Building a City

After the Magic Array had been poured, Serlun appeared at the crater.

He stood at the edge of the Magic Array, light beginning to glow in his hands as he murmured a chant. Before long, a faint gleam appeared in the Magic Array as well.

Then Serlun abruptly raised his demon hoof and stomped down. A loud noise erupted, and the entire volcano actually began to tremble.

It was like a great earthquake. The whole mountain shook, knocking many upright demons to the ground.

The Magic Array Serlun had ordered them to construct was actually an amplifier. Using its effects, he cast Earth-Shattering Magic, driving the spell's power straight into the bottom of the volcano.

"Everyone, withdraw!" After Serlun issued the command, the demons gathered on the volcano immediately fled downhill for their lives. Though they lived in a world surrounded by volcanoes and lava, that did not mean demons were unafraid of volcanic eruptions. On the contrary, they feared them the most, because they understood better than anyone what kind of Destruction a volcanic eruption could bring.

There were roughly two hundred demons Serlun had summoned in advance. Not long after they escaped down the mountain, the volcano, which had been continually affected by the earthquake's force, finally reached its limit. With a deafening roar, it erupted.

Thick smoke and huge amounts of Volcanic Ash shot into the sky from the crater. Taking advantage of the force of the eruption, countless burning rocks of varying sizes were hurled outward. They scattered in all directions like blossoms strewn by a celestial maiden—beautiful, yet terrifying. Along with the eruption, scorching lava flowed from the crater. These fiery-red rivers spread all the way down the volcano, burning every tree and forest in their path. Some small animals failed to escape in time and were buried in the lava flow.

The eruption did not subside until two full hours later. Within a radius of ten miles around the volcano, everything had become scorched earth where not a blade of grass grew. Part of the spread lava had begun to cool, turning into black ground, while some remained boiling hot, glowing dark red and giving off greenish smoke.

Serlun looked proudly at his masterpiece and laughed wildly. He was extremely satisfied with this scorched territory and felt that they could begin building the city.

Yes, detonating the volcano had been intended to create an environment suitable for demons to live in. Lush green mountains and clear waters were not the demon way. What demons loved was this sort of place, where the air was full of sulfur.

Under Serlun's scolding, more than two hundred Low-Rank Demons, including Roy, began working. They found large stones and, while the lava-covered ground was still soft, smoothed it out as much as possible to form a foundation. Once the foundation was laid, they began constructing the city.

Roy did not work himself at this time. Taking Fat Tiger with him, he became the overseer of the demons. With the City Building Blueprint Serlun had given him in one hand and a whip in the other, he urged the Low-Rank Demons to build according to the plan.

Demons had never been suited for construction, so Roy's task as overseer was no easy one. He had to constantly instruct the Low-Rank Demons at work; otherwise, they could build the walls as uneven as instant noodles.

Moreover, the demons lacked tools. Every building they constructed was merely piled together from stone and wood. Such structures would normally be highly likely to collapse, but demons had their own solution. Since they were near the volcano, they sent some demons to fetch lava from its base. After it cooled slightly, they poured the liquid stone over the completed structures, filling gaps and reinforcing the city wall.

Once the city gradually began taking shape, Serlun brought out new blueprints and had the demons start building places for themselves to live.

Put simply, they were nests. Every type of demon had its preferred kind of nest. Once they were built, the demons would naturally sort themselves into them by type. Serlun then carved summoning Magic Arrays into each of these nests and continuously summoned demons of the same kind into this world.

For example, in the Hellhound Kennel used to summon Hell Hounds, Serlun would summon only Hell Hounds. Whenever he summoned a batch, he would sign contracts with them and let them live in the kennel.

Throughout this period, Roy had secretly observed Serlun's actions. He discovered that the demons Serlun summoned were almost all a few fixed types. Perhaps Serlun had considered the need to form an army and required identical troop types, which was why he had not summoned a messy assortment of demons. And almost every time, Serlun was able to summon precisely those demons.

Only after observing for quite some time did Roy understand the trick. Serlun seemed to know exactly what each type of demon liked. For instance, when summoning Little Demons, he often added powdered eggshells from birds or insects to the sacrificial blood, slightly altering the scent of the blood.

Whenever he used this kind of offering, he could summon large numbers of Little Demons. These Little Demons had naturally only recently been born and entered the Shallow Abyss World. Perhaps the scent of eggshell powder in the blood reminded them of when they had hatched and eaten their own demon eggshells. In any case, these Little Demons always rushed to teleport over.

And once they were summoned, their fate was sealed. How much combat power could Little Demons that had only recently been born possess? Serlun summoned them for nothing more than extra labor and future cannon fodder for war.

Besides summoning Little Demons, there was also a method for summoning Hell Hounds: mixing Griffin urine into the blood. Serlun had captured and raised several wild Griffins. Once he mixed their urine into the blood, its allure to Hell Hounds was absolutely unparalleled!

This reminded Roy of learning how to fish in his previous life—using bait with different scents for different kinds of fish...

When Roy had responded to the summons and passed through the Abyss Gate, what he had smelled was precisely this bloody scent mixed with Griffin urine. At the time, he had wondered why the bloody smell seemed so strange. How could he have known that Serlun had merely been luring Hell Hounds? Roy simply did not understand such tricks, so he had stumbled into it by mistake... That was how the Demon Summoning Ritual worked. Since one could not see what the summoner on the other side of the Abyss Gate was like, there was no way to avoid the risk. Once caught in such a trap summons, one could only rely on one's own strength to escape.

Only demons understood demons best. This Upper Demon Serlun had lived for who knew how long. Whenever he needed a certain kind of demon, he had a way to summon that kind of demon. The Abyss World was vast—so vast that no one could say how many demons lived within it. Even though Lower Demons had Confused Bloodlines and bizarre appearances, among such an enormous number of demons, there were still plenty of the same kind to be found.

Without exception, every demon he summoned was enslaved by him. To prepare for the coming war, Serlun could not allow the summoned demons to return easily. Here, Serlun was a Demon Lord, and the summoned demons were his subjects. With Serlun blocking their path home, the demons could only let him do as he pleased.

Of course, there were also those like Roy, who refused to cooperate and resisted after being summoned. But after a beating, they all became obedient. Once they signed their contracts, they worked dutifully for Serlun.

Roy merely watched this coldly, without feeling any sympathy for them. In truth, he understood very well that Serlun's actions were the most fitting behavior for a demon.

There had never been any warmth between demons. Other than slaughter, there was only exploitation. They rarely even had any concept of kinship. Even if High Demons valued bloodlines, that only applied to demons of the same rank. When High Demons treated Low-Rank Demons like this, enslavement and beatings were merely routine. It was nothing Worth Wondering. Serlun's cost for summoning demons to fight for him was practically nonexistent, while the profit was an enormous number of souls. With such a high return, not only demons—even human capitalists would flock to it.

As the days passed, this Demon City gradually grew in scale. Then, at this time, two more Upper Demons appeared and came to join Serlun...

The two Upper Demons each arrived with a small Demon Army, riding Nightmare Warhorses. These Nightmare Warhorses had violent tempers, shining black hardened skin covering their bodies, a Demon Horn like a battering ram on their heads, and blazing flames burning around their four hooves. Wherever they went, they left behind a trail of fiery hoofprints.

These Nightmare Warhorses were demons rather than Demonic Creatures, because they possessed intelligence. They were a type of Middle Demon, and many Upper Demons liked to enslave them as mounts.

Both Upper Demons wore cloaks, making their appearances impossible to make out. After entering Demon City, they began talking with Serlun in the Hall of Internal Affairs. As an Elite Demon, Roy had been used as Serlun's assistant during this period due to his relatively high intelligence. Thus, while the three Upper Demons spoke, Roy stood guard outside the door and easily overheard their conversation...