He didn’t avoid the Forgotten, instead he charged straight into the casting sequence where their numbers were densest! Having fought many battles, Ash knew well that deliberately avoiding enemies would only make himself a target, but charging into their core could render them helpless!

Yet even so, the concentrated fire from the Forgotten almost got Ash killed on the spot. Space distortion, time slowing, hindrance, shock, dizziness, binding... within seconds, tens to hundreds of strong control spells rained down like a storm, not to mention the regular attacks of flames, ice, and thunder, along with at least three demigod body technique users working together to block him.

Ash activated the Heart Hunting Throne while dodging, and his freshly prepared twenty-four layers of Refraction Protection melted instantly, but he immediately replenished twelve layers to narrowly pass through the Forgotten’s encirclement and successfully reach the Death Ark!

According to plan, the Death Ark would open a gap to let him in the moment he touched the Death Veil, so Ash flew at full speed towards the Death Veil, completely ignoring the dense offensive from the Forgotten behind him, like a brave fly crashing into a glass window.

"Go upwards!" Death Mad suddenly said.

Tap! Ash stomped heavily downward, compressing stacked air to the limit, bursting out layers of cloud waves, and the powerful impact changed his flying direction instantly as he soared upwards along the Death Veil!

No need for Death Mad to explain, Ash already knew what the situation was— the Death Ark had no intention of letting him in!

Perhaps they didn’t trust a lone wolf, maybe worried the Forgotten would take the chance to rush in, or maybe they intended to use Ash to attract the Forgotten’s firepower to alleviate the pressure on the Death Veil... But whatever the reason, the path into the Death Ark never actually existed for Ash from the start.

He had 15 minutes before he could leave Hell, but he couldn’t even live for one more minute now.

As the Forgotten from all directions closed in, Ash took a deep breath, opened "Aurora’s Mage Manual" – "Operator Seeking," and spoke calmly: "Let’s take out these Forgotten first, then see if we can break through the Death Veil—" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"No!" Death Mad abruptly grabbed his wrist, her blood-red eyes gazing earnestly at him: "No need to waste a quarter here... I have a plan! Just hold on and listen to me!"

Without hesitation, Ash chose to trust Death Mad, adding Refraction Protection to himself, continuously consuming Source Crystals to replenish Source Power, and actively plunged into the raging waves of war to earn breathing space.

Death Mad spoke quickly: "There are four hidden nodes above the cave, you must destroy them all at once. Those are the hidden passage tokens for the Death Ark; once you have them, you can move freely through the Death Veil."

Death Mad flew closely beside him, the two like petrels in a storm, weaving through the sky-roiling magic storm of the Forgotten, "But even if you go in, you’ll be attacked by the Black Descent demigods, so once inside you must immediately declare you’re Ash Heath, letting everyone know you’re the man Dazzling Star wants, so at least they’ll be blinded by greed, allowing you to survive for 15 minutes!"

"Why didn’t you say sooner? Thanks!" Ash exclaimed in joy, looking towards the four hidden nodes on the inner wall of the cave as pointed out by Death Mad. Four Sword Lights shot forth, instantly blasting all the nodes!

Once done, he immediately plunged vertically towards the Death Veil, ready to expose his identity and sell himself to survive—

"The energy nodes have been destroyed!"

"The veil is about to break, everyone be alert!"

"How is this possible—"

Amid the furious shock of the Black Descent demigods, the Death Veil covering the Death Ark seemed unable to hold on anymore, suddenly bursting like a bubble, leaving the Death Ark exposed like an unclothed Lalafell in the eyes of the Forgotten. Originally encircling Ash, the Forgotten turned their firepower completely, indiscriminately covering the demigod mages atop the Death Ark!

Thunder clashed chaotically, flames roared, vapor boiled, time and space twisted, war instantly reached its climax, and raging elemental currents overwhelmed everyone, the creaking sound of the Death Ark groaning under the weight, countless demigods consecutively howled!

Spending twenty Source Crystals as the price, Ash barely remained unscathed in this wave of chaos. Watching the utterly defeated Black Descent demigods, he immediately understood what had happened—those four nodes were not passage tokens at all, but the energy nodes supporting the Death Veil! There was no way the Death Veil could withstand the Forgotten’s attack for so long through mere Source Crystals or mages; it must have exploited the peculiar geography of Black Descent Hell, similar to how Gui Ming Palace’s "Gui Ming Sea Current" used the deep blue hell’s ocean water.

Ash didn’t believe the four nodes he destroyed were the only ones, but these four were undoubtedly the straw that broke the camel’s back—the Death Veil had never faced such intense testing since its construction, bombarded by thousands of Forgotten for days and days.

Now Ash indeed could enter the Death Ark, but the cost was that the Black Descent demigods lost the protection of the Death Veil, with ten demigods having already perished under the storm baptism of the Forgotten Legion. At least, he was no longer the Forgotten’s sole focus, and those Black Descent demigods who wished to use him also paid a heavy price.

"No need to thank me."

Death Mad’s response came slowly, elegant, appropriate, serene. Ash glanced sideways at her, opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing, sighing helplessly.

Meanwhile, the battlefield entered a critical turning point. More than thirteen Black Descent demigods simultaneously triggered Tribulation, tearing open a teleportation gate to the fourth Hell!

"Go, you have ten seconds." The leading elf demigod said only one sentence before immediately entering the teleportation gate and departing. His gate didn’t just disappear but instead instantly teleported to another part of the Death Ark, seemingly still usable!

"You have ten seconds!" Death Mad quickly said: "These gates will keep teleporting, everyone can use them within ten seconds—don’t go in now, quickly grab the wonder on the ark!"

As Ash dove vertically, amidst the chaotic battlefield no one had the leisure to focus on him, the instigator. When he placed the endlessly rotating spherical wonder into the Heavenly Kingdom of Souls, two demigods passed by him, heavily bumping his shoulder, even knocking off Ash’s hood.

Instinctively, Ash turned to look over, the other party also glanced back at him, golden hair flying.

"Igula, why did you stop...?"

The dark-skinned, curly-haired figure saw his companion stop and turned to look as well, then stopped abruptly.

Necromancer, Swindler, Cult Leader, meeting again in circumstances beyond their control, their lives hanging by a thread.

Just like old times at Shattered Lake.