The two men quickly left the 3rd area and the Astral Beast's corpse.

Marvin cautiously went back toward the Desolate Tower Ruins according to the information he had.

Although he was told that there were very few dangers on this path, he wasn't as confident in relying on secondhand information.

Perhaps the one who leaked the information was actually covering something up, or maybe since he had changed the world's history and triggered a butterfly effect, something would be different.

In any case, he had to be careful.

They walked between the 2nd and 3rd areas, going toward the tall mountain in the east.

Ivan also had a cautious expression.

Marvin rarely saw him like that.

Most of the time, this guy looked lazy and didn't seem to take anything seriously.

But the Secret Garden made him feel very pressured. Even if he was an Elven War Saint, his strength was still seriously weakened, making him experience some setbacks earlier.

From his appearance, it could be seen that his opponent put up quite a fight.

They traveled silently and quickly arrived at the bottom of the tall mountain.

The sky was dark red, like frozen blood.

So it was this mountain.

Ivan's eyes shone as he saw the continuous changes on the mountain. These changes were minute. Without outstanding Perception, people wouldn't be able to notice.

"This is a crack in the plane?"

Ivan was amazed.

Marvin nodded and explained in a heavy voice, "Bordering Hell."

Ivan understood. "So that's why there is a such a thick and sinister aura."

They continued going forward and soon arrived at a tunnel at the bottom of the mountain.

This obscure tunnel circumvented the 3rd area, [Astral Beast Corpse], and Mills Garden's protector, leading straight into Mills Garden.

But this path could be very challenging, and if it went poorly they might suddenly end up in Hell.

They could also have a smooth journey and nothing would happen.

This all depended on how the plane's rules changed, or in other words, luck.

Ivan knew that under the current circumstances he wouldn't be able to overcome the Nine-Headed Vines, so if he wanted to enter Mills Garden, he would have to take a risk.

Hell's lifeforms, he should be able to handle.

Generally speaking, powerful Devils wouldn't be wandering around these cracks.

"Let's go."

Ivan stepped forward and entered the obscure tunnel.

...

A nauseating smell filled the strange cave.

But the cave itself was dry.

Marvin was holding his daggers while watching attentively for anomalies.

Ivan looked at the pair of [Azure Leaf]s and was a bit surprised, but he didn't say anything about them. His father had a strange character. Giving away the Legendary Weapons he had been using all this time wasn't too unusual, especially if it was to Marvin.

He wouldn't be surprised by anything that guy did.

Even if he said he was an incarnation of God Lance.

As the two progressed, the cave gradually began to change.

Within a space crack, directions weren't fixed.

From the direction they initially took, the tunnel had actually been heading toward the first area, the Lost Villa. But Marvin was pretty sure this tunnel led to Mills Garden because it had been confirmed by another source, a lone player that had nothing to do with the guilds.

That player not only shared some more information, but also included a video.

He and his team were killing some Barbazu and Chain Devils before reaching the 4th area.

The video was only about where the path led, and didn't give much more information.

It was said that people would meet different things on this path.

There was no point in guessing what they might encounter, and they could only adapt to the situation.

Regarding this, Marvin was very confident. With 9 levels in Night Walker and his Desperation Style, he possessed fighting strength comparable to an ordinary Legend.

Moreover, he had Ivan by his side.

This guy basically had a Main Character halo. He was covered in so many buffs that there wouldn't be anything to worry about in a crisis.

...

As they continued along, howls could be heard in the dark cave, echoing one after the other. It gave a rather ominous feeling.

"Not an illusion," Ivan said.

Marvin nodded.

He could also feel that these howls came from living beings, and seemed to be howls of pain coming straight from one's soul.

The path ahead seemed to consist of nothingness.

Ivan frowned, and softly grabbed Marvin's wrist.

"Careful. That path is a little strange. It won't be good if we split up."

Facing Ivan's unprecedentedly serious expression, Marvin also held his breath.

The two walked forward, stepping onto that nothingness at the same time.

The next second, both their expressions changed!

They saw a crimson world!

A river of blood surged and flowed to some unknown place, disappearing in the distance.

On the blood river, countless small boats were sailing with difficulty.

A lifeform on one boat looked extremely ugly. It was a Barbazu!

Barbazu were also known as Bearded Devils and were mid-ranked Devils!

On the river, many boats had been capsized by the roiling waves and countless souls sank inside.

"Hell… Styx…"

Ivan let out these words.

Marvin paled. "Nine Hells!"

...

The appearance of the Styx let them know where they were. Only in the Nine Hells could one find the River Styx.

The other side of the River Styx was crowded with Amnizu counting the people coming ashore.

These people had been related to Devils during their lives. In fact, in the Prime Material plane, a lot of people had deals with Devils. Their souls would come to Hell after their deaths, unless they were taken away by a Reaper from the Underworld before that.

Even the most common farmer could be tempted by an imp to steal someone else's orchard.

If the farmer did this, then his soul would come to Hell after his death.

That was the story of a certain Devil Overlord in the Nine Hells.

Hell's order was very strict and cruel.

The voices the two just heard came from a distant corner where some Erinyes were interrogating people on behalf of their superior.

These souls were still aware of their past life and the Erinyes' whips could squeeze the power of Order out of them.

Demons liked Chaos while Devils were obsessed with Order. Although both sides were Evil, what they needed was completely different.

Thus, the Demons didn't need souls.

Gods and Devils thirsted for the souls of the inhabitants of material planes, and naturally the Negative Energy Plane needed souls too.

...

The two were standing on a mountain as strange lifeforms were flying over from time to time and carelessly falling in the river Styx.

At that time, a small team of Chain Devils appeared behind them!

A few of them spoke in Infernal:

"Lifeforms invading… It's surprisingly not just souls."

"Hahaha, today we can fill up our bellies!"

*__________

T/N: Devils' illustrations are on discord at https://discord.gg/j3CuetU in the Illustrations server