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Epic of Caterpillarchapter 1164: the endless limbo

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Mammon resulted to be one of the Seven Princes of Hell, the Supreme Noble Archdemon of Greed, who reigns over the Layer of Greed, and constructed a land of wealth and treasures named the Pandemonium of Greed, where he resides with a billion other demons as his servants.

According to the Imps his story is rather pitiful.

During his time in Heaven, he was depicted as forever looking downward at Heaven's golden pavement rather than God himself. In fact, Mammon's obsession with gold was to the point where he did not even care about Lucifer's rebellion but due to the fact that he cared more about material wealth than God he was cast out by the archangel Gabriel.

After the rebellion in Heaven, Mammon was banished to Hell where he is the one who finds underground precious metal that his demonic companions use to build their capital city, Pandemonium by Lucifer's order. Apparently, Mammon counsels the devils to be happy with what they have got, and to create a home for themselves in Hell.

Due to this, he's seen as a good figure by most of the demon population, who see him as someone content with what he got, as long as he's close to his treasure.

…I've arrived here yet I cannot sense my connection to the parasites I left on him, perhaps my idea ended wrongly, and he found them out and destroyed them in time, damn it.

Or maybe I cannot sense them? Well, only time will tell.

Mammon is credited as the creator of alchemy, specifically credited as the one who bestowed knowledge to humans on what the proper alchemical compounds are needed to create gold. Mammon's bestowal of such forbidden information also led to the creation of the homunculi, humanoid entities of great power and strength, which in turn makes him the indirect creator of such creatures.

The Demons pointed this out, but this looks more like just trivia to me, although knowing he might be the creator of Alchemy seems interesting. He might had indirectly created Alchemy Magic which was then spread across the Universe and discovered in several iterations, which he had done just because he wanted to find the alchemy compound to make gold, his most precious material.

His powers might really be amazing then, more than I could properly handle. Is he really just at Supreme God-Level, or even higher? I would say these powerful Archdemons are way higher, probably in some realm of themselves as they possess unique powers that cannot truly be calculated with ease…

Maybe there's something special they can do, or not, I would have to see what can be done. But for now I am really curious about how to get there.

"How can I get down there? Do you guys know of any shortcut to the Greed Layer?" I asked.

"A-A shortcut?!"

"Well…"

"There's a shortcut, but it's within the Lands of Emptiness where the Lost Ones reside…"

"They had built a massive Lost Kingdom where they devour sinful souls and govern the empty land of the Limbo."

"I see… what's the shortcut like?" I wondered.

"Well, the shortcut is a massive portal that leads directly there, but its well-guarded by powerful Hell Beasts, beings at a power level similar to Archdemons…"

"The Lost Ones utilize this special portal that our lord of Greed made himself to communicate and transport goods from here. It appears that in the Lands of Emptiness there are special and precious Ores named Empty Cores, which our lord of Greed appreciates."

"Due to that, the Land of Greed welcomes the Lost Ones, and only them… those that are not them and dare get through the portal…"

"Well, they get crushed and die."

"Eh?! Just like that? There's no way around it?" I asked.

"No way around it… well, you're an archdemon, my lady, so you could find a way."

"Maybe with your authority you could cordially ask them to let you in, Archdemons have high authority even over the Lost Ones."

"What are the Lost Ones anyways?" I wondered.

"T-They're the materialization of memories left by sinful souls over eons, they materialize through emptiness and become Lost Ones, always seeing lost memories of lives they never lived. They're strange beings resembling specters or ghosts, I don't know if they're considered demons like us, Imps."

"But they're strong and deadly, their power can drain the emotions and minds of us demons, they cannot been easily confronted even if they might be weaker physically…"

"The Lost Ones developed an obsession with the sinful souls of mortals that reach us here, they absorb these souls' memories and emotions to feed themselves with new memories to enjoy…"

"It is quite bizarre how they feed, but that's how they do it, I am nobody to criticize their way of living…"

"Y-Yeah, we are not the ones to talk over their decisions of living!"

I suppose these Lost Ones might be a little of a problem, they do seem to be pragmatic and perhaps rather annoying to deal with, and if they can drain emotions and memories, then they're even more dangerous if they have accumulated so much experience and the like.

But if they're low ranking then we can stomp them down, I think I could find a way to make a portal that lead to the same area the portal there might lead if I can touch it and analyze it a bit, doesn't seem impossible to someone such as myself.

"My lady archdemon, y-you're planning to go there?" asked one of the Imps.

"Yeah, but I am going to have some fun in here… Do you have any map about this entire Limbo area?" I wondered.

"M-Map? That's impossible, the Limbo is endless…"

"Indeed, it never ends…"

So… the Limbo never ends? They cannot map it? Seriously?!

Then how can I even move around knowing I might get lost forever?

Ugh…

The little damn Imps were hyping me out with a way to get to Mammon easily and they now come and tell me there's no freaking map of this horrendous place!

I felt anger!

I was about to crush them to death, but I considered that would be way too horrendous, I am a good person now.

After all, I have changed my ways and now I am a woman of god, I would never slay demons- Wait, that should be a good deed.

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