Book 6: Chapter 391: Final Encounter in the Netherworld Region Under the Imperial Capital
Book 6: Chapter 391: Final Encounter in the Netherworld Region Under the Imperial Capital
The Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City’s imperial city area, in the underground chambers of Empress Manya Felan’s palace. After a short moment of hesitation, Bella still decided to enter the underground secret passageways. Previously, when she was asking Empress Manya Felan for information about the passage, time was too short so she didn’t get to ask what the secret passages actually contained.
Bella recalled that Empress Manya Felan’s face had grown distorted when she asked about it. She probably saw something terrifying in the secret passage but didn’t get to tell Bella in time. If she retreats now, Bella felt like that was too wimpy to do. They had a Demon God and six Renegades on their side. With the help of Assassin Noreya, Bella and the others walked through the entrance of the underground passage in full sneak.
As soon as they entered the secret passage, Bella was shocked by the sight before her. Not only was this underground passage used for escaping, but it was also a place for Empress Manya Felan to store her treasures. The only things stored in the treasury of the Manasvir Empire are the usual taxes earned during the daily operation of the empire and the tributes from various duchies, adding up to around a few hundred millions worth of gold coins. However, compared to the treasure piled up inside the secret passage, it was just a drop in the bucket.
As a transmigrator, Empress Manya Felan didn’t have any supreme golden fingers, but she had an amazing talent for making money. She had been frantically accumulating wealth over the past ten thousand years. Since she had no other skills, she could only rely on making money to distract herself. Once this treasury that had ten thousand years of wealth accumulated in it was shown to outsiders for the first time, even Demon God existences like Bella and Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha were shocked by the amount of wealth accumulated inside this place.
The underground treasure didn’t have any golden coins. They weren’t even qualified to be kept here. The things piling up here were legendary currency like platinum coins, dark gold coins, and purple gold coins. Purple gold coins belonged to Empress Manya Felan herself and were not available in the market. Dark gold coins and platinum coins have the same value as purple coins. They were all equivalent to a thousand gold coins apiece. Dark gold coins are the currency used by humans when trading with the Demon World or the Netherworld. Platinum coins are the currency used when trading with Heaven and the God World. Empress Manya Felan’s businesses spanned over three realms.
Other than the three rare currencies strewn across the ground, Bella also saw the legendary top currency, the gem coin, also known as diamond coin. They weren’t made of your average gemstone. They were made of gemstones with magical properties, and due to their differences, the colors also differed. There were many different classifications such as ruby gem coins, sapphire gem coins, and so on, hence the nickname, “Rainbow Coin”. This was the ultimate currency. Each gem coin can be exchanged with differing numbers of gold coins due to the differing qualities, but the lowest exchange ratio would not be less than 10,000 gold coins.
That high exchange price wasn’t unreasonable. The gem coin is an ultimate magic material itself due to the material it was made of. What shocked Bella was the fact that there were many gem coins piling up in the underground treasure. There was so much that she couldn’t visually assess the amount with her eyes. She wasn’t just rich enough to rival a nation. She was probably rich enough to rival the entire continent. With money alone, Empress Manya Felan was able to throw every rich person and royalty of the human continent on the ground and step on them, and that was without even counting her other treasures.
In addition to the rare coins, there were all sorts of gems, pearls, night pearls, and other treasures. Empress Manya Felan must not have had time to process them as the gems and other stuff in here were basically in their natural state. Bella and the others were shocked. They fell into a brief silence for a moment. The treasures in this underground chamber were so dazzling that even they, as high-ranking existences, had to pay attention.
An ocean’s worth of ten-thousand-year-old demonic beast cores, all kinds of lost artifacts, magic weapons, anything that could be called a treasure, Empress Manya Felan had it in her treasure trove. Probably due to her habits from her past life as a transmigrator, Empress Manya Felan collected some antiques here as well. Bella saw relics of other empires that had fallen to ruin ten thousand years ago.
Girls had practically no immunity towards jewels. Even high-ranking existences like Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha and Myriad Sword Demon Krysan were entranced. Bella was the quicker one to react and looked away from the gigantic deep sea pearls. She had turned into a girl halfway so she still had some immunity to jewels.
In addition to the treasure, there were some monsters here. They weren’t regular demonic beings. If they were, Bella and the other dark high-level existences would have detected them instantly. Many golden figures were pacing around in the treasure hall. They were golden statues in strange and monstrous shapes. They didn’t have the aura of a demonic being but instead a strange aura of resentment. It was a strange emotion mixed with greed and hatred. Bella was able to receive the negative signals they were sending to her.
“Bella, they were formed out of resentment. They’re not considered demonic beings. They should be…”
Mage Ariel quickly deciphered the origins of the golden statues, similar to the tsukumogami on Earth, but only their medium was gold. So it turns out that gold coins were originally stored here, but these gold coins were different from the other coins piled up here. Due to the great circulation of gold coins, they carried the auras of people. As they gathered in this treasure trove, the grievances in the gold coins gradually formed into evil spirits. In the last decade or so, the imperial city area had been controlled by mutated demons so the aura of evil grew even denser, causing the piled up gold coins to mutate into these evil beings.
In this case, they should be classified as treasure guards. The strength of these guards will still be strong enough to chase away most treasure thieves, but unfortunately, Bella and the girls weren’t those ordinary level treasure thieves. Without Bella having to make a move, Marionette Master Elaine dealt with it. After her dark transformation, Elaine’s puppet wires turned even more insane. Countless puppet wires spread across the scene, destroying all the golden evil statues in front of them.
Marionette Master Elaine instantly created a scene where several thousand gold evil statues were killed instantly. The golden statues were frozen there. As the puppet wires ran through their bodies, the evil aura in their bodies was gradually sucked away by the puppet wire and they quickly turned back to their original forms, scattering over the ground as a pile of gold coins.
It was fortunate that their opponents were not living creatures, otherwise Elaine’s move would have been age restricted. Just the thought of the puppet wires piercing through a body and sucking it dry into a dry corpse caused shivers to run down Bella’s spine. And, from how skillful Elaine seemed to be at this, she was sure this isn’t the first time she’s doing this.
“What’s wrong, Bella? Is…Is there something strange about me? That way you’re looking at me is strange!”
“Elaine. Even though I don’t know your real name yet, I hope you won’t use that move on a living being without my permission in the future.”
“Hm, Bella? How did you know I used this trick often in the past…Alright, I understand, Mistress Sacred Demon God.”
After dealing with the gold evil statues, all the strange footsteps they heard before turned quiet. Bella and the others carefully explored the maze. The other exits of the underground passage had already been sealed off by Empress Manya Felan. With the imperial city under the control of the demons, she closed off all the other exits for safety purposes and to prevent mutated demons from invading the underground secret passage, keeping only the one leading to the emperor’s bedroom open.
When she opened the secret passage last time to escape, Empress Manya Felan saw those terrifying gold evil statues. She, who had no fighting ability, was so scared that she even dropped the entrance key and escaped immediately after closing the door. Bella and the others managed to take care of the statues and made their way to the exit.
The residual resentment of the gold evil statues that they had suppressed quickly scattered out of fright and disappeared. After all, they were only the evil thoughts of humans. Faced with dark existences like Demon God Bella and the Renegades, they could only flee out of fear. With the vast amount of treasures in the secret passageway, Bella planned to wait for everything to settle down before negotiating with Empress Manya Felan on what to do with them.
The ungodly amount of treasures kept here was different from the other treasures Bella encountered before. It had taken Empress Manya Felan, who was also a transmigrator, over ten thousand years to collect them. Bella wouldn’t be able to put away this much treasure in a short amount of time, and it might not end at what they could see. Assassin Noreya deduced with her professional intuition that there were many secret doors hidden in this underground secret passage, and even more valuable treasures were probably stored behind those doors. Finding them all would require the help of Empress Manya Felan. What they saw here was only a part of it.
The secret passage exits to the imperial palace of Emperor Manas XVIII. The location chosen was not under the emperor’s bed, but rather a useless mischellaneous storage room. This is the place where the servants of the imperial palace usually stored their tools. The location was rather remote and not too noticeable. As soon as they exited the doorway of the secret passage, Bella was greeted by a cold gush of wind in the face, causing her to shiver. Isn’t the imperial palace being a bit too economical? They didn’t even light a fire for warmth. Is this supposed to be a cold palace?
Outside the secret passage, Bella first went towards the closed door of the storage room and found it to be locked from the inside. There were several observation holes left on the door on purpose, presumably by Empress Manya Felan. While waiting for the other Renegades to come out, Bella looked through the observation holes to check on the situation. Even though the corridors of the palace outside were richly decorated, it had a surprisingly deserted atmosphere. Not a single person could be seen. Based on their approximate position, they should be near the harem area of the Manasvir Empire’s emperor.
Lisha and the rest soon came out from the secret passageway. After confirming that no guards were stationed outside the door, Bella lightly pushed the door open. Without even using a sneak state, she walked casually around the palace. If the intelligence she received proved right, that creator should be at the innermost part. The cold palace just felt quiet. They hadn’t encountered the subordinates of the Evil Creator yet.
“Bella, there’s no door here! The intelligence can’t be wrong, can it?”
“Huh? You guys, look…No, over there…”
“Isn’t that a wall, Bella?”
Deep in the palace, Bella looked at her other companions in puzzlement. There was so clearly a gate there but they couldn’t see it. All they saw was a wall. However, Bella was clearly able to see the strange gate on that wall. The World Creator’s Camp’s writing was depicted on the gate. Bella had wanted to remind her companions to pay attention, but thinking that she alone was able to see it, she decided it was better not to say anything yet.
“Well then, let’s split up and look. I’ll stay here and take another look around. Lisha, Kriss. You guys go over there and look together. If I find anything, I’ll just summon you guys with the follower contract.”
“Big Sister Bella, are you going to be fine alone? Why don’t I stay…”
“It’s fine, Little Sister Lisha. You can go ahead with Big Sister Kriss and the others. Really, I’m a Demon God! Give me some face. You guys should go as a group of six!”
Bella managed to get Lisha and the others to go. Even though Lisha, Kriss, and the others wanted to stay alone with Bella, for fear of someone “running off”, they decided to explore the other side together so that it was fair.
After getting the other Renegades to leave, Bella put on her usual invisibility suit. After Kriss and the others went far away, she opened the strange door alone and entered the true cold palace of the Manasvir Empire’s imperial palace. As soon as she entered, Bella was able to feel the bone-chilling coldness, which felt even colder than the area outside.
This place was an open-air palace and was unusually dimly lit, as if she had just arrived in the cold and damp Netherworld, illuminated only by torches burning with ghostly blue netherworld flames. Bella could clearly feel the aura of the Netherworld. Strange sounds of the wind could be heard mixed in with strange sounds of weeping. Bella couldn’t tell for a moment if this was the legendary Netherworld or the Manasvir Empire’s imperial palace. There was also another possibility that this was some sort of dark realm.
But what Bella was feeling now was not fear, but an inexplicable sort of excitement. Not letting Lisha and the others follow was really the best decision. Even though this place was creepy, it was also filled with eye candy, much more gentlemanly compared to Empress Manya Felan’s bedchamber earlier. The empty hall was covered in small cages cast from the cold ice of the Netherworld, each one housing two beautiful maidens in the nude. From the looks of it, they seemed to be the palace maids of the imperial palace.
The beautiful girls were sitting face to face in groups of two on top of special seesaws while their hands were bound behind their backs by cold ice shackles. Their plump breasts were pressed onto each other and the sensitive points at the front would constantly be rubbed as they moved up and down on the seesaw, causing them to release strange sounds. Since their thighs and calves were fixed together with cold ice shackles, they weren’t able to support themselves on the ground with their feet at all. They could only rub against each other’s fair and delicate bodies as the seesaw rose and fell continuously.
The seesaws weren’t dry either. Water constantly flowed over them, forcing the lower bodies of the girls sitting on top of them to be wet the whole time. Bella had to admit that the designer of this contraption was truly an “experienced filth master”. The maidens sitting on it had flushed cheeks and were showing their charm. No matter how aloof a maiden may be, once she sits on this special seesaw, she will be adjusted to become a lily girl after rubbing against other beauties for a long time.
There were just over five hundred palace maids who were confined in these cold cages. They were carefully selected and were of the more beautiful ones. Most of the palace maidens were directly stripped naked and frozen on the ice poles on each side of the palace as display items. Out of their devious tastes, the person behind the scenes sealed these palace maidens in Netherworld ice in their most charming states. They looked just like frozen CGs from an adult game.
After passing through the area where the palace maidens were imprisoned, she arrived at the inner sanctum. It wasn’t the palace maidens confined here, but rather the imperial consorts of the Manasvir Empire and the famous noblewomen from the imperial capital. These mature beauties could not be compared with those green palace maids from earlier. Based on Bella’s “filth intuition”, the Evil Creator behind the scenes was probably a M***-con. He didn’t touch a single one of those palace maidens from before, but these beauties had received “special care”.
These imperial consorts and noblewomen who drew the gaze of the public were kept here in this claustrophobic space, terrified without a trace of cloth to cover themselves with. They knelt naked on the floor with their thighs spread, thin and long ice pillars erected behind each of them. The consorts and noblewomen had their legs cuffed by iron chains while the hands behind their backs were cuffed to the ice pillars. There were metallic collars around their necks with chains attached to them that were securely attached to the ice pillars.
Other than that, they were unable to speak with small metallic balls gagging their mouths. They could only bow their heads in fear. Bella was able to see all those strange marks on their bodies, and the wet stains under them were clearly fresh, proving that someone had just “used” them. Bella wasn’t into milfs so she didn’t feel anything towards them. She purely wanted to save them.
The man behind the scenes soon appeared. It was the handsome blonde man that Bella had seen before when she encountered the Fallen Love God Mable. When she saw him, she didn’t think he was going to be the final boss, but if she had known, she would have offed him back then.
The beautiful boy with long blonde hair seemed to have sensed Bella’s arrival. He turned towards Bella, a bright sunny smile on his handsome face. It was the kind of handsome smile that makes beautiful girls fall in love at first sight. Unfortunately, Bella was a lily so she was immune to that sunny smile.
“My friend, stop hiding and come out! I already saw you.”
Bella thought to herself, who are you trying to scare! It was impossible to trick her into coming out with that alone. But before Bella could speak, someone else spoke a short distance behind her. That voice came so suddenly that it gave her a fright.
“As expected of the Netherworld Creator, to be able to find…”