They couldn't do anything about this. It was way too rare for mortals to enter Hell with flesh and blood bodies.

Even if it was just the edge of Hell.

'We are fucked…'

Marvin took a deep breath.

Even if they wouldn't necessarily die in this situation, it was still very bad.

Unless they were willing to sign a contract with a powerful Devil Overlord, they likely wouldn't be able to escape.

But contracts had prices, and normally it would be one's soul!

Ivan's expression was unsightly.

The Elven royal bloodline was immortal. After they died, their soul would go to the eternal spring at the secret border and they would be reborn after many years.

But if his soul fell into the Devils' hands, this wouldn't happen.

"Fuck… This is my fault," Marvin said in annoyance.

He knew that the secret path was on the border of the Secret Garden and Hell, but he hadn't expected to have such a bad luck and walk directly into Hell's border. He thought that at worst, they would be fighting Hell's lifeforms on the path like the players in the game.

This was way too troublesome.

Ivan smiled bitterly. "Can't blame you for this."

Shortly after, his expression became grave. "These are all mid-ranked Devils or lower. There are no high-rank Devils or Devil Overlords here, so we might not lose."

Marvin nodded.

Under the hill, the voices of the souls burst out. They still had the memories of their lives and were completely ignorant of what was happening.

Some cursed and were whipped by the Erinyes as a result.

These people had dealt with devils while alive, but most of the time they weren't even aware that they fell into corruption.

They might have been cheated in a deal, or perhaps they had been instigated by Harvester Devils.

These things might be trivial matters that they would forget later on.

But Imps and Harvester Devils wouldn't forget. Once they had a contract, the debt would be recorded on their bodies.

After death, those poor souls wouldn't enter the Negative Energy Plane, and because they didn't believe in Gods, they also wouldn't enter a God Realm.

What awaited them was the passionate hypocritical embrace of the Nine Hells' Devils.

...

As Ivan and Marvin were about to try and cut a bloody path out of the battlefield, a malevolent face appeared in the sky.

It was a Great Devil's head that had three eyes!

Marvin felt cold!

It was that Archdevil!

He was too familiar with that head.

In White River Valley's hidden chamber, the hidden treasure map Toshiroya had on him, and Ancestor's Mystery...

'I didn't expect this layer of Hell to actually be under his control.'

'Indeed, with an Archdevil's strength, even if his head was chopped off, he would still be able to regenerate eventually.'

'This is truly hopeless.'

Marvin was bitter.

Whether it was Hell, the Abyss, or the Negative Energy Plane, they weren't places that someone of his level could intrude.

Diggles was an exception because he had grafted his plane onto the World Tree due to his greed, allowing Marvin to exploit that weakness.

Despite only being a face, the might of this Archdevil before his eyes seemed earth-shattering.

That wickedness would etch its way into one's mind.

It would make people's legs stop without even giving a chance to resist.

And the other fiends stopped moving too. Hell was a place with a strict social order and none would dare to disobey an Archdevil's will.

The three-eyed head coldly regarded the two and said, "Ignorant mortals, you dared to trespass in the Nine Hells."

"Your bodies are too weak. This world's lifeforms can easily destroy you."

"But your souls are pretty good."

"I want to do business with you."

Hearing this, all the Devils were shocked and dismayed.

An Archdevil would rarely personally appear to snatch a mortal's soul. They had a grand status, and it was beyond them to snatch souls like mid-ranked and low-ranked Devils did.

The three-eyed Archdevil's action was something that would rarely happen in the Nine Hells.

It didn't mean it was inappropriate, just baffling.

Perhaps the explanation was that these two mortals' souls were really unique and even the Archdevil was interested enough to make a move himself.

But in any case, these two mortals were already in the Archdevil's hands, so the other Devils could only retreat.

Soon, the desolate wilderness emptied out.

Barbazu began focusing on rowing their boats on the River Styx, delivering souls to the other side. Then, Amnizu would decide the final destinations of these souls. Finding out which Overlords these souls belonged to was a very complicated process. Fortunately, most of the souls had a mark on them.

The Imps or Harvesting Devils that tempted them to fall into depravity would leave an imprint on them to show that the soul belonged to their faction after death.

These souls were howling miserably in pain.

...

The Archdevil's head slowly descended. In an instant, a spatial distortion wrapped around them.

The barrier's surroundings changed, making it impossible for outsiders to see inside, and for them to see outside.

The two were very wary.

But how could Marvin have imagined that a familiar voice would suddenly come out of the Archdevil's mouth?!

"I really didn't expect to meet you so soon, lil' Marvin."

Marvin was stunned.

That three-eyed Archdevil head shockingly turned into a gentle youth.

"It's you…"

Marvin was too astounded to say any more.

After a while, the youth rolled his eyes. "You should call me Grandfather."

Marvin remained silent.

This was really too strange.

A young man who looked younger than him that he didn't even remember actually told him to call him Grandfather!

Ivan was even more puzzled.

Since when was Marvin this close with an Archdevil?

"You are a Devil?" Ivan looked at Marvin in bewilderment. "I only felt the Numan bloodline from your body, so why would he want you to call him… Grandfather?"

Marvin shook his head. This wasn't something that could be explained in a short time.

Earlier in the Secret Garden, his grandfather told him he would soon escape his trap and come back to bring him the latest news from the Astral Sea.

But he hadn't expected to meet him so quickly.

And in such a bizarre way.

A dual class Sorcerer and Wizard that shapeshifted into an Archdevil.

"Is it really that puzzling?"

The youth laughed. "Devils boast of their intelligence, but all of them are inflexible fools that are unable to adapt to the circumstances."

"This layer's Archdevil is being kept sealed by me. Oh right, is the head still in your possession? Be extremely careful of his counterattack."

"But anyway, the forces of this layer of Hell belong to me. I said I was a new Archdevil and overthrew the other one."

Marvin and Ivan looked at each other in dismay.

His grandfather who had disappeared so long ago had sealed an Archdevil and taken his place as a Lord of Hell!

"I can't leave for long, because that guy is very troublesome. I have to keep suppressing him."

"So, how did you two trespass into the Nine Hells? Fortunately, it was the layer I am in charge of, or it might have been very dangerous."

"I'll take you back to where you came from."

The youth also remarked, "Wait until I completely control the forces in this layer of Hell and I might return to Feinan in another form."

"Hahaha, I'm already impatient. I heard you are expanding the White River Valley? I really want to go back and take a look…"

"...Damn, that guy is becoming restless."

He muttered the last bit to himself, frowning. It seemed some trouble had sprung up.

He stopped speaking to Marvin and Ivan and waved his hand. The two felt dizzy.

They had returned to the dark tunnel.

A nauseating smell was still floating in the dark cave.

It was as if everything that had happened was just a dream.

Ivan shook his head while looking at the blood on his sword with a bemused expression. "You have a grandfather on the verge of becoming a Lord of Hell?"

Marvin scratched his head in a daze. "It seems like it."

He subconsciously grasped some things that were in his hands.

A youthful voice echoed near their ears. "These things might come in handy soon."

The two didn't know when those things appeared. This was clearly a gift from Marvin's grandfather to the younger generation.

In his left hand was a contract called a [Hell Corps Contract].

As long as he signed this contract, he would be able to forcibly open a gate to Hell from Feinan and summon a formidable army of Devils.

These Devils would only obey Marvin's orders.

Although the gate would only be opened for a limited amount of time, and the Devils would be expelled by the planar laws back to Hell if that gate collapsed, this was still a very powerful item.

A Devil army could completely crush a powerful city!

As for the thing in Marvin's right hand, it was a yellow potion.

It didn't look like it would have a good effect, but Marvin could feel that this thing was related to his bloodline.

It might be something similar to the Golden Blood, like a potion to break the restraints of his bloodline.

Marvin was now a Level 6 Shapeshift Sorcerer. But he could level this class to level 10 at most. If he wanted to make a breakthrough, he would need a way to further awaken his bloodline. Many people wouldn't be able to do so for their whole lives.

This was the helplessness of Sorcerers.

At that time, external items that could help awaken the bloodline would become very precious.

This potion might be an item with similar effect, which would make it invaluable.

...

"I did feel he was entirely human…"

"But I have a feeling that he is hiding something. Even if he really is your grandfather, if he becomes a Lord of Hell, he might become our enemy in the future," Ivan reminded Marvin after thinking for a moment.

Marvin nodded. He really couldn't see through his grandfather.

"It would have been good if father were still here." He sighed. He really had no memory of this grandfather!

What if he was a fake? The tricks of Archdevils were really formidable after all.

Leaving the worrying matter aside for the moment, the two men continued toward the end of the dark tunnel.

Soon, a light appeared in front of them.