Lord of Avernus

Somewhere inside the Bronze Fortress, amidst the distortion of space and flickering light, four players and two demons appeared out of thin air.

Their hearts pounded, they gasped for breath, their faces beaming with the joy of surviving a catastrophe, while Uriel and Dick, being lower-ranking demons, were utterly incredulous.

They actually escaped right under the nose of a Pit Fiend! That was a legion commander under Zariel, a being powerful enough to occupy a miniature Material Plane on his own!

Dark Night Wolf patted his chest. Although he, as Vampire, didn't need to breathe, he still habitually panted heavily. "Huff, huff, boss, that was close!"

Gazing at the flames and smoke shooting straight into the sky in the distance, and feeling the violent fluctuations in space, the Lucky Emperor couldn't help but exclaim, "Damn, no wonder it's the work of those lunatics from the Church of the Machine God. The power is outrageous; it almost swallowed us all up!"

Lang Li Bai Tiao asked somewhat nervously, "War Maniac Bro, did you receive the experience notification?"

The Born Battle Maniac remained in a berserk state, his entire body glowing red and emitting plumes of steam, yet he still retained his sanity. "No, no, that guy—he's still not dead!"

"What?"

Everyone looked up and saw the Pit Fiend flapping its tattered, ragged wings, breaking through the thick smoke and dust, and appearing in mid-air above the Bronze Fortress.

He was now a mess, his face contorted in rage, his eyes blazing with fury. He turned and roared, "Mortals! You're courting death!"

The terrifying pressure of the Pit Fiend swept in like a tsunami, descending upon the hearts of every demon nearby.

Uriel stood frozen in fear, exclaiming in panic, "It's over! He... he's found us!"

"I'm doomed! I'm doomed! Let me out!" the little devil, imprisoned in the cage, shouted.

However, Lang Li Bai Tiao donned Aura Concealing Cloak and stood still, muttering to himself, "No, wait a little longer, it's not over yet."

The treasure I painstakingly stole from the Church of the Machine God isn't that simple.

"Commander!"

"Who is it! Which fool dares to invade the Bronze Fortress!"

Dozens of demons, wielding steel Steel Fork and clad in armor, took to the air, flapping their broad, bat-like wings, and flew toward Valerius's lava castle.

But at this moment, the critical point for the space behind them to collapse has also arrived.

Suddenly, all colors vanished from the universe, leaving only pure black. At the center of the explosion, a deep vortex appeared, unleashing tremendous gravitational force.

Everything around—whether it be broken sculptures, shattered rocks, or the remains of a demon—was brutally pulled toward the center of the vortex by that terrifying gravitational force.

The demon soldiers at the forefront were like tin foil being kneaded at will by an invisible giant hand, and their armor, forged from Hell iron, shattered into fragments under the immense gravity.

Seeing this, Valerius frantically flapped his wings, trying to break free from that force, but he was like a wild beast bound by countless ropes, unable to move.

"No--"

"I am the great Pit Fiend! A trusted confidant of Lord Zariel, you cannot kill me!!"

In the end, the roar of the Pit Fiend was drowned out by the shrill screams of spacetime tearing apart, and its huge and burly body was torn into basic particles by the storm of spacetime.

Gazing at the earth-shattering scene, the Born Battle Maniac sighed at the terrifying force of the bomb and whispered, "He's really dead. A notification appeared on my screen."

[You have killed [Pit Fiend - Valerius (Challenge Rating: 16)], gaining 150,000 XP] Lang Li Bai Tiao excitedly rubbed his hands together. "Holy crap? This is a Hell Legion Commander! 150,000 XP, 25,000 Gold Coin, we're really rich!"

The Dark Night Wolf, however, did not relax at all. Instead, he looked up at the sky, appearing somewhat worried. "What, what is that thing?"

The entire sky groaned under the weight of the burden, and the clouds were torn open by some great force with a scarlet rift, like the disembowelment of a god, from which a waterfall of boiling lava flowed.

"Look at the sky!" Dick's voice trembled.

Instead of falling, the crimson liquid burst forth with violent Hellfire, condensing into a huge phantom in the air.

—She was a fallen angel with jet-black wings, eyes burning with an inextinguishable rage, surrounded by sulfur and ash, and her face, dripping with blood and tears, gave off a sense of madness and distortion.

She stretched out her right hand, and countless burning chains emerged from the cracks in the ground, sealing off the entire space. Accompanied by mournful wails, the immense power of her soul began to repair the shattered space.

[Lord of Avernus - Zariel (Challenge Rating:???)]

The Lang Li Bai Tiao raised its head, its eyes revealing new information.

He stood there, somewhat dazed, muttering to himself, "It seems we've gone a bit too far this time."

Gazing at the terrifying figure, the Born Battle Maniac exclaimed, "Is this the final boss of the Avernus dungeon? How exhilarating it would be to fight her head-on!"

Even the Lucky Emperor sighed, "This is terrible. I wish I had this kind of luck when I opened the boxes."

Dick and Uriel were already kneeling on the ground, trembling all over, driven by their Hell instincts. "The Lord of the Nine Hells... it really is Lord Zariel!"

The other demons inside the Bronze Fortress also looked on with fear and reverence.

"Is it possible that she hasn't noticed us yet?" Lang Li Bai Tiao muttered under his breath.

"Kneel down—"

Zariel's whispers resounded directly inside people's skulls.

Under the oppressive force of the Hell Laws, the two demons knelt on the ground without the slightest hesitation, unable to muster even the slightest thought of resistance.

For lower-ranking demons like them, being able to see the Hell Lord is already a great honor.

The four players' screens were also filled with a dense array of information that made them break out in a sweat.

[You are affected by blasphemous words and will make a Will save. If the save fails, you will be controlled.] [[Lord of Avernus - Zariel] is attempting to search your soul and memories.] [Warning! Affected by the Hell Laws, you will be bound to the Baator, with a chance to gain the permanent effect [Fallen Contract]] Instantly, the four players' expressions changed drastically, becoming extremely ugly—being left in Hell forever would be a terrible loss.

"Run!"

Without hesitation, Lang Li Bai Tiao flung his cloak and took off running.

While fleeing, he even took the little devil's cage with him, escaping with him.

The Lucky Emperor and the Dark Night Wolf followed closely behind, and even the Born Battle Maniac, still in a berserk state, roared and broke through the city walls along the way, learning to run away.

"Die--"

However, countless chains of Hell rose up, and a giant hand made of Hellfire stretched across the sky, pressing down with terrifying power, getting closer and closer to them, about to wipe them all out.

Lang Li Bai Tiao cried out, "My lord, help me!"

The Six-Pointed Star Array on the chests of several players suddenly lit up, and their entire bodies were covered by an exceptionally strong soul power.

With the flickering flames, they were reduced to ashes in an instant, scattered by the wind.

The phantom of Zariel high in the sky gazed at the scattered ashes. The fallen angel frowned slightly, and endless resentment and hatred welled up from the depths of his burning pupils.

"It's Bael, that despicable traitor! If I hadn't been busy preparing for the ceremony and hadn't had time to deal with him, I would have tortured him to the point of utter destruction long ago."

Suddenly, Zariel's expression turned even angrier. "No! Not just him, but also that Embers of the Burned Emperor! That damned Red Dragon!"

The fallen angel suddenly flapped its black wings and swung its longsword, which was filled with Hellfire, creating a hideous wound hundreds of meters long in the blood-red sky.

—It also shattered the Golden Vertical Pupils hidden in the air.

"They've been discovered."

A deep and powerful voice came from the void.

Zariel pointed his sword to the sky and roared, "Red Dragon, this is blatant provocation! This is Avernus! Do you intend to make an enemy of the entire Nine Hells —to declare war on the great Lord Asmodeus?"

"Zariel, do you really represent the entire Nine Hells? I think the other Hell Lord would be quite happy to see Avernus change hands again."

A completely different kind of flame appeared in the sky, gradually condensing into a huge and majestic dragon head, its golden vertical pupils were exceptionally deep, revealing a faint dragon's might.

The oppressive aura made countless Hell dragons tremble and growl.

"By interfering in the Material Plane and colluding with the Thrace Kingdom, you are making an enemy of me! An enemy of the Embers of the Burned Empire!"

"Red Dragon, one day your so-called empire will fall into Hell, your people will wail in the Hellfire, becoming fuel for the Blood War, and your territory will become our Soul Pasture!"

"Then let's wait and see—will I be killed by you first, or will I overthrow you first!"

The Red Dragon smiled mockingly, and its head transformed into a sky full of fiery streams that dissipated into the heavens.

At this moment, several Pit Fiend were flapping their enormous, broad wings and flying in from all directions of the Bronze Fortress. Their overwhelming aura was enough to terrify any lower-ranking demon.

—These were the twenty-seven legion commanders under Zariel, the generals who fought for her in Avernus.

They knelt on one knee or bowed their heads, all with exceptional respect. Before Zariel, these cruel and Pit Fiend were like obedient hunting dogs.

Alex stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "My lord, it was my negligence that allowed those lowly maggots to slip through the air."

Zariel's tone was chilling. "Increase the security! This is a once-in-a-millennium opportunity, and we absolutely cannot let those rats hiding in the gutter ruin my plans!"

She gazed at the boundless, scorched wasteland, her eyes filled with endless madness and determination. "As long as I use all the mortals of the Material Plane as fuel, my army will destroy the Abyss and end this Blood War!"

The city of Thrace, the City of Sunrise —that's where it all began!

Before he finished speaking, Zariel's body suddenly exploded, turning into a ball of Hellfire that blotted out the sky.

It turns out that this was merely an incarnation of that mad, fallen angel.

At this moment, Zariel's true form is in the center of the Bronze Fortress, plotting to plunge the City of Sunrise, the Thrace region—and even the entire Fei An Suo Continent— into Hell.

The Embers of the Burned Empire.

Dragon Blood Mountain.

"It seems that the intelligence provided by Bael was correct. Zariel is indeed a complete war maniac."

As Keosius watched the Magic Image recorded by the Calamity Dragon Eye, he couldn't help but gasp. "The other Hell Lord don't want to expend their strength in the Blood War, so they put all their energy into scheming and plundering souls."

Zariel, on the other hand, has committed all his forces to the Blood War battlefield, willing to offend everyone, even using the souls of mortals as fuel for the war—truly insane.

Keosius also recalled his earlier conversation with Bael.

In fact, thousands of years ago, Bael secretly joined forces with several Hell Lord to overthrow Zariel and imprisoned him in the Bronze Fortress, torturing him day and night.

However, as the first level of the Nine Hells, Avernus was at the forefront of the Blood War, constantly facing the threat of demons, while Bael's passive avoidance of battle aroused Asmodeus's dissatisfaction.

Thus, at the behest of the Lord of the Nine Hells, Zariel once again became the master of Avernus, leading the demon army to fight against the demons.

Thinking of this, the Red Dragon slowly stood up, spread its wide and incomparable wings, and its eyes gradually became serious.

Lang Pu's image appeared before him. "Master, should we continue sending the Starfallers to Hell? The teleportation costs are considerable, and half of the Starfallers are killed by demons upon landing."

"Continue, not only continue, but also expand the scale, gather more players to the Bronze Fortress, and try to infiltrate it completely."

Keosius's tone was resolute. "Zariel must not be allowed to complete the ceremony smoothly. The Empire cannot lose the City of Sunrise, much less the entire Thrace region."

In fact, the reckless behavior of the Lang Li Bai Tiao and his gang in Avernus was supported by Keosius behind the scenes.

Just like the [Miniature Space Collapse Bomb] that was powerful enough to kill the Abyss Demon, it was created by Keosius after he destroyed a small material Demiplane and used the fragments of that plane as materials, ordering the members of the Church of the Machine God to create it.

It was naturally Lang Li Bai Tiao 'Keosius own instruction to "steal" the bomb, so that they could cause a bigger disturbance in Hell.

After the bomb explodes inside the Bronze Fortress, it will shake the Anti-Magic Field and create Space Rift of varying sizes in the vicinity, allowing players to be teleported directly to the inner ring of the Bronze Fortress.

After finishing this, Lang Pu picked up a pen and paper and continued, "Then when will we formally declare war on the Thrace Kingdom?"

Keosius pondered for a moment, exhaled a puff of Sulfur Scent white smoke, and then answered without hesitation, "Seven days from now, get the mobilization going. The real war is about to begin!"

"Yes, Master."

Lang Pu's tone was also somewhat excited and agitated, after all, in a sense, the enemy they were about to face was the once-powerful Holy Fadlan Empire.

This may be a war of evenly matched forces.