The 570th level of the Abyss, Shendilavri, was the territory of the Succubus Queen Melcanthet. In the past, although the demon lords of the Abyss constantly fought between themselves, these conflicts were limited to small skirmishes, and no large-scale wars of extermination occurred.
Demons were notoriously fickle creatures whose oaths had no credibility. The real master of the demons was the Abyssal Will. But even the Abyssal Will had no ability to enforce contracts or create them.
Demons were immune to breaking most oaths. It could be said that unless a demon swore to a true god’s divine fire, an oath could never be formed between them. Even if that were the case, there would always be stupid people in the world who would believe in a demon’s oath, thus having their souls taken away.
It was because of this chaotic nature of demons that they were in constant conflict with one another. Nonetheless, these rarely escalated unless one side had an overwhelming advantage against the other.
If two demon lords carried out this kind of war and used up all their resources, none of them would become the ultimate winners. As long as a demon lord’s power plummeted and the number of demons in their territory reduced significantly, they would become the targets of countless other demon lords. In the Abyss, this meant certain death.
During the era of the gods, there were demon princes who were a lot stronger than demon lords, but even if they were stronger, they were unable to conquer the entire Abyss. The most they could do was rule several layers of the Abyss. Any time they showed weakness, countless demon lords would definitely rebel and covet the title of the ‘prince’.
This was the norm in the Abyss, and Melcanthet thought that this norm would last forever, but she never expected that outsiders would change it.
“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh—”
Ordinarily weak and timid demons such as dretches, quasits, and bebiliths, and powerful demons such as nalfeshnees, mariliths, and balor demons were frantically fighting the army of gargoyles ahead.
Demons also possessed fear, but when a battle occurred, this would be cast aside to slake their bloodlust. As a result, demons were ostracized, even by other existences belonging to the same evil faction.
Melcanthet was one of the strongest succubi in the Abyss and was the only one given the title of ‘queen’. This signified that the demons she led were the strongest among the succubus.
But even so, Melcanthet had never seen such a huge army of dragons.
She was a demon lord of the Abyss and a virtual god in her own territory, but a virtual god was ultimately a virtual god. There was a huge gap between her and a real god.
Moreover, Melcanthet found that the dragons that attacked her territory seemed to have no self-awareness. In other words, these dragons were weapons. Even if she solved the current problem, what would she do in another 20 to 30 years? Wouldn’t the Dragon God just send the same dragon army once more? This battle would only need to happen two to three more times for her territory to be truly destroyed.
“How on earth did that god create so many dragons? Is the divine authority of dragons that terrifying? Two to three times? No, just this one attack has shaken the foundations of my territory.”
Melcanthet gritted her teeth and whispered. Her angry expression distorted, hiding the fear behind her facade. Her beauty which was enough to move the gods had turned obsessive and crazed.
That was right. There was no need for the Dragon God, Louie Galakrond, to engage in a long war with her. Her situation was already quite dire with just one invasion.
Even if she killed all the dragons here today, her territory would have severe casualties. The other demon lords would definitely not overlook her and would take advantage to launch their own attacks to destroy her. Louie obviously knew this.
Even if she understood this, she could not do anything about it. If a different demon lord was under heavy invasion and suffered heavy losses, Melcanthet would also take advantage of the situation and think of obtaining the most benefits.
This was how demons were. Interdependence simply did not exist in their dictionary. Demons ignored the big picture and tended to only look at immediate interests.
“In the 531st layer, there is the Lady of the Scorching Domain, the ‘Snake Queen’ Shakatari. In the 548th layer, there is the abyssal lord, the 'Mage Lord' Hagenti. In the 558th layer, there is the Lord of the Infinite Melting, the Cocoon Sovereign. And the most troublesome of all is the two succubi abyssal lords in the 597th layer, Glanzes and the 71st layer Tendril Bandage —Sunnara and Oktisula— the two bitches who covet the title of my queen!”
Melcanthet gritted her teeth as she recited the names of these abyssal lords one by one. She could sense their covetous eyes on her territory. If she suffered losses beyond a certain threshold against the dragon legion, these lords would swiftly send their armies to annihilate her. Even if she managed to withstand the current onslaught and deter them from attacking her, what about next time? And the time after that?
‘What do I do?’
The Succubus Queen was at a loss for a while. She began to think about how she was going to get through this difficult time.