Consumption

When Zhou Yu arrived with tremendous force, Eric's group had already exhausted their energy and were barely clinging to life beneath the giant trees.

Mi Yue was doing somewhat better, but the other members of the Destruction Secretariat were in a sorry state. Many had tattered clothes that exposed snow-white skin, making Miuo and the others swallow hard. As for the old lecher Carter, he was practically ready to rush over and kneel down to lick their boots.

Seeing such powerful reinforcements, Eric felt immensely fortunate that he had told Dixin to retreat first. If they had remained here, they would undoubtedly have been wiped out to the last man.

"Which faction do you people belong to?" Eric asked, trembling.

But Mi Yue had no intention of answering. She walked over, lifted Eric with one hand, bared her terrifying fangs, and bit into the main artery in his neck.

A faint gulping sound rang out. It was not only Mi Yue; several other fifth-rank Secretariat members followed suit.

Only after draining the blood from the five Dark Elves did they toss the corpses aside with lingering reluctance. Before long, the five dried corpses swayed to their feet and began wandering around with vacant eyes.

At that moment, the powerful aura appeared again, locking directly onto Mi Yue.

Everyone present tensed, staring fearfully around them.

At this moment, Avilan finally arrived as well. He clearly sensed the source of that power, and it far exceeded anything he had imagined.

The instant Avilan appeared, that watching gaze shifted onto him. His mage robe exploded at once, fully exposing his identity as a Demon Lord. Terrifying, malevolent power spread from Avilan, resisting that gaze on its own.

Only when the energy surrounding Avilan surged to a certain degree did that gaze slowly fade away.

Yet everyone below stared dumbfoundedly at the Black Sun high in the sky, formed from the energy Avilan had released.

It was not only Zhou Yu's group. Even Cameron, far away on the other side, noticed the Black Sun in the sky. His expression turned grave as he slid down from the tree and decisively said, "Retreat immediately. This has already surpassed the limits of our understanding."

Hearing Cameron's command, the others did not continue pursuing them and instead retreated the way they had come. Though they could not precisely sense the Black Sun's energy, Cameron's instinct, honed through countless brushes with death, told him with certainty that the Black Sun was absolutely beyond the seventh rank.

The Dark Elf priest hurrying over as reinforcements saw the Black Sun in the sky, and his expression became exceedingly solemn as well. He sensed the aura of the god he worshipped. Clearly, the two were confronting each other.

"A tremendous upheaval has indeed appeared in the Messiah Great Forest this time. Inform the queen immediately and have her contact Her Majesty the Empress," the priest said, turning to the pastor beside him.

The pastor nodded, gave a salute, and hurried back along the road they had come from.

News of the terrifying Black Sun appearing in the Messiah Great Forest quickly spread throughout the surrounding regions, and several duchies and kingdoms received word in turn. Compared to the Elves, who treated the matter with utmost gravity, the humans paid it no heed. As long as it did not appear outside the Messiah Great Forest, it had nothing whatsoever to do with them.

Their immediate task was how to annex the surrounding territories.

After returning to Despair Fortress, Avilan decisively issued orders to prepare for war. At the same time, he had the one hundred thousand gold coins that had just been transported back used to activate the Demon Gate.

Recently, Aranda and Mize had swept clean all forces within several hundred miles of Despair Fortress. Aside from a few weak races that had surrendered, all others had been slaughtered clean by Aranda, without even half a captive remaining.

Nearly ten thousand corpses lay quietly in the square of the South District, almost piled into a mountain of corpses.

Looking at such an enormous mountain of corpses, Avilan could not help feeling uneasy. He did not know whether he had enough MP to sacrifice all these corpses into Horned Demons.

As for the various races gathered around the square, many of them trembled uncontrollably. They had only just surrendered. Though they envied the life in Despair Fortress, the sight before them was simply too horrifying.

Even Miuo and the others, who had surrendered at the very beginning, felt their scalps go numb at the sight of the corpse mountain.

"In the name of Avilan, Bloody Sacrifice, summon the demon passage!" Avilan raised the knight's lance in his hand. The MP within him rapidly drained away, so quickly that Avilan's scalp tingled.

Fortunately, when his MP had fallen to less than one-twentieth, it stopped draining. A massive black hole began to appear in the sky, slowly devouring the corpses in the square, not even sparing the final drop of blood.

Thunder suddenly roared through the sky as dark clouds gathered. The formerly clear, cloudless heavens turned pitch-black in an instant, with lightning flashing and thunder crashing.

With a deafening explosion, a blood-black gate of passage opened. Countless Horned Demons marched out in formation after formation. Among them were several hundred Demonkin with wings on their backs. These Demonkin looked like human youths, except for the wings growing from their backs. Compared with Horned Demons, they more closely resembled humans.

Avilan glanced over them. Though there were only a little more than three hundred Demonkin, their strength was roughly equal to that of the Horned Demons. Still, they gave Despair Fortress an aerial force. If something like Mi Yue's situation happened again, these Demonkin could rush over to reinforce them at once.

Only at the very end, when the demon passage was about to close, did a blazing figure step out. Terrifying flames poured from its entire body. Its body was wholly formed of boulders, over three meters tall and brimming with power.

"Flame Demon Bat greets my lord."

As Flame Demon Bat dropped to one knee, the demon passage behind him completely closed, and the sky gradually cleared.

"Oh, Bat, can you rein in your size a little?" Avilan asked with a headache.

The place they were in was simply too unsuitable—within a forest, a Flame Demon could ignite a forest fire with the slightest carelessness.

"Yes, my lord."

Bat's body slowly shrank, becoming a burly man two meters tall. Yet flames still continuously rose from all over his body.

"Zhou Yu, Bat will be under your command," Avilan said, looking at the flame-covered Bat as he directly handed him over to Zhou Yu.

Having consumed too much MP, Avilan immediately felt a wave of dizziness crash over him. But to maintain the image of a powerful lord, Avilan waved a hand and had Arthur take over, while he teleported straight back to his bedroom.

Only after Arthur and the others knelt on one knee to see Avilan off did they slowly rise.

"Count the numbers."

"Eight thousand four hundred and sixty-five Horned Demons," Mize, standing beside Aranda, shouted loudly.

"Three thousand three hundred and sixty-one Catfolk," Miuo said immediately afterward. Unlike the Horned Demons, where every citizen was a soldier, Miuo had included the entire Catfolk population—old and young, women and children alike. Though the number looked impressive, fewer than a thousand were actually capable of fighting.

"Twenty-six thousand four hundred and fifty-one Ratkin," Mole Xiu said, lifting his head high. Though the Ratkin's combat strength was poor, they made up for it with their numbers and formidable breeding ability.

Of the more than twenty thousand Ratkin, only two thousand had evolved into Ratmen. Those two thousand Ratmen were all capable fighters, though their combat strength was slightly inferior to that of the Catfolk.