Zatiel used his Rebirth Eye, consciousness, and Mind Force to examine the humanoid creature and soon found out its nature and why his Soul Eradicator did not work.
'A Rank 5 Blood Zombie. It doesn't have consciousness and operates following the commands given during its creation.'
The Neo-Demon's hope of catching a living being and finding out what was happening in this place vanished. Usually, high-level puppets could store information in their minds, but time had deteriorated this one's brain.
He stored the puppet in his space ring before going through the information in the mind of the first Rank 4 Devil that the Blood Zombi attacked.
'It attacked the devil when this one put a foot in the stairs that led to the basement.' Zatiel knew that such a strong puppet must have been guarding something valuable, so he entered the building after commanding the devils to stay put.
It took a few seconds for the Neo-Demon to reach the entrance to the basement.
He did not descend right away since most places containing valuable objects or information have self-destruction devices meant to go off if the guardian fails.
Zatiel created thin threads of Mind Force that began to invade the walls. Carefully he broke the magic matrix and rune formation in his path until finally reaching a giant laboratory.
Only after making sure he deactivated every trap did the Neo-Demon enter the room.
Hundreds of different plants and all kinds of books filled the room. It was not hard to realize that this was a laboratory of a Grand Alchemist.
The Neo-Demon's Mind Force covered the entire laboratory and gave him a clear view of everything inside it.
Most of the plants had withered, but Zatiel's eyes narrowed as he noticed a fossilized root floating in a bowl with green liquid.
He got closer and began to analyze the root and the liquid with his right eye.
'The liquid had lost its unique properties, but had not dissolved after all this time, it must have been a high-level substance. If I am right, the root belonged to a Tree of Massacre. It is fossilized, and it will be hard to restore even with my knowledge, but it will be worth it.' Zatiel took a container and filled it with his blood before depositing the root inside.
The Neo-Demon stored the container and all the books of this place into his spatial ring.
The magic knowledge was low level for him, but he could exchange it for something else with the rest of the Devil Lords. And in case a Devil Marquess asked him from where he got it, he would have an explanation.
After gathering everything valuable, Zatiel's released blue flames that destroyed anything they touched. It was best not to leave any clue of what was in here.
The Neo-Demon exited the laboratory but did not leave the building. He advanced until reaching the rooftop.
The red fog was thicker in the sky, and the Neo-Demon's vision that could see an ant more than one hundred kilometers away now saw everything blurry. Still, by pushing the Rebirth Eye to the limit and taking advantage of the height, Zatiel was able to form a clear picture of the buildings around him.
Suddenly, the Neo-Demon's eyes widened, and he focused on a structure in the distance.
It was a thousand meters tall statue of a young child with no eyes nor ears and a bloodthirsty smile on his face.
The red fog hid everything else, and the reason Zatiel could see that statue was due to his Eye of Life and Creation's unique ability to perceive hidden energy.
'It is like a heart, beating, gathering blood energy and producing life force before sending it to somewhere else.' Zatiel had already developed an idea of what the purpose of this fortress was. However, that only made more questions appear in his mind.
'I need to get inside it.' The Neo-Demon descended to the ground. After giving orders to the Rank 4 Devils of searching the buildings for anything valuable, he left.
Zatiel advanced carefully since the traps and defensive systems around him reached the level in which they could harm a Rank 5 life form.
After more than two weeks of running, he almost reached the statue when his Rebirth Eye caught a glance of someone. The fog was too dense to figure out its identity, but it was not a Devil Marques due to the soul force he felt.
That was everything he needed to know before flashing to the individual with his sword in hand and killing intent in his heart. It did not matter to the Neo-Demon whether the person was part of his team or an enemy.
After he got close enough, he was able to identify him. He was a fifteen-meter tall Helltoxin Minotaur, a Devil Count under the Rank 6 Pit Fiend.
The red fog's effect was higher in the Helltoxin Minotaur's perception than in Zatiel's, so the Devil Count was only able to react to the Neo-Demon when this one was in front of him.
The devil roared and attempted to strike the Neo-Demon with his claw full of black poison.
Unfortunately, Zatiel was too close, and the moment he raised his hand, an invisible force hit his True Soul, momentarily stunning him.
The next thing the Helltoxin Minotaur felt was a burning sword cutting his arm off.
The pain was immense, but as a Devil Lord, his battle experience was high. He immediately moved away from his enemy and fused with his Law Avatar.
Zatiel saw black tendons cover the Devil Count's body, and his Rebirth Eye showed him an invisible gas that filled the air around him.
The Neo-Demon did not give the Devil Count time to rest and flashed at him as an eclipse formed behind his back and bone spikes emerged from his knees and elbows.
A thin layer of golden plasma appeared around Zatiel, stopping the gas from infiltrating his body.
He got in front of the Devil Count and once again fired Soul Eradicator.
The Helltoxin Minotaur's spirit defenses were higher now that he had fused with his Law Avatar, but the attack still affected his concentration due to the immense pain.
Zatiel managed to block the claw with his sword before hitting the Devil Count in his chest with his knee.
The black tendons were resilient, but the bone spike was hard and burning, so it managed to pierce them, making a big hole in the Devil Count's chest before blasting him away into a building.
The two strikes broke the Devil Count's magic defenses and gave the A.I. Chip enough time to scan him. The next second, Zatiel saw all the information in his mind.
"Bip... Target scanned successfully.
Race: Devil (Rank 5, 2nd Engraving Stage)
Strength: 8.1
Physique: 6.7
Speed: 4.5
Energy Pool: 8.3
Soul Origin. 8.2"
In a different place, this fight would have been much harder for Zatiel due to the difference in energy pool and Soul Origin, not to mention that his opponent could fuse with his Law Avatar.
However, the Blood Fortress weakened Law Avatars and made the energy pool harder to use, so they depended mainly on their bodies to fight.
The Neo-Demon's strength was lower than the Helltoxin Minotaur, but his speed was almost two times greater. That difference in agility was catastrophic since Soul Eradicator affected the concentration of the Devil Lord.
Zatiel had just appeared in front of the Helltoxin Minotaur when he detected something.
His Rebirth Eye aimed at the top of the building next to him but instantly returned to the Devil Count.
The poisonous claw once again stopped his sword, but he managed to land a fist in the Devil Count's face.
His fist carried enough strength to break the Devil Count's face before being pushed away due to a kick that landed in his stomach.
The fight continued, and in less than ten minutes, the Helltoxin Minotaur's body was full of serious injuries contaminated with blue fire. The Devil Count could not keep up with Zatiel's speed.
The Devil Count was furious, but he was not a demon. Knowing that the situation was getting too dangerous, he chose to escape.
"ROAR!" The Devil Count roared as his energy exploded. From every cell of his body, a dense black gas was released.
The toxins in the black gas were powerful enough to endanger the life of a Rank 5 life form at the 3rd Engraving Stage. It drained all the energy the Helltoxin Minotaur had, but he was sure that his opponent would not dare to get close to him.
Unfortunately for the Devil Count, his calculations were wrong. He had turned around and was about to run when a sword pierced his back, severing his heart and overflowing his body with death force.
Before his True Soul could leave the soul dimension, sealing runes covered his skin.
