GDK 864: The power of the Pandemonium
“Hail Sovereign Salas!” a group of experts kowtowed before Salas. Even though the Empyrean Peak had been destroyed and Han Shuo had escaped from him, to these people, Salas was still the most formidable being in the Fringe.
These experts who were used to bullying other Fringedwellers in the name of Salas knew that their interests were tightly intertwined with Salas’. As long as their Sovereign stood tall, their place in the Fringe remained unchallengeable. But once they stepped out of Salas’ shadow, they would no doubt be hunted and murdered by their former enemies. And now, that veil behind Salas was rapidly shrinking.
“What information have you gathered so far?” asked Salas with a dark face. His meetings with Wasir and Logie had not been as fruitful as he had hoped. The two Sovereigns just could not, or perhaps did not, conceal their great gladness when they heard that Salas’ Empyrean Peak was destroyed. Although they had verbally agreed to Salas’ request, it was up to anyone’s guess if they would actually honor their promises.
Sovereign Salas had become the laughing stock of the Fringe for he could not even defend his base from a naked mad lad. He knew that the only way to wash away the humiliation was to annihilate Han Shuo and all his people.
“That valley ahead known as the Pandemonium is enveloped in colorful miasmic gases. We have been observing it for a long time but have not seen a single person exit from the valley, “ answered one of Salas’ followers respectfully.
“So they are all inside the Valley. Excellent. We can kill all of them in one go!” Salas gazed at his nearly one thousand followers with his eyes that were sparking with electricity. He gave a short speech, “The might of the Empyrean Peak has been challenged. Today, we will show everyone the consequences of such recklessness!”
Salas then gestured as he commanded, “Charge into the valley. Kill everyone you find. Show no mercy!”
Immediately after, those kneeling before Salas went to their troops and started yelling their commands. A large swarm of shadows took to the air and shot in the direction of the Pandemonium.
As a mighty Sovereign, Salas naturally would not be at the forefront of the battle. In his point of view, his only job was to finish Han Shuo. Everything else could be handled by his followers. Therefore, instead of leading his army to the battlefield, he merely observed from his vantage point.
***
In the Pandemonium, Rose, Romon, Zovic, Goron, the Five Elite Zombies, and the others were attentively observing the situation outside through an enormous spatial refraction mirror.
During the past few years, McKinley of Ethereal City had been delivering all kinds of marvelous space divine devices to the Pandemonium. The enormous spatial refraction mirror was one of them. It was connected with the space edict matrices deployed on the mountains surrounding the Pandemonium. Instead of showing a reflection of the users, the mirror would show them anything and everything in the Valley.
With the gigantic mirroring device, those in the underground palace of the Pandemonium could observe nearly everything that was happening on the surface.
Through the spatial refraction mirror, the party saw a dark storm rapidly approaching from the horizon. It was made up of ferocious gods flying in a tight formation. They were led by several infamous generals of Salas, most of them late-stage highgods.
Following and watching them from above was an enormous figure covered with lightning bolts. He was none other than Sovereign Salas.
Without the miraculous demonic formations in the Pandemonium, Salas could easily slaughter everyone in the Valley with just a portion of his experts. Other than the other four Sovereigns, perhaps no other powerhouse in the Fringe could even come close to matching the power Salas commanded.
Everyone watching from the spatial magical mirror looked especially grave, except for the Five Elite Zombies. They wondered how long the Pandemonium could defend against the invaders.
“Calm down. Not even Salas can break into the Valley without effort,” said Han Huo in a prideful smirk before he smilingly asked Han Mu, “Little Wood, make a guess. How many formations can the first wave break through?”
The Han Mu at this moment had his eyes glued to the spatial mirror, zoomed in on those sultry female combatants of Salas. He had a lewd smile on his face and was likely imagining something dirty. Han Mu was annoyed to be disrupted from his fantasy and replied, “Who cares about those small fries?”
Rose, Zovic, and the others were rather astounded. They couldn’t understand why the Five Elite Zombies would be so calm and confident. To them, no matter how amazing the Pandemonium was, it could not possibly be able to resist the onslaught of more than a thousand gods. Once those attackers pushed through the defenses, none of them would likely be left alive.
“Oh don’t worry. Even if they break through the defenses, I can easily evacuate everyone with underground tunnels. Salas cultivates the energy of lightning and cannot go hundreds of meters underground to pursue us. Seriously, I don’t get what the bunch of you are so worried for!” said Han Tu after he glanced at those experts who seemed nervous.
All five of the Elite Zombies had unruffled looks. None of them seemed stressed out about being sieged by the formidable force. They would also frequently mock and joke around with each other as though there weren’t a thousand ferocious Fringedwellers out there wanting to butcher them.
Slowly but surely, even Rose and the others were affected by their spirit and they were no longer as worried. The reassurance that Han Tu gave had also calmed them somewhat. However, their eyes remained glued to the magical mirror as they watched the invading forces.
The first wave of enemies soon arrived. Those generals of Salas who had been throwing their weights around the Fringe for decades weren’t complete idiots. They knew to test the waters before stepping into unknown dangers themselves.
Therefore, the first who attacked the Pandemonium were not Salas’ most powerful subordinates, but weak, mediocre, nameless characters. More often than not, these experts were simply sacrificed to determine the situation ahead so that the truly powerful experts wouldn’t be harmed.
Back then in the Omphalos, a group of wealthy but good for nothing teenagers had surrendered all their fortunes to Han Hao and bowed to his command. Those teenagers had not enrolled themselves as the troops of the Sovereigns because they knew they would be treated as cannon fodders during critical moments, just as Salas was doing now.
There was a price for everything, even for submitting to Salas. Those cannon fodders in the junior ranks who did not possess extraordinary strength knew that their time had come. Following the instructions of their leaders, the dozen or so men descended from the sky and charged into the Pandemonium without defiance or hesitation.
Thick, vibrant miasmic gases were hovering above the Pandemonium and every one of the gases possessed extreme toxicity. Those cannon fodders had applied expensive medical lotions for neutralizing toxins and had covered themselves with all kinds of defensive divine armors. They knew that the colorful miasmic gases wouldn’t be as pleasant as they may have seemed.
However, the miasmic gases brewed by Han Shuo and the Five Elite Zombies were nothing that an average god could defend against. With the help of Wood Elite Zombie, Han Shuo was able to procure all kinds of extremely potent corrosive poisons from exotic plants and introduce them into the miasmic gases. The miasmic gases were not just able to block others peeping into the Valley, but they were also the first line of defense against intruders.
Those cannon fodders did all they could to protect themselves against the miasmic gases and yet, they could not elude their destiny.
Soon after they fell into the miasmic gases, they noticed that the toxins they were facing were on a whole nother level. Even the most toxic gases they had come across deep in the mountains were nothing compared to this. Those medicines and armors they wore seemed completely ineffective. They immediately felt numb, dizzy, and weak.
It did not take long before their bodies started rotting and melting. Some of them had dark liquid oozing from their orifices as they died.
Miserable shrieks sounded for a few seconds before they went completely silent. The first batch of cannon fodders had vanished without a trace.
“Nothing simple, indeed!” remarked a burly expert. He showed not the slightest grief or anger at the loss of his subordinates. It appeared that he did not even attach any value to the lives of those men.
“I want every expert of wind energy to join forces and blow the miasmic gas away!” commanded an old man with messy long hair.
Immediately after, all those gods who cultivated in wind energy started using the divine energy in their bodies to assemble the element of wind. Fierce winds started wheezing and numerous great tornadoes were formed. They started wreaking havoc over the colorful miasmic gases.
There were several dozen experts under Salas who cultivated in the element of wind, among which were five or six highgods. By working together, they managed to envelop the entire Pandemonium in wild winds, tornadoes, hurricanes, and twisters.
However, much of the thick miasmic gases shrouding over the Pandemonium somehow managed to stay in place. Even though they moved around with the wind, they would always end up above the Valley, as though they were held by some sort of magnet.
Some of the miasmic gases were dispersed by the hurricanes and tornadoes. However, after the winds were gone, the miasmic gases would simply reassemble above the Valley like liquid flowing down a slope.
“Father spent two months gathering the miasmic gases from various regions and meticulously deployed them using ‘Variable Anchor’. If their measly little wind can disperse the Demonic Miasma Cloud, I’ll eat my hat!” said Han Huo complacently.
“Hehe, perhaps it’s time we show them what we’ve got. Don’t you think, Little Wood?” Han Tu said to Han Mu with a nasty smirk.
“Of course! It’s time!”
Suddenly, the enormous trees in the Pandemonium started trembling. Moments later, the miasmic gases gathered above the Valley started to violently spread outwards in all directions.
Not only could Salas’ followers who cultivated in wind energy not control the movement or direction of the miasmic gases, but their hurricanes and tornadoes had somehow accelerated their flow and made matters worse.
“Shit. Everyone retreat. Retreat!” shouted that old man with long messy hair hastily. But the miasmic gases were just too fast. As soon as he finished those words, many of Salas’ followers were engulfed by the roaring gases.