Chapter 457 — Spreading the News

Back in Hollow City, the Astral Pavilion did business as usual. Hundreds of different spaces existed within its building, with different employees servicing different customers in each of them.

Above these spaces, a person—or rather a woman—was observing everything indifferently, with blue stars flashing in her eyes.

It was Assira.

With her Archdevil strength, she was able to take in everything that happened in Astral Pavilion. She sifted through countless pieces of information, forming a web of intelligence inside her mind.

Her aura would surge every time a new "line" was formed in this intricate web, albeit the increase in her power was minimal, barely any better than her taking a single breath.

Still, this increase was enough to make a difference given enough time.

Assira had been in this state for a long time. Apart from sending her clone to venture into the Origin Sea, she did nothing else besides this.

Until suddenly...

A vast blue star flickered within her eyes, overwhelming the brilliance of the others.

The outline of the web in her pupils shattered, and the starry sky in them was destroyed like glass.

Assira showed no displeasure.

Instead, a faint smile appeared on her lips as she took out a star-filled token. She stared at it silently, as if waiting for something.

A few seconds later, what she had been waiting for finally arrived.

The token suddenly lit up, and a consciousness attempted to communicate with her.

Assira did not refuse. She also poured her consciousness into the token and was about to give a greeting.

But before she could even speak, a sentence rang out from the other side.

"I have some information that might interest you and the Astral Pavilion. Are you interested in a deal?"

--

Liora listened to the silence from the other side of the "phone line" and knew that she had attracted the other person’s attention. This surely had something to do with her identity and the relationship between the two women.

After all, the news that even an Archdevil like her had brought out was bound to be impressive.

Having captured her attention, Liora didn’t mince her words.

"I’ve recently made a great discovery, one that is enough to shake the entire 173rd Layer. Dozens of Archdevils, and even Ancient Devils are involved in this conspiracy."

"I don’t know if I’m the first person to learn of it, but I can be certain that there are few people aware of it at the moment."

Saying this, Liora paused. A moment later, Assira’s calm voice echoed.

"How certain are you of your discovery?"

"You have to know that Ancient Devil beings seldom appear, much less get involved with the Demon Layer’s affairs."

"Only the recent birth of the Catastrophe Devil caused some chaos. Before that, the last time the Hollow Ancestor showed up was hundreds of thousands of years ago."

Her disbelief did not dampen Liora’s mood. If anything, it made her happier.

It was clear that Assira and the Astral Pavilion had yet to learn of the Earth Elementals’, and perhaps the other Elementals’, escape.

And, judging from the tone of the other party, it was clear that she was interested.

A smile appeared on Liora’s lips before she continued:

"..."

--

Hollow City had stood unchanged for countless years.

With the Hollow Ancestor nominally in charge, the major organizations below him, and dozens of Archdevils in the city, there were only a few things that could affect it besides the opening of the dimensional battlefield.

Even when the Catastrophe Devil was born and left the Demon Layer in ruins, slaughtering millions of Devils, few people in Hollow City cared.

The city stayed silent, like a slumbering beast waiting for the opportune time.

In the eyes of the Greater Devils living in the city, this situation was bound to last for a while.

Yet, unbeknownst to them, undercurrents were surging secretly through the city.

No Greater Devil was involved.

All of those in the know were at least Archdevils, most of them being the strongest among their peers.

"The information has been confirmed! The targets have been spotted near the Inferno Valley!"

"The same has occurred in the Starfall Mountains!"

"...Wind Domain!"

"...Frozen Sea!"

Countless messages were passed from Archdevil to Archdevil in an instant.

As all the contents of these messages were pieced together, the leaders of Hollow City came to a shocking realization:

Unknowingly, the Elementals of the four forbidden areas had broken out of their seal!

These creatures had already secretly spread through the 173rd Layer of the Demon World and were clearly plotting something!

Panic instantly spread through the higher-ups of Hollow City. The leaders of the major organizations sent their subordinates down to the Demon Layer, with some of them even sending their own clones.

--

In a secret place, Liora put the Astral Token away, breathing a sigh of relief.

"It seems that these guys are not stupid. As long as the initial message of the Elementals’ escape was passed on and the doubt formed in their minds, they’d do everything in their power to investigate."

"The results are as expected."

Assira’s information let Liora know that, just as expected, the Elementals had only recently escaped from the forbidden areas.

Otherwise, they would have been discovered long ago, and she wouldn’t have needed to be the one to spread the news.

That’s right! The source of the panic in Hollow City was none other than Liora!

She was the one who had instructed Assira to spread the news, in exchange for selling her some hidden information.

As for Liora’s purpose in doing so?

"The four forbidden areas are directly related to the Catastrophe Devil, whom the Hollow Ancestor is currently chasing."

"I refuse to believe that the other party won’t be interested when they get this news."

"Even if he had any other plans for that Zerg Queen, it would have to wait for later."

"During this time, I can find a way to resolve any hidden dangers. At worst, I can simply flee from the Demon World again.", Liora thought.