Chapter 597 — Immortal Token

A burst of memories flooded Liora’s mind.

The ability to devour other beings’ souls and plunder their memories came naturally to Devils once they reached the Greater Devil stage.

Depending on the difference in strength between themselves and their victims, Devils could obtain increasingly more information.

As they grew stronger, the amount of information they received multiplied manyfold.

The memories would no longer be severely fragmented scenes, but would be akin to watching real-life movies.

With Liora’s identity as an Archdevil and the strength of an Ancient Devil, plundering another person’s memories should have been effortless.

Yet when it came to the Zerg Queen, she encountered a considerable amount of resistance.

The Zerg Queen’s soul resembled an ant nest.

Wherever Liora’s consciousness passed, it would encounter countless tunnels, just like the corridors they had just walked through.

Finding her way through them was not only time-consuming, but also mentally taxing.

Several minutes passed before Liora, relying on the talents she had obtained in this world, finally managed to obtain some useful information.

Watching the Zerg Queen’s soul dissipate and transform into Evolution Points, Liora couldn’t help but shake her head.

Sure enough, Zerg Queens truly were masters of the soul.

Had it been anyone else in her position, they would never have been able to extract any information unless the Zerg Queen had willingly revealed her secrets.

This was true even if they could search through souls like her.

Fortunately...

Liora smiled faintly.

She was not an ordinary person.

As she closed her eyes and digested the memories she had just received, she gradually gained a rough understanding of the Zerg Queen’s life.

After quickly sifting through her past memories, only briefly noting them down, she focused primarily on those following her arrival inside the palace.

Instantly, she noticed something.

Unlike her and Elaouthr, who had faced certain dangers but had managed to remain mostly unscathed, this Zerg Queen had suffered greatly.

Had it not been for the Rank 9 Zerg Queen accompanying her throughout the journey and clearing the way with her strength, this woman would have perished long ago.

For a moment, Liora wondered whether someone had deliberately targeted the two Zerg Queens.

Soon, however, she shook her head.

Since they had been allowed to enter the palace, whoever stood behind everything had no reason to kill them. At least for now.

Everything pointed to this being a test.

No matter who that person was, there was no reason for them to deliberately target two Zerg Queens for no reason.

Rather than believing that, Liora had another thought...

"It isn’t the two Zerg Queens who are unlucky. Rather, it’s Elaouthr and me who are fortunate."

Her eyes narrowed upon that thought.

In fact, what she truly wanted to say was that Elaouthr was the lucky one.

After all, he was the one who had chosen their path through the corridors, while she had merely followed his lead.

Combined with everything that had happened so far, this had all but confirmed Liora’s initial guess.

"Is Elaouthr the favored of this world? This... is quite interesting."

"Four Apex Civilizations. Countless powerful Awakeners and extraordinary beings. Yet none of them is favored by the Will of the World."

"Instead, what caught its attention was an ordinary demon."

Liora had many thoughts, but she didn’t dwell on them for long.

Waving her hand, she collected the two Zerg Queens—one alive and one dead—along with the unconscious Zerg Servants into the Cosmic Sea.

Then, she turned around and hurriedly walked away.

She had already learned of the knight puppets’ appearance through the Zerg Queen’s memories.

Although she wasn’t afraid of them, she had no reason to fight them over nothing.

Rather than wasting time on something that would not benefit her, it would be smarter to take the easier path.

...

"Brother Liothar, what happened? Could it be that there’s a battle taking place ahead?"

As soon as Liora returned to her previous location, a hoarse voice echoed in her ears.

A towering body appeared before her, which should have been terrifying—were it not for the fact that she currently possessed a similarly colossal stature.

Hearing Elaouthr’s question, Liora studied him for a moment before nodding briefly.

"There is a battle ahead. The Zerg are fighting the knight puppets we encountered earlier."

"Unfortunately, both sides are too numerous. With our current strength, we won’t be able to deal with either of them. That remains true even if I use the weapon I obtained."

A trace of worry flashed across Liora’s eyes.

Though she didn’t state them, Elaouthr immediately understood her concerns.

Ahead lay a battlefield between two enemies.

Behind them stretched an endless curtain of black mist that blocked their retreat.

It seemed as if they had been trapped completely from both sides of the corridor.

It was only a matter of time before one side of the enemies ahead emerged victorious, and then turned its attention toward them.

Elaouthr hesitated.

He seemed to have something to say, yet couldn’t decide whether he should.

After several seconds of awkward silence, the demon finally gritted his teeth and spoke.

"Brother Liothar... I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. It’s not because I don’t trust you, but..."

He left the sentence unfinished.

With a thought, he reached into his spatial treasure and took out an item resting inside.

It was a token.

Unlike the one Liora had previously obtained, or the ones the Emperors had previously used, this token was not purple.

Nor was it white or blue.

It was golden.

A terrifying aura radiated from its crystalline surface, pressing down upon its surroundings as though an imposing emperor had descended upon the world.

The patterns engraved on its surface were incomprehensible.

The purple tokens all bore the emblem of the forces they belonged to.

This one, however, was different.

Rather than depicting an emblem, its patterns formed the outline of a humanoid figure.

It closely resembled the statues they had met before, though its true appearance remained impossible to discern.

Liora examined the golden token for several seconds.

A trace of surprise flashed through her eyes, half real and half feigned.

The false surprise came from the fact that she had long realized Elaouthr was hiding many things.

As someone favored by the Will of the World, it wasn’t strange for him to obtain treasures that others couldn’t.

The genuine part of her surprise came from the voice that suddenly echoed inside her mind.

It didn’t belong to Elaouthr. Instead, it came from the phantom she had captured inside the Heavenly Armor Pavilion.

"This... This is the aura of the Immortal Token...", a low but shocked voice echoed directly within her mind.