"Have you confirmed that Lord Nightmare fought against Lord Embers?"

"Yes. I personally visited the city and investigated. All the signs point to that."

Several Devils gathered in a dark room, communicating with each other and exchanging information.

The information exchanged was not random, but instead revolved around a certain topic.

The terms Lord Embers, Lord Nightmare, and most importantly, Crimson Maiden were constantly mentioned, making the topic of their conversation abundantly clear.

"Then everything seems to be according to our guess. Lord Nightmare and Lord Embers fought each other, and while they were both fatally injured, the so-called Crimson Maiden took the opportunity to eliminate them.", one of the strongest Devils concluded, and his words won the affirmation of the Devils around him.

Everything they had learned so far led to this point, including the scene in the City of Embers, as well as the words spread by the Devils who had escaped the city before Lord Nightmare's arrival.

"If so, getting rid of the Crimson Maiden should be fairly easy.", the Devil in the lead added.

Following his words, the Devils discussed their next course of action, and after a few hours had passed, they exited the room.

Only a few moments after they left, a shadow in the corner of the room twisted, and a person stepped out of it.

Surprisingly, this person was not Liora using Shadow Assimilation, but another Devil.

His body was entirely made out of shadows and squirmed eerily, while his presence was extremely low, his aura blending with the world around him.

Anyone who laid their eyes on him would sigh that this Devil was a natural-born assassin.

In fact, this was true.

And if the Devils who had just left were still there, they would recognize this person as the ninth-ranked Devil in the Crucible Ranking, titled Silent Devil.

Although his actual strength was only around the middle of the Crucible Ranking, his superb assassination skills had given him a fierce reputation and had allowed him to climb into the top ten of the list.

And now, this infamous Devil—feared by both ordinary and ranked Devils—had made Liora his next target.

"It's good to have someone test that person out. As long as she shows any weakness... Hehehe...", the Silent Devil let out a distorted chuckle, his fingers scraping against the dagger hanging on his waist.

A moment later, his figure vanished, fading away like a shadow at dawn.

--

Following behind the plotting Devils, the Silent Devil soon arrived at a large mountain made of Hellstone.

Sensing the many powerful auras gathering toward this place, he realized that this team was not the only one that had found this place.

This discovery didn't make him worried, but rather excited.

He believed that with this many people on his side, even if the Crimson Maiden had some strength, she would end up exhausted and powerless.

His thoughts seemed to match those of the other Devils, as not long after his arrival, they decided to attack.

Like a disorderly militia, they quickly spread throughout the Hellstone mountain, searching for their target.

Before long, they had seemingly found what they were looking for, as they all adjusted their direction, rushing toward a certain side of the mountain.

Among those Devils was the Silent Devil, who, still hidden in the shadows, slowly approached that place.

Soon after, he and the other Devils finally met the person they were searching for.

Excited, cruel, and greedy expressions flashed across their faces as they prepared to rush forward and tear her apart.

The woman in question, though, didn't seem to notice them.

Sitting cross-legged on top of a stone slab, she held a thin paintbrush and brushed it against the canvas with utmost seriousness, like an artist engrossed in her work.

Just then, her lips suddenly parted.

What came out was not Devil Language nor any other language known in the Heavens.

Instead, countless garbled words rushed out of her mouth and echoed directly in everyone's ears.

The words sounded different to each person. To some, they were captivating, making them unable to extricate themselves, while to others they were piercing, causing their faces to twist in pain.

But no matter their reaction, all the Devils froze into place.

Seconds passed slowly, and only a heartbeat later, a portion of them fell to the ground. Their bodies bore no injuries, but their souls had unknowingly been wiped out.

It didn't stop there.

One after another, the Devils collapsed, their expressions stuck to the moment before their death.

Only one Devil remained alive.

The Silent Devil, hidden within the shadows, stared at the scene before him in fear, unable to hide his terror.

He was not so much shocked by the power of the unknown words, but rather, their strange influence that directly ignored one's defenses.

While thanking himself repeatedly for being cautious and not rushing to this place alone, he took a step back and was about to slip away.

Unfortunately, while his leg was still mid-air, a cold female voice reached his ears.

"Didn't they tell you? You shouldn't play with shadows in front of their master."

These were the last words that the Silent Devil heard before Liora's sword severed his head.

--

Staring at Alpha, who was cleaning up the scene, Liora's expression remained unchanged.

"This is already the fourth wave of Devils. I'm afraid that rumors will soon spread and no one will dare to take the risk and come here.", she thought silently.

That's right.

Before this group's arrival, many Devils had already come to pay her a visit. Unfortunately, no matter who or how strong they were, they all ended up becoming fertilizer for the Hellstone mountain.

"Fortunately, I've already tested the power of Tongue of the Abyss. I no longer need any test subjects."

Tongue of the Abyss—this was the ability she had developed after a thorough study of the mysterious blood droplet.

It was inspired by the Two-Headed Devil's strange muttering ability and was combined with the weird influence exerted by the mysterious blood.

Although it was not very strong on its own for the time being, when paired with Soul Tear—enabling her to target the soul of her opponent directly—it led to surprising results.

"Even though it might not be very powerful in actual combat, it's quite suitable for cleaning up a bunch of weaklings. Moreover, it has further growth potential.", Liora whispered, satisfied with the results of her own research.

Just as she was deep in thought, a shocked gasp interrupted her.

Turning her head, she saw that it came from Scurry, who was staring at the shadowy corpse with surprise.

"Lord! This is the ninth-ranked Devil! You actually managed to kill a ranked Devil!", he spoke in a hurry, waving his paws around as if he was performing in a circus.

Liora wasn't surprised by his intense reaction.

Over the past couple of days, Scurry had been wandering around with a stunned expression on his face, seemingly astonished by the ease with which she killed the many Devils.

Liora didn't know if he was pretending or if he was genuinely shocked, so she had chosen to ignore him all this time.

But now, his words had caught her interest.

Liora lowered her gaze and examined the corpse before her with surprise in her eyes, as well as a hint of doubt.

She couldn't understand how such a weakling had managed to climb to the ninth place in the Crucible Ranking.

Shouldn't the Devils in the top ten possess overwhelming power, unimaginable wit, and be extremely cunning?

How did this useless guy reach such a high rank?

If the Silent Devil were here to witness Liora's doubts and her disdain for his strength, he would loudly protest.

My strongest advantage is my assassination skills and my ability to merge with the shadows. How could I—being countered by you—possibly be your match?

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