Besides the Demonic Miasma Cloud that shrouded the Pandemonium, there were all kinds of even deadlier demonic formations deployed all around. If Salas intruded the Pandemonium, he would have hell to pay. As for his followers, well, they stood no fucking chance.
“Good, good! Hahaha, they are all coming! This is wonderful!” exclaimed Han Mu.
“Hehe, Salas trusts his strength too much. He seems to believe that there are no defenses that he cannot destroy!” remarked Han Tu as he watched the stationary Salas through the spatial refraction mirror.
Salas immediately stopped bombarding the Pandemonium when the toxic miasma cloud that shrouded the Valley disappeared. He hovered high in the sky and watched coldly as his followers assaulted the Pandemonium.
After the veil of miasma lifted, the tranquil and heavenly Pandemonium was laid bare before their eyes. They saw the magnificent buildings erected with green, towering trees covering every inch of the Valley.
Without the miasma cloud, Salas was able to clearly see the exposed Valley. He found neither complicated boundaries nor large arrays of energy towers. Without those things, the Valley shouldn’t have much defensive power left. The Pandemonium should have crumbled like a piece of paper against his overwhelming troops.
All the signs seemed to show that the toxic miasma cloud was the only layer of protection. Without it, the Pandemonium was like a naked beauty tied to a tree, defenseless and powerless against her attackers.
Salas had not joined his troops in advancing into the Pandemonium because he was somewhat wary about Han Shuo. He had witnessed Han Shuo surviving the Demonic Calamity on his Empyrean Peak and the scene had left a lasting impression in his mind. Salas intended to preserve as much energy as possible to handle Han Shuo who might be hiding in the Valley.
Those followers of Salas descended upon the Pandemonium. But as they went down, they noticed that the clear and unobstructed view had suddenly transformed into a hazy atmosphere and the visibility drastically fell.
The sumptuous structures and beautiful scenery they saw from a distance was actually created by an illusion formation. They had been fooled. And now that they were inside, it would be too late to do anything, even if they realized it.
It did not take long before Salas’ troops lost their bearings. They found themselves surrounded by chilling winds and blood-curdling shrieks. Suddenly, they noticed that they seemed to have stepped into another dimension and their comrades were missing…
Some of them managed to land on the valley floor but the shrubs that grew on it caught them by surprise and entangled them like thousands of snakes. Their leaves cut like blades and had a jade-green luster as though they carried noxious toxins…
Others found themselves in the center of a wild thunderstorm. Then, out of nowhere, clones of themselves attacked them with sheer savagery. Those who lacked strong minds and willpower immediately fell apart. The enormous pressure would make them lose their minds and sink into madness…
Countless miraculous demonic formations were activated. Salas’ troops were trapped in those formations. Many of them could not react to the bizarre attack methods that originated from another universe and quickly lost their lives.
Extremely miserable shrieks echoed from the Pandemonium. Any listener would feel their blood run cold.
“Wahahahah…” Under the Pandemonium, the Five Elite Zombies were rolling on the floor laughing. They were extremely delighted to watch those people fall into their traps and be slaughtered.
Rose, Romon, Zovic, and others, through the spatial mirror before them, saw the intruders massacred by all kinds of bizarre energies inside the demonic formations. They were pleasantly surprised.
“Indeed, the power Master possesses is beyond the limits of our imagination!” said Romon admiringly.
“So, after all, we have been worrying for nothing! Hehe, in the future, if we are to run into any danger, we have just got to make it back to the Pandemonium and we will have nothing to be afraid of. No one can touch us while we are inside this sanctuary!“ said Goron. Any signs of anxiety he expressed earlier were now gone.
“After this carnage, the experts under Salas’ command will diminish even further. Even if he ends up conquering our base, he will become the weakest of the Sovereigns. Haha, serves him right for offending our Master!” said the crafty-looking Zovic, beaming ear to ear.
Through the spatial mirror before them, they could clearly see everything happening in every corner of the Pandemonium, including Salas’ followers who were being butchered one after another. Even those highgod Fringedwellers could not resist the bizarre attacks from numerous demonic formations.
“There, what are they doing?” asked Rose as she pointed to a group of Fringedwellers who were trapped in a land of fantasy. They were attacking empty spaces like rabid dogs.
“Wait, are they killing each other? What’s going on over there?” Goron was also puzzled by what he saw in another demonic formation. Those Fringedwellers who were supposed to be comrades were fighting and killing each other as though they were mortal enemies. Twenty-something Fringedwellers entered the demonic formation but only six remained. Most of those who perished in the hallucination formations were killed by their best friends or even their own relatives.
“Hehe, those formations have energy that messes with the mind. You will never understand their actions without being there yourself,” explained Han Mu before he smilingly suggested, “You guys may step inside for a ride after this is over. Then you will see why they are acting like that.”
“You know what, I think I’d rather not know. I get goosebumps all over just watching from the spatial mirror. I don’t want to risk killing all my subordinates,” replied Goron as he waved his hands side to side. He dared not court death after witnessing the strange, diabolic nature of the Pandemonium.
“Haha, you sure are a sensible one, Goron!” mocked Zovic.
“I just don’t want to die horribly,” replied Goron with a bitter smile.
***
Although those under the Pandemonium were relaxed, Ossora, who had been secretly observing the Valley could not feel more astonished. Although he was some distance away, Ossora could roughly make out the situation in the Valley. Those troops were being slaughtered by all kinds of mysterious energies in the Pandemonium.
Although Ossora was one of the Five Sovereigns, he knew nothing about the miraculous demonic arts that originated from this other universe. Everything he saw in the Pandemonium was unfathomable to him. No matter how carefully he observed the Valley or how hard he tried to decipher it, he was still nowhere close to understanding the enigma.
The only thing he could make out from the Pandemonium was that souls were being reaped at every moment. It was a symphony of miserable shrieks being played in prestissimo.
The longer Ossora observed the Pandemonium, the more impressed he was by Han Shuo. He knew that even his own underground palace which he had spent thousands of years setting up did not possess such miraculous defensive power. Han Shuo had only been in the Fringe for just a few years yet he was able to transform the valley into a deadly meat grinder that could shred a thousand Fringedwellers. That was more than enough proof of Han Shuo’s power.
Ossora became even more determined not to get on Han Shuo’s bad side. He thought that he should make use of this crisis to gain Han Shuo’s favor.
If Ossora could see what was happening in the Valley, then Salas, who was standing much closer to it, surely could. Salas had been taking a breath after ‘destroying’ the toxic miasma cloud. Soon after commencing the invasion, he heard miserable shrieks that came from his men but he wasn’t bothered by it as it was quite normal to lose a few lives.
But when the miserable shrieks started getting louder and more frequent and popping up from every part of the Valley, Salas raised an eyebrow. Only then did he realize that something wasn’t right. He scanned and examined the Valley and was surprised to find that it was filled with all kinds of unknown energies. Those bizarre energies were arranging and moving in strange orders, forming all kinds of miraculous attacks, rapidly slaughtering his troops who were in the Valley.
Salas was greatly alarmed. By now, most of his troops had entered the Pandemonium and he could not indiscriminately bombard the Valley with his thunderbolts as he previously did. Rage filled his mind as he roared from above the Pandemonium, “Everyone retreat!”
But unfortunately for Salas and his followers, though it was easy to enter the Pandemonium, it was extremely difficult to get out. Salas’ troops were currently trapped inside various demonic formations that they could not leave, other than through their own deaths. They were busy dealing with attacks coming from ‘themselves’ and they couldn’t even hear Salas’ cry.
Therefore, no matter how hard or how much Salas yelled from the sky, none of his troops left the demonic formations. In fact, they were dying at an increasing rate. The Pandemonium was covered with dead bodies!
With things having come to this, for the lack of a better option, Salas descended into the Valley.
Salas was an expert with overgod strength. Those demonic formations that relied on the energy of demon generals were unable to defeat the lightning energy that emblazoned his divine body. They could not cause Salas any meaningful harm.
The hallucination-inducing demonic formations, however, worked the same on Salas. They took Salas into the land of fantasy in a split second. But having ascended to the overgod realm, Salas’ mind and willpower were extremely resilient, far surpassing those of his followers, not to mention that his overgod soul was nothing like a highgod soul.
For these reasons, Salas was able to overcome the demonic formations in little time. He destroyed the formations one after another. Three demonic formations were soon demolished.
“Well, time for me to shine!” said Ossora. He put on a faint smile and stealthily flew closer to the Pandemonium.
