Evolution: From Little Devil to Devil Empress

Chapter 14: Sacrifice [4] - Underground Cave

Once Liora stepped into the underground cave, the vision before her changed.

Originally, she was expecting to find either a single narrow path or a vast cave, but neither of these was actually true.

Instead, the cave was built like a web, divided into many different corridors, numbering in the thousands.

The sound of footsteps and fighting could be heard from within some of these corridors, obviously a result of the Devils’ arrival.

With a cautious expression, Liora turned her head to Eshara and signaled her with her eyes.

Though she said nothing, Eshara immediately understood her meaning. While wary, she reached into her clothes and took the luminous gem out.

As soon as it appeared, the glow on the gem’s surface flickered violently, while it shifted towards the east.

”It reacted! I can feel that taking this path is the best.”, she spoke to Liora excitedly.

Hearing her words, Liora observed the path that the gem was guiding them to enter.

From the outside, it appeared no different from the countless paths around it. Even when she deliberately activated her Void Instinct, nothing unusual about it was found.

Liora seemed to hesitate for a split second before finally nodding her head. Still, she remained cautious.

”You go first.”, she gestured to Eshara, and seeing her go in with nothing happening, she followed behind her.

The path was not narrow, more than enough for two people to pass through, while its walls were made of molten rock.

Walking half a step behind Eshara, Liora walked deeper into the path. As she did, she sensed the temperature rise, as if they were moving closer to the volcano.

From time to time, the path would split into a fork, but every time, Eshara would activate the glowing gem and lead them.

Suddenly, just when the two had stepped into another path, Liora’s eyes narrowed.

Reaching out, she grabbed Eshara’s shoulder and pulled her back, throwing her behind her.

A look of shock flashed in Eshara’s face, and she opened her mouth to ask why she attacked her, when her eyes shrank.

While she was still in mid-air, the molten rock walls cracked abruptly. A small shadow charged out of the gap, landing on the place she previously stood.

With a loud bang, a deep pit formed on the ground, while the molten walls shuddered, causing rocks to fall from the ceiling.

When the dust settled, the appearance of the shadow was revealed—a golem, made out of crude lumps of rock and magma, its body cracked and uneven.

After its sneak attack failed, the golem didn’t pause, but immediately lunged at Liora, its body sizzling as it did so.

Seeing the golem targeting her, Liora didn’t panic. Instead of retreating, she stepped forward, dark mist coiling around her arms.

A pair of claws formed and sliced toward the golem, tearing through its defense and cutting it in two.

But even so, the golem was not dead. Its bottom part continued to charge, while its upper body—now on the ground—crawled forward using its arms.

”It’s not a living creature! Attack the core on its head!”, Liora heard Eshara shout, and although doubtful, she followed her advice.

Her figure blurred, reappearing before the golem’s upper body, and she swung her claws, aiming directly at its head.

The golem’s defense proved useless as the claws easily penetrated it and popped out of the other side of its head, holding a crimson orb.

The moment the orb was pulled out, the golem seemed to have lost its source of energy. After a thunderous roar, its movements stopped, and it fell to the ground, motionless.

No soul emerged after its death, confirming Eshara’s previous words—this thing had never been alive.

Deactivating the Shadow Claws, Liora turned her gaze to the orb in her hand, her eyes filled with curiosity.

On the side, Eshara also stepped forward and observed the orb with her.

”I heard that some abilities can summon or even create other creatures. This golem must be such a creature.”, she said, her ideas coinciding with Liora’s.

”The golem must be the creation of the Soul Devil. Perhaps she knew that people would discover this place and placed them here as a means of defense.”, she added.

It could be seen from the paleness of her face that Eshara was really scared, knowing that she would have died if not for Liora’s help.

”It doesn’t matter whether the Soul Devil is prepared. Now that we’re here, it’s impossible to retreat.”, Liora shook her head, and after placing the orb away, she moved on.

From then on, lava golems would appear out of nowhere and ambush the two. Thankfully, their actual combat power was quite weak, and the two easily dealt with them.

Even Eshara, whose soul-based abilities were ”countered” by these non-living golems, had no issue killing them.

However, some people were not so lucky.

Playing with an orb in her hand and gazing at the Devil’s corpse sprawled beside a fallen golem, Liora realized something.

”I’m afraid that the various paths inside the cave are all part of a huge maze. Every path is connected, with only one of them leading toward the final exit.”

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but feel lucky to have followed Eshara. Otherwise, without the gem’s ability to predict good fortune, she would have been lost long ago.

Although she was bound to find the exit sooner or later, it would have taken several attempts and wasted far more time.

”I can feel that we’re getting closer!”, Eshara held the gem tightly and said with a flushed face, unable to hide her inner excitement.

Perhaps it was because of this excitement, or perhaps it was because Liora’s actions were well-hidden, but Eshara didn’t notice that the blood of the corpse was rapidly drained away, flowing into Liora’s armor through her feet.

In the blink of an eye, the corpse had lost all of its blood, becoming a mummy. In return, the power of Liora’s Myriad Devils Armor had increased, albeit only slightly.

Liora’s expression didn’t change; as if nothing had happened, she continued walking deeper into the cave.

This time, though, she had one more goal apart from killing the Soul Devil—to devour the other Devil’s blood.

”Isn’t this equivalent to picking up trash?”, she couldn’t help but complain, but her actions were very honest.

Whenever she came across a corpse, she quietly drained its blood away, while making sure that Eshara didn’t notice.

She didn’t know how much blood she had devoured along the way, but she could sense that the defense provided by the Myriad Devils Armor had improved by more than thirty percent.

Unfortunately, all things were destined to come to an end.

Before long, Liora and Eshara arrived at the maze’s exit.