No.3, upon receiving my order for more meat, jumped right away into the lake of lava and brought out two Demon Fire Worms soon after. These wormy creatures were so numerous, thanks to their splitting and regrowing abilities, that their numbers never seemed to drop no matter how many were hunted down.
Initially, I was worried that the salamander would refuse to eat the worm, seeing as it was basically an evolved worm and eating a worm would be akin to cannibalism. Yet, as facts would soon show, I was overthinking matters once more. Even without No.3 doing anything, the salamander immediately issued a weird cry upon seeing the worm. Naturally, we didn’t know what that cry meant, but that wasn’t important at all. What was important, was that the worm understood it.
The worm that was thrown before the salamander by No.3, immediately split into two with one bolting towards the lake while the other jumped into the mouth of the salamander without it even lifting a finger…
As the weird cries continued, we saw a stream of worms crawl out of the lava lake. All of them were noticeably smaller than an average worm; clearly, they were all split-offs from another worm.
One by one, they wiggled their way, in an orderly fashion no less, towards the waiting mouth of the salamander…
With ample nourishment, the regrowing rate of the salamander sped up significantly. Its innards began to regrow, followed by its waist, its hind legs, its tail, etc. All in all, it took close to two hours for it to recover from what should have been a fatal injury. Had it not been for the newly grown skin being more tender than the old, I would have honestly mistaken the former for the latter.
However, the extent of its regrowing wasn’t the only thing that shocked me. What was equally surprising was how the Demon Fire Worms acted just now…to think they actually fed themselves to the salamander of their own volition…exactly what kind of relationship did the two have?
Just based on what I just saw, there was no way the relationship between them was simply one of evolution.
Having recovered completely, the salamander now threw me an extremely sentient looking gaze. For it to be able to do that, meant that it possessed some form of intelligence and was able to recognize the authority I held in this group. Like that, the salamander stared at me for a moment. However, I merely ignored it and that probably made it think that I had given it tacit approval. Because of that, or perhaps it simply wanted to take a gamble, it decided to turn around and crawl towards the lake unbidden.
Before it could take a second step however, Big 4 swooped in front of him and cut off its path, claws and fangs bared. Immediately, the salamander shrunk inwards, stopped crawling and laid down on the ground. Its back straightened to form a line while its lower jaw dipped down to the level of its front claws. That was undoubtedly a prostrating action, seeing as such position was completely unsuited to a leaping attack; its hind legs weren’t arced after all.
Had it been a human, that would definitely have been a kowtow.
“Let it go, there’s no need to kill it anymore.” Truth be told, I was relieved to see it plead.
As for why I released it, the reason was simple: because I was worried, worried about the salamander society as a whole.
From the way the salamander was able to summon forth worms and have them offer themselves as food, it was obvious the Demon Fire Worms were nothing in the eyes of the Demon Fire Salamanders. Most likely, their status was akin to that of slaves. These worms were the most numerous lifeforms we encountered so far and no matter how many we killed, there seemed to be no end to them. In short, they were expendable. The salamanders on the other hand, were almost an entirely different lifeform; they held a leadership position unlike the aforementioned worms.
With that in mind, I decided to let that salamander off the hook, out of fear of any unexpected repercussions.
Hearing my command, Big 4 stepped aside for the salamander who then turned around and threw me a probing look. I nodded at it to show that I was letting it go. Seeing that, it nodded back at me as well before slowly crawling back to the lake. Every two steps it took, it would turn around and gaze at me once more. While I didn’t know why it did that, I could tell that it held no malice in its eyes. Perhaps it was merely curious.
Having sent away that lizard, we resumed our aimless wandering once more.
Because we had no real sense of direction right now, I decided to just take a straight path in hopes that we would stumble upon some lifeform we could communicate with. Truth be told, I had mixed feeling about meeting any potential devil in Purgatory. While it was a fact that we didn’t know the way to Abaddon and that we would most likely have to ask for directions, I couldn’t help but worry whether or not those devils would take an interest in me…
Ahem…what I was saying was that my appearance was basically unparalleled amongst the devils right now. But I was still a male in the end…I definitely didn’t want to be captured and turned into some kind of trophy wife…
Ever since we met that salamander, we stopped attacking any salamander we met, choosing instead to hunt Demon Fire Worms and Fire Devouring Fishes. Like always, the meat went to No.3 and Big 4 while Mo Na and I absorbed the souls.
Our journey continued like that for over a week till finally, we came upon a giant pond that cut off our path forward.
Faced with such a giant body of lava, we either had to fly or take a very long detour around it.
Devils were able to fly thanks to their wings. However, that didn’t mean they were able to fly well. Ever since No.3 and Big 4 evolved into Flame Demon Childes, they gained a pair of flesh wings. They would often practise flying with those wings but even so, their turning flexibility was still lacking. Most likely it had to do with their large bodies placing a lot of stress on their meaty wings.
The giant pond in front of us had a markedly different color from the lava lake. While the lava lake, in general, was colored like a dark shade of magma, and seemed almost bloody at times, the pond in front us was a lot purer in color to the extent that it almost had a surreal beauty to it.
Even more amazing was that I could see a bunch of humanoid flames leaping about at our distant flanks. Each of them had a look of joy as they frolicked about. Their bodies were made entirely of flames and they largely resemble humans except for the lack of their finer features.
Because they didn’t communicate in the language of the devil, I couldn’t understand a word they said. However, it was still clear to me that they were having the time of lives, running on top of the pond.
‘Are those the fire elementals from my inherited memories? Come to think of it, isn’t it natural for Purgatory to have such creatures since it’s basically a plane made of fire?’
Yet just as I was pondering how to face these elementals, the elementals discovered us. A shrill cry echoed across the lake for a few deafening seconds, and the mirror-like surface of the pond stirred in response. A mass of bubbles began forming all of a sudden, as if something was about to come rushing out of lava pond.
‘Maybe we can still make it if we run now…’
It was too late. A fiery pillar burst into the sky from the center of the pond and a horde of fire elementals came rushing out of it. Their numbers were so numerous, my eyes began to swim just from trying to count them.
“Mama, they’re coming towards us!” Completely unfazed by their numbers, she flew in front of me and with a flick of her wrist, summoned a long whip made entirely of dark energy. “Don’t worry Mama, Mo Na will protect you!”
“Master, we’re here too, don’t worry.” Big 4 and No.3 rushed out in front of me, weapons readied and spirits high.
Needless to say, those weren’t the same weapons they used in the Prison of the Dead; new weapons for a new place and all that. The new gear set was named “Fire Devouring Claws”, crafted by Mo Na under my strict supervision, and shaped to resemble fist weapons. The gauntlet-like portion was crafted using the sturdiest portion of the fish’s scales, and further enhanced by magical tempering. The claw section of the weapon was crafted using the teeth of the fish which, after going through Mo Na’s skillful transmutation, had its killing power boosted by several fold.
The design, in general, was that of a medieval knight’s gauntlets, with allowance made for finger movement. Still, there was no helping the fact that there would still be some performance loss. Naturally, it wasn’t practical for them to put it on at all times so I had a bone chain affixed to the gauntlets for easy storage on their waist.
These black claws were specially designed by me with this environment in mind. Although No.3 and Big 4 were Flame Demon Childes, they couldn’t spend all day in the lava lake either. Plus, their opponents would most likely be fishes and worms so I decided on claws instead of the usual weapon designs I had. After all, I couldn’t expect them to go fishing with a bunch of maces or swords…that won’t do at all.
Upon assembling, the fire elementals didn’t rush at us as expected but instead maintained some distance between us as they exchanged gazes with each other. Even so, their aggressive stance was more than enough to put us on high alert. For all we know, a simple provocation might end up triggering a violent response from them.
Thankfully, the worst never came to pass. The moment they realized that we were just four lonely souls, they seemed to heave a sigh of relief. Naturally, they didn’t actually show relief on their faces. After all, the majority of their faces were a fuzzy mess and there’s no way anyone could discern a thing from that.
Right ahead of us, the elementals continued talking to each other in their own unique language while we simply stood there watching, unable to leave but also unable to stay.
