540 That’s my biological father
Calderon silently let go of the steamer lid, closing it back down.
Hearing the sound, Shadow Nine immediately guessed what had happened.
The two of them stood in silence, slowly backing away, preparing to leave the cave.
From inside the steamer, the man’s desperate cries for help echoed out.
“Help me! Help me!”
Calderon shot Shadow Nine a look, and Shadow Nine understood immediately.
Calderon: “This guy’s so unlucky, he probably won’t die, right?”
Shadow Nine: “Hard to say…”
Their conversation had now entered the realm of encrypted communication.
After a moment of silence, both sighed in unison and reluctantly stepped forward to open the steamer again.
Thud—
Afterskin, now barely clinging to life, tumbled out onto the ground.
No one helped him up.
Afterskin rolled several dozen meters down the slope, eventually continuing to roll down the mountain path.
Calderon and Shadow Nine exchanged another glance, helplessly following after him.
Neither of them wanted to help Afterskin, so they just watched as he rolled along the path.
Afterskin wasn’t rolling very fast, and he didn’t have the strength to stop himself. The two of them followed behind at a leisurely pace, carefully avoiding the path Afterskin had rolled down.
Finally, Shadow Nine couldn’t take it anymore. Standing on the moral high ground, he pointed at Calderon and said,
“Calderon, even if you don’t want to help him up, at least throw a rock to stop him!”
Calderon snorted and shot back,
“Why don’t you stop him?”
Shadow Nine smirked, and in an instant, his arms turned crimson, his entire body glowing red.
“Ah, my Blood Shadow is acting up again!”
Calderon: …
Your Blood Shadow is way too convenient!
It acts up when you want it to and stops when you don’t. Is this some kind of adaptive Blood Shadow? An AI-driven illness?
“It’s not that I don’t want to help,” Calderon said with a sigh, “but you know as well as I do.”
Calderon and Shadow Nine had both teamed up with Afterskin before and had plenty of experience dealing with him.
Afterskin was a follower of three Gods!
One of those Gods was the God of Misfortune, often referred to as Fortuna!
Fortuna was incredibly mysterious.
Few knew where Fortuna was or what he was up to.
Because Afterskin had the favor of Fortuna, he was incredibly hard to kill.
But the process… was a bit painful.
With no other options, the two of them could only watch as Afterskin continued to roll down the slope, even cheering him on like a pair of reluctant cheerleaders.
“You’ve got this! Keep going!”
“Get up, Afterskin! Get up!”
As Afterskin rolled, his head kept hitting rocks, causing him to drift in and out of consciousness.
Finally, he managed to grab a moment of clarity and, in a broken voice, pleaded,
“Brothers… could you stop chatting and just help me…”
Seeing Afterskin’s pitiful state, Calderon finally couldn’t take it anymore and decided to intervene.
He used a flat stone to gently stop Afterskin’s roll. By all accounts, it should have worked perfectly.
But when it came to Afterskin, nothing ever went according to plan.
Just as Afterskin came to a stop and was about to catch his breath, his lower back suddenly tensed up, and his entire body convulsed as if he had been electrocuted.
During his earlier tumble, the ropes binding Afterskin had been cut by the rocks, leaving him free to move.
Now, with his body twitching uncontrollably, Afterskin stood up and began sprinting toward Calderon!
Calderon: ???
Don’t come near me!
Calderon sidestepped, letting Afterskin run past him. It wasn’t until Afterskin had passed that Calderon realized what had happened.
The demon creature that had captured Afterskin was clearly a refined one, with high standards for its food.
During the cooking process, it had stuffed a fish into Afterskin’s shirt.
This type of fish remained dormant at normal temperatures and was considered a delicacy when steamed.
When Afterskin had first been placed in the steamer, the fish hadn’t woken up yet.
But when Afterskin lay on the stone, the fish had woken up!
Startled, the fish had wriggled against Afterskin’s spine, causing the earlier convulsions.
Shadow Nine: …
Calderon: …
Calderon’s attempt to help had only made things worse.
“I told you, sometimes it’s better not to help him!”
With no other choice, the two of them resigned themselves to their fate and followed after Afterskin, hoping nothing else would go wrong.
They hadn’t gone far when they heard a loud splash.
Afterskin had fallen into a ditch.
Squatting by the edge of the ditch, Calderon leaned over and asked,
“You alright down there?”
Blub, blub, blub—
Bubbles rose to the surface of the water.
This guy really could find trouble anywhere.
Neither Calderon nor Shadow Nine made any move to help.
After a few moments, a head finally surfaced.
After a string of misfortunes, Afterskin had finally reached the point where his luck turned around.
Gasping for air, Afterskin didn’t even have time to celebrate his survival before shouting,
“There’s a cave down here!”
Calderon rolled his eyes.
“So what if there’s a cave? Get yourself out of there.”
Still floating in the ditch, Afterskin’s next words left both men speechless.
“There’s Nathan’s aura on the other side of the cave.”
…
One way or another, Afterskin managed to climb out of the ditch.
After tending to his injuries, the three of them sat in an awkward silence.
The cave hidden in the ditch could shorten the distance to Nathan.
By all accounts, this was a major discovery—worthy of popping a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
But with Afterskin involved, celebrating didn’t seem appropriate.
Shadow Nine frowned and asked,
“If we continue on the original path, how long will it take us?”
Calderon gave his estimate.
“About six months.”
Neither of them was at their peak strength, and they would have to deal with various demon creatures along the way. Now, with Afterskin in tow, six months was an optimistic estimate.
Shadow Nine asked again, “And if we take the cave?”
Calderon pulled out a map and pointed to a mountain peak.
“Nathan is here.”
He moved his finger to another spot.
“We’re here. If we take the cave, we’ll bypass several powerful demon creatures and end up on the north side of the mountain…”
The mountain where Nathan was located had a southern face that was easier to climb, but the path to the south was guarded by numerous demon creatures, many of them above level 990.
There were even three or more 1000-level beings!
The northern face was harder to climb but wasn’t guarded by any demon creatures.
In fact, no demon creatures dared to approach the mountain where Nathan was.
“So, we’ll bypass the southern face and climb the mountain from the north?”
The mountain was special. Even for two Ultimate Lords, climbing it would be a challenge, requiring a significant amount of time and effort.
All things considered, if they took the cave, it would take them one to three months to reach Nathan.
After assessing the situation, Shadow Nine made a difficult decision.
“We’ll take the cave.”
He looked at Afterskin as if preparing for battle and said in a grave tone,
“I got you out of here once before. I can do it again.”
Before Shadow Nine could finish speaking, Calderon nodded in agreement and gave him a thumbs-up.
10:42
“Good luck with that. I’ll be on my way.”
Shadow Nine: ???
“You can’t leave!”
Shadow Nine blocked Calderon’s path.
Without someone to share the burden of Afterskin’s bad luck, Shadow Nine wasn’t sure he could handle it on his own!
Calderon was furious, grumbling in frustration.
“Afterskin, let’s be honest here. Why did you come to the Supreme Abyssal in the first place?”
All things considered, Calderon and Shadow Nine had only been in the Supreme Abyssal for about a month.
When they left, Afterskin had still been in his cryo-chamber, not yet thawed.
In the span of a month, Afterskin had thawed, cleared 29 floors, increased his strength, infiltrated the Supreme Abyssal, and found Calderon and Shadow Nine…
The timeline was a bit too tight.
“It’s not like I wanted to come,” Afterskin sighed, clearly exasperated.
“Shadow Nine’s disciple found me. I told him I didn’t want to come, but he insisted!”
Calderon: …
If it was Apollo’s doing, that was a different story.
Shadow Nine was furious.
“He’s trying to betray his instructor?!”
From Calderon’s Mystic Market tablet, Apollo’s voice chimed in.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
Shadow Nine: …
How is there suddenly a signal again?
Shadow Nine ignored the interruption and continued.
“We’ve found the path, and Afterskin has played his part. Now, send him back.”
Beep, beep, beep—
The signal cut out again.
Adaptive Blood Shadow, and now adaptive network?
With no way to deal with Apollo remotely, Shadow Nine turned to Afterskin.
“What exactly did my disciple(student) tell you?”
Afterskin quickly replied, “He told me to find you and Calderon, and then we’d go find Nathan together.”
Was it really that simple?
Shadow Nine couldn’t figure it out for now, so he set the matter aside and asked a different question.
“How’s Thor doing lately?”
“After Thor helped me clear the 29th floor, he’s been on a roll. Before I came in, I heard he single-handedly killed the Progenitor of Ghosts…”
Afterskin had been in the Supreme Abyssal for a while, so his information was a bit outdated.
Afterskin was now part of the team, whether they liked it or not.
The three of them decided to prepare before officially setting off.
Both Calderon and Shadow Nine, without saying a word, pulled out paper and pens and began writing their wills.
“Hey, hey, hey, isn’t that a bit much?” Afterskin protested.
“Calderon, you’ve got Near-Death Power Up. How could you die?”
Calderon, ever the pragmatist, replied,
“I’m afraid I’ll regret walking this path with you!”
His reasoning was sound and hard to argue with!
Afterskin turned to Shadow Nine.
“And you, Shadow Nine? You’re here to retrieve your talent. What’s there to be afraid of once you get it?”
“I’m afraid I won’t live long enough to get it.”
Shadow Nine raised his arms, the crimson spreading up to his shoulders, his condition worsening by the minute.
Afterskin: …
Once the wills were written, the three of them jumped into the ditch.
Calderon led the way, Afterskin followed closely behind, and Shadow Nine brought up the rear.
There was no other choice—Afterskin was too weak.
If anything went wrong while they were traversing the cave, they’d all be doomed.
Fortunately, they made it through without incident.
After swimming for several hours, they finally emerged on the other side of the cave.
Whew—
As soon as they surfaced, Calderon’s breath turned to mist, and frost formed on his beard.
The three of them climbed ashore, and Calderon looked around, but he couldn’t see the mountain.
“Where’s the mountain?”
Shadow Nine pointed in a direction, where a small black dot could be seen high in the clouds.
Calderon raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
“That’s not very tall.”
“That’s the base of the mountain.”
Calderon: …
“Be careful. As we get closer to this mountain, even Ultimate Lords will find their strength limited, reduced to that of ordinary mortals. The only thing that remains unchanged is our life regeneration ability, which is our greatest advantage…”
As they trudged through the snow, Shadow Nine explained,
“So climbing this mountain won’t be easy!”
With their strength limited, Afterskin didn’t mind.
He was already weak, so he had nothing to lose.
Three figures trudged through the icy wasteland, but only two sets of footprints were left behind.
…
Boom, boom, boom—
In the Void, outside the Supreme Abyssal, a large Abyssal Plane slowly appeared.
“I can see it! I can see it!” Maxen exclaimed, surprised by how quickly they had made progress.
In just a few days, they had found it!
“Don’t get too excited,” Shadow Three poured cold water on his enthusiasm.
“The closer we get to the Supreme Abyssal, the harder it will be to break through. By my calculations, we’ve only completed about one-fifth of the work.”
Still, it was good news.
Following the guidance of the golden tree, the two of them adjusted their course, avoiding some violent auras as they carefully searched for Shadow Nine and the others.
Before long, Shadow Three and Maxen, looking down from the Void, spotted three small black dots in the Supreme Abyssal.
Shadow Nine, Calderon, and Afterskin.
Everyone was accounted for!
“They’re climbing the mountain?” Maxen asked, excited to see Shadow Nine again after so long.
Shadow Three, however, shifted his gaze, following the direction the three were heading, up toward the mountain’s peak.
This mountain was known as Demon Peak.
At the summit of Demon Peak, there was a Divine Throne.
And on that throne sat a man.
Shadow Three squinted, focusing on the figure.
The man sitting on the throne had a blurred face.
His head was slightly bowed, as if he were asleep, and everything around him was still, as if time itself had frozen.
The man on the throne sat at the pinnacle of the Supreme Abyssal, unmoving.
No demon creatures dared to approach this place.
Even the aura of the Supreme Demon God was absent here!
The moment Shadow Three laid eyes on the figure, his usually simple and honest face was filled with dread, as if he were facing a great enemy. Inside, he was utterly shocked!
He had never seen such a person before!
Could the human race really have produced such a figure?!
After a long pause, Shadow Three finally managed to ask,
“Who is he?”
Even from across the Supreme Abyssal, Shadow Three could feel the threat!
The most terrifying part was that Shadow Three was certain the man was already dead!
How powerful must he have been in life to still exude such pressure in death?
It was unimaginable!
Looking past the two Abysses, toward the man on the throne, Shadow Three was certain.
He was dead.
Maxen’s expression darkened, his gaze filled with a quiet sorrow, like the melancholy of autumn—subtle, yet persistent.
Maxen had known since he was a child that his father was most likely dead.
But it wasn’t until this moment, when he saw the man’s corpse with his own eyes, that he was certain.
The human race’s first Ultimate Lord.
Confirmed dead.
Time of death: 297 years ago. Place of death: Supreme Abyssal. Cause of death: Supreme Demon God.
Maxen’s throat tightened as he answered,
“That’s my biological father.”