NOVEL NEXT chapter 45: Escape
Dragons are agents of demon kings. This fact is well-known to everyone.
In hell, dragons hold the highest status among monsters. To fully understand this, one must grasp the concept of what a monster is.
A monster is an animal influenced by either 'pure energy,' 'dark energy,' or 'light energy.' Regardless of the type of influence, monsters are inherently wild beings.
It is possible to befriend some monsters, as demonstrated by the famous examples of eagle monsters, which are pretty popular.
Unlike other Monsters, Dragons are not subject to enslavement by Demon nobles. Demon kings directly enslave them.
They possess incredibly robust bodies and progress naturally without conscious effort.
Monsters Generally never gain true wisdom. Even a rank 6 monster is just like an animal, operating based on instinct, except for one type of monster: dragons.
Dragons are also monsters, but they possess intelligence from the moment of their birth. Combining this with the fact that they are only subject to Demon Kings, one can understand why they hold such prestige.
...
Red is playing with the treasures he had just stolen from his mother.
Of course, "Red" is not his real name, but the one he chose because of his red scales. He is a newborn dragon, only 100 years old.
For dragons with very long lifespans, 100 years is considered infancy.
Baby dragons are initially born as mortals, not even ranked as 0, so technically, they can live forever.
Fortunately, an infinite lifespan doesn't hinder their natural growth into adulthood. After a few decades, they reach rank 0 simply by sleeping and eating, and at that point, they become bound by longevity.
Red was the only baby dragon in this nest, and he was very active, stealing treasures from his mother occasionally.
His mother, the owner of the treasures, occasionally got angry, but as he didn't take anything out of the nest, she just let him play. After all, the mother dragon considered everything in the nest to be hers, whether it was on the pile or with Red.
Just as he was looking around, he spotted a shiny bottle-like object. He took it in his mouth, and it opened naturally.
A few delectable-smelling things dropped to the ground.
He looked at them and ate them. "Delicious," he thought.
Red tried to get more but was fruitless, so he continued playing with other things.
The next day, another pill appeared in the shiny treasure.
He saw it and ate it while smiling.
From that day, he ate pills from the shiny thing every day!
...
Heavenly Rachel was looking at the reflection. It showed Bertha captured.
It was the only result Rachel got when looking at the future of Bertha.
"Something is happening, which I don't know! I hate the feeling of not knowing," she muttered to herself.
She had been checking the reflection for months, both from Heavenly Rachel and Hellish Rachel, but the results were the same.
It showed both Zagronan and Bertha being captured every time.
Rachel has a way out for Bertha. If she came to heaven, she would not be captured.
Rachel plans to ask God of Fate to bring Bertha to heaven.
Zagronan cannot move into heaven, as angels would sense a high-ranking demon.
It's not that angels hate demons.
If any demon can pass 'judgment' by angels, they would be allowed in.
But there is no way in hell Zagronan can pass Angel's judgment.
So, the best way for Zagronan is to move to the mage world.
Zagronan has no choice but to escape hell because Demon kings would capture him otherwise.
As for who captures Bertha, It Is blurry, even in the reflection, which disturbed Rachel.
"Up to this point, I thought I understood why the reflection doesn't show results. Anything related to my abilities, especially my dive-in-time abilities, doesn't get a reflection. I can see a reflection when I specify that I don't help him with the dive in time, but as soon as the dive in time comes into play, it cannot predict anything."
"All in all, predictions related to me are the most inaccurate. Other strange things are also happening, like the disruption in the river of time from the last time," Hellish Rachel had already told heavenly Rachel the details.
"But the one who imprisons Bertha, he/she is the only one except myself who cannot be predicted by the river of time," she thought.
"he/she is probably outside the river of time, like someone from another world. she thought.
Then, she looked at the God of Fate, who was researching along with the rest of the research group.
"Hey, God of Fate, I have something to say."
God of Fate made some excuses and left. Then he listened to Rachel.
"I need you to bring in someone from the mage world," she said.
"What? That is the job of the Executive Council," she replied.
The heaven's plan of bringing others from the mage world and hell to heaven was working fine.
To this day, many humans, elves, and other non-humans, along with some rare demons whom angels considered good, have been brought to heaven.
However, all the operations were run by the Executive Council.
"I am a member of the Council of Gods, not the Executive Council! I cannot do it!" she said.
"Come on! You're a god! Do this one thing for me," said Rachel.
The God of Fate gritted her teeth and started moving.
She went to see an old friend, God of Medicine, who was a member of the Executive Council.
After telling him, the God of Medicine was surprised, but this was a small request, so he agreed to allocate only two slots for anyone the God of Fate wanted to enter without anyone else knowing.
Rachel provided Bertha's location, and the God of Medicine sent someone to bring her.
Rachel has no idea who wants to capture them, but it most likely has something to do with herself.
Rachel did not want her hosts to be killed, so she did all this to prevent them from being captured.
...
In hell, Rachel looked at Zagronan, who was busy with Lana, and thought, "The mage world is not the ideal place, as 'mage world Rachel' is still not rank 5. So, let's take him to the mage world temporarily until Bertha can reach rank 5."
In Rachel's plan, Bertha would very soon reach rank 5.
"Hey, Zag," Rachel said.
"What?" he answered while engaging in some activities with Lana.
"We should go to the mage world temporarily," Rachel said.
"What?" He was taken aback but continued with the action.
"We'll talk after you're finished!"
...
"Why the mage world?" he asked.
"Because you will be captured by the demon kings soon if you remain here," she said.
"Demon kings? I have never met any, not even my father! Why do they want to get me?" he asked.
"Who knows? But my predictions are correct, as I've confirmed many times. Collect the ingredients; we leave tomorrow!" Rachel said.
"I'll bring Lana!" Zagronan said.
"Sure," Rachel sighed.
...
From hell to the mage world, the lower the rank of the demon, the easier it is.
Above rank 6, traveling to the mage world is nearly impossible. Zagronan, on the other hand, was rank 5—not easy, but not impossible.
To begin the journey, a dimensional door is needed.
Dimensional doors have 10 ranks, with rank 10 being only theoretical.
A rank 1 dimensional door can open the door to the mage world, just enough for a rank 1 demon to pass through. A rank 7 dimensional door can open a door strong and big enough for a rank 7 demon to pass through.
It's just that the mage world will repel any demon of rank 7 or higher, so even if the door is opened, as soon as the demon crosses, they would face severe suppression and most likely die.
The demons could not even send rank 7 and higher avatars into the mage world.
On the contrary, traveling from the mage world to hell is relatively easy since hell does not repel anyone.
However, the lower the mage's rank, the more challenging it is to cross into hell.
Low-rank mages cannot obtain items like 'dimensional doors,' needed for interdimensional travel, while higher-ranked mages can.
Zagronan acquired a rank 5 'Dimensional door' through the 'exchange' by selling many pills. With the dimensional door in his possession, he took Lana's hand, ready to embark on their journey.
"Where are we going?" Lana inquired.
Zagronan responded confidently, "Somewhere much better."
The dimensional door will open to what was considered 'the most suitable' location.
This concept implied that the door was drawn to a particular place or condition. For example, if a mage had a clone in hell, the dimensional door would open near that clone. In this instance, the dimensional door should be opened somewhere near Bertha, who was soon to be brought to heaven.
"Let's start," said Rachel.
Zagronan skillfully set up the dimensional door formation, and a powerful wind emerged, accompanied by thick clouds, lightning, and a mysterious red rain. Soon, a portal materialized before them.
"Go in! Time is tight!" Rachel urged.
Zagronan hugged Lana tightly, and they jumped into the portal without hesitation.
...
A few days later, the sky above Hotblood City grew ominously dark, and the fearsome Demon King of Ice appeared.
Iggad, filled with dread, knelt before the powerful entity and implored, "Your Majesty, please order me as you wish!"
The demon king of Ice demanded urgently, "Where is he?"
Previously, the Demon King believed he had managed to escape from the depths of the river of time using his own power. However, after his mind merged with the other demon kings, he realized that he was not the origin of this anomaly. It had to be something else.
He was convinced that the clue lay within Hotblood City.
He arrived at this conclusion by utilizing the shared mind.
The demon kings share one mind, except for the demon king of sloth. However, it would not be efficient to always rely on the shared mind for everything.
So, they usually operate on their local brain and only occasionally on the shared mind.
This incident qualified as a special occasion.
Tom did this setup, so betrayal was not a possibility, as Tom was above rank 9.
The minor demon he saw initially was the most likely suspect among the city's inhabitants.
Why did he appear right next to the demon after leaving the river of time?
In dimensional transfers, the point of entry would be where the most connections with the travelers are located.
Although coming out of the river of time is not interdimensional travel, it was still worth looking into.
He planned to capture Zagronan and perform a soul search to uncover the mystery.
Unfortunately, to his disappointment, Zagronan could not be located in the city.
"Your Majesty! I don't know..."
Just as Iggad was talking, the Demon King of Ice snapped his fingers. The entire 'Hotblood' city and its surroundings froze in deep ice.
"Let's just preserve the evidence. I'm sure I can find something!"