There was not a single Hell Lord present within the entire Bronze Fortress, which meant that Leilin currently held the highest authority level.
With just a single thought, it would be trivially easy for him to conceal his activities from the Eight Demon Generals—planting false illusions in their minds so they still believed themselves to be at the pinnacle of the demonic hierarchy, commanding armies, while he secretly obtained the highest clearance to inspect and modify the backend systems.
And the Chip's work made this process even simpler.
<叮!Subject data modified. Subject has been incorporated into the rank network!> Almost instantaneously, the Chip's feedback surfaced before Leilin.
<Current Subject Identity: High-Rank Devil—Rachel (Horned Devil), affiliated with the
He even noticed in the Chip's status display that he now had over a dozen mid-rank devils as direct subordinates.
"This feeling… it's exquisite. No wonder devils are able to routinely crush armies twenty times their size!"
Leilin mounted his Nightmare Horse and let out a roar, projecting the appearance of a Horned Devil—of course, it was a pretense, but even a Hell Lord standing right here would perceive nothing but an ordinary Horned Devil.
The Nightmare Horse reared and whinnied, radiating its thirst for slaughter and death, its flame-wreathed hooves leaving deep scorched marks along the streets.
"Officer Rachel! Hanalin reporting for duty!"
At the Nightmare Horse's speed, reaching the Second Bronze Wall was a matter of the blink of an eye. By the time Leilin arrived, a large contingent of devils that had already been reorganized was waiting.
Over a dozen mid-rank devils stood at the front of the formation. Without a word of exchange, the moment they laid eyes on Leilin, they accepted him as their superior.
This group of mid-rank devils was quite diverse in composition—Imps, Barbazu, Barbed Devils, Chain Devils, Succubi, and even rare specimens like Reaper Devils and Alu-Demons.
And a beautiful Succubus stood at the very front of the formation, offering Leilin an elegant bow.
"To think there's even a Succubus here. Your luck is quite impressive!" Leilin nodded, accepting their allegiance. Succubi, though mid-rank devils, could not be promoted from lower ranks. Instead, they were created directly through soul transformation, under extremely stringent conditions. A Succubus was typically the consort or plaything of a higher-ranking devil.
Having accepted their loyalty, he was now the commanding officer of this devil battalion.
"Mm! Report the rest of your names!" Leilin ordered with authority.
"I am Arl!" "Buck!" "This humble servant is named Kimol!"
One by one, the mid-rank devils respectfully announced their names—of course, these were not their true names, but rather a form of alias.
With his authority as a Horned Devil officer of Leilin's rank, he could not compel these devils to surrender their deepest secrets—though, had he used his original Lord-level authority, they would have been utterly incapable of resistance.
"Good! Follow me to the outer wall. We'll be responsible for defending the western section—fifteen kilometers!"
Leilin only bothered querying the mid-rank devils. As for the low-rank squad leaders and the like, he couldn't be bothered and swiftly led his forces to the western wall.
The surrounding area was already packed with devils. The only open section was the one assigned to him. Even the defensive equipment had been prepared.
"Move quickly! Arl, you take this section. Buck, you're over here. Kimol, you're in charge of the reserve force!"
With the Chip's assistance, Leilin swiftly completed his deployment. "And you—Hanalin! You'll serve as my messenger!"
"It's my great honor!" The Succubus Hanalin took her place at Leilin's side. It had to be said, Leilin's current evil visage carried a striking charisma of its own—enough to bring a glimmer of adoration to the Succubus's eyes.
Though, of course, Leilin suspected she valued his status as a high-rank devil a great deal more.
There was little time for flirtation on the fortress wall. Almost as soon as the devils were in position, a distant line of fire became visible on the horizon.
"That formation…"
Leilin squinted slightly, and his face filled with a speechless expression. "Am I actually going to witness the legendary pig charge and ant swarm today?"
Appearing at the edge of the wasteland was an enormous host of demon forces. But their ranks were a spectacle of chaos—no, calling them ranks was generous. They were nothing more than a headless swarm of ants, some even heading in the wrong direction! Demons were tearing at and trampling over one another practically every passing second.
Seeing such a disheveled mass of demons approaching, it was no wonder that even though they outnumbered the defending devils by more than twenty to one, the devils couldn't bring themselves to feel anxious. Some even wore expressions of amusement in their eyes.
But even so, Leilin noticed that not a single devil on the wall made a rash move or a provocative gesture—even the lowest Soul Binder acted with restraint.
"The outcome is already decided," Leilin murmured with a quiet sigh.
"Hold for orders! Do not engage until Commander Barzefen gives the command!"
A devil herald arrived with the latest orders from Barzefen, the one of the Eight Demon Generals directly above Leilin.
"So the Primordial Network can only determine rank hierarchy and chain of command. Fine-grained orders still have to be issued by the devils themselves… No—perhaps the Eight Demon Generals do have the ability to directly manipulate the network, but the effort and authority required are too great. That's why they've barely used it since the beginning…"
After receiving his assignment, Leilin suppressed the mild restlessness among his devils and allowed the demons to draw closer.
At this distance, and with the vantage of looking down from above, the masses of demons appeared clearly before Leilin's eyes.
Dretch and Quasits made up the largest proportion—the vast cannon-fodder army. Mixed in among these low-rank demons were mid-rank specimens such as Babaus, Bar-Lguras, Shoosuvas, and others. There were even Mariliths, Balors, and a legendary Pit Fiend!
In the Abyss, the Balor, with its tremendous command of fire and its position at the apex of demonkind, was the only creature capable of rivaling a Pit Fiend!
Leilin could now clearly make out every scale on every demon below the wall, and the madness burning within their evil eyes.
"Fire!"
At the cry of a towering Balor, countless demons launched balls of flame, creating a sky full of fire rain.
Though most of the flames fell upon their own ranks—and unfortunate flying demons were struck down and crashed to the ground—a portion still landed on the upper reaches of the Bronze Fortress.
"Energy Defense Membrane One—activate!"
Leilin calmly issued the command, and a layer of energy defense materialized above the wall, blocking every tongue of flame.
The residual heat that leaked through posed absolutely no problem for devils, who possessed their own fire resistance.
In a single wave of attack, the demons had already eliminated over ten thousand beings—all from their own side, of course. Though, given the demon mind and its inherent chaos, they probably had no concept of that.
And with each act of slaughter and death, the demons only grew more frenzied.
They roared, they howled, they trampled over the corpses of their own kind, and launched a savage assault on the Bronze Fortress.
"Attack!"
At the signal carried by the herald, the devil commanders unleashed their war cries. In an instant, the entire Bronze Fortress transformed into a terrifying war machine. Armored devils, relying on the wall's fortifications and the advantage of defensive equipment, cut down demons in massive numbers.
But the demons deserved their reputation as the most frenzied and chaotic of beings. A small setback could not instill fear in them—instead, it only stimulated their bloodlust further.
"At this rate, once the demons lose about half their numbers, they might manage to seize half the wall. But that won't help them in the slightest—because the Bronze Fortress has a full twelve wall rings…"
Leilin calmly predicted the demons' fate with no small amount of exasperation. Barring any change in the battle's trajectory, this outcome was virtually guaranteed.
<叮!Subject has received a mission! From Barzefen! Details: Stage a feigned retreat, then fall back to the eleventh wall ring and hold position!> For once, Barzefen—one of the Eight Demon Generals—had not used a herald. Instead, he had issued the order directly through the Primordial Network.
"It seems my earlier speculation was partially correct. They do have the authority to use the network—or at least they can communicate with high-rank devils through it. That's why only critical missions are issued through the rank network directly, while other orders are conveyed through different means… Looks like their authority is pretty restricted too…"
This was really Leilin being a rich man ignorant of a poor man's suffering. Those Pit Fiends, while possessing
"Hanalin!" Leilin ordered without a moment's hesitation.
"Officer!" The Succubus's expression turned grave. After all, if the battle went poorly and blame was assigned, she could be demoted to a Lemure and forced to perform the most humiliating tasks—a fate worse than death.
"Feign defeat! We'll retreat slowly, all the way to the eleventh wall ring!"
Leilin issued the command.
"A complete encirclement?" A flicker of excitement passed through Hanalin's pupils. She swiftly relayed the orders down the chain, all while seemingly trying her best to display her intelligence in front of Leilin.
"Too many scheming and conspiracies in that one. Keeping her close is just asking for trouble…"
But what she didn't know was that Leilin had already dismissed the Succubus entirely from the start.
The devils moved with astonishing coordination. They abandoned their current wall and began retreating in orderly fashion. The demons, utterly unable to perceive the flaw, charged headlong into the trap that had long been laid for them.