Chapter 685: The Corrupted Monarch

Months later, Donald’s avatar descended once again to the Hell dimension. After the previous failures and losses, the bloody battles between the Abyss and Hell had subsided to some extent. Yet in the buffer zone where Hell and the First Layer of the Abyss, the Plain of Endless Abysses, met, sporadic killings continued, unceased even though the higher-ups of both sides had deliberately called for a truce!

After all, gaining powerful strength by killing members of the opposing side and receiving rewards based on one’s own faction’s will was a rare opportunity for advancement for creatures of both the Abyss and Hell. Despite the extreme risks—of easily becoming someone else’s stepping stone—many demons and fiends couldn’t resist the temptation of this shortcut to power and chose to participate in the bloody battles.

Hell, being at a numerical disadvantage, still welcomed reinforcements from the Main World. Even after the peak period, thousands of adventurers from the Main World still ventured to the lower realms every month.

After arriving in Hell via a dimensional portal, Donald disappeared from the eyes of the demons guarding the portal and appeared in the newly built palace of Hell’s King, Astymos.

“Master! Astymos pays his respects to you!”

Upon seeing Donald’s arrival, the King of Hell also bowed humbly. Though his strength now seemingly surpassed that of his master, Donald, Astymos knew full well just how terrifying his master’s tactics could be. With his numerous hidden cards, even if he remained at the level of a lower god, he could easily kill Astymos.

Moreover, free from his own chaotic will, Astymos was no longer the ungrateful evil being he once was. Although his faction remained aligned with Lawful Evil, he was actually influenced by his master, and his principles had subtly taken on a neutral, orderly tone—though as the King of Hell, he still had to maintain his dignity on the surface.

“I’ve come this time to assign you a crucial task. As a deity, I’m too conspicuous in the Abyss. As for you, though you’re free from the Abyss’s constraints, you’re still considered a creature of the lower realms. So it’s you who will carry out this task. Even if discovered, it will only distract outsiders and prevent them from guessing my true intentions!”

Hearing this, Astymos immediately said, “Whatever task the master assigns, I will surely do my utmost to complete it!”

Donald smiled and nodded.

“It’s actually not some dangerous or difficult task; it just requires you to go to the Abyss to deliver a message!”
Astymos was stunned upon hearing this, and then he was shocked by Donald’s explanation of the whole situation through telepathy!
Although his master said this matter was significant, he hadn’t expected it to be this serious.
If they really succeeded in completing it, it wouldn’t just have a minor impact—it would truly bring about a drastic change in the structure of the multiverse!
Its consequences would even be more significant than the emergence of the Hell dimension or the division of Abyssal powers!
Filled with excitement, Astymos sent his soul projection to secretly attach itself to a demon, crossing the battlefield of bloodshed to infiltrate the Abyss.
The First Layer of the Abyss, the Plain of Endless Abysses, had no unified ruler, and due to its vastness, many outsiders who hid carefully could survive there.
Thus, Astymos’s projection, attached to the demon, easily crossed the spatial passage between the first layer and other dimensions, arriving at the Fourth Layer of the Abyss, the Great Abyss Realm.
Similar to the first layer, the Great Abyss, as one of the oldest existences in the Endless Abyss, also had no true unified ruler even after chaos took hold.
A small remaining group of ancient demons competed with the current demon rulers for control over the Great Abyss. Many Abyssal rulers wanted to get involved, but so far, the most successful one was undoubtedly Matthew, the Fallen Monarch, the most powerful Abyssal demon lord.
As an outsider—originally a true god from the heavens who fell to become a demon lord—Matthew managed to crush countless powerful Abyssal beings and achieve the great feat of becoming one of the three giants of the Abyss. This was undoubtedly a feat worthy of praise throughout the entire multiverse.
Even the gods knew very little about Matthew’s time as a true god in the heavens, as he wasn’t a god who was good at communicating; in fact, he was eerily low-key.
When Matthew was still a legendary powerhouse, few people in the main world knew of his existence. It was only when he suddenly triggered the rules and ignited the Divine Flame that he first came to the world’s attention.
It’s worth noting that Matthew succeeded in igniting the Divine Flame and becoming a god around the same time as Ivan, the Lord of Dawn.
The implications of this didn’t seem significant to the gods, but Donald, who knew more about the situation, immediately saw the connection!

After becoming a true god, due to the isolation of his divine realm and lack of contact with the outside world, few true gods were aware of Matthews’ situation; some even forgot entirely that such a true god existed in the Pantheon. It wasn’t until one day that an evil origin embodying the darkest laws of the multiverse appeared, revealing Matthews once again before the gods. Rumors spread that an evil origin had been acquired by a true god, who sought to harness its power to match that of higher gods—rumors that pointed to Matthews as that god. Encouraged by some true gods, the situation quickly escalated, with dozens of gods surrounding Matthews’ divine realm, demanding he come out and explain himself. Matthews knew explanations were useless, as the evil origin was indeed in his possession, but not for the purpose of gaining its power as rumored—instead, he intended to seal it forever. Yet under the pressure of the gods, and seeing that some of them had selfish motives to seize the evil origin for their own power, he couldn’t allow them to take away this dangerous entity, for he might be the most suitable true god in the entire multiverse to handle it properly! As a lower-tier god, Matthews naturally couldn’t resist dozens of true gods. Forced to act, he used the evil origin to grasp the power of descent. Faced with the wrath of all the gods, Matthews had no choice but to abandon his glory as a true god and fall into the endless abyss. Because a powerful true god willingly joined him, this attracted the attention of the Abyssal Will, which granted him far greater rewards than other demon lords, eventually elevating him to one of the three great powers! It is said that among the true gods who advocated surrounding Matthews’ divine realm, the most proactive was Ivan, the lower-tier god of Dawn. Thus, it wasn’t hard for Donald to figure out what role the Lord of Dawn played in this! Perhaps all of this was a trap set by Ivan.