【 YOU TWO HAVE FINALLY MET YOUR MATCH! 】

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The Demon Lord Labyrinth, inner palace.

Azazel, the Seventh Demon Lord, sat on his throne with a deeply troubled expression. As he enjoyed a fine meal, he sighed repeatedly while staring at the enormous crystal sphere before him.

For some unknown reason, ever since several months ago, the number of elves who had intruded into the labyrinth had been steadily increasing, almost explosively.

Moreover, their overall strength had undergone a dramatic transformation compared to before.

Under the elves’ relentless high-intensity incursions, the labyrinth, which had once been really easy to defend, now required an ever-increasing cost to maintain its balance.

Moreover, the speed at which he kept summoning demons from Hell was already beginning to fall slightly behind the rate at which the elves exterminated them.

It was not that his divine power was insufficient. Rather, even as a mythical being, his stamina remained limited since technically, his powers was still sealed.

If this situation persist, he was certain it would not be long before those leisurely days of the past would disappear once again, completely and for good.

He, Azazel, might not be reduced to the state of being constantly “farmed” like before as a so-called “dungeon final boss,” but he would still end up as a mere “grinding tool,” to endlessly summon demons and unable to do anything else.

Fortunately, he still have some demon subordinates who were capable enough to share the burden of being dungeon bosses, so he did not need to personally take to the field too often.

Nonetheless, as the number of elves continued to grow, several demons collapsed completely under the pressure, and some even eventually went mad.

As for those unlucky demon kings toiling away as dungeon bosses, Azazel did not particularly care about them.

Here in the labyrinth, they were nothing but his lackeys.

If they went mad, then so be it.

Back in Hell, these conniving bastards had spent every day scheming about how to betray him anyway.

However, as the situation continued to worsen, Azazel finally found himself unable to remain calm.

Just a few days ago, a demon king whose strength had reached the Legendary-rank had, after countless battles, finally been unable to bear the burden any longer and had died from sheer exhaustion.

Azazel had long foreseen such outcome since anyone—despite being a demon king—would eventually be worked to death under such relentless pressure.

After all, not only were their powers sealed, they were also given almost no time to rest. Hence, even a legendary-rank being had limits to how much it could endure.

But this poses a problem since in his original plan, even if these bastards were to die from exhaustion, they should have been able to hold out for at least ten or so years…

If a single demon king could typically last that long, then he would have plenty of opportunity to continuously replenish their ranks through summoning new demon kings from Hell.

But if these demon kings were dying this quickly, then things would become very troublesome in the future.

There were quite a few demon kings in the First Layer of Hell, but they were not meant to be consumed at this rate.

“Ah… if only there were some fellows with greater endurance to replace them,” Azazel sighed softly.

Azazel could not help but shudder at the thought that one day the current number of demon kings might dwindle down to nothing, thus leaving him as the sole dungeon boss once more.

He never wanted to experience those terrifying days again!

After taking a bite of a melon produced in the Elven Forest, Azazel felt that it no longer tasted sweet at all.

“Hmph. Can these elves not bring more meat? Every time they enter the labyrinth, all they carry is this tasteless stuff,” Azazel complained as he tossed the melon rind onto the ground.

Immediately, several servants of his scurried over and promptly cleaned it up.

Of course, Azazel had no idea that it was precisely because he would dispatch large numbers of demons to snatch food whenever he noticed players carrying meat that the players had gradually become vigilant.

Do not bring tasty food into the Demon Lord Labyrinth, or you will be targeted and swarmed by demons.

This warning had even been written into the players’ guides on the forum.

Just as Azazel picked up another piece of melon and was about to leisurely bring it to his mouth, a familiar voice suddenly echoed through his palace.

“Life seems to be treating you well, Azazel.”

Upon hearing that ethereal, pleasant voice tinged with playful amusement, Azazel jolted violently as the melon slipped from his hand and fell to the floor with a dull thud.

He stiffly turned his head, his scalp tingling with dread.

“Y… Yggdrasil? Wh… why are you here again? I… I have obediently done everything you asked for!”

Evé smiled gently as she looked at the Seventh Demon Lord, who had instantly become alert, even tucking his ferocious demon tail behind him.

“It is nothing. It seems you have been working hard lately, so I found a few helpers for you.”

“Helpers?”

Azazel frowned slightly, confusion evident on his face.

Evé did not elaborate.

Instead, she just snapped her fingers, and a golden triumphal arch gate appeared within the palace.

Moments later, three figures, bound tightly like rice dumplings by divine chains, were thrown inside.

“They are now your new subordinates. I have granted you part of the authority over the Demon Lord Labyrinth. Make good use of them and let them realize their true value.”

“Oh, and when their divine power runs out, remember to help them replenish it.”

After saying this, Evé offered no further explanation as she directly dismissed her incarnation and the Gate of Reversal, before leaving.

Only Azazel remained, curiously examining the three new figures that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Among them was Anduria, the Unicorn Duke, wearing a completely bewildered expression.

The Fallen Angel Luria stood there with his clothes in disarray, yet a faint smile still lingered on his face.

Beside him was the Queen of Pain, Alissa, her expression filled with grievance and resentment.

At this moment, the power of the three evil gods had been completely sealed.

No, even without the seal, within the Demon Lord Labyrinth that had been strengthened time and time again by Evé, they would have entirely lost their freedom all the same.

Having suddenly appeared inside a palace that was solemn and magnificent, and whose style perfectly matched demonic aesthetics, one might even say it embodied the ultimate dream of demons, the three evil gods each displayed different expressions.

Anduria stood there somewhat dazed, his gaze burning as he took in the palace’s decorations, his face full of undisguised envy.

However, when the other two evil gods met the gaze of Azazel, who was looking down upon them from his lofty throne, their expressions instantly stiffened.

For a moment, the entire palace fell into silence, the atmosphere turning strange and oppressive.

Azazel narrowed his eyes as he looked at the frozen expressions of Luria and Alissa, then suddenly burst into laughter.

“Hahahahahaha!”

“Well, well, well… look who it is! The great Fallen Archangel and the charming Queen of Pain.”

Then, his expression abruptly turned ferocious as he sneered.

“Never expected this, did you? We meet again! What, so you two finally met your match and failed to ran away eh?”

“Uh… Lord Azazel, well… it has been a long time. You seem to be in quite good health,” Luria said with an awkward laugh.

Upon hearing Luria’s words, Azazel roared in fury, his features twisting.

“Good health, my ass!”

As he spoke, he could not help but stretch out a hand, his face filled with indignation and grief.

“Do you know how I have survived these past few years? Do you? Huh?!”

“No! I’d bet you never had an idea!”

“In your hearts, there has only ever been yourselves!”

Sensing that even after being sealed, the power emanating from Azazel was still greater than their own, Luria and Alisa’s expressions subtly changed.

“Well… Lord Azazel, please listen to us. That day was truly just a beautiful accident. Actually, we…”

“Accident my ass! You two are as always full of shit and schemes! Back then I must have been blind and cursed with the worst luck imaginable to believe the utter nonsense you two fucking bastards had sprouted!”

Azazel cursed furiously, profanities—from earth—rolling effortlessly off his tongue.

Then, a sinister smile suddenly crept onto his face.

“You like running away so much, right? Fine! Good. Good… In the days to come, I will certainly satisfy your cravings and let you run to your heart’s content…”

Seeing the utterly cold smile on Azazel’s face, Luria and Alisa’s expressions instantly stiffened.

Deep in their hearts, a vague sense of foreboding arose.

It was only at this moment that Anduria excitedly lifted his head. Unable to restrain himself, he fondly stroked one of the demonic statues in the palace and asked with a simple, almost foolish expression,

“Where is this place anyway?”

Azazel: “…”

Luria: “…”

Alissa: “…”

The Seventh Demon Lord narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Demonic Unicorn, then let out a strange chuckle and said meaningfully,

“No rush. This will be the place where your dream begins.”

“Hehehehehe… welcome, everyone, to the Demon Lord Labyrinth!”

As he spoke, Azazel took a bite of the melon handed to him by a servant, and inwardly muttered:

Truly sweet~

༺⟐༻

After handing the three abyssal evil gods over to Azazel, Evé no longer paid them any further attention.

It had already been several years, and Azazel by now had thoroughly become a complicit dungeon boss and manager.

And as long as she still held ultimate control over the Demon Lord Labyrinth and its sealing authority, he would be unable to leave this place and could only obediently continue working to do her bidding.

Plus, with the recent influx of players, the strain on the Demon King Bosses had been obvious to Evé as well, and the “addition” of those three evil gods came at just the right time.

Perhaps the three of them lacked Azazel’s endurance when facing wave after waves of players, but they were, after all, still evil gods. With Azazel continuously supplying abyssal power, they could effectively become something like semi perpetual engines.

Entertaining the players was one aspect, while continuously providing divine power was another.

Upon returning to Garden of Eden, Evé did not enter the supreme temple this time.

Instead, she arrived outside the projection of the World Tree at the center of the Divine Kingdom.

Dazzling light flickered as a majestic presence descended.

Evé appeared here in the form of a manifested incarnation.

After her appearance, upon the ground below, amidst the dense forests, one illusory figure after another slowly emerged.

They were faintly surrounded by halos of light and wore garments of various styles. Their striking appearances and pointed ears clearly revealed their identities.

They gathered in greater and greater numbers, densely packed, arriving at the feet of Eve’s incarnation and bowing down in reverent worship.

From a distance, there were likely more than a hundred thousand of them.

They were the new Einherjars from the Rocksand Clan.

As she looked upon these illusory figures, a trace of complexity flashed through her eyes.

Any devout and outstanding believers, after death, would return to their Patron Deity’s respective divine kingdoms to be reborn and gain eternity within them.

These were known as Einherjar.

Within the divine kingdom, they prayed day and night, providing faith to their patron god. When holy wars erupted, they would also take the field as the armies of their respective god.

It could be said that Einherjars were one of the ultimate trump cards in wars of faith, and the primary fighting force in battles between True Gods.

It was precisely the existence of large numbers of Einherjars, together with the divine power stored within a divine kingdom, that allowed some weak or even feeble Gods of Faith to barely endure for a very long time when facing enemies of medium or even greater divine power.

Since Eve’s revival, her divine kingdom had gradually gained a handful of Einherjars, but their number had never exceeded a thousand.

So with the addition of the Rocksand Clan, as well as the Frost Elves who had fallen in battle at the Cliff of Sorrows, she now possessed a far more substantial number of Einherjars, forming a foundation that could finally be considered a true trump card.

At the thought of what occurred at the Cliff of Sorrows, Evé once again recalled that figure who had willingly sacrificed himself.

Uria, the Child of Earth.

Like Ouros, he had ultimately chosen to offer up his own life to fulfill and protect his fellow clansmen.

Recalling how the undead Uria had mechanically called out to her before perishing, Eve’s emotions grew even more complex.

Having inherited the legacy of the World Tree, she had also inherited a portion of her predecessor’s emotions. Although the fragmented memories left her with little understanding of Uria, her heart was nevertheless tinged with sorrow.

Sadly, just like in the case of Ouros, Uria had also left behind not the slightest trace of his divine soul, having completely dissipated into nothingness.

Everything that had originally been him had now fully merged with these Rocksand Einherjars.

As she gazed at these new Einherjars kneeling in worship before her, Evé found her thoughts in turmoil.

Under normal circumstances, they would now live alongside her here in the Garden of Eden, gradually forgetting their mortal memories, until after a long passage of time they would merge with her.

At the same time, they would also become her fighting force in future holy wars against other gods, and even in the upcoming crusade against the demons.

However, flashes from the Cypher’s perspective would always surface in Eve’s mind, the longing and regret for their homeland reflected in the eyes of those Frost Elves who had fallen just before the dawn.

For mortals, spending the afterlife within their Patron Deity’s divine kingdom was indeed akin to paradise.

Yet in the end, it was still not their home.

Once more, her gaze slowly swept across these Einherjars, and Evé fell into silence.

As the Goddess of Life, she in fact had more than one possible choice.

With this thought, she sighed softly and spoke.

“My devout children.”

“In the eyes of many of you, I can see a yearning for your homeland and for your loved ones…”

“Now, I offer you two choices.”

“One is to remain here in my Divine Kingdom as my Einherjars, living without worry, and to fight as my warriors against our enemies.”

“The other is to have your memories of this place erased, and to be reborn in the world of Seigües.”

“However, I must remind you of one thing. Your souls are exceedingly fragile, and after rebirth, they will inevitably suffer a certain degree of damage.”

“Therefore, to minimize the harm rebirth would cause to your souls, you will awaken with bodies identical to your original ones, and your remaining lifespan will not change significantly.”

“Yet when you die once more and become Einherjars again, the duration of your existence will be shorter than that of other Einherjars…”

“Now, those who wish to remain here in my divine kingdom, stay where you are. But for those who wish to return to the world of Seigües, step forward.”

After hearing Eve’s words, the new Einherjars fell into a stir.

Moments later, they bowed devoutly to Evé and about one eighth of them then stepped forward.

Most of them were Frost Elves who had died in battle, with only a very small number being Rocksand Elves.

On reflection, this was easy to understand.

These Rocksand Elves had been gone for more than two thousand years, and had long since lost most of their worldly attachments.

But those newly departed Frost Elves were different.

Although nearly thirty thousand had fallen at the Cliff of Sorrows, the majority had ultimately choose to return to the world of Seigües.

Obviously, they still carried many regrets within their hearts, having died in such an untimely manner.

Looking at the Einherjars who had made their choice, Evé smiled gently.

“I understand.”

With those words, she lightly waved her hand, and the Einherjars who had chosen rebirth one by one vanished from the Garden of Eden.

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