Suddenly, a long blast of horns silenced all the devils, while the red mist at the bottom of the pit churned even more eagerly, and the formerly crystalline lake surface roiled like boiling lava.

Roland noticed that, with the horns blaring, two devils walked out of the crowd and onto the slender stone bridge.

One belonged to the Berserker demon species, and the other somewhat resembled the Hell Lord Agatha had described.

The former was already burly enough, stronger than any Berserker demon he had seen before, but it seemed less impressive in front of the reptile-like Hell Lord.

Neither of them wore armor, and they jostled each other along the way, the atmosphere far from harmonious.

The surrounding devils not only showed no surprise, but seemed exceptionally excited.

What was this supposed to be? A duel?

Roland immediately thought of the signature activity of those savage races—a one-on-one battle to demonstrate bravery, never stopping until one side fell, and the last one standing was the hero of the tribe.

He wasn't racially prejudiced, but this kind of self-damaging fighting style, though exciting, would eventually lead to their own demise. Therefore, the gladiator matches that were once popular on Earth were only held between slaves and beasts. In other words, no one cared who died.

Of course, sitting on the human side, he naturally enjoyed the spectacle. Roland used the convenience of the ghost perspective to pass directly through layers of devils and followed them onto the stone bridge.

After entering the floating island, he realized that someone had already arrived at this platform, which was about the size of Neverwinter City's square.

When Roland saw the other party clearly, he couldn't help but widen his eyes.

It was actually a female devil!

No, he couldn't be sure if the other party was female in the literal sense, but from her appearance, she did have many characteristics of a human female.

And her appearance was quite attractive, the kind that could definitely cause a sensation in later generations—

Wait, this is completely unscientific!

The alarm bells in his heart suddenly rang loudly.

Why could an alien race that had nothing to do with humans give birth to such similar individuals? Standing upright was fine; for predators, a higher field of vision could indeed bring more survival advantages, which could be considered a common skill point in the path of evolution, but even the appearance was so similar, it was too much.

Fortunately, the female devil still retained extremely obvious alien features, such as cyan-black skin, protruding horns, bone spurs all over her shoulders and arms, and a third eye standing on her forehead. Except for a well-informed transmigrator like him, others probably wouldn't be interested in such a terrifying "monster."

The two devils did not start fighting immediately. Instead, they bowed to the woman in the white gauze robe before each retreated to the edge of the platform, standing solemnly facing the Lake of Red Mist.

The female devil also slowly walked to the edge of the island and began to chant loudly.

The lake surface churned even more violently, as if something was about to emerge.

Roland realized that this was probably not a simple duel, or rather, what they were challenging was not each other…

As soon as this thought emerged, two thick tentacles burst out of the red mist and lashed out at the Berserker and the Hell Lord—if this blow hit, not to mention smashing them into meat patties, their lives would definitely be in danger. But they didn't make any resistance, instead eagerly raising their hands.

With a loud shout from the female devil, the tentacles seemed very unwilling to stop above the two, and after wriggling for a moment, they spat out a stream of mucus and a crystal-clear gem.

Then, they unhesitatingly used their fingers to pry open the skin on their chests and pressed the gem firmly into the flesh.

In an instant, a strong light burst out, almost blinding!

Roland's heart tensed—was that a Magic Stone?

Were the devil's combat troops obtaining supernatural abilities through this method?

But he vaguely felt that something was wrong. The Berserker demons were the lowest-level soldiers of the enemy. A big battle would have tens of thousands, if not thousands. If even their transformation required such pomp, this city wouldn't have to do anything else all day long.

A few minutes later, the light gradually faded, and the scene that appeared shocked him.

The once arrogant Hell Lord had shrunk into a ball, as if enduring great pain. All the pores on its back had opened, constantly spewing out bursts of white mist, and its body even showed signs of melting.

The Berserker demon was much better off. Although its expression was particularly ferocious, and conspicuous blue veins bulged at the wound on its chest, it was at least still standing. In addition, its figure had obviously shrunk a lot, and its arms and legs were no longer as thick as buckets. He didn't know if it was a sequela of embedding the Magic Stone.

Looking at the two devils in such different situations, Roland couldn't help but think of the God's Punishment Army transformation ritual.

Did they need to pay the price of their lives to become warriors and gain the favor of magic?

However, the next moment, the Hell Lord let out a piercing screech. It raised its upper body and pressed towards the female devil in the field with lightning speed.

With a loud bang, the entire floating island trembled.

Roland originally thought he would see a pool of flattened minced meat under the other party, but there was nothing except broken bricks.

The Hell Lord, having lost its target, became even more furious. Its pair of red eyes looked at the Berserker demon on the other side, its killing intent obvious.

So that's how it is.

He roughly understood the reason for this change.

Failure to embed a Magic Stone would not kill the devils, but would turn them into something else—at least the Hell Lord's appearance was now more inclined towards a reptile monster form, and there was no trace of rationality in its movements. It, which had previously been considered an intelligent species, had now degenerated into a complete beast.

However, to his surprise, the Berserker demon showed no signs of avoidance, but instead fought with the giant reptile with a fanatical expression!

The Magic Stone had given it new abilities, and its shrunken size had made it more agile!

The seemingly powerful four-legged monster was retreating under the Berserker demon's attack. The high-temperature steam it spewed could only burn the corners of the other party's clothes, but the black light waves released by the other party could leave deep, visible wounds on its body.

In less than five minutes, the battle came to an end.

The final blow came from the Berserker demon's signature throw—it simply tore off the monster's tail, skinned it in a few strokes, raised the long string of tail bones high, and threw it hard at the dying target!

The bone shot out like lightning and pierced through the Hell Lord's head. The four-legged monster had no breath left.

Roland, who was watching the battle from the sidelines, had a gloomy face. He noticed that the winner's arm did not show any signs of withering.

After killing its irrational kin, the Berserker demon walked step by step to the huge corpse, tore off the Magic Stone, and swallowed it along with the other party's flesh and blood.

The audience suddenly erupted in a chorus of exclamations!

Even the female devil, who had returned to the field at some point, raised her eyebrows in slight surprise.

The Berserker demon once again showed a painful expression, and steam came out of its nostrils and ears... But Roland clearly saw that in this indescribable torment, the other party grinned, as if it couldn't be better.

This change lasted much longer, about half an hour before it gradually recovered. After tearing off the skin covered with scalded blisters, the Berserker demon's face had become completely different from before.

Roland couldn't help but gasp.

That was undoubtedly a face close to that of a human!

Seeing this scene, the devils on the opposite side of the isolated island shouted wildly.

"Xialita!"

He didn't know who started it first, but soon, this incomprehensible word became a roar that resounded throughout the Lake of Red Mist!

"Xialita!"

"Xialita!"

"Xialita!"

Roland's heart sank to the bottom.

He couldn't help but recall the rumor that Pasha had mentioned.

"Rumor has it that the first Battle of Divine Will hadn't even started..."

"No, it should be said that even earlier, someone had contacted the devils."

"At that time, they were no different from beasts. It was a human who passed knowledge on to them."

"And this... is also the reason why the later high-level devils tend to be humanoid."