Chapter 182 Upgrade Again (Bonus)

Only by eliminating both the father and the dark lord could the endless conflict finally be brought to an end.

The Demonic Crucible was an essential component of this plan.

It was a divine artifact containing a portion of the Creator’s primordial power.

With it, Samur could drain Hell of its Argent Energy.

Once deprived of that energy, both Hell and the Maykrs would be greatly weakened.

Humanity, meanwhile, could use the stolen Argent Energy to strengthen itself.

And with that power, mankind would finally have a chance to defeat the two ancient civilizations.

By the time Hayden finished explaining everything, Vane was practically getting dizzy.

“Man, that’s one hell of a complicated plan!”

Yet while the doctor had been recounting the universe’s ancient history, Vane had received two new conquest missions.

One required him to defeat the Khan Maykr.

The other required him to eliminate the Dark Lord Davoth.

Completing those objectives would bring him much closer to finishing his conquest.

“So, after all that explaining, what you’re really saying is that we need to kill the Khan Maykr and the Dark Lord Davoth?”

Vane grinned.

“Well, why didn’t you just say so?”

“Leave everything to me.”

He spoke with absolute confidence.

“I’ll go kill both of them right now.”

“Are you joking?”

Hayden stared at him.

“Do you have any idea how powerful the Khan Maykr and the Dark Lord Davoth actually are?”

“Even the Father at the height of his power might not have been able to defeat them!”

Hayden’s concerns weren’t entirely unreasonable.

After all, the Maykrs had only created the Father after betraying Davoth.

And now Davoth and the Maykrs were working together.

Worse still, the two civilizations had spent countless years invading weaker worlds and harvesting an unimaginable number of souls.

Their combined power had grown enormously.

Even if the Father were resurrected in his prime, he might very well be beaten into submission by the combined forces of Hell and the Maykrs.

But Vane’s reaction was hardly what Hayden expected.

“Oh? They’re that powerful?”

His eyes practically lit up.

Now that sounded interesting.

Ever since arriving in the DOOM universe, Vane had been making steady progress.

From landing on Earth to fighting his way into Hell and destroying the Foundry’s portal machinery, his conquest progress had already exceeded 30%.

Defeating the Khan Maykr would grant him another 15%.

Killing the Dark Lord Davoth would earn him an additional 20%.

As for the remaining missions, they mostly involved hunting down several powerful Demon Lords scattered throughout Hell.

And one of those missions offered a particularly interesting reward.

The Sword of the Cosmos.

It was the most powerful weapon in the Avaritia mod.

Originally, Vane hadn’t expected to have any reason to use such an absurdly overpowered weapon.

But after hearing Hayden’s warnings, his interest had been thoroughly awakened.

He wasn’t afraid of enemies being too strong.

What he hated was being bored.

And now that someone had finally told him there were opponents powerful enough to put up a decent fight, he was practically delighted.

Finally! Someone strong enough to make things interesting!

Vane quickly made up his mind.

First, he’d hunt down the remaining powerful Demon Lords.

Then he’d deal with the Khan Maykr and the Dark Lord Davoth.

Before Hayden could offer any further warnings, Vane grabbed the Doom Slayer and dragged him away.

The two set off once again, continuing their demon-hunting expedition while searching for the Demon Lords listed in Vane’s missions.

Unfortunately, Vane was destined to be disappointed.

After defeating the required Demon Lord and obtaining the Sword of the Cosmos, everything that followed became ridiculously easy.

It didn’t matter whether his opponents were enormous Titan demons or the most powerful members of Hell’s armies.

Against the Sword of the Cosmos, they all met the same fate.

One swing.

One kill.

No exceptions.

There was absolutely no suspense left in the battles.

Even the Khan Maykr, who possessed the ability to endlessly regenerate her body and unleash enough power to destroy entire worlds, stood little chance.

Against Vane and the Doom Slayer, she was defeated almost immediately.

Vane merely swept the Sword of the Cosmos through the air.

The Khan Maykr’s body was cleaved apart.

And just like that, the ruler of the Maykrs was dead.

The Dark Lord Davoth didn’t fare much better.

Despite being Hell’s supreme ruler and the universe’s former Creator, even he couldn’t withstand more than a few strikes from the Sword of the Cosmos.

After a brief confrontation, Vane brought the legendary weapon down and ended the Dark Lord’s existence.

With Davoth defeated, Vane’s conquest progress finally reached 100%.

He obtained the DOOM universe’s highest-level administrator privileges, along with its associated mods.

—

After absorbing the memories of his three simultaneous universe conquests, a new notification appeared before Vane.

[The Infinite Pocket Dimension has met the requirements for another upgrade.]

[Upgrade Available. Would you like to proceed?]

“Upgrade.”

Vane didn’t hesitate for even a second.

The moment he confirmed his decision, the entire Infinite Pocket Dimension began trembling.

A deep rumbling echoed throughout the space.

Then, at the location of the Bronze Throne, an enormous hall slowly rose from the ground.

Vane watched the transformation with interest.

“Huh. Another change?”

Curious, he entered the newly formed hall and began exploring.

As he walked through the structure, information about the Infinite Pocket Dimension’s latest upgrade flowed into his mind.

The changes were substantial.

Previously, the Infinite Pocket Dimension had allowed him to conquer multiple universes simultaneously and receive items and equipment based on his conquest progress.

But the upgraded system now offered an entirely different approach.

Forced Invasion.

Instead of personally completing conquest missions across multiple universes, Vane could choose to abandon the simultaneous conquest method altogether.

He could organize his own armies and launch full-scale invasions against weaker universes.

As long as his invasion progress reached 100%, he would receive that universe’s administrator privileges and associated mods, just as he would through the normal conquest method.

Invasion progress could be accumulated through warfare, negotiated agreements, and other means of forcing a universe into submission.

And there was another major advantage.

Unlike simultaneous conquest, which limited him to four universes at a time, the invasion method had no such restriction.

There was no limit to the number of universes he could invade simultaneously.