The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 209 The Devil's "Paradise," a Line-Up Invasion!

Latour is a Balor.

Many years ago, he was just a lowly and pitiful mane.

—This lowest-level demon is not much stronger than a wild wolf. Apart from having the elemental resistance and poison immunity that demons are equipped with, it is even weaker than a low-level mortal professional. It belongs to the lowest level of existence in the bottomless abyss.

However, in the bloody and insane abyss, after countless battles, Latour defeated enemies of equal strength time and time again, devouring the flesh and blood of these losers.

The chaotic and insane will of the Abyss relishes Latour's carnage, making him stronger with each bloody victory.

Thus, starting from the lowest level of the original demon, Latour upgraded time and time again over a dozen centuries, either by devouring the flesh and blood of his enemies or by becoming a stronger demon form due to the rewards of the will of the abyss.

Primal Demon, Fear Demon, Quaser Demon, Flo Demon, Berserker Demon, Temptress Demon, Soul-Slaying Demon...

Until decades ago, he finally ascended to the legendary Balrog, becoming one of the most powerful demon species below the Demon Lord.

With his terrifying strength, he also subdued tens of thousands of demon minions, possessing his own demon army and a small territory in the first layer of the bottomless abyss, the "Plains of Ten Thousand Abyss".

By the standards of the Abyss, Latour could barely be considered a [Secondary Lord].

Such secondary lords are as numerous as hairs on a cow in the Abyss, and are mostly novice legendaries. They fight each other, hoping to one day master a complete layer of the Abyss and become a true demon lord recognized by the will of the Abyss.

Like other ambitious demons, Latour believed that one day he would become a full demon lord.

Putting him alongside such resounding names as [King of the Frost Giants] Kosch't, [King of the Gnolls] Yenogu, and [Wind Lord] Pazuzu!
However, the competition among demons in the abyss was far too fierce. Every day, they fought against other equally powerful secondary lords and faced attacks from the legions of demons from the Nine Hells, leaving Latour with no hope of making progress.

Until a few months ago...

A massive dimensional rift suddenly unfolded across the blood-red wasteland of the [Abyss Plains], leading to a beautiful world called the [Material Dimension].

The material plane!

Almost every demon had heard of it; it was a legendary "heaven".

It should be understood that, as beings inherently chaotic and evil, demons are driven by an insatiable thirst for slaughter, yearning to tear apart the flesh and blood of their enemies.

But in the abyss, he was surrounded by demons just like himself.

Do you enjoy torturing the weak and bullying the vulnerable?
Sorry, everyone around us is the same!
Even more surprising is that demons stronger than you, capable of crushing you with a flick of their wrist, are everywhere.

However, the material plane is different.

In the legends of demons, it was a beautiful hunting paradise, teeming with peaceful and harmless creatures.

The forest wasn't inhabited by killer snake trees, nor by terrifying abyssal beasts; instead, it was home to wild rabbits and deer, devoid of supernatural powers. The inhabitants who ruled the area were almost entirely weak and harmless mortal races: halflings, dwarves, and giant gnomes.

Even more miraculously, if a demon dies in the bottomless abyss—its homeland—it truly dies.

However, if a demon dies in another dimension, its essence will return to the abyss and be resurrected. It will only be reborn as a weaker demon.

This mechanism is practically like encouraging demons to conquer other planes!
Therefore, almost every demon has longed to be summoned to the material plane by a mortal spellcaster one day, so that it can unleash its bloodlust to the fullest!

In these stories passed down orally, the material plane as seen by demons is much like the holy land described by religious believers—

Cream and honey flow everywhere, a place of infinite beauty!

"My God, a dimensional rift leading to the material plane has actually appeared in my abyss level?"

"This is the abyss's reward for my thousand years of slaughter!"

Without much thought, Latour led the vast majority of his troops toward the rift leading to heaven.

"As long as I spread enough chaos and evil across the material plane and devour enough prey, the will of the abyss will surely reward me and make me a true demon lord!"

Latour was convinced of this.

However, when Ratu arrived at the rift with his vast demon army, he was dumbfounded.

Why are there so many people (demons)?
All that could be seen was a vast, overwhelming horde of demons, all crammed into the crack.

They surrounded them in layers upon layers, countless times.

Clearly, there are quite a few demons who share the same idea as Latour and are eager to go to "heaven".

Almost all the secondary lords in the first layer of the abyss either came in person or sent their subordinates.

Even the demon lords who rule other levels of the Abyss, such as Okus, the Undying Lord of the 113th level [Land of Death], Baffiment, the Tauren King of the 600th level [Endless Labyrinth], and Koschitch, the Frost Giant King of the 23rd level [Iron Icefield], have all sent a portion of their forces, unwilling to give up this opportunity to conquer the Material Plane.

There's no way around it; the first level of the abyss, the "Plains of Ten Thousand Abysses," is the most unique.

This level contains numerous deep pits leading to other levels of the abyss, essentially serving as a "transportation hub" connecting the entire abyss. Lords from any level can get involved.

Seeing so many demons crammed together, the fire demon lord Ratu's anger flared even more fiercely, crackling and burning.

Oh dear, so you have to wait in line to hack in?
The total amount of matter that can pass through dimensional rifts each day seems to be limited. As inherently chaotic beings, demons naturally don't care about first come, first served or obediently line up.

Representing dozens of different secondary lords and demon lords, each faction occupied a piece of land in front of the dimensional rift, fighting fiercely for a spot to enter the beautiful kingdom first, with constant daily battles.

However, in order to preserve his forces to the greatest extent possible before truly entering the hunting paradise, Latour forcibly restrained his bloodlust as a demon and tried to avoid clashes with other forces.

Finally, after a long wait, the Balrog Lord Ratul got his chance and led his demon army into the dimensional rift.

I've arrived in paradise, a place overflowing with "cream and honey"!

Having entered the material plane, breathing in the fresh air free of sulfur, and basking in the bright sunshine, Latour was extremely excited:

"My legions, charge! Tear apart all the weak creatures of this world!"

……

"Report, Lord Ratu, the Balrog Lord. Prophecy indicates that ahead lies Blackrock Fortress, the human kingdom of Eldoron."

"Humans are one of the mortal intelligent races in this world. They seem to have only appeared in the last thousand years."

"According to the information provided by the divination, the human fortress is poorly defended—there are no legendary-level human guardians, and the number of high-level human professionals is also small, only a dozen or so."

Hearing the report from his subordinates, the fire demon Ratu, flying in the air, burst into laughter, his right hand whipping out a series of cracking sounds as it lashed through the air.

"Hahaha, finally I can meet the intelligent beings of this world."

"Finally, I can slaughter them with my own hands and hear their screams!"

In the short time since arriving on the material plane, Ratul's demon army has easily slaughtered all the wild animals and weak monsters they have encountered, leaving behind large areas of corpses and bloodstains.

These creatures, most of which lack extraordinary powers, are incomparable to the terrifying infernal beasts of the abyss. They have no ability to resist the demons and cannot even harm them.

This further convinced the Balrog Lord Ratul that the material plane was a peaceful paradise for the weak and a haven for demons to slaughter.

However, killing wild beasts was still too boring.

Only by slaughtering truly intelligent races and listening to their cries, pleas for mercy, and screams can the demons satisfy their bloodlust to the fullest extent!
As the demonic legion advanced, the Blackrock Fortress became faintly visible in the distance.

"Come on!"

Ratu, the Balor Balor Lord, a fire demon standing a full 6 meters tall, wielded a lightning-sparkling Thunder Sword in his left hand and a blazing whip of flames in his right. He flapped his enormous bat wings and soared into the air, commanding his legion below.
"Kill!"

“Kill all these weak creatures and use their blood to sacrifice to the abyss.”

Latour has absolute confidence in his own strength and that of the demon legion!

As a Balor Balrog, he is a top-tier demon species, with overall combat strength comparable to a mortal professional of the initial legendary level.

The prophetic magic revealed that this fortress did not possess any legendary-level human combat power on par with its own!
As for being surrounded by multiple people, there's no need to worry about it.

The Balrog continuously emanates a blazing [flame aura], and any weak enemy who approaches it will instantly be incinerated.

Quantity is useless against Balrog!

Behind Latour was an army of tens of thousands of demons, including a near-legendary six-armed serpent demon general and more than 50 high-ranking demons.

Demons generally possess extremely high magic resistance, elemental resistance, and physical damage reduction, making them virtually ineffective against the offensive methods of ordinary mortal professionals!
How could these weak humans possibly stop such a demonic army?

"Aim to kill all the humans in the fortress ahead within half an hour and eat their flesh," Latour ordered.

Looking ahead, as the vast demon army surged towards Blackrock Fortress in the human kingdom of Eldoron like a tidal wave, Ratu felt a pang of regret and sighed softly in his heart:
"What a pity! In my first battle against intelligent beings in the material plane, the enemy I encountered was so weak that I couldn't enjoy myself at all."

"Never mind, it's just the first battle anyway, let's just treat it as a normal warm-up exercise."

This will be the first battle of the great Balrog Lord Ratu's great journey across the material plane!
……

Above the city walls, watching the demon army surge forward like a tidal wave, General Thor yawned:
"Oh, another wave of demons is coming. This is the sixth wave this month."

"This time the enemy is indeed stronger."

"Just handle it the same way as usual."

He turned to look at the sun elf girl who had just arrived at the fortress:
"Feel free to record."

"This is how the soldiers of Eldoron fight against demons."

As usual, after obtaining permission to film, Leah looked at the surging demon army like a dark tide and the fire demon in the sky like a small sun, and cautiously asked:
"Do you need my help?"

"The strongest member of this demon legion seems to be the legendary Balor Flame Demon."

"I remember that this Blackrock Fortress doesn't have the combat power to match it!"

(End of this chapter)