Chapter 65: The Demon Altar

Over the next few days,

the Demon Whale continued sailing toward the Dragon Head Grand Harbor.

Meanwhile, the angel Carona kept flying over the nearby sea, searching for a suitable demon lord.

Compared to the lottery-like odds of encountering a suitable demon while sailing slowly like Gunei,

Carona's proactive flights in search were obviously far more effective.

Each day, Carona would go out to scout for traces of demon lords.

At night, she would land on the Demon Whale to rest.

Gunei had specially prepared a separate cabin for her.

Even angels need rest.

The number of demons was clearly much smaller than Gunei had expected, perhaps because the deep sea was so vast.

After several days of searching, Carona had yet to find a demon lord.

She had encountered two demon chiefs.

But unfortunately, Gunei's standards were now high, and he looked down on demon chiefs.

Finally, on the seventh day,

news of a demon lord arrived.

…

That afternoon,

Carona, who had been out patrolling all day, returned to the Demon Whale.

After landing, she immediately went to the captain's cabin.

“About five hundred nautical miles southeast of here, there's a strange island with blood-red energy soaring to the sky.”

Carona said as soon as she entered.

“Oh?” Gunei, who had been reading a spell tome, looked up.

“Blood-red energy? The work of demons?”

“Yes.”

Carona nodded.

“I sensed an extremely evil demonic aura there.”

“I didn't dare get too close. My stealth isn't very good; if I got too close, those demons would easily spot me.”

“I sensed two chief-level demons there, both likely fourth-tier.”

Hearing Carona's account, Gunei's expression shifted slightly.

“Two demon chiefs? That means… there's a demon lord there.”

“High probability. And I could tell that the place with the blood-red energy was probably some kind of altar.”

“Those two demon chiefs are likely subordinates of that demon lord; otherwise, two demons of the same rank wouldn't get along so peacefully.”

“It must be some demon lord trying to use the altar to elevate his rank or enhance some of his innate abilities.”

Gunei stood up, paced back and forth a few times, and then said in a low voice,

“If the altar's blood light is so intense, then the altar's ritual must be about to begin.”

Earlier, Gunei had watched the entire ritual of the Nightmare Merfolk elder.

As offerings were continuously fed to guide the power, in the final days of the ritual, the altar's energy would become especially fierce and turbulent.

The mysterious island's altar with its blood-red light soaring to the sky was most likely at the critical moment of the final ritual.

“Five hundred nautical miles—that's quite a distance. Fortunately, I came prepared.”

Then Gunei looked at Carona.

“Rest for now. Tonight, we'll go destroy that demon altar. And from the souls of those two demons, we'll find out the rank of that demon lord. If it's at the late sixth-tier peak, we'd better steer clear.”

“After all, even the two of us together might not be a match for a sixth-tier demon lord.”

“If it's fifth-tier or lower, we can set up a plan and take it down.”

“Mm!” Carona nodded.

Though she had heard in rumors that Captain Jack, this “super spellcaster,” was very powerful,

she had never seen him in action and wasn't sure of his actual strength.

Fortunately, with two fourth-tier demon chiefs there, she could gauge Captain Jack's real power when they went tonight.

If he was strong enough, they could try to hunt this powerful demon lord.

If he wasn't as formidable as imagined,

then this hunt might have to end.

After all, a demon lord was no joke.

…

Night slowly fell.

The mist of the Misty Sea had also been gradually gathering and rising over the past few days.

The intertwining of night and mist made Carona's traces even harder to detect.

About twenty nautical miles from the “Altar Island,” on the sea surface,

Carona landed on the water.

Then, she activated the scroll Gunei had given her.

“Hum!”

As a milky white light bloomed, spatial essence fluctuations spread.

A hexagonal teleportation array lit up.

With a flash of light,

Gunei stepped out of the hexagonal teleportation array and stood steadily on the sea surface.

The moment he landed, Gunei looked directly in one direction.

This made Carona's heart stir.

“You sensed it?” Carona asked softly.

“With such a thick smell of blood practically slapping me in the face, if I couldn't sense it, my profession would be worthless.”

“I still don't know your profession.” Carona looked at Gunei.

“You'll find out soon enough,” Gunei said lightly.

“Is the demon lord there?”

“No,” Carona said firmly.

“Those demons and devils can't hide their traces from me.”

“Right now, there are only two fourth-tier demon chiefs on the altar island.”

“Good. We'll take one each. Any problem?” Gunei asked.

This angel wanted to see Gunei's strength, and Gunei also wanted to see hers.

Gunei was even worried she might hold him back!

“No problem,” Carona said with a light smile.

Gunei's words suited her perfectly.

“Then let's go.” With a flick of his feet, Gunei shot forward like the wind; a warm-up before battle was essential.

Seeing Gunei burst forward instantly, Carona couldn't help but be startled.

“Isn't this guy a spellcaster? That speed? It's incredible!”

With a light flap of her wings, Carona flew swiftly to catch up.

“Rushing in so directly—isn't that a bit reckless?”

“Reckless?” Gunei smiled.

“Don't worry. Just charge in and kill them. They're only fourth-tier chiefs.”

“Is this super spellcaster really so fierce that he can ignore chiefs?” Carona mused inwardly.

The reason Gunei said this

was that his soul was already an elite+3 level strong soul, and after soul projection, he had become a domain spellcaster, quite formidable.

Moreover, during this time, Gunei had been continuously consuming “True·Mystic Source Fruits,” strengthening his soul defense.

And Gunei also had the artifact helmet gifted by Veya.

In terms of soul defense alone, Gunei could easily withstand the soul attack methods of the soul-form creatures, demons.

At the same time, Gunei's Arcane Shot, Greater and Lesser Thunderflame Curses, and Puppet Secret Threads

were all highly effective against soul-rank beings like demons.

And Gunei's physical body was a top-tier chief's body condensed with flesh runes.

Facing a fourth-tier demon chief, which was only one rank higher than him,

Gunei felt that the one who should be afraid was not him.

Of course, though he spoke boldly, Gunei had actually prepared many backup plans, including escape scrolls.

When it was time to flee, this angel would have to stay behind to cover the retreat.

He couldn't lose in either momentum or means.