The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 256 Mobilizing the Nation's Strength for an Expedition to the Abyss

In the months following his successful control of the Abyss Rift, Elion not only signed a cooperation agreement with the Elven Court but also made thorough preparations for his subsequent expedition into the Abyss.

Be prepared!

This includes two aspects:
First, in terms of intelligence, potential dangers should be identified in advance.

At this moment, the group of high-ranking demons that had been captured and controlled using [Otherworldly Oath] suddenly came in handy.

They are all natives of the Abyss, and they have the most say about the environment of the Abyss.

In particular, Balor Ratu himself is a sub-lord of the first layer of the Abyss and is completely familiar with the [Abyss Plains].

So, under the urging of the human mages, the demons painstakingly recalled and listed all the obstacles they might encounter during their expedition to the abyss, as well as the various geographical environments and natural disasters of the abyss.

Then, for each situation, a corresponding solution is designed.

Meanwhile, during this period, the mages also dispatched hundreds of magical pets to cross the abyss rift in advance as scouts to scout out the situation inside.

Although most magical communication methods, such as [Elian Mind Link] and [Visual Link], are ineffective when separated by planes, as long as some of the magical pets can return alive, they can bring back the information.

It can be said that before the expedition began, the Eldoron Abyss Expeditionary Force already had a considerable understanding of the Abyss and had made contingency plans for almost all possible difficulties!
This is what Elian mentioned back in the first year of the Empire: the importance of intelligence in magical wars.

Second, procure the necessary items.

"Everyone has brought their holy water, right?"

"Report: The entire expeditionary force is carrying at least three bottles of holy water each. Furthermore, a large quantity of holy water is stored in the airships and [Dimensional Bags]."

As part of the cooperation agreement between the two countries, the Elven Kingdom provided 2 bottles of holy water.

In addition to this, Eldoron purchased an extra 1 bottles of holy water.

These holy waters will be used to combat the environmental threats posed by the abyss.

In addition, Eldoron used the Elven Kingdom as a bridge to purchase some magical items and consecration rituals enchanted by dwarven priests from the Dwarven Kingdom.

This was the first formal trade between Eldoron and the dwarven kingdom in the south of the continent.

—The dwarven pantheon, led by Moradin, the father of the dwarves, belongs to the [Lawful Good] alignment. The divine magic of their priests is precisely the counterforce of the [Chaotic Evil] abyssal power.

Some abyssal calamities, such as certain abyssal diseases and curses, require the divine power of a lawful good priest to resolve.

Finally, other magical items for dimensional exploration were prepared.

For example, there are quite a few low-level wands that can cast 50 rounds of [Tolerate Elemental Damage].

There are also magical items such as the Folding Fortress and the Folding Ship.

Now, this expeditionary force, which has made thorough preparations, is eager to set off.

"Are we finally about to explore the bottomless abyss?"

"We originally thought we were just resisting the invasion of the Abyss. It wasn't until half a year ago that we finally realized we were actually going to expand our territory within the Abyss!"

"My God, expanding territory in the bottomless abyss, I never dared to even think about it before."

"In the future, a portion of the Abyss will also be Eldoron's territory, just like the Emerald Mountains!"

"..."

With excitement, the crowd stepped toward the blood-red crevice.

The undead, equipped with cold iron weapons, walked at the front, lined up, and entered the part of the abyss rift that hung down to the ground—it was about seven or eight meters wide.

Airships and humans riding two-legged dragons flew into that dimensional rift from the sky.

One after another, golems and groups of excited yet apprehensive human professionals followed behind...

In the 32nd year of the Empire, the Eldoran Expeditionary Force plunged into an abyss.

This is the starting point of the Empire's conquest of the planes!
……

The wasteland was swept by the fierce wind, and the jagged stone mountains appeared and disappeared under the cover of swarms of winged demons.

A depressing red sun hung high in the sky, plunging the entire area into the sweltering heat of midsummer.

Dark clouds obscured the plains, concealing potential dangers.

In the distance, one can vaguely see enormous pits leading to other abyssal levels, as well as rows of steel fortresses.

"Is this the bottomless abyss?" "It truly is a hellish scene."

"You're wrong. Hell is the mortal enemy of the Abyss. The demons of Hell and the demons of the Abyss have been fighting each other for countless years since the distant past."

"It's just a metaphor!"

"That stone mountain in the distance must be tens of thousands of meters high, so high that you can't even see the top of it!"

"Indeed, just as the book says, the scenery of outer planes such as Heaven Mountain, Hell, and the Abyss is far beyond what the material plane can compare to. The mountains are higher, the caves are larger, and the rivers are wider."

"..."

The expeditionary force looked around, gazing at the raging winds and the jagged, rocky mountains, utterly awestruck by the sight before them.

However, this shock stemmed more from admiration for the magnificent scenery than from fear.

"Just like the intelligence reports, the temperature in the first layer of the abyss, the Wanyuan Plain, is consistently above 30 degrees Celsius, equivalent to the sweltering heat of Eldoron."

"It's not exactly livable. If we want to attract more immigrants, we'll need to do more environmental improvements."

"Feasible environmental remediation plans are still under discussion..."

One by one, the monks and researchers took measurements with thermometers and recorded the information on paper.

Before they even stepped into the abyss, they had already cast a spell to protect them from the high temperature, so they wouldn't feel uncomfortable.

Some researchers even used photographic crystals to take pictures everywhere, recording every important moment.

Some researchers even crouched down and used their "magic touch" to collect the soil and stones from the ground into bags.

"The abyssal soil has been collected. A preliminary observation shows that it is slightly different from the soil in the material plane. We plan to analyze its composition through further experiments."

The mages passed information to each other without any hesitation despite the nightmarish and terrifying abyss scene.

On the contrary, this environment, so different from the mainland, only aroused their curiosity and thirst for knowledge!

A nightmarish abyss, a symbol of chaos and evil, the source of endless chaos and demons that devours the universe...

No matter what terrifying name the abyss may be given, to mages with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, it is simply a new realm containing endless mysteries waiting to be explored!
Looking at the researchers quickly recording data, El-Erian smiled knowingly.

According to the original history, many adventurers and learned mages and scholars visited the Abyss in later generations and left behind many valuable records.

However, most of these abyss explorers are either solo adventurers or small teams of four or five people.

In this way, the entire nation's resources are mobilized to lead a powerful expeditionary force into the abyss.

But this is something that has never happened before in history, or even in the future!

Just then, several of the relatively few sorcerers in the expeditionary force suddenly cried out in alarm, various abnormalities emanating from their bodies—

Some warlocks' shadows began to distort, some warlocks' eyes began to emit golden light, and some warlocks' bodies briefly floated up before falling back to the ground in a gust of wind...

"What's going on? Why are five or six sorcerers seemingly experiencing strange phenomena?"

The surrounding mages all showed surprised expressions and turned to look at their fellow sorcerers.

"I felt it, did you feel it?"

"The concentration of magical energy in the air here is on a completely different level compared to the mainland!"

"Yes, I felt it too. It's like I'm breathing magic with every breath I take in and out."

"I can almost feel the surging magical power in the air resonating with the magic in my blood!"

Upon hearing the descriptions of their experiences from several sorcerers who had witnessed unusual phenomena, the research mages either pulled out instruments or directly cast spells such as [Detection Magic] and [Arcane Vision] to detect the concentration of magic in the surrounding environment.

Dazzling light bursts from the magic crystal detectors that measure the intensity of magic in the surrounding environment, displaying exaggerated numbers.

"Environmental background magic concentration, 764 TKA".

"764 TKA? Are you kidding me?"

"It is an order of magnitude higher than the Emerald Mountains, which were once infiltrated by dragon magic."

"This is more than 100 times that of most areas of the material plane!"

The research mages were astonished when they saw the detected values.

(End of this chapter)