The highest sector of Chaos Nest City - [Tower Top]
Even the bureaucrats, Sergeants, and nobles from the Upper Nest cannot look up to this summit.
The pitch-black tower stands alone here, resembling a perfect spine, with blazing flames burning between every segment of bones, and a crown of fire floating atop the tower.
A special meeting room is located on the top floor.
"Chaos Will (C.W.), The Seven Horns Council"
There are seven seats here,
The back of each chair is inlaid with numerous spines, each exuding the aura of a Demon King, belonging to the former occupants of the seats. At the very top of these spines are connected a distinct horn of demons.
All seven horns are unique and the only one of their kind.
They represent the highest existences among the Spines, each a General who dominates wars, entities that have slaughtered over a hundred million.
Most of them ascended by slaying their predecessors.
This position is not fixed, with no term of office.
Their status can continue indefinitely, or they can be replaced at any time. Any Spine has the right to challenge them; victory means seizing power.
However, there have been no changes for quite some time among this assembly; they have come to regard each other as "old friends".
This gathering is due to the impending [World Invasion].
True Hell had locked onto a completely new world coordinate years ago, which is distant and requires a substantial amount of dead fuel to be invested into the World Furnace. This update ıs available on NoveI★Fire.net
After years of internal war, a sufficient amount of "Dead Fuel" has been accumulated, and the "World Proximity" is now completed. In less than a month, a full-scale invasion will commence.
Once the invasion begins, the Spines will serve as the vanguard, performing the most direct world leap and plundering firsthand resources.
The meeting originally scheduled for four hours barely took an hour to finalize all strategic planning.
And while everyone had nothing else to do,
One of them, an entity with the vision that radiates throughout the entire Nest City, caught sight of an interesting event happening in the Central Nest.
Though it was a trivial matter, given that everyone was otherwise bored, it was proposed to discuss it for amusement.
"I’ve just received some interesting intelligence. The Fifth Recruitment Ground is currently conducting service assessments, and there’s a Soldier who completed the first two warm-up assessments in just 1 minute and 11 seconds."
Another Demon King with a huge figure responded, "I remember the fastest record being 51 seconds."
"No... This Soldier isn’t one born and raised here, nor is he a powerful demon inheriting the bloodline of the spinal cord. He is an Outer Realm Apostle, this is his first time coming to True Hell, first time to Chaos Nest City, and the first time to go mano-a-mano with our personnel.
If we’re only considering Outer Realm Apostles, he must have broken the record.
And from my [Perspective], he seems quite interesting."
The Demon Kings present showed disinterest, and some had even taken out some kind of entertainment facility, ready to fight it out on the spot with a few other Demon Kings, betting on their Soldiers.
Upon hearing about the Outer Realm Apostle and the record-breaking situation, they became somewhat interested.
The Demon King directly vomited an eyeball from his mouth.
This eyeball was very special, and its pupil was structured like a mouth, exhaling a unique ashen dust that finally projected the image of the assessment that had just taken place at the Fifth Recruitment Ground onto the office desk.
A young man with gray hair and dressed in black, who was not a demon, appeared in the center of the image.
Although the spine was obscured by the coat, the metallic chin was very conspicuous.
Another Demon King also sensed from the image the distinct scent belonging to the Punishment Room, "Dual systems... I’ve heard of this man before. It’s rare to see the Order willing to cultivate talents for us."
As the video played, a minute elapsed.
The Demon Kings present became more or less interested, some even preparing to surreptitiously poach this person into their own legion through underhanded means.
Moreover, their eyes were sharp, and they all noticed that Luo Di possessed a special ability in addition to the dual Hell systems. Although this ability had not been fully demonstrated, it doesn’t necessarily fall short of the Hell system’s strength.
It was at that moment.
The Demon King sitting in Chair C, who had just finished reviewing the war documents, closed the parchment scroll in his hand and expressed his opinion on this trivial "matter".
"Let’s add a special assessment for him. If he passes, I will take responsibility for him."
The previous Demon King in charge of pulling out the eyeball and playing the video looked disappointed, "Boss, you don’t need to snatch people like that. If I knew, I wouldn’t have mentioned this to you guys."
"Exceptional Soldiers should have special arrangements. Although True Hell has always been invading worlds, the standard of the worlds has stuck at a bottleneck and hasn’t changed for a while.
We need to consider an even more long-term war.
The special assessment is arranged , with you broadcasting it live. Since the meeting is over anyway, let’s just treat it as entertainment."
Despite being of the same status, the being referred to as "boss" communicated the so-called special assessment to everyone’s minds with just a slight gesture of a finger.
The Demon King in charge of the video broadcast squinted all his eyes together.
"Boss, isn’t this... too difficult?
This young man has just arrived here, and although the quality of his spine is high, he is still in the first stage and hasn’t even touched upon Demon Ascension. It’d be such a waste if he gets killed or crippled by accident."
"It is precisely because he has not yet undergone Demon Ascension that he can still choose his [Path]. Just arrange it this way... Let that slave give it a try."
"As the boss commands."
Seeing such an interesting assessment arrangement, the other Demon Kings present also became interested,
each took out their snacks,
some started picking their feet, others cleaned their teeth, and some rubbed their private parts, completely relaxed to enjoy this lowest-grade service assessment.
It has been a long time since they have witnessed such low-level duels, which inevitably reminded them of the times when they themselves participated in the service assessments long ago.
[Fifth Recruitment Ground]
After two warm-up assessments, the real "enemies", the slaves captured by the Angel Envoys’ army during wartime, were dispatched to the recruitment ground.
Half an hour has passed.
Luo Di stood at the center of the Duel Arena, gasping for breath, with steam continually escaping from his body.
He had already slain three enemy slaves, including:
"A pauper from Hell’s Dark Side", "A Plague Saint worshiping Primordial Slime", and "A Suffering Creation from the Order Group."
The pauper proved to be the most difficult opponent, with a hollow and sunken face, a pale body resembling that of a Zombie. Luo Di thought it would be an easy fight, yet it possessed a small scale space-devouring ability, biting off a chunk of his coat and abdominal muscles.
Ultimately, he succeeded in slaying it with speed.
Five consecutive battles and five victories,
Fei Spine was astounded.
Luo Di’s performance was far beyond what was imagined and has reached the limit of the service assessment; presumably, all legions will extend him an olive branch.
Just as he was about to congratulate Luo Di for finishing the assessment.
Suddenly, multiple doors around the Duel Arena opened, and several Angel Envoys labeled as "Soldiers", who had all previously passed the service assessments, entered the arena.
Together with Luo Di, there were six of them.
An announcement from Hell came through the Fifth Recruitment Ground:
≮Due to today’s excellent service assessment performance, an additional special assessment will be added! You six Angel Envoys with commendable results will form a combat squad to face a Cancer Beast from the [Primordial Slime].
Do not worry; this is a product reconstructed from the carcass of a Cancer Beast. It does not possess Demon Ascension attributes.
However, its strength, physique, and plague concentration have been restored.
This assessment will test your ability to cooperate on the fly. If you can kill the Cancer Beast and survive, you will earn the status of an ’Elite Soldier.’≯
When the Angel Envoys present heard about the Cancer Beast, they all showed expressions of fright, but as the explanation and the final reward were announced, they immediately displayed determination and their spines crackled.
They also turned their gazes towards Luo Di, an Apostle whose appearance and attire considerably differed from that of the Angel Envoys.
They had all seen Luo Di’s performance in the arena.
In these races that worship war, strength is highly esteemed. Luo Di has won their respect with his performance, and at the same time, has been recognized as the captain for this operation.
A pungent stench of rot flooded out, along with some kind of green spores also spreading with the odor.
Luo Di immediately covered his face with his left hand.
The ’Jaw Splitter’ was constructed, capable of incinerating any pathogenic bacteria he might inhale.
The rest of the Angel Envoys also used similar abilities to seal their breathing passages, all looking towards the door.
A swollen and obese Huge creature was squeezing out of the ten-meter-high door; pus oozed out as it was compressed, and its underbody was supported by six swollen, bloated legs.
Upon its layers of abdominal sacs were all kinds of animal, insect, and even Demon heads grown over it.
All of these heads were rotten, amalgamated by some kind of cancerous growth, forming this so-called [Cancer Beast].