Chapter 157: Conquest

Atum was dead.

Kalmandes's avatar in the mortal world was also on the verge of extinction.

The number of roots became more and more, winding tighter and tighter, like a fist clenching tighter and tighter, gripping Him firmly in the palm of its hand.

He felt as if he were in a green hell.

A huge suction force tore at His divine power, constantly drawing His energy, pulling Him away from the void.

Seeming to realize that he was powerless to turn the tide, after a hysterical struggle, Kalmandes finally gave up the avatar that had gradually become a tumor attached to Him.

Finally, that burning giant head, like cooled magma rock, dimmed its light amidst countless roots...

With the extinguishing of that light, the entire wasteland returned to dark tranquility, leaving only boundless darkness and endless scorched earth.

Endless roots contracted inward, completely crushing the gradually extinguishing ashes, leaving only a scorching hot crystal core.

The appearance of that thing looked like a blood crystal on the Ka'ao planet, but the energy contained within it was far beyond what an ordinary monster's blood crystal could compare to!

Looking at the crystal born in the ashes, Graywind curiously wanted to digest it, but no matter how hard its roots squeezed the flat crystal surface, it couldn't hurt it at all.

Finally, it gave up the idea of digesting this thing and kept it as a trophy for the Demon King.

At the same time, on the battlefield in the distance.

Countless demons witnessed that magnificent scene, all holding their breath involuntarily, their hearts surging endlessly.

What great power that was!

The great power presented before them at this moment far exceeded their imagination of extraordinary power, and the shock in their hearts was no less than the nobles and subjects of the Ryan Kingdom who saw a steam engine for the first time a thousand years ago!

"... Is that the Demon King's true strength?" Thanos, holding a dagger, felt his scalp tingling and swallowed hard.

Diamond?

Purple Crystal?

Even a Grandmaster...

He couldn't guess the strength of that person at all; at least he had never heard of anyone who could eliminate Chaos's projection in the mortal world!

Even if there were, it could only exist in distant myths and legends!

Only a god could defeat a god!

Or a god's avatar in the mortal world!

Realizing this, Thanos's gaze toward Luo Yan changed, even carrying a trace of fear in his eyes.

Unlike the Shadow Demon General, Glak Bloodblade, standing not far away, only had the thought of submission in his heart at this moment.

Orcs only submit to the strong.

If he had only submitted to that Demon King because of the pressure of survival at the beginning, then at this moment, he had sincerely regarded him as his boss.

Although he, like Thanos, couldn't see the depth of that man, he had self-knowledge; even if he could fight the Chosen of Chaos to a standstill, he was definitely not the match of Kalmandes's avatar in the mortal world.

Facing that divine pressure, he, as a mortal, was like an ant; let alone counterattacking, he didn't even have a chance to touch Him!

Among all the Demon Generals present, the only one who might have seen a clue was Valgur, who was an insect; its intuition told it that it wasn't the Demon King's power, and the one who truly took action was the guy it sensed in the Misty Forest.

However, it was an insect after all, and its way of thinking was far less complex than the other three Demon Generals, not feeling that there was any problem at all.

In insect society, the submission of the lower to the upper is more thorough; since that mysterious existence was loyal to the Demon King, it only meant that the Demon King was more powerful than that guy!

As for Luo Yan Dragong from the Demon Capital.

Besides shock, there were no more thoughts in his heart.

If he had to say, it was probably regretting listening to his grandfather's instigation, and finding Luo Yan to propose a duel for the sake of some family honor and his dead father.

Even without asking about the situation in the Demon Capital, he knew he had definitely lost.

The once arrogant Ka'ao soldiers began to waver.

Not just because their spiritual totem was completely destroyed, but also because the dome falling from the sky completely buried their way home!

Coupled with the death of the Chaos Chosen Atum, they could no longer see any hope of victory.

They began to self-mutilate.

Cutting their own throats with swords, stabbing blades into their own chests!

They tried to let their souls return to Kalmandes's embrace before the Gate of Chaos was completely closed, even if it was by suicide.

After all, death to them was just the starting point of another reincarnation; what was truly terrifying was becoming a lonely ghost wandering in a foreign land!

However, they didn't know that everything was too late.

As early as when the slaughter just began, the core of the Demon King territory had already spread to the land beneath their feet, incorporating it into the Demon King's domain!

And every adventurer on the Os Continent knew that for creatures who died in the Demon King territory, their souls could not return to Shengxisi's embrace.

This was also the reason why Chosen ones or human nobles rarely actively ventured deep into the labyrinth, especially the "living labyrinth."

Unless they had one hundred percent confidence that they could end the labyrinth, and had the determination to completely expel the "corrosion from hell"!

The Chaos warriors from the Ka'ao planet didn't know about this, but facts wouldn't change because they didn't know.

Whether it was the dead Atum, or Kesen Skull-Crusher...

Their souls were all bound to the Reincarnation Pool of the Demon King territory; as long as Luo Yan was willing, he could even let them be reincarnated as animals.

The Chaos army was defeated like a mountain falling!

In contrast, the Demon King's army, the orcs waved their weapons excitedly, letting out heaven-shaking howls, as if victory was already in their hands.

The Black Dragon Crossbowmen in heavy armor knelt on both knees, their foreheads touching the ground, silently reciting the names of the Demon God and the Demon King, praying devoutly.

Blanxia didn't stop them.

Because the remaining Ka'ao people were no longer worth them wasting ammunition.

Glak Bloodblade was the first to raise the battle axe in his hand, letting out a deafening roar.

"Victory—!"

"Victory!!!" The orc warriors of the Bloodblade Clan were the first to respond to his shout, followed by the various magical beasts of the Demon King's army, and before long, even the little demons of the Nightmare Land joined the cheers.

Mixi, who had been searching on the battlefield for a long time, finally discovered Youxi's tracks, picked the latter up from a pile of bloody corpses, and shook her awake.

Youxi, who woke up from a coma, cried out with a wow, and threw herself onto her bad friend.

"Woooo! Mixi!!! We survived!!"

Mixi also felt a sourness in her nose, patting Youxi on the back to comfort her.

"Yes, yes, we survived... it wasn't easy!"

Her Great King at least had someone to carry him.

And she was able to survive purely because of good luck, and because she wasn't flying too far ahead or too high at the time...

The heaven-and-earth-shaking sound spread on the battlefield, spreading the joy of victory to every corner of this wasteland.

Looking at the cheers spreading across the entire wasteland, Luo Yan's chest couldn't help but surge with excitement, and a smile curled up at the corner of his mouth.

Although he didn't exert much effort, he still worked hard.

"Hearing You You, settle the players' rewards."

Hearing You You nodded excitedly.

"Alright!"

The war was over.

It was time for the reward session again.

As long as they participated in the battle, players received at least 1,000 Underworld Coins or more in rewards! And players who performed prominently in the battle received bonuses of tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand Underworld Coins, as well as rewards of hundreds to thousands of contribution points!

Watching the high-spirited and cheering players, Luo Yan was also sincerely happy for them.

They gained the fun of the game, and he also harvested the fruits of victory; this was undoubtedly a win-win for both sides.

At this moment, a slender green vine suddenly fell from the dome and stopped slowly beside him... just like a morning glory.

An old and slow voice appeared in Luo Yan's sea of consciousness at the same time.

"Congratulations, young Demon King. I think after this victory, no one should be able to shake your position."

That voice carried a trace of joy that couldn't be hidden, just like dead wood regaining its youth.

It could be seen that this guy's strength had improved quite a bit.

Facing the ancestor of the Graywind Tribe, Luo Yan responded with a smile in his sea of consciousness.

"Thank you for your help."

The voice, as gentle as a spring breeze, drifted into Luo Yan's sea of consciousness again, and this branch of the Tree of Life named Graywind said in a humble tone.

"... It was just a small effort; compared to what you have done for me and my children, what I did is not worth mentioning."

Not expecting this guy to not be arrogant at all, Luo Yan looked at it twice more in surprise, his heart moved slightly, and then continued.

"Speaking of which, I'm curious, does Lei Ji Dragong know you have this ability?"

Graywind smiled kindly when he heard this, didn't answer directly, but said meaningfully.

"If he knew... do you think I would still have the chance to chat and laugh with you like this?"

With Luo Yan's emotional intelligence, he naturally wouldn't fail to understand the subtext of these words.

And after reading the subtext of that sentence, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

As expected of an old monster who has lived for a thousand years.

In terms of the way of survival, he probably still has a lot to learn from him...

Not far away, the four Demon Generals were walking toward this side.

Seeming to be determined to leave all the glory to him, Graywind didn't continue to stay by his side, but retreated calmly from the front of the stage to the back just before the spotlight hit the center of the stage.

The slender vine fell lightly from the air, scattering into green leaves all over the ground, leaving only a blood-red crystal lying in the middle.

Looking at that crystal, an expression of surprise appeared on Luo Yan's face, and just as he was about to ask, Hearing You You beside him was already shouting excitedly.

"What a vast amount of faith power!"

Faith power? Staring at the blood-red crystal for a while, Luo Yan immediately understood what was going on.

Graywind used its roots to absorb the magic power emitted by Kalmandes's avatar, but couldn't absorb the faith power that hadn't yet been converted into magic power.

So this part of the power remained in the form of a crystal!

Luo Yan shook his right hand lightly, and the magic wand in his sleeve slid into his palm.

As his thoughts moved slightly, a pale skeleton hand quickly broke through the cracked soil and picked up the blood-red crystal in front of him.

Perhaps it was because it felt the godhead on him, the surging energy began to stir, and the part that couldn't be suppressed had already begun to turn into particles of light and move toward him!

Hearing You You, floating beside Luo Yan, didn't hesitate at all, quickly returned to his body, and then took a deep breath.

The blood-red crystal shattered instantly, turning into a wisp of red smoke and dust, merging into Luo Yan's chest and becoming one with the godhead in his sea of consciousness.

Luo Yan didn't feel anything.

It wasn't until he sank his spirit into the sea of consciousness and stood before that huge stone tablet that he was shocked by the jumping number of faith.

Twenty million?!

What's going on?!

Shocked, Luo Yan counted the zeros again, confirming that he hadn't counted wrong. The blood-red crystal condensed by the Chaos avatar provided him with just over twenty million faith power!

After deducting the expenses for transforming the labyrinth terrain, his faith value balance had reached a terrifying 22 million points!

His previous balance had really become a fraction!

Ten million faith value was enough to upgrade a Gold-tier soul to Platinum.

In other words, this generous faith power was enough to let the Great Tomb cultivate two more top-tier Demon Generals!

Whether it was in the labyrinth of Lei Ming County or on the front line of the war between hell and the surface, Platinum-tier could be considered top-tier combat power.

Further up was Diamond-tier.

And Diamond-tier demons, even if placed in the Demon Capital of hell, were existences above ten thousand demons; after all, as noble as the Dragong family, the family head was only at this tier.

The human world was the same.

In the entire Campbell Principality, only Grand Duke Campbell himself had reached Diamond-tier strength, and he had only briefly broken through the threshold of Purple Crystal-tier by relying on an artifact.

Once they truly reached this tier, they rarely appeared on the battlefield.

This was not only because both sides couldn't afford the expensive risk, but also because these noble people were often no longer pawns, but chess players sitting outside the chessboard.

Just when Luo Yan was amazed by this unexpected windfall, the four Demon Generals had arrived beside him one after another.

Blanxia, who arrived first, knelt respectfully on one knee, lowered her brows, and made a repentant gesture, saying.

"Respected Demon King, I am Blanxia, the City Lord of Desperate City, your most loyal subordinate... Please forgive me for only arriving by your side now; I feel extremely ashamed of my negligence and have no reason to argue. I am willing to accept all your punishments, only hoping to appease your anger."

Black bat wings were folded behind her, and draped over her enchanting figure was a dark purple robe that was too revealing even for a succubus.

However, this also had to do with the fact that the fashion in the Demon Capital was always changing; nowadays, succubi didn't popularize visual impact... and I don't know which guy brought this "evil wind."

On the contrary, on the edge of hell, one could see the retro style of a hundred years ago.

Luo Yan examined that pitiful face that seemed to be reflecting, but didn't take her repentance too much to heart.

No one would get angry when winning, and he was no exception. And those who chose to plead guilty at this time were often not really afraid of punishment, but hoped to buy indulgence tickets in exchange for forgiveness... just like the "Thorn Demon General" in front of him.

In a sense, this could also be considered a tacit understanding between monarch and subject.

After all, no matter what conflicts they had before, they had now become a community of interests, prospering together and suffering together.

Luo Yan didn't respond to Blanxia's repentance immediately, but waited until the other three Demon Generals also stopped and knelt before him together.

Following closely to express loyalty was Valgur, then Bloodblade Demon General Glak, and then the half-breed shadow demon Thanos.

After listening to their statements of loyalty and pleas for forgiveness, Luo Yan left them hanging for a while, letting that uneasy emotion ferment in their hearts.

Afterward, he broke the silence in a slow-paced voice and said.

"Someone among you has betrayed me."

Including Valgur, the four Demon Generals felt a slight stagnation in their hearts, involuntarily thinking that this sentence was talking about themselves.

Only Thanos's heart was in his throat, almost failing to control his heartbeat.

Luo Yan carefully observed the expressions on their faces; although it was a pity that he didn't see anything, he didn't care too much either.

Actually, it didn't matter who it was.

His Great Tomb wasn't a society ruled by law.

Whoever offends him in the future, he will put this hat on whoever's head.

"I know who that person is, but for the sake of him pulling back from the brink in time, I can leave him a little face, and let bygones be bygones."

Hearing this, Thanos, who was kneeling on the ground, breathed a sigh of relief.

However, before he could finish breathing, the Demon King standing in front of him continued.

"I will keep this matter on the account. If something similar happens again... or even if it doesn't happen, as long as I find that he still harbors two hearts, I will turn over this old account and settle the new and old accounts together."

The scene was silent.

Dead silent, like a grave.

But this silence didn't last long, and soon the high-EQ City Lord of Desperate City expressed her loyalty again, and the other three Demon Generals also swore poisonous oaths to express their loyalty.

Luo Yan was quite satisfied with their reaction.

A paper tiger is also a tiger; at least for now, he had indeed bluffed them, not letting them see that his strength was actually only Bai Yin-tier.

"Get up."

The moment they heard this, the Demon Generals kneeling on the ground finally breathed a sigh of relief and slowly stood up from the ground.

"Thank you, Demon King Majesty!"

Blanxia, who stood up from the ground, finally found time to carefully examine the Demon King, and was surprised to find that this Demon King was even younger than she had imagined.

Is this the descendant of some famous family again?

He really looks more like a leader than that young man from the Dragong family.

Following that, she took another look at the small devil he was cradling in his hands, and an expression of contemplation could not help but appear on her face.

Perhaps she could try to cater to his preferences...

Being sized up by those pairs of eyes, Xixi felt somewhat embarrassed and whispered in a voice no louder than a mosquito's hum.

"Um... Lord Demon King... could you put me down now? I... I feel like I've recovered a bit."

As the Queen of the Land of Nightmares, she had her pride too.

Although flying was still somewhat difficult, she could at least manage to stand steadily.

"Of course."

Luo Yan said, going with the flow, and was just about to put Xixi down.

However, at this moment, his gaze fell upon the four Demon Generals, and his heart stirred slightly. Having had another idea, he quickly gave a wink to You You, the "invisible person" beside him.

As the worm in the Demon King's belly, it was naturally impossible for You You not to understand what that look meant—

It's been a while since he left the Demon Capital, and it's about time to report the situation of the Gate of Chaos to the Internal Affairs Department.

Hearing the Demon King's instructions, Sarah first showed a look of surprise, then nodded vigorously with joy.

"Hmm!"

Looking at Sarah, who turned to get paper and pen, Luo Yan smiled knowingly and conceived in his mind.

He intended to write two reports with different versions.

Although the younger son of the Dragong family helped him quite a bit, the trouble was caused by that guy after all.

Need to find a way to explode some gold coins from their family...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 160 =====

"I am a person who rewards and punishes clearly."

"This is a reward for your loyalty."

The moment she heard that sentence, Xixi suddenly discovered that her body had actually fully recovered!

Not only that—

She had actually leveled up!!

It wasn't just Xixi who was shocked; the four Demon Generals standing around were also shocked, their faces displaying a variety of colorful expressions.

Although they had never seen what a soul level-up looked like, they had personally experienced the breakthrough from Bai Yin to Gold tier!

And as everyone knew, increasing one's soul level without side effects was something only gods could accomplish!

Valgur was shocked, white mist drifting from his mouth, frost forming on the ground beneath him. Glack dropped his jaw, nearly losing his grip on the axe in his hand.

They hadn't expected this Demon King to have such an ability?!

Thanos's face was no longer just filled with fear, but also regret and more...

As for Blanchia, her face was flushed.

Those fanatical eyes looked as if she were seeing the Demon God himself; it was as if the one standing before her was not the Demon King, but the incarnation of the Demon God in the mortal world!

Feeling that unprecedented power filling her entire body, Xixi, now a Gold-tier small devil, was moved to tears and knelt on one knee on the ground.

She swore with an incomparably devout voice.

"Supreme Venerable, Demon King who rules the Great Graveyard! I am willing to serve you for eternity... as your most loyal claw!"

"You have already proven your loyalty, please stand up."

Luo Yan nodded slightly, watching Xixi, whose face was glowing, step aside, then looked at those faces filled with fanaticism and envy, and continued with a majestic voice.

"I will not fail any loyal servant... I hope you remember the vows you have made; I will be watching you."

"From this day forward, the labyrinth of Lei Ming County has become history."

"We shall make a fresh start in the name of the Great Graveyard."

(End of chapter)