After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 47.1

At this moment, the little ragdoll was playing with a fur ball on the table, occasionally smiling foolishly at the small mirror, stroking the bow on its head with its paws, then rolling back and forth on the table, seeming very satisfied, and meowing from time to time.

It was now noon, with the sun shining brightly. The front counter of the bookstore was only a meter away from the door, and its posture while playing there was occasionally seen by passersby, drawing some envious and hateful glances.

“Wow, the bookstore owner’s cat is so cute, I want to pet it.” 

“So cute! Is it helping the owner watch the store? Such a sensible cat, unlike mine who ignores me every day… Tears, tears.” 

“Looks like there’s more than one, this bookstore owner has raised a lot of cats, do they take turns watching the store? My goodness, they are so sensible, I also want a cat that can watch the store!”

Occasionally, there were customers who came to the bookstore just to see the cats.

The beautiful and adorable cats healed people’s hearts!

But unfortunately, the cats were not very friendly to the customers.

The cats were cute, but occasionally a single glance from them would make the customers shudder, and they often found themselves hiding behind the bookshelves or had already paid and left with a book they hadn’t even opened.

Although it was a mystery why they had paid money, they also mysteriously felt it was worth it. This was truly an incredible bookstore.

Passersby walked and stopped, content.

After a while, the sunlight slanted a bit.

The little ragdoll suddenly sat up, its emerald eyes watching the sky in a certain direction, with a slightly nervous expression.

At the same time, the gray cat emerged from the void and also sensed Marbas’ presence.

The gray cat scratched his head and said to the ragdoll cat, “I almost forgot, Marbas was strongly opposed to my suggestion before. He’s probably been hearing about the ‘Lord of the Abyss’ lately and thinks it’s an imposter, so he’s come here to settle the score with us.”

The ragdoll cat seemed to dislike the always golden Marbas and said coldly, “I don’t want him to know at all.”

The gray cat was curious, “Why?”

The ragdoll cat snorted, “That Marbas is so stingy. I asked him to give me money to buy medicinal materials, but he refused. He has so much money, what’s wrong with giving me a little?”

It slapped the table hard, expressing strong dissatisfaction and anger.

The gray cat’s mouth twitched slightly, thinking, “No wonder he didn’t give you, you’re always brewing medicines, no matter how much money it would never be enough.”

However, Marbas truly loves money. No matter who asks him for money, he won’t give any. Theoretically speaking, since he is already the richest in the world, what’s wrong with giving some money to his fellow brethren? But he doesn’t give even a single red envelope, completely lacking any familial feelings. Moreover, he himself doesn’t spend much either, with his only interest being the construction of golden and silver palaces.

Setting that aside, Marbas’ personality is also somewhat… difficult to get along with. He is sarcastic, gloomy, and morose. Unlike Beelzebub, whose personality is coldly aggressive, making people shudder, Marbas is introverted, extremely rejecting of the outside world, taciturn, and likes to be by himself. Once he speaks, it is inevitably an intolerant outburst.

It’s said that Marbas often gets into fights with fellow kin, because of his lack of patience, feeling that the others don’t understand him and can’t keep up with his pace.

When he gets annoyed, he resorts to violence. Only Agares can restrain him. He even dares to fight with Baal, though the end result is him getting beaten up by Baal.

According to Inpos’ memories, Marbas is very stubborn and unyielding. He has been defeated by Baal countless times, yet still wants to compete with him again, which in a way shows the strength of his will.

You know, many gods in the heavens, after being defeated by Baal, even if they were reborn in the next generation, would still be extremely afraid of Baal. The fear of the Demon God Baal has become ingrained in their divine essence, an important survival information they must remember deeply.

Who knows what kind of methods Baal used to instill such psychological trauma in those warmongers, perhaps… even more extreme than the extremists themselves.

Cough! I’ve digressed too far!

The gray cat shook his head and asked the ragdoll cat, “Hide from Marbas?”

The ragdoll cat confidently put its hands on its hips, making its little bow quiver, “With us around, he won’t find Father!”

The gray cat thought, you’re really not good at stealth magic, are you? As expected, I’ll have to bear the brunt of it. Marbas’ information-gathering magic is not that easy to resist, you know.

The small ragdoll cat noticed the gray cat’s gloomy expression, slowly approached him, and tapped his forehead with a paw, smiling, “You can do it, because you are the brother I trust!”

The gray cat was taken aback, as if he had truly been encouraged. Looking into the ragdoll cat’s eyes, he snorted, “Of course I can do it, I’m the mightiest magician in the world!”

The ragdoll cat chuckled, not forgetting to take a jab, “Even if it’s self-proclaimed.”

The gray cat glared at him, then got to work on the stealth.

The ragdoll cat was very relieved.

On the other hand, there was no doubt that Inpos had already forgotten about Morax, who was trapped in the subspace.

Poor Morax, he had been searching in the subspace for a long time, but couldn’t find Aelioge and Beelzebub at all. He must have complained countless times in his heart, sometimes even angrily knocking away planets.

At this moment, Morax was shouting in the subspace, “Aelioge, Beelzebub, where are you two? Where have you wandered off to, have you already been eaten?”

“Hey! Answer me, will you!”

It seems Morax still has a long way to go, yet he doesn’t even know that the demons he’s searching for have already returned to the mortal realm.

In the subspace, a few fellow brethren were watching his movements, pondering what he was doing and why he was looking for Aelioge and Beelzebub.

“Morax is so strange, is he trying to get Aelioge and Beelzebub to return to the continent? But they’ve already gone back.”

“It’s all so mysterious, they must be hiding something.”

“That’s right, I also remember someone on the surface claiming to be the Lord of the Abyss, how can they impersonate our father like that?”

“Has Agares not woken up yet?”

“Seems not, I can’t contact the second brother at all.”

On the mortal continent, in broad daylight, a few stars twinkled.

Another commotion broke out in the magic tower of the Imperial City of Oedipus.

“In the name of the Goddess of Harmony, why has even the Abyss Lord Marbas come!”

The observing mage was almost on the verge of collapse.

“Have we been attracting the Abyss Lords to our imperial city lately? One after another?”

“Is it because the Lord of the Abyss has come?”

“Ah! Forget it, let’s just listen to the Prime Minister. They shouldn’t be here to cause trouble for the humans, let’s just pretend nothing happened, how about that?”

After much discussion, the conclusion was that there was no conclusion, and it was once again passed up to the higher-ups.

The higher-ups had no way to confront an Abyss Lord, and as for the imperial family… they didn’t even have the ability to start a conflict.

That young king lacked both the capability and the power, the old ministers would not submit to him.

The elder of the tower spoke bluntly, “Just get used to the Abyss Lords’ matters, don’t be overly alarmed. Moreover, Marbas doesn’t pose much risk, historical records show he often conflicts with other Abyss Lords, he doesn’t really care about humans. In the past eight thousand years, he’s had barely a handful of contract holders, he’ll probably just stay for a while and leave. Everyone should just carry on with their own business.”

The young magicians exchanged glances, not quite accustomed to this approach.

Meanwhile, Marbas stood atop the cathedral.

His figure was tall and handsome, his golden long hair flowing like bird feathers, his deep green eyes sweeping across the entire city, faintly emanating a terrifying cold light.

His appearance was so striking, beautiful like a painting, yet he brazenly revealed himself in broad daylight, greatly frightening the humans below, who didn’t know whether to run or not, and could only stare in shock.

There were a few elders who seemed unfazed, just continuing with their usual business as if nothing had happened.

After a long while, Marbas remained motionless, solemn and dignified, like a religious sculpture.

The people walking by were afraid, but seeing nothing was happening, they just passed by as usual.

Because it really seemed like nothing would happen…

A few minutes later, Marbas suddenly burst out laughing, with an angry tone, “Inpos, you dare to hide from me? I must drag you out!”

The identity of the Lord of the Abyss was specially designed by Agares for Father, it’s not something you can just play around with!

Marbas’ magic power erupted once again, not only covering the entire imperial city in space, but also infusing it with “control” and “domination”!

Inpos’ pressure increased exponentially, but his fighting spirit was also ignited.

So you want to confront me? I won’t lose!

Meanwhile, in the backroom of the bookstore.

Xiu Si seemed to sense something, glancing outside.

The sunshine was bright, the sky azure blue, but there was a faint clamor, as if something was causing a commotion.

“…?”

What’s happening outside?

Xiu Si thought for a moment, then turned back, his gaze falling on the children sleeping soundly on the bed.

Whatever was happening outside was not his concern, his current task was to take care of his own children.

“Come to think of it, Morax was quite lively before, how did he also become a heavy sleeper.”

Xiu Si picked up the red cat, casually modeling a cat brush, preparing to groom his children’s furs.

He had never raised cats before, but he had heard that brushing cats required some know-how, the density of the brushing and the elasticity of the bristles were all important. As the father of many kittens, he definitely needed a reliable cat brush.

The shape and design of the brush were crucial, if it couldn’t brush the hair properly or remove the entangled things in the fur, it would be a major deduction.

On the other hand, making the cats comfortable during brushing was also important.

Brushing is a kind of massage.

As a beginner in this area, Xiu Si had to pay extra attention. And he found that his children didn’t pay much attention to their fur, sleeping and rolling around, easily getting fluff stuck in it, making their fur look messy.

Short-haired cats were fine, but long-haired ones would be a bit… unconventional. Proper grooming was necessary.

Xiu Si spent half an hour carefully designing a brush that felt good, and first tried brushing the white cat.

The white cat had been sleeping quietly, and after a few minutes of brushing, started purring contentedly.

The brush design was a complete success! And the massaging effect was great too.

Xiu Si brushed the fur excitedly, even modeling a small pair of scissors, becoming the Tony the Groomer for his children.

Cutting fur was an extremely risky task, one wrong move could affect their looks.

But at least Xiu Si was a modeling master, so he picked it up quickly. After cutting, he even added some accessories to his children.

In a way, Buer’s habit of enjoying dressing up might have been inherited from him.

Xiu Si immersed himself in grooming his children, seeing the warm sunshine outside, he even modeled and duplicated a cat bed.

A long cat basket, with all the cubs nestled inside, letting them bask in the sun for some photosynthesis.

Sometimes Xiu Si also felt his family members were a bit too many, keeping him busy caring for them, but how could he not love the children he created himself?

Haha.

During this process, the two birds also woke up. They looked at the commotion outside, their beady eyes blinking, and even ran out to soak up the sunshine.

As for the little black bird, he had sensed Marbas’ movements, and was thinking, what a terrifying fellow, ranked fifth among the Abyss Lords, so he’s my fifth brother?

The little black bird suddenly felt a bit excited.

He had heard of Marbas before, but didn’t know much about him. Only recently did he learn that this fifth brother of his was truly extraordinary, super super rich, owning half the gold and silver mines on the continent, his private demon wealth could rival a country!

The little black bird was almost drooling. As the God of Darkness, he shouldn’t lack money, but money, who doesn’t want more of it!

The little black bird harbored a secret wish, if he could just secretly report to Marbas that Father is right here, maybe he could get some benefits? But as a consequence, if it was exposed, he would definitely be torn apart by the other siblings.

The little black bird fantasized about it for a while, then shook his head, no, wealth is precious, but his life is even more so!

The little white bird glanced at him, not paying attention, and ran to help his father arrange the cat bed.

He was only harsh towards the little black bird, otherwise obedient and gentle, around him, no one would be dissatisfied with the temperature.

It was also under Xiu Si’s influence that he gradually developed a caring nature towards all beings.

He would occasionally even take care of the little light orb next door, using his growing divine power to help the little one sleep well.

The infants of the gods are not much different from human infants, they all need good sleep and sufficient nutrition to grow up well.

The little white bird felt the little light orb had cried endlessly before because it was so unsettled. The poor thing was afraid of its own father, who was truly terrifying and completely incompetent at taking care of children, which scared the little one into constant crying for hundreds of years.

The divine nature of the gods from the other world is different from theirs, accustomed to the survival of the fittest in the subspace, most of them are filled with martial prowess, not knowing tenderness at all. More than half of them are prone to madness, not eating the child is already considered rational.

Although the little white bird had just been born not long ago, through the inherited knowledge of the divine essence, he knew a bit about the ways of the gods.

He felt the little light orb was his little sister, he must protect her well, especially not let that dark thing pollute her!

Throughout the afternoon, Xiu Si was busy caring for his children, until around 5 o’clock, when he finally had some free time, wondering if the children might want some milk?

Just then, the system notification sounded.

[Congratulations, you have earned 500 achievement points!]

Xiu Si was startled and immediately sat up, glancing to the right, his level had already reached 31!

The fastest leveling speed in his life!

Xiu Si couldn’t help but get excited, carefully looking over, finding that he had also unlocked a few new skills. They didn’t seem to be of much use, just some convenient modeling tools and upgrades to the calculation system, but at least he had more skills now.

He practiced a bit, then started writing some magic, wanting to try and make it to the Mage’s Association before 5:30.

The gray cat knew of Xiu Si’s plan, almost getting frightened. Marbas was out there, the risk of being discovered if he went out was very high!

However, the ragdoll cat felt it didn’t matter.

The most dangerous place is the safest place, Marbas would never expect them to brazenly go out and about!

The ragdoll cat was against interfering with Father’s daily activities, children who are willful every day are bad children!

The gray cat was a bit at a loss for words.

The sister’s ideas were always bold, even if in the end he would have to bear the consequences.

But regardless of their thoughts, Xiu Si had already prepared to go out.

Ah, Father, wait for us!

Around 5:40 pm, on a street in the imperial city.

“The imperial city has been quite lively lately.”

“So many things have happened in this period, it feels like ten years’ worth of major events have all been concentrated in these few days, don’t you feel like you’re witnessing history?”

“But is the first ranked human really in our empire? Has the Great Empire of Hammurabi caught up to the God of Ranking yet, I really want to know the result.”

“It can’t be that the ranking is wrong, right?”

Some guild members were chatting casually on the street.

Suddenly, one of them widened his eyes, turning his head urgently, chasing after the retreating back of a young man.