Chapter 364: The Demon Aspiring to Become a God!
Having been a demi-god abyssal lord for nearly a thousand years, Skullcrusher Ahaz may appear to be more muscle than brain, but in reality, he is a cunning demon with a sharp mind beneath his rough exterior. Otherwise, how could he, originating from the relatively lowly race of Force Demons, rise to such a position step by step and successfully scheme to “get rid of” Amps, the former lord of the eighth layer, to become the new master of the Barbarian Demon Realm!
In this abyssal world where strength reigns supreme, few lowly demons can reach the rank of demon lord—what a difficult path that must be!
As a demi-god lord, Ahaz’s strength is only considered mid-tier in the abyss, so his guise as the King of Force Demons has brought him many advantages. At least he won’t be seen as a future threat by those cunning and powerful lords and eliminated!
In Ahaz’s view, staying low-key and amassing wealth is the best strategy!
Ahaz knows that even if he were to conquer the Bone Wasteland of the ninth layer, which has been under the control of his long-time rival, the Bone Duke, it would still take thousands or even tens of thousands of years for him to reach the strength and status of the three giants. Thus, he must find other ways to enhance his power, and that’s when he thought of becoming a god!
Apart from those true gods who fell into the abyss, there are precedents for demons becoming gods. For example, the being who holds both the title of lord of the 422nd layer and the god of werewolves, as well as Jubilex, the archenemy of the Lady of Fungi—the monarch of slimes and the god of sludge in the Dark Regions—both share many similarities!
Although these two abyssal deities are not of the highest rank, their divine status gives them far greater power than ordinary abyssal lords, and they also receive more favor and recognition from the will of the abyss!
Most importantly, with divine status, they gain the ability to solidify physical forms. Compared to those abyssal demon lords who can only use fragile soul projections to carry out tasks, these true gods among demons can act with far greater ease!
That’s why Ahaz adopted the title of King of Force Demons—to those few wise ones, it’s clearly a preparation for becoming a god!
Only by becoming a true god can his power be free from so much suppression, allowing him to fully utilize his schemes. Even gaining a foothold in the main world would no longer be a dream!
By then, he would have countless sources of souls, and reaching the level of the three abyssal giants wouldn’t be impossible!
It can be said that almost any demon lord with normal intelligence would have the desire to become a god. Moreover, the more powerful the abyssal lord, the more they long to acquire the power of a true god. Since they possess infinite power only in the abyssal world, the stronger their virtual divine powers, the greater the restrictions they face once they leave the abyss. Accustomed to the supreme vanity of being like supreme gods in their own domain, they end up as second-rate enforcers once outside—this feeling is utterly unbearable for those abyssal lords. However, due to the mutual restraint between abyssal power and divine power, the difficulty for demons to ignite the divine fire and become gods often increases proportionally with their status and strength. For powerful abyssal rulers with virtual divine powers on the level of true gods, it is quite easy to ignite the divine fire using their own strength; they can do so at any time if they wish. But the problem lies in transforming that power into divine energy. After all, abyssal power and divine power essentially resist each other, with neither able to overpower the other. To become true gods, these powerful demon rulers must transform their own power into divine energy. If it were just these difficulties, it wouldn’t be a big deal—after all, each of those demon lords has lived for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, sometimes even longer than ancient true gods. Such a simple transformation shouldn’t be too hard for them. What truly poses a challenge is the danger from the outside world. In the chaotic lower realms of the endless abyss, demons devouring and fighting each other is as common as eating and drinking. Not to mention the lower-level demons—which powerful demon above intermediate level doesn’t have several enemies? Let alone those lords who stand above ordinary high-level demons; even neutral true gods have unavoidable enemies, let alone those demons who act recklessly without any limits. During the process of transforming their power into divine energy, the strength of the demon lords temporarily drops significantly. If their archenemies learn of this during that time and launch an attack from outside, things could get very troublesome. Not only might they lose hope of becoming gods, but they might even lose their original territories and power, completely serving their enemies.
Such situations have not been unheard of, so most demon lords aiming to achieve divinity give up after realizing the risks, unless it’s an extremely rare opportunity that guarantees their absolute safety; otherwise, they wouldn’t take such a great risk to try to become gods. Once a demon lord enters a period of declining power, even their most loyal subordinates may turn against them, let alone their enemies. After all, demons are creatures from the lower realms with no moral constraints, representing chaos and evil in the multiverse! Therefore, whether a powerful demon lord can achieve divinity actually depends on their luck and character. Figures like the Faceless King Jubilex and the God of Slime Gannard—these giant, intellectually limited molluscan beings managed to achieve divinity purely by sheer luck, sitting at home and succeeding. Their good fortune is enough to drive those abyssal lords desperate to become gods to despair! Ahaz, the Skull Shatterer, is different from those established, powerful demon lords. Though he rules over the entire Eighth Layer of the Barbaric Demon Realm, his true strength hasn’t reached that of a true god—he’s merely a demi-god who has ignited a divine flame. Although he can exhibit the combat power of a newly ascended god within his domain, it’s due to the virtual divine power granted by the Abyssal Will. Such illusory power will eventually vanish; only what is firmly in one’s own control cannot be taken away by others! At his current level, igniting a divine flame is still quite difficult, so Ahaz has been preparing for centuries, spreading the reputation of the King of Force Magic in order to gather enough mental faith power to assist in igniting the flame. A few years ago, after quietly igniting the flame, he never left his palace again, focusing entirely on mastering the abilities of a true god! After several years of transformation, with just a quarter of his demonic power remaining to be converted into divine power, he will soon obtain a divine status. Then, with the favor of the Abyss, he can swiftly turn the Eighth Layer into his own divine kingdom! Moreover, since the Abyss itself is part of the outer realms, there’s no need for those who achieve divinity in the material world to elevate their kingdoms to the outer realms, avoiding the challenge of realm backlash! A few years ago, during the critical moment of igniting the flame, Ahaz ignored the provocations of the Bone Duke. After all, losing some territory is nothing—once he succeeds in becoming a god, he can quickly regain it. Even the Ninth Layer’s Bone Wasteland will change owners and name!
“I never expected that Yesis would show no reaction upon seeing me and think I was weak and easy to exploit!”
This time, the Bone Duke’s overreaching actions made Ahaz, who could now be called the God of Strength Magic, unable to ignore it any longer.
Because if more than half of the Barbarian Demon Realm fell into the other party’s hands, it would lose the favor of the Abyss and the support of its virtual divinity. Even if it became a true god, it would be rootless, and it would take a long time before it could establish its own divine kingdom.
A true god without the protection of a divine kingdom was a huge piece of meat in the eyes of many Abyssal Lords, and everyone wanted a share. By then, it would be hunted by everyone and forced to live in hiding!
It might even perish at the hands of other demons before it could enjoy much of the glory and benefits of being a true god!
Therefore, even though he was in the process of transforming his power, Ahaz had no choice but to act. Even if it meant sacrificing a quarter of his untransformed power, he had to protect his existing territory!
So, the King of Strength Magic immediately mobilized his army of demons and headed toward the border!
Unaware of the tremendous changes that had already taken place in the Barbarian Demon Realm, which added some variables to their plans, Donald and the others returned to Chicofield’s castle to wait for news after eliminating the demon vanguard in that realm without leaving any trace of themselves!
As the supreme commander of the nearby undead army, it was easy for the High Lich to arrange for a few people to hide in his castle!
The trap was already set. Once the enraged Ahaz arrived, the Bone Duke would have to come, whether he wanted to or not. Otherwise, it wouldn’t just be a loss of some subordinates, but he might also risk losing large areas of land to his old rival, weakening his own power!
So, these few days were a rare time of leisure for Donald and the others. Among the three, Donald led the most fulfilling life—either discussing knowledge such as magic, spell formations, and alchemy principles with the former archmage Chicofield or exploring the essence of this mage tower-like magical structure in his castle.
Of course, Donald had also withdrawn some of the reward promised by the High Lich in advance. He obtained many rare materials from the castle’s treasure vault, including several lower-tier divine artifacts that could be used to craft divine weapons, which was quite a pleasant surprise!
In the Main World, aside from the extreme environments in the Dark Regions, only in the treasure vaults of the First Family of Dark Elves was a divine-grade material discovered. At other times, not to mention divine artifacts, even higher-quality rare materials were scarce. Even with Archmage Messel’s vast experience, he hadn’t accumulated a single divine artifact over the years!
A plane only produces numerous divine artifacts during its early stages; once the plane’s rules mature, its divine resources gradually become as scarce as those in the Main World.
Donald’s divine materials mostly came from the Totem Continent plane, which shows just how depleted the divine resources on the Main World have become after countless years of plunder by the gods and the consumption by the great archmage lords in building cities in the sky! Now, even some divinely infused materials are hard to find.
Any divine-grade equipment above the level of a secondary divine artifact must be crafted using either innate divine artifacts or high-grade materials infused with divinity. This is the fundamental reason why secondary divine artifacts are extremely rare in the Main World!
Even the true gods have to find ways to go to other planes, or even dangerous void realms, to search for materials in order to obtain a secondary divine artifact!
The realms are full of dangers. Although it’s not life-or-death for true gods, there’s still a high chance they might perish there! So, generally, true gods send their avatars to explore these realms. If an avatar perishes, it merely results in a loss of some of the true god’s power!
As long as the damage isn’t severe, it can be restored over ten or eight years.