Storm High Slope, Baator City.
This is a city jointly built by tieflings more than ten years ago, and it is also one of the earliest territories of the Ember Empire. But now times have changed, and this once humble city has changed its face.
The current area of Bator City has expanded several times. There are tall and neat buildings in the city. The terrifying and lifelike carvings on the walls and eaves can also show the purgatory style inherited by the tiefling family.
Outside the city, there is a steam train platform from the south. The tieflings’ classical purgatory aesthetic combined with the empire’s industrial style creates a rather wonderful chemical reaction.
Bator City is full of people coming and going. The current population of Bator City has reached 50,000, and it can be considered a relatively large city within the empire.
Nearly 40% of the residents here are tieflings, but they are also mixed with humans, hobgoblins, ogres, orcs and many other races. Of course, there are countless players who are not included in the statistics.
Because it is located on a high storm slope, the terrain outside the city is diverse and the elements react violently. Many ferocious and violent monsters inhabit it, and there have been incidents of railway tracks being destroyed. Therefore, it has become a high-quality place for new players to take on tasks and gain experience.
But this time, more players are rushing towards Bator City. Players come from the ground, from the sky, and across space.
Outside Baator City, on the steam train platform, accompanied by the slight trembling of the ground, the steel giant first appeared at the end of the horizon, galloping on the wasteland, and then slowly drove into the platform, making a loud whistle.
"Woo——"
"We have arrived at Bato City Station. Please remember His Majesty's kindness and line up to get off the bus in an orderly manner."
The clear voice of the steward echoed in the car, but as soon as the door opened, the passengers rushed out like a flooding tide.
"Charge!"
"Hurry, hurry! If you go late, there will be nothing!"
"Old Wang, you are a warrior and a strong person. Come and clear a way for me!"
"Those old players are flying and teleporting. We newbies can only come here by car. We are already too far behind. We must race against time!"
"Damn, there are too many people here. If I had known better, I wouldn't have felt bad about the experience, and I would have just committed suicide and teleported here."
"You guys just block it here, I'm going to fly right in!" The mage player sneered and tore off the flying scroll in his hand. His body suddenly became as light as the wind and his feet left the ground.
Suddenly, he screamed: "Ah, who is plotting against me!"
On the ground, a rogue player threw a rope, accurately put it on the flying player's leg, and violently tore it off.
"Come down here, you!"
"Damn, it's a black beast!"
[Night Psalm] After drinking the accelerating elixir and wiping his mouth, his steps were like flying, moving through the crowd like a ghost, and he was at the front in the blink of an eye.
"Hahaha, you all eat my exhaust!"
The berserker player raised his head and drank a whole bottle of berserk potion without hesitation. Suddenly, with the crisp sound of "stab", his exaggerated muscles burst his clothes.
"Ahhh! Anyone who stands in my way will die!"
His eyes were red, he pushed away everything in front of him, and ran wildly with unstoppable momentum.
There are also druid players who summon wild wolves, pheasants, brown bears and other various animals to surround them and clear the way for themselves.
Suddenly, there was a lot of chaos near the platform, and the situation was chaotic. It was about to become a "battlefield." All players wanted to enter Baator City before others.
In the VIP box of the steam train, Baron Ekmon, the former captain of the Tiefling Guards who returned to Baator City to visit relatives, looked out the window with a look of boredom on his face.
He looked at the players rushing out of the carriage frantically with a ghostly expression.
"Excuse me Cassius, what are these Starfallen people doing?"
As an old Imperial who joined the Tiefling Guards ten years ago and has battled wits and courage with players for many years, Ekmon has long been accustomed to this, but there is nothing he can do. He can only sigh deeply.
"Hey, let's stay away from the limelight for now. We won't be short of time to go home later."
According to the standards of the empire, under normal circumstances, the passenger capacity of this "Long Live the Empire" train is 600 people, but this train has nearly 2,000 people on it, and most of the guests are players.
They racked their brains and used various methods. Some people crowded in the car, some lay on the roof, and some even hung on both sides of the car, turning themselves into pendants of the train.
Players riding bipedal dragons passed by in the sky, players riding wargs were galloping on the ground, and several space cracks appeared one after another outside the city
Players come from all over the empire, and their purpose is extremely clear, and there is only one - career expansion pack: Baator's Nine Hells!
Just a few hours ago, empire officials posted notices in various cities, conveying this message to players: Go to Baator City to gain the power of the devil from hell!
The power of the devil may be an extremely dangerous and avoidable poison for mortals, but for players - it's pie in the sky!
For the sake of strength, they can eat the toes of frost giants and the scalps of hags. What’s the point of signing a contract with the devil?
Moreover, Hell Knights and Demonic Pact Warriors, who grow devil's bat wings and so on, are not only not scary in the eyes of players, but are extremely attractive, directly poking their g-spots.
As a result, millions of players in the empire were overjoyed, scrambling to be the first and rushing towards Baator City at all costs. It was a humanoid natural disaster.
"Baator City, Hell Expansion Pack, here I come!"
Dark Night Poetry, who was at the forefront, let out an excited cheer and looked towards the direction of Bator City, but his face froze. He suddenly discovered that there was already a queue stretching for several miles at the entrance of Bator City.
"Did all these bastards come so fast?"
Night Poem rubbed his chin, gritted his teeth, and then put on the cloak, hiding his figure in the shadows.
On the tall city wall in the distance, tiefling guards held loudspeakers and shouted loudly: "Citizens, please line up and enter the city in an orderly manner! You must pass the inspection at the gate——"
However, in the shadows around the city wall, Night Poetry sneered and murmured to himself: "Rules? I never care about these, winning is the way to go!
These people are so stupid. They are still queuing here. The really smart people have already obtained the devil's contract! ”
After that, he blended his body into the shadows and used the magician's ability to travel through them, trying to cross the pass and directly enter the city of Baator.
At this moment, accompanied by the howling wind, a sharp bloody light fell from the sky.
"Shua——"
Psalm of the Dark Night showed his true form in horror and wanted to run away, but the speed of the bloody light was so fast that he had no way to hide.
I saw blood rising into the sky, Night Poem was split into two pieces, blood pooled all over the ground, and a deep crack appeared on the ground.
"How is it possible"
Psalm of Dark Night struggled slowly with his hands on the ground, dragging the front half of his body forward a little. He trembled and uttered the last few words, and then died.
Finally, the players also discovered the Night Psalm that had been cut into two pieces, and they immediately laughed with gloating.
"Isn't this a black animal?"
"What a black beast, now we have to call it prison black, or black night 50-50."
"Haha, I was shot in the head last time, and this time I was cut in two. It's really satisfying and enjoyable!"
The tiefling guards on the city wall were still holding their trumpets and continued to shout loudly: "In order to maintain order in Baator City, the Imperial Minister of Public Security, Duke Metrolash, personally came to supervise.
Please abide by the laws and regulations, otherwise you will be responsible for the consequences——"
"Look!"
The players all raised their heads and saw that on the top of the spire of Baator City, a tiefling wearing luxurious armor and an imperial medal looked down at the people below. He was holding a blood-stained sword, and his dark eyes looked cold and callous - this was none other than one of the three great dukes of the empire, the leader of the tieflings, Metrolash.
"He's here too"
"Be careful, be careful."
"No wonder the black animal was cut in two. It turned out to be the security captain of Novice Village."
The players suddenly became nervous, put away their little thoughts, and lined up obediently. After all, the poem of the night that was cut into two pieces was a lesson to the past.
Metrorash looked at the Starfallen who were crowding outside the city. He placed the blood-stained sword behind his back and crossed his arms. A rare smile appeared on his usually indifferent face.
"I didn't expect it has been so long."
The tiefling was quite emotional. Ten years ago, he used force to intimidate players in this way. At that time, the Ember Nest was just a monster force with a low reputation in the North.
Now, time has passed and the Burning Ember Empire has long occupied its homeland in the North. The wings of the red dragon have enveloped the entire Anzeta Wilderness, shocking and frightening the entire Feiansuo Continent.
And he never thought that he would ascend to such a high position, hold the power in his hands to influence the fate of millions of people, and even control their nominal ancestors-the devil from hell.
Once upon a time, he just wanted to lead his tribe to survive.
Thinking of this, and taking another look at the Starfallen who became cautious, Metrorash turned around and walked down the stairs.
He still has a lot of things to deal with personally.
Baator City, Hell Exchange.
It is a tall building, built over several days by hundreds of devils bound by contracts, and it exudes the aura of purgatory.
In the spacious hall, there are murals depicting Avernus scrolls, lifelike stone sculptures of devils, and hideous carvings of petitioners.
Even tieflings, who are descendants of devils, rarely like buildings with such a strong purgatory style, but the players are very interested in it, and the team is almost queuing outside the city.
Emperor Ou was wearing a robe that symbolized his membership in the Magic Coin and stood at the front of the team with an extremely excited expression.
"Tsk tsk, there are so many people here. According to the information disclosed by insiders, the official expansion pack of Nine Prisons is cool and powerful, and there are not many hard requirements."
Turning his head to look at the endless queue behind him, Ou Huang patted his chest happily.
"Fortunately, I am a member of a large guild and have many channels to obtain information. The president notified us early in the morning."
But when he mentioned his president, Ou Huang couldn't help scratching his head, with an unnatural expression on his face.
Just now, he posted the video of "Charlotte transforming into a beautiful woman to seduce a nobleman" to the player forum, and shortly afterwards, Charlotte notified him of the news about career expansion.
Does this count as repaying kindness with hatred?
But it was posted anonymously, so it shouldn't be a big problem, Ou Huang thought.
He opened the panel with anxiety and opened the anonymous post he made. He saw that there were thousands of replies under it, and the good players came to watch the fun of the wealthy president.
[A girl’s blush is better than all words of love, and so is the cross-dressing man’s]
[Sure enough, it is men who know men best. I declare that Charlotte is the most beautiful woman in Erezguet and my 127th wife]
[I doubt my sexual orientation. Is it possible that Charlotte is really a woman? She just took off the disguise this time]
[Holy shit, Charlotte’s women’s clothing is so good-looking? Now I have to add magic coins]
【I'm fine】
[No, buddy upstairs, what do you want to do? I see you are really hungry】
[Anyone who sees this picture and can resist playing with the old Beijing chicken roll is a god]
Seeing this, Emperor Ou couldn't help but laugh out loud, feeling quite happy that a great revenge had been avenged. “Hahaha, these water friends really mean what they say——”
But soon, his heart was shaken, his face became stiff, and his hand that was turning the pages trembled slightly.
——Because he saw the personal reply from Charlotte, the president of Magic Coin.
[Emperor Ou, you are looking for death! 】
How is that possible?
I obviously sent it anonymously, and even the video was only one copy. How could Charlotte find out it was me?
Ou Huang felt a little panicked, but he still held on to his remaining luck and opened Charlotte's chat box in an attempt to make a desperate struggle.
[Emperor Ou: President, you misunderstood. I really didn’t post that video. You can’t slander honest people! 】
[Charlotte: Haha [sneer]]
[Emperor Ou: Really, President, you know that I, Emperor Ou, have always been aboveboard in doing things. How could I resort to such despicable means? I suspect there is a mole planted by Wang Quan in our guild! 】
[Charlotte: Beast, what about the video you posted again? 】
"No way"
Ou Huang's eyes widened and he opened the video he saved again and listened carefully. At the end of the video, there was uncontrollable laughter in the background.
And inside the magic coin, he is the only one who can make such a sound, and his laughter is recognized as a ghost.
Ou Huang suddenly sweated on his forehead, his brain was spinning rapidly, and he continued to type in the chat box.
[Emperor Ou: It’s unfair, President! Someone deliberately added my voice to the video! 】
【Charlotte: Haha [smile]】
[Emperor Ou: That mole is really hateful. He actually wants to alienate our relationship and destroy the unity within the magic coin! 】
[Charlotte: Let’s talk about this matter when you come back [smile]]
Looking at the weird smiling expression in the chat box, Ou Huang's heart suddenly sank, and he had a premonition that something bad was going to happen.
But soon he smelled the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke. When Ou Huang raised his head, he suddenly found that he had queued up to the gate of the [Hell Exchange], and the gargoyle sculpture above his head seemed to be staring at him greedily.
At the exit, there were players who had grown devil's bat wings and horns. They were holding the still warm Hell Contract, and the expressions on their faces were full of showoff.
In the eyes of mortals, he has been corrupted by hell and became as ugly as a devil, but in the eyes of players——
“So handsome”
Ou Huang couldn't help but swallow his saliva and looked longingly at the lucky ones who had signed a contract with the devil.
He clenched his fists and made up his mind. "Ignore all this, the most important thing now is to grab a chance to expand your career!" (End of Chapter)