Chapter Summaries

Ratman scouts discovered a distant volcanic cluster, and Charles prepared an army to claim its fire-element resources. He left his territory’s ordinary stores behind as his forces assembled for the journey.

• Charles sent imps, Lesser Flame Demons, and Ratman scouts to search for the volcanic cluster, though many demons were expected to flee or die.
• A Ratman cavalry squad found volcanic smoke, then split so one group could report back while the other continued to investigate.
• Charles praised the Ratmen’s loyalty, promised to decorate the scouts, and studied the map showing the cluster was more than ten days away.
• Charles summoned Kaseron and Bruce and ordered them to gather demons, slave-catching troops, ten thousand Ratmen, and half the Flame Ratmen.
• Charles packed his valuable belongings into spatial equipment, left ordinary items in the castle vault, and watched his army assemble.

Charles led a massive army from his domain to the volcanic range, rallying his Ratmen and frightening his demon troops into obedience. The army grew from a little over twenty thousand to more than thirty thousand, and Charles ordered Bruce and Kaseron to bring the special demons to his tent.

• Charles addressed his Ratmen, who eagerly pledged their loyalty, and promised to choose some of them as his personal guards.
• Charles used his Balor form and Fear Radiance to silence the demon army, then ordered the demons to follow him toward slaughter and souls.
• Charles led his army toward the volcanic range as the slave-catching corps captured demons and others voluntarily joined the march.
• Charles arrived at the volcanic range with more than thirty thousand troops and told Bruce and Kaseron to bring the special demons to his tent.

Charles's army reached the volcanic range and conquered its demon settlements, forcing survivors to mine the area's valuable resources. The army continued its brutal excavation while Charles's forces searched the volcanoes for anything worth claiming.

• Charles ordered Kaseron and Bruce to send the army across the volcanoes, capturing demons and taking their resources.
• Charles's demons overwhelmed the mining camp of a Minotaur Demon, then captured and tortured him while asking about a place they claimed they would find.
• Charles's army conquered the first volcanic peaks, killing some demons and enslaving the rest as laborers.
• Ratmen whipped imps into searching the hot lava, and demons gathered minerals, metals, and gemstones for Charles.

Charles led his demon army against a hill held by a Greater Berserker Demon, then personally tested the creature’s strength and killed it. The hill’s defenders were defeated, leaving Charles’s forces to seize the territory.

• After Kaseron’s attack failed, Charles arrived, reprimanded him, and ordered the troops to attack again.
• Charles rallied the demon army and led its charge up the hill against the Greater Berserker Demon and its troops.
• Charles observed the Berserker Demon’s fighting ability as it stopped the army’s advance and charged through its own demons.
• Charles trapped the Berserker Demon in a Firestorm, bound it with his Flame Whip, and killed it with his Flame Execution Sword.

Charles seized more than twenty mountaintops in the Abyss, built up his resources, and put captured demons and Fallen Ones to work as slave laborers. He stopped expanding as Greater Demons contested his territory and continued cultivating amid the flame gemstones.

• Charles killed the Berserker Demon, routed the remaining demons with his flames and Fear Radiance, and took the mountaintop.
• Over half a month, Charles captured more than twenty mountaintops and defeated the Greater Demons guarding some of them.
• Charles gathered the mined resources near his base, where the flame gemstones accelerated his cultivation.
• Ratman cavalry captured demons who had come seeking the region’s increased magic, while overseers assigned them to grueling labor across the mountaintops.
• A captured Fallen One complained about being whipped to work, and his overseer threatened to send him to the kitchen.

Charles forced the Six-Armed Serpent Demon to surrender its true name, giving him a way to command and torment it. He sent the demon to manage a mountain and capture slave laborers, then punished it when it abused its new position.

• Charles defeated the Six-Armed Serpent Demon and threatened it until it revealed its true name.
• Charles used the demon's true name to make it obey and warned that future disobedience would bring worse torment.
• Charles ordered the Six-Armed Serpent Demon to manage the demons on a mountain and capture intruders as slave laborers.
• The Six-Armed Serpent Demon killed several slave laborers to vent its anger, so Charles tormented it through its true name.
• The Six-Armed Serpent Demon became obedient and began capturing slave laborers for Charles.

Charles cowed Kaseron and his other Greater Demons into obedience, then used his growing territory and resources to reach the peak of the third-ring wizard rank. Unable to find a practical path to becoming a fourth-ring wizard, he decided to pursue advancement to a Greater Demon in the Abyss and move his lair near the volcanic cluster.

• Charles tortured Kaseron until he surrendered his true name, then used the pain of Kaseron's true name to terrify the other Greater Demons into declaring their loyalty.
• Charles expanded his territory and resources, while his demon slave laborers worked at the construction site and died in large numbers.
• After half a year of cultivation, Charles reached the peak of a Greater Demon and a third-ring Grand Wizard.
• Charles considered ways to reach the fourth ring but decided first to become a fourth-tier Greater Demon in the Abyss, where the Abyss's favor could help him advance.
• Charles chose to move his lair to the volcanic cluster, where resources and flame magic power would support his cultivation and planned slaughter.

Charles decided to relocate the Ratmen and demons to the volcanic region and began searching for a suitable lair powered by abundant flame magic. He found a promising volcano occupied by demon slave laborers, but its Balor owner confronted him.

• Charles announced that he would build a settlement in the volcanic region and ordered Bruce and two Greater Demons to move the Ratman tribe there.
• Charles explored a volcano's magma depths, collected Flame Gems, and considered using a sorcery array to condense flame magic into Magic Stones.
• Charles weighed energy, transport routes, and security while searching for a suitable mountain for his lair.
• Charles found a large active volcano with relatively flat surroundings and demon slave laborers working nearby.
• A powerful Balor flew down from the mountain and angrily challenged Charles for approaching.

Charles targeted Zarlos's territory and used Kaseron as bait to draw out the Balor's two Greater Demon subordinates. Charles and his demons launched an ambush, and the fight began with the two subordinates trapped between them.

• Charles confirmed that Zarlos had no powerful allies nearby and gathered his four Greater Demons to seize the territory.
• Charles hid with his demons behind a concealed rune array and sent Kaseron to lure Zarlos out.
• Kaseron attacked the mountaintop with lava and taunted Zarlos's two subordinates into chasing him.
• Charles ordered his three other Greater Demons to attack and cast spells to stop the pursuing demons from escaping.
• Kaseron mocked the two demons as Charles's forces closed in on them.

Charles and his demons caught Zarlos trying to flee and overwhelmed him in battle. With Zarlos wounded and unable to escape, Charles demanded that he surrender in exchange for his life.

• Charles’s demons wounded one of Zarlos’s Greater Demons, but Zarlos chose to flee with his gemstones instead of helping.
• Charles revealed himself, killed the wounded Greater Demon, and sent two of his subordinates to block Zarlos’s escape.
• Charles wounded Zarlos with an Autumn Leaf Blade and attacked him from a distance while his demons joined the fight.
• Charles defeated another of Zarlos’s subordinates, who surrendered his true name and urged Charles to attack Zarlos instead.
• Charles and the Greater Demons battered Zarlos whenever he tried to teleport, and Zarlos’s attempt to distract them with his resources failed.
• Charles stood beside the exhausted Zarlos and offered to spare his life if he surrendered.

Charles forced Zarlos and two other Greater Demons to submit, taking their mountain, resources, and territory. His forces and construction projects expanded further as Bruce returned with the Ratman tribe and thousands of imp labor slaves.

• After several days of torture, Zarlos surrendered his true name to Charles, who added him to his command and seized his mountain.
• Charles used the demons’ true names to make two injured Greater Demons submit, while Zarlos pledged obedience and gave up his resources and territory.
• Charles’s forces grew to nine Greater Demons and more than sixty active volcanic craters, and he expanded construction using lava and the labor of demons.
• Charles sent Kaseron and other Greater Demons to find more labor slaves, while Bruce returned with nearly one hundred thousand Ratmen and twenty to thirty thousand imp labor slaves.
• A Vrock patrolled Charles’s construction sites, killing escaping imps as slave-catching groups waited to capture more demons approaching the volcanic craters.

Charles used explosive runes and a firestorm-infused sword strike to blast the volcanic mountain’s summit flat for his new lair. After the mountain stabilized, he ordered Kaseron to bring in slave laborers and begin construction, while the punished Zarlos begged for forgiveness.

• Charles studied techniques for setting rune arrays in volcanic terrain, then drove the demons from the mountain and planted explosive runes across its summit.
• Zarlos mocked Charles’s plan to level the mountain, while Kaseron suggested that Zarlos help with the blasting and Bruce defended Charles.
• Charles combined Firestorm with the Flame Execution Sword and detonated the explosive runes, blasting the mountaintop flat and scattering fire, lava, and rocks over the demons below.
• Zarlos watched Charles’s display in shock and wondered whether Charles might become a Greater Demon.
• After the mountain settled, Charles ordered Kaseron to send slave laborers to build on the flattened summit, while Zarlos knelt and begged Charles to forgive him.

Charles built a fortified city powered by fire magic drawn from the magma and began constructing a proper laboratory. Mark arrived hoping to join the city, and Charles offered him a prime shop location only at a price, leaving Mark to agree to buy it.

• Charles punished Zarlos for questioning him, then ordered him to install the forged pillars in the magma according to the blueprint.
• Charles built a city core that drew fire magic from the magma, stored some of it in fire magic stones, and used the rest to strengthen the walls.
• Charles began building a laboratory as demon slaves transported bricks and stones up the mountain to construct the city.
• Kaseron told Charles that Mark the Yugoloth had arrived, and Charles invited him in to hear what he wanted.
• Mark asked to become an early resident of Charles's city, but Charles insisted he pay for a shop in the central district, and Mark agreed to buy it.

Mark explained that he had moved because a new Greater Demon imposed harsh taxes, then revealed that the Abyss would soon clash with Purgatory. Charles later purchased intelligence about the coming war and reacted with excitement to what he read.

• Charles questioned Mark about why he had left his former territory, and Mark blamed the new Greater Demon’s oppressive taxes.
• Charles pressed Mark for the real reason, so Mark revealed that the Abyss would soon make contact with Purgatory and face an attack by devils.
• Mark withheld further details unless Charles paid, but Charles sent him to begin building his shop and continued arranging the city’s construction.
• Several days later, Charles returned to the Abyss through Bruce’s blood sacrifice and sought intelligence about the war between the Abyss and Purgatory.
• Charles bought a scroll of information, studied it in his tower, and wondered whether the Abyss was watching over him.

Charles learned that his layer of the Abyss would soon connect to Purgatory, bringing a war between demons and devils that could offer him a chance to advance. He decided to prepare to join the fighting, knowing he could escape with Scorchflame if the battle turned against him.

• Charles learned that the Abyss layer he occupied would soon connect with Purgatory, where a Demon Lord would lead an army against the devils.
• Charles considered using the war to become a Greater Demon or advance to a fourth-circle wizard, while recognizing that a stronger devil could kill him.
• Charles decided the risk was worthwhile because Scorchflame could summon him away if the battle went badly.
• Charles studied how devils’ military organization let them defeat larger demon armies and realized that earning the Abyss’s favor would not be easy.
• Charles began preparing for the coming war and remained confident.

After learning that the Abyss would connect to Purgatory, Charles transformed his settlement into a fortress and raised forces to prepare for war. He reassured the Yugoloth Mark that, despite reclaiming his land, Mark would control all profitable business in his territory.

• Charles recalled his Greater Demons and ordered the settlement rebuilt as a fortress city, with walls, watchtowers, and barracks.
• Charles sent half his Greater Demons to gather slave laborers and battle-ready demons as his Flame Ratmen force grew to two thousand.
• Mark protested that Charles had taken back the city plot he had bought with hundreds of thousands of Soul Shards.
• Charles revealed that the Abyss would connect to Avernus and devils would pour in, then recognized that Mark was unafraid because Yugoloths could profit in both realms.
• Charles told Mark that all profitable business in his territory would belong to him, despite the loss of his shops.

Charles arranged for Mark to supply slave craftsmen and buy resources, while preparing to profit from the coming war by trading spoils with both sides. As his fortress neared completion, the Ratmen population and crafting workforce grew, and the defenses were equipped to resist a devil assault.

• Charles proposed selling Mark the spoils from battles against demons and devils, and Mark recognized the scheme’s potential profit.
• Charles offered Mark volcanic materials in exchange for slave craftsmen, and Mark agreed to supply them.
• Hundreds of thousands of demon laborers built Charles’s fortress as Mark delivered craftsmen and Charles traded resources with him.
• Charles bought resources to support the Ratmen, whose population grew from about one hundred thousand to three hundred thousand as they learned crafts and made improved weapons.
• Charles’s fortress neared completion with high mountain walls, a narrow approach, anti-air crossbows, and flying demons prepared to repel the devils.

Charles oversaw the completion of Millstone Fortress as signs grew that the Abyss was drawing closer to Purgatory. After a world-shaking volcanic eruption, he announced that the Abyss had collided with Purgatory and urged his demons to prepare for battle.

• Charles built Millstone Fortress with reinforced walls, defensive spell arrays, and towers staffed by Ratman archers.
• Charles noticed that more imps were appearing and advancing, while demons and Ratmen became increasingly warlike.
• A massive eruption shook the region, but Charles's magic-draining pillars protected the castle and absorbed more fire magic.
• Kaseron asked whether the demons should evacuate, while Zarlos insisted the fortress was suited for battle.
• Charles ordered the slave laborers back to work after the eruption and promised to recruit hardworking imps as soldiers.
• Charles announced that the Abyss had collided with Purgatory, and the demons cheered at the prospect of fighting devils.

As Purgatory joined with the Abyss, Charles prepared Millstone Fortress and its growing demon and Ratman forces for the coming war. When devil armies appeared nearby, he lured a combined force toward the volcanic craters around his territory.

• Charles gathered his fourteen Greater Demons and learned that his territory held over fifteen hundred Intermediate Demons, more than six thousand Lesser Demons, over four hundred thousand imp laborers, and a vast Ratman army.
• Charles ordered Bruce to arm the Ratmen and prepare them for battle, while Millstone Fortress mobilized its forces and imps built watchtowers around the volcanic terrain.
• After the worlds' collisions stopped, Charles sensed Purgatory's will in the sky and sent demon scouts to gather more cannon fodder.
• When devil armies appeared nearby, Charles sent Greater Demons and cannon fodder troops out to lure the enemy into the volcanic craters.
• A combined army formed from several devils advanced toward Charles's territory.

Charles prepared an ambush for a devil legion entering the volcanic region and ordered his forces to attack. The chapter ended as countless imps charged the devils at the signal of a flaming war horn.

• A Pit Fiend named Buck led the devil army across a battlefield and dismissed the dead as bait.
• Buck persuaded the other Greater Devils to claim the volcanic region and build castles there.
• Charles watched the devil legion enter his trap and assessed its elite troops against his demon forces.
• Charles ordered his army to swallow the devils, and an Intermediate Fireburn Demon sounded the attack horn.
• Countless imps roared and attacked the devil legion below.