Chapter 596: The Warhorns of Dimensional War

“In the Wildsnow Forest Mountain district of the seventh level of the Chaos Abyss, the demons and devils had a major battle. The only remaining Main God Devil Lord, the Lord of Tyranny, participated in this battle against Demon Main God Sophocles the Deceiver. The end result was that the devils achieved a major victory. Sophocles the Deceiver was seriously injured. However, the devils immediately retreated overnight, and gave up all their territory here.”

Out of all the information I received, this one attracted my attention the most. Both sides had sent out Main Gods, so this was obviously an important strategic location.

The demons lost, but gained more territory. The devils won, but actually lost territory. While this may seem inconceivable, this would actually be quite normal for fights between devils and demons.

The demons had almost limitless numbers. One Demon Lord’s failure would only make even more Demon Lords want to try. They would forever wage internal wars amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, the devils had a pyramidal social structure and limited strength. While they were capable of obtaining strategic victories with their militarization and well-run organizations, they would be unable to handle any long battle of attrition. When calculating the losses, it was common that the demons lost nothing more than some cannon fodder, while the devils had lost their elites.

It was absolutely commonplace for there to be wars in the Chaos Abyss. There would be such large-scale wars happening once every few months. Even with the Main Gods appearing, that only made the information’s price go up a few levels. Still, I could tell that there were some things which were off about this information.

“…The seventh level? I remember that dimensional level is filled with ice and snow. I think it’s the territory of an Elemental Lord allied with the demons. This is strange. The first few levels of the Chaos Abyss have all been overly developed. What are they fighting over?”

The first few levels of the Chaos Abyss had already been developed for countless years by their various rulers. Even if these levels had some treasures or mines, anything valuable would be long gone. Although demon population or whatever might also count as resources, this wouldn’t be very valuable.

There would definitely be a reason behind such a major battle. Although war in the Chaos Abyss didn’t really need reasons, this involved someone as sly and selfish as Sophocles the Deceiver. There would definitely be tremendous benefits to be had there that caused him to personally attack with his entire personal army.

Attacking the devils while they were weak? While this might have been a possible reason for another Demon Lord, this would never be Sophocles the Deceiver’s style. There would definitely be some great reason for him to willingly face off against the only remaining Devil Lord Main God.

But then, I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. Wasn’t I here at the fairies’ information services already? Why would I need to guess? And so, I simply asked the fairies my question directly.

“…It’s said that there’s a portal leading to the mortal plane on the seventh level! It’s even a natural portal.”

This was truly… a surprise? At this moment, I truly felt like I was in the middle of the eternal Holy War.

During the Holy War, the rise in the Elemental Tide would cause powerful individuals to appear at a far higher speed. Countless Dimensional Doors would bring visitors from other dimensions to the mortal plane. Some Dimensional Doors would be natural creations of the Elemental Tide’s rise. Some doors might have been left behind by previous Holy Wars. Some doors might be created by special locations with unstable nature. But, most Dimensional Doors would be artificially created by powerful existences who were willing the pay the great price necessary to do so.

Although the doors didn’t seem all that different, there would actually be a tremendous difference in influence and danger they brought to the mortal plane’s residents.

A demon invasion would be the most common dimensional threat to the mortal plane. A major demon invasion would occur once every several hundred years, and a small one would occur every few years. But, if you looked at the foundational reasons for these invasions, they would be either schemes from powerful existences in the Chaos Abyss to harvest flesh and blood, or a heinous summoning performed by some idiotic mortal plane resident.

Since these Chaos Abyss teleportation portals to the mortal plane were all artificially created, they naturally had their limits. Dimensional Doors created in the mortal plane would require a sufficient number of souls and sacrifices, and those in the Chaos Abyss would also have to pay a tremendous price. There would also be limits on the size and power of the army that could go through the portal.

And even if the demons successfully entered the mortal plane, they would constantly have to fight against the mortal plane’s dimensional laws in addition to dealing with the Order Gods and mortals hunting them down. Not only would they be largely weakened, they would need to constantly pay a price for the temporary right to remain in the mortal plane. It would only be a matter of time before they were forced to return to the Chaos Abyss.

In that case, such a calamity would have limits in its danger… Karwenz being able to destroy multiple countries with just a few demon armies was only a special exception.

But, during the Holy War, the natural portal Dimensional Doors that would open up in this period of high Elemental Tide would be truly fun to deal with. Existences on either side of the portal could come and go as they pleased. There would be zero limits on how many could come, or how long they could come for… So, this would be the new main battleground of the Holy War.

During the Holy War, with the rising Elemental Tide as the prerequisite, as long as enough of a price was paid, artificial Dimensional Doors could be transformed into eternal natural Dimensional Doors. But, perhaps due to the dimensional will of the mortal plane, the success rate would typically be very low. All sorts of heaven-sent calamities or man-made disasters would typically cause such Dimensional Door transformation plans to fail.

If we hadn’t gone to the Sala Dukedom a few months back, it was likely that the Haletdam generation scholars’ ruin would have likely transformed into a Dimensional Door leading either to the Death Planes or the Chaos Abyss. However, the very fact that we arrived and stopped this could also be viewed as the mortal plane’s dimensional laws fighting back with the power of Fate itself.

But, there was nothing that could be done about natural Dimensional Doors. They didn’t need much time to expand to their limits. There were no warnings or limitations on their appearances. Any place that they appeared would naturally become a battlefield, a bottomless pit that would be impossible to fill in during the Holy War.

Why would it be impossible to fill in this bottomless pit? When one Demon Lord lost his entire army here, a second Demon Lord would immediately arrive. The first would also retreat with the souls and blood that he harvested, helping him to evolve and obtain the favor of the Chaos Abyss. He would only need to recover for two years before establishing an entire new demon army.

One historical record from the previous Holy War was that there was a stalemate at a natural Dimensional Door. But, the entire demon army there changed their battle flag overnight. It turned out that a Demon Lord successfully ambushed the other Demon Lord already at the portal in the Chaos Abyss side, successfully killing the original Demon Lord. The new demon army’s combat strength was several times greater than the original army’s, and the defending Order army ended up being completely annihilated.

Although the will of the Chaos Abyss would do her best to decrease the conflicts between Demon Lords during the time of Holy War, if an internal conflict was beneficial to the overall combat situation, Cynthia would naturally pretend not to see anything.

Also, unlike other wars where the first wave of attacks would be cannon fodder, the mortal plane would typically have a hard time defending against the demons’ first wave. There wouldn’t be much resistance, and the demons could obtain a tremendous amount of souls and blood from ordinary people. This was highly beneficial for the demons.

So, with all that as the background, it was now perfectly understandable why the demons and devils were fighting there.

It was now also perfectly understandable why Sophocles the Deceiver never came to find me when I entered the Chaos Abyss despite him being famous for holding a grudge over even the smallest things. He had no time to deal with me.

But, what could I even do after learning this information?

Go chase away the demon army and close the natural portal? First of all, trying to shut down such a natural phenomenon would be about as difficult as trying to use your bare hands to close a black hole… And, it would be impossible to kill the entire demon army. If you killed one Demon Lord, ten more would arrive. If you destroyed one army, more than ten allied demon armies from other dimensional levels would arrive.

This was probably the first natural Dimensional Door that appeared in this Holy War. Until a powerful existence took complete control of this portal, the demons’ internal conflicts would likely become so cruel that they would exceed the Holy War itself. Many Gods would likely be appearing on the battlefield at the seventh level of the Chaos Abyss. Main Gods would directly fight against each other. The current me had no hope of even being able to survive after trying to reach such a battlefield.

In fact, this natural portal might even be related to why Karwenz suddenly killed a Devil Lord for no discernible reason. This would greatly weaken the devils even more and make them give up on that Dimensional Door.

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With all this information, it seemed that the first mega-level battlefield of the Holy War had now appeared.

All I could do was try and find out where in the mortal plane this portal led to, and warn that country or district so that they could prepare early to defend themselves. However, even this likely wouldn’t be that easy…

“Is there any information on where this portal leads to?”

The fairy adamantly shook his head. “…The Dimensional Door has been constantly guarded by mega powerful existences. It’s impossible for us to even get anywhere close.”

This was within expectations, albeit somewhat depressing. However, I thought of another possibility.

“Astrya, is there any record of this in the game’s history? Where was the first mega Chaos Abyss invasion in the mortal plane?”

[Typically you call me System or just ‘hey’. Now you address me by name? I will be responsible enough to tell you that there’s not even a clue. Hell’s establishment has sent the Elemental Tide into utter chaos. All of the original battlefield locations can no longer be used as reference. All of this is your fault.]

Damn, I could no longer use my game walkthrough to cheat my way through anymore. This meant that my precognition was now more than half useless, and all of it was my own fault.

However, I had zero regrets about creating Hell as it was precisely Hell’s establishment that helped us break free from the despairing end with no hope in sight no matter how hard we worked.

At this moment, Harloys suddenly jumped on my shoulder.

“What is it? You discovered something in the information?”

“No, it will take too long to organize so much random information. It’s that Margaret has contacted us. They’re prepared, and want to know whom you want them to attack?”

I had already given Adam and the others the information about Salor and Donatis. No matter why those two had come to the Ashen Furnace, neither was a friend that we could have a friendly chat and drink tea together with. I naturally wouldn’t waste a chance to use a two-pronged ambush and eliminate a threat to myself.

However, there would only be one chance for an ambush. With a fight against such a powerful opponent, let alone this city, it was likely that this entire dimensional level would be able to find out about it. Not only was a second ambush going to be impossible for us, we would also have to be on guard against enemy reinforcements.

I needed to make a decision swiftly. If I delayed too long, Salor and Donatis would meet each other sooner or later. It would be difficult for us with our current strength to deal with any additional changes in the current situation.

Judging from long-term benefits, this would be a great opportunity to weaken War God Donatis.

The more powerful his incarnation here was, the more power he would lose if it died. He had originally lost a decent amount of strength after finishing with fighting for several years in Hell. If I could force him to recover for an additional two years, making it so that he couldn’t be the Chaos vanguard in the Holy War, that would be far more valuable than killing Salor the Berserk Slaughterer. But, Donatis had yet to show enmity towards us for the time being, and Salor was definitely hunting us down.

I was really hesitant. I wanted to kill both, but I had insufficient strength at my disposal to do so.

I looked over at the fairy, but instantly shook my head, giving up on the idea before I even asked.

While the fairies’ faction would have some combat strength of their own, they had remained neutral, and never interfered in other species’ affairs for countless millennia. It would be absolutely impossible to convince them to give up their neutrality just to help me.

“Eh?”

Harloys’ surprise interrupted my thoughts. When I asked her what was going on, she let me listen in on a conversation.

“…Will we really meet with reinforcements here? We’re in the Chaos Abyss, with demons everywhere, and we’re carrying something so important…”

This was Casio’s voice. His voice was much deeper than before, and he sounded highly anxious.

“This was the guidance of my God. The divine message indicates that reinforcements for us are within this city. As long as we wait patiently, they’ll automatically come to us.”

This was an unfamiliar voice, but it obviously belonged to the dwarf priest in the team.

“A prophecy? Since when has the Goddess of Wealth had such a scamming ability?”

Aivla’s condescending words were filled with disrespect for the Gods. Compared to when she had been a Holy Knight who always had the utmost respect for the God of Holy Light previously, her change into a fallen angel was probably the greatest change after her faith was completely shattered.

However, I almost wanted to cry as it seemed that I had fallen into yet another pitfall. I would likely have to work for free…

“Damned Mary.”

It seemed that the Goddess of Wealth ¹ in the Hell Faction had guided them here to look for reinforcements. As for the reinforcements that they were waiting for? Reinforcements who would be closer allies to Order, down here in the Chaos Abyss? Who could that possibly be apart from us?

If Donatis wasn’t looking for us, then he was definitely looking for them. If they met up… Just the fact that Casio was in this team meant that I couldn’t simply watch them die. It seemed unavoidable that I would have to intervene.

But even if I couldn’t leave them to die, I would never work for free…

“I’ll make them pay with their bodies to repay me for saving their lives… Ahem, don’t misunderstand, I mean that I’ll have them fight for me. Notify Adam and the others, and tell them that the plan has slightly changed. We have new people to help us, so let’s split up into two teams and ambush our enemies simultaneously! Harloys, you and Little Red go with Adam’s group to have some fun with Donatis. I’ll take this group of adventuring brats to have a chat with Salor about his travels!”