Chapter 363: The Eighth Layer of the Abyss – The Barbaric Demon Realm

Since Donald and the others entered the abyss, aside from Amps, the original abyssal creature, the will of the abyss had been eroding their minds. However, thanks to the protection of the Book of Truth, as long as Donald did not allow his mind to be invaded by chaos and evil, and with their abundant divine power reserves, it would not be a problem to sustain themselves for two or three years.

But Carlisle could not withstand such influence for long, especially since the more killings he committed in the abyss, the greater the influence of the abyssal will on outsiders became.

To the abyssal creatures, this was the great abyssal will showing them favor, but for outsiders—especially those from kind or neutral factions—it was an erosion and harm at the soul level!

If it weren’t for Carlisle’s strong resistance due to his divine bloodline and fragments of divinity, he might have fallen into frenzied killing after just a few battles and been unable to stop himself. Although these divine fragments lacked the power of a complete divine domain, they still possessed some domain laws, enough to help them resist the abyssal erosion for a while.

Yet this resistance wasn’t lasting. Divine power and the power of the abyss were opposing forces; if one exposed their divine energy fluctuations, they would face severe suppression from the abyssal rules.

If they refrained from killing, the two of them might be able to coexist peacefully for months or even years. But in this place called the abyss, nothing was lacking except killing and battle. If you didn’t kill, endless demon creatures would bravely come after you!

Once caught in killing, it was easy for the abyssal will to exploit weaknesses and create mental gaps. In that case, it wouldn’t take weeks before they were invaded by chaos and evil, losing control of their minds!

Therefore, Donald and his companions were doomed not to stay in the abyss for too long. Given their goal of hunting abyssal creatures, two months would be the absolute limit—after that, they would have to return to the main world!

With that in mind, Donald decided not to delay any longer and to take the initiative as soon as possible.

Under the cover of Chikofield, a high-ranking lich serving as the frontline commander, Donald and his two companions avoided the troops near the Necropolis. They also dealt with any undead patrol teams they encountered along the way, using them to accumulate more soul power. Soon, the three of them arrived in the territory belonging to the Eighth Layer of the abyss—the Barbaric Demon Realm.

“This is the true abyssal realm! I haven’t felt such an aura in hundreds of years!”

Ampus, who had set foot on his homeland, was clearly filled with deep emotions—far beyond the evaluation of a bachelor’s degree. The Abyssal Demon Forgers were the most human-like among the intelligent beings of the main world; compared to other demons, they had overly complex emotions! This made them, despite their intelligence, mostly serve as army commanders or noble demons under powerful lords in the abyss, with few actually becoming great lords who ruled entire planes!

Upon entering the domain of the Barbaric Demon Plane, the surrounding environment and atmosphere changed significantly. Gone was the negative energy, coldness, and silence of the Bone Wasteland; instead, there was reddish soil with brown plants that were reddish in color and usually covered in thorns—no trace of green, giving them a grotesque appearance.

The air also carried a faint mixture of sulfur and putrid smell. Donald could sense that the concentration of fire elements had risen significantly.

Compared to Ampus’s comfort and adaptation, Donald and Carlisle, as humans, didn’t feel so well. Fortunately, neither of them was ordinary. With their dual identities as legendary warriors and divine beings, they could easily withstand this discomfort!

“This is still just the eighth layer of the upper abyss, not too far from the main world. Much deeper down are extreme environments dominated by volcanoes and magma. After all, demons are the dominant force in the abyss, and non-demonic planes like the Bone Wasteland are merely a minority!”

Ampus’s words failed to improve Donald and the others’ moods. On the contrary, it only made them more eager to destroy everything before them. But both knew of the power of the Abyssal Will, so they instinctively suppressed their impulses.

By the eighth layer, the number of demons increased significantly, no longer just sporadically seen as before.

During the dozen miles they traveled forward, Donald and his group encountered three groups of demons, each consisting of at least hundreds of low-level demons.

These were clearly border patrol teams under the Skull Shatterer, the King of Strength Demons, or, in other words, cannon fodder in battle.

As the lowest-ranking demons, these little demons had strength slightly greater than that of ordinary adults, immunity to low-level fire, and strong regenerative abilities. Their individual combat strength was roughly equivalent to that of a mid-tier black iron warrior, with the strongest among them possibly reaching the upper tier of black iron.

This strength was nothing compared to Donald and his companions. They easily wiped out all of them, collecting numerous corpses and core organs.

The only thing to worry about is the number of little demons. You should know that, aside from the demon insects, little demons are the most reproducing creatures in the Abyssal World. They don’t reproduce by giving birth but rather undergo metamorphic growth like insects until they reach maturity. Little demons are also the source of almost all demon creatures in the Abyssal World. Nearly all human-shaped low- to mid-tier demons and high-tier demons evolved from little demons. Under the cruel laws of the Abyssal World, if demons want to avoid being eliminated and becoming food for other creatures, they must fight hard, devour others, and evolve into higher forms. In the territory of a gold-tier demon lord, at least hundreds of little demons are born each month—these are those that survive after fierce battles and natural selection. If it’s newborn demon larvae, the number can reach tens of thousands. It’s easy to imagine how many legendary and gold-tier demon lords there are under a demi-god lord, and how many low-tier demons are produced by these lords every day. Of course, for them, the more of these easy-to-handle demons, the better! All of this knowledge came to Donald from the books stored in the Mage Guild of Giantstone City. Of course, much of it was also explained by Amps, a powerful native demi-god of the Abyss. After all, book records often contain inaccuracies or omissions, and with Amps’ corrections, Donald plans to write a book titled “A Catalog of the Geography and Biology of the Endless Abyss” after returning from the Abyss. This will allow him to document everything he’s learned about the Abyssal World, which will also be a great way to boost his own reputation and that of Dalaran! After eliminating more than a dozen demon patrol teams, Donald and his group encountered the same problem as in the Bone Wasteland—a fortress made of rubble blocked their path into the interior of the Barbarian Demon Realm. But this wasn’t really a problem at all. Their original plan was to destroy the frontline forces of the Barbarian Demon Realm, forcing the Cranium Shatterer Ahaz to launch an early attack so that the undead army on the other side wouldn’t take the opportunity to invade and erode more of his territory, weakening him further. So, the demons inside and outside this fortress were doomed. When Ahaz, the King of Force Demons in the magnificent castle at the center of the Barbarian Demon Realm, received reports from his demons that all his frontline forces stationed at the border with the Bone Realm had been destroyed, and even the fortress blocking the undead invasion had been razed, one can imagine how furious this eighth-layer Abyssal lord must have been!

“That wretched skeleton of Yesis, thrown into the volcanic lava, dares to oppress me like this…”
When the Bone Duke sent his undead forces to invade and probe, Ahaz, having important matters to attend to and unable to divert his attention, sent only a team of demons to resist. As a result, they were defeated by the undead army, which quickly occupied nearly one-twentieth of the Barbarian Demon Realm.
Actually, Ahaz wasn’t injured for some unknown reason. Having not fought against other demon lords for over a hundred years, he had no chance of getting hurt. Instead, he was secretly working toward further goals. If his plan succeeded, not even the Bone Duke could stop him—Layer 9 would soon belong to him!
Most high-ranking demons possess the strength of advanced professionals, while those with titles are blessed by the will of the Evil Abyss, granting them significant power boosts. Almost none of them are weaker than gold-tier master professionals.
Demons with legendary strength can perform beyond their usual level even within their own territories, but only demon lords with semi-divine strength possess a complete virtual divinity. Though what they create is merely the lowest form of semi-divine divinity, or simply their divine fire, it remains extremely valuable among beings below true gods!
This is why, although these lords above semi-divine status all have virtual divinities, since they’re not true divinities, their power plummets once they leave their territories.
To put it bluntly, virtual divinities are essentially imitations. Though their functions are similar to those of true gods, they only allow them to rule within their own territories and face severe restrictions in many other realms, such as the Main World.
This limits demon lords from leaving the Abyss to attack other realms. This awkward situation isn’t unique to Ahaz—all demon lords face the same issue. Only the three giants of the Abyss, with their ability to create duplicates, fare better, but even they are restricted due to not being true gods.
In contrast, those demon gods who fell into the Abyss have an advantage—after all, they are also true gods, possessing everything that true gods should have!

Compared to Abyssal Lords who only possess virtual divinity, true gods are entirely different. Although the gods cannot suddenly override the rules of the material world to enter and exit it at will, they face little restriction in other lower-tier planes or elemental planes, where they can move about as freely as in their own divine realms and exert their immense power as true gods. This is also the fundamental reason why, in past conflicts between demons and gods, no matter how powerful the Abyssal Lords were, they were always at a disadvantage. Even when a few managed to seize opportunities to attack the true gods’ realms and gain an edge, they were quickly pushed back.