Chapter 50 - The Lord Appears and the Allied Army is Annihilated

While Lu Hong and the others made their return, the Eight Tribes Alliance finally managed to break the seal on Hell’s breach.

“Everyone,” the Army Marshal began, then fell silent.

It took a long while before he continued, “Dispatch three thousand vanguard troops to scout Hell’s breach, and accompany them with a Spatial Archmage to establish coordinates for Hell.”

“Understood!”

“Father, why don’t we just enter Hell directly?” the General at the Marshal’s side asked his father with a puzzled look.

“Demon Lords, Demon Lords.” The Marshal spoke of his concerns.

The seal on Hell’s breach was bolstered by the force of a Demon Lord, which clearly indicated that the Demon Lords had taken notice of the events transpiring in this lower realm.

Demon Lords were at the level of Heavenly Gods.

Even though they would be somewhat suppressed in a lower realm like Hell, they could still ultimately descend in their true forms.

Once such a force stood before these allied forces, rest assured, there would be absolutely no hope of escape, unlike the previous encounter with Lando.

“Father, you’re being overly cautious.

The Demon Lords probably won’t take action against us; after all, they are Heavenly Gods, how could they possibly lay hands on mortals?”

“It’s still best to be cautious,” the Marshal replied.

In truth, he agreed with his son, but one can never be too careful.

The moment the seal at Hell’s breach was broken once again, the high-level demons lurking in the hellish realm could finally unleash the wrath they had been praising themselves for eight generations over.

“Brothers, now is the time!

Follow me and tear them to shreds!” the demon leader called out.

A thousand demons roared to the heavens and charged directly at the vanguard of the allied forces.

“Damn it!

Retreat quickly!” The three-thousand-strong vanguard had just landed and hadn’t even taken two steps when they were caught off guard by the demons that covered the sky.

Seeing such dashing demons, one didn’t need to think twice to know that they were the legendary high-level demons.

Normally, high-level demons have the strength of a Third Transition profession, and some even have power close to that of a Demon Lord.

The succubus who had invaded Danni’s soul was an existence extremely close to Lord level, or else Danni wouldn’t have suffered such a severe defeat.

“Think you can escape?

Wall of Hell!” Draculade and his female partner combined their efforts to cast a skill, and a massive wall of Hell descended from above, sealing off the breach firmly.

“Prepare for battle!” The captain of the vanguard forces grimly stated, realizing that they had no choice but to make a stand.

“Vile humans!

All of you die!” The high-level demons, recalling how severely that overweight deceiver had struck them, left the Second Transition vanguard troops with almost no time to resist and swiftly tore them apart.

“Damn it!

Break through for me!” The two Third Transition novices who had accompanied the team were now desperately attacking the Wall of Hell.

Their only chance to survive was behind that wall—if they could break through it, they might escape back to their own world.

“It’s impossible for you.” A soft voice suddenly sounded in their ears, belonging to a shadow demon, a specialist in lurking and assassination.

“No,” the two dismayed Third Transition experts hadn’t even said much before each of them met their end by having their hearts ripped out by a shadow demon.

In a momentary clash, the three-thousand-member vanguard was utterly annihilated.

“Excellent!

Remove the Wall of Hell and clean up the battlefield, waiting for the next batch to enter.” The boss was pleased with the success of the ambush.

On the other side of Hell’s breach, the Army Marshal was anxiously awaiting a report from the vanguard, but after half an hour had passed, there had been no response whatsoever.

“Send another five-thousand-member squadron into Hell!” the Marshal, unable to sit still, dispatched another five thousand troops into the abyss.

The result was the same, unchanged.

Standing before the breach in Hell, the Army Marshal, a veteran of countless battles, had never felt so helpless.

This was the first time he had no idea who his opponent was or what their capabilities might be.

“Father, another hour has passed.

Hell must have dispatched a large army to guard before the breach collapsed.

Let’s go in together and eliminate them; small units are utterly useless!”

“Silence!

Send another twenty-thousand-strong force into Hell!” The Marshal’s face turned extremely grim as he finally bellowed his command.

A twenty-thousand-member force met the same fate, completely vanishing without a trace.

“Retreat!” The Army Marshal said sternly, turning to leave.

But his son grabbed his father’s arm, “Why?

Are we just going to retreat like this?

What about the children?

My son is still in there, and he is your grandson too!”

“Yes, Marshal.

My son too is in there!”

“Mine as well!”

“Please reconsider, Marshal!”

Faced with the Marshal’s decision to retreat, the high-ranking officers all objected vehemently.

“Silence!” The old Marshal roared, “I am still the Marshal!”

“I don’t care!

All troops, follow me into Hell!

I must see for myself what lies on the other side of this breach!” The Generals, thinking of their children whose fate was unknown on the other side, openly defied orders and led their subordinates into the maw of Hell’s breach.

“You all come back to me!” Marshal Lu Hong was still a step too late, or perhaps many people, for the sake of their own children, had also lost the discipline of the army, taking the Marshal’s words as nothing but wind.

Of course, this was originally nothing more than a loose alliance of forces.

As a large number of troops rushed into hell, the old Marshal’s face instantly became extremely unsightly, and he said to the remaining troops of over twenty thousand, “Move!

Let’s go back!

This is a trap, a trap!”

As soon as his words fell, a large group of soldiers fled from the hell rift in a panic.

Professionals of the Third Transition had all escaped.

It seemed that the Wall of Hell had failed to hold them all, after all, there’s strength in numbers!

“What happened?!” Seeing the allied forces fleeing back, Marshal Lu Hong asked anxiously, his eyes wide with concern.

“M-Marshal!

Bad news, the other side of the hell rift, the other side is full of high-level demons!”

“Where is General Red Tiger?

What about General Dragon?

And General Questasa?

Where are they?!” Marshal Lu Hong roared.

“The Generals…

The Generals had just entered when they were torn to pieces by demons!”

Hearing the soldier’s words, the old Marshal collapsed to the ground, utterly defeated.

It’s all over!

All is lost!

He had originally thought this was just a counterattack plotted by the Hell Cult.

If only they could break through the hell rift, they could successfully rescue the trapped students.

But he had not expected it to be a conspiracy involving the entire hell!

Impossible!

The Demon Lords couldn’t possibly follow the arrangements of the Hell Cult.

Why, why on earth?!

While Marshal Lu Hong was filled with confusion, someone finally had the answer.

Endless soldiers in black, riding dark flame horses, encircled the noble allied forces from all directions.

“The Black Guard!” The old Marshal grinded his teeth in anger, recognizing these soldiers all too well.

All dressed in black, equipped with dark flame horses—such a force could only belong to Emperor Konstantin’s Black Guard!

“Everyone, prepare for battle!” Marshal Lu Hong bellowed, and the allied forces instantly drew up their defensive lines.

“Don’t think you’ve got me pinned down,” the old Marshal shouted at the Black Guard, refusing to believe that the Black Guard could completely wipe them out considering most of the powerful fighters of the Third Transition who had entered the hell rift had escaped back.

To this moment, he still commanded over forty Third Transition professionals—the Black Guard couldn’t possibly possess a similarly strong military force.

The Third Transition professionals were bugs on the battlefield, often just a few of them able to turn the tide in a battle involving tens of thousands.

“Old Amo, Marshal Lu Hong, it’s been a while!” The leader of the Black Guard walked out from the crowd, pulling down his mask to greet the old Marshal with a smile.

“Questasa!

Is all this a conspiracy of Konstantin’s?!” Old Amo, Marshal Lu Hong, demanded.

“This is not a conspiracy, just a step forward for the sake of the empire’s prosperity,” Questasa paused before continuing.

“The empire shouldn’t have families that can threaten the emperor.

Each family should bow to His Majesty, not hold arms and erode the empire’s foundations.”

“My Eight Great Families have bled and served for the empire, we are the foundation of the empire!” Old Amo, Marshal Lu Hong, retorted angrily.

“It’s because of your misguided thoughts that a cleanse is necessary!” Questasa said coldly: “It’s time to send you on your way!”

“Attack!” Marshal Lu Hong raged, and his soldiers charged forward fearlessly towards the Black Guard.

“There are no Third Transition professionals among the Black Guard I lead, except for myself, but you have no chance of victory.

Do you know why, Old Amo?” Questasa was unfazed by the overwhelming flood of skills attacking from the family allied forces.

Of course, time waits for no one, and skills travel quickly through the air.

Thus, Questasa gave the answer himself, “Because of this.” With that, he drew a pure golden sword from his waist.

“The Holy Emperor Sword?!” Old Amo, Marshal Lu Hong, suddenly realized something terrifying and turned back in shock.

Under the illumination of the Holy Emperor Sword, a giant demon claw shadowed the entire sky.

“The Demon Lord…

A-Archimonde!” Marshal Lu Hong stared blankly at the fearsome hand above and uttered the last words of his life.

As the Demon Lord’s claw slammed down, all the skills in the air and the entire family allied forces were crushed into flesh.

“Is this the aura of the Divine Plane?

It’s so comforting!” Archimonde’s voice came through from the shattered void as he prepared to step across worlds.

“Lord Archimonde, His Majesty has said that you should not be hasty.

Our agreement still stands.

This time was just to let you get a feel of the Divine World.

If you truly wish to set foot on this land, please cooperate well,” Questasa sheathed the Holy Emperor Sword as he spoke.

Upon losing the glow of the Holy Emperor Sword, Archimonde faced intense rejection from the Divine Plane: “No!

No!

Wait for me!

Next time I will definitely come!”

Archimonde’s arm was constantly compressed by the will of the world and, reluctantly, he withdrew it, while the giant rift in the sky began to slowly heal.

“Phew,” Questasa sighed with relief.

Had he not been able to manipulate the Holy Emperor Sword’s radiance to obscure the identity of Archimonde crossing the boundary to strike, certainly, that demon claw would have flattened them all, right?

Thud, thud, thud…

Before Questasa could finish his reflection, the Black Guards collapsed like dominos around him, one after another, all breathless.

Questasa paused, then with a bitter smile, glanced at the Holy Emperor Sword emitting a faint light in his hand: “So it was you who saved my life, huh!”

Perhaps even Emperor Konstantin had not anticipated the strength of the Demon Lord.

Questasa’s next mission was now impossible to complete, and this blunder would lead to great turmoil within the empire.