Dragon Clan

"Serlun, well done. I never expected you to trigger the volcano and establish the city so quickly!"

In the hall, one of the Upper Demons addressed Serlun as soon as he entered. "King Kriegan is very satisfied with your performance and asked me to bring you your reward!"

"No reward pleases me more than the coming war!" Serlun replied. "Did His Majesty say when we could begin the march?"

"Yes, you can prepare to depart!" the Upper Demon said. "But a problem has arisen. We may not be able to attack Erathia's capital alongside our allies, the Dungeon lords, for now. According to the terrain reports sent back by our spies, someone is blocking the route to Erathia's capital, Steadwick!"

"Who is it?" Serlun asked, deeply displeased.

"The Aveli Elves!" the Upper Demon said with equal displeasure. "They have always been Erathia's allies. Not long ago, one of the Aveli Elves' lords led his army to reinforce Erathia. Now, not only are they blocking our path, they seem to have discovered our presence as well. According to the spies' reports, they have stationed themselves along the vital route and built defensive fortifications, preparing to intercept our army at Erathia's border..."

"Then kill them!" Serlun slammed his fist onto the table. "Those frail Elves cannot halt our advance. Before the iron hooves of Hell's army, every obstacle will become scorched earth!"

Another Upper Demon, who had remained silent until then, spoke in a covetous tone. "I share Serlun's view. The souls of those Elves are quite delicious..."

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid it won't be that easy! We discovered that the Gold Dragon Queen is among this Aveli Elven army. She commands a considerable number of Gold Dragons and is aiding the Elven forces. Riska, Serlun, those Gold Dragons are very difficult to deal with!"

The hall fell silent for a moment. Then Serlun spoke. "You're right, Ignatius. We need a stronger army composition!"

The Upper Demon called Ignatius nodded. "Summon some Upper Demon Race members. Only those Greater Demons can help us contend with the Gold Dragons!"

The other Upper Demon, Riska, said unhappily, "But if we summon Upper Demons to help, we'll have to share some of the souls we harvest with them..."

"Then we share them," Serlun said. "With dragons present, it will be difficult for an army made up of Low-Rank Demons to achieve victory. Our top priority now is to complete the encirclement of Erathia's capital, Steadwick, together with our allies. It has never fallen into enemy hands in Erathia's history. Now, we will change that record!"

"Good, then we have reached a consensus!" Ignatius said. "So, who will remain here to summon those Greater Demons?"

"I'm not staying here!" Riska immediately said upon hearing the question. "Being stuck in Demon City without being able to fight or Harvest Soul is absolutely intolerable to me!"

Ignatius turned to Serlun. "Then Serlun, will you stay?"

"Why should I?" Serlun said, equally dissatisfied. "I've been here long enough this past month, all to build this damned city. And now you want me to stay here again!? I want blood, I want slaughter, I want souls! Who can give me those if I stay here!?"

"Fine!" Ignatius sighed. "Then I'll be the one to stay. You lead the troops out first and clear out any small scouting units along the way. Once I've summoned an army of sufficient size, I'll catch up from behind."

"Hahaha! Ignatius, you really are a good man!" Hearing Ignatius volunteer to remain behind, Riska burst into laughter. "Don't worry, I'll save some of those pretty Elven women for you!"

"Stop talking. Keep going, and I'm afraid I'll regret it!" Ignatius said. "Damn it, when we came here, we really should have brought a Heretic Lord along. Then he could have stayed behind, and I could have gone out..."

Within the Hell faction, aside from pure demons like Serlun, Riska, and Ignatius, there were also lords who worshipped demons and could lead armies into battle. These lords were humans, but because they worshipped demons, they were rejected by human kingdoms and were often called heretics. The lords Ignatius referred to were this kind.

While Roy stood guard outside the door, he listened to the conversation between the three Upper Demons and could not help falling into thought.

He knew this was the Heroes of Might and Magic World, but because it was a real world, its circumstances differed greatly from those in the original game.

Here, the Heroes leading the Hell faction's armies were actually Upper Demons. Their troops were not recruited with gold coins, but directly pulled as conscripts from the Abyss World through Summoning Rituals. It made sense—what could demons do with gold coins? They did not buy things and had no real concept of currency. The armies of other factions, on the other hand, might have been recruited, though they might also have been trained.

The Heroes who led armies were Upper Demons, and Greater Demons, the high-tier units, were also Upper Demons. At most, the difference was that one stood at the bottom and the other at the top. This led to a problem: when Serlun and the others wanted to deal with powerful enemies, they had to alter the contract. An Upper Demon could not enslave another Upper Demon, so they could only make deals.

Lower Demons were enslaved, Middle Demons were used as mounts, and only fellow Upper Demons could trade as equals. This made it abundantly clear just how sharply demons were divided by class. Only strength, bloodline, and rank determined a demon's status.

In fact, from another perspective, Roy's stay in this world truly had its benefits. In the Abyss World, he had been unable to come into contact with High Demons, so he had no way of understanding the differences between demon ranks. But now, in this Heroes of Might and Magic World, he had seen both Middle Demons and Upper Demons. Perhaps if he observed more carefully, he could understand exactly where the distinction between ranks lay. That would provide useful reference for his future advancement.

And Roy had now discovered another enormous difference.

In the game, Heroes led armies, using various spells and their own attributes to provide support and bonuses to their troops. Enemies could not even attack the Heroes... But that was a game. In this real world, since Heroes led armies, they would certainly have to participate in battle as well. That was a tremendous difference!

If they fought, then Heroes could die on the battlefield. This was especially true for a warlike race such as demons. Roy did not believe Serlun and the others would merely hide behind their armies and cast spells. One only had to hear the fervor with which they discussed slaughter and battle to understand that.

Since Heroes could also die in battle, Roy had room to maneuver...

The Heroes of Might and Magic World was a world dominated by war, and Roy's remaining here was actually quite good. After all, he could gather a vast number of souls to strengthen himself. But even if he wanted to gather souls, he did not want to do so under coercion. If possible, Roy naturally wanted to wait until he had grown stronger, then return to this world to lead armies as a Hero. That way, he would not be picking up someone else's leftovers—everything he gained would belong to him.

If it were Roy himself, he would naturally prefer to enslave other demons to fight for him and Harvest Soul for him.

Although Roy had acted obediently this entire time, causing Serlun to relax his surveillance somewhat, Roy had never wavered in his desire to escape the Demon Contract.

Since Serlun treated him in the way of demons, then he could treat Serlun in the way of demons as well. And if he wanted to escape the contract's restraints in the way of demons, the best method was to make the contractor die!

If the scale of the war had not been large enough, accomplishing this might have been quite troublesome for Roy. But now, he had heard the best possible news.

The enemies these demons wanted to deal with were actually dragons—and supposedly the Queen of the Gold Dragon Clan!

Roy had already prepared himself mentally to serve under Serlun for a long time, but he had not expected the opportunity to arrive so quickly. Roy might not be able to kill Serlun himself, but the dragon clan certainly could! As long as Serlun died in the war against the Gold Dragon Queen, Roy would be free...

So, it was time to make some careful plans...