Chapter 40: Enemy of Ten Thousand Armies (1)
In the endless worlds of the multiverse, a myth has been passed down.
Legend has it that in an age more ancient than the primordial, heaven and earth were not yet divided. In the world, there was no life, nor death; no light, nor darkness. Cold and heat intertwined, order and chaos merged, and even the boundary between existence and nothingness could not be discerned.
Yet, a flame was born from nothingness. Light illuminated the void, distinguishing all things and concepts. Thus, for the first time, life and death, light and darkness were separated. The first life appeared, bathed in the brilliant firelight, and naturally, the first deceased also came into being, sinking into the dark river.
If the blazing sun hanging in the high heavens is the source of life, then the River Styx piercing the bottomless abyss is the embodiment of death. This black, waveless river signifies fading and parting, the boundary between life and death. To drink its waters is to abandon the world of color and choose to sink into eternal, silent slumber.
Of course, this is merely an exaggerated saying. If an ordinary person were to touch the River Styx, they would die instantly. But if it were a professional, they could briefly resist the ultimate negative energy of its waters. In fact, whether undead or demon, they can endure the power of the River Styx for a short time and use this river, which runs through all abysses, to travel to other abysses. It is precisely because of the River Styx that the abyss is a whole, rather than countless scattered world wreckages.
Rivers in the mortal world have sources, and in myth, the River Styx also has an origin and an end. Legend says its origin is the first world in existence to die naturally, while its end nurtures a deity named 'Death.' When He is born, the multiverse will perish. Countless people and demons have been drawn to this myth, attempting to follow the River Styx's flow to find its origin. They have explored countless layers, assigning numbers to each world—the layers of the abyss are derived from this—but for millions of years, no one has ever succeeded.
The Sixth Abyss, the Sea of Molten Fire, the Endless River Styx.
The River Styx of the Sixth Abyss lies in its central region, a vast, boundless plain of black volcanic rock. On the maps of demon lords, it appears as a straight line, cutting the black great plain in two from top to bottom. Such a regular shape could be called a wonder, but now is not its most dazzling moment—when the Abyss Lord, having conquered other worlds, returns with a myriad army and uses countless souls as fuel to turn the plain into a boiling sea of molten fire, that is when this River Styx, situated in the center of endless lava yet unchanged, is at its most magnificent.
At this moment, on the right bank of the River Styx, an army is gathering.
Blades reflect a dim blood light, cutting through the darkness of the Sixth Abyss. On the flat sandy ground of the river plain, scattered and heavy footsteps stir up winds thick with sulfur and the stench of blood, raising dust. The River Styx flows silently, while tens of thousands of demons and magical beasts converge from all directions. These demons are different from their scattered kin on the fringes. Even the cannon-fodder lesser demons wear leather armor made from the waste shells of their own kind, and on the berserk demons, solid armor forged from black iron absorbs all light. Under the commands of winged demon officers, they form neat, uniform legions, assembling under a single black banner.
Demons have no loyalty. Demons have no organization. Demons only know slaughter and destruction. They are the least cooperative beings in the world, a species that could never form an army. This lifeform, which grows by devouring each other, is destined for self-annihilation from its very origin. A scholar once proposed that, given the rate at which demons kill and destroy each other, the entire abyss's life would be completely extinct in just six hundred years, leaving only one or two ultra-rare species per world. As embodiments of chaos, even if purified to ashes by holy light, they could never gather under the same banner.
That scholar was correct. Demons are indeed such creatures, but his theory lacked one premise.
That premise is: without a Demon Lord or an Abyss Lord leading them.
The black banner rustles in the foul wind. The flag of the [Golden Thousand Eyes] stands at the forefront of the demon army. Its sole purpose is to represent the authority of one of the four great Demon Lords of the Sixth Abyss, the Sea of Molten Fire: [Hailmu of the Thousand Eyes].
Lesser demon engineer corps, berserk demon heavy armor infantry, eye demon phalanxes—one terrifying army after another, trainable only under the power of a Demon Lord, is assembling. The vast plain on the right bank of the River Styx is already covered in black. With the heavy breathing of each demon, the already stagnant and decayed air feels as if it is being drained. Low pressure churns the surrounding air, spreading a heavy atmosphere into the distance.
From the demon fortress [Black Blood City], the closest to the River Styx, the brightness before the fortress was merely that of an ordinary sun—dazzling. But now, that brightness is almost equivalent to a supernova, utterly impossible to look at directly. Even with eyes closed, light penetrates the eyelids, causing a dry, stinging sensation in the eyeballs.
And an instant later, a pure stream of flame, containing no impurities, mixed with the countless fireballs of the flame demons, fell like raindrops toward the location of the demon army!
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
Continuous thunderclaps rang out in midair. Gray-white shockwaves formed countless rings. The insect demon watched the movements of its enemies before it with intense focus. Its four compound eyes granted it extremely powerful perception and dynamic vision beyond human imagination. Gwagonda urgently used psychic communication to connect with every demon in the army. Instantly, massive blood-red energy shields materialized in the demon army's formation. Under the insect demon commander's control, these shields effortlessly blocked all attacks from the black dragon and the flame demon, at the cost of merely a few hundred lesser demons' lives.
In the distance, seeing their attacks repeatedly fail, both the black dragon and the flame demon seemed to lose their desire to continue fighting. The two simply abandoned the assault and focused entirely on running toward the edge of the River Styx. Thanks to the harassment of their previous attacks, no demon could stop their approach.
Then, the black dragon and the flame demon stopped at the riverbank of the River Styx.
The River Styx of the Sea of Molten Fire is not wide. On the contrary, compared to a true great river, it is actually very narrow—at most only about a kilometer wide. But that kilometer is not to be casually crossed. Both the black dragon and the flame demon knew that without disrupting the enemy's formation, they could not forcibly cross the River Styx under the ranged attacks of tens of thousands of demons. If they insisted on forcing a crossing, they would face the most severe assault from the demon army.
—It seems assembling the army here was the right move. The insect demon leader thought, feeling slightly reassured. The power of the River Styx surpasses all imagination. Even a sovereign cannot fly over it and must honestly ford the river. And even a sovereign, trying to safely cross the river under the full firepower of an entire demon legion, is absolutely impossible.
Thinking this, the insect demon's heart calmed a little. Everything was within its control—a flawless plan. Lord Hailmu would return soon, and this interval was enough for it to stall.
Gwagonda had never considered that the Demon Lord could be defeated. It believed this so firmly that only when another winged demon officer beside it reminded it did the insect demon notice a change on the opposite bank.
It saw it.
That sovereign stepped down from the black dragon's head. This terrifying sovereign, clad in a dragon-head helmet, came before the River Styx, bent down, and scooped up some of its water. Then, he reached out directly to the flame demon beside him. Amidst the latter's screams, he forcibly transformed it into a great sword burning with pure flame.
Joshua raised his head, looking at the opposite bank before him—the dense demon army and the city behind them.
He weighed the sword in his hand.
—It's enough. The warrior thought, and then revealed a smile.