The elite of Barto's second master, the Iron Grand Duke Dispat, will either go to the battlefield of bloody battles and fight against the Tanari demons, who represent chaos and evil. Or camp in the fortresses and beware of the armies of the Grand Duke of Barzeb and the Grand Duke of Balzeb from raiding their lair through portals. It is for this reason that when the battle broke out in the Iron City, the powerful and disciplined elite troops of the devil failed to intervene in time to stop it.

But now, once again, the situation has changed.

More and more Barthez Devil Mages are reaching the center of the battle with teleportation spells, though individually, none of them can stand up to the Witch King or the Sun Mage. But together, they become an increasingly difficult force to ignore.

Whether it's Ebb's polis, the Shadow King Nibennay, or the former Coral Witch, their magic is all from the lineage of primordial warlocks, and they pay for their magic by squeezing their life force. While the Witch Kings usually carry large quantities of obsidian orbs containing the souls of the dead to extract life force, Sadiri now casts spells by squeezing the power of the stars. Barthez Devil's spells are different from theirs, although they are slightly less powerful, but they do not need to squeeze life force, but have a unique channel to pay for the cost of magic.

In addition, multiple Barthez Devil Mages can also join forces to cast spells, which are more powerful than the sum of the individual combined. Although there are some magical rituals in Atas that can be performed by multiple people, their subtlety is not at all comparable to the mystical art carved by the Bad Devils through the ages.

Most Barthez demons are born with spell-like abilities, and they don't grow old and die naturally, so they have a lot of time to study new powers, so the proportion of mages among the devils is not comparable to that of any race in the main material plane. Soon, hundreds of devil mages were casting spell attacks from the top of the metal tower, from the brass and steel terraces, from the remaining footholds on the melted ground. Denser than the sands of a sandstorm, the bright spots run towards the Witch King and the Coral Witch.

Ebupolis, the dragon king of Atas had little trouble countering these spells, and the thick scales of the full-body demon dragon could block most of these attacks. The few threatening spells only angered the Dragonlord, and Polis wiped out their casters with devastating spells. But more raiders came by teleporting spells, taking the place of the dead.

The Shadow King Niben laughed as he greeted the intensive baptism of spells, as if he didn't care about the hostility of these demons. His illusion confused the sense of direction in Barthez's mind, causing their attacks to fall on him in turn. To outsiders, it was as if the devils had fallen into evil and began to attack themselves, and the big and ferocious dragon in the air let out bursts of laughter, low and terrifying, and spread into the distance.

Satili used a spell to teleport to the two psychic warlocks, bringing the focus of the two Witch Kings' attacks to this place. A dense torrent of spells tore the building apart, and the shield erected by the Sun Mage flickered and shakily almost a moment after it appeared, and was on the verge of crumbling.

The Psychomancer and the Coral Witch had only officially met for the first time, and Aisha's body had been created by Lyra based on Muhadi's preferences and memories, and it was already considered to be outstanding, at least shrewd and capable. But in front of the latter's peerless appearance, Aisha looks like an ordinary and ordinary girl.

"What did you just mention?" said the Coral Witch, eager but still beautiful. "All the portals are tightly guarded, how can we go straight to the eighth floor of Bato?"

Aisha directly uses her abilities to communicate, which is the most direct way to communicate in this emergency. "Through the River Styx. ”

"Styx?" said Satilly, who was extremely surprised by the answer. "But how is that possible?"

The River Styx is one of the most important landscapes in the lower planes, a stinking, dark wine-colored river bubbling through the top of the Asura Field, the Bato Nine, the Scorching Hell, the Grey Ruins, the Cassley, the Bottomless Abyss, and the Noisy Tunnels, and its abominable tributaries extend into the other layers of these planes. In some ways, the Styx corresponds to the World Tree of the Upper Plane, but in opposite ways.

The River Styx connects these places in a mysterious way, though the planes themselves are not connected to each other. It's like some kind of space-time portal, but in the form of a river.

Sometimes, the demons of the Nine Hell of Bartow will travel up the main trunk of the River Styx in huge fleets to attack the planes controlled by the Demons of Tanari, and even attempt to penetrate the first layer of the Bottomless Abyss, the Abyss Plains. But just as often, the Tanari demons will also swim down the river and threaten the territory of the Barthez.

However, it is extremely impractical to use the River Styx to travel between the Nine Prisons of Bartow, as its tributaries here are undercurrents and unpredictable, with no navigable surface. And the waters of the River Styx are in mortal danger even to divine beings—it robs them of their memories and consciousness.

When Muhathir first teleported to Bato Nine, he discovered the origin of the River Styx by reading the past. Long ago, the Butterz Devils tried to use the inhabitants of the main physical plane to augment their military power, and they wantonly kidnapped and enslaved these main physical plane races - such as humans, elves, and dwarves, using them to create half-bloods, the Tieflin race, that is, half-devils.

But the attempt ultimately proved to be a failure, and Tieflin had all sorts of shortcomings compared to the real devil, such as weakness, neglect of order, and, most intolerable, goodness. So the Barthez later launched an unspeakable genocidal campaign against these half-devils. For the purpose of waste reuse, they took these Tieflin brains alive and piled them up to form a gray pulp-like mind that was larger than nine primordial oceans together. This consciousness generated in the mind is known as the Apotheosis Consciousness, and the Butterz Devils use its power to their advantage in the bloody battle.

The Apotheosis hates the Butterz Devils who enslave them, and plots a rebellion. But the devils saw through its plan before it was able to attack...... Eventually, Bato's eighth layer of Kania was deeply notched, and the entire plane was shrouded in extreme cold due to the massive amount of energy being extracted. The devils were victorious, and their revenge lasted for many days and nights. Acid and oil were poured on the remnants of the mind and burned for a thousand and one nights. The remnants of the mind are discharged, and the River Styx and Lethe are formed...... The reason why these polluted waters drain the memories and thoughts of the contaminated person is probably because the remnants of the mind still yearn for consciousness.

"The effects of Styx can be resisted. Aisha quickly teleported with her abilities. The place where they had just stood had turned into a hot molten iron lake, but fortunately a few people escaped to another safe place in time. More and more Barthez devil mages appeared on the battlefield, and it was only natural that the most powerful witch kings were regarded as the primary enemies, and they fought with them for some time.

"I ...... Lyra did some research, when she was young and roamed the realms. The female psychomancer continued, though at first she was hesitant to use the title. "The effect of Styx is not magic, it is not magic, it is not an ordinary natural phenomenon. Its mechanism of action is very similar to that of psionic energy, suggesting that a powerful psionic might be able to find a way to counter it. ”

“...... Resisting the effects of the River Styx is a difficult challenge, and it is not urgent. So it took Lyra hundreds of years to develop a particular ability to do that, and it took hundreds of years to find an opportunity to use it. ”

"Wait!" the Coral Witch suddenly heard the telemagician's words. "Are you saying that Lyra has long had the ability to travel to and from the different planes of Bato through the River Styx, but she has kept it a secret? If you had learned this ability from her, why didn't you use it earlier? Maybe some innocent people could have survived. Although there was no accusation in her tone, the content of what she said could not be clearer.

"What about you? did you already know this method of teleportation through the River Styx?" the Coral Witch asked Muhathir suddenly.

"I knew about thirty heartbeats before you......" Muhathir confessed. "My own plan was based on being completely unaware of this. ”

"But you're all Lyra's apprentices, why would she and you wouldn't?"

The Psychic shrugged and squeezed out an ugly smile. "That's a long story. And now is not a good place to tell a story. ”

As if to confirm his words, Polis cast a strange spell, and invisible fluctuations spread around the dragon's body, and the batez demons who were hit fell like flies caught in fire.

"We have to go now, or we'll never get a chance. The Psychomancer said. "I can show you this ability right away, it's for a limited duration, and we have to move fast. ”

"Wait, I've got to take Kailin with me, she's with me, I can't leave her alone!" said Sadiri. Then she cast a spell to create an avatar of herself, which disappeared and reappeared in place. When he reappeared, the wounded priest also appeared.

"Follow me, I know where the Styx undercurrent is. Aisha didn't say anything more, and immediately showed her power.

Muhadi and Sadiri looked at each other as if they didn't say anything. Kaylin, the priest, didn't know why, but she trusted the Coral Witch and followed.

They use teleportation spells and abilities to distance themselves from the battlefield, occasionally blocking powerful sculpting spells with the help of tall metal towers. The female psychomancer took the lead, followed by the others, entering the steel city through an underground passage that would never see the light of day.

The structure of the buildings here is even more bizarre than the part on the ground of Dis, some of the buildings hang down from a high place, like stalactites in a cave, and some of the buildings rise from below, like stalagmites in a cave. Some magical light sources are suspended in mid-air, illuminating the city beneath it.

As the light dimmed, Sadiri felt like her power had been greatly diminished. But now was not the time to worry about that, and she wondered how Lyra could be so familiar with Barthez's Devil's City.

Lyra is a low-key, high-profile psychic sorcerer in Atas, who has been immersed in her own ability research for many years. I've never heard of her actively intervening in the desert strife, or of an adventure to the outer planes. Why would she know so much about the city of Bato Nine?

The Psychomancer is once again manifesting, this time targeting the downward passage of the city beneath it. The crowd followed closely, and then they heard a loud bang behind them, and there was an incomparably violent explosion on the top of the city below. Polis's magic blasted a large hole open, and then he and Nipennay chased after him. Tiamat, the Void Dragon, followed a little further behind.

Aisha sped up, and through the downward passage, they entered another underground city. The structure and architecture are almost identical to those on the upper floor, and there are a large number of lower-ranking bone demons and inferior demons, etc., with the occasional manor of lust dotted among the chaotic slums. "How many layers are there?" asked Muhadi.

"A total of 1,372 floors of the city. Aisha said succinctly. "Further down there are pipes, secret dungeons, and the Bato natives, like Razor's lair. ”

"Are we going to walk all the way through this thousand-story city?" asked the Coral Witch. "I can't cast so many teleportation spells without enough light. ”

"You don't need to cast so many teleportation spells. The female psychic whispered with her powers. "Two levels further down, there is a sewer that leads to a tributary of the River Styx. We'll go in from there. ”

At this time, the piercing sirens had already sounded through the steel city, and there was not a single building on every floor from the ground to the center of the earth. The ancient machine, which had been unused for a long time, reactivated, rusty gears and hinges creaking, and the heavy steel top closed with each layer and between them.

The group sped up and slipped through the entrance to the downward passage while the lid was not yet fully closed. The passage was deep, and the second top cover had been closed, so the Coral Witch had to use a plastic spell to bombard directly downward, blasting a large hole in the second top cover with a diameter of more than five hundred feet and a red-hot edge. Not only did it completely burn through the ancient defenses of Barthez, which had a long history and many enchantments, but it also pierced through the third and fourth top covers underneath.

The power of the Shaping Spell was weakened by layers of metal covers, and the fifth and last top cover in the downward passage had shrunk to less than five feet in diameter. As the group descended and walked through, they could almost feel the heat emanating from the melted pure gold that was close at hand.

Aisha's aura seemed endless, and no matter how much she cast it, she showed no sign of exhaustion. And the Coral Witch doesn't show any fatigue from a few teleportation and flying spells. Compared to these two people, Muhathir is far behind. Luckily, the priest Kaylin helped him, she had wings, and she didn't have any ambiguity when she could fly.

The Psychomancer finds the location of the sewers and prepares to lead the way. At this moment, Polis's huge demon dragon body squeezed out of the passage between the upper and lower floors, and some of the buildings that were close to each other fell from a height like stalactites hanging from the top, and fell like cannonballs in the middle of the buildings below. A human figure appeared with Polis, it was the Shadow King Nibennay, who didn't want to spend his strength squeezing around the passage, so he simply temporarily reverted to his human form.

"I thought the Sun Mage wasn't supposed to run away from the fight. Nibennay said, somehow, although the voice was not loud, but the group could hear it clearly. "It's not polite to say goodbye to an old man. ”

"You should tell Polis this, during the battle of the Pure Fortress, he finally fled in the face of the primordial warlock. Sadiri responded. "Maybe you two can go up one by one? ”

Nibennay burst out laughing, and looked at Polis mockingly before he spoke. "Maybe one day I'll have a showdown with Polis. But for now, I can only advance and retreat with him. ”

"And then, if you win, you're willing to give Polis the power of his real name. And you're content to be his subordinate? That's your grand plan?"

"And what are your grand plans? to continue hiding here? Tell you, those Barthez can't stop me. No matter how long you hide in these underground cities, we'll eventually catch you. ”

"We're not just hiding in Tibet. ”

As if to test Satilly's words, the Female Psychic Warlock's ability sent the group into the sewers. The ability invented by Lyra forms a protective film on their body, preventing direct contact with liquids.

The current here was so strong that they were carried forward with little movement. Aisha swam in front, the priest Karin grabbing the horns of her robes. Muhati himself was grabbing Kailin's ankle with one hand and Sadiri with the other, and was following the crowd.

A feeling of nausea struck suddenly, and the water in front of him suddenly became more turbid, as if mixed with oil droplets. Muhadi felt the skin tighten and loosen all over his body, and he could instinctively sense the danger in the water ahead. There emanated almost inaudible, but mysterious and hostile psionic fluctuations.

The undercurrent of the River Styx was ahead, but at this moment, the humanoid avatar of the Witch King Nibennai followed. He teleported behind the group, and the distance between them was rapidly shrinking.

The undercurrent of the River Styx suddenly surges, sweeping the two Psychic Warlocks, the Coral Witch, the Otherworldly Priest, and the Witch King into the unknown.