The Paladin in the Abyss

The promotion process was quick, lasting only about ten seconds before it ended. From that writhing mass of flesh, a Coward Devil was born, its eyes full of confusion, and the soul-twisting pain it had just endured caused it to forget some things.

But its fighting instinct was still intact. Faced with an incoming longsword, the newborn Coward Devil instinctively ducked down, grabbed the axe on the ground, and delivered an Upper Slash, embedding the axe blade accurately into the throat of the attacker.

"Hahaha! What a beautiful strike!" Molo laughed proudly.

The Arachne Elf and Minotaur at his side, however, turned an ashen hue, as if they had already resigned themselves to the likelihood of losing the bet. It seemed that the male Succubus's move had truly taken them by surprise.

Witnessing the smug look on the male Succubus high on the platform, Lancelot felt a surge of annoyance. Why would Tigana tolerate this annoying creature? Was there something in Twin Bridges Town that made her susceptible to others' control? Or was it that Tigana was trying to avoid conflict with the Queen of the Succubus?

Meanwhile, the slaughter in the arena had reached a fever pitch.

In this free-for-all of Low Rank Demons, participants were dying continuously. The losers burst into stinking gases or turned into acidic clouds, but these were immediately dispersed by magically generated gusts of wind, allowing the audience to enjoy every angle of the bloody spectacle without dead angles.

There were over a hundred Low Rank Demons thrown into the arena, including Prime Demons and Coward Devils, as well as a few Quasimodo Demons.

These cunning creatures didn't opt for a head-on clash but instead used their ability to turn invisible at the first opportunity, hiding away until the moment was right to leap out from invisibility and deliver a finishing blow to a gravely wounded enemy, reaping the benefits like a fisherman watching for his catch.

Nevertheless, these crafty little demons were quickly eradicated. Quasimodo Demons had an extremely vulnerable constitution, and even the lowest level Prime Demons could easily tear these ashy-grey little creatures in half. Their patience wasn't as good as they thought.

Amidst the chaos, an invisible figure quietly slipped into the arena, unnoticed by all.

As time passed, most of the Prime Demons had died, and a few particularly ferocious ones had completed their promotion. These Coward Devils, evolved from Prime Demons, were more proficient with weapons, and their combat strength was clearly a whole order of magnitude higher than their brethren.

More importantly, they possessed a higher evil talent. Not only did they exhibit various cunning moves in combat, but they also tacitly avoided each other, choosing instead to pick on weaker prey.

The number of surviving demons in the arena sharply decreased, and before long, only about a dozen Coward Devils remained. At that moment, the flesh on the surface of one of the Coward Devils began to churn, signaling another instance of demonic promotion in the arena.

"Hahahahaha! It's my lovely killer again! I knew I was right about it!"

Molo laughed triumphantly, confident that he had this match in the bag.

The brutality of the Coward Devil promotion was even more intense than that of the Prime Demon: the suddenly enlarging bones tore through the skin and muscle, flesh first melted, then wriggled and reassembled, the skull was cracked by swelling brain tissue only to heal swiftly and repeat the process...

The Coward Devil let out a horrific scream, such a piercing sound that the mortals in the audience felt as if they were subjected to the same agony, while it drew hearty laughter from the demons.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

This was the greatest characteristic of evil creatures: the pain of others brought them pleasure.

The promotion finally ended. The newly evolved demon stood over six feet tall, slightly taller than an average human male, with an ugly face featuring a gaping mouth big enough to swallow a whole head, arms as thick as buckets, and a body of well-developed muscles like some human-shaped beast.

But what drew the most attention was its abdomen, where a smaller pair of arms, similar to those of a Coward Devil, protruded. Sharp bones extended directly from the tips of the hands, forming a pair of bone claws.

It almost immediately demonstrated to the audience the use of its small arms located on its abdomen. A Coward Devil wielding a Warhammer thought it seemed not fully awake and smashed hard onto its back from behind.

Luckily for the Coward Devil, it wasn't tall enough, and the hammer missed the head, merely causing it to stagger a bit.

Seeing the sneak attack didn't result in a fatal blow, the Coward Devil panicked, dropped the hammer, and tried to turn and run.

But the opponent recovered faster than it had anticipated. The newly promoted Demon raised its strong upper limbs and grabbed the fleeing Coward Devil, hoisting it into the air. Its abdominal arms stretched forward suddenly and directly plunged its claws into the prey's belly, followed by a strange laugh, all four arms pulled apart to the sides.

The pitiful Coward Devil was torn in half, with pus-filled, tumorous innards falling everywhere, and foul-smelling blood spraying like a fountain.

As it had just demonstrated, this was the Abyss Ripper, vividly reflecting its favorite killing memories. They were like overlords among Low Rank Demons, relatively rare because they could quickly accumulate the energy needed to advance to a higher class of demon.

The Ripper held the broken body aloft and let out a wild roar, venting the pain that had utterly twisted its mind due to the upgrade process and the pleasure of having its killing desire satisfied.

The response was the crazed cheering of the Demons in the spectator stands. This was what they wanted to see, each Demon with blood-red eyes as if they were on the field themselves, joyfully chopping off heads and tearing bodies apart.

Bruto turned his head away, unable to stomach the bloody spectacle below, even though they were all despicable demons.

Kalalin, too, was pale, but he did not avert his eyes and was briskly recording something in his notebook. As a Scholar studying the Abyss, confronting these horrific scenes was his job.

Lancelot watched the fighting Demons expressionlessly. The eviscerating scenes no longer aroused fear in him. Rebellion (or rather, insurrection) was never a dinner party, and the bloodiest sights in war were actually the battlefields right after the fight, which he had seen too many times.

The remaining few Coward Devils temporarily stopped fighting and gathered at the other end of the Arena. They all had various degrees of injuries, but none of these survivors were simple foes; almost all had just advanced from Prime Demons.

The few Coward Devils clumsily communicated with each other in the Deep Language, word by word, and barely reached an agreement to deal with this four-armed fellow first.

The Abyss Ripper was unfazed; it picked up several weapons of varying sizes from the ground around it, instantly turning into a makeshift six-armed Serpent Demon, looking quite impressive.

"Hahaha! See? The outcome is already clear," Molo lay back on his soft bed, pulling the two Succubus Maids into his arms. His hands began to roam like two snakes, while the two Succubi obediently snuggled up to him.

Tijana glanced at Molo's disgraceful behavior with a slight squint of her eyes, then turned her attention back to the situation in the arena.

The Coward Devils might have reached an agreement to fight together, but they kept retreating in the face of the Ripper's terrifying presence. Were it not for the Arena being tightly enclosed, they would have scattered and run away.

Suddenly, one of the Coward Devils felt something underfoot, tripped, and fell to the ground. It quickly tried to get up, only to discover a large gash on its foot that was exceptionally painful.

It looked closely at what tripped it and found it to be just an ordinary-looking shortsword, but it emitted a coldness that made it very uncomfortable.

Its little brain suddenly became curious about what it would feel like to plunge this coldness into an enemy's body.