Disguising herself was not difficult for Melina—she just needed an enclosed helmet and a Polymorph spell.
In any case, as long as no one recognized her true appearance, it didn't matter if they saw through the disguise itself.
According to Cambien, concealing one's identity was completely normal in Hell. What devil wasn't burdened with debts? Others owed devils, and devils owed greater devils... Disguises and alterations were perfectly routine.
There was even a proverb in Hell: a devil who cannot lend is not a successful devil; a devil who cannot dodge debts is a dead devil.
When Melina transformed back into a drow elf, she instantly felt completely immersed in her role, and the way she looked at the cambions changed.
"Hmph. Vile males, lead the way. Our objective is the Blood River battlefield!"
Melina summoned a sussur tree warhorse and galloped off across the endless wasteland.
She trampled countless broken ghosts trapped on the barren plains without sparing them a glance. Cambien and the remaining cambions could only unfurl their wings and rush after her, not daring to lag behind in the slightest.
For out of thirteen cambions, only eleven were now left alive; two had already been turned into zombies.
Originally, only the first liar had been killed.
However, to ensure Melina's safety, the Rose of Decay had Melina teleport a strand of hair from every single cambion into her hands, then unleashed her legendary ability right in front of them.
An unfortunate cambion who had done nothing was turned into a zombie while still alive.
No matter what the cambion tried, he could only watch helplessly as his body turned the color of ashen death, until his soul was completely corrupted and trapped within that undead vessel.
"If an accident happens to Melina, you will become zombies. If our communication is disrupted, you will become zombies. If I suspect you of any suspicious behavior, you will also become zombies."
That was the warning the Rose of Decay gave to all the cambions.
This curse reaching across time and space terrified the surviving cambions until they quivered like hell maggots, unable to do anything except shiver in fright.
Just what kind of master had they run into? How could she be so terrifying?
Cambien finally understood now: Melina was no foolish girl who had merely stumbled upon an artifact, but a second-generation scion bestowed an artifact by her clan elders. She had come to Hell purely to gain experience, with elders watching over and protecting her from behind!
What was there to argue with? Compliance was the only option.
The cambions flapped their wings, straining to keep up behind Melina. Although flying was faster than running, the dark magic inside Melina was vastly more potent than theirs—and as an undead, so long as her dark magic was not depleted, she felt no fatigue whatsoever.
Even the steed Melina rode was manifested from magic. Thus, after galloping across the wasteland for half a day, Cambien finally could not help but plead, "Master! Wait! If you keep running like this, we'll die on the road!"
Only then did Melina halt, saying contemptuously to the cambions, "You're flying, and you still get tired?"
Cambien had no words. Undead truly had no concept of human empathy.
Though she spoke harshly, Melina did stop to let the cambions rest for a bit.
Cambien hastily pulled out a stack of flatbread-like food, sat down wherever he could find a spot, and began gorging himself.
The other cambions did much the same, producing all manner of bizarrely shaped rations and cramming them frantically into their mouths to recover their strength.
Melina watched with some curiosity and asked Cambien, "What are you eating?"
"Bone-shard cakes," Cambien replied.
"Devils need to eat bones?" Melina asked in surprise.
Cambien gave a bitter smile. "Of course we don't eat the bones; we eat the residual souls clinging to them. We cambions only require souls, but souls in Hell are so precious. You've seen the fractured, flickering soulfires along the way, haven't you? Those are our daily food. However, soul fragments are hard to preserve, so we have to use skeletal remains to store them."
Cambien raised the grayish-white "flatbread" in his hand. "This is a cake made of crushed skull fragments, which can store a certain amount of soul fragments. What they're eating is the same—either bone or rotten flesh can be used to hold soul fragments. But..." Before Cambien could finish, the cake in his hand broke with a snap, and several motes of light resembling fireflies drifted out. Startled, he hurriedly inhaled them into his mouth with big gulps.
Only after swallowing down all those flecks of light did Cambien say resignedly, "As I was saying, these things aren't durable either. Forcing souls into mismatched corpses results in constant leakage. A bone-shard cake like this has a shelf life of only a few days."
Melina glanced at the other cambions, and just as Cambien had said, they weren't truly eating what was in their hands, but the soul fragments contained within.
Melina couldn't help musing, "So in Hell, souls aren't just strategic materiel, they're food as well."
"Strategic materiel?" Cambien said in confusion. "You can't be referring to soul fragments. Only intact soul coins qualify as strategic materiel! Those devils who have undergone modifications are equipped with infernal engines, devices that burn soul coins to run. That's not something weak half-devils like us could ever dream of."
Melina showed a proud smile. When it came to those so-called soul coins, her father counted them in the tens of millions.
Melina instantly felt the smug superiority of a super-wealthy scion, though she had no need to show off before a lowly cambion. Furthermore, at the thought of her father enduring torture at Zariel's hands, she couldn't help urging them, "Eat faster, all of you! I'm in a hurry!"
The cambions didn't dare complain. They hurriedly finished off their dry rations, searched the wasteland around them to scavenge a few more soul fragments, and then set off once more.
No matter how Cambien claimed to be at the bottom of Hell's hierarchy, the cambion race was in truth considered elite among devils; otherwise, they wouldn't have been deemed worthy of the artifact bestowed by Zariel.
The cambions managed to keep up with Melina through an entire day of running, but when a dark shadow loomed across the scarred, desolate wasteland, every one of them involuntarily slowed down.
Cambien hastily warned her, "Master, that shadow ahead is an infernal fortress, the domain of a hell lord! We can't just charge in like this, or it'll mean war!"
Melina looked toward the murky shadow, where a massive fortress did indeed appear to be rising ahead.
"Then how do we get through?" Melina asked.
Cambien said, "That depends on what you want to do, Master. Although there's no way to teleport directly to Archduke Zariel's residence from inside the fortress, large fortresses nearby should be interconnected. If we borrow their teleportation array, we can save time and arrive straight in the next lord's domain. But if you don't want to take any risks, Master, we can take a detour. If we travel around it under the banner of heading to the Blood River battlefield, we usually won't be stopped."
Hell welcomed anyone who wished to take part in the great Blood River war, but devil lords would never casually let people into their territory. Who knew if someone claiming to join the Blood War was actually launching a surprise raid?
Not a single devil in Hell had a clean heart; they always assumed the worst of others with maximum malice.
"How far is the detour?" Melina asked.
Cambien said, "About three days. However, after detouring around this one, we'll have to detour around the next lord's domain as well, which will add up. If we take detours the entire way, it'll take at least two or three months to reach the Blood River."
Melina frowned. "That's far too long. Is there any other way?"
How could she let her father endure agony under Zariel for so long? She wished she could fly straight to Zariel's side this very second.
Cambien said helplessly, "Then our only choice is to take a risk and talk to the lord here. As long as you can pay a sufficient price, borrowing the teleportation array isn't out of the question. It's just... Master, you must understand that in Hell, devils fall into only two categories: greedy, and extremely greedy. If we're not careful, we'll all be devoured by them. Are you sure you want to risk it?"
Melina nodded. "Yes. We should at least try. If it really doesn't work, we'll take the detour."
Having transformed into a drow elf, Melina had begun using her head instead of being an ignorant fool who only knew how to swing a sword.
Cambien let out a breath of relief. Fortunately, this girl wasn't stubborn; had she insisted on ramming right in, they would truly be in grave danger.
Melina reached out, patted Cambien on the shoulder, and said, "Go talk to the devil lord of the fortress ahead. Tell him why we're here, and ask what price they require for us to use their teleportation array."
"You're sending me?!"
Cambien's eyes went wide. He wished he could cut out his own tongue right now.
Chapter 524