After a good rest, I got back up and stretched my entire body. Surprisingly, it didn't take me long to regain my energy. Usually, when I'm like this, I sleep all day. I also didn't feel thirsty or hungry after successfully surviving my first time in this hellish realm.
I recalled the lore of The Mayhem, which states that hell here doesn't recognize time and that dimensions are limitless.
Perhaps this is why my metabolism has slowed down or even stopped, allowing me to almost neglect my basic needs. Also the lore mentions that the Hellraider's age is actually billions of years old because in this hell, his biological time has completely stopped. That's what was happening to me right now.
Looking at my interface slot again, I immediately said "binoculars."
After grabbing my binoculars, I walked to the edge of the hilltop. I began to survey the surrounding hellish landscape through them.
I could indeed see various terrifying monsters of various shapes and sizes, exactly like those in The Mayhem.
But I couldn't find the Hellraider yet. If there's a major riot somewhere, a Hellraider is likely the main culprit. But the monsters here are just wandering around. Is he no longer in my field of vision?
I forgot that these binoculars are military-grade, with magnification.
After setting them to maximum magnification, I returned to scanning the farthest part of the landscape. Suddenly, I saw something that caught my eye.
To the front and little bit eastward, there was a structure resembling a large palace, shimmering with bright fire.
It was the palace of a regional ruler ruled by one of the four powerful demons.
In this hellish realm, although its territory is limitless, it is divided into four regional rulers and one main ruler according to the lore of The Mayhem.
The first ruler is a demon named Zigurath. In the story, he is symbolized by one of humanity's great sins: gluttony. He has a large, lumpy body that requires support from a throne shaped like a flying saucer. I knew the palace there belonged to Zigurath, and I was most likely in his domain.
The second ruler is the demon Mareketh. He is symbolized by greed, taking the form of a large man dressed like a king. What makes him interesting is that almost all of his royal equipment and armor are made of gold and sparkling gemstones. Almost the entirety of his palace is made of gold and gemstones.
The third ruler is the demon Myslyn. She is symbolized by lust. She is depicted as a woman, with purple and pink skin, and a body shape that… if she were in human form, she would probably be a very famous adult movie star throughout my world. Her realm remains filled with violence, but is tempered by lust.
The fourth ruler is the demon Azkerath. He is symbolized by burning rage. He is depicted as a brutal, ruthless, and vengeful warrior of hell. His realm is the most expansive of all, but he sometimes interferes with the territories of other rulers.
In the lore of The Mayhem, hell's invasion of other dimensions is attributed to his actions. He only submits to the main ruler.
Finally, there is the demon, the main ruler of hell itself, named Ruciphar. In my opinion, this demon's character is the most unique. He doesn't have the strange and frightening body shape of most hell's inhabitants; instead, he appears like a normal human. Ruchipar has very pale skin, red eyes, golden-yellow hair, and pair of long-span black feathers wing. Compared to the other four demon lords, he doesn't have a permanent palace or throne, but rather represents himself as the sole gateway to hell.
In the original The Mayhem trilogy, Hellraider defeated Zigurath, Mareketh, and Myslyn and earned his title. While in Azkerath's domain, he was thrown into another dimension, which serves as the prologue story to the first modern version of The Mayhem.
I wonder if Hellraider defeated the ruler of that realm before he reached my world, or if he was already trapped in that red portal. Judging by the intact state of his palace, it seems Hellraider hasn't arrived yet, or if he's in another realm. I'm still guessing.
Then, if according to the game lore only Ruchipar determines whether an entity enters or exits the hell realm, why He even brought in the Hellraider, the source of terror in the realm of hell itself? And did he intentionally bring me here? Why did he do that to me? Again, I didn't know the answer at all. Maybe if I could survive until the end, I'd understand.
I'd already decided to head to the Zigurath demon palace. It was about 5 km from me. My instincts told me I could track the Hellraider there. Using my binoculars again, I determined which trail would offer the best chance of survival.
I kept observing the trail. I definitely wasn't taking the main road, as I could see many large monsters roaming there.
If I passed and climbed the rocky hills again? I saw the hell geckos again, and the dinosaur birds was flying above the hilltop. This wasn't good, because besides the bird monster, there were even more gecko monsters. I wasn't confident I could defeat the geckos with a single shot to its weakest point as luck would have it.
The last trail I saw was a very large and deep chasm, seemingly endless. The chasm was connected by numerous floating rocks, forming branching bridges. This seemed like the most viable route for two main reasons.
First, there were no monsters visible roaming the area. Second, since there were no monsters, I could continue along the rock bridge over the chasm for 3 km. If I managed to reach land again, I would be close to the Zigurath palace area.
One thing I had to consider was that the stone bridge was only about 1 meter wide, and I didn't know what other monsters might appear in the chasm at any time. If another flying monster appeared, I had two options.
First, I would run as fast as I could, but since flying creatures are usually faster than humans, I risked being caught.
Second, I could stop and shoot the monsters with my pistol. Yes, that would be possible if there were only one or two at most. If there were more than that, there would be the same risk of being caught again.
This pterosaur-like bird demon is about the size of an ostrich, but its wingspan can reach 4 meters, allowing it to fly low and very quickly, capturing its prey and then flying high. What else could it be for, if not as a meal?
I also remember a truly unique boss in The Mayhem, where players must complete several exclusive missions in the hellish realm that are considered hard to complete.
However, if successful, the Hellraider will eventually face a hidden boss named "Turgash," a massive, long, oriental-style hell dragon measuring approximately 200 meters long. In the lore, Turgash is said to be Ruciphar's first and main servant.
Turgash is a very deadly boss. In addition to breathing out devastating fire, he can summon massive meteor storms, numerous lightning bolts, create craters in the plains that will explode violently, and can speak, summoning other elite monsters to attack the Hellraider.
Its main weakness is its core, located near its head. But the Hellraider must take pains to fire at Turgash's chest to expose the core and he can deplete it's health points, which lasts only 5 seconds. Turgash is also known for having a large health point base.
In my multiple runs through The Mayhem, I only fought Turgash three times due to the difficulty of finding and defeating him. In my personal opinion, Turgash is the strongest boss in the entire series, and it would have been better if Turgash had been the final boss of The Mayhem.
Back to my plan. My biggest fear was that Turgash resided within that great chasm. If he awoke from his slumber because of my presence, he would surely surface and destroy the stone bridge, leaving me plunged into the endless abyss.
Why not just jump onto Turgash's body? The answer was that I would have instantly been burned to death, as Turgash's entire body was engulfed in blazing flames.
After much deliberation, I ultimately chose the path through the great chasm. I checked all my equipment and, to my surprise, found a compass in one of my pocket knee. Perhaps every special forces unit is equipped with one.
When I tried to navigate between the chasm and the castle, it worked. I wondered that since this hellish realm had no poles, the needle would just be spinning erratically.
I started down the hill on a different track and followed the narrow path through the rocky crevices, keeping an eye on the compass i held in my left hand and the pistol in my right one. After a long walk, and fortunately, no monsters intercepted me, I emerged from the gap in the hill and was about 300 meters from the edge of the great chasm.
I immediately ran on the path along the side of the wall to minimize exposure to other monsters.
But when I was halfway to the edge, I suddenly heard a howl. I reflexively looked to see several hellhounds on the rocks behind me. Damn, why did they appear so quickly?
I accelerated my ran to reach the chasm. The hellhounds also began to chase me. I glanced back occasionally and saw one approaching a few meters in my direction. I immediately turned around, walked reversed quickly, shot the hellhound, knocking it to the ground, and then turned to run again. As I ran, I reloaded my empty pistol and repeated the movement twice.
Finally, I reached the edge of the great chasm and jumped down onto the stone bridge. Luckily, it was only less a meter high, so my leg didn't hurt much.
After running a few meters, I turned around and saw four hellhounds remaining on the same path as me. I used this moment to easily shoot the rest, as they were directly in front of me. Two of the dead hellhounds had fallen into the chasm. Hopefully, they wouldn't wake Turgash.
After I'd finished off all the hellhounds chasing me, I took a moment to catch my breath.
After relaxing a bit, I turned around and finally saw a vast expanse of chasm with interconnected rock bridges.
I began my journey through this area.