Chapter 968: Capital of the Heavenly Demons!
The military order had arrived.
But it didn't follow the previously planned route through the Nether Forest!
Instead, it took the Gaoxue Plains route!
And that route was extremely close to the frontline battlefield where the main army was engaged!
Although Aivina and Clodas didn't understand why General Ling Zhan suddenly changed the route, orders were absolute—they didn't question a thing.
Demon Valley had already been taken over by reinforcements from Lemoris Fortress.
Ling Zhan led the legion out of Demon Valley, heading toward the Gaoxue Plains.
The advance was all forced march!
All space battleships operated at full energy!
Priests stood along the edges of the battleships, casting strong purification spells to clear the surrounding demon fog.
Along the way—
The Demon-Slaying and Amethyst Legions saw ancient, ruined cities scattered across the Gaoxue Plains.
You could vaguely tell they were remnants of cities from thousands of years ago.
Before the Ten Thousand Demons Continent collapsed into the planet's core, this used to be a thriving urban region.
Countless humans and other class-changers had once lived here in peace.
But now…
It had become a haunted land, full of wailing winds, monsters, and ghosts.
Every creature that died here seemed to have had its soul extracted. Even their bodies were turned into zombies that roamed the ruins.
The Ten Thousand Demons army practiced scorched earth tactics. Every city they razed—its population was tortured to death.
Faced with this—
Ling Zhan ignored these small fries.
His current legion was advancing deep to the frontlines, aiming for the fortress city known as 'Capital of the Heavenly Demons,' to conquer it.
The main army was already engaged there.
But the siege had dragged on without success.
Ling Zhan hadn't planned to come here. But after enduring the harassment of the Darkwing Demon Legion, his caution kicked in—he chose not to go to the Nether Forest and instead reinforced this front.
The Nether Forest almost certainly held a Ten Thousand Demons force lying in wait for Ling Zhan.
The Ten Thousand Demons weren't fools.
They wouldn't sit idly by and watch Ling Zhan consume all their outposts, towers, strongholds, and fortresses.
So they definitely stationed heavy defenses there.
And laid traps and barriers to wait for his arrival.
But they didn't expect Ling Zhan to be so unpredictable and cautious.
He suddenly changed course, rapidly transferring to the frontline's Capital of the Heavenly Demons!
That city was already deep in enemy territory.
As they neared, the environment grew darker.
At first, light-based tools helped with visibility—but now even light was being devoured. Many tools stopped working.
Only light-element skills could maintain vision.
At the same time—
The dense demonic miasma caused all attributes to drop by at least 20%.
And the deeper they went, the stronger the debuff became.
This was expected.
Just like how the Ten Thousand Demons were rejected by this realm and mutated—the reverse happened in lands they ruled.
These areas, ruled by demons for centuries, had become inhospitable to humans and other races.
Staying here short-term caused constant attribute suppression and discomfort.
Long-term exposure led to madness—bloodlust, rage, and aggression.
Eventually…
You could become a demon yourself.
One of the Ten Thousand Demons.
Magic scientists once ran experiments—animals kept in demonic miasma long enough turned into grotesque monsters.
"This hellish place…"
"What a damn mess!"
The oppressive miasma, attribute debuffs, and freezing cold—
Made many disembarking class-changers frown and grumble.
They'd now reached the frontline.
The battleships couldn't fly straight in.
They'd be sitting ducks.
So they disembarked.
And—
The main army was in the south.
Ling Zhan's legion had come from the north.
They were executing a rear flanking maneuver.
Not quite a sneak attack—
Because as they advanced, enemy scouts and outposts became more common.
Small enemy units began to appear as well.
More surprising—
Cracks of demonic energy opened, spewing out Blood Spirit Beasts.
Fortunately, they were swiftly cleared out.
After marching for three hours—
They finally saw the silhouette of the Capital of the Heavenly Demons.
A towering, massive demon city.
Above it stretched a black rift across the sky, like a monstrous centipede spewing endless demonic energy.
"That's the Ten Thousand Demons Rift…"
"The other side connects to the Ten Thousand Demons Fortress—maybe even the Abyss itself!"
"The remnants of the Demon Arrival Organization used sacrifice rituals taught by the demons—slaughtering humans and other class-changers to open rifts and let demons descend into our world…"
"But this is the largest rift I've ever seen!"
"A regular class-changer would be instantly corrupted if they even brushed against that miasma!"
The Amethyst Legion veterans were no strangers to the rift.
Especially since the Demon Arrival Organization loved pulling stunts like this.
Countless families had been destroyed.
Some nations had even been turned into wastelands by demonic energy.
"This rift has been expanding for thousands of years!"
Indeed, it had!
It now looked like a black galaxy, hanging above.
Stretching across the entire Gaoxue Plains.
An awe-inspiring sight.
"Prepare for the siege!"
Ling Zhan remained expressionless as he gave the order.
Shock and awe never showed on his face.
No matter the situation, this non-specialist always kept a calm, steady heart.
What appeared to be the Capital of the Heavenly Demons was actually a series of fortress cities.
From the air, the flying units could clearly see terrifying demon figures crowding the city within.