Chapter 596

Chapter 596: The Demon Corridor

The mage approached the stone door and began casting a spell. Even though she had just claimed to have guarded the door for a long time, she didn’t hesitate much when she started to break the seal with her magic.

Jesse guessed that she had also reached her breaking point. If there was a reason that could make her let go of her burden and free herself, even if it was a weak reason, she would accept it immediately.

At this moment, whether this group of people had killed a Pit Lord or not wasn’t so important anymore.

While the mage was performing the sealing ceremony, the group checked the things they had with them. They left behind all the materials they brought and only took things like potions related to fighting inside.

After all, if they couldn’t come out, these luggage would be meaningless. Bringing them in could also slow down the mission.

After the spell was completed, the magic on the stone door quickly dissipated, but the door did not immediately open. Kaldorei mage looked at them, pointed at the door, and everyone understood her meaning immediately.

The magical seal has been lifted, now it’s time for the physical one to be removed.

Greed sighed and, together with Vereesa and Jesse beside him, walked up to push the door. The stone door was very heavy. Greed mumbled as he pushed, "I hope they won’t need my alter ego to push this door!"

Mosa, who had just set down several food packs from his back, walked over and used his big hands to reach over everyone’s heads and push on the door. With this push, the stone door moved slightly with a rumble.

"Almost there, on the count of three. Three, two, one," Jesse said.

Several people nodded in agreement and said together, "Three, two, one, push!"

Everyone pushed together, and the stone door thundered open, dust scattering. Jesse closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he took a few steps forward, finally pushing open a gap wide enough for one person to pass through.

Greed quickly pulled out his warhammer and aimed it at the stone crack, while Jesse took a step back and gripped the handle of his sword at his waist. He waited at the doorway for a while, peeked inside, and saw nothing but a long and deep tunnel, illuminated by a faint blue Arcane light source reflecting from somewhere, with alternating bright and dark sections stretching all the way to an unseen corner.

Jesse almost immediately caught a strong demonic smell and tried to use Detect Demon to scan the area, but at least there were no demons in the corridor in front of him.

After a few people went in one by one, he turned to look at the elf standing behind over there, and asked, "Is she not coming over?"

Vereesa turned back to ask the elf, who hesitantly shook her head as Greed said, "Forget about her."

Mosa struggled for a while to squeeze through the doorway, while Molofeel revealed himself next to Jesse.

"Can you sense how many demons are inside?" Jesse asked.

Molofeel gazed into the depths of the corridor for a while, then replied, "I’m not sure, but the numbers are indeed few, master."

"There are spellcasters, master, perhaps demon mages!" Saenor said. "And there’s a quite powerful source of Arcane energy inside, connected to the other energy sources of the entire city, all converging to the west!"

"It’s one of the magic towers guarded by the mage from before," Jesse said. "This city relies on these magic towers to supply energy to its residents, just like…"

"Just like the Sunwell," said Vereesa.

Jesse nodded.

He took out a Soul Shard he had obtained from Maraudon before, and started chanting a summoning spell.

"What are you going to do with that?" Greed asked.

"The master is summoning a Felhound," imp said. "Don’t forget who saved your life last time near that tower, fatty!"

Vereesa asked, "What tower?"

"Last time, Jesse and I went to Karazhan, well, not inside Karazhan, just around the outskirts," Greed whispered. "Made quite a bit of money from the dead!"

"Why didn’t you invite me?" Vereesa asked.

"You want to make money too?" Greed asked.

Vereesa licked her lips and said, "Maybe, but more importantly, it sounds very interesting. I know Reliquary has always been interested in Karazhan."

"I know those guys would be interested even without you saying it," Greed said. "But we didn’t mean to leave you out, Elven Wisp. We had just returned from Dark Portal not long ago, and you had just come back to Quel’Thalas to guard the Amani border, am I right?"

"Ah, I see, alright then," Vereesa said, relaxing her shoulders.

At that moment, Jesse finished chanting the spell, and a large Felhound emerged from the dark shadowy corner of the hallway.

Before the Felhound fully materialized from the void, it skillfully responded to the Annihilan command language, so as soon as it landed, the hound obediently came to Jesse without any aggression, its three tentacles on top sniffing at everyone present.

"Dazhalm," Jesse gasped, "our new friend."

When the Felhound approached Mosa, she widened her eyes and said something in the Tauren language that sounded like a meaningless curse, pushing the Felhound away forcefully.

Jesse said in Demonic, "Stay away from the tall one."

The Felhound growled in response and immediately ran over to Greed’s side.

"I remember last time a Felhound had a name similar to this one, so are they the same?" Greed whispered as he avoided the approaching demon dog.

"No, it’s just the same name, naming is hard, Greed, especially in demon language," Jesse explained.

Even though Vereesa knew the Felhound was Jesse’s servant, and definitely more obedient than the succubus, she couldn’t completely relax as she stared at the demon.

No matter how powerful the mage was, they found it hard to stay calm when facing a Felhound, let alone these children nurtured by Arcane magic.

To counter any possible demon spellcasters, Jesse earnestly chanted a protective Mage Armor against evil, the brilliant radiance dimming after the spell was complete, then he cast an Arcane Intellect on himself and Mosa.

"I also need an Arcane Intellect, mage Jesse," Vereesa said.

Jesse gave her one too, after finishing chanting all these spells, his mana was severely depleted, he had to take out a Kingsblood brewed soup from a leather bag carried by the Tauren and drank it.

Although not as effective as Ursula’s Mana Potion, luckily it was in abundance and affordable, drinking that pouch of purple soup instantly revitalized him.

The corridor was very deep and long, Jesse felt it was much longer than the one in the game maybe because they were being particularly cautious.

The pathway twisted and inclined upwards with burning Shadowflame in the braziers beside it, emitting a dark aura that made the people inside uncomfortable after a while.

While turning a corner, Jesse heard a sudden noise coming from a side corridor.

Vereesa quickly aimed her arrow towards that direction, as the noise grew closer. Suddenly, a Felhunter leaped out from the shadows and rushed towards them, moving so fast as if it had been chasing them all along.

But Vereesa’s arrow was quicker, piercing through its head deeply, causing the Felhound to drop to the ground motionless, the arrow hitting its core.

As the first Felhound fell, another one leaped over its body and Vereesa was about to draw another arrow when Molofeel’s dark blade accurately struck its chest. The Felhound fell and hit the wall, rolling a few times before staying still.

"They’ve detected us," Vereesa lowered her bow slightly. "Perhaps it’s my fault, these Felhounds are very sensitive to Arcane energy."

"It could be because of my spellcasting," Jesse suggested. "At least we only encountered these two Felhounds in this section, maybe they just happened to be closer to us."

Vereesa nodded as Molofeel pulled out his dagger from the Felhound’s corpse, then raised his head, sensing something as he looked towards the direction where two demons were approaching.

"What’s wrong?" Jesse asked.

As soon as he asked, he smelled a familiar yet strange scent in the air. It was the scent of a succubus, not coming from Molofeel.

Also, Molofeel was carefully trying not to release too much of her aura to avoid being detected by other demons hidden here. Such a distinct smell couldn’t possibly come from her. Greed bypassed two Felhound corpses and walked deeper, saying, "Look!"

Jesse followed and saw him pointing to a dark lump on the ground nearby, like a fallen piece of rock, asking, "What is that?"

A few people went over and upon getting closer, they realized it was a dried-up and curled-up succubus corpse.

The Felhound Dazhalm paid no attention to the body, not even curious to go closer. It seemed impatient to be led into this passage, only wanting to continue in their original direction because the magic energy there was stronger and more enticing to Felhound.

"This Sayaad has been completely drained, with no magic left," Molofeel said.

"Did the Felhound do this?" Jesse asked.

The succubus looked the body up and down again and said, "I don’t know…"

Jesse squatted down to carefully examine the demon’s body, trying to turn it over. The small Sayaad was already tiny, and after being drained, it seemed even smaller. He felt like he was flipping over the body of a small, frail stray dog that had died of illness or hunger.

When they flipped it over, a strong disgusting smell hit them. Greed turned away as if he was going to throw up, Vereesa frowned, and Mosa stood far back watching.

Jesse carefully examined this side, and then he noticed that the demon’s body had no injuries.

"If the Felhound absorbed magic, it should have used its tentacles to suck it up, leaving sharp wounds."

"Ah, yes, master."

When Jesse said this, the succubus also noticed it.

"So, it was drained by other demons using magic," she said.