What did death feel like?

First, there was darkness. Then your consciousness would start fading.

You'd keep falling, like you were drowning.

The process felt like an eternity but also like one instant.

Then there was a red light.

Finally, you'd fall into a large river.

A frightening river filled with fresh blood.

This was what Carlo felt.

This river was filled with monstrous and frightening creatures.

Compared to the creatures here, Crypt Demons were like domestic kitties.

Souls kept falling down from the sky.

They were all people who'd died and fallen into the Blood River.

Carlo was chased by a dozen-meter-long fish.

Just as he thought he would die a second time, a hand grabbed his neck and pulled him out of the river.

Then the monster who grabbed him stuffed him into a bottle.

There were two other people—or souls—in the bottle.

Carlo learned from them that this was h.e.l.l.

The monster who'd captured him was called Ado, a demon.

One of the humans was English. The other was Australian.

Doronte, the English person, was an alcoholic and had serious violence issues.

In the end, his wife killed him in his sleep.

Nebaur, the Australian, was a gang leader. He died in a shooting.

“Where are we going now?” Carlo asked.

“To get sold,” Nebaur said. “We might get sold to other demons.”

“What if no demons buy us?” Carlo asked.

“Then we'll get eaten,” Doronte said. “Before you two arrived, the other two souls imprisoned with me were eaten.”

Carlo and Nebaur shuddered.

“Will we get eaten by the other demons who buy us?”

“No. Our souls are pretty complete, so if other demons buy us, it's not so they can eat us.”

“Then what can we do?”

“Work.”

“What work?”

“Don't know,” Doronte said. “I've been stuck here the entire time. How would I know what we'd do?”

“Can we escape?”

“Escape? Ha…” Doronte laughed. “Are you sure that you, a pathetic and weak soul, can live in this terrifying h.e.l.l?”

Just then, the demon Ado looked over, peering at the talking souls.

“Don't think about escaping. You can live a bit longer like this.” Ado clearly heard them talking.

The three souls paled in fear. Ado cackled. “If you get bought by other demons, you'll be lucky. But you can talk a bit more when we get to Obsidian City. You might get noticed by other demons.”

“Move.”

Suddenly, a large hand pushed Ado to the ground.

Ado shuddered and quickly knelt down.

A huge red demon walked past Ado. There was a large group behind the red demon.

However, most of the demons in the group had handcuffs and shackles.

“Lord Ado, what is with these demons? Why are they shackled?”

“They're the booty for our lord. Half a year ago, our lord fought with his neighbor, Samuel Logan. Lord Logan lost, so our lord took over his land. These are Logan's servants. Now, they belong to our lord.”

“Is that red demon the lord?”

“Nonsense. That's an inferior chaos demon.”

“Lord Ado, what level are you?” Doronte asked.

“You ask too much. I'll eat you first if you don't get sold tomorrow.”

Doronte was terrified. He didn't think that he'd get treated like this just by asking a question.

He wouldn't know that Ado was only an inferior hybrid demon.

He was the lowliest demon in h.e.l.l and didn't even have a breed.

More importantly, the earlier chaos demon was a soldier under the lord.

Ado was only a small merchant. His status was much worse.

On the other hand, Carlo and Nebaur were gleeful. If he ate Doronte first, then they'd be safe for now.

The sky darkened without any warning.

Carlo saw a huge red dragon flying in the sky.

“That's…”

“That's the lord's wife, a superior demon with n.o.ble dragon blood.”

Ado pointed at the black castle in the distance. “See that castle? That's Obsidian Castle, where the lord's wife lives.”

Carlo stared at the castle, eyes filled with envy.

He could tell that Ado was lower cla.s.s in h.e.l.l.

Even though Ado was able to kill him now, he was still nothing before the important figures.

Even one of the lord's soldiers could humiliate him at will, let alone the high and mighty lord.

If Carlo could enter that castle, he might be able to change his fate.

Of course, right now, his fate wasn't in his own hands.

After Ado entered Obsidian City, he sat down in an empty spot. Then he placed the bottles filled with souls before him.

Just then, a terrifying demon walked over.

Ado immediately prostrated himself on the ground.

“Raise your head,” the demon said.

“Lord, are you talking to me?” Ado asked, lifting his head.

“Are there any other idiots here?”

Ado looked around. There were so many demons nearby. How could he confirm that he was the idiot?

“Lord, how may I help you?”

“Do you have the soul of a human scholar?”

Hearing the demon, Carlo immediately yelled, “Me, me! I'm a human scholar!”

The chance was here. The chance to change his fate was here.

The terrifying demon picked up the bottle. “You're a human scholar?”

“Yes, yes, I'm a human scholar. Lord, how can I help you?”

“Do you know Spanish or whatever?”

“Yes, yes!”

Carlo was even more excited. Spanish was one of his most fluent languages.

“Good, you belong to me now.” The demon glanced at Ado on the ground and tossed a stone to him.

Ado kowtowed continuously. “Thank you for your benevolence.”

“These two souls don't seem to be useful.” The demon glanced at Doronte and Nebaur.

“Lord, I know French,” Nebaur said hurriedly.

“Don't need that.”

“Lord, better be safe than sorry. Maybe you'll need me.”

The demon considered this. It seemed reasonable so he chose to keep him.

Then he looked at Doronte. “What about you?”

“I… I…”