Under the dark crimson sky, dawn would never break on the battlefields of Avernus. Flames and smoke filled the air, while the ground was littered with bodies torn asunder by swords and battle-axes.
The roars of battle and the screams of death intertwined, forming a hellish tableau of devils and demons reveling together in a frenzied carnival. Towering flames erupted from cracks in the hellish landscape. Demon Lords, clad in heavy armor, wreaked havoc on the battlefield, each swing of their war-axes snuffing out lives indiscriminately in the heat of combat.
Though true victory in the Blood War remained perpetually unattainable, the demons' insatiable thirst for blood and destruction still urged them to continue fighting in this endless conflict until death yanked their shattered souls back deep into the Abyssal Depths.
From above, the battlefield that had pushed deep into Avernus resembled a colossal abattoir. Fire demons and hellhounds roared on the ground while flying devils traced arcs in the sky, casting down alchemical bombs and flames. Meanwhile, the demons brandished their massive weapons, repeatedly assaulting the devils' defensive lines, which were battered yet reformed time and again.
Further within the depths of Avernus, countless devil armies gathered from watchtowers stationed every ten miles. They formed up like army ants: squads merged into platoons, platoons into companies, and companies into battalions, until a thousand-strong army coalesced. Led by devil generals, they hastily marched to their assigned defensive positions to swiftly survey the terrain, set traps, and construct new defensive lines.
"Colin! Have you figured out where these demons are spawning from yet?"
Atop a dark crimson highland, Dagos, known as 'Pride and Contempt' and one of the eight dark devil generals, urged for this crucial battlefield intelligence for what felt like the umpteenth time.
This time, Colin, who always teetered between silence and madness, finally replied with impatience, "There's feedback from the front line devils. About 13,000 kilometers outside the Bronze Citadel defensive line, a large pit has appeared on the surface."
"A tunnel dug by demons?" Dagos appeared somewhat incredulous. Since when did demons start using their brains?
But the subterranean tributaries of the Styx River were almost constantly shifting, a feat nearly impossible to navigate even for the orderly devils.
Could it be that some troublesome entity from the Abyss has arrived? Perhaps someone from the ranks of Graz'zt, the Dark Lord who most resembles a devil?
"I don't know," Colin said, "but my intuition tells me it's more like they were squeezed through from there. You know, ever since that lady opened a second front last year, those demons have been swarming in like maggots that caught the scent of crap—blocked by the Bronze Citadel, and with the path 'upstairs' too narrow, it's like a fistula. POP, they got squeezed out from below."
"Damn it, Colin, you're still as revolting as ever!" Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel·fire·net
The response was a burst of laughter that was half schadenfreude, half madness.
Dagos was silent for a moment before speaking, "I need reinforcements! Only then might I have a chance to destroy that tunnel."
"Oh, old buddy, this is your defense sector. With something happening, you need to discuss it with Byel."
"Camotesakas!" Dagos grumbled as he terminated the Magic Communication.
As one of the eight dark devil generals, he knew all too well that the military forces of Barto Hell were perpetually stretched thin. Unless there was a significant breach like that of the Bronze Citadel, or strategic locations like the Land of Torment or Maggot's Nest were threatened with destruction, there would not be any major shifts in the defense sectors of Barto Hell.
No one knew if this was just another 'brilliant idea' from some Demon Lord's whim; such large-scale troop redeployments could provoke even more severe battle conditions.
Regardless, even though the current stability had lasted for some time, it was different before Byel's rise to power. Under the command of the aggressive Duke Zariel, and even further back during Tiamat's reign, Avernus being riddled with breaches was the norm. It was constantly caught in a tug-of-war between deep defense and grand counteroffensives.
The current war, with the Bronze Citadel as its main defensive line, was actually one of the rare 'Great Peace' periods in the Blood War.
Therefore, even if the Evil Scale Fortress were attacked, it was a situation Tiamat and her vassals were expected to handle.
But only he, as one of the eight dark devil generals, knew that from time immemorial, the eight dark devil generals were not truly immortal. On the contrary, the deaths of their members occurred with grim regularity: they either perished on the battlefield or as a result of internal strife. A successor would then be swiftly chosen to replace the fallen general, while the other members tacitly concealed this truth. Every new hell-forged devil took on the name of the deceased and, if necessary, reshaped their appearance to assume the predecessor's position.
In fact, aside from Balzafen, 'the Deceitful and Taciturn,' who was the sole surviving founding member of the eight dark devil generals, the 'Inner Core' of a devil under a title like 'Dagos of Pride and Contempt' had been replaced who knows how many times.
Should I take this risk? Dagos was almost certain that, whether intentionally or not, the demons would place great importance on this 'tunnel' leading directly into the heart of Avernus. They would inevitably dispatch more than one Demon Lord to guard it.