Ian left the city gate and headed straight south.
Across the wasteland, marching columns stretched into a long line.
Ian casually altered his aura, slipped into one of the columns, and followed at an easy pace.
The column held all kinds of demons, most of them Low-Level and Mid-Level Demon cannon fodder surging south like a tide.
Now and then, he spotted a few level-five commanders riding tall Abyssal Nightmare Demons as they patrolled either side.
Abyssal Nightmare Demons were horse-shaped beasts, jet-black and eyeless. They hunted by sensing their prey and made no sound when they ran, like shadows flying low over the ground.
Ian walked in the middle of the column, suppressing his aura to the level of a Mid-Level Demon. No one paid him any attention.
The column grew longer. After about four hours, another army appeared along the road.
It had come from the east and was roughly the same size as Ian's column, a line of several thousand demons.
The two columns halted briefly at the crossroads. After their commanders exchanged a few words, they merged and marched on.
An hour later, another army arrived from the north.
It was larger still, led by a Bone Demon King over five zhang tall. Countless bones formed its body, and a Dark Red Crystal Core was embedded where its heart would have been.
Tens of thousands of undead demons followed it: Bone Soldiers, Bone Generals, and Bone Dragons. They blotted out the sky.
White skeletons filled the land as far as the eye could see.
The Bone Demon King swept its gaze over Ian's motley force, paused on its two commanders for less than half a heartbeat, then waved a massive hand. The armies merged once more.
Ian silently observed the undead army.
Bone Demons were not