Second World
chapter-1864

The Aurebor's Northern defense line was hit half a day after its Southern counterpart. The devil who led the underworld forces on this side was Mammon. Mammon was a devil similar to Satan. He preferred direct engagement. He fought on the front line while his two shadow wolves wreaked havoc by his side.

Thanks to Jack's gold coins, Nova managed to raise a decent army. Even though many of them were still low levels, they were all determined to defend their home.

This Aurebor army was supported by two divine factions, the Council of Charites and the Devotee of Passion. They were league factions who worshipped the Goddess of Joy and the Goddess of Love.

Too bad the Council of Charites had been splintered by the incident with Euphosine. Their condition was even worse than the Council of Virtus. They lost two of their three leaders. Now, only Talia remained. The remaining members were only one-third compared to when the faction was still intact. After Jack built Joy's Recreational Hub, they recruited some members, including outworlders, but they were still far from the glory of their former selves.

Fortunately, Love's faction was here to lend support. The members of the Devotee of Passion were all deeply passionate individuals. Their ardors boosted everyone's enthusiasm, causing morale to rise even against fearsome enemies like the demons. Most of their members were also potent spellcasters, with more than half being decent healers. This helped the soldiers survive a long fight.

The Devotee of Passion brought their guardian, unlike the Council of Charites who lost theirs a long time ago. Their faction guardian, the Soul Swan, was another gigantic avian like the Radiant Peafowl. It healed those in the vicinity simply with its presence, similar to the effect of Grace's legendary set armor. The Soul Swan's passive healing ability even covered a much longer range than Grace's armor.

Even though the Soul Swan didn't possess explosive power, all its attacks contained soul damage. So, all the enemies suffered from its attacks received full damage.

This defensive line was also supported by one of Themisphere's two mobile fortresses. The mana cannons and other siege weapons on the fortress gave the army additional firepower.

With Jack's approval, Nova was inside this mobile fortress. Inside the mobile fortress, she was safe to command her troops using a war table.

Many spellcasters and ranged players of Wicked Witches were stationed on the battlements of this mobile fortress, allowing them to carry their attacks safely. One of them was Selena. She cast her mega spell, Ring of Hellfire, under the protection of the mobile fortress' shield.

Compared to the other fronts, Aurebor's Northern defense line was the one that lasted the longest. They were only forced to retreat after five days since the battle started. This pissed Mammon off.

Mammon was hindered by the strongest members of the Devotee of Passion throughout these five days. Although he killed a score of them, it was not as many as he desired. This divine faction's recovery abilities were above the norm. It allowed them to survive even when a devil was gunning for them.

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The battlefield on Palgrost was the latest to happen. The Northern front was hit three days after the Hydrurond's fronts. The battle here started around the time Linda signaled a retreat at Hydrurond's Southern front.

This Northern front was hit by the underworld forces led by Belphegor. The fat devil stomped over the battlefield using his huge body. His icy aura and infernal ice breath froze most of those who dared to come near him.

He also had nine icy orbs circling him. These icy orbs could turn into large ice weapons, similar to Jack's glowing orbs when he was using the War God Manifestation. With these ice weapons assaulting enemies around him, he didn't need to move much. He just watched lazily as the enemies around him died.

The Sangrod army defended this front. Horatio commanded his army with his two relic marshalls, Vanessa Armand and Ezekiel Fanchon. Their country guardian, Jygorth, flew here to support them after leaving Broidrireg's burial place.

Out of the other countries still commanded by native sovereigns, Sangrod was the one that still had most of his army intact. Hence, this front had sufficient soldiers manning it. Even so, the underworld forces still outnumbered them.

Like the other fronts, they were helped by a divine faction. The divine faction that came here was one worshipping one of the bad Gods, the Cult of Lytta. This league faction's members devoted their lives to the Goddess of Wrath. Their warriors all wore crimson armor and scarlet robes.

They were fierce warriors, and every member could cast spells. Their skills and spells were all offense-oriented. They fought with unnatural desires to obliterate their enemies. So fierce were they in their offense that they didn't care if they hit their allies. They just threw AOE skills and spells without consideration.

This angered the Sangrod soldiers, but Horatio held them back. It would be a disaster if they fought among themselves when the enemies already had an upper hand. The best he could do was command Darius, who was operating the war table, to steer their army away from the members of this divine faction. They let the Cult of Lytta fight by themselves. The cult didn't seem to care. They preferred it that way.

This cult brought their faction guardian with them, the Montu Spider. It was the giant crimson spider Red Death saw when she was in Wrath's lair. The Montu Spider was a level 96 eternal grade. It shot crimson webs that entangled many demons, leaving them powerless. The bound demons received continuous dark-element damage from the webs.

The Montu Spider had a hypnotic ability. It could mind-control an enemy lower level than it, as long as it was not a mythical or eternal grade. Yet, it could only mind-control one enemy at a time, similar to the beholders.

Its eight legs ended with sharp pikes that dealt fire damage. It could also cast spells. Some of its spells were chaos-element.

Seven leaders led the Cult of Lytta's members. These seven leaders were the seven maids Red Death saw serving the Goddess of Wrath in her lair. Their appearance on this battlefield was different from when Red Death saw them. In Wrath's lair, they wore scanty clothes that revealed their bodies. Here, crimson armor covered their bodies. Everyone could still see their alluring curves behind the armor, though.

The seven maids were from seven different races. The leader of the seven was the one from the draconian race. She went by the name Likokira. She was a level 95 eternal grade. The other six maids were mythical grades. Their levels ranged from level 90 to 95.

The Montu Spider and the seven maids tackled Belphegor. Despite the Montu Spider being on the same level as Belphegor, it was still evident from the first contact that Belphegor was significantly stronger.

The Montu Spider tumbled back when its bladed legs clashed with Belphegor's arms. The seven maids cast spells and sent ranged attacks from a safe distance while moving at high speed around the devil.

Belphegor stopped advancing. He sat on the ground, which sunk due to the weight of his heavy body. He let his ice aura and the nine flying ice weapons assail his opponents. He himself just looked at them lazily.

The Montu Spider shot its crimson web. Belphegor used his arms to block the fast-spraying web. The sticky web wrapped around his arms. The Montu Spider had a tug contest with Belphegor via the web, effectively locking the devil's arms. Belphegor didn't seem to care, though.

The flying ice weapons chased after the seven maids, but the maids were fast, especially Likokira. When Jygorth came to join the fight against Belphegor, Likokira used the distraction to slip through the ice weapons using her crimson wings and shot Belphegor using her flaming bow.

Belphegor's lazy face showed a slightly irritated expression. He then burped. Following the burp, Belphegor's upper body bloated. The swelling moved from his chest to his neck, then to his mouth. His mouth stretched wide as a fleshy ball popped out of it. This fleshy ball landed hard on the ground, cracking it. It then broke. A demon with an appearance similar to Belphegor came out of the ball.

This miniature Belphegor grabbed one of the ice weapons and used it to cut the crimson web binding Belphegor's arms. With the ice weapon, it rushed toward the Montu Spider and started clashing with it.

Belphegor didn't stop there. The swelling repeated, and he produced two more fleshy balls. Another two mini-Belphegors hatched from the balls. They also grabbed the ice weapons and chased after the flying maids and Jygorth.

Belphegor continued sitting on the ground while lazily watching the battle ensuing around him. One little detail the defenders didn't notice was that after Belphegor spewed out the three fleshy balls, his bulging belly was slightly deflated.

The battle on this front lasted five days before the defenders retreated. Not because of the competency of the defenders, but because Belphegor didn't truly show much enthusiasm in breaching the defenses. He mostly sat back and let the demon army do the job.

When the pursuing demons were stopped by the traps, Belphegor again sat and waited until the traps were exhausted and the army could move again. Then only did he resume his march sluggishly.