Chapter 132: The Hell King
The girls all rolled their eyes.
But they didn’t say no. They picked up their [White Wolf’s Eye] rifles and aimed at the sea below. Since the Eldritch Entities were standing in neat rows, the girls just mowed them down in one sweep. It was quick and efficient.
Kevin had already sent a squad of Fish Fiends to wait underwater.
As soon as the Eldritch Entities were all dead, the Fish Fiends started collecting the drops.
This time, they fished out over a dozen C-Tier items and four B-Tier items.
After the girls split them up, Kevin’s reward multiplier gave him over a hundred more treasures.
That made Kevin feel a lot better. It had been a while since he’d felt this relaxed and happy-not since the whole evil god Pelosi incident.
Kevin noticed that Nova’s necklace, the [Mermaid Princess’s Guardian Heart], had dimmed by about two-thirds.
"Time to head back," Kevin muttered.
The Dragon Form Mist Phantom flew all the way back, carrying everyone to the "Daddy" Cannon. There were still a few hours until dawn. Kevin checked his watch, then turned to tell the girls to trade away all the C-Tier items they had just gotten.
After everything that had happened, Kevin was on high alert.
First Draven and Aaron, then the evil god Pelosi.
It felt like the more he tried to take control of things on the Terror Sea, the more things slipped out of his hands.
"Maybe I died too soon in my past life," Kevin said with a bitter smile.
To deal with whatever threats might come next, Kevin knew he had to make the girls stronger.
But this time, they had to earn it themselves. He had already taken them along to rob enough resources. If they still couldn’t grow stronger after all that, there was no excuse.
As for the rewards from the system’s multiplier-those were his. He needed to get stronger too.
Above the "Daddy" Cannon.
After getting the girls settled, Kevin flew up high on his Wheels of Flame & Wind.
He summoned the Dragon Form Mist Phantom, then took out his VIP card from the Eldritch Marketplace and casually folded it in half. In an instant, a magic circle lit up beneath his feet.
Kevin felt the ground disappear beneath him, and a strong sense of weightlessness hit him.
When he landed again, he was surprised to find himself standing in the hall of an old castle.
In the empty hall, Lilith swirled her glass and watched Kevin with interest.
"Welcome, honored guest. This is the VIP lounge of the Eldritch Marketplace. What can I do for you?"
Kevin looked at Lilith’s serious face and just rolled his eyes.
It was obvious this Succubus had learned her lesson from last time.
She was afraid Kevin would bring her some other troublesome enemy, so she had changed the way they did business and pulled him straight into her own territory.
"Looks like if I hadn’t given you a hard time, I would never have known VIPs of the Eldritch Marketplace get this kind of service," Kevin said, giving Lilith a meaningful look as he walked forward.
Lilith pretended not to understand what Kevin meant and kept a straight face. "Pick whatever you want to buy, sir."
She handed Kevin the list of items available to VIPs.
Kevin took the list but frowned. "Don’t waste my time. I’m here to trade items. I need something that can fully suppress the abnormal condition in Nova. I won’t let Pelosi take over Nova’s soul again."
Lilith’s face showed no emotion. "Honored guest, the items you need are all on the list. You can pick them yourself."
Kevin frowned. Is this girl still mad at me?
He set the list aside and raised his hand. In an instant, seven hundred and twenty-nine C-Tier items appeared before him.
Lilith stared at the mountain of treasure. Her eyes widened. "You actually gathered enough resources to trade for an S-Tier item in such a short time?"
[Affection +5]
Kevin heard the notification in his ear and thought to himself, "Lilith is definitely a money-grubber."
When he looked up again, the distance in Lilith’s expression was completely gone.
She greeted him with her usual enthusiasm. "Don’t worry. With these resources, I guarantee Pelosi won’t be able to do anything to Nova anymore."
Lilith hummed a little tune as she patiently searched through the items.
The Eldritch Marketplace had so many treasures that even Lilith had to spend a good ten minutes before she found an Eldritch Artifact that satisfied Kevin.
[The Hell King’s Soul Stone: S-Tier Eldritch Artifact. The user can merge the soul stone into their soul sea and summon The Hell King within it to block all external soul damage. The user can expend Sanity to unleash The Hell King’s power. Side Effect: The Hell King will slowly corrode the holder’s soul. When the soul weakens enough, The Hell King will descend into the holder’s soul through nightmares, absorbing their soul energy until the holder becomes The Hell King’s slave.]
Kevin looked at the Eldritch Artifact and nodded in satisfaction.
There was no doubt about it-this Eldritch Artifact was absolutely brutal.
Even if the evil god Pelosi tried to invade Nova’s soul again, she would have to face The Hell King first.
The only downside was that this Eldritch Artifact would keep eating away at Nova’s soul energy. But that wasn’t a problem, because Nova’s [Cursed Wraith Songstress] Talent was designed to absorb exactly that kind of corrosive energy. It would cancel out the artifact’s potential harm to Nova.
If anyone else held onto [The Hell King’s Soul Stone], they’d probably become The Hell King’s slave within a few months.
But in Nova’s hands, that poor Hell King would just end up working for her instead.
Trying to corrupt Nova’s soul?
Not gonna happen.
Instead, The Hell King’s corrosive power would actually help Nova strengthen her [Cursed Wraith Songstress] Talent even further.
"I’ll take this one." Kevin grabbed the Eldritch Artifact and headed for the door.
Lilith frowned slightly. "Something feels off here."
She glanced at the pile of treasure beside her.
The C-Tier items Kevin had left behind were all high quality, and the count was exactly right.
But Lilith still felt like Kevin wouldn’t let her off that easily.
The way she had treated him earlier-there was no way that man was going to just walk away.
Thinking this, Lilith hurried after Kevin. "Honored guest, don’t you want to stay a little longer? The drinks here are free, you know. You can’t get them anywhere else."
Kevin paused briefly and said softly, "Lilith, you know I’m in a hurry to deal with Nova’s problem. That’s why I followed your rules and finished this trade."
"But from now on, I’ll be finding a different merchant from the Eldritch Marketplace."
Lilith’s heart sank. Oh no. She knew she had taken the joke too far with Kevin.
But before she could explain, Kevin walked straight out of the castle hall’s passageway. With a flash of white light, Kevin was back in the real world, standing on the back of the Dragon Form Mist Phantom.
He didn’t waste any time. He jumped down and went straight to Nova’s room in the cabin.
Nova was already unconscious.
Around her neck, the [Mermaid Princess’s Guardian Heart] necklace had gone almost completely dark and dull.
Kevin knew this meant Pelosi was still eating away at Nova’s soul.
His eyes turned cold, and he let out a snort. "Watch me mess with that old woman again."
Kevin took out [The Hell King’s Soul Stone] and pressed it against Nova’s forehead.
The soul stone quickly melted into her brow, leaving behind an Eldritch demon mark on her forehead.
Then, deep inside Nova’s soul sea, the true form of a demon king slowly took shape.
It let out a couple of roars, and Nova’s soul sea instantly began to boil.
The clear, blue waters of the soul sea turned into bubbling lava, and the bright blue soul space became a bloody demon hell.
Only Nova’s own soul core remained clear and bright.
The Hell King tried to touch Nova’s soul core.
But soon, a bolt of lightning struck The Hell King. It roared in pain and realized that deep inside Nova’s soul core, the soul stone that sealed The Hell King’s own soul origin was spinning. It had completely merged with Nova’s soul.
If The Hell King tried to destroy Nova’s soul, it would be killing itself.
Realizing this, The Hell King let out a cold snort and plopped down right in the middle of the soul sea.
Now it was officially Nova’s soul bodyguard. Because if Nova died, it would die too.
Kevin watched the whole thing. Only after he was sure The Hell King wouldn’t hurt Nova did he finally pull himself out of Nova’s soul space with satisfaction.
But Kevin still left a small viewing window inside Nova’s soul sea. Whenever he wanted, he could check on The Hell King’s condition inside Nova’s soul.
Now it was time to see who was stronger-Pelosi or this Hell King.
Kevin slowly unclasped the necklace around Nova’s neck.
The moment the [Mermaid Princess’s Guardian Heart] left her skin, it crumbled into ash. It had completely lost its protective power.
And then, a terrifying aura suddenly descended upon Nova.
Kevin could even sense the arrogant laughter of the evil god Pelosi.
At the same time, inside Nova’s soul sea, Pelosi was laughing wildly.
Her consciousness descended into this soul space-and instantly froze.
The soul sea was boiling like lava. The sky was horrifying, twisted, and blood-red. If someone had told Pelosi this was hell, she wouldn’t have doubted it at all.
"Dammit, did I descend into the wrong place?" Just as Pelosi was confused, a roar came from behind her.
"Ugly woman! Get out of here!" The Hell King opened its giant mouth, and scorching lava mixed with destructive magic blasted straight toward Pelosi’s consciousness.