Boss, do you know who the Emissaries are, here in the Netherworld? Or where the Lord Prefects live?” Bebe asked.
Linley shook his head.
“Best I find a Highgod and ask, first.” Linley only knew some basic information regarding the Netherworld. As for where the various Lord Prefects of the Netherworld lived, that was hard to say. Some lived within their prefectural palaces, while others lived in cities. But some Lord Prefects lived in very distant, remote mountain ranges.
Since he had to find a Highgod, Linley began to pay attention to the outside world.
He couldn’t just scan every single metallic creature that flew by for Highgods, then stop them and force them out and ask them. That would just anger them, and although they might be afraid of Linley’s power, they might lie to Linley out of enmity.
While flying, Linley paid close attention to the outside.
On the third day, while drinking fruit wine and staring through the translucent window, Linley’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Several kilometers away, there were nearly ten thousand Gods under the command of tens of Highgods who were in pursuit of ten or so people.
“Bebe, here’s our chance!” Linley said.
“Chance?” Bebe glanced sideways casually. “What chance? It’s just a group of bandits fighting outside.” On the way over, Linley and Bebe had encountered quite a few scenes of bandits fighting people. However...the forces involved were small, and the conflicts were also small-scale.
“Just follow me.” Linley said in a low voice. The metallic lifeform immediately vanished, giving Bebe no choice but to follow Linley and fly towards the distant battlefield.
The many bandits were attacking in every which way as those ten or so people wildly tried to flee in every direction. However, the Highgod leaders of those bandits were chasing after two Highgods in particular.
“Which bastard revealed our information! Almost as soon as we entered Northbone Prefecture, the bandits of eighteen mountain ranges joined forces to attack us!” A three meter tall, red-skinned man with a single horn on his forehead sent through divine sense, his ox-like eyes bloodshot with rage.
“Big Bro, don’t be angry. Fleeing is more important.” The other, a younger man, said.
“Once we escape, we definitely must investigate.” The ox-headed man was extremely angry, but he still flew away at high speed. “We’ll be lucky if we can escape.” The youth glanced back sideways. Those who had been slow to flee were all dead now, and of those who had fled to the south, only the two of them remained.
But of course, they had some comrades who had fled in other directions. By now, nobody was able to take care of anybody else.
“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”
Eight figures suddenly appeared in front of the ox-headed man and the youth. The eight stared at them coldly. “Not good!” The ox-headed man and the youth immediately came to a halt. As they looked to the other sides, they found out that the other directions also had people barring their path.
“The two of you still want to flee?” A deep voice rang out, and a muscular, bearded dwarf who was 1.5 meters tall said. The dwarf floated there in mid-air, staring at them with his emotionless golden eyes.
“Big Bro, we’re finished!”
The youth and the ox-headed man looked at each other, feeling powerless.
Surrounded by bandits. Their losses were catastrophic this time!
“If you are able to kill us, then do so.” The ox-headed man swept the surrounding bandits with his gaze, then laughed coldly with anger. “Even if you kill us, you won’t be able to obtain our things.” Generally speaking, people with valuable possessions would keep clones in their headquarters. If this ox-headed man was killed, his clones would remain alive...and thus, his interspatial ring would still be inaccessible.
The dwarf laughed coldly.
As the general commanders for the bandits of the eighteen mountain ranges, these people had done this more than a few times before. They were quite experienced. They knew that others had clones in other places, and so even if they killed these people, they wouldn’t be able to acquire the treasures within.
“I’ll give you two choices.” The dwarf’s deep voice echoed in the heavens. “Choice number one, you hand over these treasures and give us the interspatial rings’ contents. We’ll let you two leave. Choice number two...you don’t hand them over. Then none of us will gain anything, while the two of you will die!”
“Then you die first.” The ox-headed man bellowed, and his entire body instantly transformed into that of a mighty black bull, surrounded by blazing flames. He shot out towards the dwarf like a flaming mirage.
The dwarf just laughed disdainfully, and in his hands, a two-meter long black greataxe appeared. Hefting the black greataxe, the dwarf gave a casual chop towards the flaming mirage, and where the greataxe passed, space itself trembled like ripples in water.
Suddenly...
An earthen yellow aura descended from the heavens, spreading out to a diameter of a thousand meters, forming a hemisphere of earthen yellow light and trapping all of the Highgod bandits within, as well as the ox-headed brothers. In addition, beneath that hemisphere of earthen yellow light, a round ‘plate’ formed from divine earth power was formed, ‘covering up’ this hemisphere.
“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”
In an instant, the thirty three Highgod bandits and the two ox-headed brothers trembled as their bodies irresistibly were drawn downwards, smashing heavily against the ‘round plate’ formed by divine earth power. The group stood there in terror, unable to take to the air.
They all raised their heads, looking towards the skies in terror.
A brown-haired youth dressed in a sky-blue robe was there, along with a youngster wearing a straw hat. They stood in the air, side by side.
“Milord!” The big-bearded dwarf immediately bowed respectfully. “My name is Kleopatra [Ke’li’ao’pa’te’le], the overall leader of the eighteen northern mountain ranges of the Northbone Prefecture. I don’t know what you need, milord. Our eighteen mountains will definitely comply!” Instantly, the other thirty-two Highgod bandits bowed as well.
Within this field of gravity, they could already sense the terrifying power of the gravitational pull. “Good heavens, there’s actually such a powerful Gravitational Space. If he wanted to kill us, he could slaughter us with ease.”
In this sort of area, killing them would be utter simplicity for Linley.
“Milord, my name is Amos [A’mo]. I’m willing to serve you, milord.” The ox-headed man immediately bowed as well, and the youth by his side also bowed. In the Netherworld, they all knew when to be arrogant and when to be respectful. Clearly, the person who had just appeared was an invincible expert.
A hint of a smile was on Linley’s face.
“I have a question, gentlemen.” Linley asked.
“Milord, pray tell.” The big-bearded dwarf immediately said, and the ox-headed man was listening carefully as well.
Linley laughed calmly. “I want to know if a Sovereign’s Emissary lives in Northbone Prefecture!”
“I know the answer to this. The Lord Prefect of our Northbone Prefecture is himself a Sovereign’s Emissary.” The big-bearded dwarf immediately replied, while the ox-headed man also said, “The Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture is one of the supreme experts of the Netherworld, and he is indeed a Sovereign’s Emissary.”
Linley felt a surge of delight.
It seemed as though this Northbone Lord Prefect should know quite a bit about the Sovereign.
Bebe immediately asked as well, “Where does the Lord Prefect live? You, speak!” Bebe pointed at the ox-headed man.
The ox-headed man said respectfully, “The Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture lives in a grassland located thousands of kilometers to the east of the city of Hide [Hai’de]. Ordinary people aren’t able to enter...but of course, given your statuses, milords, it will be very easy for you to pay a visit.”
“Outside the city of Hide?” A map instantly appeared in Linley’s mind. Linley already knew the general locations of the cities of the Netherworld like the back of his hand, and currently, Linley had already focused on a specific location.
“Is he outside of Hide?” Linley looked towards the dwarf, who hurriedly nodded as well.
Only now was Linley certain.
“Fine. You can leave now.” Linley said calmly, retracting his Blackstone Space.
The group of bandits and the ox-headed brothers were stunned, looking at each other.
“Thank you, milord!” The ox-headed brothers immediately bowed, then fled to the south at high speed.
Quite a few bandits immediately prepared to give chase.
“You still want to kill them?” Bebe barked. Instantly, the group of bandits halted. Linley glanced at them, then at the dwarf and said calmly, “Perhaps you should just forget about this particular business transaction.”
“Right, right.” The dwarf immediately acknowledged the other.
“Kleopatra. A fine name.” Linley laughed calmly, then flew with Bebe into the skies, disappearing into the horizon.
“Boss, should we chase or not?” The other bandits looked at the big-bearded dwarf.
“Chase my ass. We won’t be able to catch up. And...if we really chased just now, I imagine that lord would’ve been able to kill us all with the wave of a hand.” The dwarf snorted coldly. The other bandits couldn’t help but feel a surge of fear. “Enough. Let’s collect the interspatial rings from the battlefield, then go back.”
The dwarf immediately led the vast host back to their headquarters.
The bandits of the eighteen northern mountains of Northbone Prefecture were indeed a powerful force, and their leader, Kleopatra, was someone who was nearly at the Six Star Fiend level of power.
The bandits had eighteen chiefs, but of course the dwarf was the overall leader. In one of the eighteen mountain ranges, a bald man dressed in black battle armor flew into a castle, and the bandits at the gates of the castle all bowed and said, “Chief!”
“Hmph.” The bald, black-armored man just strode into the hall, filled to the brim with rage.
“Chief, why are you so angry?” A gentle voice rang out.
“Ugh!” The bald man sat down upon his throne in the main hall, grumbling unhappily, “You have no idea. Today, we brothers of the eighteen mountain ranges all joined forces, and were at the verge of success. But who would have imagined that a pair of supreme experts would suddenly appear out of nowhere, and ask us questions about the Lord Prefect and Sovereign’s Emissaries? And they even forced us to let those two fat sheep escape.”
“Then our luck really was terrible.” The gentle voice said.
“Ugh.” The bald, black-armored man stood up again. “Enough, George. Quite a few of the brothers of our mountain range died this time. The squads need to be rearranged. Help me handle it. I’m not in the mood.”
“Yes, Chief.” The reply came from a youth with a very friendly smile on his face.
If Linley was here, he would have immediately recognized that this was his brother...George!