Chapter 1849: The Underworld Forces

The image projection reappeared. It showed a different image. It was the scene of a city, or at least what was left of it. The city was filled with ruins. None of the buildings were intact. They saw some ethereal corpses on the streets. Those must be natives who failed to evacuate in time or chose not to evacuate.

The city was infested by demons. Some crawled around the ruined buildings searching for survivors while a majority marched through the streets. Their number was alarming. Jack clenched his fists after seeing the projection.

"Ah, a bit off," Chris said. The projection shifted. It now showed the scene outside the same city. The demons gathered outside the city. They looked pretty organized, which was another bad sign. A gigantic demon stood before the formation. It had four horns and a large belly.

Jack hadn't seen the devils directly but had heard their descriptions. The gigantic demon was one of the devils, Belphegor.

"They are waiting for the corrupted mana to spread further before continuing their march," Chris said.

"Where is the training cave?" Jack asked.

"Huh?"

"You said you wanted to let us use your training caves, didn't you? I don't have time to waste."

Chris' eyes lingered on Jack for a bit before saying, "You are rather passionate, aren't you? I'm glad you are Mae's ally."

He shut down the projection and rose from his seat. "Follow me," he said.

Chris brought him in the opposite direction from the Stonehenge-like place with the portal that could take them anywhere. They came to a clearing with a different type of stone formation. At the center of this stone formation was also a pedestal. Chris went to that pedestal and pressed several buttons on it.

"What is the level of your other class?" Chris asked.

"The other two are also level 87," Jack answered.

"The other two? You have three classes?"

"Yes. Time Sage and Beast Monarch," Jack answered.

"Beast Monarch. That is a good special class for Beastmaster. I'm impressed," Chris said. "I will set the monsters inside the dungeon to have grades ranging from special elites to mythical. You should be able

to handle them."

A dungeon portal appeared next to Chris.

"What about their levels?" Jack asked.

"You can find out inside," Chris answered. "You can stop anytime you want. Just yell stop, and you will be sent back out here. I've input your identity. You just need to press this button and you can enter the same dungeon again. You won't get any loot from the monsters, but in exchange, the exp points are increased. The monsters inside are also set to follow your pace. The faster you kill them, the more they will appear. They have little HP but give out lots of exp points. They are custom-made for providing the fastest speed in leveling up without breaking the main system's rules... too much."

Jack nodded. "Will I be sharing this dungeon with the others when they return?"

"They will enter through the portal here but won't enter the same dungeon as yours unless they use a team setup. Yours is currently set for solo use."

"Good. Keep it that way," Jack said.

Time continued to pass. The natives in Palgrost, Hydrurond, and Aurebor were busy preparing defenses at the border supported by the Themisphere soldiers, the players, and the members of league factions.

Bowler, The Man, Serpent Boss, and Speedrun completed their heist mission in around two weeks. They had to go to four different locations to get four portal-closing stones. Each team handled two locations.

Most of their time was spent canvassing the site. Despite most of the underworld forces being with the invading forces, some demon soldiers still guarded the places where the portal-closing stones were.

Bowler and The Man stood on the sideline while Serpent Boss and Speedrun did their tasks. They would just ruin the plans if they joined the infiltration mission. They were anxious, though, from all the waiting. The Man had it the worst. He kept on worrying if Speedrun had bailed on him while he waited. Fortunately, the thief pulled through. After receiving the first portal-closing stone, he felt much less stressed when waiting for Speedrun to get the second one. After returning with the four portal-closing stones, they gave the stones to their guild members. The four returned to the underworld again to carry out another mission given by Tip.

Their guild members brought the portal-closing stones to the four locations in Hydrurond, Sangrod, Palgrost, and Aurebor that had the underworld portals. The players and native armies were still battling the demons coming out of the portal, preventing them from spreading too far.

The native soldiers' morale was extremely low because they fought a never-ending tide of enemies. The players were still fine because they were motivated by exp points and loots. The natives had no such motivation. Their main concern was defending their home. It was fine at first. But without the prospect of the end of their strife, their spirits continued to decline with each passing day.

So, when the natives saw the portal-closing stone, their spirits were ignited. The players were happy as well. Although they gained exp points and loot, the demons were not easy opponents. They suffered many casualties.

Only the best players could survive and reap the benefits from fighting these never-ending demon waves.

With reignited morale, they fought their way to the underworld portal to deliver the one who held the portal-closing stone. It was a hard-fought battle, but they finally reached the portal and used the portal-closing stone to seal the underworld portal.

After all four underworld portals were sealed, the countries reorganized their forces to head to the border. They made preparations to face the incoming main underworld forces.

Sangrod sent their army to aid Palgrost's defense. As for Verremor, its army had marched earlier after Four Winds became the grand chief. Verremor's army marched to Aurebor to help with the defense there.

Themisphere's two new mobile fortresses also headed to Palgrost and Aurebor. With restlessness and fear, one month quickly passed. The native and player armies at the border looked over their defensive walls with apprehension. The sky above them started to turn dark red. A sign that the corrupted mana had reached their place. The main underworld forces could arrive anytime now.

After the world notification, most players took a more active approach. They no longer took it easy. Except for those who stayed within settlements since the start, everyone was in a race to level up. Even so, a majority was still around level 50. A portion of experienced gamers or those with combat experiences in real life were level 70 and

above. Only a small portion of experts at the peak were level 80 to 85.

Within the natives, a portion were recruits who would see combat for the first time. These recruits were anxious. They had to fight a battle that decided the fate of the world for their first battle. How could they be calm about it? The commanders tried their best to give them speeches to keep their spirits up, but everyone could see the mood was not good.

The veterans were not that well off. This was because they had experienced first-hand the horror of the devils one month ago. They didn't have high hopes for this war.

A few days after the sky above them turned red, they finally laid eyes on their enemies. They watched silently as the faraway landscape was covered by a swarm of moving creatures. As this swarm approached, they had a better look.

The swarm was filled with all kinds of demons. Many demons they had never heard of or thought to exist. Some were shaped like insects. Among the demonic insects were giant centipedes with human hands and a large human face. Demons who seemed to have no physical body. They flew around like ghosts formed of dark smoke. Demons whose bodies were filled with flaming thorns. Giant abominations that seemed to be many demons mashed together. Demonic bats that filled the sky, and many more.

The levels and grades of the marching demons were also not to be scoffed at. They couldn't be compared to the demons that emerged from the underworld portals which had been sealed. The demons here were a majority level 70. Many were level 80 and a small portion were level 90 and above. Their grades were mostly elites and special elites. Many rare elites were seen. A small portion of officer-like demons were mythical grades. There were also a few eternal grades even though not as high level as the devils. If they were only comparing raw power, the demons completely outnumbered and outgunned the upperworld defenders. Many defenders who felt pessimistic about the war became even more depressed after seeing their approaching opponents. But what could they do? There was nowhere to run. If they didn't stop the demons here, the entire world would be overrun.

With that thought, they gritted their teeth. The natives were prepared to not see the end of the coming battle. The players were prepared to lose all their levels, while those who could still afford Amulet of Rebirth were thankful they still had one.

No one let these grim thoughts stop them from defending their home.