Ch.217217. The Devil’s Invasion

Dawn Imperial Year 250.

In other words, exactly 250 years since the beginning of the Age of Dark.

The demons of the demon realm, who had been hiding in darkness and secretly growing their power, finally shattered one of the “barriers” protecting the world and escaped to the outside.

These hideous and grotesque demonic beings, literally crawling up from hell, destroyed the fabric of space and simultaneously invaded through these rifts.

Naturally, the entire world suffered greatly at the hands of these demon realm invaders who crossed over through spatial tears.

The demon army of Belphegor, Archdemon of Sloth, consisted of goat and ram demons with appearances that would likely appeal to suspicious types.

These beast-like demons spread “sloth” as they moved frantically through mountainous regions, emitting distinctive cries that sapped the fighting spirit of their victims.

The demon army of Beelzebub, Archdemon of Gluttony, was composed of minotaur-like bull demons and maggot and fly demons that devoured everything.

Having invaded the domain of the Evil God of Plague, they consumed the abundant organic matter there, conducting such thorough “cleaning” that not even a blade of grass remained in their wake.

Lilith-Asmodeus, Archdemon of Lust, true to being the ruler of all succubi and incubi, sent forth hideous yet beautiful dream demons to throw societies into chaos.

These dream demons traversed both the dream world and reality, enchanting and brainwashing mortals, easily recruiting a substantial following.

The army of Satan, Archdemon of Wrath, the First Grand Duke of demons and idol of all demonkind, most closely resembled our common image of demons.

These wrathful demons, who believed that tricks were only employed by those lacking strength, reveled in slaughter as they advanced, driven by endless contempt and rage toward the weak.

Leviathan, Archdemon of Envy, named after the sea monster, commanded a demon army largely composed of oceanic demons.

These demons, roaming the vast seas like pirates, were extremely wicked and boasted unmatched power at least within the domain of the oceans.

The demon army of Mammon, Archdemon of Greed, consisted of demons whose appearance and nature most closely resembled humans, matching their greedy disposition.

They offered no resistance to the endless greed that ruled them, resulting in Mammon’s subordinates plundering wealth they didn’t even need.

Lucifer, the “Morning Star” and Archdemon of Pride, commanded angels who had fallen and become demons. The resulting Legion of Pride, though smaller in number, was second to none in its elite quality.

These demons, with their overwhelming power, served as the adhesive that united the otherwise disparate demon armies, mediating between different demon factions.

Thus, the seven Archdemons’ armies invaded this world in their own ways, committing all manner of atrocities for their masters.

Their basic approach involved the trinity of looting, arson, and massacre, with each legion adding its own particular methods.

Of course, these demon armies had generally decreased in power by one level after crossing dimensions and breaking through the “barrier”…

Even considering this, the might of the demon armies was truly terrifying.

First, the very method by which demons invaded this dimension was problematic.

Their approach of simply shattering space and charging through anywhere in the world rendered the concept of battle lines completely meaningless.

Even if there was a fortress protected by towering walls, they could simply invade inside the fortress and destroy it from within.

Some demons also identified the locations of leadership through previously planted followers, collapsing command structures through decapitation operations with elite forces.

Additionally, they would send demons specialized in slaughter to civilian areas, or summon higher demons on the spot using large quantities of sacrifices.

Although once they crossed over, they couldn’t return until death, the fact that they could coordinate their initial entry point was already a significant advantage.

Moreover, the quality of the demon armies was not inferior to other forces—in fact, they were powerful enough to easily sweep away the less organized evil god factions.

While in this world, mid-level forces appeared at a rate of about one per thousand people, among demons there was at least one mid-level demon for every few hundred lower demons.

Though mid-level demons weren’t invincible and could be defeated with proper strategy, doing so required sacrificing hundreds of lives.

Considering that these mid-level demons each commanded hundreds of lower demons, these demon battalions led by mid-level demons were formidable enemies not to be confronted carelessly.

Beyond simply stealing souls and growing stronger, these demons ultimately aimed to corrupt this dimension itself and transform it into a demon realm.

Whether they needed more slaves to serve them, wanted to devour souls, were driven mad with lust to penetrate or be penetrated, were irritated by the mere existence of weak beings, envied everything others possessed, or desired all the wealth and riches of others—

The demon armies invaded the material plane for various reasons, but their publicly stated logic stemmed from “pride.”

They claimed to be “liberating mortals who are enslaved to gods after death”—a justification that seemed reasonable to them.

Of course, anyone who knew the truth would realize how foolish this logic was.

No matter how evil a god might be, mortals were still “followers” to them, whereas demons viewed mortals as slaves at best and followers at worst.

And so began the war between demons and mortals across the world—

The result of this final war that ended the Age of Darkness was close to mutual destruction.

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Perhaps due to the chaotic nature of the era, no detailed records of the war exist.

The fact that most documents have vanished indicates the terrible conditions of that time, though fortunately, not all records were lost.

The Dawn Empire, which suffered relatively less damage from the demon invasion, managed to preserve documents summarizing the situation.

Most factions were annihilated by the endless waves of demons from the demon realm, with the already internally divided evil god factions suffering particularly severe damage.

“Plague” was left without even a small patch of contaminated land, while “Despair” lost most of its cult including the raven legion.

“Misfortune” became even more faded after catastrophic damage, and “Conspiracy” lost all the nations where it could scheme and operate from the shadows.

“Fear” disappeared without a trace after fierce battles with the Archdemon armies, and “Pleasure” died from overexertion after an intense sexual battle with the Archdemon of Lust.

As these major evil gods who had pushed the world into chaos collapsed, almost none of the minor evil gods escaped unscathed…

The demons who caused this situation also suffered enough damage to prevent them from invading this world again for some time.

Their follower base, already smaller than that of the evil gods, was annihilated, and most of the greater demons interested in this dimension suffered considerable losses.

It was a situation of mutual destruction between demons and evil gods, leaving most divine beings unable to act for the time being.

Naturally, the Dawn Empire of “Vengeance,” which had preserved its power, expected to dominate the now-empty continent and become the second hegemonic power…

In reality, however, the Dawn Empire’s situation wasn’t as intact as outsiders believed.

After the continental powers were annihilated by the seemingly endless demons, the remaining demons attacked the only non-demonic power left on the continent.

Fortunately, the Dawn Empire had deployed dimensional barrier fields in all its cities using technology extorted from elves, preventing invasions through spatial rifts or teleportation.

While this saved them from collapsing in urban warfare like other cities, they still had to face the oncoming demons by grinding down their manpower.

Without the mysterious red warrior who appeared throughout the battlefield cutting down enemies, several cities might have fallen in the fierce battles.

As a result, even though the cities themselves survived, the infrastructure was completely destroyed. The Dawn Empire announced it would close its borders for recovery, leaving the continent as an ownerless land where warlords began to spring up everywhere.

Thus began the “Age of War.”