Chapter 649: reinforcements from Hell
After the first battle of expendable soldiers, the human forces lost another five hundred men. The remaining 1,500 were mostly seasoned veterans, with even the weakest among them at the Bronze rank. Although no legends emerged, several Silver-ranked warriors broke through their limits and advanced to the Gold rank.
The demons, having witnessed the strengths of the human forces, could not help but admire the plans of the King of Hell. Humans were indeed one of the races with the greatest potential in the multiverse. If they could continue to receive a steady stream of human reinforcements, not only could they resist the attacks of the Abyss, but they might even launch a counterattack and invade it.
After withstanding the first wave of attacks from the Abyssal demons, the battle took a break. At this time, the King of Hell, Astimos, gave his demons an order that surprised them. The king ordered them to gather humans who wished to return to the main world and teleport them there.
Most of those who came to fight in Hell were driven by hardship, seeking a way out for themselves. Initially afraid that these demon-like beings would not let them go, they were now overjoyed at the news and quickly lined up to be teleported back to their home world.
The few who chose to stay and continue fighting were those who hoped to gain strength by slaying demons. They had the heart of warriors, unlike ordinary people who dared not fight further after gaining only a slight advantage over normal humans. Of course, the choice ultimately rested with them.
When thousands of such ordinary people returned to Fallen Tarrin, news spread quickly throughout the Land of Chaos that a mere ordinary person had become a powerful warrior. This immediately caused great excitement and envy among everyone.
After testing these people, the powerful figures of the three major factions confirmed that such strength gains posed no hidden dangers to the human body. The only side effect was that a few might switch sides. Even they became quite interested in this method of advancement. After all, they didn’t care whether their subordinates belonged to the evil faction—as long as it didn’t conflict with their own faction, it was acceptable.
So, that very day, elite squads from the three major factions and other smaller forces began experimenting with this method. The number of ordinary people from the evil faction soared to tens of thousands, and their strength far surpassed that of the first batch, most of whom were unarmed ordinary people.
But this time, Astymos wasn’t so easy to let these mortals return—last time it was merely a tactic to attract humans to join. With tens of thousands of reinforcements, the Hell faction, though facing difficulties, ultimately managed to withstand the attack of a second wave of demons numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Due to the demons’ long lifespans, their concept of time differs greatly from that of humans in the main world; a war can often last months or even years. Thus, the second wave of demons stayed in Hell for months before being able to return to the main world to rest. As the demons grew stronger over time, even though the human fighters were elite warriors, they still suffered heavy losses in the fierce battles. Most of the mortals driven by power perished. The elite squads sent by smaller factions lost more than two-thirds of their members, while only the three strongest factions suffered the least losses—only one-third—thanks to their superior strength and experience. Most of their members held out to the end and made significant progress in terms of power levels. Despite such heavy losses, the war yielded six legendary warriors and hundreds of gold-level strongmen, with the rest all being at least silver-level. In just a few months, they acquired gold-level strongmen who might not have been cultivated even over a hundred years. This shocked the leaders of all factions in Fallen Thalindor, who immediately decided to send more troops to fight against the invasion from the Abyss. Donald was also tempted and delivered an oracle to his elector Clinton, summoning some of Dalaran’s elite forces to join as well. Of course, to ensure the safety of these troops, Donald provided them with comprehensive protection, including all kinds of equipment, items, and potions. Additionally, the powerful demons under Astymos took care of them, greatly increasing their survival rates. Donald also personally crafted a batch of Sacred Emblems for the Natural Guardians, allowing these territorial warriors to wear them. These emblems, imbued with weak domain powers, could significantly prevent the influence of evil wills and stop factions from switching sides. Moreover, if a wearer died suddenly, the emblem’s power could preserve their soul and transport it to the realm of Azeroth, rather than letting it be devoured by demons like others. With Fallen Thalindor and Dalaran providing strong combat forces, the Hell dimension grew significantly, and the surviving warriors became formidable figures capable of intimidating others.
In today’s Hell faction, there are thirteen demigods and hundreds of legendary warriors, with countless gold and silver beings as well. Among the thirteen demigods, eight are demon demigods, while the remaining five are human legendary warriors who have successfully reached the level of Ignited Divine Fire. With the help of the King of Hell, Astymos, these human demigods underwent a process of law transformation and officially became immortal demigods. The emergence of these demigods allowed the three major forces of Fallen Talin to truly recognize Hell’s potential. These five were all established legendary warriors who lacked the potential to become demigods, yet they achieved demigod status faster than those with such potential, even drawing the attention of the true gods behind the three major forces. If the previous shift of the Hell realm’s faction away from the Abyss and the birth of demons shook the entire multiverse, then the battle between Hell and the Abyss showed the gods tangible benefits. However, compared to the semi-open nature of the Abyss, Hell is more closed off. Apart from some creatures that are sent there, it is difficult for outsiders to obtain the coordinates of Hell’s realm. To profit from the bloody conflict between Hell and the Abyss, one must use the teleportation arrays of Fallen Talin. As a result, many interested factions have been contacting the three major forces of Fallen Talin, aiming to use their teleportation arrays to enter Hell. It was only through these contacts that they learned that this was also the work of that Natural Guardian. Donald naturally had no objections to the actions of these outsiders in Hell’s faction; anyone who wished to join the battle was welcome. Of course, he also made clear the restrictions on acquiring power to all participants, as there were allies and close forces among them who needed to be prepared in advance. Otherwise, most of those from neutral or good-aligned factions would be corrupted by Hell’s evil will and change sides, which would be harmful rather than beneficial for them!