Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking - Chapter 851: Infernals, Demons, and Corruption

Chapter 851: Infernals, Demons, and Corruption

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Not all demons go berserk and insane.

The insanity happens to those who resist the corruption of infernal energy. The greater their resistance, the more insistent infernal energy becomes in corrupting them. It’s for this reason why the angriest demons used to be the rational and strong-willed people before they were corrupted.

Those who didn’t resist the corruption, especially those who embraced infernal energy and their demonization, were spared from the insanity.

They are allowed to remain ’intelligent’ and civilized but forever changed through and through. Actually, the ’sane’ part of them was debatable given how a newly transformed demon’s instinct was to kill and destroy.

The only real difference between them was the fact that those who embraced their demonization remained aware of what they were doing and could control their actions.

But of course, they aren’t limited to this.

Demons are scary. Not just because they’re absurdly strong and somewhat unstoppable, but also because they wield infernal energy that corrupts everything around them. Where demons walk is where hell is, which means they’re always right at home.

But demons that are aware of their actions and have self-control? Those are way, way scarier than the demented ones.

They consented to their corruption, and they were spared from being mad. Infernal energy sides with them and is brought under their control. They know how to use it, how to make it even more potent, and how to use it to evolve even further.

’Demon Lords’ is what they’re usually called, and the title is fitting because they could rally an army and rule over the demented demons.

Believe it or not, though, the hierarchy begins from there.

Urek could see them even without leaving his ship.

He saw their faces, their differences. He gauged how strong each one was; he saw their armies and their territories and even caught their stray thoughts about waging war with their fellow lords and such.

They are scattered across the chaos realm, and they left hell wherever they marched. The corruption of infernal energy transformed the previously lush and vibrant worlds into something deeply tainted and unrecognizable because of what they are.

Urek felt somber. He did not like what he was seeing.

Although this wasn’t his home, and he technically had no business being here, he hated how the infernal energy corrupted everything here.

Seeing the rampant corruption of infernal energy and demons gave him war flashbacks. He recalled how horrible those times were.

Back in those days, humans were deeply entrenched in existential crises. They’ve got enemies left and right, trying to stifle their progress and attempting to bury them into nothingness.

Urek himself had been drafted in war frontiers at a young age. He remembered losing so many brothers in arms in those wars. He had bled, cried, and even nearly died numerous times back in those days.

He went into frontiers and returned as less of a man than before he left. He changed at each deployment. Gradually, he became used to it.

And more importantly, he remembered the decisive moment. The ultimate clash for survival.

Humans were besieged on multiple fronts, not just by demons. Mechanoids, beasts, and dragons. Everybody combined their efforts in their attempts to snuff out humanity at once.

That’s also the time when he personally teamed up with Nick, Pat, Gibson, and Berk.

Back then, Nick was still heroic, dashing, and revered as the most talented human being ever, and he was their leader.

With him at the helm, they marched to war, rallying troops and destroying the opposition with ruthless efficiency. They’ve accrued the hatred of demons, mechanoids, dragons, and beastfolk alike, and they were unstoppable.

Ultimately, they very nearly drove their enemies to extinction. They were heralded as the councillors, human sovereigns, and the ultimate leader of the human race.

It’s with their hands that humanity became the sovereign race of the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm.

If Urek and his friends hadn’t been successful, Heavenly Star might’ve been what he’s seeing now in the Black Pegasus Chaos Realm.

A sigh escaped Urek’s lips as he drove his ship deeper into the enemy territory.

As he moved, he scanned the memories of the demons he encountered. He wanted to piece together the whole story; how did this chaos realm become like this? Where did it all start? How did it get this bad? And so on…

He didn’t bother with the memories of the demented demons. The infernal energy had corrupted them so deeply that even their souls had been tainted. There’s nothing to see in their minds, just endless desire to kill and destroy.

Urek’s targets were obviously the Demon Lords and above. Strong they might be, but they are an ant in front of Urek. He could effortlessly squish them anytime he wants, but that’s not the point here.

He didn’t want to alarm anybody, so he had no plans on killing anyone. Though he could seriously rattle them, there’s no point in doing that. He’s here to understand how it all went this bad; that is his priority.

But even then, it’s hard to collect all the necessary information.

First, he didn’t want to be seen or perceived at all, so he had to be careful, and being careful takes time and effort, even for him. He can’t just shake a Demon Lord’s brain and expect it to have something useful. He had to comb through their memories, very carefully, if he may add, to prevent them from being suspicious. And again, this takes time.

Moreover, it’s not like everybody’s useful. Some literally had nothing relevant to contribute, which was a waste of time, yes, but it’s not like he could filter the ones who are useful from those who aren’t.

So, this means that he had to do a slow and painful carpet search, all while trying to remain unseen and undetected.

It’s taking him years, but he doesn’t mind.

Even though he was swimming to the literal sea of infernal energy, he was fine. The mirage veil he draped over his ship protects him from its influence. In fact, the infernal energy itself couldn’t even sense him or his ship’s presence at all because of this.

That said, although it’s slow, Urek wasn’t empty-handed.

By now, he got the gist of it…

As it were, the true source of this change was the very last tribes of demons that migrated here after their disastrous losses against the human army.

They fled here and joined the Infernal Race—yep, these were the very same creatures that bore the closest resemblance to the Demon Race. Except, they were more amicable and weaker compared to actual demons, and most importantly, and ironically, very vulnerable to the effects of infernal energy.

This ’Infernal Race’ only resembles demons; the relation ends there. They’re not as strong, as capable, as ruthless, and as mad as demons ever were. And more importantly, despite their name, they had no idea what Infernal Energy was and could be. And ironically, they turned out to be very vulnerable to it.

The demons who ’joined’ them didn’t even need to try.

It took one curious Infernal, and everything fell apart. That infernal got a little too curious about infernal energy and wanted to feel it himself. Then, a profound transformation appeared.

When that Infernal felt infernal energy coursing through him, he felt ’complete,’ and he became a ’Divine’ to the eyes of other Infernals.

This boosted the position of the demons in the eyes of the Infernals. They became so-called chiefs, oracles, augurs, and so on. The Infernals practically became their slaves willingly, and the demons didn’t refuse.

At some point, every Infernal had been converted. They became demons, and the madness started there. The infection crept up from one world to the next. One solar system and then later, a whole universe. At some point, an entire sector domain. Things slowed down up to this point, though.

They met resistance, obviously. The strongest one being with the Black Pegasus Union, which was the governing body of the Black Pegasus Chaos Realm.

Obviously, they are against the wild expansion and corruption of the Demon Race—yes, they’ve been figured out. To this extent, they even sent their boldest, bravest, and strongest warriors to cull their numbers, or at least, slow down their propagation.

Alas, knowing and understanding are two completely different things.

They knew that they were demons and the corruption was because of infernal energy. However, none of them understood either properly. They just thought that demons and infernal energy were bad because they corrupt worlds; they don’t understand how they’re doing this and, more importantly, how to counter it.

And the Black Pegasus Union, who should be prioritizing their citizens and their realm before anything else, were apparently too prideful to ask for help.

They didn’t even think about sending some people to ask humans for help. And this is even after learning that the demon race fled from the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm.

They thought that they were enough to solve this problem. But based on what Urek was seeing now, it is quite obvious that that’s not the case.

And so far, this was the extent of what Urek had learned so far.

He still needs time to continue collecting information.