Chapter 1 The Demonic Army

The demonic army swarmed out of the Star Cluster Tower, sweeping through the Elder Council's positions like a hot knife through butter. On every shattered floating platform, the Council's demon hunters were in full retreat. Even when they retreated into the void beyond the floating platforms, it was to no avail. Winged demons were abundant in the demonic army, and the spirits and elven mages seemed born to fly, excelling at aerial combat. It could even be said that they knew how to fight in the air better than the demon hunters did: they came from a fragmented world where floating continents and disordered gravitational fields were commonplace!

The last small group of Council demon hunters were forced into a desperate situation. They were the elite of the elite, having held out against a demonic legion dozens of times their size. A high-ranking demon hunter—most likely a master—wielded a silver-white longsword blazing with holy fire, repelling the attacks of countless demons and human warriors. His roar echoed across the battlefield: "Don't retreat! Don't retreat! Kill them all, kill them all! Leave no survivors! Purify all aliens!"

Ordinary legion soldiers were no match for this master-level demon hunter. Even without taking into account their various skills and equipment, a master-level hunter far surpassed any ordinary warrior in close combat. This Council hunter, already seeing red, led a large group of high-ranking demon hunters, charging left and right. The legion soldiers could only form ranks to try and stop them from breaking through, and the situation on the local battlefield momentarily stalemated.

But soon, this final stalemate was broken: a tall female demon walked out of the legion soldiers' ranks with elegant steps. She held two slender刺swords in her hands, which were dripping with blood. Although she looked several times more slender than the strong demon guards around her, she seemed to carry some kind of aura. Her appearance made all the surrounding demon guards lower their heads in salute.

Even the Elder Council's demon hunters were attracted by this female demon's attention. They formed a formation, looking at their opponent warily. Since there were no similar demons on Earth to refer to, they could only constantly guess at Lanina's abilities and race.

"Are you their leader?" Lanina walked up to the demon hunter master generously, pointing at him with her slender sword. "You are very brave, so you are qualified to fight me. Raise your sword and duel me for your honor."

"Demon hunters don't negotiate with monsters like you, and you're not worthy to talk about honor with me," the demon hunter master's eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was somewhat twisted. "Lowly creatures like you deserve only to be burned at the stake, used as firewood to keep us warm!"

"To be honest, I think it's quite comfortable to be roasted at the stake," Lanina shrugged. "Then let's throw honor aside and talk about whether you dare to fight me."

The demon hunter master spat to the side and slowly raised the longsword in his hand, the holy flame blazing fiercely on the blade: "I grant you death!"

Facing a heavy blow with a thousand pounds of force, Lanina didn't panic at all. She moved lightly to avoid the direct hit and used her刺swords to block the opponent's attack. Then, the swords in her hands launched continuous stabs at her opponent like a storm. The longsword and刺swords collided fiercely in the air, the attacks so swift that even the sound of metal clashing almost sounded like a continuous, high-pitched screech.

One was a veteran hunter with thousands of years of combat experience, and the other was a demon swordsman who had fought with experts of various races on the world-sweeping battlefield. From the very beginning, their confrontation quickly turned white-hot.

However, anyone with discerning eyes could see that Lanina did not have the upper hand. After all, she was a succubus, and her physical fitness did not give her an overwhelming advantage over her enemies like those of the demon guards. In addition, her own positioning was only that of a strategist rather than a warrior, so she slowly fell into a disadvantage. But Lanina's face showed no nervousness at all. She simply maintained her rhythm and constantly circled her opponent, then suddenly withdrew and opened up some distance from the opponent: "Alright, everyone, attack together."

"What..." The demon hunter master was immediately dumbfounded. He had thought he was sure of victory, but when he turned his head at this moment, he realized that he had been lured to a place very close to the demon battle formation, and his own warriors were completely isolated.

Upon hearing Lanina's order, the surrounding demon guards and human warriors immediately swarmed forward, without the slightest hint of unfamiliarity with the coordination, obviously having been prepared for a long time. And that unlucky demon hunter master, caught off guard, coupled with the exhaustion of his physical strength and the lack of support, was knocked down by a giant ax almost without any decent resistance, and was captured on the spot.

Not far away came the loud sounds of shouting and the clashing of weapons. The last remaining Council hunters were finally divided and defeated after a melee. After losing their powerful leader, their defenses immediately collapsed.

"You shameless monster!" The demon hunter master was held to the ground by two legion soldiers, with rune chains sealing his magical power wrapped around his body. He glared at Lanina with tearing eyes, roaring in anger, "You demon! Freak! Is this what you call a duel?!"

Lanina wiped her刺swords while casually replying, "I lied to you."

"Despicable! Shameless! You only know how to use these underhanded tricks!"

"Nonsense, I'm a freaking demon, okay!" Lanina raised her leg and directly kicked this noisy fellow unconscious. "I'm super professional!"

A series of heavy footsteps came from the side. The abyss lord who had shouted "surprise" earlier walked over. This reptilian demon officer looked down at Lanina and the demon hunter master who had been kicked unconscious, his voice like rolling thunder: "Seriously, that's not very fair of you."

Lanina squinted at this abyss lord: "As a demon, can you have some professional ethics?"

She said this with righteous words, but if Hao Ren heard it, he would definitely feel awkward. How many of these demons who worked under Izhaks and mingled with all kinds of races dared to pat their chests and say that they were worthy of their profession...

A crisis was resolved in front of the demonic army. The gate of the Star Cluster Tower returned to the hands of the "normal faction demon hunters". Although the gate's defense system had been completely destroyed, it was estimated that the Elder Council would not send anyone here to die again in the short term.

The guards near the gate began to clean up the battlefield and treat the wounded. Countless wary eyes were constantly scanning the demonic legion, and at the same time, demons or other strange alien soldiers were constantly pouring out of the large hole at the top of the Star Cluster Tower. There were serious-looking human soldiers, as well as grumpy and noisy dwarves, and lively and light-footed elves.

Demon hunters instinctively became wary when they saw demons, but when they saw those upright human paladins and spring-like bright elves, they couldn't help but fall into astonishment. The atmosphere near the gate platform therefore seemed strange.

Hao Ren and his group came to Lanina. Izhaks crossed his arms and looked at his adopted daughter, who was prone to getting lost: "I thought I was going to have to go to Antarctica to find you—lost again?"

Unexpectedly, Lanina shook her head: "No, I just ran into some trouble when entering the city."

"Trouble?" Izhaks was stunned. "What trouble?"

"The big guys couldn't get through the city gate," Lanina squinted at those abyss lords who were four or five meters tall, as well as the even larger obsidian golems, and some demonic energy beasts that seemed to be specially designed for siege warfare, burning with raging hellfire. "Actually, they could squeeze in if they tried, but it would be too slow to enter the city in a line like that."

Hao Ren immediately had a bad feeling: "So... how did you get in?"

"So we took some time to dismantle the city gate... strictly speaking, a part of the fortress wall," Lanina answered honestly, and then quickly explained, "Of course, with permission."

Everyone looked at each other. Bai Huo's expression was a little wonderful. Seeing this, Hao Ren patted Bai Huo on the shoulder: "Think positive, out with the old, in with the new—anyway, your hometown has been torn apart by civil war, so a mere city gate is nothing..."

Vivian whispered to Lily, "I don't understand. The landlord obviously has a big mouth, so why is he always so confidently comforting others?"

Lily curled her lips: "You have such a poor life, but weren't you also confidently saying that you would make up the rent back then?"

After the several legion commanders and the main demon hunter leaders present recognized each other, Hao Ren had the opportunity to ask some questions. He found Tutanin: "What exactly was that white light just now?"

Master Tutanin looked up at the distant and deep dark space, his tone solemn: "I'm afraid... part of the Spirit Realm Clock Tower's weapons has collected enough energy. If I'm not mistaken, that is the power of divine punishment."