Chapter 439 (1/2)

Y’zaks did not seem to be too surprised. He smiled as he said, “Oh, that took them a good while.”

Helcrown as well as the Demonic Army had once again reappeared in the world, and it was an earth-shattering incident. Banuklaak, Serathon and the Allied Army had probably gotten news from their scouts that Helcrown reappeared near the Broken Plains. It was a matter of time before they marched upon Helcrown again. Everyone in the city knew what was coming, but as they had access into the other dimension, there was no fear of being conquered.

“Get ready to retreat back into the other dimension,” Y’lisabet ordered the technician with the authority of a queen.

Hao Ren turned back towards the red ball, and the latter lay dormantly in the grooved container, looking harmless. Well, despite it being something similar to the First Born, it was clearly dead. Frowning hard, Vivian said, “Let’s study it later, we’ve got guests.”

The whole group then left the generator room, and before passing through the ring corridor again, Hao Ren took a look at the center of the hall. The red light was still throbbing in a rhythmic pattern. A series of odd concentric rings were extracting energy from it to levitate the city, and under that light, was surely the other red ball. Hao Ren was consumed with a myriad of questions. What was a First Born? How did it end up there? How could a corpse still have such energy? Why did the ball-shaped object appear that way?

Hao Ren shook his head and threw all his questions to the back of his mind. He quickened his pace to catch up with the party, leaving the Demonic Furnace behind.

They arrived at one of the spires on Helcrown’s outer walls. Y’zaks had already returned to his demon form, and the gigantic living flame stood right in front of them. The group looked towards the Broken Plains below, and saw a massive amount of demons converging towards them. Heavily armored, demonic vanguards stood before them in a square formation. Gigantic abyssal demons on all fours were scattered across the ranks as mobile rally points. Demonic statues, ballistae and chariots made of obsidian slowly paced forward while winged gargoyles as well as terrorgheists weaved through the air like vultures. Their gazes were all locked firmly on Helcrown.

The demons, already numbering in the tens of thousands were still amassing. Clouds of thick dust and smoke obscured the horizon of the Broken Plains; the end of days was truly coming.

What seemed to be leaders of the demonic hosts could be seen standing at the head of the army.

One of them was about six to seven meters tall, almost like a giant reptile. It had three pairs of strong looking limbs supporting its massive frame. Its upper body was a bulge of muscles and it was fully clad in obsidian armor. Its face reminded one of a salamander and there was a solitary red glow in one of its eye. The other eye was gouged out by Y’zaks many years ago.

Another demon was even more horrendous; it looked almost like a beetle, and it was larger than a battle tank. A rocky carapace covered its entire body and flame as well as molten lava seeped through the gaps, searing the land beneath it. The demon’s head was also covered with layers of chitin carapace. Its dark red eyes flickered menacingly, but the demon’s limbs skittered about nervously, as though the reappearance of Helcrown had unnerved it. If Hao Ren was right, that giant bug was probably the ruler-in-name of the Second Plane, Banuklaak.

Hao Ren looked at the two demon lords, and turned to the towering Y’zaks beside him. He then rubbed his chin. “I just realized that if I throw Y’zaks into a beauty pageant with those demons, the big guy will win hands down…”

Vivian quipped nonchalantly, “Why do the demons all look so goddamn hideous?”

Lanina somehow took offence to that. “How can you judge a book by its cover…”

“You’re a pretty looker yourself,” Hao Ren said after throwing the succubus a glance.

Lanina then coughed. “Ahem… Looks can be a weapon at times…”

Lily was holding on to the chains of the crenellations to have a better look. Slightly frightened, she spat, “Looks like the siege of the six big sects in Guang Ming Peak.” She then turned towards Hao Ren, “Right, Brother Wuji¹…”

“…”

Hao Ren really could not wrap his head around the husky’s thought process!

“Well, the Allied Army has yet to arrive. When they do, then it’ll be the six big sects,” Y’zaks quipped, joining in the mindless banter. That left Y’lisabet, who was straining her neck in awe of her father’s stunning visage. “Why is it the six big sects? With the Allied Army there’s only three, no?”

Hao Ren approached the little demoness and pulled her aside. “It’s just a cultural story. When I have the time, I’ll tell you about the one-armed hero and his adventures…”

“Don’t teach her nonsense!” Y’zaks spew embers onto Hao Ren’s face.