Suddenly a light flashed above everyone's heads, stopping in front of the portal. As the light receded it revealed a tall figure in golden full-body armor. Four majestic, white wings flapped languidly behind his back. All the players recognized him from the cutscene introducing the event. This was the person leading the order faction this time, one of the 72 adjutants, Golden Tiger.
The majestic godspawn emitted a gentle pressure which offset the effect of the devil statues. Floating in the air he gave everyone a feeling of security as if nothing could go wrong with him present.
"It seems Getora won't be coming…", murmured Golden Tiger to himself. Getora was the commander of the army which had been wiped out. Losing so many soldiers was a bitter blow. Now Golden Tiger hoped that at least Getora managed to escape, perhaps even saving a few soldiers in the process.
Golden Tiger put those thoughts away. He knew that he was a beacon for the order faction. He couldn't let other things affect his mind right now.
"Righteous warriors! We are standing here, gathered in front of the Entrance to Hell. You all are shining examples of what our order faction is about. Your courage and sense of justice will go down in the history books! Now, warriors, I call upon you to follow me into battle! To defend the countless innocent lives in our homes! To punish those devils threatening to destroy our world with their reckless actions! Even, if it means entering Hell itself!"
Golden Tiger's inspirational voice rang in the ears of everyone present. He stretched his wings wide, and a gentle light erupted, falling on the soldiers below, infusing them with strength. The players found multiple buffs appearing on their panels, from increased HP recovery to improved STR, INT, and AGI.
"Such a powerful support! What class is this?"
"Can we recruit that guy into the guild?"
The players' wild thoughts didn't bother Golden Tiger. After a last look to make sure that everyone was ready, he nodded at the various commanders before turning around and plunging into the pitch-black portal.
A few people drew sharp breaths. Seeing Golden Tiger enter, they realised that the rest period was about to end. Their guess came true as the commanders organized the vast army and finally led them into the portal.
After a short feeling of weightlessness, the darkness receded in front of everyone's eyes, and they finally got a good look at Hell. The players were quite curious. They didn't have many opportunities to enter Hell and information about it was quite limited. Even the chaos faction players were only allowed to enter Hell if they had relevant quests. Otherwise, their area of activity was mostly in the Southern Wasteland.
Of course, this caused some dissatisfaction among the chaos faction players. Although the Southern Wasteland was almost as big as the Central Plains, the area they could move freely in was still much smaller than that of the order faction. Luckily, as their strength improved, the players received many quests which brought them to the less populated areas of the other large regions, which brought some variety to their lives.
Because of those reasons, the players didn't know too much about Hell. As soon as they came out of the portal they looked around curiously. The first thing everyone noticed was the lack of a sun. Instead, the light came from a strange, fiery energy which lingered in the sky at all times. However, now the energy was also permeated with patches of violet which caused a heavy, hostile atmosphere. The mages also noticed that the mana in the air seemed to be impure which made it more difficult to control, increasing the cast time of spells.
After getting used to the environment the players observed their environment closer. They noticed that they were halfway up a mountain which gave them a clear view. Hell was separated into different territories reigned by the various devils, a fact the players already knew. The territory surrounding the mountain was barren, with lava lakes and rivers. There were no impressive cities, rather towns and villages. Looking into the distance one could see other territories. Some were covered in darkness, others had surprisingly lush vegetation, and another was occupied by a single, enormous castle.
"Let's go!"
Golden Tiger's sudden command unfortunately interrupted the sightseeing players. Led by the godspawn the vast army began moving. Although they were halfway up a mountain, the path had long been prepared by the inhabitants of Hell. There were temples and statues of devils. However, at this moment a lot of it couldn't be recognized, lying in rubbles. Some massive craters could be seen occasionally. Residuals of powerful spells gathered as icy rivers or spears of holy magic.
"Sings of battle?"
"Strange, we just arrived…"
"Who could have fought here?"
"I guess it were some order faction heroes opening the way for us."
"Then why do they still need us?"
The players were quite confused as they descended the mountain. Unfortunately, no one was nice enough to answer their questions. Thus, they could only put their curiosity away as they followed the broad path. It wound around the mountain in a large curve, allowing the players to observe the environment of Hell some more. But beyond the various territories they suddenly spotted something at the other side of the mountain. There, in the distance, was a curtain of void energy. It reached from the ground to the sky, completely cutting off a part of hell. And in front of it one could vaguely see an intimidating army of demons, skeletons, and all the monsters Hell had to offer.
"Is this… our target?"
Cyclone couldn't help but gulp as she asked Liam. When the latter nodded lightly the friends all took deep breaths. Even from such a distance everyone could feel a strong pressure. Watching the world around the void curtain distorting as if a nightmarish beast was devouring the very world itself many players felt their legs weakening. If this were real life some people would have become deserters at this moment. It was quite amazing that the NPCs could face the threat with determined eyes.
A few seconds later the entire army suddenly sped up. It was as if C wanted the players to have a good look before sending them to their doom. Rushing along the way the players only got a superficial look at the various territories. With no one stopping them, the army swiftly approached the void curtain.
Golden Tiger lead in front of the army. In his hand was a void compass, its needle pointing strictly in one direction, towards the location where the void energy was densest. Unsurprisingly this was also where the chaos faction army had taken position. Golden Tiger put away his void compass and looked towards the front. They were swiftly coming closer.
A few seconds later the army slowed down again. They came out of a forested area and entered a vast plain overgrown with black grass. At the other side of the plain was the vast army of the chaos faction. Tall demons, skeletons covered in death energy, gloomy dark elves, the weird mist dwarves, even some savage orcs, and more, were sharpening their claws and fletching their teeth. In the air floated a dozen figures with the strength to rival the order faction's commanders.
The order faction's soldiers had their chests tighten facing such a display. However, their orderly steps and the reliable backs of their comrades in front of them gave them the necessary courage. They positioned themselves in strict formations while the chaos faction stayed true to its name, forming a chaotic crowd.
"Hehehe, how ironic. The order faction came to free some high devils. Why go through all those troubles? If you are ready to take a revered devil as your master, you only need to join our chaos faction. Actually, not even that. Names are unimportant. I don't mind if you continue calling yourself the order faction as long as you show your loyalty."
Those mocking words drew ruckus laughter from the chaos faction. The one who spoke was the person floating in front of the chaos faction's army, their temporary leader. He was an infamous dark nephilim called Orion. It is said that when the nephilim first came to be, he was one of the first who fully embraced the dark magic, swearing loyalty to a certain high devil.
Later, his master was among those who opposed the other devils who began to use the void to sow chaos. When it became obvious that his master and those sharing his opinion were on the losing side, Orion was one of the first to betray him. Now he served another high devil, being highly favoured, receiving a lot of power from the devil. Judging from Orion's confident demeanour it appeared that he considered himself on one level with Golden Tiger, one of the 72 adjutants blessed by the gods.
Orion's mocking words visibly affected the order faction's soldiers. Their commander, however, remained indifferent. Golden Tiger simply stared at the chaos faction with his helmet hiding his face. The reputation of the 72 adjutants was enough to spread unease among the enemies.