Chapter 1135: Section 1136: Blood Pond Hall
This is a dark hall.
Outside the hall is chaotic darkness, devoid of any light, yet inside the hall there is some illumination; however, the light is dim and yellowish, reminiscent of the flickering shark oil lamp flames lit in ancient tomb passageways, casting light upon the deceased.
Through this light, one could see that the hall’s architecture is extremely old, similar to structures from the time when light had not yet reached the primeval chaos, with various vines entwined like the wriggling maggots in a sinful world. The walls are covered with mottled marks as if smeared with mashed brains, pale, powerless, and corrupt.
Though this hall standing in the midst of chaotic darkness appeared to be ancient, the shadows cast by the dim lamps on the walls revealed that the inside was not as deserted as it appeared.
Shadows moved back and forth, the light and dark unevenly distributed.
Many demons were entering and exiting the hall, disappearing from time to time and then reappearing.
When leaving, the demons had nothing in their hands, but upon returning, they held metal vessels. These vessels of various shapes and sizes were filled with blood that was hot and boiling.
The aroma emanating from this blood even caused the space to warp slightly.
A petite Shadow Demon suddenly appeared outside the hall, holding a metal plate inlaid with emeralds, the craftsmanship clearly from the ancient era of the indigenous people.
The Shadow Demon seemed to be quite fond of this plate, not only cradling it carefully with both hands but also using its sinuous tail to wrap around the base of the plate, as if afraid to shatter it.
Cherishing the plate, the Shadow Demon flapped its wings and flew directly into the hall.
The style inside the hall was exactly the same as the outside: archaic and primitive, with no decorations or partitions, only the corridors for entry and exit as well as the spacious halls.
The destination of the Shadow Demon was in the hall’s center.
Or rather, in the immense, burning blood pool at the very center of the hall.
Hundreds of demons, holding various types of metal vessels, poured the blood they contained into the blood pool. After emptying their vessels, they would leave and wait for their next return.
It was the Shadow Demon’s second time at the blood pool, and it still felt very shocked.
The nearly substantial energy of the blood made the Shadow Demon involuntarily slow its pace, wanting to secretly absorb some of it.
As it tiptoed to the edge of the blood pool and began to pour the blood from its vessel slowly, it thought about staying by the blood pool just a bit longer.
But just then, a terrifying voice reached its ears, “You, stop right there.”
The Shadow Demon jumped with fright, and upon looking up, saw two huge Blood Cocoons floating above the blood pool, absorbing blood energy. Nearby floated a Demon with a head resembling that of a salamander, staring at it with bell-sized eyes.
Its heartbeat suddenly quickened; could it be that Komodo knew it was secretly absorbing the blood energy?
It had clearly seen many demons sneakily absorbing the blood energy from the pool, so why had it been singled out? Was it to be made an example of?
Petrified, the Shadow Demon was about to kneel before Komodo when Komodo spoke again, “Tell me, how are things on the outside?”
“The outside? I… we’re still entangled with humans, preventing their journey to the Void Tower, and it’s going rather well…” The Shadow Demon, realizing it wasn’t about to be punished, spoke much more fluidly. However, before it could finish, Komodo cut it off.
“I didn’t ask for that! Tell me, how is the Shadow Mist Area doing?” Komodo demanded somewhat violently.
“The situation in the Shadow Mist Area has improved!”
“Improved? Explain,” Komodo relaxed slightly, though it disliked Nitotipu, it couldn’t deny that Nitotipu’s capability was the strongest among the seven.
“The Shadow Mist Area has dissipated, and currently, everything is fine…” The Shadow Demon quickly recounted its observations.
Komodo’s frown deepened as it listened.
The Shadow Mist Area had disappeared? Did that mean the defense mechanism had been turned off? If that were the case, it would indeed be good news. But for some reason, the unease in Komodo’s heart did not dissipate.
It had suddenly spoken to the Shadow Demon just to alleviate the unease it felt. But after hearing the report, it felt even more uneasy.
It then considered another possibility.
Besides the defense mechanism of the Void Tower being shut down, there was another condition that could cause it to disappear—
That would be if the defense mechanism had been destroyed!
With this thought, Komodo felt its heart pound fiercely. It swiftly transformed into a blaze of fiery shadows and flew outside the Dark Hall, appearing to observe Lassudral through some method.
After Komodo left, the Shadow Demon’s heart eased slightly, hoping its response had been sufficient to avoid trouble. Now, should it receive some reward… for instance, lingering a while longer by the blood pool to absorb some of the blood energy?
With this thought, the Shadow Demon’s eyes brightened, and it stayed quietly by the blood pool. While absorbing the blood energy, it stealthily surveyed the surroundings of the hall.
This was the Blood Pond Hall, an Other-Dimensional Space of Lassudral that had existed since ancient times. Beneath the blood pool was a sacrificial offering for the Crowned Jester, which allowed the blood in the pool to exhibit healing powers through the ritual sacrifice of demon blood.
The hall was too vast and barren, with little of interest, so the Shadow Demon ultimately focused its attention on the two Blood Cocoons above the blood pool.
It knew that the two Blood Cocoons contained Urdixinos and Minotaur and had heard that they had previously fought humans and suffered brutal, severe injuries. Now, they were desperately trying to recover.
The Demons here kept coming and going to collect the blood of the dead Demons for Lassudral and pour it into the Demon Blood Pool to save these two great Demons.
“Humans were actually able to bomb the two strongest Demons in the flesh to the point where only half their bodies remained. They’re really too strong, I indeed made the right choice to come work at the Demon Blood Pool. If I had gone to intercept humans, maybe I would’ve been finished,” the Shadow Demon complacently thought to itself. Previously, another Demon it was familiar with had advised it not to choose to come to the Demon Blood Pool, saying that Komodo was the most capricious and might attract catastrophe upon itself.
Looking at it now, that guy was just a coward.
As the Shadow Demon was mocking in its heart, it hadn’t considered that it almost peed itself out of fear previously.
While it was feeling smug, a low shout came from outside: “Lord Komodo is back!”
The Shadow Demon quickly turned around and indeed saw Komodo flying in from outside the hall… but suddenly, the Shadow Demon’s face changed, fear flashed through its eyes because it saw that Komodo was glaring at it with a ferocious gaze. At the same time, its hand moved, and a flame shot out from its palm, directly hurtling towards it.
Komodo exerted a terrifying pressure, making the Shadow Demon completely unable to move, and naturally, unable to dodge this strike.
As the flame began to scorch its body, it faintly heard Komodo shouting angrily from its mouth: “You deceived me, you dare to deceive me!”
As the Shadow Demon’s body turned into a fireball and fell into the blood pool, its mind recalled the Demon who had given it advice: You were right… Komodo really is capricious… I shouldn’t have chosen to come here…
After the Shadow Demon fell into the blood pool, the scalding blood pool merely bubbled up a few white bubbles before quieting down completely.
Komodo, however, was floating above the blood pool, his eyes a solid deep red.
The other Demons around were startled, all too scared to move, trembling as they looked at that terrifying figure.
Komodo fell into deep thought, as the state of Lassudral it saw was not getting better, even deteriorating to the point where it began to doubt itself: “Could I have been wrong?”
While Komodo was engaged in self-doubt, a newly arrived Demon in the hall said, “Hey, why aren’t any of you moving… Oh right, there was a sudden flash of white light in the chaos outside, does anyone know what that is?”
Komodo’s ears twitched, and its gaze pierced through the ancient hall, looking towards the chaos outside.
This was Lassudral’s Other-dimensional Space, a relatively stable Other-dimensional Space. It shared the same spatial coordinates as Lassudral, but due to certain forces, it was attached to Lassudral. To use the Wizard’s terminology, it was quite similar to Other-dimensional Space.
Although it wasn’t visible from Lassudral, creatures sensitive to space could feel its presence.
Because it was attached to Lassudral, any anomaly in Lassudral would cause corresponding changes here.
Komodo also saw the “white light” the Demon had been clamoring about in the chaos, but Komodo realized at a glance that this was not any light; it was a deadly shadow of death!
Because it was actually a rift in the collapsing space!
Moreover, the entire Blood Pond Hall was surrounded by these rifts!
Even though these rifts were still far from the Blood Pond Hall, Komodo clearly saw that these spatial rifts were continuously expanding. Soon, they would surround the Blood Pond Hall and completely destroy it, causing it to disintegrate into dust and disappear into the chaos. By then, this Other-dimensional Space would also vanish.
Upon seeing this, Komodo’s mind was completely clear.
If even the Other-dimensional Space was showing signs of destruction, Lassudral was definitely finished!
“There really is a damned fool who destroyed the Inscriptive Central Hub of the Void Tower!” Komodo ground its teeth, “As expected, leaving that glutton in the Void Tower was the biggest mistake!”
Komodo roared as if venting its anger.
But soon, Komodo collected its emotions. Like Yadasai, upon realizing that Lassudral was irreversibly doomed, it understood blaming anyone was useless and it wasn’t possible to avert the disaster.
Demons are inherently selfish, and Komodo even more so. Now, it was considering how to maximize its own interests in the face of this disaster.
Now that the Void Tower was gone, it no longer feared Galal’s threat. Once the Primeval Flame was released, it would definitely vie for it. But currently, weakened by the injuries inflicted by Winchester, it was not a match for Aoluxiya.
It had to find a way to recover from its injuries.
But how to recover quickly? Komodo’s gaze slowly shifted from the blood pool to the Demons present.
It sneered, “The blood of living Demons is much more effective than dead blood.”
In the stunned gazes of the assembled Demons, Komodo raised flames in its hands…
After a while, the Blood Pond Hall was completely emptied, all the Demons were pushed alive into the blood pool by Komodo. The blood qi produced by the blood pool became even more vigorous.
Having absorbed all the blood qi, after a long sigh of relief, Komodo’s injuries finally fully recovered.
But even after the injuries had healed, Komodo was still somewhat dissatisfied. Its strength still wasn’t enough to contend with Aoluxiya for the spoils. If it could improve one step further, that would be ideal.
Thinking this, Komodo suddenly sneered craftily, looking towards the two Blood Cocoons suspended in midair.
“Now that Lassudral is doomed, you two no longer have any value to survive. Why not grant me this favor?”