Chapter 1195
Half of Leon's Abyssal army was burned to death, while the remaining half was so terrified by Stell's overwhelming presence that they all fled toward the Demon Fortress.
"Lord Octavius, what do we do now? Their lord actually took action himself! Damn that bastard..."
During the retreat, an Abyssal Bear Goblin crowded up to Octavius, anxiously asking what to do next. With their limited intelligence, fleeing was the only option they could think of.
Octavius slapped him fiercely and shouted loudly.
"Don't be afraid! The great master once said we must rely on wisdom. Do you understand what wisdom is? Damn it, you idiots probably have no clue. Only pureblood demons like our master possess such things.
Of course, the great Octavius has also learned a bit of wisdom from the master.
First, we'll return to the fortress and rely on its defenses. Our great master is currently researching a very powerful spell.
What are you staring at? What are you asking for? Do you idiots get it? Don't ask me—I don't understand either. Anyway, it's super powerful, and only a mighty Abyssal spellcasting demon like the master can handle it.
That evil demon may be strong, but our master will definitely take him down. All we have to do is wait for the master to finish his research. Don't even think about defecting to the enemy, you damn fools.
Do you really think you'll survive if you defect to the enemy? Will you have endless food and energy crystals if you do?
You might as well be dead! Besides, once our master finishes researching that powerful spell, all our enemies will be wiped out!
Octavius angrily cursed the terrified abyssal creatures around him. Soon, many of them calmed down and obediently dashed toward the fortress.
The loyalty of abyssal creatures can be said to be both extremely high and extremely low. As long as their demon lord hasn't died, these creatures will never betray. But if their lord is killed, those who fought to the death seconds ago will immediately pledge allegiance to a new master.
Now that Leon hasn't been killed, these creatures dare not betray. At worst, fighting to the death means getting killed. But if they betray and Leon survives while the enemy lord is killed, they'll wish they were dead.
Stell led his army, steadily pursuing and gradually devouring Leon's abyssal forces. By the time they reached the fortress, only a quarter of Leon's army remained—the rest had been wiped out.
The participating legions returned to the fortress and began to defend it. However, the result was not optimistic—the fortress gates were soon melted by a horde of frenzied fire-spitting monsters, the Abyssal demon-iron gates reduced to molten metal.
Treading on the scalding molten iron, countless abyssal monsters surged into the fortress. A one-sided slaughter began.
Stell sauntered into the fortress, revealing his demonic form. His enormous body, over ten meters tall, stood in the fortress as he laughed maniacally.
Fools! Do you think hiding will save you? You pathetic demons, dying at the hands of Lord Stell is the greatest honor you could hope for.
Damn Fire Flame Demon, get out here! Coward of the Abyss—aren't those who refuse to fight despised by all demons?
Stell rampaged through the fortress, smashing everything in his path as he made his way toward the lord’s quarters, spewing curses and insults in the demon tongue, each more vile than the last.
Many abyssal creatures couldn’t withstand the power of his demonic speech and were driven mad by it.
The demon tongue, when spoken by a demon, is the most venomous of curses. Just its insults and mockery alone could corrupt a holy angel’s magic, causing even souls devoted to the Light to fall.
Stell smashed a Bear Goblin’s head with a slap, swaggered over, and kicked open the lord’s manor doors. Every abyssal creature he encountered who dared resist was slaughtered without mercy.
Soon, Stell arrived outside Leon’s transformation chamber. The moment he stepped forward, a wall of fire appeared before him.
Stell laughed loudly as he walked into the wall of fire. The scorching flames licked at his body but had no effect at all.
Foolish creature! I was born from the charred bones of flame—fire is my life. This level of flame isn’t even as hot as the magma I bathe in.
Fire Flame Demon, your end has come. Get out here...
Stell strode through the blazing inferno. The rising heat barely slowed him down.
Stell’s fiery hand slowly reached toward the chamber door. That black iron door, forged from abyssal metal, was no sturdier than ordinary wood in Stell’s grasp...
Inside the room, the silent Patchwork Alchemical Golem suddenly raised its head, its eyes flashing red. The light flickered several times as it slowly lifted both arms—a cannon barrel as thick as a human arm extended from the golem’s limb.
The moment Stell’s hand touched the door, the Patchwork Alchemical Golem would blast both the door and Stell into oblivion.
Suddenly, the golem’s eyes flickered and it retreated into the shadows at the corner of the room.
The massive black cocoon in the room slowly split open, a crack forming along its surface. The glow on the cocoon faded, and all the abyssal magic gathered within.
The cocoon broke apart, and a humanoid figure, its body seeming to flow with molten magma, emerged. Drops of magma fell constantly from its form.
The pitch-black shell of the cocoon, touched by the blazing magma, was instantly burned to ash. The temperature in the chamber soared; within seconds, the surrounding structures turned to dust before they could even catch fire...
Even the demon-iron door began to glow red hot. The sheer heat radiating from the figure was enough to heat the massive iron door three meters away.
Outside the door, Stell—just about to break it down—noticed the black iron rapidly turning red before his eyes. He immediately retreated, thick bone spikes erupting from his body as black-grey corrosive flames sprayed forth.
Leon, eyes closed, walked slowly toward the door. When he was one meter from the demon-iron door, the four- or five-meter-high door melted into a stream of molten iron.
Stepping out onto the scalding iron, Leon finally opened his eyes. The heat radiating from his body gradually subsided, except for the pool of magma swirling beneath his feet...
Stell watched Leon warily from over a hundred meters away, his gaze filled with uncertainty.
“Flame Demon? Damn it, wasn’t it supposed to be a Fire Flame Demon?”
The gap between a Flame Demon and a Fire Flame Demon was immense. Fire Flame Demons were purebloods, but their ranking wasn’t particularly high.
Their reputation was poor, since Fire Flame Demons were, ultimately, the result of Flame Demons sowing their seed indiscriminately. Even the strongest Fire Flame Demon was just a product of random breeding.
Of the seventy-two pureblood demon species, only Fire Flame Demons were offspring of other demons.
But Flame Demons were different. In the Abyss, Flame Demons were nothing like those found in the world of Northend or other realms. The ones in Northend were mostly impure-blooded. Pureblood Flame Demons radiated immense heat at all times, their bodies dripping with brilliant, crystal-like magma.
Pureblood Flame Demons possessed silver bloodlines, and some could even advance to become Flame Demon Lords. Don’t be fooled by their silver bloodline; even the top ten gold-blood pureblood demons wouldn’t dare provoke a Flame Demon lightly.
This race was the most numerous among the powerful demon bloodlines of the Abyss. Anywhere there was magma or volcanoes, it was Flame Demon territory...
In places like these, few demons could ever compete with Flame Demons...
Seeing that the target wasn’t a Fire Flame Demon but a true pureblood Flame Demon, Stell instinctively hesitated.
Killing hundreds of Fire Flame Demons wouldn’t draw any attention, but killing a pureblood Flame Demon was another matter entirely.
Demons are capricious—they have no concept of siblings or family. Killing one’s own father or brothers born at the same time is perfectly normal.
But Flame Demons are different. No one can be sure if some Flame Demon Lord, upon learning a pureblood Flame Demon was killed, might suddenly show up to take out the murderer...
And avenging a fellow Flame Demon is the perfect excuse to expand one’s territory...
After only a moment’s hesitation, Stell grinned, baring his teeth in a vicious smile.
Damn, I thought it was just a Fire Flame Demon. Turns out it’s a pureblood Flame Demon—so much the better. The heart of a pureblood Flame Demon is the strongest source of flame.
If I kill this guy, I’ll advance smoothly to level thirty-six. No, with this idiot’s heart, I could rocket up to level thirty-nine.
There aren’t any major volcano clusters nearby, so there can’t be any Flame Demon Lords around. If I break through to level forty, I’ll be able to use extraordinary power to reconnect with my body and leave this damned Abyss.
Once I return to the Blazeforge Realm, would those foolish Flame Demons really be able to chase me there?
If they dare show up in the Blazeforge Realm, they’ll be ripped to shreds!
Stell’s body bristled with bone spikes, corrosive black flames swirling around him. Even his gaunt frame radiated the power of wicked battle energy.
He’d pieced together the method for awakening battle energy from memory. The body of a Bone Demon was even stronger than a Bronze Orc’s, and the battle energy he could unleash was far greater. Even though a demon’s body was very different from an orc’s, Stell had managed to figure out a simple way to trigger battle energy.
That battle energy became Stell’s trump card, making him stronger than any other demon of his rank...
“Foolish Flame Demon, I’ve killed seven or eight Flame Demons before, but never a pureblood. Guess you’re just unlucky—fate isn’t on your side.
You’re just like that pathetic human mage abandoned by fate, doomed to die a miserable death. Now, your heart belongs to me!”
Before Stell could finish, a massive dark green fireball—over two meters wide—suddenly formed before him. With a bang, it exploded, the blast like a giant’s hand smacking Stell hard across the face.
“Stell, you idiot. Even after reincarnating as a demon, you’re still this stupid. As a demon, you actually trigger orc battle energy? That’s dumber than those goblins who only know how to eat...”
Leon strode through the magma, his body suddenly swelling, growing to over ten meters tall. The heat radiating from his form warped the surrounding air, making Leon look like a shimmering mirage.
With a single sentence, Leon exposed Stell’s name and true identity, leaving Stell stunned.
Stell watched Leon warily as the bones on his body slowly fused with battle energy, forming armor that covered his surface.
“Who are you? This is all a misunderstanding—we’re allies. There’s no need to waste strength in this filthy place. Our goal is to get out of here...”
The magma swirling around Leon grew even brighter, his demon horns transforming into glowing orange-red crystals. The heat ignited every nearby building, and the ground beneath his feet turned to magma. As Leon’s molten essence spilled, a hundred-meter radius became a field of lava, thick with a toxic, sulfurous stench...
Suddenly, seven or eight pillars of flame—each over two meters thick—erupted from the bone spikes on Stell’s body. Black-grey corrosive flames crashed into Leon, engulfing him in less than a second.
“Foolish creature, whoever you are, die here—just like that idiot Marfa Merlin. Become a rotting corpse, food for these filthy abyssal beasts.
You probably don’t know, but Marfa Merlin, the one abandoned by fate, was reincarnated as an Abyssal Maggot.
You should know what an Abyssal Maggot is by now. Even the lowest abyssal creatures treat them as food. Not a single maggot survives more than three days; by now, he’s probably nothing but the waste of those wretched crawlers.
To die by my hand is luckier than Marfa Merlin’s fate. At least you’re more fortunate than that miserable fool.
Give me your heart. Tell me your name—I’ll remember you helped me leave this cursed place.”
The black-grey flames wrapped around Leon, making the surrounding fire burn even hotter.
But after more than ten seconds, the flames remained unchanged, while the searing magma had already spread to Stell’s feet.
Suddenly, two hands enveloped in blinding magma reached out from the corrosive flames. Like tearing through paper, they ripped the flames apart.
In an instant, the flames Stell controlled were shredded like rags. Leon stepped forward, abyssal runes clinging to his body.
In a flash, Leon vanished from where he stood. A moment later, he appeared before Stell, crossing more than a hundred meters in an instant.
A violently spinning fireball formed in Leon’s palm, and with a slap, he smashed it into Stell’s face.
The explosive force of the flames, combined with Leon’s terrifying strength, shattered the bones covering Stell’s face—half his face was left in ruins...
The massive body, over ten meters tall, crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
As Stell fell into the magma, streams of molten rock transformed into chains, binding his form.
Leon walked across the lava, staring at Stell’s stunned face.
“Idiot, I am Marfa Merlin. The greatest strength of a demon is their body and spellcasting ability. Yet you abandoned both to pursue that worthless battle energy.
You’ve been in the Abyss this long and still don’t know? Flame Demons are immune to any fire damage from demons of the same rank.
I’m level thirty-five, you’re level thirty-five, and you thought you could burn a Flame Demon to death with corrosive black flames? Idiot, I almost pity you.
Killing you might lower my IQ. Besides, Flame Demons have no bones. Not even a Bone Demon Lord can burn a pureblood Flame Demon with corrosive black flames...
Leon looked at the fallen Stell, suddenly feeling reluctant to finish him off. Such idiocy—these things are common knowledge in the Abyss. Even a random imp knows trying to burn a pureblood Flame Demon is the definition of stupidity. Cultured demons use that phrase to insult each other, rather than simply calling someone an idiot...
Even without prior knowledge, these basics should be obvious. Judging the Abyss by what you learned in the Blazeforge Realm is itself foolish...
Any Flame Demons that ever appeared in the Blazeforge Realm were just mongrels...
Stell stared at Leon in utter shock.
“Marfa Merlin? Impossible—I saw you reincarnate as an Abyssal Maggot...
No, Marfa Merlin, we’re allies! You can’t kill me. What happened before was an accident—Bilbo, that human, tricked me. I truly didn’t mean to harm you.
We’re allies. Any grudges should be settled after we resolve the crisis in the Blazeforge Realm.
No, Marfa Merlin, I give up our feud—that was just an accident. We can cooperate, cooperate...
Leon slowly raised his foot—a massive, fiery foot—and stomped hard on Stell’s head. A series of explosive firebursts erupted, and Stell’s head was forced down into the searing magma...
Black smoke billowed up. Within seconds, Stell’s body stopped struggling and screaming. His huge frame was gradually swallowed by the magma; after ten seconds, it had vanished completely...
Leon’s enormous demon form shrank back down to two meters tall. The terrifying heat around him faded, but the layer of blazing magma on his skin continued to flow.
Walking out of the lord’s manor, Leon saw the chaos outside had already died down. The moment Stell was killed, all his followers fell to their knees, awaiting their new master.