by welyjesch
“Flamebone Mountain?”
The two black-robed brothers felt their hearts tremble, and they forced smiles onto their faces.
“Flamebone Mountain. Just head in that direction for a few hundred thousand kilometers, and you’ll see an enormous mountain blazing with fire from afar. That is Flamebone Mountain.” The slightly fatter black-robed youth said with a laugh.
“Thanks, you two.”
Linley chuckled, and then he and Bebe immediately flew towards the direction the black-robed youth had pointed towards at high speed.
“Whew.” The black-robed brothers glanced at each other, shock in their eyes.
“Heading to Flamebone Mountain at a time like this? It seems they are headed for the Planar Wars. However, it won’t be so easy for them to get in.” The slightly fatter black-robed youth’s eyes lit up. “Second Brother, tell me, which of those two is someone on the level of a Tartarus Lord?”
Linley and Bebe flew in the designated direction for a short while. They soon saw, in the distance, an enormous mountain which was covered by swirling, dim, dark red flames. This mountain was tens of thousands of meters tall. Although it wasn’t as tall as the Abyssal Mountain, it was quite high for an island.
“Flamebone Mountain!” Linley’s eyes narrowed.
“We’ve hurried all the way over here. At least we finally have reached Flamebone Mountain.” Bebe revealed a smile as well.
Linley immediately returned to human form. For now, there was no need for them to hurry. After staring at Flamebone Mountain for a short period of time, Linley and Bebe immediately flew straight to the base of the mountain! Flamebone Mountain was pitch-black, and there was no hint of any vegetation about it. It seemed as though it was completely made from black stones.
The surface of the mountain was covered with swirling, dark red flames.
These dark red flames had never been extinguished, despite the passage of countless years. Even at the base of the mountain, Linley could sense the strange, bizarre aura emanating from those dark red flames.
Linley raised his head, staring towards the tip of the Flamebone Mountain.
At the tip of this Flamebone Mountain, which was perpetually covered in flames, an extremely large black castle was constructed. This black castle was also surrounded by swirling, dark red flames.
“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”
Linley and Bebe rose into the sky. Within a few moments, they arrived at the gates to the black castle. The castle was completely black, but the main gates were a dazzling bloody red color. Just looking at the door, Linley sensed a killing aura flooding towards him.
There were more than ten people standing at the entrance to the castle, all dressed in black armor.
“Newcomers, halt!” One of the guards barked.
“We are entering the Planar Battlefield.” Linley said directly.
“Hurry up and get out of the way.” Bebe barked coldly.
The ten-plus guards looked at each other, rather stunned. The look on the face of the first guard who had shouted immediately turned friendly. He immediately laughed, “So milords are entering the Planar Battlefield. Might I ask which of you two lords is a Lord of Tartarus?”
“Lord of Tartarus?” Linley and Bebe were stunned.
Seeing the look on their faces, the guard frowned slightly, but he immediately said, “Then…of the two of you, milords, which is a Lord Prefect of the Netherworld?”
Linley and Bebe were both lost.
“Hey, we’re going into the Planar Battlefield! Why mention the Tartarus Lords or the Lord Prefects of the Netherworld?” Bebe barked impatiently. “Hurry up and lead us to the interspatial gate and let us enter the Planar Battlefield. We’re in a hurry and have no time to waste with you!”
The ten-plus guards, who had been all smiles earlier, suddenly had cold looks on their faces.
“F*ck off!” One of the guards barked coldly. “Don’t cause trouble here! If you keep causing trouble, don’t blame us for being merciless!”
Linley and Bebe, hearing this, were both stunned. Bebe couldn’t help but grow enraged. “What did you say?! If you let us in immediately, I won’t quibble about what you just said, but otherwise…”
“I told you to F*CK OFF!” The guard roared coldly. A long black spear suddenly appeared in his hands, and he casually pierced towards Bebe with it. The long black spear, when stabbing out, flew forward like a black dragon, causing ripples in space to appear. But Bebe just stretched out with his hand, easily clamping onto the tip of the spear.
The guard was stunned. Enraged, he wanted to pull free, but he wasn’t able to.
The other guards were stunned as well.
“Bebe, don’t get in over your head. They are the soldiers of a Sovereign, after all.” Linley sent mentally.
Bebe stared angrily at this guard. “Speak! If it wasn’t for the sake of the Sovereign, I would’ve killed you long ago. Speak! Why won’t you let us in?”
The guard finally realized how powerful the person in front of him was. Although he was a Sovereign’s soldier, if he really did end up infuriating this person and being killed by him, that would be a terrible death. He hurriedly said, “Milords, it isn’t that we won’t let you in, it is that you truly cannot enter! This is the rule which the Sovereigns set. There has always been this rule, over countless years.”
“What rule?” Linley barked.
“To activate the interspatial gate and enter the Planar Battlefield, one person in the group must be a Lord of Tartarus or a Lord Prefect of the Netherworld; they are allowed to bring people in. But ordinary Highgods are not qualified to enter on their own.” The guard hurriedly explained.
Linley frowned. He suddenly understood.
The highest ranked individuals in the Planar Wars were the ‘commanders’, figures on the Lord Prefect and Tartarus Lord levels. Only commanders were allowed to bring people in. Ordinary Highgods were not granted entry.
“No wonder the Sovereign said that you were to first become a Lord of Tartarus before entering.” Bebe looked towards Linley.
Linley thought back to what the Chief Sovereign of Death had said to him as well.
“Are you saying that I must find a Lord of Tartarus to bring me in, and that’s it?” Linley asked again.
“Right, right.” The guard said hurriedly.
“Are there any other rules?” Linley asked.
The guard added, “The Planar Battlefield is occupied by two warring planes. There are only ‘commanders’ and ordinary soldiers. Thus, ordinary Highgods who entered are just soldiers who must obey the commands of the commanders. They aren’t permitted to run about wildly in the Planar Battlefield! Milords, when you enter, you must obey as well. Only commanders are allowed to independently lead their forces to rove about and do battle within the Planar Battlefield as they chose.”
Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 3, Target
Linley now understood.
“No wonder the Sovereign advised me to first become a Lord of Tartarus before entering. If I entered with the status of a common soldier, I would have to follow orders. There’d be no way I would have the chance to go kill enemy commanders.” Linley understood that only by travelling on his own would he be able to quickly kill enemy commanders.
To be controlled by others…how could that be acceptable?
“Aside from these, are there any other rules?” Linley asked.
“None.” The guard said hurriedly. “The rules are very simple. Commanders are qualified to take others into the Planar Battlefield. In the Planar Battlefield, the various commanders are allowed to move about as they please, while the soldiers follow orders. That’s it! As for how many war merits need to be accumulated for how many rewards, it is written on the stone stele by the side of the interspatial gate!”
Linley nodded slightly.
Military merits and rewards, Linley didn’t care too much about for now. After all, he wasn’t even qualified to enter; it was too early to bother about the o
ther things.
“Bebe, let’s go.” Linley sent mentally.
Linley and Bebe immediately flew away from this Flamebone Mountain. In midair, Bebe said frantically, “Boss, what should we do now? If we want to go in, we have to rely on either a Tartarus Lord or a Lord Prefect of the Netherworld. We only have these two options; either to find one of them to lead us in, or we ourselves become one of the two!”
“The first route is unacceptable.” Linley shook his head. “First of all, in Tartarus, the Lords who are not already inside the Planar Battlefield are the ones who did not wish to go inside and risk their lives. Why would they lead us in? In addition, if we go in as ordinary soldiers, we have to follow orders. My goal in entering is to kill enemy commanders.”
Bebe looked at Linley, then began to laugh. “Boss, are you saying…?”
“We have to come up with a way to become a Lord of Tartarus!” Linley said slowly.
“Haha, I approve.” Bebe’s eyes were shining, but then he frowned. “But it won’t be that easy.”
“No, it won’t. There are no weaklings amongst the Lords of Tartarus.” Linley also knew that every single one of the Tartarus Lords, when defeated, would be replaced by another expert. This process, over the course of countless years, had resulted in the eighty one Tartarus Lords being individuals of terrifyingly great power.
He himself knew Reisgem and Mosi, two Purgatory Commanders of the Infernal Realm. Beirut, in turn, was the Lord Prefect of Indigo Prefecture.
“There should still be strong members and weak members amongst the eighty one Tartarus Lords. The strong would be like Beirut and Dunnington, but even the weaker ones shouldn’t be weaker than me.” Linley said. “If I were to challenge an individual on the same level as your grandpa, Beirut, that would be throwing my life away!”
Bebe nodded as well. “If we find a weak one, we’ll still have a chance.”
“But who is strong and who is weak?” Linley frowned as he spoke. “The other tricky thing right now is that we don’t even know what the rules are for challenging the Tartarus Lords. Also, which Tartarus Lords are already in the Planar Battlefield, and which are still in Tartarus? I have to learn this as well.”
“Even if we have decided already to do battle, we still need to find a target first. Not a single one of the eighty one Tartarus Lords will be easy to deal with.” Linley didn’t know anything about these Lords of Tartarus.
Bebe had a sour look on his face as well.
He, too, had no idea, but he then said, “Boss, in the eighty one regions, there are cities in each region, right? There must be many people in the cities. It will be easy for us to investigate there.” Bebe said.
“That’s our only option.” Linley nodded.
In the central region of Flamebone Island, there was a city. Things clearly were much more lively within the city.
In a restaurant.
Linley and Bebe were seated facing each other. Linley glanced at his surroundings, discovering that just as expected, there were many Highgods present here in Flamebone City. But there were Gods and Demigods present as well! “It seems as though they are the children left behind by those Highgods of Tartarus.” Linley guessed.
“The two of you, this is our restaurant’s menu.” A smiling God delivered the menu.
Linley looked at him while setting up his Godrealm. The look on the waiter’s face changed, and he looked warily at Linley, who just laughed. “Don’t worry. I just want to ask you a few things.”
“Please speak.” The waiter was still able to maintain his calm.
“Are there any rules in Tartarus to challenging the Lords of Tartarus?” Linley asked.
The waiter gave Linley a puzzled look, but then said, “That’s easy. In the eighty one regions, every single regional capital will have a ‘Bloodbath Arena’. As long as one consecutively wins a hundred battles within the Bloodbath Arena, then…the victor of the hundred battles will be qualified to issue the local Lord of Tartarus a challenge!”
“Oh?” Linley’s eyes lit up.
“Isn’t that the same as Miluo Island?” Bebe began to laugh as well.
Perhaps Miluo Island was copying the way things were done here in Tartarus.
“I wish to know if there are any peculiarities about the eighty one Tartarus Lords? Who is strong? Who is weak? And also, which of them are here in Tartarus, and which of them have gone to the Planar Battlefield?” Linley asked in succession.
The waiter said resignedly, “Milords, this…how should I know?”
Linley chuckled. Waiters generally knew a great deal of information. Linley thus asked again, “Then tell me, who does know? Who knows the most?”
The waiter said hurriedly, “In our city, there are intelligence reports regarding the various Tartarus Lords for sale.”
“Intelligence reports for sale?” Linley’s eyes lit up.
It made sense. Wherever there was a demand, there would be a market. Most likely, many people had the desire to challenge one of the eighty one Tartarus Lords. Naturally, many people would want to know some details regarding the eighty one Tartarus Lords.
“Where are they sold? Take me there, and I’ll give you ten thousand inkstones.” Linley said calmly. “Here are five thousand inkstones. Afterwards, I’ll give you five thousand more.” Linley immediately gave him the money.
Inkstones could also be used here within the Netherworld.
“Ten thousand inkstones?” The waiter’s eyes instantly lit up. He wasn’t worried that Linley would attack him within the city limits either. He immediately said, “Fine, but might I ask, when do you wish to go, milords? After eating, or…?”
“Right now.”
Linley and Bebe both stood up.
“Alright. Please wait a moment. I’ll go speak with the boss.” The waiter was very friendly.
“Boss, it really was simple.” Bebe laughed as he looked at Linley.
“In a place like this restaurant, where the dragons mingle with the fish, these waiters will hear many things and learn many things. It is convenient to ask them.” Linley let out a sigh of relief in his heart as well. So this city actually had intelligence reports devoted to the eighty one Lords. This made things much simpler.
“Milords, follow me.” After having taken their five thousand inkstones, this waiter became very friendly, immediately leading the way.
While walking on the streets, Bebe said, puzzled, “Could it be that the eighty one Lords of Tartarus are not opposed to this sort of intelligence report sales?”
“The Lords of Tartarus are experts who are far above us. What could they possibly fear?” The waiter said hurriedly. “They don’t care about this at all. Actually, even in our city’s official castle, there are also reports regarding the eighty one Lords of Tartarus for sale. However, the price is too high! You need a million netherstones for a copy. The place I am taking you two will be much cheaper; you only need ten thousand netherstones for a copy.”
Linley laughed.
For this sort of intelligence report, once a single person bought a copy, that person could reproduce tens of millions of copies and sell them. This was a good line of work to get into.
“Most people don’t know about these secretive places, but I’ve been in this business since I was a kid.” The waiter said.
“Since you were a kid?” Bebe said in surprise.
The waiter nodded. “Tartarus has no transportation arrays. Virtually everyone who originally came to Tartarus was a Highgod. We Demigods and Gods were all born here in Tartarus. I am weak, and am only capable of surviving in the city. It’s not bad. There aren’t too many people in Tartarus, so the prices of the houses are quite low.”
Linley laughed as well.
In the continents of the Netherworld and Infernal Realm, the prices of the city houses were extremely high. However, here in Tartarus, there were many remote areas which were completely unpopulated. Clearly, each island had a fairly low population, and so naturally, the housing prices w
ere much better.
But although there weren’t many people here, there were many experts.
“This fellow really is familiar with this city.” Linley sighed to himself. The waiter led Linley and Bebe forward in a very practiced manner, passing through various small alleyways and remote paths in a constant advance. In but a few moments, they arrived in front of an ordinary little courtyard. “Here we are. Right here.”
Linley glanced at the courtyard. He couldn’t see anything special about it.
“Open the door!” The waiter immediately knocked on the door.
Soon, the courtyard door opened. A muscular, silver-haired man walked out, giving them a glance. After seeing the waiter, he laughed. “So it’s you, kid. What is it? Did you help me bring a customer?”
“We need a set of reports regarding the eighty one Lords of Tartarus.” Linley said.
“Please enter, you two.” The silver-haired man said hurriedly.
The waiter immediately looked towards Linley and Bebe. Linley laughed, then very casually pulled out five pieces of azurite, handing them to the waiter. The waiter immediately accepted them. “Thank you, milords. I’ll leave now.”
“You just made quite a bit, kid.” The silver-haired man chortled. “The two of you, please come in.”
Linley and Bebe followed him into the courtyard. There were actually more than ten people seated there, three of whom were Highgods, the others all Gods or Demigods. One of them, a red-haired youth, rose to his feet, smiling as he came to welcome them. The silver-haired man said, “Second Bro, they want a copy of the intelligence reports on the eighty one Lords of Tartarus.”
“Right.” Linley nodded.
“Oh, do you want the concise version, the detailed version, or…the secret version?” The red-haired youth said.
Linley was startled.
The intelligence reports were divided into three levels?
“I imagine there must be a difference in price as well.” Bebe laughed.
The red-haired youth nodded. “Naturally. The concise versions are ten thousand netherstones. The detailed versions are a hundred thousand netherstones. As for the one with all the secrets, that costs a million netherstones.” The nearby silver-haired man said hurriedly, “But of course, you can also use inkstones to trade.”