"What… What kind of demon is that? It is as big as a true dragon…," Soundeffect asked. Everyone could hear the shiver in his voice.
The others didn't voice their opinion but they felt the same way as Soundeffect. Aside from Master and Mistress, the others didn't know who the gigantic hand hanging on the portal belonged to.
"That is one of the seven devils. A king of hell that rules the underworld," Mistress told them.
The hand didn't stay still for long. It was pushing itself out. Those who watched could see that it was pushing with effort. Even after the underworld portal grew to such a size, the one with the giant hand still had difficulty passing through it.
After a few seconds of struggle, the hand pushed itself to the shoulder. A foot kicked out of the portal then. The giant foot landed on the rubble underneath and caused another tremor. And then, a head popped out. The head had eight horns. The horns were arranged in a circle on the top of its head, which made them look like a crown. Floating atop it was a fiery halo.
The head looked around as soon as it was out. It didn't take long for its pair of crimson eyes to find the group of players watching from afar. The players couldn't take their eyes off those crimson eyes, which seemed to constantly exude fiery mists. The side of the devil's mouth went up as it showed a row of sharp teeth. The players couldn't tell if it was a grin or a grimace.
The head looked around as soon as it was out. It didn't take long for its pair of crimson eyes to find the group of players watching from afar. The players couldn't take their eyes off those crimson eyes, which seemed to constantly exude fiery mists. The side of the devil's mouth went up as it showed a row of sharp teeth. The players couldn't tell if it was a grin or a grimace.
The devil made one more forceful push and shoved its gigantic body out of the portal. It was finally out. On its back were three pairs of fiery wings. It then uttered an inhuman howl that spread across the horizon.
The players watching from a distance realized another change to the portal's surroundings. They had been so absorbed by the giant devil that they weren't aware of the other details.
The giant underworld portal was exuding streams of crimson fumes. The fumes turned colorless as they traveled further, but then they noticed the sky directly above the main underworld portal was red. The redness of the sky seemed to spread. It was slowly devouring the blue sky over time.
"The main underworld portal is transforming the environment of this upper world," Mistress explained to them. "The longer it remained, the more corrupted mana spread into the world. This allowed the underworld demons to exist here."
Following behind the giant devil was a huge horde of demons. The wingless demons, high demons, daemons, hellhounds, winged demon bats, and many more poured out of the portal. The surrounding land was soon filled with demons.
"It… It is coming here," Soundeffect uttered.
The devil which had come out the first time was walking toward them. Each step it took caused the ground to shake.
Master floated up as the devil approached. He wasn't willing to have the giant devil look down at him while they talked. They were now staring at one another at eye level.
"Outworlder…," The devil spoke. Its voice sent chills down everyone's spine. "I sensed that it was you who opened the portal. Hmph! What reward do you expect?"
"It is an honor meeting you, Satan, but quit the pretense. I know you won't give me any reward," Master returned.
"Did… Did he just say, Satan?" Soundeffect whispered to GraphicZ.
"You be quiet!" GraphicZ chided. He didn't want the devil's attention to shift to them because of Soundeffect's voice.
"Harharhar…!" Satan laughed. The air seemed to tremble following his laugh. "You are no fun, outworlder. But anyway, we will still reward you for what you have done, which is not getting squashed as we lay waste to this world. Now, go away and stay out of our way!"
"Very well, sir," Master said. "But before we leave, let me give you a piece of intel. The combined armies of this upper world's countries are marching not far away. They will be passing near this place."
"Hah! The underworld forces fear no armies from the upper world," Satan spat.
"I don't argue with that. What I'm trying to say is, if you vanquish those armies, it will give you more ease in conquering this world."
"Mm…," Satan just groaned for a response.
Master didn't say anything further. He flew down to where the others were waiting. "Let's use the guild return scroll."
"You are not speaking to their leader?" Mistress asked.
"Leader…? Are you telling me there is still someone above Satan?" Soundeffect asked in disbelief.
"As much as I would like to, I don't think taking that risk is worth it. I will do that once I have fused with all the divine treasures," Master said. He took out his guild return scroll and activated it. The others immediately did the same.
Satan glanced back after the last of the players vanished. He grunted at the empty spot. He turned back to the portal just as another gigantic devil crossed through. This one had green eyes, six horns, two pairs of bat wings, and two live wolf-heads on his shoulders.
"Rarghh…! Let us go and tear this world apart!!" The devil roared.
"Rather passionate there, Mammon," Satan said to the newly-crossed devil. "As much as we want to, we can't go too far until the corrupted mana covers this entire upper world."
"Grahhh…!!!" Mammon stomped his feet into the ground. The rock fragments that filled the ground burst from the forceful stomp. Huge chunks of rocks flew everywhere, hitting the crowding demons. Weak demons unlucky enough to get hit were killed at once.
"Stop your tantrum! What's wrong? It's like you have a beef with this world," Satan asked.
"Not with this world. With one outworlder. He killed my son!" Mammon exclaimed.
"Outworlder…? I did hear there was one outworlder roaming around in the underworld. I thought it was just a rumor."
"It's not a rumor, but he is no longer in the underworld. I have sent my forces throughout the underworld but they couldn't find his whereabouts. He must have returned to this upperworld."
"You will have your chance, but we can't be hasty," A calm voice spoke from inside the underworld portal.
Following the voice, a seemingly normal human stepped out of the portal. The only thing uncommon about this human was his appearance. He had the body of a fit man with toned muscle but the face of the fairest woman. His long black hair further accentuated his beauty.
He wore a simple cloth and walked with bare feet.
"My lord!" Both Satan and Mammon hailed the man.
"Impatience is the most likely source of a downfall," The man said. "We have been patient since the beginning of creation. Our moment has finally arrived. We can't let personal feelings ruin this single chance we have. As Satan said, we need to wait until the corrupted mana covers the entire upper world before it is possible for us to conquer this world. Hence, protecting this portal is our priority. I will stay here and do that. You and our forces will sweep this world following the advance of the corrupted mana."
"My lord, what about the combined armies of this world's countries the outworlder mentioned?" Satan asked.
"The lower demons might still need some time to venture too far since the corrupted mana is still thin, but you and your brothers should be able to last for some time out there. Lead your brothers and give these upper-world forces a taste of what is about to come."
"Yes, Lord Lucifer!" The two exclaimed.
