Chapter 550: War of the Burning h.e.l.ls (1)
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Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The nephalem of Sanctuary never dreamed that the reversal of the war would come so quickly.
Not long ago, Inarius was still leading the army of h.e.l.l to wreak havoc on the ground. The various kingdoms were still in a perilous state, and ordinary people without power were still living precarious lives. The power of darkness was so immense that they couldn’t breathe.
However, just a day later, the situation suddenly changed. The creator of
Sanctuary, the mother of the nephalem, returned, eliminated the fallen Inarius on the battlefield, and defeated the sneak attack of the seven demon kings. Not only that, but Blood Queen Lilith then reached an agreement with the new King of Despair, Osiris, and became allies.
Both sides would form an army together to counterattack the Burning h.e.l.ls…
When they first heard this news, many nephalem thought that it was just bragging, that it was nonsense made up by some guy who was scared out of his mind by the demons. But not long after, the necromancers of the Priests of Rathma confirmed the authenticity of this rumor because they were the ones who had spread this news.
Furthermore, the kings of some ancient countries also stood up and confirmed the authenticity of this news to the people. After all, the nephalem army in Lilith’s hands came from these kings, so they naturally knew the situation of the war.
In addition, people gradually discovered that the h.e.l.l army wreaking havoc everywhere was indeed in chaos. These demons no longer had a clear target and could only wander aimlessly on the ground or hunt for food. After the mortal army started constantly reducing the territories the demons occupied, people truly believed that the war situation seemed to have changed.
The dark clouds in the sky seemed to have faded a lot on this day, and the sunlight seemed to be able to s.h.i.+ne on the ground again.
In the taverns where crowds gathered, people were excitedly discussing the news of the victory. Fortunately, Lilith, the mother of the nephalem, was on her children’s side. People praised Lilith’s name and also discussed everything about the mysterious King of Despair.
The first impression the nephalem had of Osiris, the King of Despair, was that he was the destroyer of the High Heavens. They knew that he had defeated the angels, but they had endless imaginations about why this powerful demon king joined forces with Lilith.
Some said that he was Lilith’s new lover. It was precisely because of the request of the First Mother that he had pa.s.sed through the barrier of the world and descended into this world. Others said that there was internal strife among the demons, and the seven demon kings were unwilling to find a territory for Osiris to settle down in the Burning h.e.l.ls. So in a fit of anger, Osiris turned against the seven demon kings and joined forces with Lilith.
Although there were various opinions, people had to admit that this good news had indeed dispelled the haze shrouding the nephalem’s hearts.
Gossip was a common problem for humans. Although they were chatting happily, when someone mentioned Lilith’s recruitment plan, many people fell silent.
The necromancers of the Priests of Rathma not only brought news of the reversal of the war, but they also brought news that Lilith wanted to form a nephalem army. In the name of their mother, she recruited warriors who had awakened their nephalem power everywhere and planned to lead the nephalem army to meet up with the army of the King of Despair to counterattack the Burning h.e.l.ls.
The nephalem warriors were naturally willing to attack the Burning h.e.l.ls, but attacking demons with another group of demons was beyond their imagination.
Putting aside the world’s disgust for demons, no one could be sure if this was a trap of the demons. Although the First Mother was on the side of the nephalem, what if she was deceived by the King of Despair? What if the seven demon kings and the King of Despair set up a scheme together?
What kind of place was the Burning h.e.l.ls? It was the headquarters of demons!
In this cruel land, there were tens of millions of demons. Once the King of Despair suddenly betrayed them, all the nephalem who entered would fall into a sea of demons, be surrounded, and face death!
Therefore, ordinary nephalem were full of doubts. Although they wanted to kill demons, they couldn’t make a decision to join the army…
Fortunately, as their mother, Lilith knew the inferior nature of humans from beginning to end, so she had never thought of recruiting many nephalem soldiers from the beginning. So after getting the Priests of Rathma to spread the news, she didn’t pay too much attention to it.
Her expectations for the army were actually placed on the necromancers of Rathma.
Because she had seen Inarius control the death divine spark in the River of Time, she didn’t use the power of the Priests of Rathma in the beginning and only got the necromancers to spread the news everywhere. After she completely killed Inarius and destroyed the death divine spark, the necromancers could finally come in handy.
During this month, necromancers appeared in various lands of death in Sanctuary. In these places where numerous corpses were buried, the necromancers used their death power to awaken countless corpses and began to form an astonis.h.i.+ng army of the dead!
If Inarius were still alive, then this undead army wouldn’t be able to play any role at all. But now that Inarius was dead, and there was no demon who could control death power in the Burning h.e.l.ls, this undead army became the best vanguard to counterattack the Burning h.e.l.ls.
There were not many necromancers in the Priests of Rathma, but when they finally gathered together, the number of undead soldiers they led exceeded a million. Among them were countless skeleton soldiers, skeleton archers, skeleton mages, and many giant corpse demons and blood puppets. When they gathered on the plains, the existence of this undead army even caused the weather to change. A powerful death aura permeated the air, causing the entire sky to become gloomy, and the mournful wails of souls could even be heard in the howling wind.
The moment Roy saw this army, he wondered if he had seen the Lich King’s army…
In addition to the undead army, Lilith also had an army of nearly fifty thousand nephalem. Most of these soldiers were nephalem warriors who had resurrected from her Blood Sea, and a small number were nephalem who had come from all over.
Although most people still had doubts, there were also many who were willing to believe Lilith. Among these nephalem who rushed to help, many of them were barbarians from the north, and they claimed to have obtained enlightenment from their ancestors. There were also nephalem warriors from the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, the mage clans, and the demon-hunting organizations. These nephalem warriors had a common characteristic—the nephalem power they had awakened was already very powerful.
There was a reason why these nephalem warriors put down their doubts and rushed to join the army. The tragic defeat of the heroes who a.s.sa.s.sinated Inarius had long been widely known. The warriors who had awakened powerful nephalem power in their bodies realized that as they became stronger and stronger, they might follow the same path as these heroes. So they placed their hopes on Lilith, the mother of the nephalem, hoping that their mother could solve their problem.
Lilith knew what her children were thinking, but she didn’t respond. Due to the special nature of the army she formed, she and Roy reached a consensus that both sides shouldn’t act together but attack separately.
Otherwise, it was difficult to guarantee that the nephalem wouldn’t have a conflict with the Abvss demons under Rov.
During this month, Roy had summoned more than a million demons from the Abyss. These soldiers would be led by several demon lords under him. Although his army wasn’t weak, there was a big problem. Because the Ouroboros Marks in their souls were not bound to the Burning h.e.l.ls, once they died in battle, their souls would be forced to return to the Abyss and wouldn’t be able to return for the time being. In other words, each death was one less soldier.
On the other hand, not only were there numerous demons from the Burning h.e.l.ls, but they would soon return from the h.e.l.lforge after their deaths. It could be said that they were endless.
Due to this, when Roy, Julia, and the others discussed tactics, they always thought that they had to advance quickly and try their best to attack together. They could not be dragged into a war of attrition and had to kill their way into the territories of the seven demon kings as soon as possible to execute the decapitation tactic.
Only then would they have a chance to win…
As for beheading them, Roy could only rely on himself to deal with the demon kings. Be it Julia, Benia, Berial, Madama Styx, or the others, they were only demon lords and not enough to fight the demon kings.
On the plains of the Dreadlands, Roy’s Abyss demon army converged with Lilith’s human and undead army. However, both sides did not gather and only looked at each other from afar. Before the armies of both sides became restless, Lilith and Roy jointly opened two portals to the Burning h.e.l.ls and got both armies to teleport in separately.
Roy had been to the Burning h.e.l.ls once, so he naturally knew the general terrain. When he entered with his army, he found that it was the Plains of Despair. In other words, the first person he had to face was Demon King Duriel and possibly his sister, Andariel…
The Burning h.e.l.ls were already prepared. In fact, when the news of Lilith and
Roy joining forces spread to the Burning h.e.l.ls, all the demons of the Burning h.e.l.ls shrank back. They even withdrew from the areas they had already occupied in Sanctuary just to prepare for this war.
Without needing Roy’s order, the Abyss demon army couldn’t wait to rush out after identifying the direction. Inferno Overlord Berial had had enough of the cold environment of the Frozen Sea. It was really difficult for him, a flame demon, to follow a frost demon king like Roy. So after entering the Burning h.e.l.ls and smelling the sulfur smell in the air again, Berial became excited.
His entire body was burning with raging flames, and his four hooves carried the weight of his enormous body as he ran on the ground. As the vanguard, he waved his flaming sword to kill the h.e.l.l demons blocking his way while spitting fireb.a.l.l.s and roaring violently, “Those who block me will die!!
Behind him was the tide-like Abyss demon army. This vanguard army cut a path through the densely-packed demons of h.e.l.l like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter, allowing the following troops to follow.
In the sky, Madama Styx was leading a large number of flying demons to seize air control. This black phoenix-tailed demon b.u.t.terfly danced in the air, scattering a countless amount of poisonous black phosphorus powder, causing the flying demons of the Burning h.e.l.ls to fall from the sky like dumplings.
Of the other two demon lords, one was Mictlantecuhtli, a bat-shaped demon with four wings, and the other was Hydra, a snake-shaped demon with seven heads. These two demon lords had never had a strong presence under Roy, but they were still loyal after submitting to him. Although they were slightly weaker than Berial and Madama Styx, they were still lord-level demons. Many h.e.l.l demons died in their hands when they attacked.
Roy, Julia, and Benia were riding on Rafaro’s back and flying in the sky, overlooking the war below.
There was no need to worry about identifying friend and foe because the demons in this world were vastly different from the demons of the Abyss.
Because demons had powerful adaptability, after staying in a certain world for a long time, they would often generate demon branches that formed their own system.
Not only that, but Roy noticed that Abyss demons were much more powerful than demons of the Burning h.e.l.ls at the same level. This might be due to the high-gravity environment of the Abyss. After coming to this low-gravity world, their muscle strength and body speed far exceeded their counterparts, and even their magic was stronger than that of the demons of the Burning h.e.l.ls.
Roy’s Abyss demon army broke into the center of the Plains of Despair with irresistible force. When they encountered powerful h.e.l.l demons, a few demon lords rushed forward and quickly killed them. The Abyss demons enjoyed the thrill of fighting and didn’t hesitate at all that the enemies were also demons.
At this moment, an immense tremor suddenly came from the ground of the Plain of Despair. The ground underfoot began to arch, and a group of hundreds of war behemoths suddenly emerged from underground. These war behemoths had astonis.h.i.+ng size and height. They all had four limbs and four arms, with bulging muscles all over their bodies. On their four giant arms, they were all wearing sharp spikes that were several meters long.
As soon as these ten-meter-tall war behemoths broke out of the ground, they caused heavy damage to the Abyss demon army. They trampled countless short demons to death, and their sharp blades raised a death storm in Roy’s army. The killed Abyss demons screamed as their souls broke out of their bodies and disappeared into spatial folds.
Hundreds of war behemoths formed a solid defense line and blocked the advance of the Abyss demon army. Berial and the other demon lords were also engaged in battle with the war behemoths. But due to their limited number, the number of war behemoths they could block was limited, causing the war behemoths to be unrestricted in Roy’s army.
“It’s our turn!” Benia called out to Julia excitedly when she saw this scene. The two of them spread their wings and jumped off Rafaro’s back.
Roy only had time to remind them, “Take care of Sareth!”
The two of them replied, “Okay.” Then they turned into two streams of light and rushed into the battlefield.
Roy smiled and shook his head as he looked at the center of the battlefield.
After these war behemoths appeared, Fat Tiger naturally had to appear. With Sareth on one of his heads, he rushed over from the battlefield behind. The t.i.tan h.e.l.lhound’s enormous body and weight caused the ground to shake. After encountering the first war behemoth, Fat Tiger roared and pounced forward. His huge canine teeth bit the opponent’s neck and actually overpowered this war behemoth.
With a loud bang, two colossi fell to the ground, crus.h.i.+ng countless unlucky little demons. Both sides seemed to be evenly matched, but this was not the case. The next second, Fat Tiger bit the neck of the war behemoth and began to swing it back and forth.
The war behemoth that was hundreds of tons was like a rag doll in Fat Tiger’s mouth, unable to resist at all…
Another war behemoth rushed up and wanted to help, but before it could approach, a figure flew up from Fat Tiger’s head. Sareth also took action. He directly transformed into his demon form and flew above the war behemoth’s head. He pressed Calamity against its head and began bombarding it. The high-energy magic power bullets had powerful penetrative power, and a few shots blasted a b.l.o.o.d.y pit in the war behemoth’s head, causing it to fall to the ground.
Sareth easily dealt with a high-rank war demon whose combat strength was close to the lord level. He had indeed grown a lot. Roy nodded in gratification when he saw this scene.
Looking at Julia and Benia, he found that the speed of their magic power improvement was astonis.h.i.+ng. The two of them turned into two streams of flames and shuttled back and forth among the war behemoths. Black h.e.l.l flames and dark golden destruction flames alternated and exploded, causing the war behemoths to scream and fall to the ground.
The two of them looked at ease. It seemed that they didn’t need to fuse to summon the angelic demon Junia to deal with the current battle situation.
Roy didn’t need to worry too much about the army. But this war behemoth army should be the guards of the Lord of Pain, Duriel. In fact, Roy had already sensed Duriel’s aura farther ahead.
However, what was interesting was that not only was there Duriel’s aura, but there was also the aura of the Maiden of Anguish, Andariel! The seven demon kings seemed unwilling to be defeated one by one. Although they didn’t appear together, at least Duriel and Andariel were together.
“That’s good. It saves me from looking for you one by one!” Roy grinned sinisterly and patted Rafaro’s head. At the same time, a pentagram magic formation appeared under his feet.
In the sky, the electronic eye on Rafaro’s forehead emitted a dazzling red light and locked onto Duriel and Andariel. After receiving Roy’s magic power infusion, powerful energy began to gather in his throat.
A moment later, he opened his huge mouth, and the powerful energy turned into a thick beam of light with a diameter of ten meters and shot out. This was an amplified Dark Lightning Cannon. Immense amounts of black lightning condensed into a dazzling pillar of light that smashed into the ground from the sky.
When the beam of light hit the ground, black lightning suddenly erupted and turned into a black lightning storm that enveloped a radius of several kilometers. Countless fine lightning bolts seemed to freeze and solidify in the air for a long time. Under the coverage of the lightning net, it was all a death zone!
Countless h.e.l.l demons in this area didn’t even have time to scream before turning into charcoal. Their souls couldn’t escape either and instantly disintegrated under the lightning of Dark Lightning. They didn’t even have time to flee back to the h.e.l.lforge.
Tens of thousands of demons died in the lightning storm, but two figures escaped in a sorry state. One of them was Duriel. His fat and clumsy insect-shaped body actually displayed unprecedented agility at this moment. The twelve pairs of insect legs under his stomach slid quickly and actually fled under the bombardment of the lightning.
The other figure was Andariel. This Maiden of Anguish didn’t have demon wings, and behind her back were four sharp bone insect legs. Although she couldn’t fly, she had the most agile body among the seven demon kings, allowing her to escape from the lightning.
“Osiris! You d.a.m.n idiot!” After coming out, Andariel cursed crazily at Roy in the sky. “I will make you repent for your betrayal in endless torture and anguis.h.!.+” Roy looked at Andariel coldly, unmoved, and even wanted to laugh.
This demoness seemed to be unable to see the situation clearly. Didn’t she know that she was the weakest of the seven demon kings? Roy could face the four Archangels alone in the High Heavens and even defeat them. This meant that his strength was comparable to Diablo’s strongest state when he gathered the power of the seven demon kings.. Where did Andariel get the courage to shout at Roy like this?