Cambien violently pounded on the nose of a fellow devil before him, doing his best to make the other's injury match his own.
The ambushed cambion had not realized what was happening in time. By the time the others noticed something amiss, Cambien had already broken the noses of four cambions just like his own.
Thanks to the Silence barrier, a punch that pulverized a cambion's nose made no sound whatsoever, making it easy to ambush a second one.
With blood smeared across their faces, everyone looked practically identical.
This was the survival scheme Cambien had come up with.
As a relatively experienced half-devil, he knew that to many other races, all cambions looked alike. An outsider's gaze was always drawn to red skin, horns, and devil wings; discerning subtle differences in facial features was nearly impossible for them on short notice.
So long as he smashed the noses of the other cambions, he might just muddy the waters.
Furthermore, after the ambushes, he kept a close eye on the other side of the clearing. The moment he saw that unlucky devil turned into a zombie and the terrifying undead girl glanced toward the barrier, Cambien furiously grabbed a dazed cambion and bellowed, "You bastard, you dare ambush me?!"
Never mind whether any sound could escape the Silence barrier; the performance had to be convincing. What if she could read lips?
By the time Melina looked over at the barrier, chaos had erupted within.
Cambien had slyly stirred the pot. Several cambions who had been battered senseless had no idea who had hit them; seeing a brawl underway, they angrily threw themselves into the fray.
Melina had no choice but to summon thick clusters of sussur tree vines to bind all the cambions.
Looking at the battered, swollen devils, Melina asked in confusion, "Mother, should I... kill them all?"
Even the Rose of Decay had not expected this turn of events. She was sharper than Melina, however; though the cambions were beaten beyond recognition, she still recognized Cambien.
After a moment's thought, the Rose of Decay said to Melina, "Just pull one out at random and question him again."
Melina obediently followed her mother's instructions, dragging another cambion forward and asking the same question.
This time, every cambion grasped what was happening: separate interrogations.
None of them knew what the previous unlucky devil had said. Under these circumstances, fabricating an identical lie was impossible, so telling the truth was their only sliver of hope for survival.
This bloodied cambion honestly provided directions. The path barely differed from the one Cambien had given: it still crossed the territories of three hell lords, with the most perilous part being the thousand-li River of Blood beyond.
That was a nightmare battleground, where demons and devils waged unending slaughter.
Only by crossing this region to reach the Blood River Fortress, and using the teleportation array within, could one possibly reach Zariel's palace.
Never mind obtaining authorization to use that teleportation array; merely crossing the Blood River battlefield was an impossible feat.
It was a vast, ever-shifting war zone, every inch of ground soaked in the blood of devils and demons, its weeds mutated into deadly monsters.
A widely circulated joke held that no matter what atrocities you had committed in other planes, surviving the Blood River battlefield wiped your slate clean.
And it was true: the Blood River battlefield was universally recognized throughout the Nine Hells as the road to redemption.
Don't want to be tortured anymore? Fine—join the Blood War!
Don't want to be enslaved? Join the Blood War!
Want to regain your freedom, or even be resurrected on the Prime Material Plane? Wonderful—join the Blood War and earn military merits!
The grand stage of the River of Blood welcomed anyone unafraid to die; every conceivable reward awaited, so long as you had the life to claim it!
No devil lord was permitted to prevent sinners from joining the Blood War—that was the law of Hell. In theory, as long as Melina marched under the banner of joining the Blood War, the three hell lords along the way would not hinder her. Instead, they would open the way and grant her swift passage.
Yet such generous accommodations only underscored the terror of the Blood War.
Legends that were rarely seen on other planes were harvested on that battlefield like leeks.
Summoning two balors on the Prime Material Plane let one walk tall anywhere; on the Blood War battlefield, balors dared not even stick their heads out, because showing oneself meant instant death.
With poor luck, one might encounter the projected avatars of renowned demon lords upon stepping onto the battlefield. Hell was not the Prime Material Plane, and Ao placed no restrictions on true deities wielding their might there.
Those avatars possessed the power of deities, and far beyond mere lesser deities.
Demogorgon frequently created avatars to toss onto the battlefield to bully the weak, butchering ordinary devils with cruel relish. Later, Demogorgon ran into Kelemvor, the God of Death, who fought just as unscrupulously, continuously manifesting avatars to throw into the Blood War and reaping demons by the swath.
After several clashes, both sides realized the futility of it all and gradually cut back on such pointless slaughter.
Currently, the Blood River battlefield was in a stable state. Devils and demons still died in droves, but avatars of true deities had not appeared in a long time. The Rose of Decay's brow furrowed as she listened; the journey sounded extraordinarily dangerous, practically certain death.
The Rose of Decay had Melina pull all the cambions from the barrier and interrogated them one by one. "Is there truly no other way to reach Zariel's palace? Do even the hell lords have to cross the Blood War battlefield to see the ruler of the first layer of Hell?"
Though she addressed all the cambions, the Rose of Decay's attention stayed fixed on Cambien.
This cambion seemed cleverer than the rest; she hoped to draw an answer from him.
Cambien seemed to sense her gaze. Knowing this terrifying mistress had seen through him and that his little trick had failed, his only hope for survival lay in quick wits.
If he failed to provide a satisfying answer, he would likely be turned into a zombie as well.
Zariel be praised, Cambien genuinely had an idea.
Shuffling on his knees, he squeezed past the kneeling cambions to Melina's feet and said respectfully, "Great Master, when other hell lords wish to see Archduke Zariel, they naturally have no need to cross the River of Blood. Their fortresses possess dedicated teleportation arrays that lead straight to Archduke Zariel's palace.
"However, those arrays cannot be used by the likes of us—nor even by the hell lords themselves. Only when Archduke Zariel summons them can they pass through to enter that magnificent palace. Thus, we needn't consider those hell lords; they lack the ability anyway.
"As for the Blood War battlefield, I happen to know a path that might bypass most of the dangers. If you trust me, Master, I am willing to guide you along the safest route to the Blood River Fortress."
As soon as Cambien finished speaking, the other cambions erupted in jeers.
"What a clumsy lie!"
"A safe path through the Blood River battlefield? Why don't you claim to be Archduke Zariel's bastard son while you're at it?"
"If such a road existed, you would have joined the officer ranks of the Blood River Fortress long ago!"
...
Every cambion was busy 'exposing' Cambien's lie, for the claim was so preposterous that not even the dullest hell worm would believe it.
Cambien did not bother to explain, only looking earnestly at Melina.
Melina showed no reaction, simply obeying the Rose of Decay's command by tossing a ring to Cambien.
Through the magic mirror, the Rose of Decay ordered, "Put on this ring and repeat what you just said."
Cambien hurriedly slipped the ring onto his finger. Aside from a faint circulation of magic, he had no idea what it did, but he repeated his words anyway. The ring did not react at all.
Only then did the Rose of Decay believe the half-devil.
The ring Cambien wore was a ring of truth detection crafted by Anbaixiu in life; even as a legendary divination wizard, Anbaixiu himself could not bypass its discernment.
Since the ring did not glow red, his words were true.
Still uneasy, the Rose of Decay pressed, "Give me a reason. How do you know such a secret?"
Cambien replied hastily, "Because this path opened only recently. I wonder if you have heard, Master, but not long ago, millions of tieflings were cast down into Hell. Most were thrown straight onto the Blood River battlefield by Archduke Zariel.
"This path wasn't discovered by me; it's intel paid for with the lives of the majority of those millions of tieflings. Unluckily for them, the secret leaked. Very few know of it right now, and I just happen to be one of them."
The ring remained silent; the cambion was not lying.
"The tieflings of the Unholy Hymn..." The Rose of Decay felt no relief, only a mounting headache.
If those tieflings discovered Melina's identity, they would be far more dangerous than the demons on the Blood War battlefield.
Yet with no other options, the Rose of Decay could only say, "Melina, you'll need a disguise. You cannot reveal your true identity."
Hearing this, Melina brimmed with confidence. "Don't worry, Mother, I'm great at that! I learned from Father!"
Chapter 523