The Paladin in the Abyss-Chapter 614 - 638: The Fate of the Race

“Her majesty understands that most of you only care about the surroundings of your own territories and neither can nor do understand the full scope of affairs across the entire realm. You might have heard that the Prince of Wrath was captured in Aphnas, the lord of the hyena-people was defeated by Zaris, and then the news of various Abyssal Lords’ failures followed. Their armies were first driven out of Scorched Flame Hell, then suffered a significant defeat in the Grey Ruins, and finally, even Castery fell. But what does that have to do with you? Those are merely the games of the greats, vying for power. What you should consider is how to survive in an environment surrounded by formidable enemies, conquer your opponents, and expand your influence,”

“But isn’t that the very way we Demons survive?” the transfigured Elf finally spoke, his voice cold yet slightly trembling, “The weak are killed off in the competition, serving as stepping stones for others to advance. The strongest, most cunning, evil, and shameless individuals become Abyssal Lords, ruling over entire realms. If they make stupid mistakes leading to their failures, then they only have themselves to blame and deserve to be replaced by others!”

“Upon receiving the message from the Hall of Sorrow, I imagined many reasons why this meeting could have been called, none of which aligns with our current situation,” Tijana’s tone sounded more moderate, “Sir, are you giving us a moral lecture?”

“That is certainly not her majesty’s intention. In fact, it’s precisely this brutal competitive mechanism that’s viewed by other races as exceedingly harsh but has allowed us Tanari to become the most powerful race in the Multiverse,” the soul-judging demon shuddered its disproportionate crow wings, its fingers tracing eastwards over the upper half of the map, “However, as her majesty mentioned at the beginning, times are challenging indeed, lords…”

As the soul-judging demon moved, purple blocks started to spread from the left to the right on the upper part of the map. Lancelot could easily guess that this represented the current extent of the Demons’ power. As the demon marked on the map, he spoke in a rather heartbroken tone:

“In less than a year, the Demons have taken control of the entire Foul Sand Desert, then they began advancing to the Land of Sin—Os-Magros Great Temple, Tower of Pain, Ugroget Fortress, Lair of Ednachet; these significant strongholds fell one after the other. And just as General Visuvius of the ‘Destruction Flame’ walked into an enemy trap in the plains, Plague Town was being besieged by a large demon army. The latest news is that the devilspawn lord has decided to surrender, and we have no information on the ultimate fate of the northern Broken Realm…”

As the soul-judging demon’s finger finally stopped over the area marked as Volcano Fortress, the purple area ceased spreading. If the situation was truly as the map depicted, about one-third of the Plains of the Abyss had already fallen into Bartez’s hands, and once Volcano Fortress also falls, the remaining areas would only be minor strongholds like Twin Bridges Town, which could hardly hold off the Demon assault.

“You can see that if Volcano Fortress falls, then the entire north of the Great Abyss will be completely penetrated by Bartez’s army. The powers you represent will then have only one fate—that of destruction. Do any of you have any queries?”

Everyone stared at the map on the stone table, no one speaking, while Lancelot took the opportunity to assess the situation near Twin Bridges Town. Volcano Fortress was approximately three hundred leagues west of Twin Bridges Town; three purple rectangles representing the Demon Legion surrounded the fortress—two to the west and one to the east with another directly between Volcano Fortress and Twin Bridges Town, likely the army that attacked Twin Bridges Town yesterday.

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From the mouths of others, Lancelot had learned it was the 66th Field Brigade of the First Demon Group, commanded by Baboli. He also knew what the Abyssal Refinement had said before the war began, but Tijana had not mentioned a word of it to him, so Lancelot didn’t let the Succubus Lord know of his anger.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let us temporarily set aside our own fates and observe the entire war situation from a higher perspective,” seeing that no one spoke, the soul judge demon continued, “There’s no need for me to remind you explicitly, but I’m sure none of you doubt Bartez’s determination to completely exterminate our race. Our… intelligence sources show that Zariel is confident that the battle in the Land of Sin will end soon and has already begun to execute a plan to advance south from the Foul Sand Desert. There are no defensible positions in the Open Plains, the master of Lavasta has already fled, and the Crawling City is nothing more than a dung pit surrounded by fences. Once the Open Plains fall, the only places left in the Plains of the Abyss will be Lord Pazuzu’s hanging kingdom and the molten iron lake to the southwest of the Shattered Mountain Range.”

“But the Wind Demon King has limited capabilities on the ground, and the molten iron lake is essentially a prison. The Demons only need to send a small contingent to guard the Tooth of Faul, and no army will think of getting out of the molten iron lake,” Grazzt’s Chief Diplomat spoke up, his voice carrying a strange zeal, “The situation is clear; the fate of Volcano Fortress is the fate of Tanari, the fate of the Bottomless Abyss! And my master has been chosen by destiny to save us from this disaster, the entire race’s hope rests solely on him!”

“I feel Lord Veyne is exaggerating, but the Volcano Fortress is indeed of great importance,” the soul judge demon took over the conversation, his calm tone contrasting starkly with the dripping, gooey demon, “If we cannot prevail at Volcano Fortress, soon the entire Plains of the Abyss will become Bartez’s territory. If the Abyss is a pocket, then the Plains of the Abyss are the opening of that pocket, and when that day truly comes, the extinction of the entire Tanari race will no longer be something unimaginable.”

“Let it be destroyed, what does it matter?” the Succubus spoke up again, still in a dismissive tone, “Lord Mekanshut will surely…”

“I am certain the Queen of the Succubus will find the right partner to spread her legs for, no one is better at it than she is, but before that…”

Grazzt’s Chief Diplomat stretched out his hand to the map marking Oasis Fort and then gave it several forceful twists. When he withdrew his arm, only a mass of distorted light and shadow remained, its threat implicit.

“Watch your words, Succubus, I’ve had enough of your disrespect. Let me give you another hint, your mistress’s lover, that baboon with two heads, doesn’t want to see all the limelight taken by my lord, so it has personally led an army to the Open Plains, preparing to ambush the Demon’s forces moving southward. Do you understand what this means? Your biggest backer would love to see my lord waste time on you, even if it’s just for two hours. You can tell this information to Mekanshut right now, let her verify it with that baboon, and then think carefully about how you want to talk to me. Hurry up; we can wait for you,” he finished.

The Succubus’s face rapidly turned pale; she got up silently and hurriedly disappeared through the door she had entered.

“All right, Prince Hediimer and Lord Veyne, you have sufficiently explained the importance of Volcano Fortress, in fact, perhaps too sufficiently, I was almost overwhelmed by your grandiloquent descriptions,” Tijana said lazily, “Let’s get back to the main topic. To assist in this ‘crucial’ battle, what exactly do you need us to do?”