234 Dekan’s Narrow Encounter
“I just want to go straight to the next level.”
Dekan shook his head, sighed, and muttered to himself.
The rules of this level were far too strange, absolutely disadvantageous for the Prison Guards.
If he had to fight Knowledge’s Altice under these conditions, Dekan felt it would be hard to predict the outcome.
From a strategic standpoint, it was undoubtedly optimal for him to quickly move to the fifth level.
He had to confirm if there were companions on this floor.
Only someone with the identity of a Prison Guard could bring companions to another tier.
The Shadow World’s Target 2 required everyone to leave the Demon Realm.
This prison allowed movement downwards, but not upwards.
Leaving any Challenger behind would be disastrous.
Therefore, Dekan still had to look around this level of the prison.
Apart from the four members of the Beautiful Soul Squad, there were six Challengers in total.
Thus, two more had to be found.
So Dekan turned back from the gateway leading to the fifth level and started to explore within the labyrinthine library.
…
Inside a spacious hall on the fourth level of the Demon Realm prison,
you could hear the crisp sound of a chess piece lightly tapping the chessboard every few seconds to several tens of seconds.
This place looked full of life, like a combination of a study and a living room.
Although it retained the feeling of a classical library, it was also Warden Altice’s office.
Altice sat on the couch, intently observing the chessboard, her face as perfect as a sculpture, so much so that if it weren’t for her occasional blinking, it would be hard to determine whether she was an artwork or a living being.
There was no trace of the usual ferocity seen in normal demons; on the contrary, she gave a sense of being the embodiment of rationality.
At the moment, there was also a young man sitting across from Altice.
Though this young man was dressed in prisoner’s garb, Altice didn’t seem to be making things difficult for him.
There were no wounds on his body, and on the table, near his side, there was a cup of tea with a rich aroma.
“Is this style of chess play that likes setting traps a common human trait, or is it your preference?”
“It’s my personal preference.”
They occasionally exchanged a few words.
It wasn’t an argument, nor was it a casual chat; there were just a few calm voices occasionally breaking the silence.
Most of the time, they quietly played chess.
Just as Altice was staring at the chessboard, deciding on the next move, her hand suspended mid-air suddenly stopped.
It seemed like someone’s arrival had caught Altice’s attention.
She raised her head.
Frowning, she looked towards the visitor in the hall.
Apparently, Altice wasn’t pleased with this unexpected visit from the Prison Guard.
“That you’d gamble and win this quickly for a Prison Guard to come down was surprising.”
Altice, without any expression, glanced at the young man opposite her and said.
They had made a bet earlier —
Whether a Prison Guard would come down within two weeks.
If she won, the young man would teach her some human magic she didn’t know.
And if the young man won, she would have to give the Prison Guard a chance to take him away.
Based on probability, her chances of winning were far better.
She was very clear on how often Prison Guards appeared on the fourth level.
However, the human managed to guess correctly this time.
“Hmph.”
The young man with pearwood-colored hair leaned back on the couch, clearly very tired, too lazy to turn his head.
Playing chess with Altice, a thousand-year-old member of the demon race, consumed a lot of brainpower.
But there was still a smile on the young man’s face, very calm.
He even leisurely picked up the teacup and took a sip.
As soon as he appeared on this level, he met the Warden of this level.
However, this demon had no intention of attacking him.
Instead, she merely invited him for a chat.
Through a simple exchange, he found out.
This demon named Altice was different from the ones he had learned about in the real world.
She seemed to have no desire to kill.
Instead, there was an extraordinarily strong thirst for knowledge.
And Altice was especially interested in humans, even with a certain degree of obsession.
Her desires were quite evident.
Thus, he used his oratory skills and the information gap he had as a Challenger to quickly reach a betting agreement with Altice.
He had already guessed that the special Challenger from the Shadow World would be a Prison Guard who could take them all the way down.
Though Morion didn’t understand why he was pulled into such a seventh-rank Shadow World at the start.
He was being chased by an extremely difficult-to-handle person at the time, and in his hurry, a small Void Gate suddenly appeared.
These small Void Gates were something Morion was very familiar with.
It was a temporary entrance to challenge the Shadow World.
Such gates occasionally appeared in random locations.
“Don’t touch these small Void Gates” was a piece of common sense drilled into him from a young age.
Getting pulled into an unknown Shadow World could easily result in death.
Of course, for Shadow World experts like Morion, Shadow Worlds weren’t dangerous at all.
It was just a matter of earning more or less.
After some consideration, Morion decisively chose to temporarily hide in this Shadow World.
When he entered, he realized it was a seventh-rank Shadow World he’d never encountered before!
Fortunately.
Based on the mechanics, he didn’t have much to do.
All he needed was to let the selected special Challenger handle everything.
Morion wasn’t worried about encountering seventh-rank Revival Sect followers in this Shadow World.
Such a Shadow World requiring full cooperation wouldn’t likely select a Challenger with a strong rebellious tendency, as it could lead to an unsolvable situation in the Shadow World.
His only concern was:
If he encountered some old acquaintances in this Shadow World, things might get a bit troublesome.
“Respected Warden Altice, may I propose a transaction to you.”
The new Demon Warden arrived, issuing a clear and pleasant voice of a female.
This never-heard-before voice made Morion feel relieved.
As long as it wasn’t that gray-haired, eerie guy, everything would be fine.
He assumed this round’s teammate would be a Shadow World expert from the Kingdom Union or the Empire.
Starting in such a safe prison level had already made Morion feel quite lucky.
Now, it seemed that someone would carry him through easily.
Comfortable.
“What do you want in exchange?”
Altice was initially annoyed when she saw this Warden because she had absolutely no interest in these demons.
If it weren’t for the bet with Morion, she would’ve likely driven the Warden out of her study directly.
But now she had to speak to this Warden.
If this Warden intended to take Morion to the lower tiers of the prison, she needed to offer a sufficiently fair opportunity.
Generally, even if a Warden came to this floor, they may not necessarily want to bring the prisoners downward.
Thus, even though Morion won the bet just now, it didn’t mean much.
Still, now it’s troublesome.
It annoyed Altice.
Because the new Warden turned out to be a Succubus!
There’s a chance she might really want to take this human young man away!
