novelraw Chapter 514: The Blazing Land
Chapter 514: The Blazing Land
Lu Li, standing on the edge of a canyon, opened his eyes.
1... 2... 3...
A silent count echoed through his mind.
The dark red sky resembled cooling lava.
Lava churned at the bottom of the canyon. The air shimmered with heat, and rising waves of it carried the caustic scent of sulfur, filling the sweltering chasm.
Ssss...
A sudden searing sensation flared on the back of his hand. Lu Li raised it. The burn, shaped like an inverted pentagram, felt as if it were being branded anew, hissing and smoking.
The thick smoke coalesced, forming a ferocious, ram-horned face.
"You've arrived sooner than I expected... Hmm? Interesting... You actually dared to meddle with Hell," the Devil whispered, as if it had just discovered something.
"No matter. Whether you're confident or just seeking death, I will find you soon enough and claim your soul..."Whoosh.
The rising heat waves from the canyon distorted the face on the back of his hand, tearing it apart and scattering it into nothing.
The Devil's reaction was faster than Lu Li had anticipated—it had detected him the very moment he arrived in Hell.
25... 26... 27...
Lu Li continued his calm count, his gaze sweeping over his surroundings.
This blazing land consisted of nothing but rock and asphalt, warped by the extreme temperature, with no sign of life.
The waves of heat seared Lu Li's soul, yet it wasn't a painful sensation.
However, perhaps due to the lack of his physical body's protection, or because Anna and the Spirit Gun were not with him, Lu Li felt a faint unease, as if he were standing here utterly defenseless.
[Your life force is your shield against the horrifying temperatures of Hell. The younger and stronger you are, the longer you can remain here.]
Placing the patched hat he was holding—Richard's hat—on his head, Lu Li averted his gaze.
Where could Richard be hiding?
Lu Li moved toward the canyon's edge. But his feet felt as if they were mired in a swamp, heavy and difficult to lift.
Looking down, he saw that the soles of his leather shoes were melting from the superheated ground, leaving a distinct black trail and stretching out dark, tacky threads a couple of feet long.
Ignoring it, Lu Li reached the edge of the canyon. A blast of heat struck him in the face as the lava, like a river of fire, churned far below.
[The dead change over time. The omnipresent, malevolent heat will scorch their souls and their humanity. Those with a stronger will can last longer, or find less scorching, darker places, but everything has its limits... Some will become lesser demons of Hell, others will become half-human, half-demon... You'll easily tell them apart.]
Obviously, the area near the lava river was the hottest. Richard couldn't be anywhere near here.
Leaving two distinct black tracks at the canyon's edge, Lu Li began to move away, heading in the opposite direction.
Hopefully, Richard wasn't on the other side of the canyon.
41... 42... 43...
As he continued to count, Lu Li scanned the barren landscape of gravel and stone, searching for any moving figures.
Although the canyon was laid out before him, the shimmering heat waves rising from the ground distorted his vision, making it difficult to discern the outlines of objects beyond a hundred meters.
67... 68... 69...
Anna's call from the outside world hadn't come yet, the Devil had yet to arrive, but finally, the first moving creature entered his line of sight.
It was a gaunt, humanoid creature, its ribs starkly visible. Its desiccated stomach was practically plastered to its spine. The hairless body was covered in scars—some from burns, others from scratches—and it moved on all fours like a beast.
It had clearly spotted Lu Li before he saw it, but instead of attacking, it began to follow him with a covetous air.
Mistress Marylin hadn't specified what kinds of creatures inhabited Hell, but she had mentioned something like this.
[Lesser demons are greedy but cowardly. Most will only dare to follow you from a distance of several dozen meters. They won't attack unless they gather in a pack.]
Lu Li didn't spot a second creature nearby.
Could that be Richard?
He had arranged for Anna to call him back after ten seconds, but a hundred seconds had already passed with no summons. Though the flow of time was inconsistent, this meant Richard had been in Hell for at least several days.
A few days might be enough for a deceased soul with a weak consciousness to devolve into a demon.
Unable to verify his suspicion, Lu Li hesitated for a moment, then abruptly changed direction and moved toward the demon.
He wanted to see if it had retained any reason and if communication was possible.
The beast-like demon began to retreat as Lu Li closed within ten meters. It was then that Lu Li noticed it had no eyes—only a mouth that took up half its face.
83... 84... 85...
Continuing his count, Lu Li advanced, and the demon before him kept backing away.
Realizing this was just a waste of time, Lu Li took off Richard's hat, held it out to the demon, and asked, "Have you seen the one who wore this?"
The gesture and the words seemed to provoke something. The demon before him suddenly let out a low growl and lunged at Lu Li.
Taking half a step back, Lu Li raised his hands to defend himself. But just as the airborne demon was about to collide with him, it slammed into an invisible wall, was flung backward, and crashed to the ground several meters away.
A piercing shriek erupted from the mouth that split its face, revealing jagged, sharp teeth of black and yellow. The demon writhed in agony, rolling on the ground and clutching its head.
Green smoke rose continuously from its body as the contorted figure visibly shriveled and blackened.
Lu Li frowned, observing the scene.
Mediums generally avoided the creatures of Hell. They were difficult to kill without paying a price, and any injury a medium sustained would be directly inflicted upon their soul.
Lu Li was not one of them. His potent life force affected even Anna, let alone a lesser demon of Hell.
This had its downsides, however. Lu Li's soul was like a bonfire in the night—bright, conspicuous, and easily spotted from afar by the creatures of darkness.
The demon's movements on the ground weakened until it finally went still, its form resembling something that had been consumed by a fierce fire, charred beyond recognition.
Looking at it, Lu Li considered something else.
It attacked when I took off the hat. Did it recognize the scent on it?
Or was that Richard himself...
Lifting his head and scanning his surroundings again, Lu Li saw that no other creature had noticed what had happened. The blazing, barren landscape remained unchanged.
But that wasn't entirely true...
Lu Li thought for a moment, his gaze falling upon an inconspicuous pile of rocks.
Such a sight was common in Hell; under the scorching heat, only rocks could exist eternally.
Bypassing the demon's corpse, Lu Li approached the pile of rocks.
These fist-sized stones were stacked into a cairn about a foot and a half high. At its peak rested a sharp, teardrop-shaped stone—its pointed end aimed away from Lu Li.
This stone tower was man-made.
It was pointing the way.
118... 119... 120...
At that same moment, Lu Li heard a distant, drawn-out, low call echoing through the air.
Anna's first call came on the second minute of Lu Li's stay in Hell.