Rebirth : The Alchemist's Path

"We need to wait for three more days. The Demon Lord is still gathering strength, and when the time comes, he will be born," the orb explained.

Sylvus nodded and glanced around.

"Don\'t you have any treasures in this fortress?" he asked.

The demon race, having once gone head-to-head with the Supreme Deity, should surely have some valuable treasures.

"All of our treasures were used to nourish the Demon Lord. Only this fortress, the demon artifact, remains," the orb replied.

Sylvus was a bit disappointed. He had hoped for some extraordinary treasure, but it seemed the demon race was poorer than he thought.

"Oh, right, Lord Sylvus, I would ask you to take care of the group outside," the orb added.

Sylvus raised an eyebrow.

"You have so many sentinels here. Any one of the Deity King level could deal with them. Why do you need me?"

"Lord Sylvus, you may not know this, but all of these sentinels are our own demon race," the orb explained.

"What? These are all demons?" Sylvus was surprised. The demon race was ruthless enough to turn their own into sentinels.

"The outside world doesn\'t know much about us. All of our sentinels were once members of the demon race. In order to create a sentinel, the bloodline of the demon race is required. When a member of our race dies, we turn them into sentinels. Over hundreds of thousands of years, we\'ve accumulated this many powerful beings," the orb continued.

Sylvus understood now. That explained how the demon race had so many Deity Emperor-level sentinels. It had taken them ages to build up such a force, and they had done so using their own fallen members.

"Is this some sort of \'waste recycling\'?" Sylvus thought to himself.

For most beings, death was final. But for the demon race, even in death, they continued to serve, protecting their race. Over time, they had amassed a terrifying number of sentinels.

"So what does this have to do with me stepping in?" Sylvus asked.

"The Demon Lord hasn\'t awakened yet. All of the sentinels here are under my control, and I can only command those below the True Deity level," the orb admitted.

"And when the Demon Lord awakens, these sentinels will need to be sacrificed to provide enough power. So, I can\'t do much about the people outside," the orb added.

Sylvus nodded, finally understanding why only the weaker sentinels had been sent to harass the intruders earlier. The stronger ones were beyond the orb\'s control.

"I\'ll take care of the people outside," Sylvus said after thinking it over. It would be a good opportunity for him to test his abilities.

"Thank you, Lord Sylvus."

"Oh, by the way, I need to bring three people in. They are from the Spirit Clan. Make sure the sentinels don\'t attack them," Sylvus added.

The McKen brothers were quite useful, and Sylvus intended to bring them in. He also needed reliable allies in the divine realm.

"The Spirit Clan? Are you referring to the Spirit Clan?" the orb\'s voice suddenly erupted in anger, trembling with fury.

"What\'s the problem?" Sylvus asked, confused. Why was the orb so angry at the mention of the Spirit Clan?

"Lord Sylvus, the Spirit Clan cannot be trusted! They were the ones who supported the Supreme Deity in bringing chaos to the divine realm, causing countless races to suffer. It\'s said that the current Supreme Deity is a member of the Spirit Clan," the orb replied in a stern voice.

Sylvus blinked, surprised. He hadn\'t expected such a revelation. But why did the McKen brothers seem so decent to him?

"Let them in for now. We\'ll see what happens," Sylvus said after a moment of thought. If the brothers were indeed connected to the Supreme Deity, he wouldn\'t hesitate to deal with them.

"Please be careful, Lord Sylvus!" the orb warned.

Sylvus then took out a jade token and sent a message to the three McKen brothers.

Outside the fortress, McKen, McDe, and McGi quickly received the message.

"Big brother, what did Brother Sylvus say?" McDe asked curiously.

McKen frowned slightly, unsure.

"Sylvus says we should head straight to the heart of the fortress. He\'ll be waiting for us there, and the sentinels won\'t attack us."

"How\'s that possible? Can Sylvus really command these sentinels?" McDe said in disbelief.

"It\'s not impossible. How else could Sylvus have reached the deepest part of the fortress?" McGi, who had been silent, pointed out.

"Let\'s go take a look. If things get dangerous, we can always escape. Even a Deity King can\'t stop us," McKen decided after thinking it over.

Despite his reluctance to take unnecessary risks, he had an inexplicable trust in Sylvus. It was as if following Sylvus\'s lead would ensure everything turned out right.

McDe and McGi exchanged glances, then nodded in agreement. They were curious to see if Sylvus had really made it to the heart of the fortress.

With their decision made, the three brothers took off toward the deeper parts of the mountains.

Not long after the three left, Carol and her group at the foot of the mountain also stood up, their eyes turning toward the depths.

"This is strange. The sentinels aren\'t attacking us. Could Brother Sylvus really be able to command them?" McKen pondered aloud as they flew.

As they traveled, they encountered several sentinels, but to their surprise, the sentinels acted as if they didn\'t even see them.

"No way. Demon sentinels can only be commanded by members of the demon race. Sylvus isn\'t a demon, so he must\'ve used some other method," McKen reasoned, shaking his head.

"Let\'s keep going. We\'ll ask Brother Sylvus when we see him."

The trio continued flying deeper into the fortress. But along the way, they were increasingly shocked.

They realized the sheer number of sentinels, and how powerful they were.

"Big brother, could that be the Demon Fortress? Didn\'t the Supreme Deity destroy it when he wiped out the demon race?" McGi exclaimed in surprise when they neared the fortress.

"It\'s definitely the Demon Fortress. It matches the records in our clan\'s ancient texts. Something else must\'ve happened back then," McKen said, nodding.

"Big brother, look! Those sentinels are at the Deity King level. The demon race was wiped out, yet there are still so many powerful sentinels?" McDe exclaimed, staring at the dozens of sentinels guarding the entrance.

McKen took a deep breath. He was starting to realize that things were far more complicated than he had initially thought.

There were so many demon sentinels here.

Even the fortress itself had reappeared, along with Deity King sentinels standing guard. There had to be some earth-shattering secret hidden within.

"Big brother, should we go inside?" McGi asked nervously, swallowing hard.

McKen hesitated, unsure of what to do.

There were Deity King-level sentinels guarding the entrance. Inside, there could very well be Deity Sovereign or even Deity Emperor sentinels.

Given the history between the Spirit Clan and the demon race, entering would be a death sentence.

Just as McKen was lost in thought, the gates of the Demon Fortress slowly opened, and a figure stepped out from within.