Chapter 451
Chapter 451
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 451
Chapter Title: Otherworld Conquest (3)
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The levels of the demons ruling Divore varied wildly.
From those far short of transcendence to individuals who had grown to just below the rank of Great Demon.
Demons drew their power from karma and fear tied to their epithets, so innate authority was just as crucial as effort in building strength.
No matter how diligently one toiled, if their epithet was something like "Thievery," there were hard limits to how far they could climb.
In that sense, the utterly devastated surface world overflowing with negative emotions was practically a land of opportunity for overlooked demons.
About a hundred years ago.
When the Hell Gate opened in this world.
Lowly demons, stuck at the bottom of Hell and scraping by on meager sums from worthless contractors, all rushed to the surface without exception.
Once on the surface, they no longer had to rely solely on unsavory contractors.
Demons roamed the world freely, indulging as they pleased, and the karma and fear they harvested directly fueled their power.
That was the everyday landscape of this ruined world now.
A demons' playground and a farm to squeeze out sustenance.
Truthfully, they could exterminate humanity anytime if they wanted, but they chose not to.
The penalties they suffered upon emerging—like losing immortality—were no longer major issues.
In the early days right after the Hell Gate opened or during the mid-phase when the last resistance forces fought back, maybe. But now, with all humans reduced to livestock, no one dared resist demons anymore.
Splash—!
"Guhk!"
That was why the phenomenon unfolding worldwide right now was a massive anomaly no one in this world could have foreseen.
Demons dying one by one under the sudden assault of the Army of Death.
"Graaaah! What is this? What the hell is it?! How can mere undead do this?!"
And naturally.
The list of victims included not just lowly ones like the "Demon of Deception," but also higher-ranking demons respected in demon society.
"I had some hopes for the Demon of Swords... What a letdown. I thought I might finally loosen up a bit."
The Demon of Swords, wearing the husk of a burly adult male, ground his teeth savagely as he glared at the intruder murmuring lowly before him.
A middle-aged man in black martial robes of an alien style, wielding a single longsword.
His demeanor was utterly serene, belying the fact that he'd just severed one of the demon's wrists.
'Me? Defeated by a sword? The Demon of Swords?!'
He grimaced, glancing at his severed right hand clutching a sword as it tumbled across the ground.
Even fighting swordsmanship while cloaked in human flesh, for the Demon of Swords to lose to a sword-wielding foe was utterly impossible.
If other demons learned of this, he'd be a laughingstock for centuries.
Especially against an undead, not even human...
[I absolutely cannot forgive this! I'll tear you to shreds!]
A feral roar erupted as sharp sword intent poured from his body.
And right after.
A massive blade surged from his severed wrist.
The changes didn't stop there.
Whoosh—! Crackle!
His body swelled, swords of every form erupting from his entire frame.
Greatswords, longswords, daggers, even saw-toothed or sickle-shaped monstrosities.
His intact left hand now bore five razor-sharp blades instead of fingers, and his hair had become thin, elongated flexible swords reflecting light every which way.
[This body is the Demon of Swords! Swords define me entirely! Your attacks can never touch me!]
The over-six-meter-tall behemoth, composed entirely of razor edges, roared down at the ground.
No matter what anyone said, his epithet was "Demon of Swords."
He was a master of the blade himself, but such derived swordsmanship was merely secondary.
What symbolized him was the sword itself.
And swords had been fearsome tools amassed with terror since the dawn of human history, hadn't they?
The Demon of Swords, wielding them as both weapon and armor, was a solid upper-tier demon, far above the riffraff.
"Hmm."
Yet the middle-aged warrior remained utterly unimpressed before this overwhelming presence.
"If the Demon of Swords is this pathetic... the 'Demon of Weapons' above it probably isn't much better. What a shame."
He merely clicked his tongue lightly, scanning the sword aura-emitting giant.
[Insolent fool! I'll grind you to dust so you never revive!]
Enraged, the Demon of Swords charged wildly, slashing space apart.
'I was just careless earlier! No sword can ever wound this body!'
Every sword comprising his flesh was tied to extraordinary legends.
Ubreakable, ignoring any armor, guaranteeing death on a pierce, always bringing victory, even slaying transcendent beings.
All those powers became his own.
That was the proud authority of the Demon of Swords, which had frustrated countless heroes over ages.
A sword-wielding swordsman would surely fare no differently—even this insolent undead.
"Tch, like a wild beast. The previous form was preferable, honestly."
But that's how it should have gone...
Ssshhhk—
The rampaging Demon of Swords froze.
Involuntarily, his gaze drifted downward.
[Huh?]
A unfamiliar slash crossing his torso, where none had existed before.
Crack—! Clatter!
Severed blades fell one by one along the fissure.
Finally, unable to bear the weight, the upper body collapsed to the ground.
Clang! Crash—!
A single strike decided the anticlimactically hollow bout.
But that wasn't all that mattered to him now.
[Gah! How?! How can a sword cut me?!]
The Demon of Swords had been sliced by a sword.
He could only fall into chaos at the impossible scene.
A strike ignoring his authority?
It defied all common sense.
"I shouldn't have to explain such basics."
The once-transcendent warrior who had touched the mythic realm, the Heavenly Demon, brushed his cherished sword—the Heavenly Demon Sword—lightly as he replied indifferently.
"This body is the sword, and the sword is this body. It matters not if the intent-driven slash originates from a physical blade."
It was merely an application of Sword-Body Unity and Heart Sword.
A monster fixated solely on the sword's primal essence, not pursuing martial ultimates through cultivation, would never comprehend.
[Gaaaaah! No! This can't be! For me to end like th—!]
That was the Demon of Swords' final utterance.
A flash followed, shattering countless blades into debris.
The Heavenly Demon slowly rotated his wrist, leaving it behind.
"Hm, not entirely meaningless, then."
The fight ended swiftly, but it hadn't been effortless.
For all his bluster, the foe was a natural counter, forcing near-maximal effort in that single blow.
In the process, he recovered some realm lost to memory damage.
Still inferior to his living peak, but with myriad buffs, his current output wouldn't lag much.
As subordinate undead belatedly arrived to collect the demon's remains as spoils,
"Looks like you're done. I heard the Demon of Swords was fairly strong—impressive as always."
A woman approached, addressing him.
A female warrior in pitch-black armor absorbing all light like congealed abyss, wielding a matching shield and warhammer.
The Heavenly Demon nodded slowly, watching her rising black aura erode the surroundings.
"Yours ended without issue too, I see."
His peer, the former priest and scribe.
The undead trailing her bore traces of fierce combat everywhere.
"My opponent wasn't that strong a demon. Still, I made sure to impart the proper teachings. For one to proudly flaunt an irreverent name like 'Demon of Disbelief' even after our Lord descended in person?"
She shrugged with a bright smile, declaring heretics deserved only death, her massive hammer—drenched in unidentified reddish liquid—slung proudly over her shoulder.
"Well, good. Does this wrap up this sector?"
The Undying Army's lightning assault was still ongoing.
Like cancer spreading through veins, Death Legions infiltrated worldwide, relentlessly targeting demons.
Casualties weren't negligible, but as undead, that was hardly an issue.
This world brimmed with resentful dead for replenishment anyway.
"Yes. Next up..."
The scribe paused mid-reply, staring blankly into empty space.
The Heavenly Demon reacted similarly.
Somewhere far beyond visual range.
One of two clashing colossal forces devoured the other, forcibly suppressing it.
And shortly after.
"...Done, huh."
"It's over."
The words slipped from both mouths simultaneously.
"Only one remains now?"
"Yeah. That's basically the main course."
"Looking forward to it. Hope there are some decent ones there."
Exchanging light banter, they turned and moved.
Toward the teleportation circle just completed by undead mages.
Vrrr—
Such massive relocations weren't unique to them; most undead in this world mirrored the motion.
A colossal tide shaking even the solidified fate of the world.
Thus, the Undying Army—sweeping away the Great Demon of Despair, then the Great Demon of Ruin and its minions—turned as one.
Toward the forces of the last remaining Great Demon.
The mightiest demon reigning at Divore's pinnacle.
Toward the domain ruled by the Great Demon of Infinity.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Hans slowly nodded as he rolled his joints, checking his condition.
'Indeed, now I see why Great Demons are called this world's apex.'
The first hunted, Despair, and the second felled, Ruin.
Both wielded tricky authorities.
Despair's nullified foes in its domain while invalidating all hostile attacks against itself.
Excelling in army battles and self-preservation.
Any energy wilted and dispersed approaching it—no proper strikes landed.
[There's no such thing as absolutes in this world.]
The Great Demon of Ruin, wielding annihilation of all creation, was similar.
His minions would have melted before reaching it, but he never intended to rely on them anyway.
As Death's sovereign, how could he yield to mere Great Demons?
'Shame about that. If the Great Demon of Death still lived, it'd have helped me greatly.'
In slaying those two, he partially achieved his goal.
As suspected, traces of the Reverse Heaven Society Lord lingered in Divore.
'A being who shattered the world's walls, opened the Hell Gate, and hunted absolutes like the Great Demon of Death. Only the Reverse Heaven Society Lord could manage that.'
Unfortunately, not all info was gleaned.
Despair and Ruin had ascended post-Hell Gate, so pre-event details were spotty.
[Kehheheh, taking down the Great Demon of Infinity will confirm it.]
Only Infinity remained among those surviving the Society Lord's rampage to retain Great Demon status.
Slaughter and Terror had fallen to the Executor a century ago.
'Did the Great Demons of Hell falling to him trigger the world's doom?'
In other words, Hell's balance crumbled first, not the surface.
With the barrier between realms shattered amid turmoil, demons flooding the surface was inevitable.
Divore's dimensional framework had essentially collapsed.
'Clear out the surface demons first, and a path might open. The world's manager can handle the rest.'
Prioritize purging the overflowing filth before full cleanup.
Divore's demons spawned from worldly negativity.
Even wiping them now, they'd regenerate from Hell eventually—but by then, barriers should be mended.
Buying that time sufficed his role.
'Of course, that means clearing those first.'
Hans eyed the front with blazing black gaze.
The plain brimmed with staggering legions.
Not his Undying Army.
[Infinity, indeed...]
Hell legions summoned by demons.
Not mere numbers padding.
High demons he'd deemed troublesome mixed in thickly.
'So many identical copies. Even of the dead. The ability to duplicate even deceased demons...'
Probably not its full extent.
"Infinity" held boundless potential.
'Whatever.'
Hans didn't care.
And why would he?
"Kyaaaaak—!"
[For the King of Death! Slaughter all who block the path!]
"Grrrrk!"
[Woooooo——!]
He was the pinnacle of necromancers, specialized above all in massive battles.
The Immortal King.