Mage Manual-Chapter 1455 - 1061: Hell Is Empty

In the First Level of Hell, two figures were traveling in a peculiar manner.

They stomped hard on the ground, using the counterforce to leap to the ground above. But then the top became the bottom, and they repeated the stomping, jumping back and forth like high-jumping spiders darting rapidly between two pieces of wood.

"In hells without a Heavenly Curtain, this is usually how we travel," the Death Mad said, flipping through the air like a dancing red butterfly. "It’s much faster than simply flying, and it gets you accustomed to this unique battle environment of ’sky and earth upside down.’

"Air combat in this type of environment is much more complex than normal air combat. The constant inversion of up and down skews one’s sense of distance. Coupled with illusions and space-based Miracles that can confuse orientation, an adept demigod can dodge all attacks through positioning, and still beat their enemies without being touched."

"Demigods who excel at setting traps and long-range attacks are quite strong here—provided they know how to leverage the inverted environment. But if a body technique demigod learns to use the sky and earth inversion to quickly approach enemies, they are formidable as well. Ultimately, mages who cannot adapt to the environment will find themselves at the bottom of the food chain."

Throughout the journey, the Death Mad didn’t touch upon the subject that Ash cared most about. Instead, she independently lectured about the common knowledge of hell. She knew what Ash wanted to hear, but she just wouldn’t say it.

Ash didn’t press further. Firstly, he had no means of threatening the Death Mad; she could blow smoke rings at him, but he couldn’t even touch her. Secondly, he actually held a slight level of trust in the Death Mad.

Perhaps it was because she was the one who had given him warmth in the Shattered Lake Prison, or perhaps the concern she showed when mentioning Sonia made it hard for Ash to see her purely as an enemy.

Hell was not as barren as Ash had imagined, but it wasn’t exactly lush either. To put it descriptively, it was like "a land of depleted resources." Sparse wild grass, murky small lakes, large patches of exposed mud; everything seemed withered and devoid of visual impact, yet it genuinely felt like hell.

The most peculiar part was that although Ash had flown for so long, he hadn’t seen any roads. Upon closer inspection, there were indeed some beast paths, but this was a hell teeming with demigod mages. Any one of them could easily create a shortcut with one regional attack, indicating no one actually needed roads here.

In reality, even a Two-winged Mage wouldn’t need roads, but to accommodate ordinary people and One-winged Mages, the basic road systems of the six nations were very complete. Furthermore, because there was strong governmental control over the mage community, not even Two-winged or Holy Domain mages could fly freely.

But in hell, there were no ordinary people, and no unified government, so demigods flew freely wherever they wanted. In such an advanced hell, basic infrastructure like roads, which symbolize civilization, were actually unnecessary.

Moreover...

"Why is hell so empty?" Ash suddenly asked.

They had crossed a distance of at least several dozen kilometers, yet they encountered no living creatures: no beasts, flying insects, mages, and not even ghosts that one might expect hell to harbor. Everywhere was silent.

He suspected even the water in the lakes was devoid of bacteria or parasites.

"A world devoured by Uroboros is like this," the Death Mad calmly explained. "We seem to be nearing the first location." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Ahead of them suddenly appeared an endless field of flowers. Blue roses, red roses, white lilies—after such a long time of cold-toned hell, the sudden warmth of colors made Ash’s eyes light up. But perhaps because the flowers were too dense and too vivid, looking at them for more than a few seconds gave Ash an indescribable sense of discomfort, causing him to almost lose his distance estimation and fall during one of his jumps.

"Don’t wander your eyes, keep them on my back," the Death Mad warned. "This is the perimeter ’Wild’ of the Ten-String Mansion, affecting spatial perception through visual, tactile, and olfactory senses. Staring at it for too long can severely impact your visual system. Even if you can resist its corrosion, Wild will leave marks in your pupils, and the demigods of the Ten-String Mansion can use their Wonder to detonate those marks, causing every remaining hole in your body to sprout flowers."

The thought made Ash shiver, so he obediently focused on the Death Mad’s cloak.

A strange thought suddenly crossed Ash’s mind: Did the Death Mad choose to abandon her miniskirt and fur coat ensemble in favor of her current conservative, noble Blood Saint attire because she knew he would be following her today?

"What is the Ten-String Mansion...?"

"A demigod organization in the First Level of Hell," the Death Mad explained. "I remember its director is ’Divine Concealment’ and the deputy director is ’Burning Steel.’ Both are at a Double level. Although it’s called an organization, it’s really just a small hub."

"Double?"

"Hmm? Didn’t Youmo explain the ranking of demigods to you?"

"It was Vishi," Ash said seriously. "Not the Youmo you know."

The Death Mad snorted disdainfully, then continued, "Just like the Six Levels of Hell, demigods are divided into six levels, from One to Six. When a demigod fully condenses the fifth Void Wing, they officially become a One-level demigod."

"But the fifth and sixth Void Wings are different from the other Void Wings; they have no upper limit and can be extended indefinitely. So after condensing one wing, it’s possible to condense a second."

"However, demigods soon discovered that with each additional wing they condensed, the difficulty increased sharply. If it takes fifty years to condense one wing, then nearly five hundred years would be needed for a double wing."

"Although the difficulty increases, the enhancement each wing provides is the same. So theoretically, a Double demigod is twice as strong as a One-level demigod," the Death Mad said leisurely. "And a Six-level demigod is only 20% stronger than a Five-level demigod... Do you think that’s how it is?"

"Of course not," Ash said calmly. "When a demigod spends over ten times the time to condense an extra wing, their experience, accumulation, and insights naturally grow too. More importantly, Vishi said the fifth Void Wing is the ’Thief’s Wing,’ which not only means demigods must steal knowledge from the Void Realm, but also hints at the nearly unlimited competition and slaughter among demigods!"

"Exactly," the Death Mad laughed. "Weak demigods struggle to condense even their first wing and soon become cannon fodder. Each additional wing indicates that a demigod has defeated at least ten times more competitors of the same level."

"Only thieves can survive in hell; only the most cruel scum can rise in hell!" Memories flickered in the Death Mad’s eyes. "When I first became a demigod, if it weren’t for the Observer hooking up with Youmo, we might not have even had our remains left by now..."

Ash asked nonchalantly, "Did you all ascend to demigods together?"