Chapter 45: The Abyssal Throat

“Grandma Vellanse, I’m planning to eat charcoal-grilled venison today—what do you think?”

“I hate black dragons, and I don’t want to talk to you!”

“What do you hate dragons have to do with me? I’m actually a dragon-beast, hahaha!”

“You’re just as filthy as that guy.”

“Nonsense—I swim in the river every single day! How can you compare me to someone who hasn’t bathed in years? That’s an insult.”

“Hmph, you’ve done too many evil deeds alongside that creature. One day, you’ll get what you deserve.”

“You’re wrong, Lady Krosuna only cares about gold. I love raiding and looting, but I have no interest in murder or arson.”

“Hehehe, look what we’ve caught—oh, it’s the clever druid, isn’t it? Old man, you’ve killed plenty of my men. Didn’t think you’d end up here, did you?”

“This one’s mine, Barrot. If you want him, pay for him—I don’t give things away for free,” Krosuna said with a smug grin.

“Madam, you seem to have forgotten the real mission. Though this druid is annoying, our main threat remains Gosh’s ogre army.”

“Barrot, have you been around these ogres too long that your brain’s gone soft? If your reinforcements don’t arrive soon, you won’t get a share of this plane.”

“Dear madam, don’t rush. You know devils are unwelcome in any plane. Establishing a stable portal for a large army requires massive sacrifices. You’re still needed.”

Normally, the Pantheon would never allow devils to establish portals and infiltrate any plane, as no deity wishes to share their devotee resources. But exceptions exist: the ogre god Bubro-Shap-MoGe is despised by every faction in the Pantheon, so the events in the Cardorn Plane were deliberately ignored by the gods.

“So you’re useless now? What good are you then? I could seize the plane myself—you’ve offered no real help.”

“Madam, calm down. I promise you double your share. Money in your hand is money, isn’t it? If you wait a few months, I’m sure Duke Sakavi won’t mind.”

“That sounds good, but I have a faster way to profit. If I sell you and this entire plane, the payoff comes immediately. What do you think?”

“Lady Krosuna, this violates our agreement. You cannot break your word like this.”

“You’re right—Sakavi must keep his word. So I didn’t get his permission. Any further questions, Baron Barrot?”

“Black lizard, breaking promises has consequences. Do you really think I’m easy to fool? You must answer for your greed.” His frame was tall and gaunt, like a stretched skeleton, his skin the color of dried parchment, studded with countless icy bone spines. His voice scraped like two floating ice floes grinding together, each word carrying the chill of the Fifth Glacial Layer.

Without warning, Barrot struck first. He slammed his foot down, and from his center, a forest of black crystal spikes—“Frost Spikes”—erupted from the ground, surging toward the black dragon-beast.

“Scatter!” Krosuna roared, her body turning into a shadow that darted through the gaps between the spikes. Lightning elements gathered rapidly in her hands, and three arrows shot out in a “pin” formation, aimed straight at the devil’s vital points.

But Barrot moved faster than he appeared. He drifted backward like a wisp of black smoke; the arrows pierced only his afterimage. He raised his hand and pulled several rib bones from his space ring, shattering them instantly into countless razor-sharp bone blades that spun like a whirlwind of death toward the five dragon-beasts.

“Ice Wall!” With a roar, several thick walls of bone-chilling ice materialized instantly. After piercing through three iron-hard walls, the bone blades lost momentum and fell short against the fourth.

The arrows flew soundlessly, yet carried the power to corrode souls, striking precisely at Barrot’s lower back—the weakest point in his bone armor. For the first time, the devil showed shock. He tried to dodge, but Su Lade’s arrow was too fast—he had no time to react.

Pfft! The shadow arrow struck true. Barrot’s body shuddered violently; several bone spines on his back instantly corroded and snapped.

“Aaaahhh...!” Barrot roared in fury, feeling his soul torn apart. But the wound wasn’t fatal—it only enraged him.

Flames erupted from the front—Yi Luo had struck. At that moment, Talie in the sky let out a piercing shriek. She spread her arms, and a thick “Chain Lightning Sphere” plunged from her hands like a silver serpentine beast, dancing wildly across Barrot’s body.

BOOM! The entire fortress trembled. Smoke and fire exploded skyward. Yet from the smoke, Barrot’s dry laughter echoed again. “Naive. You think this can kill a legendary devil?”

The smoke cleared, revealing Barrot encased in a “Bone Prison” woven from countless white bones and vengeful spirits. All magical attacks had been absorbed; the prison’s surface bore only charred marks.

“Barrot, no point in struggling—your men are all dead.” Su Lade tossed a severed head. Barrot stared: it was his assistant, Bazael.

“Lady Krosuna, I admit you’ve won this time. But I’m curious—where did I go wrong? I accounted for every variable.”

“Simple. I didn’t bring six masters—I brought ten. Plus thirty high-rank dragon-beast mages. More than enough for you. Logically, I should’ve waited until the Cardorn War reached its peak. But you forgot one thing: dragons never follow rules.”

“I underestimated you. I planned to capture you after your transformation, drag your soul back to Bato Hell, and offer it to Her Majesty—she would have loved it. Now, that won’t happen.”

“Barrot, let’s make a deal. Hand over all the treasure you brought, and I’ll let you go. My men have already set up an array here—you can’t open a portal to Bato Hell without my permission.”

“Hehehe, fascinating. Very fascinating. You’re the most interesting dragon I’ve ever met. Few devils have been outmaneuvered in a deal. Lady, I’ll remember you. Here’s your gift!”

The devil slammed his palm on the ground. A thick, hellish frost mist surged forth from the Fifth Layer of Hell, instantly engulfing the entire hall. “We’ll meet again, dragon whelps!” Barrot’s voice echoed through the mist, thick with malice and hatred.

When the frost mist cleared, the devil was gone. Only a puddle of melted ice and his “payment” remained: a ring forged from unknown black metal, its surface etched with intricate, wood-grain-like natural patterns. At its center lay a deep green gem.

The gem was neither jade nor turquoise. Its interior was semi-translucent, as if trapping a drop of never-drying, viscous poison. In the light, tiny bubbles rose with excruciating slowness from within—like the last breath rising from a swamp’s depths. Touching it brought a bone-deep chill and a faint numbness.

This ring is the “key” to the conceptual wound known as the Abyssal Throat. It stores no energy itself but acts as a perfect “medium,” connecting to a specific layer of the Bottomless Abyss. It is a highly compressed and stabilized planar anchor.

To open the portal, one needs a large enough mirror—water or glass. The user must write a “True Name Rune” from a specific Abyssal layer onto the mirror’s surface using their own blood. This rune is the “password” to unlock the passage.

The hand wearing the ring touches the rune on the mirror. Instantly, the rune ignites with emerald-green flame. The mirror loses all reflectivity, becoming a swirling, pitch-black vortex like the Abyssal Throat—a portal whose size matches the mirror’s.

The Abyssal Throat is not rare. It exists widely across the multiverse, used by major organizations and nations to connect to specific Abyssal layers for combat experience or magical materials. But it cannot be bought with money—each one is banned by the Pantheon.

Even without activating the portal, if the ring is left in one place for long, it slowly leaks faint Abyssal energy. This process is slow, but over years, it darkens and twists the local ecosystem, spawning corrupted mutated creatures and corrupting minds and bodies into deformed forms.

The Abyssal Throat ring is a perfect “Black Dragon” artifact. It condenses world-shattering power into a tiny form, satisfying the black dragon’s ultimate hunger for power while perfectly matching their suspicious, greedy, and secretive nature. Krosuna was deeply satisfied.

The profit far exceeded Sakavi’s expectations. Originally, Sakavi planned to spare the devil’s life. But Krosuna realized Barrot was far stronger than anticipated—killing him outright would cost several dragon-beast lives. To avoid unnecessary losses, she changed her plan on the spot.