After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

However, this only applies to the people of Isgard, the majority of the people of the United Nations, and the Romans.

Regent Yang Hao was clearly not among them.

After all, he doesn't seem to belong to this world.

"If we can corrupt that Regent and turn him into one of our own... then our demon race can complete cycle after cycle of evolution under his knowledge..."

If we can corrupt that regent, then we demons can conquer one new world after another, allowing our race to escape the fate of extinction in a world destined to grow cold.

The Regent's knowledge is enough to make me pay the most painful price! But the problem is...

How can I find an opportunity to corrupt this regent?

The demon servant stood atop a chitinous tower, looking down at the Roman demons on the ground, which were beginning to transform into various forms, and the primal demons circling around the Roman demons in the distance.

For the demon servant, corrupting the regent was arguably his greatest and most important goal in life.

But how to corrupt the regent is a good question.

The demon servant gestured with his scaly fingers as if playing a piano in the air.

"Without a doubt, the Regent is not a person of strong will... at least not someone who can put up much resistance when faced with [mental invasion]."

But the powerful figures surrounding him are the biggest obstacle to my corruption... especially since my body is weakened after focusing on [Intelligence] evolution... I truly lack the confidence to break through their defenses and perform the most efficient [Corruption] work on him at close range—not to mention, those elven mages also have the ability to heal corruption...

To corrupt the Regent, I must proceed slowly... Must I avoid letting the powerful figures detect my every move?

Demons are not a race devoid of self-awareness. Especially for high-ranking demons and Titan demons who focus on evolving the upper limit of their intelligence, they are well aware that momentary bravery will not bring any benefit to the greater cause of their race.

Especially for demon servants, there's no way to efficiently perform close-range corruption, no way to command primal demons to break through the rescue force's defenses, and even the Roman demons aren't prioritizing their racial cause...

Temporary bravery will only bring them utter destruction.

Therefore... he must solve this problem through wisdom.

The demon servant, however, devised two strategies based on his "wisdom".

Firstly, target the women around the Regent. Create a miniature demonic bacterium in the current royal capital's mother nest, place it on the nun or the delicate and adorable doll-like girl, and when the Regent has intimate contact with her, let the demonic bacterium contaminate both of them, causing the mutation process to manifest within their bodies.

...This is an extremely dangerous tactic. On one hand, the demon servants cannot guarantee...whether the Regent is an abstinent person. If the Regent is indeed abstinent, then this tactic has no chance of success.

On the other hand, the Demon Mother Nest requires a great deal of resources and time to produce these special demon offspring. Now is a crucial period for the development of the Demon Realm. It's like humans increasing their population by using condoms and making sure to ejaculate three times instead of going straight to bed; if this kind of wasteful behavior doesn't yield an advantage, then...it's terrible.

The worst outcome is that the Demon Realm will remain underdeveloped for ten years, and will even appear unusually weak after the [Catastrophe of Ice] comes... The best outcome is the possibility that the demons will be assimilated by the Regent, but that is only a possibility.

What's more, who knows if they'll even have regular internal checkups after they leave the Demon Realm...? If the United Kingdom didn't have the Bayrjans and elves, perhaps the demon servants wouldn't have thought so deeply—but the problem is, they really do have them, don't they?

...Therefore, this plan was quickly rejected by the demon servants. Since it's impossible to corrupt the Regent through the women around him, could we, conversely, corrupt him through combat?

No...that won't do. This would make us an easy target for the elven mage's surveillance. What should we do?

The demon servant fell into deep thought.

And it was at that moment that his eyes fell upon the demon that the Romans had transformed into below.

The Roman demons no longer possessed the hideous faces they had when they transformed into demons. They wore tattered clothes made from the skin of primal demons, and they had reverted to their former human forms. Then, under the beating of one of the Roman demons disguised as a landlord, a human woman collapsed to the ground, sobbing—a scene of a respectable woman being humiliated in the marketplace.

Then, under the astonished gaze of his demon servants, Roman the Demon began to renovate the village buildings that had been corrupted by the Demon Realm, including the tower he stood on—but all of this was an illusion.

"...Unlike the original demons, the first thing Roman the Demon learned...no, the first thing he remembered was the cunning he had when he was human?"

The demon servant muttered to himself as he flew into the sky, gazing at the human village that seemed so out of place in the demon realm and its inhabitants. Although the buildings were essentially corrupted land, and the food only looked like human food, one thing was certain: the demon Roman was indeed very convincingly disguised.

The demon servants estimated that these Roman demons were disguises specifically created to counter the United Nations' forces—or at least to ambush the main force of the Issugard colonial army.

After all, humans are fragile creatures. Faced with a village that appears "normal" in hell... few people can perceive the strangeness of this village.

Especially if Roman the Demon could disguise himself more convincingly, or even simply drill a hole in the barrier of the Demon Realm to show that he was indeed a "fish that slipped through the net"—

"...They actually did that? A bunch of idiots who have absolutely no idea how powerful [unity] can be..."

The demon servant sighed, watching as the demon Roman actually breached the demonic barrier of his village, creating the impression of a "fish that slipped through the net"...

He suddenly realized that the Roman demon might be even more terrifying than he had imagined.

After all, while the demons understand the importance of scheming and trickery, they haven't gone so far as to harm their own homeland...

...Perhaps Roman the Devil is the more infamous devil.

The demon servant muttered to himself.

But in that instant, he realized that perhaps the devil Roman was the best candidate to break down the Regent's defenses and corrupt him.

............

Meanwhile, in the United Nations' ranks, Yang Hao and his companions, under the protection of Lalumia, were enjoying a very pleasant march.

The demonic ground beneath their feet posed little threat to them. Although their vision was shrouded in mist, to the embedded golem operators, the world within the demonic realm, aside from turning purplish-red, was even clearer than the real world outside.

With this clear vision, they naturally spotted the shadow of a demon flying high in the sky in the distance. Furthermore, with the aid of the magic network, their vision was directly connected to Elena's eyes, and through Elena, all the information was relayed to the entire army.

Therefore... Yang Hao and the others immediately understood that if the demon was not seriously flawed, it was the culprit behind the destruction of the Roman Empire into the Demon Realm.

"Explanation: More than 9% of the demons in this demon realm are newly born demons. From a distance, the demon mother nest has not yet reached the stage of maturity."

To explain further: Just as human sexual maturity is not yet complete, if we apply this to a human perspective, a demonic nest that is currently less than twelve years old lacks the ability to produce flying demons. In other words…”

Elena, as if to make sure Yang Hao could hear her clearly, used the [Mist] to press herself tightly against him, explaining in a voice barely audible, while simultaneously causing the magical puppets controlling the golems to look elsewhere.

Lalumia simply smiled without saying a word. After calmly relaying Elena's words to the hunters and elven mages, she heard Yang Hao mutter thoughtfully:

"That must be the [Demon Servant] we knew about before... It's observing us from afar high in the sky, right? But then again, Golem's eyes are really sharp..."

Explanation: Yes.

"But then again... since the demon servant is probably plotting something against us... then in other words, he probably doesn't know that we can get the true vision through the golem, right? Can we turn the tables and trick him?"

If we could eliminate the Lord of the Demon Realm while rescuing the main force of Ysgard, it would greatly benefit our subsequent strategic plans... What do you think of this?

Yang Hao's question caused Elena and Lalumia to fall silent.

Admittedly, it's a good thing that Yang Hao is willing to ask for their opinions instead of making decisions unilaterally.

Conversely, Elena and Lalumia also didn't know if their opinions could be of any help to Yang Hao.

After thinking it over, since we can't be sure that the suggestions we make will be useful, then it would be a good option to help him avoid making mistakes.

Driven by this idea, Lalumia of the [Light] class first gently shook her head and offered a suggestion:

"My children, although I can protect you and now that I have regained most of my power, I am capable of fighting against the Demon Realm, but never forget that our core objective on this trip is to ensure the safety of the main force of Ysgard."

We can't gamble with the lives of the main force of Ysgard... especially since that demon can escape at any time. Relying on the Golem's vision, we won't be able to catch up with its escape, will we?"

While the United Nations relied on the Golems for excellent visibility, the Golems' own inefficiency also slowed down the United Nations' rescue efforts.

The demon servants can fly, and it seems their speed will only increase, not decrease—in other words, if Yang Hao cannot kill them in one blow, the fleeing demon servants may instead pose a huge threat to the United Nations' rescue forces, or even be used as hostages by the main force of the Issugard colonial army to fight to the death.

If Isgard weren't his ally, then those troops could simply die—but the problem is that Isgard is his ally, and it's clear that they will be another pillar in the future fight against the demonic calamity... so Yang Hao cannot abandon the lives of Isgard's main force.

not to mention--

"Concern: Even with Lord Lalumia included, we don't have a 100% chance of killing the demon servants. After all, gods are also living beings, and their vision can be obscured by the mist... Although not as blurred as humans, the loss of vision could still risk jeopardizing our plans."

Elena tightly hugged Yang Hao's lower back from behind, and her worried statement made Yang Hao think.

To be honest... without knowing the Demon Servant's various abilities, the United Nations really couldn't guarantee killing him... rather than wasting resources killing the Demon Servant, it would be better to ensure that the objective of this trip was achieved first.

The main force of the Ysgard colonial army, numbering over ten thousand, is far more important than the current demon servants. At least, that's certainly true in terms of feasibility.

But Yang Hao couldn't just let the demon servant set a trap for him like that...

So after much deliberation, Yang Hao finally decided to trick the demon servant. But the prerequisite for doing so was that the demon servant would actually launch an attack on them.

The principle behind this is simply to take advantage of the fact that the demon servants may not understand the source of Lalumia's divine power... After all, before Lalumia fully revealed her power, even the Bayrzens did not know her true identity, let alone the demon servants who were thousands of miles away.

"If the demon servant really intends to attack us, Lalumia, please... let him get a little closer. Inflicting sustained damage at close range would be ideal, but if that's not possible, please act according to your own judgment."

"No problem, my child."

They confirmed the next steps in the prevention and control plan, and then slowly moved forward under Gorem's guidance.

Further afield, the demoralized main force of Ysgard struggled to advance in the direction they had come from, only to be shrouded in fog and end up back where they started. They finally gave up on their plan to leave this hellish place on their own and began, under the orders of their on-site commander, to gather all available materials to build their own camp.

No matter how hard they searched, they could only find building materials that had already decayed. The wood had turned into grotesque creatures covered in eyes, the stones were covered in chitinous shells, even the soil shone with the luster of shells, and the nearby water was as thick as blood and had a sickly purple color.

The main force of Isgard dared not use these things to build their own camp. They could only wrap themselves in their own blankets and rest on the spot in small teams. The most severely mutated troops were allowed to rest in the outermost area as a precaution. They could only hope that General Piss in the rear could call for reinforcements to rescue them.

But how easy is that?

"Impossible... No matter which way we go, we're just going in circles. How could the reinforcements outside possibly find our location?"

In the center of the camp, a soldier from Isgard dejectedly scratched the bumps on his body, muttering something with a mournful face, while looking around blankly in the mist.

The closer they got to the capital of Roman, the thicker the fog became. In the central area of ​​the main force's camp, although they knew they were surrounded by teammates, everything was shrouded in a purple haze. Only things very close at hand could be seen clearly, let alone anything a little further away.

At a distance of less than twenty meters, the soldiers had absolutely no way of distinguishing whether the hazy figures were friendly or enemy. For reinforcements coming in from outside to find them was even more of a pipe dream!

The soldiers groaned, but the officers above them forbade them from making any unwarranted sighs.

"Don't give up! Have faith in our reinforcements! Don't forget our professional military ethics, and don't forget the oath that every soldier of Isgard should fulfill to the best of their ability!"

The officers encouraged their men, even though they themselves had no confidence in the arrival of reinforcements; they still bore the responsibility of boosting the morale of their soldiers.

"Come on, let's sing military songs—sing military songs! Let's use military songs to encourage everyone! Never give up!"

The officers led the singing of the Issugard military song. The Issugard military song might sound old-fashioned at first, but in its ancient melody, it was filled with the president's great achievements, the arduous process of multi-racial unity, the present good life, and confidence in the future.

Many soldiers cried as they sang, but they were quickly inspired by the military song to regain their morale—not only because they thought of their motherland and their families, but also because they remembered the president who never gave up on any remaining troops during the war of unification.

The president will absolutely not watch us die in vain—this is the confidence and respect that the president of Issugard instilled in the army through an entire unification war. It is also the important foundation upon which every Issugard soldier is willing to cast their vote and pledge allegiance to the president.

They firmly believed that the president would never abandon them, and they were even more convinced that Lady Nia, the Black Dragon, was now running around trying to smooth things over for them.

But they doubted whether they could hold out until reinforcements arrived, and even more so whether, once the reinforcements did arrive, they would turn into monsters during the evacuation, bringing death and suffering to their comrades.

Many Isgard soldiers whose mutations had already spread looked around for a while before secretly leaving the camp while their comrades were still singing.

Knowing their days were numbered, they decided to leave their equipment and supplies behind rather than make things difficult for their comrades.

When the others finally realized what had happened in the fog, they neither searched for the missing person nor rushed around frantically. They simply collected the supplies and belongings left behind by the missing person, feeling grateful for their sacrifice and strengthening their resolve not to waste the hope left by their comrade.

But even so.

After May 21, the main force of 16,000 Ysugard troops still suffered a loss of more than 100 men.

Although the vast majority of people disappeared on their own, the fact that some of the alien races mutated at a speed beyond human imagination still terrified the main force of Isgard.

They began constructing campfires and beacon towers to make their camp more conspicuous. Meanwhile, in the distance, after a day and a night of travel, Yang Hao and his companions arrived at the outskirts of Roman Village, a place that seemed almost too normal for the Demon Realm...