Chapter 281 - 226: All Devils Are Promising Beasts of Burden

Chapter 281: Chapter 226: All Devils Are Promising Beasts of Burden

For the most part, Zog considered himself a very unconventional dragon, with a high tolerance for most actions that went against tradition.

But the plan Asmodis proposed was a bit more extreme than he’d anticipated.

’Using the first Asmodis as a server—now that was a wild move. So creative.’

’Turning the family crypt into a WiFi hotspot!’

Zog followed the current Asmodis to the palace of the Lord of Hell.

It could hardly be called majestic—just an ordinary, small castle. It was a bit better than Winterfort in the Northern Domain, but not by much.

Compared to the massive scale of Hell Fortress, this castle was quite unassuming.

Furthermore, many devils in uniform were bustling in and out of the castle, some of them clutching files and other documents.

"Your castle also serves as an office space?" Zog asked curiously.

"City Hall. That’s the word, isn’t it? This isn’t my castle. It belongs to the devils. I’m merely the current Lord of Hell. After I die, there will be a successor. This castle doesn’t belong to any one individual."

Asmodis said in a casual tone, "I don’t need much space for myself, so it’s better to put it to good use for more meaningful things."

Zog never expected to see such a sense of selfless righteousness in a devil.

Asmodis led Zog into his residence, which doubled as the city hall.

Just inside the entrance was a huge skeleton. Its parts were remarkably complete, like a meticulously crafted specimen, giving one the sense of looking at a reconstructed skeleton of a primeval animal in a natural history museum.

Then again, biological archaeology in Feilin wasn’t very advanced yet. Zog had seen them—the models in the various natural history museums, reconstructed from fossils, were a bit of a sanity drain.

’The stuff of Ancient Gods, basically.’

Zog found it hard to believe that the ancient creatures of this world actually looked like that. A few might have been abstract, sure, but not every single one of them.

"This can’t be the skeleton of the first Asmodis, can it?"

"Of course. To commemorate and show our respect for the primordial Lord of Hell, we placed His remains in the very center of Hell Fortress," Asmodis explained.

"That’s... quite respectful, indeed."

Zog was certain that devils were not a superstitious species.

’Wait a minute.’ He suddenly realized something. ’The bodies of gods don’t decay after death. The Divine Remains on the Continent were mostly just bones because, back when everyone believed they had miraculous uses, all the consumable parts had been... well, consumed, leaving only the skeleton.’

’But the devils had preserved the body of the first Lord of Hell. So how did it end up as a skeleton? Don’t tell me the devils had performed some... extreme procedure on their own god.’

’Now *that* was truly "respectful."’

Asmodis seemed to notice Zog’s confusion. "We broke His body down into Magic Energy," he said, "to contribute the most vital power for the expansion of Hell Fortress."

"His body could be broken down into Magic Energy?"

Zog had never heard of such a technique.

’So the elements that make up the bodies of the Divine Race are different from other species,’ Zog thought. ’It’s like they’re not even from the same planet.’

"Yes. We will forever remember the contribution He made. The bones couldn’t be broken down, so they were stored here. Now, it seems the skeleton can also be put to good use—to bring a network to Hell and open the gates of knowledge."

As he spoke, Asmodis gave a deep bow to the Divine Remains.

"Resources in Hell are far too scarce. For the sake of survival, no devil can find peace even in death."

"Er, you don’t... um," Zog scrambled in his mind for a more pleasant term, "...scavenge, do you?"

Zog silently applauded himself. ’To think I could come up with such a tactful phrasing!’

"No, but it’s close," Asmodis said with a faint smile. "One of our Alchemists created a technique that allows us to grow food in the wastelands of Hell, which has led to a rapid increase in the devil population over the last few decades."

"And it specifically requires the bodies of devils?"

Zog got the gist of it. ’Before they’d unlocked that node on the chemistry tech tree, they were using alchemy to create the equivalent of fertilizer.’

He didn’t think devils’ bodies were anything special as "fertilizer"—at least, not as special as the bodies of the Divine Race.

"The bodies of any creature in Hell can be used. And it would be a waste to not use a devil’s body, wouldn’t it? No living thing has privilege on this desolate plane. Every devil shares the same fate."

"Including you?"

"Including me."

"Tsk." Zog said nothing.

’Suddenly, he saw a tragic grandeur about the devil.’

’Looked at from another angle, every devil who passed on became nourishment for the next generation.’

’How romantic!’

"For now, let’s see if this skeleton can bring a smooth network to Hell," Asmodis said, breaking the somewhat somber atmosphere. "Do you need to make any preparations?"

"Nope, I just need to touch it. Is it okay to put my claws directly on it?" Zog asked, holding out a claw toward Asmodis.

"You may." Asmodis nodded.

Zog pressed his claw directly onto the skeleton.

It was no different from the other pieces of Divine Remains he had touched. His consciousness was pulled into the Magic Space, which was completely empty.

There wasn’t even a Spirit Body, but that was to be expected. Hell had converted to the Magic Goddess now; it would be a miracle if any faith here could manifest a Spirit Body.

The only other strange thing was that, although he couldn’t be sure since he hadn’t stored a magic model yet, Zog had a gut feeling that this space was smaller than usual.