【 REINFORCEMENTS FROM THE NETHERWORLD 】

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The primary passageway through which the Abyss was invading the world of Seigües.

After hearing Aurora’s speculation, Eve’s expression also became slightly more serious.

If that were truly the case, then the players would likely face a difficult battle ahead…

There was a significant difference between a primary invasion passageway and merely one of many auxiliary channels.

If this location truly served as the Demon’s main bridgehead for their invasion, then even though the Wasteland of Desolation possessed other dimensional passageways, the Abyssal myths would certainly not sit idly by and allow them to advance here step by step.

A force of fifty thousand players would no longer be sufficient enough and it’s very likely that the number of players participating in this mission will need to be further expanded.

If their stronghold was small, then defending it would be still manageable.

However, as their stronghold gradually expanded, the area that players needed to defend would also grow much larger, and as a result, the upcoming battles would inevitably become more increasingly difficult.

Yet this was not the most difficult part.

The most difficult aspect of this mission would be the confrontation between mythical-rank beings.

If the main forces of the Demons were truly stationed within this world, then as time passed, more and more Abyssal myths would join the battle and it’s even possible that higer ranked beings might eventually appear.

In comparison, the number of mythical beings under Eve’s command remained far too small.

Even with her true self included, facing too many Abyssal myths would likely place them in grave danger.

Should they lose their advantage in confrontations between mythical beings, the players would be left with only one option: to withdraw and defend the world of Seigües.

At the same time, Eve’s true purpose in allowing the players to establish a stronghold in the Wasteland of Desolation, to prepare the path for her own ascension to Higher Divine Power, would be rendered meaningless.

No.

In fact, that objective might collapse long before matters ever reached that stage.

Evé intended to ascend here within the Abyss precisely in order to conceal her true identity, which ideally would also be concealing the energy fluctuations that might occur during her advancement.

However, if this world truly was the Demon’s main bridgehead, then her choice might very well expose her secret before the mythical beings of the Abyss.

Those Abyssal myths would certainly not let such an opportunity pass and perhaps, the entire universe would probably learn that the World Tree had revived by next day.

At this thought, Eve’s brows furrowed slightly.

Several days earlier, she had already completely severed her connection with the core origin of the Seigües world.

Thus she could transfer and ascend at any given moment.

Even the divine power she had accumulated had reached the perfect amount. There was even some surplus remaining within her divine kingdom, which she had stored away.

It could be said that the only step remaining before her ascension to Higher Divine Power was the selection of a suitable location.

Yet Aurora’s speculation had made the Wasteland of Desolation, a place Evé had originally deemed ideal, no longer seem so appropriate.

Unless Evé were to leave this dark world and search for another place somewhere deeper within the Abyss.

But in that case, there would be only one option left: to venture further into the Abyss.

After a moment of contemplation, Evé spoke:

“Aurora, continue leading everyone in defending this stronghold and advance according to the original plan.”

“The Goddess of Death’s army of heroic spirits will soon arrive here as well to support us. When that happens, the upcoming battles may become somewhat easier.”

“However, if the Demons launches a full-scale assault and the situation truly becomes impossible to maintain, do not force it and retreat immediately back to Seigües.”

Upon hearing her words, Aurora respectfully nodded.

“As you command, Your Divine Grace.”

After a moment of hesitation, she then asked:

“Your Grace, then does that mean this location would still be where you will advance to Higher Divine Power…?”

“No, I will search for an alternative world,” Evé replied calmly.

“I understand.”

Aurora nodded respectfully.

She then bowed to Evé and withdrew from the makeshift temple.

Shortly afterward, Evé removed the seal placed upon herself, thereby restoring the strength of her current incarnation at the rank of weaker divine power.

She then transformed into a beam of light and shot toward the sky.

She intended to leave this world and search for a new place nearby.

༺⟐༻

After expressing her speculations regarding the Demon’s planned invasion, Aurora continued to remain stationed upon the outermost city wall, protecting their stronghold as the Chosen Ones expanded their base’s defensive walls further outward.

Occasionally, she would personally join them on the field, assisting them with certain high-difficulty construction tasks.

These included the tower structures built at intervals along the walls, which were designed to house magical crystal cannons and ballistae.

The position of magical crystal cannon operator remained highly popular among the Chosen Ones.

Although it yielded no experience points, firing the weapon was immensely satisfying.

Furthermore, the number of demons besieging their base was astonishing. Even if some experience points were sacrificed, players could easily make up for it through other means. As a result, operating these heavy magical weapons continued to be highly sought after task.

Between the city walls, particularly near the Dimensional Portal, rows of player tents had also been erected. Some players had even constructed simple houses, clearly preparing for a prolonged war.

The flow of time here in the Wasteland of Desolation was far faster than in other worlds. This whole mission, which in the outside world might last half a year, a full year, or even until the eve of the unsealing of the Seigües world, could mean something entirely different here.

Within this dark world, it might last for more than a decade.

Various forms of trade gradually began to flourish across the stronghold as the battles continued to escalate. Most of these transactions involved reselling demon equipment that had been scavenged from the battlefield, or materials that had dropped from Abyssal monsters.

Without anyone quite noticing, the stronghold constructed by the players had begun to show the early signs of developing into a small town.

Even though Aurora repeatedly emphasized that this stronghold might very well be destroyed as the war progressed, but for a variety of possible reasons, her warnings did little to diminish the players’ enthusiasm for construction.

As time passed, the number of demons surrounding their’ stronghold continued to increase, and the intervals of rest grew ever shorter.

At the same time, the number of Abyssal myths participating in the siege also steadily rose.

The pressure mounted continuously to the point that Aurora and Mars no longer ventured out to fight. Instead, they chose to remain behind the holy barrier, maintaining the stability of the situation.

The battle within the Wasteland of Desolation raged fiercely.

Along the borders of Hell, as well as in their subordinate realms, the battles between the Einherjars and the demons grew increasingly intense.

Meanwhile, on another front, Evé, who had continued to venture deeper into the Abyss in search of another world suitable for her ascension, found that her journey was far from smooth.

Within the Abyss, the deeper one traveled, the stronger the power of the Abyss would became.

After leaving the Wasteland of Desolation and travelling further into the Abyss, Evé began to sense an increasingly powerful force of rejection and corruption.

At the same time, she also discovered that although her incarnation could still maintain contact with her true body, she could no longer activate the Gate of Reversal.

It seemed that some force within the Abyss was suppressing the use of this divine artifact.

Only Abyssal realms such as the Wasteland of Desolation, which still possessed regions exposed beneath the cosmic sky, were capable of supporting Eve’s control over the artifact.

Even then, the prerequisite was that the dense clouds formed by the Abyssal power had to be pierced in order to reveal the stars beyond.

With the plan of travelling deeper into the Abyss having failed, Evé changed her strategy and began searching for other marginal Abyssal realms similar to the Wasteland of Desolation.

However, she gradually discovered, somewhat regretfully, that there were very few such peripheral worlds near the Wasteland of Desolation, and those that did exist were extremely distant.

Not only that, those worlds all bore clear traces of battles involving Einherjars of other Gods. So it was obvious that they had already become active battlefields.

As such, these places became unsuitable for her ascension.

Evé had also considered the possibility of ascending not here in the Abyss, but within the cosmic void itself.

However, without the protection of a realm’s crystalline barrier, the disturbance caused by such an ascension would be far greater, and the energy fluctuations would spread much farther throughout the void.

It was entirely possible that the moment she ascended to Higher Divine Power in the cosmic void, the Heavenly Gods would detect it immediately.

That would defeat the entire purpose of ascending in secret.

“Hmm… Perhaps I could choose to ascend within the Netherworld?”

“But that wouldn’t work either. The Netherworld is not governed solely by Hela after all and Hodür is also there.”

“However, Hela has already obtained the divinity I provided. So her completing the Divinity of Death is likely only a matter of time.”

“Once her rank advances to Higher Divine Power, unifying the Netherworld would naturally become an easy task for her.”

“But that could happen at an unknown point in the future. I must ascend to higher divine power before the dimensional seal of Seigües fully open, only then will I possess the strength to ensure my own safety.”

Evé frowned as she pondered upon these matters.

At that moment, her expression suddenly changed slightly, and she turned her gaze toward the direction of the Wasteland of Desolation, sensing the arrival of a familiar aura.

༺⟐༻

Wasteland of Desolation, the elven stronghold.

The demons had launched another assault.

An endless black tide surged toward the towering city walls, a sight that sent chills down one’s spine.

For several days now, the players’ had ceased expanding their defense outward. Instead, they focused on continuously reinforcing and raising the height of the outermost defensive walls.

At that moment, the average height of the outer wall had already surpassed thirty meters, presenting a truly magnificent and imposing structure.

The walls had been stained black by the blood of demons, and claw marks could be seen everywhere.

Beneath the walls, the surging mass of demons inevitably reminded one of the zombie hordes depicted in disaster films on Earth. They roared and howled as they formed living ladders of bodies, climbing toward the city walls, only to be struck down by the players above with spells and arrows.

In the skies above, flying demons had also begun to appear. With enormous black bat-like wings, they resembled a swarm of locusts that blotted out the sky, continuously launching aerial attacks upon the stronghold.

Faced with such a terrifying spectacle, the players no longer dared to ride their magical familiars into the air.

If not for the protection of the holy barrier surrounding the stronghold, the interior would likely have already descended into chaotic close combat.

Beyond that, there were nine Abyssal myths with terrifying auras hiding within the demon army. Their presence was fixed upon the holy barrier above the stronghold, as if they might enter the battle at any moment.

Within the barrier, the demigod-rank forces were no longer limited to Aurora and Mars as two additional silver dragons, Mercury and Venus, had also been summoned by Evé to support the defense.

Anyone could see that those nine Abyssal myths were simply waiting for the demon army to exhaust the power of the holy barrier, before launching their final assault.

After all, maintaining the barrier in the face of such an enormous tide of demons required an astonishing amount of power.

For a newly ascended true god, this burden would be especially severe.

Of course, these Abyssal myths were making their judgment based on experience.

If they knew Eve’s true identity, and understood that as the number of demons attacking increased, the amount of power Evé could draw from them would also increase, enough to offset the consumption of divine power, then they would likely have already launched a full-scale assault.

Even so, the balance of the war was clearly shifting.

As the numbers of demons and Abyssal myths continued to grow, the scales of the battlefield were gradually tilting in favor of the Demons.

Gazing at the demon army beyond the walls, and sensing the several terrifying auras that seemed ready to move at any moment, Aurora and the other demigods wore solemn expressions.

At that moment, the thick clouds covering the sky above the battlefield suddenly began to churn once again.

A silver-gray radiance suddenly burst through the clouds and shot down toward the earth.

Every mythical-rank beings in the vicinity all raised their heads and looked toward the sky and saw the clouds torn apart by a massive rift, from which a deep and dim radiance slowly spread.

A solemn hymn began to echo faintly through the skies, like a requiem sung for the dead.

Soon afterward, spatial ripples appeared across the sky.

One meteor after another shot forth from within them, streaking across the dark clouds and falling toward the ground like a rain of falling stars.

Those “meteors” trailed ghostly blue flames, descending like a shower of azure light. As they fell, they smashed into the flying demons in the sky, shattering them instantly and sending the remaining creatures scattering in panic.

Amid thunderous explosions, the “meteors” struck the ground, landing within the vast demon army outside the city walls.

Ghostly blue flames erupted within the black ocean of demons, blossoming across the battlefield like clusters of eerie blue flowers.

The demons nearby were quickly engulfed in pale blue fire. Amid anguished screams, their bodies burned away until nothing remained but withered bones.

Then, within that deep and eerie radiance, the “meteors” wreathed in blue flames slowly rose from the ground.

—No.

These were clearly not meteors.

Rather, they were warriors clad in black armor.

Each of them wore heavy armor from head to toe. In the hollows of their eye sockets burned ghostly blue soul flames, while pale divine radiance emanated faintly from their bodies.

They twisted their necks and shook their limbs, then formed towering ranks of soldiers outside the city walls, layer upon layer like an unbreakable human barricade.

For a moment, the entire battlefield was covered in a sea of blue radiance. Everywhere one looked, black-armored warriors could be seen descending upon the field.

Meanwhile, the demons that had been ignited by the flames and reduced to skeletons began to rise once more.

Within their empty eye sockets, ghostly blue flames also began to burn.

Seeing these unfamiliar figures descending from the sky outside the walls, the players froze in surprise.

Aurora, however, standing atop the wall, revealed a delighted expression.

“The Undead Legion of Heroic Spirits… it is the Legion of Heroic Spirits of the Goddess of Death!”

The moment her words fell, the hymn echoing through the sky grew even more melodious.

Bathed in deep and mysterious light, four imposing figures slowly descended from the skies and appeared upon the battlefield.

One stood at the front, with three following behind.

Their garments were predominantly black. Each carried an enormous scythe and wore a tall black pointed hat. In their eye sockets burned flames as well.

However, the flames were no longer ghostly blue, but dark gold.

At that moment, Aurora had already recognized their identities.

They were none other than mythical-rank beings of the Netherworld, divine envoys of the Goddess of Death whose strength had reached the demigod-rank.

The reinforcements from the Netherworld, had finally arrived.

The leading undead mythical being slowly raised a hand and swung the great scythe, pointing it toward the distant demon army.

At the command, the heroic spirit warriors upon the ground raised their greatswords and charged toward the demonic tide.

The battle erupted instantly.

In an instant, a vast ocean of blue radiance spread across the battlefield, relentlessly devouring the black demon tide.

Seeing this, several terrifying auras behind the demon army suddenly surged in power, standing in direct opposition to the mythical beings of the Netherworld.

Immediately afterward, Aurora and the other demigods within the barrier unleashed their own attacks and joined the confrontation.

A tremendous pressure spread across the battlefield. When combined together, it instantly overwhelmed several Abyssal myths.

Their auras faltered. After hesitating for several seconds, they gradually weakened one after another.

A deep horn sounded from the rear of the demon army.

Under the counterattack of the Legion of Heroic Spirits, the tides of demons slowly began to retreat.

Seeing this scene, the players atop the walls erupted in cheers. However, after glancing at the towering wall that now stood more than thirty meters high, none of them dared to jump directly down.

Soon, ropes were lowered from the walls. Players scrambled down eagerly and rushed to join the battle outside.

At that moment, the four mythical beings from the Netherworld also descended to the ground.

The strongholds defensive barrier opened a gateway of its own accord, allowing them to pass through.

Aurora and the three mythical dragons, now in their human form, stepped forward to greet them.

Then the leading undead mythical being removed their black hood. The flames within their eye sockets faded away, revealing a beautiful yet languid face.

Seeing that familiar face, a trace of surprise flashed across Aurora’s eyes.

She then offered a respectful salute and said solemnly:

“Aurora, the Star of Dawn and divine envoy under the Goddess of Life, greets Your Divine Majesty Hela, the Goddess of Death and Ruler of the Netherworld.”

It turned out the leading mythical being of the Netherworld was none other than Hela, the Goddess of Death herself!

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