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Ch. 330 Trouble of the Justice League
🕑 Added 2024-03-21 16:00:06 +0000 UTCAfter integrating the Fear Authority into the Thunder Divine Power, Russell temporarily stopped the work of integrating the authorities.
Take one bite at a time for a meal!
And one authority at a time for embedding.
To be able to achieve this level, he was already very satisfied.
As for the remaining authorities, he could take his time.
He had enough time to handle these matters now.
After stretching his body a bit, he stood up while levitating cross-legged in the air.
Then, without looking back, he left the training room.
During the days when he was merging the Hell Authority, although he didn't sense any signs of large-scale battles erupting within the city, those one-on-one duels never ceased.
However, those who chose to settle their grievances with one-on-one duels were mostly mid-tier and low-tier demons.
As for the high-tier demons, they wouldn't easily initiate a duel unless they had complete confidence in killing their opponent, or rather, they wouldn't easily initiate a duel within the City of Sin.
Unlike outside, there was a mandatory requirement for one-on-one duels within the City of Sin.
That requirement was that only one of the duelists could leave the arena alive.
This was a rule set by Russell himself.
As for why he did this, the reason was simple: it significantly reduced meaningless infighting among the demons within the city.
Although Russell was not an authentic demon, he became a lord-level presence in Hell purely because he acquired the authorities of Hell.
The demons in Hell now knew that there was a human lord within Hell.
Although he still maintained a human form, no demon dared to actively provoke him.
Even those demon lords who were at the archdemons level had suffered quite a bit under his hands.
As for those demons who hadn't yet reached the rank of lord, they were even less likely to cause trouble for him.
He was indeed human.
But when it came to killing, he was no less cruel than a demon.
If it weren't for his consistent firmness in this approach, the City of Sin would have been in chaos long ago.
And those demons would not have stayed obediently in the city and followed his orders.
After all, domineering was a traditional skill among demons.
After leaving the training room, Russell went straight to the dining room.
As soon as he sat down, the succubi serving as maids brought one Hellish delicacy after another.
Hellish delicacies!
This was not an adjective but a fact.
Although the environment in Hell was very harsh, there were still many native plants and animals in Hell.
These native plants and animals were the main source of Hellish delicacies.
Of course, compared to Earth, the variety of plants and animals in Hell was much smaller.
Although the variety was not very large, many demons in their long lives had developed astonishing methods to deal with these native plants and animals.
In addition to these native plants and animals in Hell, another source of Hellish delicacies was the sacrifices of demon believers in the human world.
Due to the hidden agreement, demons from Hell and angels from Heaven couldn't easily go to the human world.
But this didn't mean that Hell and Heaven were completely cut off from the human world.
Apart from individuals like Russell and Doom, who would actively come to Hell and had the ability to go to Hell, there were many humans in the human world who wanted to go to Hell but couldn't go there personally.
These humans, while unable to personally go to Hell, have not given up on contacting Hell.
Through some specialized magic circles, these demon believers can establish contact with the demons inside Hell.
Although their ultimate fate is usually to have their souls taken by the demons in Hell, before losing their souls, they offer various sacrifices to the demons in Hell.
In order to ensure that he can still enjoy normal human food in Hell, Russell took the trouble to find demons connected to human believers.
Then, he had these demons compel the believers to offer human delicacies.
Although these human delicacies, transported to Hell from another dimension, were affected during the process of teleportation, their flavors did not change significantly.
And these human delicacies transported to Hell would be delivered to the Lord's Mansion's kitchen immediately.
In fact, in the City of Sin, there are now quite a few demons specializing in this kind of activity.
As long as they can bring qualified human delicacies, Russell rewards them.
If he's in a good mood, he even conducts promotion ceremonies for these demons.
If he remembers correctly, in the past half-year or so, he has helped more than fifty demons advance, and most of them advanced because they brought human delicacies.
One of the most memorable instances for Russell was when a low-ranking demon obtained a whole box of ice-cold soda from those ignorant demon believers.
Due to the high temperatures in Hell, these transported soda quickly lost their chilling effect.
However, out of appreciation for the low-ranking demon's dedication, Russell promoted him to a mid-tier demon.
As for that box of soda, he used ice magic to freeze it again and then stored it in the system space.
Inside the system space, there was no concept of the passage of time. Regardless of when something was put in, it would be the same when taken out.
So, in Hell, where it was difficult to get human delicacies, the system space became Russell's special storage facility.
Even now, the system space held many human delicacies from Earth.
Russell first finished the Hellish local delicacies brought by the succubi maids.
Then, he retrieved some human delicacies from Earth from the system space.
After consuming a meal that could satisfy twenty Earth humans, Russell finished his meal.
At his current level, eating was more of a habit. The energy gained from eating was far less than what he absorbed from the aura of Hell. Even a minute of absorbing Hell's aura provided more energy than the meal.
After filling his stomach, he left the dining room and went to the backyard of the Lord's Mansion.
After calling Selina and Heather, who he hadn't seen for several days, Russell chatted with them about life goals and played a game of three-player chess with them.
The next day, after waking up and being served by the succubus maids, Russell put on the Hellish attire that was extremely rare to produce in Hell.
In fact, in Hell, except for him, who had many requirements for clothing, only a small number of demons had such needs.
Compared to wearing real clothes, demons in Hell preferred to expose their demon forms or use demonic power to create clothing.
Although Russell had the ability to do the same, he chose not to. He had found a few demon tailors in Hell who could provide him with authentic Hellish attire.
After dressing, he looked back at Selina and Heather, who were still lying in bed, unwilling to get up, with a calm expression, and left the bedroom.
After leaving the bedroom, he left the City of Sin alone.
He didn't seek trouble with other demons but wandered around Hell by himself.
Hell was vast! Much larger than Earth!
In the past half-year, Russell would visit unexplored areas of Hell every few days, enjoying or experiencing the scenery of Hell.
Although this had no particular meaning and was merely a way to pass the time, he enjoyed the feeling.
Indeed, the environment in Hell was harsh, and it couldn't compare to Earth's beauty. However, Hell had its unique characteristics.
He had no plans to return anytime soon, so Russell didn't mind spending some time appreciating the scenery in Hell.
Unknowingly, he had traveled thousands of miles away from the City of Sin.
With the Hellish authority he possessed, the concepts of space and distance had lost their meaning to him. As long as there was Hell's aura, he could teleport there instantly.
It wasn't until he had traveled tens of thousands of kilometers away from the City of Sin that he finally stopped and sat on the edge of a volcano, gazing up at the Hellish sky.
"You still don't plan to abandon your human identity?" A voice came from distant space and reached his ears clearly. Even if he couldn't recognize the voice, he knew it was Mephisto.
Only he and Mephisto could achieve this in Hell. Other demon lords, while possessing good combat abilities, lacked the means to manipulate Hell's aura like a magic spell, as he and Mephisto did.
"I was born a human, and I will only be a human in the future," Russell said calmly.
Since their last battle, he hadn't seen Mephisto again, but he knew that Mephisto occasionally watched him.
For this reason, he had even set up barriers in the City of Sin to prevent Mephisto from "spying" on him.
"Human is a very fragile species. Since you have obtained the authority of Hell, becoming a demon is not a bad idea."
"You are still very young, and if you become a demon, you might even surpass me in rank in the future."
Due to talent and age, Mephisto had already lost the possibility of advancing to a cosmic being level. Although he was now the strongest in Hell, he still longed for surpassing that level.
"Even if I were to surpass you in rank, I would do so as a human, not as a demon," Russell continued.
"What's so good about humans that you cling to them so much?" Mephisto asked in confusion.
"You haven't been a human, so you wouldn't understand," Russell replied.
Hearing Russell's words, Mephisto fell silent. Although he had played with many human souls and witnessed many humans fall, he still didn't quite understand what kind of species humans were.
After a few minutes, Mephisto, who was dressed like an old British aristocrat, appeared in front of Russell as if he had teleported.
After looking at Russell, who was sitting on the edge of the volcano, Mephisto hesitated.
"What's wrong? Are you afraid of getting dust on you?" Russell chuckled.
Mephisto didn't say anything. After more than ten seconds, he brought a black staff and sat down next to Russell.
"Now you're different from a few days ago. It seems you've almost completed the integration of the Hellish authority," Mephisto said slowly.
"It's coming along," Russell replied simply.
"After you complete the integration of the Hellish authority, will you immediately return to the mortal realm?"
"Although I'm not entirely sure what methods you have, I know you have a way to break the hidden agreement and return to the mortal realm."
Mephisto's expression became somewhat serious.
"I do have such a method."
"However, it has nothing to do with you."
Russell turned to look at Mephisto and said calmly.
"Share this method with me, and I can give you more Hellish authority."
Mephisto began to tempt Russell.
Hearing Mephisto's words, Russell couldn't help but smile disdainfully.
"Do you think I've been in Hell for half a year, and my intelligence has dropped to your level?"
"Sharing the method to return to the mortal realm with you is no different from betraying all of humanity."
Even if Russell's brain had gone haywire, he would never tell Mephisto how to return to the mortal realm.
If Mephisto learned this method, even if he didn't personally go to the mortal realm, Earth would become a playground for demons. By then, billions of humans would be lost before the demons, and that wouldn't do justice to the nature of the demon race.
"While you cling to your human identity, you should be aware that you're no longer a pure human," Mephisto continued.
"Besides, let me tell you some news: your Justice League is in trouble."
"Is my Justice League in trouble?" Hearing Mephisto's words, Russell immediately furrowed his brows.
However, he quickly calmed down.
"I believe my people have the strength to handle any trouble."
There were indeed forces on Earth that could threaten the Justice League, but these higher-level powers wouldn't act against the Justice League. Except for the United States, other countries on Earth didn't particularly dislike the Justice League.
Many countries even hoped to establish good cooperative relations with the Justice League. As for the hidden higher-level forces on Earth, as far as Russell knew, they had no reason to oppose the Justice League.
"This time, your people can't resolve it," Mephisto said seriously.
"Can't resolve it?" Although Mephisto was a demon who instinctively used deception, for some reason, Russell felt that Mephisto might be telling the truth this time.
He knitted his brows in thought for several seconds before continuing, "You're telling me this because you want me to leave Hell as soon as possible?"
"Of course not. The longer you stay in Hell, the sooner the will of Hell can awaken," Mephisto said slowly.
"For the awakening of the will of Hell, I don't mind you staying in Hell forever."
Russell's Hellish authority might not be bestowed by the will of Hell, but he could still strip Hellish authority from Mephisto with the tacit consent of the will of Hell.
If not, even if he took Mephisto's Hellish authority into the Divine Power Island using divine magic, the will of Hell could use its higher-level power to forcibly prevent him from integrating Hellish authority.
This was a natural influence that high-level beings in the same domain had on the authority of their domain, and it couldn't be eliminated. The only way was to change domains and avoid it, or else there was no way to eliminate this influence.
Of course, there was a more direct and violent method, which was to become a high-level being in the same domain.
