The pain was no less than when he had been compressed before.
…
Enduring the agony, Angel made a great effort to lift his head, only to see the gigantic porcelain-white hand above him suddenly turn into a beam of white light and enter the body of the Lord of the Flameless who was standing in the distance.
The Lord of the Flameless was looking at Angel with a look of distaste.
To be precise, it was directed at a drab seagull lying near Angel.
The porcelain-white hand had indeed been created by It, but It didn’t intend to kill that insignificant human; It had only acted because that human, while saving the fledgling demon, had inadvertently revealed a small statue from his pocket.
The Lord of the Flameless looked at the statue and found it somewhat familiar, and so It had made a move.
Since It had decided to act, It hadn’t held back and was ready to crush this human into a patty, but when It was about to apply force, It suddenly felt a scent emanating from the human that was extremely repulsive to It.
The Lord of the Flameless, realizing what was happening, immediately let go of Angel.
At the same time, It had located the source of the repugnant scent—it was that seagull.
“So it’s the Calamity Curse from that group of Pilgrims of Misfortune; no wonder I encountered all sorts of obstacles while pursuing through the Void,” said the Lord of the Flameless, with a look of disgust in Its eyes.
The Lord of the Flameless now understood why It had encountered such bad luck on Its pursuit; those misfortunes were not directed at Itself but were merely the repercussions of the Calamity Curse.
Angel hadn’t expected that what saved his life wasn’t the mercy of the Lord of the Flameless, but the Calamity Curse on Toby.
He gasped for air, looking at Toby who had been thrown to the ground, a flash of relief in his eyes.
He was relieved that he had miraculously survived thanks to the Calamity Curse, and relieved that Toby had not been affected by the prior grasp of the porcelain-white hand.
Angel hadn’t died and the Lord of the Flameless wasn’t concerned; Its gaze moved slowly away from Toby.
Although It vaguely felt something was odd about Toby, none of that mattered now.
The gaze of the Lord of the Flameless settled on another item that had fallen from Angel, the very thing that had attracted Its attention before.
Lying quietly on the maroon ground was an exquisitely delicate statue.
“Is it actually a divine favor?” murmured the Lord of the Flameless as It observed the statue. Its fine appearance immediately reminded It of that Demon God.
—The Cruel Scholar.
“With a divine favor in possession, so, are you a follower of the Cruel Scholar?” The Lord of the Flameless said, surprised, while looking at Angel. This favor was unlike Popota’s chain; that chain was an artifact created later, but this favor was something born with the Demon God, a natural divine favor.
Only the most trusted followers of a Demon God would be bestowed with such an item.
Angel didn’t reply; he didn’t even have the strength to do so. The Lord of the Flameless didn’t care, merely glancing at Angel lightly.
“To not have the mark of the Cruel Scholar, why would He leave the divine favor to you?” The Lord of the Flameless murmured softly, “Interesting, very interesting indeed.”
Suddenly, the Lord of the Flameless found this human to be of interest.
However, this human could be set aside for now; there would be plenty of time to study him later. For now, the first issue to deal with was… Aoluxiya.
The gaze of the Lord of the Flameless returned to Aoluxiya.
Seeing that the Lord of the Flameless’s attention had shifted away from him, Angel struggled, enduring endless agony, and fetched the life-saving elixir from his bracelet using a wavering spirit tentacle.
It was the life-saving water condensed by Ironclad Granny before he had come to the Abyss.
Angel remembered Ironclad Granny saying that even fatal injuries could be saved with the water.
Angel didn’t know if Ironclad Granny was telling the truth or not, but he was aware of his own condition: nearly half of his organs were shattered, and if the life-saving water didn’t work for him, he probably wouldn’t survive.
With a mix of fortune and hope, Angel consumed the life-saving water.
As a cool liquid poured down his throat, in the next second, his eyes lit up, and he felt a powerful vitality rapidly repairing his internal injuries.
Shattered organs and broken bones were visibly recovering.
While Angel waited for his body to recover, a weak voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
“Divine favor… The only chance…”