Round Four: River of Corpses

The entire forging room was now almost in flames. In the face of that burning monster, even the demons were scorched just by getting too close, let alone being hit directly. The demons fought one after another in hopeless close combat. Although the metal man seemed somewhat disoriented and his movements uncoordinated, he was invincible. One after another, the demons were torn apart. Yet their sacrifices were not in vain—they at least reduced the metal man’s temperature with their flesh and blood. After most of the demons were dead, Stephanie cast an ice spear spell. The blast of cold air struck the metal man, causing scorching steam to rise from his body. Seemed affected by the magical cold, the metal man’s movements slowed down.

Captain Jones launched his attack at just the right moment—he charged at the metal man with a terrifying stench and roar. The tools and equipment hanging in the forging room suddenly seemed to come to life as well, rushing at the metal man and entangling him.

The metal man was pushed against the wall by Captain Jones’s fierce assault, forced into a defensive position for the first time. Captain Jones roared wildly, and a large amount of steam rose between them. The metal man grabbed the serrated knife Jones had swung and broke it. Jones threw the knife aside, grabbed the metal man’s neck with his left hand, and pressed him down with terrifying strength. Enduring the searing pain of his flesh burning, he roared as he swung the large stinger on his right arm like a hammer, striking repeatedly. After a barrage of attacks, he lifted the metal man and slammed him hard against the wall until the wall shattered, throwing the metal man outside.

The metal man flew out of the ship. Its snake-like chain blades lashed out, wrapping around the ship’s side, before it spun and landed on the deck. But a large amount of river water fell with it—along with countless ice spears like sharp knives.

Ice crystals had already begun to form on the metal man’s body. The sudden shift from extreme heat to bitter cold seemed to have affected his bodily functions.

But he clearly wasn’t willing to accept defeat. The chain blades retracted into his arm and then shot out straight like a spear. Stephanie, either intentionally or unintentionally, stepped aside, allowing the terrifying blade to draw a dazzling trail of sparks in midair in front of her, which was blocked by a force field shield.

“Tear you apart!” Jones appeared on the deck. His body was covered in burns, and he looked extremely enraged. He raised the claw on his left arm, opened it wide, and slammed it down on the metal man with force.

Strangely, it was clear the metal man was still outside his attack range. Had Jones gone mad from the pain?

The answer was clearly no.

When the claw opened, even Stephanie beside him felt a strong gust of wind pulling at her, almost sucking her into the giant claws—like a high-powered vacuum cleaner. Then the claws closed, and an incredibly powerful shockwave traveled through the air, hitting the metal man like a cannonball.

Ice shards flew everywhere as the metal man was blown backward by the compressed air, crashing into the bow of the ship. After an explosion-like impact, half of the bow was gone. The metal man was embedded in the twisted metal, twisted in the same way.

After using this move, Jones appeared quite exhausted.

“My ship is done…”

“Mr. Stephanie!” The minotaur Vale finally appeared with the flail—much slower than usual.
“What a tricky thing.” Jones seemed unaware of anything amiss: “Throw it in the water! I don’t want it!”
“Wait… Captain Jones,” Stephanie stopped him. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to study this construct… Of course, I’ll pay extra, and I guarantee it won’t wake up like this time.”
“Then leave it to you,” Jones muttered. “I’ll stay here for a while to find some crew members… They’re almost all dead!”
“It’s hard to imagine…” Stephanie had the minotaur bring the metal man back into the room and examine its interior through the chest wound, only to find it as complex as a human body.
“Is that thing that amazing, Mr. Stephanie…?”
The succubus lay on the bed, giggling loudly. Her laughter disturbed Stephanie, as if someone were scratching his ears with a goose feather. He couldn’t calm down lately. Eventually, he gave up on his research and turned sharply to the succubus, shouting, “Shut up! You wench! I still haven’t settled accounts with you! Come here! Lick my feet!”
The succubus didn’t seem angry at all. She slid down from the bed like a snake, lying on the deck and writhing slowly, causing Stephanie’s gaze to fixate on her full hips, growing increasingly frenzied. She crawled closer to Stephanie, the scales on her limbs rustling, then stretched out her blood-red tongue and started licking his bare feet, slowly moving up his mage robe…
Stephanie sighed softly.
Using his remaining clarity, he cast a spell to keep the metal man in a low-temperature state, almost mispronouncing the incantation, after which he could no longer utter any meaningful words.
A red light flashed in the metal man’s eyes—but Stephanie didn’t see it.
After being repaired, the Anger continued downstream along the River of Darkness, as if the journey would never end.
But this monotonous situation changed soon.
This time, Pippi was the first to notice—it would have been hard not to.
Hundreds of corpses.
Those corpses were grotesque in shape; most were like the Fear-Sailing sailors and another strange creature that resembled fleshy masses, with vaguely human-like torsos and heads. They were mutilated, many with charred marks, while others were larger in size. Even dead, their forms exuded an extremely evil aura. They floated densely together, pressing against each other, revealing the unpredictable currents of the River of Darkness through their movement…
The smell of decay in the air was extremely strong. The River of Darkness seemed like a giant corpse pool. Jones looked in the direction the corpses were floating toward. Apart from the river of corpses that resembled a galaxy, he saw nothing, as if all life in all worlds had died and been thrown into the River of Darkness.
“So many corpses of devils and demons? What happened ahead? What’s going on?” Stephanie leaned on the ship’s railing, gazing into the distance. Even though he was a powerful mage, this scene left him stunned.

“Haha! We’re heading out soon! Move forward in the direction the corpses are floating!” Captain Jones shouted cheerfully.
Two sailors were constantly retrieving the corpses, while the rest returned to their posts. The Smokeful Fury’s chimney belched thick smoke as it roared forward. After days of sailing, the ship had almost run out of all burnable materials, and the corpses recovered now filled that gap. The wet bodies were stuffed into the boilers, quickly dried out, and ignited, producing fierce flames that drove the Smokeful Fury’s massive oars, pushing the waters of the River of Darkness behind it.
“It’s just the aftermath of a bloody battle…” The succubus laughed on Stephanie’s shoulder. “A minor skirmish…”
“A bloody battle…” Stephanie mused, seemingly struck for the first time by the term often mentioned by this powerful being of the primary realm.
The Smokeful Fury sailed through the river filled with corpses, wandering alone in what seemed like the most nightmare-like landscape deep in hell.
“Look! Look! Bottom-dwelling demon fish!” Pipi, the lookout, suddenly screamed excitedly. Stephanie also saw it—a huge black fish head rose from the water, its gaping maw nearly twenty feet wide, resembling both giant petals and a funnel, with four slimy tentacles. It immediately seized several corpses, its razor-sharp serrated edges scraping past the Smokeful Fury. Stephanie even worried it might swallow the ship whole.
“Turn the ship! Idiots!” Jones shouted. “Mage, don’t stand by the side! Stay away from them!”
Bottom-dwelling demon fish were among the top predators in the lower realm’s food chain, as evidenced by their ability to live in the River of Darkness—even if it was just a tributary. Most of the time, they stayed on the riverbed to feed or hibernate, as sleeping was one of the best ways to reduce hunger. But it seemed today’s feast was so abundant that it even attracted them to the surface.
Now the entire water area had become sticky—the mucus clouds released by the demon fish filled the surface, dragging the corpses they couldn’t eat right away underwater.