Chapter 718: The Glorious Allied Forces

The demon lord who arrived at the site of the bloody battle was none other than the cunning secondary demon lord Baltzu—once he had fought alongside Zareel, the former lord of Hell’s first layer, Afnos, but betrayed Zareel in battle, forcing her to become a scapegoat so that he could escape back to the abyss.
Wriggling his massive body, Baltzu scornfully insulted Carlisle, a half-god who seemed insignificant in his eyes, with verbal attacks.
“Foolish half-god, daring to challenge the greatness of the mighty Baltzu! I’ll show you what true strength is…”
As he spoke, he spat out a series of words that sounded repulsive, which then condensed into an evil light in front of him and shot straight at the human half-god swordsman.
The language of the abyss, one of the most vile languages in the multiverse, inherently carried profane power. Any demon creature with sufficient strength could use such filthy words against their enemies to unleash chaotic, evil, and corrupt forces—what could be called sacrilegious speech—a quasi-magical ability capable of dealing severe damage to opponents from other factions, especially those of the good side, at the soul level.
As for Carlisle, despite facing a powerful lower-deity-level foe, he showed no fear. Instead, his fighting spirit surged as he activated his battlefield domain, using its powers of curse and hatred to counter the filthy soul-light from the sacrilegious speech. Then, with a swing of his divine artifact, the Blood Demon Sword, he slashed at demon lord Baltzu.
Although Carlisle was not part of the evil faction, years spent in the dark realms and the influence of his bloodline meant he certainly couldn’t be considered part of the good faction. He was more inclined toward neutrality with a hint of chaos. Thus, despite the great power of Baltzu’s sacrilegious speech, its effect on Carlisle was far less effective compared to when used against beings of the good faction.
Baltzu quickly realized his mistake from the nature of his opponent’s domain and immediately changed tactics. He stopped treating Carlisle as some celestial being full of morality or a native of the main world, and instead engaged in direct combat like he would with his own demon kin.
Once Baltzu’s tactics changed, Carlisle found himself in peril. Even with the power of his divine artifact, he could only barely withstand the relentless attacks of the powerful demon lord and avoid being instantly slain.

The burly Baltazu wielded a sub-legendary thrusting sword. His attacks were especially insidious and vicious, quickly leaving Carlisle with at least a dozen wounds of varying depths.

Yet the more dangerous the situation, the more it ignited the fighting spirit of this demi-god powerhouse, known as the Demon Sword. Over the past dozen minutes, every time Baltazu thought he was about to slay his opponent, he found that annoying human demi-god suddenly unleashing his potential like an indestructible insect, breaking through his limits time and again to avert fatal threats.

The infernal powers granted by the demons he had slain earlier served as the foundation for these repeated breakthroughs, allowing Carlisle to avoid exhausting his life force and perishing in such intense battles.

Thus, the battle presented a highly bizarre scene to those watching. The demon lord, who had held a clear advantage, looked frustrated and angry, while the human demi-god, forced to take hits with little ability to fight back, grew stronger with each setback, even letting out excited laughter during combat.

This situation made the King of Hell, who had been lurking in the shadows ready to intervene, breathe a sigh of relief. He also watched Carlisle with a mix of amusement and admiration.

This human demi-god had known him well since they were both mortal sword saints under Dalaran. Yet Carlisle’s strong will and determination today still earned Astimos’ respect.

Suddenly, Astimos looked up, his gaze fixed on the skies above the Lower Realms, his expression grave.

Not only him—every powerful being above the level of demi-god in the multiverse could see an unprecedentedly mighty radiant force descending from the heavens. It crossed the Inner Realms and rapidly spread toward the bottommost depths of the Lower Realms.

Like a flood or tsunami, the surging light illuminated most of the Lower Realms. Within the light lay powerful auras, as if a meteor shower had occurred under the scorching sun, creating a wave of brilliance that rushed toward the first layer of the Bottomless Abyss, Pazunia.

It turned out that dozens of true gods and demi-god-level warriors were leading the charge into the abyss, followed by millions of celestial beings. This wave of brilliance instantly covered the Plain of Ten Thousand Abysses at the center of Pazunia, and the demons there were immediately subjected to a brutal onslaught.

Faced with the invasion of dozens of powerful incarnations of true gods, along with millions of warriors from the righteous and kind faction, the secondary demon lords originally dwelling in the Abyssal Plains didn’t even dare to resist. They abandoned their territories and fled toward the cracks in the center of the plains, hoping to escape into the Great Abyss and thereby hide in deeper realms.

As representative figures residing in Pazunia, the established ancient demon lords led by Pazuzu, the lord of the lower sky realms, had long abandoned their territories and fled into the Great Abyss even before the Radiant Gods arrived in the lower realms.

Although these surviving ancient demon lords had seen their strength drop to its lowest point in history, their formidable power still gave them confidence. They could still fight against two or three true gods of their own rank, but facing true gods ten times their number along with the heavenly armies, forcing a direct confrontation would undoubtedly be suicide. Moreover, they already had tensions with the Abyssal Will, so there was no reason to risk their lives for its sake. Thus, they unanimously chose to retreat for now.

Seeing those ancient demon lords, who though weakened still retained the arrogance of ancient times, flee, the remaining secondary demon lords weren’t fools either. The strongest among them were only at the newly ascended godly level. Facing such a powerful force of true gods, staying there was tantamount to waiting for death. Those who moved slowly would be caught by powerful heavenly creatures and quickly become targets of the true gods, torn apart and killed.

By now, the murmurs in the Pantheon were so loud they threatened to topple this temple of gods that had existed since the birth of the multiverse. Everyone was bewildered and dissatisfied with this attack on the Abyss led by the three Radiant Gods.

Basically, none of the gods had been informed in advance, not even the powerful higher gods. It was clear that the Lord of Dawn and his two allies planned to launch the attack secretly.

Apart from the true gods engaged in battle, almost all gods eligible to reside in the Pantheon had sent their wills here.

“Your Excellencies, please be quiet!”
It was finally Orba, the God of Earth and one of the Four Elements Gods, a higher god, who spoke, bringing temporary silence to the Pantheon.

“I believe everyone has questions about the actions of those dozens of lords. But arguing now is futile. It’s better to focus on the battle below. Once those lords return, they will surely explain everything!”

As the leader of the four elemental gods, the Earth God Orba generally ignored the affairs of the Pantheon. Yet, his supreme status and formidable power were enough to earn the respect of most true gods. Meanwhile, one of the strongest figures in the Dark Realm, Prince Bansen, the King of Lies, agreed, saying, “Prince Orba is right. I believe Princes Ivan and Jerome will give everyone a satisfactory explanation!” His words were somewhat inflammatory, clearly shifting the focus onto the Three Radiant Gods led by the Lord of Dawn. It must be said that Bansen, the God of Intrigue, lived up to his name, stirring the gods against his old rivals, the Three Radiant Gods. However, it couldn’t be said that the God of Intrigue was wrong—after all, most of the dozens of true gods who went to battle belonged to the realm of justice, and only these three powerful true gods of justice could organize them. As the strongest among the Three Radiant Gods, the Lord of Dawn, Ivan, was undoubtedly the chief planner. As members of the pantheon, the gods of nature also sent their wills to the Pantheon. Though they had conflicts with the Lord of Dawn, the true gods of nature did not utter a word. At this moment, the gods noticed that the pantheon of nature had gained a ninth true god, but with the outbreak of the war against the Abyss, no one paid attention to this development. Conqueror Xize wanted to join the discussion and incite the gods to hold negative views toward the Three Radiant Gods, but he was stopped by Donald. “Why not take this opportunity to strike at our opponents?” In the Lost Great Temple of the Kingdom of Azeroth, the true form of the God of Kingship asked Donald, the leader of the pantheon. Donald shook his head and smiled, explaining, “No matter what we say, it’s impossible to have much impact on the Three Radiant Gods at this point. Everything depends on the outcome of this battle. If the gods lose, even if we say nothing, the calls for punishment in the Pantheon will not cease, and the reputation of the Three Radiant Gods will plummet. By then, we won’t need to say anything—enemies will surely turn against Prince Ivan. But if the gods win, then there’s no need to mention anything. Their reckless actions will instead be praised as wise and decisive. Our previous words will make the gods think that our pantheon of nature relies on underhanded tactics. So why go to the extra effort?” The members of the pantheon of nature present all nodded in agreement. Xize also admired Donald’s analysis, realizing that he had been blinded by short-term interests and failed to see the true situation.

The facts are as Donald analyzed: aside from the King of Lies making critical remarks, most of the higher gods remained silent, clearly believing that until the battle was over, any comments would not shake the foundation of the Three Glorious Gods. So they chose not to make those meaningless remarks.