As Liora walked into the city, the familiar metallic, corrupting smell hit her nose. At the right side of the gate, corpses were piled one upon another, while the faint sounds of distant battle could be heard.
"Lady, do you need a guide? It'll only take a single soul."
Just as Liora was observing the environment, a gentle, seductive voice echoed in her ears. The voice contained a strange power that caused her heart to stir, reaching directly into her soul.
A trace of lust encroached upon Liora's mind, and a quiet whisper tempted her to give in.
But the very next second, her demonic energy boiled, hot like magma and fierce like wildfire, jolting her awake.
As soon as her eyes regained their clarity, Liora saw the owner of the previous voice and understood what had just happened.
The person was a young woman in her early twenties, wearing a short black dress that stuck to her body, accentuating her figure and revealing her proud chest.
She had a faint blush on each of her cheeks, while a heart-shaped tail extended from her back and swung around like a pendulum.
The moment Liora saw her, she recognized this woman's identity.
"A succubus!", she whispered, recalling the various legends circulating about this race in her previous life.
Lust, temptation, manipulation—these were the words that most people would use to describe them.
However, Liora was not too worried.
She didn't know what the status of succubi was in the real Demon World, but in the Crucible, their status was abysmally low. After all, although Young Devils were intelligent, they were still mostly driven by the instinct to plunder, destroy, and devour.
As such, succubi, a race whose entire purpose was to tempt and take advantage of other beings' lust, had a hard time surviving.
Having said that, Liora didn't dare to underestimate the woman in front of her. Since she was still able to stand here alive, there must be something special about her.
At the very least, she was not a weakling that one could easily manipulate.
Not letting down her guard, Liora nodded her head, accepting the succubus' offer.
"That's good.", a genuine smile flashed across the succubus' face, making her beautiful appearance even more captivating. Anyone faced with such a smile would surely want to sink into it.
Yet Liora didn't lose her mind.
She tossed a soul to the succubus casually, then said coldly:
"Let's go. Lead the way."
Her words woke the succubus up. Glancing at the soul in her hands with reluctance, she carefully placed it away and did as told.
"Follow me.", she said, and after turning around, she walked straight into the city.
Following half a step behind her, Liora observed her surroundings as the succubus' sultry voice rang in her ears.
"My name is Eshara.", she introduced herself.
"I don't want to brag, but I've been staying here for more than half a decade. There are very few people who can claim to be more familiar with the City of Embers than I."
Ignoring her boasting words, Liora took her gaze off Eshara's swaying hips and took a look around her.
Just like the cities in her memories, this city also had streets, alleys, shops, and houses.
Pedestrians could be seen going in and out of the various buildings, giving Liora the illusion that she had returned to Earth.
Of course, that was true only if she were to ignore the so-called pedestrians' horrifying appearances.
Spherical monsters with murky tentacles, walking placentas covered in fur, and chimeras composed of human, goat, boar, pig, and many other species' parts.
Many different Devil races fell into her eyes.
Perhaps affected by her past life, or perhaps she was simply special, but Liora held a deep disgust toward these repulsive creatures.
With a point of comparison, Eshara became more and more pleasing to the eye.
"As you can see, there are many shops in the City of Embers. Just like everything else in the Demon World, you'll need to pay with souls if you want to buy something."
Eshara explained and pointed at the other side of the street, where a building with the words "Hellscape Eatery" written in Devil Language hung above its door.
The word Eatery initially sounded tempting, but when Liora spotted the bloodstains all over the floor and heard the painful cries of lingering souls, she shook her head.
Unlike other Devils, she had not fallen so far as to eat her own kind—even though her own kind was actually a bunch of monsters.
With Eshara leading the way, the two walked deeper into the city, and with her introduction, Liora gradually grew familiar with the City of Embers.
Some time later, having explored most of the city, they arrived at its center.
Surprisingly, although this area was crowded, there were no sounds of battle or painful screams.
Liora understood why that was.
Raising her head, she stared at the towering stone tablet in the distance, which was covered in twisting symbols and writhing patterns.
This was the Crucible Ranking List—an object related to the conditions set by the Demon World.
One hundred names were written on the stone tablet, each accompanied by a blood-red number. The number beside the first name of the list was higher than a million, while the last one was in the hundreds of thousands.
The moment Liora's gaze fell upon the tablet, a small string of crimson numbers flashed on the corner of her vision.
"221.", the number read.
"Slaughter Points...", she murmured, clearly recognizing these numbers' purpose.
Slaughter Points determined each Devil's position on the Crucible Ranking. As the name suggested, the way to acquire Slaughter Points was fairly simple—kill other Devils and take their points.
For example, if Liora were to kill the Devil ranked first, she'd immediately take their place at the top of the ranking.
Thinking of this, Liora felt her hands itching, and she had the urge to find someone to kill.
But as soon as this impulse arose, she quickly suppressed it.
She understood that this was the unintentional influence of the Demon World, driving her to kill, slaughter, and get stronger or die trying.
Seeing her regain her senses so quickly, Eshara showed a hint of surprise, but quickly hid it, returning to her job as a guide.
"Legend says that one hundred such stone tablets suddenly descended upon the Crucible. Around them, cities quickly formed, each ruled by a powerful Devil. "
"Take the City of Embers, for example. The City Lord ranks seventy-sixth on the Crucible Ranking.", she said.
After she expounded on some things and gave Liora a few final reminders, Eshara stepped aside.
"That should cover everything you need to know. It was a pleasure doing business with you.", she gave a last smile and turned around, heading back toward the city's entrance.
Her heels clicked against the stone floor, while her hips swayed as she walked.
Not long after, back at the city's gate, Eshara saw another person walking in.
Her eyes lit up, and she immediately stepped forward.
"Sir, do you need a guide?", she asked as her eyes sized up the "potential customer".
It was a short, three-legged creature that looked like an imp, with soft pink skin and short arms that barely reached past its chest.
As soon as Eshara's voice reached its ears, a pink mist flashed in its eyes, and its movements stagnated.
"Good! Finally, a good meal!", Eshara exclaimed excitedly, and she approached the little imp.
Leaning forward, she opened her mouth wide and swallowed it whole in one bite. The imp vanished into her mouth.
Her jaw moved, and crunching noises came out as she chewed, her cheeks bulging from time to time as the imp struggled.
A few seconds later, Eshara's tongue licked her upper lip, savoring the taste and cleaning the blood off her mouth.