Ryland only agreed to lead Ricky to the Short Devil tribe's strongholds because the other man
promised he would set him and his companions free right after. However, Ricky's favor was another
story. He figured that he shouldn't think about it, at least, for the time being.
"Thank you, man! I'll remember this,"
Ricky responded gratefully as soon as Ryland agreed.
Ryland then led the three of them to one of the Short Devil tribe's strongholds, and they arrived at their
destination after about half a day's travel. Unfortunately, Ricky couldn't detect Claire's aura in this
stronghold, which meant that she and her companions must be in a different stronghold.
"It looks like they aren't here,"
Ricky muttered with blatant disappointment. He had hoped to find them here, but they came to the
wrong place.
And since they went to a dud, all they could do was wait for news from Ryland's companions, hoping
that one of them would have better news.
Thankfully, Ricky finally received good news from one of his Shadowy Replications after an hour. It
reported that they had detected Claire's aura in another stronghold.
"Thank you for bringing us here, Ryland. Now, just as I promised, the five of you are free from now on,"
Ricky declared with a smile. "But you must make a Martial Arts Oath before you leave, as the others
must not find out we are here. You five need to promise to keep this a secret."
"I understand,"
Ryland agreed, nodding.
Under their agreement, Ricky let them go once Ryland made the Martial Arts Oath.
With that taken care of, Ricky took Mordechai and Ella to the Massacring Zone, and they headed to
where the Shadowy Replication found Claire. Once they arrived, he deactivated the Shadowy
Replication that was waiting for him there.
Ricky's space and the Shadowy Replication's space were linked to each other.
In that way, the Shadowy Replication's space served as Ricky's safety net. It could take him away from
dangerous situations, and it could also serve as his hiding spot.
'Perhaps, in the future, I should hide some Shadowy Replications in concealed places. When my
Shadowy Replications reach maturity and could produce Flesh Replications, I can use them to hide
and even escape in times of trouble, ' Ricky thought with much foresight.
The Short Devil tribe's stronghold was a black castle located in a deep valley. Black figures appeared
one after another around the castle. These were devils.
However, these devils weren't from the Short Devil tribe. They belonged to other devil tribes that served
as protectors of the Short Devil tribe. Since the creatures from the Short Devil tribe specialized in
casting weapons, they couldn't fight well, and they had to rely on other tribes to protect them.
Seeing this, Ricky and the other two cautiously hid in his space first.
"Do you sense them inside, Ricky? Can you tell where they are?"
Mordechai eagerly asked the other man.
"Yes. I can sense their auras inside the castle,"
answered Ricky affirmatively.
The next moment, he drove the space into the castle.
They slowly moved inside, following Claire's aura, until they arrived deep into the castle.
There, the three of them found what they were looking for.
A golden halo surrounded Claire, Peter, and the other four, while the halo itself was enveloped in a
profound illusory space.
Unfortunately, Ricky had very limited knowledge about this golden halo. He only knew that it came from
the Sacred Illusory Kingdom's sacred weapon—the Illusory Ring.
He heard that this particular sacred weapon could release powerful and profound illusory space.
Of course, the illusory space's strength depended on the user's realm and strength.
As Ricky gazed into the Illusory Ring, he saw that Claire and her companions stood inside, joined by an
old and stout black devil.
This devil looked incredibly old, and he had just reached the Emperor Level. In fact, this one looked
positively ancient that it seemed like he would deteriorate at any moment.
Meanwhile, outside the Illusory Ring stood countless devils from the Short Devil tribe and other tribes.
They surrounded Claire and others in a siege, but none of them dared to enter the Illusory Ring, nor did
they try to attack the people inside. The short devil inside the Illusory Ring must be a high-ranking
official of the Short Devil tribe, so they didn't dare to put him in danger.
"Humans! Let our old chief go! If you release him and hand over our casting heritage, we will let you
live," said the Short Devil tribe's current chief.
"Ricky, how strong are these devils?" asked Mordechai out of curiosity.
"Most of them are average warriors. With our current strength, only one devil can pose a threat to us,"
Ricky informed him.
"Oh? They only have one strong member?" Mordechai repeated with a delighted grin. "That's not
much, so we can probably take them. However, I'm afraid that stronger reinforcements may come."
"I doubt it. The devil race's strongholds are located far away from each other, so we'll have plenty of
time to get away from here. Plus, we have enough in our ranks. Every upper spiritual emperor of the
devil race has a creature from the continent ready to confront him." Ella added her two cents as well.
"Besides, from the looks of it, Claire and her companions picked a good hostage. The Short Devil tribe
in this stronghold seems to care a great deal for their old chief. That or they just care about the casting
inheritance. Either way, we have a trump card against them."
"Indeed. It was brilliant of Claire and Peter. They managed to take the Short Devil tribe's casting
heritage," Ricky agreed with a smile.
"Can you use your space to bring them in?" asked Mordechai, thinking that they would use the space
to run away.
"Yeah, I can do that since nothing is blocking me here. However, wouldn't that be a waste? We are
already here. We can't just save them. This stronghold is ripe for the picking!
I also don't want to let this chance go. I want to kill every devil here whose strength does not far
surpass mine," explained Ricky.
"If that's so, what are we waiting for? Let's kill all of them." answered Mordechai playfully, laughing in
amusement. They seemed to be two peas in a pod. After all, he wanted to fight against those devils
too.
Boom!
As the devils bargained with Claire, who was still in the Illusory Ring, a massive square seal that
contained a strong power of time appeared over the black castle, expanding bigger and bigger every
second.
The devils that surrounded them were utterly shocked to see this.
"What the hell is happening?"
shouted the other tribes' leaders as they started to panic.
They hastily activated their power, intending to confront the giant seal.
Several powerful devils worked together to resist the attack, and they successfully blocked Ricky's
Time Seal.
In the next moment, Ricky's figure appeared in the middle of the Time Seal. He had a wicked smile on
his face as he said, "You devil bastards, don't blame me for being cruel to you because you deserve it."
His grin widened, and in between one breath and the next, a ray of light shot out from between his
eyebrows. It grew brighter and brighter until it engulfed the entire castle.
"How is that possible?" All eyes could only watch the scene with disbelief in their eyes.
Claire, Peter, and their companions, as well as Mordechai and Ella who were still in the Massacring
Zone, all recognized it in one glance. "The ancient arena!"
Ricky had indeed summoned the ancient arena.
Boom! Boom! Under his control, it hovered over the black castle and then dropped onto it with a
deafening blow, crushing the entire castle beneath it into dust.
The ancient arena was made of Rocks of Heaven and Earth, which made it as tough and sturdy as any
supreme weapon. A small black castle stood no chance against it.
Pained and dying screams erupted from the dust and debris that had remained of the devils' abode.
Undoubtedly, the power of Ricky, a middle spiritual emperor, filled the ancient arena to the brim. And it
had struck the castle with a crushing blow. How could any devil who hadn't become a middle spiritual
emperor survive?
That was how Ricky dealt with the weaker devils, and only a few living devils remained. He then put
away the ancient arena and the Time Seal. To his satisfaction, he noticed that only several middle
spiritual emperors and lower spiritual emperors at peak state had survived.
Of course, those devils who witnessed this fell silent, unable to utter a word out of shock.
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