Experimental Log of the Crazy Lich - Chapter 466
Chapter 466: Sudden Change in the Situation
The more primitive the battle, the simpler and more violent it would be. Battles purely for the sake of survival or revenge would always be the cruelest and bloodiest. These battles would be far simpler and more direct compared to barbarians’ fights against wild beasts. The primitive rules of blood revenge dictated that cruel battles between barbarian tribes would have no innocents surviving.
Yet, in modern warfare of my original world, battles actually had both international rules and unstated rules, such as normal scale warfare, forbidding the use of large-scale AOE weapons like nuclear bombs, limited-fly zones, international treaties, and so on…
“So that civilians won’t be accidentally harmed? What a joke, isn’t war all about surviving and killing the enemy? Who would worry about killing enemies too slowly? If people were truly worried about ordinary civilians, why not just abandon the thought of warfare in the first place, abandoning the benefits obtainable through war? These limitations are purely because people are worried about going overboard and causing their own self-destruction!”
Modern warfare in my previous world had all sorts of rules and limitations imposed upon it. In my opinion, this wasn’t because humans had become cultured or friendly at all. It was simply because both sides in most wars already possessed Armageddon-level weapons capable of destroying the entire enemy side, making total world annihilation and achieving an Armageddon far too easy. These limitations were set in place so that wars wouldn’t endlessly escalate, so that the overall victor wouldn’t only helplessly receive a living hell on Earth filled with nothing but rubble.
It was the same in the world of Eich with the wars between powerful Gods. Forbidden spell attacks were quite insignificant to them. Wars between Main Gods would always be fought cautiously, carefully testing the waters, carefully accumulating small advantages and carefully wiping away the enemy’s advantage. Aces wouldn’t be used until the very final moment, because they meant the enemy would also use all their aces and go all out in an attempt to survive. The final result in such fights would be unpredictable. Still, no matter how one looked at it, casually slaughtering the enemy’s believers and destroying the overall environment would obviously end in a major loss for both sides.
“If Ladvioka hadn’t insanely gone all out, I wouldn’t have gone to the extent of using Envy’s still incomplete final form…”
From the very start, I hadn’t intended on forcing the Main Gods to the very brink, because that would mean extreme danger for us at all. However, there were no “ifs” on the battlefield. Since the situation already developed in this manner, the only final result available now would either be Ladvioka’s death or ours.
The tremendous bone giant didn’t attempt to hide its intention to slaughter Ladvioka at all. Ladvioka was forced into a corner, and it seemed that it was now time for the final reckoning. Yet, I didn’t dare to let down my guard for even one bit.
And even though Karwenz just fell into another volcano, this wasn’t much to him at all. He instantly appeared again, and directly… went back to cooking his fish soup. Let’s not think too deeply about just how he managed to bring out his fish soup again. Karwenz was making it obvious that he didn’t intend to help either side. Still, I didn’t believe that this was because of our family relationship at all. It was more likely that he was more than happy to watch Ladvioka simply die here.
Ladvioka only glared angrily at Karwenz for a moment but didn’t waste any words. After all, in demons’ dictionaries, “friends that help each other out in a time of need” was a synonym for “naïve idiots that are easy to scam.” A demon that didn’t kick another demon while he was down could already be considered unbelievably friendly in the Chaos Abyss.
It would seem that ignoring Karwenz would be the best choice for me right now. Yet, I unhesitatingly ordered my new subordinate, the pale white Insect Mother to ambush Karwenz!
“As expected, he’s only an illusion!”
Indeed, the Karwenz that she pierced through was nothing more than an illusion created out of shadows. His real self had completely vanished. I was already wondering why he had been so slow to exit the volcano he was trapped in. It would seem that he had already started acting independently starting from that time. Yep, I definitely wasn’t curious at all why a single-celled organism like him would suddenly stop attacking. Nor was it because of anything like a mysterious connection between brothers.
“Could it be that the Dimensional Door portal I sent him through just now helped him to learn the secrets of moving between the Infernos? Damn it! Find him, no matter where he is!”
I highly doubted that any ordinary Main God would be able to learn the secrets of Hell so easily. However, I sent out my senses and found out that Karwenz wasn’t anywhere within the Mountain Inferno at all. Considering who Karwenz was, and the fact that Cynthia was probably hiding within his body, an ominous premonition sent chills down my spine as I considered the possibilities.
A freely acting enemy Main God would obviously be a major threat. While I sent my Wumianzhe incarnations to find Karwenz, I still had to concentrate mainly on Ladvioka who was right before me. That was because Envy’s bone giant body might collapse at any moment. If I could first kill a Main God and scare all the rest, that was likely to greatly increase our odds of overall victory.
“I doubt that Ladvioka has any more subordinates to send out. Since Ladvioka was originally an Inferno Demon, let me recall the Inferno Demons’ most common abilities… Greatsword, Inferno Demon Whip, Meteor Shower, powerful melee fighting abilities, immolating self-destruction… damn it, a self-destruction technique? Ladvioka still has an ace as insane as self-destruction up his sleeve? A self-destruction from a Main God? If he truly kills himself in self-destruction, this Mountain Inferno, no, will the entirety of Hell even still remain standing?”
However, information that one of my incarnations suddenly sent to me made it so that I had to give up on inferring Ladvioka’s possible remaining aces up his sleeve. Due to this sudden incident, I didn’t have much time left.
“Omar, how much longer are you going to pretend to sleep for! It’s light outside already, get out of bed!”
While Roland was using his aces in an attempt to kill off the Lord of Putrefaction, the combat situation was secretly changing within the other Infernos.
The furious hound of Wrath was becoming ever larger and stronger as he continued fighting against the icy silent Chaos War God Donatis. But, even though Bastian’s energy level had multiplied by more than 100 times since the beginning of battle, there was still no difference in the fight at all apart from the fact that Bastian could now last several seconds instead of being slain instantly.
And right now, Donatis wasn’t having an easy time, either. His constantly strengthening and reviving opponent was one issue, but the worse part was that reinforcements suddenly arrived for Bastian, making the fight two against one, changing the entire situation.
Hell Devil Marshan arrived together with a trident containing mystical energy that transformed into a meteor-like strikes, which kept aiming for vital areas. His devil claws that could easily tear through mountains became a weapon that could forcefully clash against the Chaos War God’s greatsword. Plus, with his powerful physical body and the benefits of being buffed by Hell, even if Marshan’s physical fighting abilities were slightly inferior to Donatis’, Marshan actually possessed a physical body with better attributes. This caused Donatis to have a really hard time.
The Fourth Hall of Hell’s Four Halls was the Hell Hall (Hall of Law). This was the headquarters for the Hell Devil’s nobility, and the Hall Leader was the currently sleeping Little Tias.
Although Marshan wasn’t at a Main God’s level, the immemorial devil had still been a warrior from Ayer’s generation. After so many generations Marshan had at least surpassed the so-called level of being a High God. And now that he obtained the Hell Devil nobility’s responsibilities and Concepts of “protecting Hell” and “punishing villains”, his power level improved even further.
Devil General Marshan was the first ever Hell Devil noble of Hell. As the guardian species of Hell, the devils would become unable to leave this dimension, but also gain the same undying trait as the dead souls here. This was why even Donatis started feeling fear—because he now had to face an additional opponent who was also undying and almost at his level.
Unlike Bastian who was still young and inexperienced in comparison, this wasn’t the first time that Marshan had fought with Donatis. Demons and devils were mortal enemies, after all. Although Marshan was still somewhat weaker than Donatis, the fact that Marshan was undying more than made up for this difference. As long as Marshan continued trading injuries with Donatis, the Chaos War God would definitely die in the end.
Marshan’s leader, Kamiltias, was still in a deep sleep. This was in order to completely transform him into a Hell Devil. And as long as Kamiltias completed his transformation, without even mentioning the other benefits, just the fact that devils were already undying, plus an undying Main God joining the battle on our side… If Kamiltias finished his transformation, the entire combat situation would likely be changed.
This was no idiotic manga where the antagonist who was undying ended up mysteriously becoming super dumb, randomly being sealed away by the main character somehow in their confusion. When this former Devil King, who was now the leader of all the Hell Devils, finally woke up, an undying and incredibly sly Main God would become the greatest calamity for all the invaders.
“We just need to stall for time. Protect all the Infernos and the Four Pillars, and we’ll be the victors…”
This was also why I had set most of the battles’ objectives in Hell as stalling for time. As long as time passed, Hell would become more complete, thus strengthening the Hell Gods in turn. That would naturally be the best time to counterattack. If it wasn’t for the Lord of Putrefaction going far too overboard, I wouldn’t have used my aces.
However, it was precisely because these Main Gods were so overly powerful that even though I focused all my transformation resources on Kamiltias, the speed of his transformation into a complete Hell Devil still remained ridiculously slow. Seeing how his boss Kamilitias showed no signs of waking up, Marshan, who was originally guarding Kamiltias, came out to help in the battle instead.
Even Donatis was starting to have difficulties against Bastian and Marshan who stalled him by taking full advantage of their undying bodies. If this situation continued, it was likely that Donatis would soon be forced into using his aces.
Meanwhile, Harloys and the God of Wisdom Kalumandas were currently sitting at a negotiation table in a scene that didn’t seem to fit the battles happening everywhere else. They had such a wonderfully friendly atmosphere, and had just finished shaking hands after signing a 500-page long contract… They actually used a magic spell to accelerate time in order to swiftly negotiate and determine the conditions of a contract!
And in the Gluttony Inferno, two gigantic beasts were currently tearing at each other. Both of them had their mouths on their enemy’s body. They were both devouring each other and being devoured.
All magic spells and supernatural abilities were forgotten. Pure desire to eat ruled over everything here, fitting the basic dimensional laws of this Inferno.
An endless amount of life force constantly replenished both sides’ physical bodies as they were devoured. Both Ah Dang and Garr constantly tried to open their mouths wider than their enemy, along with trying to create more mouths than the enemy. Both existences’ countless eyes only saw each other. It would seem that neither of these monstrous beasts intended to leave the Gluttony Inferno before one completely devoured the other.
In a corner of this Inferno, the Queen of Temptation Ilmisya sighed helplessly as she watched this battle which only involved mutual devouring with no beauty or grace to it at all. She decided to change to a different battlefield that was slightly more cultured to support the fight.
But suddenly, a young-sounding and anxious voice spoke up in her ear. She immediately thought of the young individual who had now become the master of Hell. However, his voice currently sounded panicked and hurried, a rarity.
“Ilmisya, go to the Pillar of Ice and stop that person!”