Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 361

Chapter 361

As though sensing something amiss, Beili’s consciousness suddenly broke free of her dream.

She awoke in a soft bed.

Her shoulder shifted slightly, and the next instant, the cold arm wrapped around her waist tightened instinctively.

“…”

Cool strands of hair curled against her neck, and a lazy murmur sounded beside her ear.

Then everything fell silent again.

Realizing that a certain Demon was still asleep, Beili stopped moving.

Dim darkness surrounded her.

There was no day or night in Hell, nor any sense of time. She had no idea how long she had been here.

By her rough estimate, it had probably been around ten days.

During that time, Beili had come to understand very clearly that Hell truly wasn’t a suitable place for a God to live.

She simply couldn’t acclimate to Hell.

Clothing, food, shelter, transportation… not a single aspect agreed with her.

Take clothing, for example.

Oh, a Demon lord like Ashera was naturally dressed in beautiful clothes, as were some of the other Demons who held official positions.

But the lesser evil spirits, along with the souls who had committed all manner of wicked deeds in life and fallen into Hell to be punished after death, were all… stark naked.

The first time Beili left the castle, she only made one circuit around the nearby area before wishing she could weld her eyes shut.

Unfortunately, the exact opposite happened. The red eyes beneath her gray wings could see not only the naked evil spirits and souls in front of her, but also everything to either side and even behind her head with perfect clarity.

It was truly… eye… searing…

Utterly overwhelmed, Beili had no choice but to fly back, only to run into a certain Demon who had come looking for her at the entrance.

“Perfect timing.”

With a grave expression, Beili swore,

“Until something appears to cover those guys up, I refuse to set even half a foot outside this castle again!”

“All right. Then we won’t go out anymore.”

The other party sounded remarkably cheerful and relaxed.

As far as he was concerned, her decision seemed to be the best news he could possibly have asked for.

After he finished speaking, the three noisy skulls floating behind him even repeated the words “won’t,” “go out,” and “anymore” in sequence.

Beili: …

This guy had completely missed the point!

From beneath her wings, Beili glared at him.

But he probably couldn’t see her aggrieved stare. He merely gazed at her with a faint smile.

The feathers of her six gray wings bristled. All she could do was let out a cold snort, turn around, and fly back into the castle.

…

The problem was even more obvious when it came to food.

The first time Beili saw the long dining table covered with plates piled high with hearts, eyeballs, and raw meat, alongside cups filled with thick blood, she nearly flipped the table.

“I object.”

Looking at a certain Demon seated across the long table, she raised her hand and asked with a twitching mouth,

“Come on, man. Is there seriously no normal food here?”

The Demon said nothing. Smiling, he merely swept a fingertip through the air.

Only after black mist enveloped the dining table did he speak.

“My dear, there truly isn’t any food here suitable for you. Fortunately, you no longer need to eat.”

He spoke slowly and unhurriedly.

Right.

She still hadn’t gotten used to it.

The Divine Heart had returned, and she had become the God of Dreams once more. She no longer needed to eat.

After a few seconds of silence, Beili could only sit back down.

…

As for shelter…

There was no Light in Hell.

The only illumination came from the rivers of lava winding through the territory, their dim red glow barely outlining the castle against the darkness.

So even though Ashera was the twenty-ninth-ranked Demon lord, with vast territory and a magnificent, towering castle, the interior was still… unbearably dark.

Beili finally understood why a certain Demon had still been able to perceive his surroundings so clearly in the Human Realm, even after losing his sight.

In Hell, eyes were nothing but decoration.

She also finally understood why that same Demon had so often trained her, both openly and subtly, to sharpen her perception in the dark while they were in the Human Realm.

He had been preparing her for Hell in advance.

As a result, every day when she opened her eyes, she saw a pitch-black room, pitch-black corridors, a pitch-black hall, and a pitch-black garden.

It was no exaggeration to say that, although they had gone for a walk in the garden almost every day since arriving in Hell, all she could do while a certain Demon held her hand and led her along was catch vague traces of floral fragrance. She had absolutely no idea what kinds of flowers were growing there.

Oh, of course.

As the God of Dreams, she shouldn’t have needed to worry about any of these problems in the first place.

In her previous state as a God, a mere lift of her finger would have flooded the entire territory and castle with daylight.

With another lift of her finger, any delicacy she desired would have appeared before her at once.

And with just one more lift of her finger, she could have dressed every naked evil spirit and soul within a hundred miles in proper, decent clothing without even needing their consent…

So in the end, the problem lay with her.

Beili understood that perfectly well.

Although she was no longer human after falling from the Human Realm into Hell, her divine body had yet to recover completely.

The Divine Heart might have lifted the restrictions on her, but in her current state, the amount of divine power she could wield was still negligible.
It was like dipping a tiny ladleful from an endless ocean.

Each time, Beili could use only a small amount of divine power. After a few attempts, exhaustion would begin to set in.

Fortunately, the amount of divine power available to her was increasing with time.

Returning to her former state as a God was merely a matter of time.

Beili was in no hurry.

Of course, she could have told a certain Demon about the situation and hoped he might come up with a good idea while worrying over it.

But Beili did not mention a word.

Naturally, it was not because she did not trust a certain Demon… Well, that was part of the reason. A very small part.

The main reason was that after regaining her memories as the God of Dreams, Beili had also acquired a certain burden of maintaining a God’s image.

After all, the lesson taught most often, and emphasized above all others, at Heaven Training Camp had been this: how a God should preserve an air of mystery and elegance in every conceivable kind of chaos.

So even though she was deeply unaccustomed to the environment in Hell, she had to pretend that nothing was wrong.

…

She quietly channeled divine power into her eyes, beginning her daily test of its condition while enhancing her vision at the same time.

As expected, the limit on how much divine power she could use had increased again.

Although she would be unable to use any more divine power for a while, Beili could finally make out everything around her in the darkness.

That included the Demon sleeping beside her like a sloth.

Curved Black Goat Horns, long, straight silver hair, beautiful golden eyes, and pale, gray-tinged skin.

Unless something unusual happened, he clearly preferred to maintain this form. Much like how Beili preferred to put away her wings and face covering whenever she remained inside the castle.

After she watched him for a while, a certain Demon woke up.

Beili felt him lean closer, and cold lips brushed a gentle kiss against her cheek.

“It feels wonderful to open my eyes and see you.” His voice held a smile. “But you woke rather early today. Did something disturb you?”

“There’s something outside the castle.” Probably. Maybe. Perhaps…

Beili was not sure whether her senses were accurate, but she had indeed detected an unfamiliar presence near the castle.

“Mm…”

In the darkness, Ashera let out a languid murmur.

Then Beili felt him tug her by the shoulder and draw her into his cold embrace.

“Aren’t you going to take a look?” Beili asked.

Instead, he merely held her tightly. Only after embracing her for a while and letting out a contented sigh did he loosen his arms slightly.

“I want to keep holding you,” he said decisively. “Let’s sleep a little longer.”

It was only after coming to Hell that Beili belatedly realized just how vigilant this Demon had been back in the Human Realm, because he actually loved sleeping.

Beili raised her face from his cold, broad chest and reminded him, “That presence is still outside the castle.”

The moment she finished speaking, a massive black shadow appeared beyond the window.

Upon sensing it, Beili relaxed instead.

The shadow was none other than the Black Bone Scythe, which had accompanied Beili in the Human Realm for some time in the form of a black scythe. It was also Ashera’s mount in Hell: a colossal black dragon.

The Black Dragon was their means of transportation in Hell.

Beili had already complained about the food, clothing, and shelter here, but had yet to mention transportation because she had barely left the castle since arriving in Hell.

For one thing, the unclothed lesser evil spirits and wandering souls roaming the territory had thoroughly killed any desire she might have had to leave the castle and explore the surroundings.

For another, Ashera, despite being a Lord of Hell, had never taken her out.

Still, Beili was in no hurry to look around.

This was Hell, after all.

She did not know the rules of Hell, but in Heaven, nearly every God remained within their own territory.

Each God shared an unspoken understanding that visiting another’s territory would be an offensive act and was best avoided.

If one God descended into another God’s territory without warning, the latter would have every justification to launch an earth-shattering war.

Just then, a hoarse dragon’s cry came from outside the castle.

At the sound, Ashera, who was still holding her, raised one eyebrow. His pale, handsome face lifted, and his golden eyes turned thoughtfully toward the window.

Beili watched Ashera.

At the same time, she sensed the unfamiliar presence depart.

Ashera lowered his gaze slightly and chuckled.

“Don’t worry. It was only delivering a message.”

“What message?” she pressed.

Beili knew perfectly well that she had come to an unfamiliar and unquestionably dangerous place.

Until her divine power had fully recovered, she naturally needed to remain somewhere secure whenever possible.

Besides…

Hell alone had seventy-two lords belonging to the Demon race.

And a certain Demon, despite being her lover, was supposedly ranked twenty-ninth among those seventy-two lords, squarely in the middle.

Beili swore upon her Divine Heart that she did not look down on him in the slightest.

She was simply a tiny bit worried.

Even though she had heard a certain Demon explain more than once that “rankings in Hell do not represent combat strength”…

“A boring gathering convened by some bored members of the Demon race,” Ashera explained.