Ash’s first reaction upon landing was to look around. Finding himself alone in the empty surroundings, he immediately collapsed onto the grass, covering his head with a face full of frustration.

Distracted by those two bastards, Igula and Harvey, Ash had spent his last moments trying to look cool with them and forgot that he wasn’t alone!

He didn’t pull Death Mad into the portal!

At the thought of Death Mad still being left behind in the completely submerged Black Descent Hell, Ash felt a wave of panic. He looked at the back of his hand with just one mark of Tribulation, feeling as anxious as a hot pot Ant, then suddenly smacked his forehead heavily, causing himself to fall back onto the grass.

"Are you trying to knock the water out of your brain?"

Ash opened his eyes and looked up, seeing a pair of long, straight legs in armored steel boots. Under the swordsman’s skirt was a pair of leggings, with snow-white thighs that looked full of strength. Death Mad squatted down slowly, blowing a smoke ring at his face: "I suggest slapping yourself; it might correct your intelligence more effectively."

Ash immediately sat up, staring blankly at her. "Why are you here too? Didn’t I fail to pull you into the portal?"

"Sorry to disappoint you." Death Mad tilted her head, smiling, "But I don’t recall ever asking you to pull me in."

"As long as you have Aurora’s Mage Manual, I’ll always be by your side, no matter where you go, I’ll follow."

Ash breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and said, "I thought you were left in Black Descent..."

"If mere hell could let you escape, how would we ever replace you?" Death Mad lazily stood up.

Ash suddenly reached out to hug her, but Death Mad instinctively stepped back, and Ash went right through her phantom.

"What are you doing?" Death Mad looked on guard, "Trying to sneak attack me? Want to get beaten up again?"

"Did you see? I found them!" Ash paced back and forth in excitement, saying joyfully, "They’re not dead yet! I still have a chance to rescue them from hell! To think I often worried about those two bastards, but it turns out they’re not missing any limbs and seem to be doing quite well... Wait, could they be doing better than me? I can’t accept that!"

"Though a few months didn’t change their foolishness, no improvement at all, it’s really..." The Cult Leader stomped hard, breathing fast, feeling a lot lighter, and chuckled softly, "Thank goodness."

Ash turned around to look at Death Mad, opened his arms, and approached step by step, hugging her gratefully. This time, Death Mad didn’t dodge, just turned her head with a look of disdain, as if unwillingly going along.

"Thank you." Ash released the hug and said sincerely.

"I wasn’t the one who found them," Death Mad snorted, "And they’re just not dead at the moment, nothing to be happy about, maybe the Forgotten will slaughter them all in a few days."

This person is really awkward; even when I’m grateful, she’s being sarcastic... Ash wasn’t angry; though they hadn’t spent much time together, he had already figured out Death Mad’s personality. Perhaps because of ample experience with Sonia and Nia, Ash keenly noticed that Death Mad shared the same pattern of reaction to goodwill as they did—a defensive reflex.

If Sonia is a little kitten, responding to kindness with affection and occupation, then Nia is a little hedgehog, suspecting she doesn’t deserve kindness so she responds with spikes, and Death Mad? She’s like a porcupine, poking holes in you regardless of whether you’re kind or hostile!

Though Death Mad is the most aggressive, she might be the simplest thinker—sounds unbelievable, but upon reflection, it makes sense. Sonia and Nia often conceal their thoughts due to various concerns, whereas Death Mad has lived for a long time, witnessed so much destruction, endured so much despair, that nothing in this world concerns her anymore. She can play with whoever she wants, even if the Source Angel comes she wouldn’t care, leaving her heart with less constraint and a bit more directness.

In such situations, Ash directly changed the topic. He turned to look at the distant, splendid night view, asking, "Is this Level Four of Hell?"

Under the pitch-black Heavenly Curtain, the fiery trees and silver flowers illuminated the vast land, reflecting the burning night on the slowly flowing river, mesmerizing all who beheld it.

"Three thousand miles of fiery trees and silver flowers, eight hundred layers of serene night." Death Mad said, "This is one of the mid-tier factions in Fantasy Hell, the territory of Dayless Heaven. But it doesn’t mean much to you, fiery trees and silver flowers are flame resources, and serene night is a resource for dark magic, none of which you need... Plus, Dayless Heaven is currently under a demigod’s control; if you want to plunder it, you’ll have to wait for the next exploration, when the Forgotten kill them all, then you can bury this layer of hell."

Ash looked up at the sky, "Even the Heavenly Curtain is created by demigods?"

"More accurately, the entire Dayless Heaven, every blade of grass and tree, sky and earth, are fantasy creations of the Dayless Heaven demigods." Death Mad explained, "The hallmark of Fantasy Hell is that it allows demigods to ’define worlds.’

’Define worlds?’"

"We’re currently in Dayless Heaven’s territory, so you see Dayless Heaven, as it has been fixed by demigods into ’fiery trees and silver flowers of Dayless Heaven.’" Death Mad said, "But if you’re in an unfixed public area, you might see a sunny grassland, a tranquil forest, or a field of warm spring blooms... Your will defines the image of hell, and the world reflects your inner vision of the ideal environment, hence why it’s called ’Fantasy Hell.’

Ash was stunned, but soon realized a loophole, "But wouldn’t the public area also be defined by other demigods’ images?"

"Yes, so the same place might be a hot spring to you, but molten lava to a fire demigod. A light magic demigod might see a treasure of blazing light, but you might see just an ordinary stone." Death Mad said, "Thus, Level Four of Hell is also known as ’Foolish Hell.’ Most demigods can only see the side they want to see and can never witness the real world. "

"’Foolish Hell’ is the richest and most densely packed layer of the six hells regarding magic resources, and also the one with the fiercest demigod wars. The reason is that here the resources exist in two forms, ’illusion’ and ’true objects.’"

"’Illusion’ is a resource visible to all demigods but appears as different resources to each, often being their most critical, lacking resource, resulting in wars over illusions."

"’True objects’ are like regular resources, but with a small distinction—when the world you imagine aligns closely with a true object, you can discover it. For example, water magic true objects can only be found by a water magic demigod, because the water magic demigod’s imagined world aligns closely with the water magic true objects, while a fire magic demigod is unlikely to discover them."

Ash summarized, "So, a fantasy demigod has two enhancement paths—collecting true objects is safer but rarer, while fighting over illusions is riskier but offers more opportunities?"

"That’s about right, though collecting true objects isn’t as safe as you think." Death Mad laughed, "If you specialize in a more popular magic faction, acquiring true objects can be just as difficult as illusions."

Ash realized.

The more popular the magic faction a demigod cultivates, the more competitors for true objects. For example, true objects of the Space Faction are at the same level of competitive difficulty as illusions, since all demigods graduated from the Distant Realm, and the Space Faction is a compulsory course.