Is this... the city of devils?
Roland couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. He originally thought the memory fragments would connect to a decisive battleground, but he never expected to have the chance to directly face the enemy's lair.
However, the scene before him had many differences from the mirage seen by the Cooperative Association.
At least, as he looked around, he couldn't find the most conspicuous core main tower—the giant obelisk that the witches of Taquila described as being made from godstone veins, capable of self-growth, and producing red mist.
After all, there were simply too many towers here.
Moreover, some of them stood on the edge of the cliff, with most of the tower body cantilevered outwards, like empty pavilions.
How were such magnificent buildings constructed?
Also, if this city wasn't the one seen by Leaves and the others, then where would it be?
Or perhaps it was located in an even more distant place... like the continent where the legend says devils were born?
At this moment, Roland noticed that near the red mist lake at the bottom of the ring-shaped pit, there seemed to be firelight flickering.
Unlike the crystal-clear mist surface, it seemed to be flame burning in its natural state.
This couldn't help but surprise him. Since the red mist could burn, the city of devils should prohibit open flames.
Out of goodwill, he decided to go down to the bottom of the pit to take a look—according to the architectural style of opening holes in the cliffs, there should be downward stairways or hanging baskets nearby.
However, before he could walk a hundred meters, Roland suddenly stopped abruptly, and all the muscles in his body tensed up!
A team of devils actually walked out from the corner ahead!
Judging by their appearance, they should all be Berserk Devils, wearing bone armor and wielding short spears. The two leading ones were even wearing gloves, and their burly figures almost blocked half of his path.
And the distance between them was less than ten steps!
Wait, how could there be living things in the memory fragments?
He had never seen a single Judgement Army soldier or church priest when strolling around his own Hermes Cathedral!
This unexpected event caught Roland off guard, and he didn't know how to react for a moment.
Run away?
He had witnessed the power and accuracy of the Berserk Devils when throwing spears, and turning his back to the enemy was undoubtedly a suicidal act.
Rush up and take them down?
The power of the dream world was still running through his body, and at this moment, his skills far surpassed ordinary people, but compared to these bloodthirsty monsters, his combat skills were basically still at the level of brawling. One-on-one might be possible, but fighting six Berserk Devils alone? He felt that the chances of winning were slim, especially the Iron Hand Devil leading the way, whose powerful electric shock ability was definitely the nemesis of melee combatants.
However, before he could make a decision, something surprising happened again.
The devils didn't seem to notice the uninvited guest, and walked past him on their own, without even pausing.
Roland was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously turned around and reached out to touch the arm of the last Berserk Devil.
His fingers passed through its skin, but his fingertips didn't feel any sensation, as if he were touching a phantom.
So... is that how it is?
He thoughtfully retracted his hand and bent down to press it against the ground.
This time, his palm clearly felt the dampness of the black soil eroded by the red mist.
Roland's heart had a vague answer.
It seemed that the resistance will of the Devourer could not only determine the range of the memory fragments but also affect the things displayed in the scene—the content preserved in this memory was obviously much more than what Zero left behind.
Following this line of thought, two new doubts arose in his mind.
One was the church warriors who deliberately sacrificed themselves to feed Zero—to what extent could their memories be rich? Could they even talk to those who died after entering?
The other was Zero's resistance consciousness—or rather, how strong was her hatred and unwillingness after losing to him? It actually scared the devils away.
Thinking of this, he suddenly had the urge to go back and give the
little one at home a spanking.
Roland took a deep breath, cast aside the distracting thoughts in his heart, and quickened his pace towards his destination.
...
Just as he thought, there were many ramps and stone stairs leading to the bottom of the pit on the edge of the ring-shaped cliff, and some of them were built very spacious, not inferior to the main roads of Neverwinter City.
The further down he went, the deeper his feeling for the vastness of the Red Mist Lake became.
Even if half of the Western Region's Great Snow Mountain were flattened, it would probably be no more than this. Standing on the hillside, he couldn't help but feel a sense of insignificance, as if the world was moving away from him, leaving only the surging mist pillars and the overhanging stone towers looming in the mist.
It was hard to imagine that this sinkhole was formed naturally.
What was even more incredible was that the devils had transformed this place into their long-term residence.
How many centuries would it take to carve out a ring-shaped pit passage wide enough for carriages to pass through, and pave a layer of hard black flint?
If the technical level and social organization of the devils were measured by this, they would be considered an extremely troublesome enemy no matter how one looked at it.
Humans today have no chance of winning by luck. If they want to win the Battle of Divine Will, the four kingdoms must go all out.
As he moved closer to the firelight, Roland noticed that the devils on the road became more and more dense.
They weren't all carrying weapons, and most of them were wearing animal skins or cloth robes. Their appearance and physique were even more diverse. It was hard to imagine that these guys were the same species just by looking at them.
Pasha's intelligence also mentioned that the Union had captured some deformed devils without magic power and low combat effectiveness, but it was still uncertain whether they were a kind of devil or a vassal race enslaved by the devils.
However, Roland didn't find any superior devils similar to supervisors around, and their actions seemed completely spontaneous, which meant that the answer should be the former.
This separation seemed even more thorough than the witch's division. Not only was it ability, but even the form had undergone a complete differentiation.
It was just unclear whether they were born from the same source, or each born separately, and there was no possibility of change forever?
Do devils also have males and females?
Or rather, is their reproduction completely different from humans and cannot be generalized?
With this guess in mind, Roland finally arrived at the bottom of the ring-shaped pit.
He found that the source of the firelight actually came from a circle of blazing bonfires—a stone bridge extending from the side of the rock wall was connected to a circular isolated island in the Red Mist Lake.
Although it was called an island, there was no support below, as if it was directly supported by a slender stone bridge, which made people worry that it might fall at any time. The bonfire was built around the isolated island, and when the mist pillars rose, the flames would also suddenly appear bright, as if echoing the roar of the mist lake, sometimes even more than ten meters high, which was why Roland could notice the flickering below from the top of the cliff.
It seemed that although the red mist could burn, it wasn't just a little bit of ignitable gas.
And there were at least tens of thousands of devils gathered in this area. They densely occupied all the slopes, platforms, and caves of the rock wall. Colorful banners fluttered in the ever-changing gale, and the unintelligible roars and shouts almost drowned out the roar of the airflow at the bottom of the cave.
Roland couldn't help but blink his eyes.
Were the devils... holding a ceremony?