212: Chapter 212 The Void Demon Lineage?

"Not only must we proceed as planned, we also need to accelerate the erosion of the Abyssal Power." His voice remained calm.

"Pass the order."

"Accelerate the erosion. I want to see the Abyssal erosion envelop the human detection base before sunrise tomorrow."

"As you command, Demon Emperor!"

The four Demon Kings responded in unison, their voices filled with suppressed excitement and awe.

Accelerating the Abyssal erosion required mobilizing the Abyssal Demons on the other end, by increasing the spatial nodes to transport more Abyssal Power.

And the one in charge of staying behind in the Abyssal Passage was the Ghost-Eye Demon King, Demon King.

Demon King hovered at the center of the boiling vortex of Abyssal energy, monitoring every wisp of energy flow within the passage.

Soon, he received Di Gulov's command.

"Accelerate erosion... before sunrise tomorrow..."

"Hiss... is the great battle being moved up..."

"A pity. I won't get to experience the fun this time."

For an Abyssal Demon King who found pleasure in battle, staying behind in the rear was nothing short of torture.

He yearned to set foot on that land himself, to admire the struggles of powerful humans in their despair.

But he dared not disobey Di Gulov's order. He could only suppress the restlessness in his heart and urge the Abyssal worms to hasten the construction of the spatial nodes.

...

Meanwhile, at the Celestial Dynasty's observation base.

When Lu Xun landed back on the ground, a faint tremor came from the land beneath his feet.

It wasn't the aftershock of an explosion, but a deeper, more unsettling kind of pulsation.

He frowned slightly. The chaos longsword was thrust into the ground beside him, its blade humming more urgently than before.

"Old Lu!"

At that moment, Bai Zhengyuan hurried over, his expression grave.

"The energy readings from the Abyssal Passage just spiked abnormally... they've increased by 6.5% in the past three minutes! And they're still rising!"

Lu Xun took a swig of wine, his gaze fixed on the distant sky shrouded in tainted energy.

The darkness that had been slowly spreading was now visibly devouring the last vestiges of twilight, like a drop of thick ink spreading madly in clear water.

"They're accelerating the erosion."

Lu Xun's expression was calm, yet it made the surrounding soldiers tense up.

"Notify all units. Only back up the most critical data. Destroy everything else."

"Retreat at full speed to the second line of defense. We have at most... one night."

"One night?" Bai Zhengyuan was stunned.

"Perhaps less."

Lu Xun looked up, watching the sunset on the horizon being devoured by the darkness.

"That Abyssal Demon Emperor seems to lack patience."

Di Gulov's command, like ice water thrown into boiling oil, triggered a chain reaction within the Abyssal ranks.

Inside the observation base, the piercing alarm shattered the last vestiges of peace.

All soldiers were running. The engines of heavy armored vehicles roared, kicking up clouds of dust as they raced towards the second line of defense.

Lu Xun stood atop the base's highest watchtower, the chaos longsword resting against his shoulder.

His gaze pierced through the thickening darkness, locking onto the bone chariot five kilometers away.

Di Gulov remained seated, his dark golden hair gently floating in the vortex of tainted energy.

Beneath the crimson crown, those eerie pupils looked back at him.

"Old Lu, the last group of personnel has evacuated."

Bai Zhengyuan's voice came through the communicator, crackling with static.

"But we've detected... new spatial nodes are forming in the Abyssal Passage. More than one."

Lu Xun took another drink. The wine gourd was already more than half empty.

"How many?"

"At least... seven." Bai Zhengyuan's voice sounded dry.

"Energy readings show they're arranged in a ring pattern and are activating simultaneously."

"If they all complete, the erosion rate of the Abyssal Power will increase more than tenfold."

Tenfold.

This meant the erosion process originally estimated to take three days would be completed in a matter of hours.

Even the scope of the erosion would increase to a terrifying scale.

By then, the entire observation base and the fifty-kilometer buffer zone behind it...

...would be completely polluted by Abyssal energy, becoming the demons' domain.

Lu Xun frowned.

"That's not right. The demons of Di Gulov's clan alone couldn't possibly manage such a large-scale project."

"Could it be..."

"...that other demon races are assisting Di Gulov?"

As this thought arose, the sense of foreboding in Lu Xun's heart grew stronger.

If they were facing just one Abyssal Demon race, they might still have a fighting chance.

But if two Abyssal Demon races joined forces, the Celestial Dynasty would stand absolutely no chance.

"Old Bai, analyze the energy from the Abyssal Passage. Check if there are traces of other types of demonic auras."

Bai Zhengyuan's voice over the communicator was noticeably tense.

"Analyzing energy signatures now. The results show... besides the Holy Demon bloodline, there also seems to be an aura from the Void Demon bloodline."

Lu Xun's hand gripping the sword tightened slightly. The wine gourd hung suspended in mid-air.

The Void Demon Race, another major clan of the Abyss.

According to human records, the overall strength of the Void Demon Race was in no way inferior to the Holy Demon bloodline.

And what made them even more troublesome than the Holy Demon Race was that the Void Demons primarily consisted of aerial units, making them harder to deal with than the Holy Demons.

"Old Bai, report this to Alliance Leader Qin. We might need more reinforcements."

"After all, if two demon races join forces, this will become a shared disaster for the entire No. 36 Habitable Planet."

"Understood."

Bai Zhengyuan ended the communication. Lu Xun, meanwhile, was deeply worried.

If his suspicion was correct, then this invasion war instigated by Di Gulov was definitely premeditated.

But the various races of the Abyssal Demons were supposedly constantly warring amongst themselves. How could they suddenly unite?

As time passed, night slowly descended.

The erosion of the Abyssal energy was no longer content with slow diffusion.

It was like a waking giant beast, beginning to greedily devour the light of the sky and the earth.

The darkness above the observation base had thickened to a substance-like consistency, completely blotting out even the stars.

Lu Xun did not leave with the last convoy.

He sat cross-legged atop the watchtower, the chaos longsword laid across his knees.

The wine gourd was empty, placed casually beside him.

His consciousness, like the most precise radar, pierced through layer after layer of darkness, firmly locked onto the bone chariot five kilometers away.

And further back, onto the unsettling, seemingly Void Demon bloodline-related distorted spatial fluctuations within the Abyssal Passage.

Di Gulov hadn't moved either.

He sat upon the chariot, his pale fingers tapping the armrest intermittently.

Reflected in his eerie pupils was the sight of the human base being gradually swallowed by darkness.

And also reflected was the figure, sharp as a sword, atop the distant tower peak.

He was waiting. Waiting for the moment the erosion was complete, waiting for this land to be thoroughly stained with the color of the Abyss.

Time flowed in the suffocating silence.

Inside the base, equipment left behind crackled and short-circuited under the Abyssal energy's erosion before falling completely silent.

The ground began to show ominous purplish-black patterns, spreading like veins.

The air grew thick, carrying a strong odor of decay.

"Old Lu, the second line of defense is complete. Come back."

Bai Zhengyuan contacted him again, urging Lu Xun to return and regroup at the second line of defense.

Lu Xun slowly opened his eyes. The chaotic sword intent swirled within them, piercing through the thick darkness to look into the distance.

"I hope my earlier conjecture doesn't become reality."

He sighed, then swiftly departed.