Chapter 646: Recruiting Troops
In terms of strength alone, the tens of thousands of demons fighting in Hell were no match for this army of hundreds of thousands of demons. Yet their advantage lay in their ability to work together like a regular army, unlike the chaotic demons who fought independently, which greatly enhanced their combat effectiveness.
Just as killing in the Abyss granted the power of the Abyssal Will, fighting for Hell also brought rewards from that realm. Any demon that killed an invading demon felt a surge of power flowing into its body, and many lower-ranked demons advanced after defeating just one or two enemies.
As their levels and strength increased, these demons killed more and more demons, gaining even greater power to kill yet more. Although a significant number of demons were sacrificed, it was a virtuous cycle.
Especially, the corpses and souls of demons that died at the edge of Hell were absorbed by the Hellish realm, strengthening it while giving rise to new demons within it—a much faster process than creating new Hellish creatures from fallen sinful souls from higher realms!
By the time the first batch of hundreds of thousands of demons was nearly exhausted, the number of demons on the side of the Devils had dropped to under five thousand. Even the weakest among them were at the peak of the Silver rank. Two new demi-gods emerged among the legends—those two young Abyssal Demon Forgers, now perhaps better called Deep Hell Demon Forgers.
At the same time, over a dozen Golden Demons advanced to become Legendary Great Demons, with thousands reaching the Golden rank. The original demi-god warriors, though not advancing, also saw a significant boost in strength.
Most importantly, after this bloody battle, these demons would become the elite force of the Multiverse.
Seeing that the first batch of about a hundred thousand demons hadn’t achieved the desired effect, the Abyssal Will was highly dissatisfied and immediately urged the lords of the lower realms to send more troops.
The demonic army gradually gathered in the gap between Hell and the Abyss.
The Devils watched the movements of the demons but showed no fear. From previous battles, they knew that only by fighting to the death could they survive, and those who survived might reach even greater strength.
With no way back, these Devils had no choice but to fight desperately.
Moreover, as the original demons born of Hell, their loyalty to Hell was unshakable, which further empowered them with courage.
The second wave of demons preparing to attack was gathering. Even with the Demon Lord’s coordination, it would take some time to mobilize tens of thousands of demons to the first layer. By then, the Lord of Hell, Astimos, had completed the final steps of his divinization, successfully igniting the divine fire and becoming an immortal demigod. Although, like the Demon Lords, he was essentially immortal as long as he wasn’t killed or chose to die himself, he wasn’t truly immortal like a deity. If a Demon Lord lost the virtual divinity granted by the Abyss and didn’t possess divinity himself, his lifespan would only be around a few thousand to ten thousand years—long, but not endless. Thus, becoming a deity was undoubtedly good news that would bring great joy to demons. The same applied to the Hell Demons, who were similar to but distinct from Abyssal Demons. Demigod demons and demons were merely at the demigod level in terms of power; they were not deities, and this distinction must be made. After becoming demigods, thanks to the favor of the Cosmic Will toward the Hell dimension and the loyalty of this newly born race, Astimos immediately gained dominion over the realms and races of Hell and Demons, controlling aspects such as evil, fire, and strength. Although he still only had the strength of a newly risen god in terms of divinity, the powers of a Lord of Hell and a true god could coexist and merge, representing a tremendous improvement. Now, in addition to being the lord of the Hell dimension, Astimos could truly be called the Lord of Demons and the King of Hell! “Congratulations! Even if you can’t save Hell this time, these gains are worth it. At least now that you’re a deity, your path will be broader!” Hearing his master’s congratulations, Astimos humbly replied, “This is all thanks to my master’s guidance. I will work harder to move forward. I hope to become a help to my master in the future!” With that, Astimos sensed the entire situation in Hell, instantly understanding what had happened, then went deep into Hell to see the newly born little demons. Similar to the little demons, these were also small, humanoid creatures with tiny horns on their heads and a pair of small, bat-like wings on their backs that couldn’t be used for flight but only for short-distance gliding, resembling a younger version of the Deep Hell Fiends.
In fact, unlike abyssal demons, most minor demons evolve toward a humanoid form, with the most powerful race clearly being the Abyssal Alchemists, who evolved from abyssal demons. Yet even among tens of thousands of minor demons, perhaps only one can eventually evolve into an Abyssal Alchemist. “Hell grows too slowly. If battles like the one just now could happen from time to time, it would greatly accelerate the expansion of this plane and increase the number of demons!” Hearing Astimoth’s lament, Donald shook his head and said, “Such intense wars had better be spaced out. Otherwise, with Hell’s current state, it will soon be overwhelmed by demons from the Abyss. Just the first layer of the Abyss likely contains millions of various demons. If even half of them are deployed, Hell won’t be able to withstand it! I doubt the Will of the Abyss would be kind enough to give you a breather. We must do something to buy time for Hell’s development!” As he spoke, Donald watched thoughtfully as Hell’s plane slowly expanded by absorbing the demons that had been killed and the corpses of fallen demons. “I’ve got it!” Thinking of the benefits those demons gained on the battlefield, Donald came up with an idea and said to Astimoth, “I’ve thought of a way to temporarily address your shortage of troops, but it requires you, the Lord of Hell, to open a spatial passage!” As a newly born plane, Hell was parallel and adjacent to the Abyss but had no connection to any other planes. Its spatial realm was also currently closed off. Yet as the King of Hell, Astimoth could still arrange such things manually. Acting on his thought, Donald didn’t stay in Hell any longer. He immediately activated the Gate of Indefiniteness and vanished from Hell, teleporting back to the Nodahil Plane. Since this was his own plane, it didn’t have the same strict restrictions on the incarnations of true gods as the main world. After returning to the World Tree Plane, Donald’s incarnation immediately established synchronization with his true self, then sent a saintly avatar to the main world, to the location of the Fallen Towerin in the Southwest Chaos Lands. Ever since Fallen Towerin set up magical teleportation gates connecting to various places in Dalaran, the situation here had changed greatly. Even as the stronghold of the dark faction and the lair of evil beings in the main world, merchants would flock here if there were sufficient resources to be gained.
In the past, to sell the products and loot from the Decadent Tarin region, one could only rely on merchant guilds from other places to handle it secretly. Along the way, those vampire-like merchants exploited as much profit as possible, so even the three major forces like the Shadow Demon City eventually had to secretly support some merchants to avoid ending up with nothing.
Things are different now. With the existence of teleportation points, it’s easy to reach Decadent Tarin from various parts of the world, including the New Continent. There’s no need to worry about being robbed or even killed—just complete the transaction carefully and leave through the teleportation portal.
This has encouraged many bold merchants to take the risk and come here to make a fortune.
The three true rulers of Decadent Tarin have issued strict orders: anyone who dares to trouble merchants from other places and cause them to stop coming will be causing trouble for these three major forces.
So far, after some time of trade, few merchants have encountered accidents; at most, they’ve been deceived during transactions.
Thanks to the teleportation points, Decadent Tarin’s economic strength has greatly increased. It is naturally very grateful to Dalaran, the most famous force in the main world. Some residents of Decadent Tarin have even changed their appearance and gone to Dalaran to register as full members of an adventurer guild.
When Donald’s avatar appeared unhidden in Decadent Tarin, it immediately caught the attention of the powerful figures from the three major forces. The Shadow Demon City, Rosenberg, and the Thieves’ Guild all sent their strongest members to investigate.
Donald didn’t keep things mysterious and went straight to the leaders of the three major forces, presenting his plan.
Those who met with Donald were Shaka, one of the three demi-god city lords of the Shadow Demon City and a priestess of the Night, as well as an old acquaintance—Hawking, the Elected One of the King of Lies—and the Elder of the Thieves’ Guild.
“Does Prince Donald mean to build a teleportation array to Hell in our Decadent Tarin and recruit people to fight in the war against the Abyss?” asked Shaka, the priestess of the Night, who appeared to be just a teenager, showing some interest after hearing Donald’s explanation.
“Not bad! Although my plan to weaken the Abyss by dividing it succeeded, the Abyss doesn’t want to let go of Hell, which is a thorn in its side, so it’s sending demons to attack the Hell dimension. Once Hell is occupied by the Abyss, the only option left for me and Prince Astimos will be to destroy Hell—something I don’t want to see. Besides, causing more trouble for the Abyss, I believe the princes behind you would be very happy about that as well!”
Hawking agreed, saying, “That’s true. The Abyss has been too arrogant for too long; it deserves to be taught a lesson!”