Chapter 173: Jadril’s Doom and Unexpected Gains

The Demon Baron Jadril was filled with shock and fury. Evil Gaze was his most powerful supernatural ability. As a Force Demon who evolved primarily through physical combat, his other spell-like abilities—such as Eagle Vision, Dark Magic, and Suggestion—were mostly auxiliary spells, far inferior to those of spellcasters among demons, who possessed several powerful offensive spells. Faced with the enemy’s secret techniques that restricted one’s combat capabilities, if Evil Gaze failed, the only option left was to escape using precise teleportation spells; otherwise, he could cause no significant harm to these three humans.

Although those secret techniques couldn’t last long on him, in a battle, just two or three seconds could determine life or death. This was something all the battle-hardened demons in the Abyss knew well.

Many of Donald and his companions’ spells had range limitations and couldn’t be cast from afar, especially several innate spells that required being close to lock onto a target.

True Demon! Mana Burn!

The two of them unleashed their innate spells at the Demon Baron.

“Ah!”

Affected by the combined effects of the spells, Jadril felt his strength draining rapidly. Part of it seemed to be ignited, burning quickly while causing continuous internal damage. Shocked by his opponent’s formidable power, the Demon Baron used teleportation once more before his strength was exhausted, arriving at the exit of the cave in an attempt to escape under the siege of Donald and his friends.

“Don’t let it get away!”

Shouting, Donald cast his fastest instant spell, Frost Nova. Though it failed to freeze the Demon Baron, it significantly slowed him down and dealt considerable damage.

Uther’s sword energy, imbued with holy light, was like poison to the inherently evil and chaotic Abyssal forces. Though only a small amount entered its body, it was as persistent as a bone-eating worm, hard to eliminate. After several brief encounters, Donald noticed that both the previous Exile spell and the recent Mana Drain and Mana Burn had lost some of their power when cast on the Demon Baron. It seemed the Golden Demon’s magical resistance, along with hierarchical suppression, prevented their spells from functioning at full strength.

So when the three of them attacked again as the demon’s speed was impaired, Donald immediately shouted, “Kaelthas, Exile!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Jadril, the golden demon with formidable combat skills, was once again forced to revert to an ethereal state. With Uther’s mastery of combat, he rushed forward without Donald’s reminder, his long sword emitting bursts of holy light that carved a series of bloody wounds across the Demon Baron’s body. At that moment, Donald abandoned the attack spells that required prior preparation. Two large moon blades suddenly appeared in his hands; transforming into a swirl of flames, they circled around the Demon Baron like a gentle breeze before retreating. Suddenly, patches of blood blossomed across the enemy’s massive body as terrifyingly deep wounds were inflicted. Although Donald hadn’t developed any sword energy, the moon blades infused with the Fire of Sacrifice inflicted damage on this golden demon that was no less severe than Uther’s sword energy. Three seconds passed, and the Demon Baron regained his normal state, but his condition was now utterly miserable. The Fire of Sacrifice was an attack that transmitted from the soul level to the flesh, while the wounds caused by Uther’s sword energy were further hindered by the power of holy light, preventing them from healing on their own. Thus, even with the demon’s powerful self-healing abilities, it could not alleviate its injuries. “Damn it! I, Jadril, the Demon Baron, son of the Great Skull Shatterer, will not die at the hands of a few humans…” Since ascending to the golden rank, Jadril had been full of confidence. Though he was suppressed back to the silver rank by the rules of the primary material world, he still possessed peak silver-level strength. He was confident he could easily handle two or three ordinary human golden warriors. Moreover, he thought no creatures in this remote underground realm could pose a threat to him. Unexpectedly, he now found himself critically injured after falling to just three humans with silver-level strength but bizarre tactics. So, Jadril let out a furious scream and launched a desperate attack. If he could repel one of them this time, he would still have a chance to escape. As long as he could reach the cave where the passage was located and return to the abyss, he could absorb the abyssal energy to recover and save his life. As for everything else, including his purpose for coming here, it no longer mattered.

But Donald and his two companions wouldn’t give it that chance. Faced with the Demon Baron’s fierce attack, Uther immediately blocked it with his sacred shield. The intense force sent Uther stumbling back several steps—this was even after he used all his strength to sustain himself with sword energy. But that was as far as it went. While Uther blocked the Demon Baron’s final strike, Donald rushed forward, plunging his sharp moon blade into its chest and twisting it hard to extract a fist-sized crimson heart core.

“I refuse to give up…”
With a fierce glare at the human before him, the Demon Baron managed to utter a few words before its fifteen-foot-tall massive body collapsed with a crash.

Donald, who had already focused on becoming a powerful spellcaster, showed little interest in this demon power based on physical evolution. So he merely took the enemy’s heart core and corpse, without attempting to absorb the power of this golden demon.

“Clean up the battlefield, deal with those escaped little demons, and then let’s go back! The abyssal passage should also be sealed!”
With that, Uther and the other nodded in agreement and separated from Donald, entering different underground passages.

Donald also entered a passage whose destination was unknown. He moved swiftly forward, killing any little demons that tried to escape and hide along the way, tossing them into his storage space.

A few minutes later, Donald arrived at a cave roughly the size of his lord’s manor. Although it seemed ordinary, like an ancient cave that had existed for many years, Donald felt something was off about it.

“No, don’t kill me!”
A terrified voice came from behind a pile of rocks in the cave as Donald entered.

Looking over, Donald saw a trembling little demon stepping out from behind them.

It was Pachi, the little demon he had released after interrogating it earlier. He ran into it again here.

“So it’s you. Didn’t I tell you to leave? The further you go, the better. Why are you still around? I only said I wouldn’t kill you then, not that I’d spare you next time!”
The little demon Pachi spoke in a timid and flattering tone, “Master Mage, I have information about a treasure. Please don’t kill me.”

“A treasure?”
Donald’s brows raised slightly, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

He had long guessed that the Demon Baron must have had a special purpose for coming to the primary material world and then traveling dozens of miles underground to reach the northern mountains of LordGuli (Guli)’s domain!

If it’s for a treasure, that’s somewhat plausible.
“Tell me what treasure it is. If I’m satisfied, I might spare you again!”
The little demon Pachi’s face lit up with joy as he nodded repeatedly.
“Master Mage, you’ll definitely be satisfied! Pachi doesn’t have to die! It’s the tomb of a black dragon!”
“You say it’s the tomb of a black dragon?”
Donald raised his voice in surprise.
Pachi nodded eagerly.
“Yes! Master Mage, there’s a black dragon’s tomb here—along with the dragon itself and its treasures. Baron Jadri captured us to use as laborers to build an altar and search for the tomb!”
Donald nodded in satisfaction, filled with delight.
Finding a black dragon’s tomb was truly a pleasant surprise—far more exciting than finding a gold demon’s treasure.
As creatures at the top of the main world’s food chain, dragons are most valuable for themselves, and secondly, for their treasures. A broken dragon skeleton can be worth more than a complete fifth-level magical beast’s corpse, including its crystal core.
Moreover, black dragons aren’t ordinary lower-class dragons—adult black dragons can reach the gold rank, making their value even greater.
“You say you know where the treasure is. So where is it?”
Pachi pointed to a dark passage behind the cave. “It’s over there!”
Donald sent a few owls to call back his men, then said to Pachi, “Show me the way.”
Pachi obediently led the way into the seemingly deep passage.
Donald cast a light spell and followed Pachi inside. After traveling about three to five miles, they arrived at a cave even larger than the two underground caves they had visited before.
Under the light spell, the cave resembled an upside-down bowl, with a relatively flat bottom and a ceiling covered in stalactites of various sizes—growing upside down.
Deep in the cave, a passage resembling a giant mouth could be faintly seen, with dark red flames flowing from it—clearly the result of underground lava.
Pachi pointed at the passage in the distance. “That’s the black dragon’s tomb. I overheard Baron Jadri say that this used to be the black dragon’s nest. After the dragon died, it hid itself and all its treasures there. But there’s a barrier protecting the tomb, so Baron Jadri hasn’t been able to enter!”

It turns out that this demon baron had discovered a nest of a dead dragon. In order to obtain the treasures inside the dragon’s lair, it came to the main material world. Instead of attacking human territories with full force as expected to slaughter and seize souls, it gathered half of its subordinates to try and locate the black dragon’s tomb and break through the dragon clan’s protective magic barrier outside it. Now everything makes sense! Just as Donald was about to go and test the strength of that protective barrier, his two owls arrived with Uther and Kelthas.