The Record of Unusual Creature

A few days later.

It was nightfall, but the hellish world hadn’t turned into total darkness. As the dark-redish star set completely below the horizon, Osidian Plain was enveloped in a faint redish glimmer. The faint red light came from the giant red planet which its soil was rich in iron and the slowly decaying radioactive elements.

Every demonic plane had its unique landscape; the Third Plane had Hulme smoke column, the Seventh Plane had a giant red planet. Due to the gravitational pull, the shattered planet which Y’zaks had once ruled and the giant red planet had maintained their relative orbit for millions of years and became a bizarre twin planet system. Whenever night falls, Osidian Plain would be illuminated by the glow of the giant red planet. Looking up above one would see the monolithic round thing hanging overhead, it was so close that the wood-like pattern of the surface of the giant red planet could vividly be seen.

A few black figures were hustling through Osidian Plain, circumventing all barracks and sentry posts before approaching the ‘urban zone’ of the Allied Army command centre.

Lanina looked up at the familiar sky. “Many outsiders couldn’t survive in this environment; the relatively high temperature during the day and the toxic susbtance in the air are just two of the reasons, the other reason is the influence of the giant red planet. Delicate creatures like humans and elves are pyshologically vulnerable to the influence of red colour. Prolonged exposure to the red atmosphere would cause emotional disorder, not to mention the influence of the radiation from the red planet. Many humans and elves were suffering at night despite they had adapted to the local weather. But now it seems that the Allied Army have already adapted, no one is going berserk under the glow of the red planet.”

What interested Hao Ren wasn’t the giant planet, he was more curious about the situation of the land before Y’zaks’ empire crumbled. “Was the environment just as bad back then? I remember during the the rule of Y’zaks, there were many other races here. Had they adapted?”

“The condition was slightly better back then, especially in the city.” Lanina said as she smiled. “We had studied many environmental engineering techniques, and by using a great block enchantment we had created a forest in Red Peak for the elves. But what’s left now is just destruction.”

Hao Ren nodded without saying a word.

Only Lanina was with him, the others had split and headed to different directions. Tonight, they were going to create some distractions in the heart land of the Allied Army. With the knowledge of the terrain which Vivian had mastered and the pattern of movement of personnel near the target, they should be able to make it.

“Just wait here.” As the red planet reached its third peak glow, Hao Ren and Lanina arrived at an osidian spike which was a monitoring blind spot closest to the command centre. “Y’zaks should be in position. We’ll move as soon as he does.”

At the same time, under another osidian spike ten kilometres away from where Hao Ren and Lanina stood, Y’zaks was staring down at the gorge.

The spot where he stood was the edge where the royal city used to be but was no longer there. In its place was a giant gorge stretching out to infinity like a scar in Osidian Plain showcasing the aftermath of the brutal war.

Y’zaks looked down at the gorge in silence. At the bottom of the gorge was a stream of golden-red lava being part of the magma network. The lava was used to be hidden underground but was exposed after the imprisonment spell was cast.

Years ago, these magma flows were the main source of energy for the royal city and The Osidian Throne. And this time, they were going to serve the demonic king of this land again.

“If this land still remember its master,” said Y’zaks, sitting leg-crossed and muttering to himself. “Then wake up and help the king again.”

As if the lava flows had heard the murmur of its former king, they began to surge. Loud noise was heard and tremble was felt in the earth beneath him. Y’zaks smiled. “Then I shall see if the blood magic of the vampire is of any good.”

The night was still silent and the giant red planet began to dim as it had just passed its peak. The sentinels around the gorge were preparing for the last shift of today. An elven warrior with spiked ears yawned and walked out of the sentry post as it saw its counterparts were coming for the shift. It was very relaxed as it felt no danger here: this was the heart of Osidian Plain, the core of the Allied Army. Though a year ago the place was still the base of the mad demonic king, it had now become the safest place in the demonic dimension as Serathon’s army was a thousand clicks away, so he thought tonight was just going to be another night.

But just when he wheeled, a strange rumble suddenly came from behind him. The sensitive ears of the elf flickered, the sentinel rushed back to its sentry post and looked down at the bottom of the gorge: that was where the sound coming from.

Lava was surging at the bottom of the gorge, and bright and hot liquid was scaling up the gorge like a living creature Countless giant monsters of lava like the ancient giants in mythology climbing the pillar of the world were rising up from below to the surface!

Cold sweat trickled down the elven sentinel’s spine. It was almost panic and had even forgotten that the gorge was too high for the lava monsters to climb. It sounded the alarm as it shouted. “The demons are back!”

At the same time, a dozen warning flares were deployed up into the sky from around the gorge as the situation in the barracks heated up!

In the command centre not far from here, a man-made watchtower was still well lit. The three-story, square structure made of stones was the residence of the supreme commander of the humans. In the top floor of the watchtower, a middle-aged man, short brown hair, draped in body armour frowned as he gazed intensely at the dark-red crystal in front of him. He is General Grigory, the human supreme commander, one of the ‘Seven Heroes’ of the Allied Army.

The cavalier, one of the most experienced commanders who had faught in the ten-year war, and one of the founder of the Allied Army, was highly revered and tenacious. The general, who was known for his wisdom and steadiness, looked at the crystal and was confused. He couldn’t make of what else the little dark-red stone was telling aside from a short visual clip. But he could sense the breath of the demonic king in the crystal—it was this breath that convinced the commander of the Allied Army that this wasn’t a joke.

Just when Grigory was immersed himself with the stone, a sudden noise outside had his brows knit together.

He got to his feet, opened the door, summoned his guard and asked, “What’s going on?”

The guard who was just back from learning about the situation immediately saluted as he saw Grigory. “General! Lava flow is surging at the bottom of the Demon Scar Gorge, and lava demons are crawling up on the ground.”

“Just this?” Grigory’s brows knit even tighter together. Apparently he wasn’t happy. “Lava demons rise from the lava flow every day. Haven’t we already known that? They’re not going to make it out of Demon Scar Gorge!”

“General, but this time they come in large number.” The guard explained frantically. “Thousands of lava demons have splintered from the lava! Their behavior seems to resemble the pattern of the mad demonic king’s army…”

“What did you just say?”

“They look like the lava demons under the command of the mad demonic king…” The guard took a deep breath. Though the Allied Army was the winner of the ten-year war, the sheer mention of ‘the demonic king’ was still able to strike fear in the heart of everyone. Like a shadow hanging over their heads, it was something not even the ten-year war could eliminate.

Grigory thought for a moment before he waved the guard to calm down. “Stay calm! Let Master Lufferne come here. Also alert General Kastina about the situation.”

The guard took the order and left. Grigory turned around and glanced at the dark-red crystal again, shaking his head slightly before sitting back behind his desk.

He didn’t leave the room.