?874 Devils Throne
Although Lex had spotted the devils, they had not spotted him yet. They were all struggling against the divine aura, but the moment they were teleported over, and found themselves amidst an endless sea of stunned demons, they stopped holding back whatsoever!
The devils transformed. Their aura immediately erupted as 17 devils roared out in anger! They had come to this planet to hunt, and instead were the ones being played with! But while the devils regained their ability to move around freely, the demons around them still did not heed their commands! After all, they could not move at all!
Lex did not stop moving, but instead of going over the sea of demons, he decided to be a little more discreet and travel on the ground. He even withdrew the missile he planned on using.
If he could get the devils and the zealot to fight each other, something unexpected may happen!
He did not need to do much besides stay out of sight and not attract attention. The zealot was blaring his aura in full as he carried out a massacre, and thus easily attracted the attention of all the devils. Without hesitation, the devils spread their wings and took flight, ready for war.
A few moments later, the thunderous sounds of a massive brawl echoed across the expanse, alongside the frequent earthquakes!
"Do you think they can stop the zealot?" Z asked. He was feeling incredibly strange, which could be determined by the fact that he was casually asking questions even in such a serious moment. They were not out of danger, and if anything, were in much more danger than what the battalion was facing before.
Yet he felt none of the associated pressure, or even urgency. It was as if he was completely safe so long as he stayed beside Leo, which made no sense. After all, it could be easily seen that Leo himself could not effortlessly resolve every issue, or else he would have destroyed that statue.
He knew this. But feelings were not the most logical part of the human experience, and Z felt incredibly safe at that moment.
"No, they can't. It's not that the zealot is strong, but that he has too much divine energy. Even if I kill him in one hit, he will immediately come back to life, because it's not his soul sustaining him, but the energy itself! Unless the devils can deplete his energy or sever their connection, they can't do anything to him, either."
Z, having been extremely introverted for months, kept asking Leo random questions, sometimes related to their situation, and sometimes not. Lex, playing the role of Leo, too kept answering all questions patiently.
He did not try to point out that they were currently on a battlefield, and that this was not necessarily the best time to chat. After all, between the two of them, Z had spent more time on the battlefield, so Lex was in no position to speak.
With the symphony of a chaotic battle accompanying them, they finally reached their destination and reached those of their allies that had been left at the fort. At a glance, Z could tell that their numbers had dwindled greatly during their time apart, but there was nothing he could do about that.
Lex handed Z a bunch of keys and they began to slip the keys in the hands of the surviving soldiers, and then crushed them to send them to the Inn. With all their assailants and pursuers occupied with fighting each other, they faced no hurdles whatsoever. Z actually felt strange that no new Void Dwellers had rained down on him in so long.
Their progress was steady and just when it seemed that they would succeed without incident, Lex suddenly grabbed Z's hand, and prevented him from giving a key to the leader of the elves.
"What's wrong?" he asked, looking around warily.
Instead of answering, Lex grabbed the elf's neck without warning and slammed him into the ground. The slam was in no way half hearted, as the ground was torn apart as the elf's body hit it like a hammer.
Any survivors nearby were thrown away from the resulting tremor, though they still could not move on their own.
As the dust cleared, Z saw that his devil-masked boss was no longer holding an elf, but rather a grinning devil!
"How did you-" the devil began to speak, but Lex was not interested in having a conversation. The worst mistake the devil made was letting Lex grip his neck!
As someone who ran an establishment where the majority of his guests were devils, Lex had done thorough research into devils and any affiliated knowledge. Predictably, the Henali portal did not give out information such as the key weaknesses of devils. After all, it was a regulated platform. But the emporium had no such issue, and had given Lex a detailed breakdown on some of the common strengths and weaknesses of devils.
For reasons unknown, the devils had two forms: a human form and what was considered their true form. They were at their weakest in their human form, while any major damage they sustained would automatically trigger a transition, not much could be done about any damage they sustained while still weak!
Instead of slamming the devil around, as Lex often liked to do with enemies he grabbed ahold of, he picked up the devil and wrapped his free arm around its face. The devil's grin faded as he realized what was happening, but Lex moved too fast.
Leveraging his immense strength and the grip he had, Lex broke the devils neck in one swift motion, leaving its head dangling unnaturally.
"You vermin! Do you know what you've done!" the devil, still somehow alive, screamed as his body began to grow under the effects of its transformation.
"Of course I know what I've done," Lex answered as he summoned a dagger from his spatial bangle. This was one of the weapons he bought from the emporium, and it could theoretically even pierce the skin of an immortal. All Lex needed was for the immortal to hold still while he tried to stab him!
But with the devil, this was not an issue. With machine-like precision, Lex stabbed the knife directly into the devil's spine before it completed its transformation. The devil screamed again, but Lex showed no hesitation as he systematically crippled the devil. Not only did he sever many important nerves, or the devil equivalent, but more importantly, he cut all the meridians within its body.
Within a couple of minutes, the devil was completely crippled without any ability to retaliate in any way. The only thing he could still do was to use its mouth to curse and threaten Lex as it tried to comprehend the horror of what had happened to it.
"Continue to rescue the rest, there are no other devils amongst them," Lex said, not even turning to look at Z. He had not massacred nearly enough enemies to sate his boiling anger, but his cold, calculating mind kept him from acting out. He had to focus only on what was absolutely necessary.
When he finally got hold of the devil, Lex still did not vent his emotions. Contrary to what it may seem like, Lex did not torture it for his personal satisfaction. Instead, it was to leave it vulnerable as he extracted information from it.
He slammed his Domination down on the devil, finally putting an end to its endless curses, and put his fingers on the devils temple.
His fingers seemed to blur and enter the devil's mind as he used Mindmeld to transform bits of himself into thought.
This was a surprisingly useful ability, and it made interrogation much easier. But Lex had not fully mastered it, or even attained great proficiency in it yet. He had not had much opportunity to experiment with this ability, so he could only use his intuition as his guide as he sifted through the devil's memories.
He had killed the elf he had been disguised as and infiltrated the battalion stronghold. Yet oddly enough, it had never acted against them. It was as if the devil was only there to watch, or perhaps he was a part of some contingency plan.
He delved deeper to peer into his secrets, but suddenly found his memories changing. The landscape of his mind slowly began to darken, as if he was losing his thoughts or memories completely. Instead, a massive throne was forming from their fragment, positioned right in front of Lex.
A massive devil appeared on the throne, and looked down on Lex with a charming grin, as if he was genuinely happy to see him.
Once again, Lex's instincts failed to warn him of any danger, but his own common sense told him that the appearance of this devil was likely due to some protective techniques used on the captured devil's memories.