The wind was blowing, rippling the grass among the ruins, and rustling the birch groves and tall nettle bushes.

Clouds swept across the surface of the moon, and the moonlight fell on this desolate ruin from time to time.

A pile of bonfires ignited in the night, and the birch branches were burned red, crackling from time to time, bursting with blue flames, accompanied by the splashing sparks, the air was gradually filled with the smell of fireworks.

The old troll butler, who was sitting by the campfire, glanced at the carriage that was parked on the side. A full-sized dragon beast was lying at the bottom of the carriage, and its dark black scales seemed to merge with the darkness.

Through the wisps of light scattered through the gaps in the carriage, it can be seen that the interior is flickering with soft white light. The old troll butler muttered to the little wizard sitting opposite while tossing his package:

"Pardo, you said that this person was fine when he set off in the morning. It seemed that nothing happened. Why did it suddenly become like this."

After speaking, the old troll housekeeper took out some daily necessities from the dimensional bag hanging around his waist like a conjuration.

Boiled jars, smoked pork, beef jerky, salted herring, sun-dried mushrooms, and some concoctions like wasabi, juniper, and weed.

"How can this kind of thing involving the abyss demon be so easy to guard against. After all, the bottomless abyss itself represents absolute chaos and destruction. If you want to control the power of the demon without following this awareness, you must be mentally prepared. Meet the chaotic and destructive erosion of the will of the abyss."

Pardo closed the book between his legs, glanced at the carriage with a worried look, and then lowered his voice: "If he really can't resist, his soul will be transported to the bottomless abyss along with the demon. , turned into the weakest abyss worm."

"Is it that serious?" The old troll housekeeper looked surprised, and the hand that threw the seasoning at the cooking pot trembled a few times involuntarily. He thought for a while, then wondered:

"Since it's so serious, why is the conjuration summoner from the Black Pearl Forest still obsessed with pursuing the power of demons, and she has nothing at all."

"In this world of the main material plane, there are usually two ways for a mortal to obtain the power of the bottomless abyss." Pardo put aside the book introducing the abyss demon in his hand and said patiently to the old troll butler :

"The first is to use a very special sacrificial ceremony to reach an agreement with the abyss demon. In the process of fulfilling this agreement, the abyss demon will continue to grant power to the trader. The black-robed woman in the Black Pearl Forest is the did so.

This method seems to be safe and worry-free, and will not suffer the backlash from the will of the abyss. But after death, his soul is likely to be completely dominated by demons, which is the so-called 'eternal life'. So very few people want to deal with demons except those who desperately desire great power and pay any price for it.

The second is to obtain the bloodline of the abyss demon. With the continuous growth of their own strength, they will awaken the special ability of the demon bloodline like a warlock. That's how the flame shield and fireball spell mastered by the tiefling player in Stallman Town with 50% Balor bloodline.

But the drawbacks are also very obvious. You have also seen that, in addition to their appearances being very similar to demons with this kind of blood, they are also like warlocks (more serious than warlocks) who often cannot control the overflowing power and hurt innocent people. people. In short, the demons with the blood of the demons live in pain and torture all their lives. "

"What about him?" The old troll butler subconsciously pointed to the carriage not far away.

"Compared to the first two, his method of mastering demon power is actually the safest and most secure." Pardo looked up in the direction of Winter City and found that the light of the wizard tower should be blocked by a dense birch forest. So he took back his disappointed eyes and continued:

"This is a way for a strong-willed mortal to successfully fuse the demon soul, and then steal the demon's power without paying any price. It is the safest and most mature method developed by the great arcanists during the Arcane Empire by combining the first two methods. fusion technology.”

"The safest?" The old troll butler repeated, and the meaning was self-evident.

"It is indeed the safest, because they fuse the souls of some low-level demons. For example, cowardice, if you successfully fuse this kind of demon spirit, you can easily master the similar spells "Smelly Cloud" and "Swarm" Panic".

But it is only limited to this. Compared with the huge resources spent, the improvement of mortals is a bit of a loss. This research will eventually come to nothing without making breakthrough progress. "

Pardo naturally understood the question posed by the old troll butler, and explained to him without hesitation: "If the fusion is a fifth-order legendary Balor flame spirit, and its own strength and willpower are not strong enough, it will also Will be killed by demons.

Therefore, most of the fusions during the Arcane Empire were low-level demons. As for the middle-level and high-level demons, they didn't even dare to think about it. After all, demons, especially high-level demons, represent the will of the abyss. If a mortal wants to control easily, it means that he is distorting the rules, which is obviously impossible to achieve. "

Pardo said, and suddenly fell silent.

Seeing this, the old butler stopped asking questions, but continued to busy cooking pots of food.

The little wizard Pardo slowly got up and continued to look in the direction of Winter City. Unfortunately, due to the low terrain here, the brilliance projected by the Wizard Tower of Winter City still could not be seen.

At this time, he remembered a record he had seen in the wizard's tower, which described the latest research results of a great arcanist who was obsessed with researching demon fusion technology on the eve of the demise of the arcane empire.

As we all know, outside the bottomless abyss, demons are not afraid of death. Even if they are lucky enough to be killed, as long as their souls are not imprisoned, they will turn into filthy pus and slowly reshape themselves in the abyss.

Powerful demons use arcane techniques combined with abyssal metals to create a talisman that stores some of their life essence for insurance. Once killed outside the abyss, the amulet allows him to slowly accumulate strength in the precipitation of time and regain his life again.

The latest research result of the great arcanist is to use the life essence transformed from the killing of these demons, combined with the mysterious qi refining technique passed down from the Karatu continent, so that mortals can combine this extremely weak life essence with themselves. souls fused together.

Then, with the continuous improvement of his own strength, he uses Qi refining to suppress the chaotic will of the bottomless abyss, and gradually absorbs the power of the devil until he inherits all the abilities of the abyss devil.

If this method is really feasible, let alone a middle-level demon, even if it integrates the life essence of a high-level demon, there is a chance to succeed. It is a pity that the Arcane Empire has long since been destroyed, and the results of this research have not been carried out in the end. Pardo thought.

"Could it be..." Immediately afterwards, the little wizard was shocked and looked in the direction of the carriage in disbelief.

The Fulong Beast seemed to sense the unkind gaze of the little wizard, and then raised his head and glanced at him coldly with the eyes of a predator, causing him to shrink back quickly.

By watching Thorne's battle with the Spell Summoner, he truly saw the strength of the opponent. In particular, the summoned abyss demons and large-scale fire elements, as well as animal companions and natural allies, were able to overwhelm the conjurers who specialized in summoning.

What impressed him the most was the phantom of Balor that flashed from his body when Thorne resisted Alice's "blasphemous words".

At first, he thought this phantom was an ordinary Balor.

But as the phantom flickered like a slideshow in his mind, he instinctively realized that this was not a simple fifth-order legendary demon, and it might even be a demon lord.

Thinking of this, the little wizard sat on the stone in a daze, looking at the throbbing firelight, wondering what he was thinking.

Time passed slowly with the big and small campfire, and the cold moon hanging in the night had no idea how many times he shuttled through the clouds naughty.

When the pile of branches that the old troll butler picked up from the birch forest was about to burn up, the door of the carriage made a light noise, which made the two of them look shocked, and they turned their attention to it.

The Fulong beast lying at the bottom of the carriage also straightened up and walked out.

"Little girl, how is Thorne now?" The old troll housekeeper looked at the half-elf girl walking by and asked first.

The sleepy little wizard Pardo also looked over worriedly.

"This... I'm not too sure, but I can feel that his breath is very stable, so it should be fine." Lilia put her fingers around a strand of hair, hesitated for a while, and said truthfully.

"It's fine...it's fine." The old troll housekeeper smiled comfortingly, and then said to the half-elf girl: "Anyway, I would like to thank you for taking care of Thorne, or let me, a sloppy old man, come here. , I really don't know what to do."

"It's alright, in fact, I didn't help much, I just used a few magic spells to calm the mind." Lilia replied politely.

She didn't quite understand what the troll, who was smiling so nicely, had anything to do with Thorne.

Although she could feel the sincere concern of the other party, what made her most depressing and puzzled was that the troll's tone of voice was as if Thorne belonged to his family, which made her feel a little uncomfortable.

However, she did not express this dissatisfaction.

"It's getting late, you two should rest early. I'll watch the night tonight. We will start tomorrow morning. If we don't delay, we will arrive at the waterfall town as soon as the afternoon." Lilia put on the hood of her cloak. Over his head, he said to the two of them.

"How can you let a weak woman come to watch the night, it's not suitable, let's just two of us." The old troll butler quickly refused with a smile.

The little wizard who yawned and could fit an egg with his mouth open also nodded in agreement.

"Weak woman? I'm not only a ranger, but also a priest of the forest goddess. The two of you together are not enough for me to fight alone." Lilia frowned while holding the sheathed long sword hanging around her waist.

"..." The troll's old butler and Pardo looked at each other and smiled helplessly.

"You all go to rest, I'll be vigil tonight." Suddenly, another voice sounded from behind Lilia, and the Fulong beast who just came over also roared.

The three looked through the fading campfire and found that Thorne had walked silently in front of them at some point.