Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest-Chapter 349: The Dragon and the Styx

A brown haze blanketed the Asphodel Fields’ sky as the ground rumbled under Adam, Garduck, and Achilles’ forceful charge. The scenery blurred in their eyes, and their coats flapped in the raging winds, yet the fields seemed to extend infinitely.

Adam didn’t know for how many kilometers they had followed the Cocytus’ bank. But one thing was sure: he hadn’t seen that many cities or travelled that long to reach Jotunheim’s permafrost.

However, he had counted the passing nights—twenty. In other words, the expedition had started thirty-five days ago, yet still no sign of Tartarus. He didn’t waste his time, though, and converted the flowing energy of the dead into infernal essence, netting him an additional sixty thousand points when he checked this morning.

Despite the disappointment, he exhaled. Complaining when he hadn’t met danger sounded more like a kid’s tantrum than genuine. Therefore, he banished his growing impatience into a dark corner of his mind to focus on his charge.

However, Garduck’s voice sliced through the wind like a blazing knife. "The sky!"

Adam’s gaze snapped toward the horizon, his eyes widening and his heart drumming in his ears. More than a change of scenery, he felt as if someone had sundered the sky into the bright part he knew and the somber one stretching along a line straighter than his blade.

Like the sky, the pale asphodel flowers faded into abrupt, almost unnatural dark myrtle groves and twisted cypress growing out of the blacked soil. The clear river also changed, the current a raging flow of hate.

"The Styx," Adam muttered, balling his trembling fists. They had finally reached the Fields of Mourning!

Before delight could settle in his heart, a weight crashed against his back. His hands blurred to his hammer and god slayer’s hilts. Eyes narrowed, throat tightening, he prepared to unleash a devastating strike at the stealthy assailant.

However, Achilles’ voice cracked into a horrified whisper. "Don’t use energy, don’t move, don’t breathe."

Compelled by his tone, he didn’t resist the fall and crashed amidst the flowers alongside Garduck. Drifting petals covered their bodies in a pale blanket. They held their breaths, trusting Achilles’ judgement despite the uneasy feeling clawing at their chests.

Still, Adam had to know what provoked such a strong reaction from Achilles. His eyes drifted up only for his lips to snap into a thin line and his hands to cover them to muffle the slightest sound he could produce... because what flew above them was way out of their leagues. freёwebnoѵel.com

Her silky blond hair blown by the wind over her skin-tight leather armor, the divine trail cutting through the sky with each flap of her dark wings, and her eyes, sifting the plain in search, didn’t leave any doubt in his mind.

’One of the Furies! Shit!’

He hated nothing more than this feeling akin to an icy dagger pressed against his throat. It reminded him too much of the terror he had experienced during his first months in the abyss.

How he wished to lunge, to reverse the image by ripping the arm off the shoulder and plunging the dagger into her chest. Fury ignited in his narrowing eyes before begrudgingly dissolving.

A thin line separated his never-back-down mindset to foolishness—especially in engaging a god who hadn’t noticed him yet. No. He had to focus on his goal. Once on their level, however, he’d make them kneel before him like mere mortals.

Swallowing the humiliation through gritted teeth, he waited until the Fury became a fading dot on the horizon.

With a deep breath, he rose to his feet and dusted the soil and petals tarnishing his armor. His voice, void of his usual light-heartedness, resounded next. "Achilles, you watch the east, Garduck, the west. I’ll take up the front. We must avoid her at any cost until we reach the Phlegethon."

"That’s impossible, Adam." Achilles shook his head. "It’s not too late to head back and plan amidst the safe walls of a city."

Garduck pointed at the fields of mourning, nodding. "We’ll lose the flowers’ cover. She’ll spot us the moment she passes by again. Forget about confusing us with the Asphodel Field’s inhabitants—only specters live there."

He clenched his jaw, acknowledging their correct opinions. But he was so close to his first goal. ’Is there no way?’ He bit his lip, his mind racing for an answer.

With the Fury just gone, they should have some time to advance. Not enough to reach it by foot. Would his illusions work? Perhaps... too risky. A direct charge? Too reliant on luck.

He stomped the ground, his breath coming out ragged. ’Do I have to postpone our advance infinitely? There are no plans, no miracles against gods.’

"Come here." He curled his transforming fingers, causing Achilles and Garduck to pale in horror.

"That’s madness! There are three of them. One passing by doesn’t mean the other two won’t follow!" Achilles raised his trembling fist, his voice firm.

"I’m sorry, Adam, but I agree with Achilles on this one." Garduck’s lips twisted in guilt. But he’d disobey any day to protect Adam... even from his own self.

However, scales emerged on Adam’s growing figure as his voice thundered. "You fools see the problem in reverse. Three? Great! That leaves two since one passed. Plans? I’ll repeat it as many times as necessary: we’ll only find more reasons to give up than magical solutions."

He grabbed them in his giant palms, his infernal essence roaring to life in his boiling veins. Scarlet plasma erupted from his scales, turning into nine jet-like beams that charred the fields behind his unfurling wings.

"You’ll doom us all!" Achilles roared, his face distorting in rage.

Yet Adam answered with a command and a question. "Watch the sky and warn me if you spot them. How long can I survive in the Styx?"

"You mad dragon! The Styx is the most dangerous river. Gods swear oaths on it. Even Zeus dreads shattering them. It’ll devour your and Garduck’s bones in a minute!"

"Twenty seconds is enough for them to pass us by with their speed." He clenched his fists, two chaotic dark pools swirling in his eyes as his clawed feet dug into the shared soil. "I’m all in!"

BOOM

Before Achilles could answer, the beams blasted the fields as winds crashed on Adam with furious roars. The sheer pressure of his passage cleaved the Styx’s murky surface, the water splashing on the bank with disturbing sizzles.

But he ignored the noises, the scents, the dread, his mind set on a single goal: to find the river’s source.