As the two approached the exit, Liora's previous guess that the paths were interlocked was confirmed.
Staring at the blood and scratches on the ground, as well as the various signs of fighting, she understood that many Devils had come here before them.
She couldn't possibly know whether this blood was the result of the golems' attack or the infighting of Devils, but it also didn't matter much.
Signaling Eshara to be careful, Liora stepped into the exit.
As soon as her body passed the invisible line separating the two places, her vision went blank for a split second before returning to normal.
However, she didn't have time to observe her surroundings.
The moment her vision cleared, her intuition screamed danger as the sound of something whistling through the air reached her ears.
Seeing fireballs, ice arrows, weapons, and countless other attacks flying toward her, Liora's eyes turned serious, and her demonic energy boiled.
She didn't dare to face these abilities head-on, unwilling to test whether the Myriad Devils Armor could defend against them. Instead, she activated Shadow Assimilation and her figure vanished.
When she reappeared only a few meters away, she expected a new round of attacks to follow, only to find nothing happening.
"What a rude greeting.", Liora commented, and while patting her shoulders to clear away the debris, she observed her surroundings.
She was no longer in a corridor but in a vast room hundreds of meters in size. Around her, many Devils could be seen standing in a circular shape, most of them being part of a team.
It was unknown whether these teams had come together or were the result of a temporary alliance.
Thinking of alliance, Liora turned around and looked at her "teammate"—Eshara.
This succubus had entered the room at the same time as her, and surprisingly, she had managed to survive the barrage of Devil abilities.
Liora had been paying attention to her and had seen Eshara's body become transparent, causing the many attacks to pass right through her. It was as if she and the attacks existed in different dimensions.
"Sure enough, she has been hiding her abilities.", Liora judged. Eshara had never shown anything like that before.
Pushing the matter aside, her gaze shifted to the main attraction in the room—the object the Devils had formed a circle around.
It was a human-sized white coffin located at the very center of the room, floating a few centimeters above the ground. Countless complicated symbols were painted on the floor around it, surrounding it in the middle.
Although this white coffin was clearly a treasure, or at the very least, an object related to the Soul Devil, no one among the fifty or so Devils stepped forward to investigate it.
Part of it was because they were wary of the other Devils, knowing that the first to make a move would inevitably be targeted by everyone. Another part was because of the coffin itself.
A floating coffin surrounded by Devil Runes—it didn't take a genius to see that something was off about it.
Liora and Eshara would of course not break this delicate balance, and after picking a relatively empty place along the circle, they waited.
A few minutes later, a light flashed in the entrance, and the figure of a Devil appeared in the room.
Instantly, Liora watched as every Devil in the room took action, attacking the Devil who had just entered the room. Even Eshara, having not communicated with anyone, immediately used a soul-based attack, stunning the Devil.
This Devil was not very strong, and under the barrage of attacks, its whole body soon exploded.
No one stepped forward to collect its soul. It remained there, floating beside the souls of the previous victims.
The arrival of Liora, Eshara, and the now-dead Devil seemed to have alarmed the people in the room. Not long after, one of the many Devils stepped forward and spoke:
"I believe that everyone can see that this coffin is the core of a defensive formation. Unless we wait for more people to arrive and all attack together, it's impossible to break.", the Devil paused for a brief second before continuing:
"I don't want to brag, but I'm quite familiar with Devil Runes. Based on my observation, apart from using force to break it, we can also overload it using flesh and blood."
His words surprised some of the Devils, but the majority remained noncommittal. Among them, a horse-faced Devil asked the question in everyone's minds:
"How can we know that you're not lying? Do you want us to slice ourselves up and test your little theory?"
Hearing this, the formation Devil smiled slightly, a look of rare wisdom appearing in his eyes.
"It's very simple. All we need is to wait for the next Devil to arrive. Rather than killing them on the spot, we can capture them and throw them into the formation—"
Before he could finish speaking, the Horse-Faced Devil suddenly flashed behind him and kicked him in the back.
The formation Devil was caught off guard and had no time to react. His body was sent flying across the room, landing beside the white coffin.
"Not good!", he thought inwardly and tried to escape, but it was already too late.
The formation on the floor suddenly lit up, and a white light flashed and rushed toward him. The moment the light touched him, his entire body disintegrated, turning into a drop of black liquid.
With a splash, this drop fell onto the formation.
Immediately, a portion of the formation was dyed black, as if it had been corrupted.
"It works! What this guy just said is true!", the Horse-Faced Devil looked at the dimming formation and muttered in shock.
She was not the only one. The moment the formation showed signs of weakening, everyone in the room burst into excitement.
The next second, as if they had reached an agreement beforehand, a dozen or so people attacked the ones closest to them.
Liora was also among those dozen people.
She knew that now that a way to break the formation had appeared, the delicate balance that previously existed was destined not to last for long.
A fight was bound to take place.
Liora could see that the room, the formation, and the coffin were strange, as if part of a larger conspiracy, but there was nothing she could do.
If she didn't take action right now and show enough strength to make them cautious, these Devils would sooner or later try to use her as food for the formation.
