Chapter 126: The Underworld’s Loyalty

’Did I hear that right?’

​Grayson stood rooted to the gravel driveway, his jaw subtly dropping as he stared at Natalie. In the brutal hierarchy of Silverspire’s dark sectors, where strength was the only currency and survival demanded ruthlessness, hearing the blood-soaked First Demon admit to caring about orphan children felt entirely surreal.

​"Huh? First Demon, is that truly your wish?" The green hair lady asked, adjusting her stance on the roof of her vehicle. Her eyes blinked erratically in visible confusion, her cynical worldview momentarily derailed.

​"So that’s why you keep taking care of those street kids from the lower slums..." Salina’s muffled voice emerged from beneath her heavy mage cowl. She kept her gray eyes fixed on the cracked pavement, her dark, shadowy aura swirling like a physical mist around her boots:

"I always assumed you were merely feeding them to build a network of loyal street informants."

​Salina paused, her long black hair veiling half of her face as she lifted her head to lock eyes with Asher. The raw, dense spirit energy radiating from her signaled a high-tier mage who had survived countless subterranean wars.

​"But you know the absolute rule among us Demons," Salina added, her tone sharpening with cold authority. "We only obey the absolute strong. Grayson was an exception because of the blood debt we owed him."

​"You guys! Don’t tell me—" Grayson started, stepping forward.

​"--Salina is right, Grayson," Natalie cut him off smoothly, turning her attention back to Asher. The light breeze caught her gray hair, exposing the jagged scar running down her cheek.

​"I see you are a man of your words, Patriarch, but without a display of sheer strength, my group will never truly submit," Natalie declared, her eyes narrowing.

"We also know your Ancient bloodline commands access to power high-tier equipment. Gears can inflate an Awakened’s combat power drastically. So, I will place a single condition on our fealty."

​"Which is?" Asher asked, his posture relaxed.

​"You will have to defeat our strongest in raw combat." Natalie replied, crossing her arms. "If you achieve this without equipping a single piece of stat-boosting gear, we will submit entirely. To keep it fair, our strongest won’t rely on her equipment either."

​"Your strongest? Her? Where is she?" Asher asked in rapid succession. A faint flicker of surprise crossed his mind. Looking around at the towering, muscular warlords standing beside their reinforced vehicles, it was intriguing that the undisputed peak of this ruthless syndicate was a woman.

​Natalie turned back toward her squad, raising an eyebrow in annoyance. "Hey! Where the hell is Viper??"

​The nine elites exchanged uneasy glances before collectively turning their heads toward a scrappy, battered Audi parked roughly fifty meters away in the shaded corner of the estate driveway. The vehicle looked like it had survived a monster stampede, covered in deep rust spots and dented side panels.

​"She is probably still sleeping off her hangover." The blue hair middle-aged man holding an ornate walking stick muttered with a heavy sigh.

​"What?! Don’t tell me she got drunk again!!" Natalie snapped, her temper flaring.

​"Come on, why are you yelling at us?" Juanita whined, hopping down from the roof of her car with an irritated huff.

​"Don’t start with me, Juanita!" Natalie barked, pointing a sharp finger toward the rusted sedan. "Someone go over there and drag her out!"

​Silence instantly fell over the driveway.

​The eight underworld demons stared at one another, but not a single person took a step forward. Even Grayson—the ruthless king who had controlled the city’s dark veins—stood frozen, staring at the car with a pale face.

​Who in their right mind would willingly walk into a death trap?

​"You guys are pathetic!" Natalie fumed, utterly exasperated.

​"Umm... First Demon, why don’t you go?" Soren, the dark-skinned juggernaut, suggested nervously while scratching the back of his massive neck. "You’re the highest-ranked among us, after all."

​"Yes!! Soren makes total sense!" Galahad, the seven-foot-tall bald titan, chimed in loudly. Despite his giant frame and terrifying crimson eyes, he hurriedly took a step back:

"I might be built like a siege wall, but I’m still young with a bright future ahead of me!"

​"You cowardly bastards..." Natalie muttered, her eyelid twitching. Truthfully, she wasn’t easily intimidated, but waking Viper from her slumber was equivalent to detonating a tactical energy-bomb at point-blank range. She had no desire to test her luck today either.

​Observing the hesitation creeping through the entire group, Asher found the dynamic almost absurd.

​"Boss... Maybe we should reconsider this approach," Grayson whispered, stepping closer to Asher’s side, his forehead glistening with cold sweat.

"Viper isn’t just an ordinary SSS-Rank. She’s a walking calamity that even Daniel fears. Even the aristocratic noble houses and Lady Luna herself actively avoid crossing paths with her."

​"Huh? Someone that even Luna is wary of?" Asher turned his head, a genuine spark of curiosity lighting up his dark eyes. For a shadow-dweller in Silverspire to hold such psychological leverage over the ruling class was unheard of.

​Without another word, Asher turned on his heel and began walking at a steady pace toward the rusted car.

​"So if I defeat this person, I win your absolute loyalty?" he called out casually over his shoulder.

​’Defeat her?’ Natalie thought, watching his calm stride with a mixture of disbelief and pity:

’Is this kid out of his mind? If he used his full arsenal of Mythic gears, he might stand a chance, but bare-handed? He won’t even be able to graze her clothing... Oh well, I’ll watch closely. If things get lethal, I’ll step in to save his life.’

​"If you can even manage to put a single scratch on her, we will submit without question!" Natalie called back, locking the agreement.

​Asher narrowed his eyes as he approached the vehicle, his heightened perception filtering through the air. He could feel a strange, sluggish, yet horrifyingly dense energy signature sleeping inside the rusted shell.

​’Just how powerful is this woman?’

​Back near the main house entrance, Juliana watched her husband’s back with a tightened chest before glancing toward Marianne and Tang. "Have you heard of this Viper before?"

​"Yeah, she’s practically a living myth in the underworld," Marianne answered, crossing her arms over her chest as her expression grew unusually solemn. "She rarely accepts official contracts or shows her face, so it’s understandable you’ve never met her. Honestly, if I were in my right mind, I should be stopping Asher right now."

​Marianne took a slow breath, her voice dropping. "Viper possesses an extraordinarily rare physique. Combined with her specialized skills, she becomes an absolute nightmare on any battlefield. She’s the sole reason Daniel never dared to march his heavy military forces into the dark sectors to purge the underworld."

​"Is her combat capability really that terrifying?" Juliana asked.

​"Five years ago, Daniel formed a grand coalition with three major noble families to wipe out the underworld once and for all," Marianne revealed, a cynical smile forming on her lips:

"In that single campaign, the coalition lost over sixty percent of their vanguard forces. Viper personally wiped out half of them. Word has it she only spared Daniel because she lost interest halfway through the fight, which was the only reason his remaining army escaped alive."

​Marianne turned her gaze back to Asher’s tall, imposing figure as he neared the car. "If your family manages to tame a monster like her, the Aetheldawn’s standing in Silverspire will be completely unshakeable."

​Juliana listened quietly, her hands clenching into fists as she stared at her husband’s back, a heavy question echoing through everyone’s mind:

​’Can he really overcome an invincible monster like her without using his power?’