Chapter 27: City of the Dead – Narathair! [Seeking Punishment]
Countless corpses are buried underground in Thanatos.
Since the Abyss Lord Orcus took control of this plane, Thanatos has been undergoing constant transformation.
The time can be traced back to about three thousand years ago, when the early Orcus had not yet died and revived. In order to transform this plane into one with Negative Energy Characteristics, he resurrected a large number of undead and transformed many undead creatures. Subsequently, Orcus waged a war against the will of the Abyss itself. The source power of the Bottomless Abyss is demons, and for more than three thousand years in this world, the 113th layer of the Bottomless Abyss saw Thanatos continuously transforming demons with souls, which were then killed by the undead here. Countless demon corpses piled up underground, and species from other layers also perished here.
Death gave rise to the undead.
Under Orcus’s deliberate control, he completed the transformation of a certain layer of the Bottomless Abyss like a devil. With the accumulation of numerous corpses and the power of death, this layer gradually gained Negative Energy Characteristics.
Just like the Spirit World.
However!
The true power is not here. Orcus expended so much energy not just to transform the plane; he was also seeking the divine power of death.
His power also comes from this plane.
Or rather, from a more core place— the City of the Dead, Narathair!
There lies an enormous magic circle, constantly gathering the power of death, and Orcus extracts sufficient strength from within over the long years to contend with the gods.
From a mere Abyss Worm to the most powerful Demon Lord!
This requires more than just talent and luck; Orcus is clearly hiding something deep within the City of the Dead.
In the wilderness.
Over a million undead armies have been destroyed by Soren’s Demon Legion. These low-level undead cannot halt Soren’s advance, and he himself does not care about these things.
This is just the beginning.
Soren’s goal in transforming Thanatos is not just to erase the Negative Energy Characteristics here but also to prepare for the final destination of this region.
The legendary City of the Dead – Narathair.
There are some very difficult places to break through in the Bottomless Abyss, such as the Endless Maze, the Silver City of layers 45-47, and the City of the Dead ruled by Orcus.
The Silver City is the domain of the Six-fingered one.
This is a realm that runs through layers 45 to 47 of the Bottomless Abyss, now divided in half. After the demise of the Shadow Lord due to the revenge of the Goddess of Wealth, this tri-layer plane was inherited by his former lieutenant, Vein. The Shadow Lord had many offspring, but these demon children did not gain significant territory, with some under the control of an evil and powerful witch.
This witch had once summoned and enslaved the Shadow Lord but later entered the Bottomless Abyss due to his revenge.
Currently.
The three layers of territory in the Bottomless Abyss are divided among them.
Even after the death of the Shadow Lord, there are still numerous Balroth Demons stationed near the Silver City, a place that even the Succubus Queen and Spider Queen—Rose—found extremely difficult to conquer during their peak.
The same point applies here.
As the core territory controlled by Orcus, the City of the Dead—Narathair—may not be completely taken down even by Soren leading a massive Demon Legion.
…………………
The plane characteristics of Thanatos are becoming unstable.
Countless wandering souls are being attracted and transformed into worms by the Abyss Blood Pool. This time, the chaotic consciousness of the Bottomless Abyss is undoubtedly siding with Soren.
It instinctively extracts these souls while balancing the numbers of demons and undead in this plane, quickly turning many wandering souls into Abyss Worms, and swiftly giving birth to the first batch of demons.
This batch of demons hatches quickly.
Inside the demon’s body is a cavity that contains various genetic forms, including Coward Demons, Quasai Demons, Tempt Demons, Fire Demons, Furo Demons, Flame Demons, Balroth Demons, etc. Different wills and souls will extract different powers; the Tannalith Demons themselves are species born from human desires.
Batch after batch of Frenzied Combat Demons appear.
These demons directly devour souls, tearing apart their original bodies to emerge from the broken shells.
The wrathful will of the Bottomless Abyss affects the conversion of these demons, with other types of demons numbering less than one-fifth, while the number of Frenzied Combat Demons reaches around eighty percent.
Anger!
After being twisted for so long, the will that the Bottomless Abyss reflects on this layer is anger.
“Kneel!”
Soren’s figure rises into the air, endless flames manifesting around his body. He roars at the thousands of Frenzied Combat Demons being born before him: “You lowly worms!”
“I am Balroth Fire Demon Lord—Soren!”
“From today onward, I shall be your master! Now! Go and fight! Go and kill! Annihilate the undead here!”
“It was they who imprisoned your souls for countless years!”
Roar, roar, roar!
A series of roars resound.
The newly born demons possess little wisdom, but driven by anger and will, they are controlled by Soren and sent to the battlefield against the undead.
The entire plain has turned into a meat grinder.
Over one hundred thousand demons densely fill an area of one hundred kilometers, while over ten times that number of undead are gathering from all directions to resist the demon assault. Countless graves open, skeleton warriors crawl out, and numerous wandering corpse witches and skeletal knights gather to launch a charge against Soren’s Demon Legion.
This is an extremely brutal war of attrition!
But Soren can withstand this consumption because as long as the Abyss Blood Pool remains, his forces will continuously recover.
More and more souls will become demons, while the resurrectable undead will gradually decrease.
“Master.”
Just as Soren awaits the outcome of the first battle, a slender succubus maid emerges from the mist.
She is a demon favored by the Lord of Shadows, having successfully advanced to the assassin class and gained some abilities of a professionist. Due to her innate demon rank, her strength has greatly increased after advancing to assassin. Although she retains her succubus form, she has reached the legendary level and her body has shrunk due to her profession.
“I have already found the passage to the City of the Dead—Narathair!” The succubus assassin kneels on one knee.
She hands a marker stone to Soren and continues, “There are many powerful undead wandering there! I even saw a lich and a Blood Giant near an obelisk!”
“A terrible power of death shrouds that place.”
Soren’s figure lands. He reaches out to take the marker stone, a slight smile appearing on his face, then waves his hand and says, “Understood.”
“Let the Frenzied Combat Demons enter the battlefield.”
“Crush these undead! They are nothing but appetizers!”
As Soren’s words fall, thousands of eight-foot-tall, nearly 1000-pound Frenzied Combat Demons, possessing astonishing strength and physique and able to use ‘Blasphemous Phrase’ three times a day, join the battlefield. They are the main cannon fodder of the Demon Legion and the backbone force for the frontal assault against the demon army. Hundreds of Demon Spiders advance from behind the portal; these are monsters tamed under Soren’s command, and three squads of Six-armed Serpent Demons flank the sides. Although only several dozen of these Six-armed Serpent Demons are present, in actual combat, their effect is equivalent to thousands of troops, as any one Six-armed Serpent Demon can easily eliminate a thousand undead.
The real battle begins!
Finally, after confirming the coordinates of the City of the Dead, Soren dispatches his main army.
………………
(PS: Lately, I just want to read books and not write, having looked through many books and materials, I finally found the feeling for typing. Do you think it would be good for me to get a beating in this situation? Haha! Muah! I love you all!) (To be continued ~^~)
