A Demon's Journey

King Valliadis was utterly shocked to hear that his army advancing into the enemy territory was actually ambushed.

This terrified him to some extent. He had begun to overthink about this issue. He thought that the Glerian Kingdom had tricked them into thinking it was the perfect opportunity to attack.

The Glerian Kingdom's officials had caught the Sinyalian Kingdom's spies and used them to pour fake information into the Sinyalian Kingdom.

However, he threw that notion away when more of his trusted allies informed him that the situation in the Glerian Kingdom was truly bad. And it was becoming worse!

This ambush was planned by a single individual who had caught even the Glerian Kingdom off-guard.

Without the army, it was getting very challenging for the Royal Family to fight the sects. The power slipped from their fingers as a few more sects betrayed them and joined the Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect's side.

This information relieved King Valliadis, and he sent even more of his forces to attack the Glerian Kingdom.

As of this moment, Noah's forces, numbering up to 100,000 soldiers, were up against 180,000 soldiers of the Sinyalian Kingdom!

Even 5 Star Warriors and 6 Star Warriors joined this battlefield and turned everything much more chaotic.

Each 6 Star Warrior could easily slaughter thousands of soldiers.

It was worth noting that there was not a single Heretical Paladin in this army other than Noah. In fact, after this war began, Noah slaughtered a few soldiers before he completely disappeared!

He appeared to be kindling a smoldering ember that would envelop the two kingdoms in an enormous inferno!

The Sinyalian Kingdom's army was totally suppressing the Glerian Kingdom's army. And just as it looked like the Glerian Kingdom could lose the first battle of the war, reinforcements emerged.

These reinforcements didn't belong to the Royal Family. In fact, the Royal Family didn't have enough manpower that could turn the scales in their favor.

The sects affiliated with Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect were the ones that acted at this time. They only numbered 50,000 warriors or so.

However, each of these warriors was a great talent of their sect. The sects even employed their secret 6 Star Warriors to turn the scales in their favor.

The Sinyalian Kingdom's army was once again caught off-guard by Azaroth's strategy as this became a battle of quality vs. quantity.

All the individuals in the Royal Palace were excited to hear this information. They were happy that Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect decided to assist them at this moment.

This would not only halt the Sinyalian Kingdom's army but also weaken the Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect's forces.

The towns captured by the Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect's side were freed, and the trade became very active once again. The pressure on the Royal Family lightened a great deal, and they could finally regroup their forces before launching a full-scale attack!

During this time, Azaroth flew to the battlefield.

He had to absorb the Deathly Energy released by the soldiers after they died! At his current speed, he only needed three days to reach the location.

After reaching the battlefield, he created a massive tunnel by invoking a tornado that drilled into the Earth.

This tunnel led directly beneath the heart of the battleground.

Azaroth sat in that location and took a deep breath. His Heavenly Demon Breathing Technique was active, and he absorbed the Deathly Energy that was getting denser as the battle raged on.

As he absorbed the Deathly Energy, Azaroth experienced a bit of pain in all parts of his body. He even heard multiple voices of regret. It was similar to the time when he heard voices as he absorbed the Faith Energy in the Divine Faith Pool.

This bit of pain didn't annoy him. In fact, he felt ecstatic. This was far more delightful than having sex.

The speed of absorption of the Deathly Energy increased as time passed.

Days passed, and the Sinyalian Kingdom's army lost nearly a hundred thousand soldiers. The Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect's forces also suffered heavy losses. They had 60% of their forces. Only 20,000 warriors of the Sinyalian Kingdom's army remained fit to fight.

After defeating the Sinyalian Kingdom's forces and compelling them to return, the Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect's side also returned to their respective sects.

Contribution points were granted to the sects that participated in this fight based on the number of opponents they killed.

Killing foes earned you a lot of contribution points. Azaroth had a solid reason for awarding so many points for killing enemies.

He knew that the sects would soon realize that it was very easy to gain contribution points by killing their enemies.

Thus, they were bound to actively participate in this war against the Sinyalian Kingdom and gather many contribution points.

Once they had repelled the Sinyalian Kingdom's forces, they would reignite the war against the Glerian Kingdom by using all their resources.

In a sense, they would significantly damage the Sinyalian Kingdom while destroying the Glerian Kingdom!

And during this time, Azaroth would be absorbing the deathly energy to advance his Demonic Ardor to the peak of the Demon King rank.

According to his calculations, he should reach the peak of the Demon King rank after absorbing the death energy of a million soldiers.

As of this moment, he had barely absorbed one-third of that number.

'For a brief time, I need to halt the attack on the Glerian Kingdom and allow both sides to regroup. The warriors of the sects who survived this conflict will have the opportunity to grow more. In contrast, the King will have time to regroup his soldiers and enroll additional recruits into the army, resulting in a massive army.'

'The Monarch of the Sinyalian Kingdom must be rather shocked to know that his attack on the Glerian Kingdom had failed. The intervention of the sects must have startled him. He must think that this was a trap, and he had fallen right into it.'

'The Sinyalian Kingdom is going to gather a massive force in the next few months and station it in the Rhodes House's territory. All the Noble Families loyal to the Monarch are going to join the next battle.'

According to Azaroth's calculations, the situation was developing positively for him, but for some reason, he still couldn't ignore that threatening feeling. He still felt as though his life was in grave danger.

"This can't be another false alarm, right?" He muttered to himself. He received no answer as all that surrounded him was pure darkness.

"Is this threat not from the Radiant God?" He wondered out aloud. After a few seconds, he further added, "I need to prepare another countermeasure for the worst-case scenario."

And to prepare this countermeasure, Azaroth contacted his seventh retainer, William!

William had been traveling all around the Glerian Kingdom, getting stronger as he fought against monsters and warriors. He learned multiple skills that helped him control his power and increased his combat power significantly.

Azaroth was a bit surprised to see William growing so swiftly. He hadn't paid much attention to William, but it seemed as though William was also richly gifted with great providence.

William had found hidden races in the eastern mountain range of the Glerian Kingdom. And these hidden races possessed their rare inheritance, originating from their Ancestor who was probably an Emperor Ranked Expert.

Surprisingly, William discovered three rare inheritances that were tailor-made for him!