"Wait a minute... let me take another look..." Samael unconsciously gripped the parchment tightly. He looked up at the Black-armored Talia in front of him, then down at the girl in the white dress on the wanted poster. "What do they mean by ’not exactly light weapons’... This is a pure metal Solid Hammer Spear! Are you Sun Wukong? Swinging telephone poles and stone pillars around the East Sea Dragon Palace and still complaining they’re too light?"
"The Mixed-blood Demon Race does have more strength than humans—but who is Sun Wukong? Is he from the Demon Race?" Talia snatched the wanted poster away, folded it, and stuffed it back into the leather pouch at her waist.
"He’s a very formidable monkey... Forget it, it’s not important. I’ll tell you the story when we have the chance. For now, let’s get down to business." Samael stared reluctantly as the portrait of the girl in the white dress, with her gentle and sweet smile, disappeared into the pouch. He couldn’t help but glance again at Talia’s deadpan face.
"What are you looking at me for?" Talia rolled her eyes.
"Nothing... Let me organize my thoughts first. Boss, see if I’m understanding this correctly," Samael said, rubbing the chin of his helmet. "First of all, our enemies are the Demon Race and the Alliance. Both sides are actively hunting us."
"What do you mean, ’Boss’... Forget it, whatever makes you happy." Talia sighed. "Yes, both the Demon Race and the Adventurer’s Alliance have put a bounty on my head. However, the Demon Race is far more dangerous than the Alliance. Their overall influence in the Barren Land is greater, and they are much stronger."
"You also mentioned that we can’t stay in this place for long to prevent the Demon Race in this territory from discovering our identities, because of something called Dominator Spiritual Energy?" Samael asked.
"Correct. A Demon Race Monarch who has built an Underground City can infiltrate an entire ecosystem within their territory with their Spiritual Energy will. This is known as Dominator Spiritual Energy. Any outsider will be easily detected. This is also one of the crucial purposes of an Underground City."
"Sounds like the Demon Race is a lot more dangerous than the Adventurer’s Alliance," Samael pondered.
"That is indeed the case," Talia replied. "Compared to the Alliance, the Demon Race has more information on us and their methods are far more brutal. The Demon Race is warlike, possesses a strong desire for conquest, and frequently engages in infighting. They show no mercy even to weaker members of their own kind. Furthermore, they often eat their prisoners of war, torture them for amusement, or use them as research subjects and slaves. If you are caught by other members of the Demon Race, it’s best to commit suicide."
"How terrifying..." Samael thought aloud. "So, our next step is to flee to a more remote place, find an area not occupied by the Demon Race, figure out a way to settle down, and build an Underground City as a temporary shelter, right?"
"Yes. But it will be very difficult." Talia pulled a bitter face. "Because most of the Barren Land in this world has scattered Demon Race factions settled there. Unless we go near the Human Kingdoms..."
"This is the continent." She grabbed a branch and drew the outline of a massive, otherworldly continent on the ground. "It is almost entirely demonized Barren Land."
"These are the four Human Kingdoms, five Dwarf Fortresses, and four Elf Territories located in the habitable zones." She picked up four charred twigs, five stones, and four leaves, placing them within the continent’s outline.
They faintly formed a loose circle.
"And in the Barren Land, these... are hundreds of Underground Cities ruled by the Demon Race..." She extended an armored fingertip and pressed a ring of scattered, star-like indents into the Barren Land outside the circular outline. "There are also three Demon Race Monarchs on the archipelagos in the Western Sea Region... However, these three are relatively neutral and don’t get too involved in terrestrial affairs. If someone from the Demon Race can’t survive on the mainland, they can go seek refuge with them, or become pirates."
"Hey, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. Your Majesty, don’t start thinking about where to run if our startup fails—we haven’t even started our business yet." Samael waved his hands. "Can you tell me why, in this donut-like map, there is such a massive piece of land right in the center of the continent with no humans, Elves, Dwarfs, or Demon Race? What’s here?"
"It’s just a massive, ordinary piece of corrupted Barren Land. A giant wasteland plain interspersed with some swamps and hills, so vast it seems endless," Talia explained. "The Barren Land is overrun with Demonized Creatures, and Earth-Devouring Demon Insects occupy the underground. The land is completely unsuitable for farming or grazing, so it holds little occupation value for humans. It’s better for them to encourage adventurers to go and exploit its demonized resources. Moreover, if any nation forcibly occupied it, it would likely result in their borders touching other nations. In a sense, it serves as a political buffer zone.
"Long ago, this area used to be a habitable zone, and everyone wanted this core territory. Before the Adventurer’s Alliance mediated the conflicts between humans, Dwarfs, and Elves, various races fought wars in this region—this place was once the largest ancient battlefield on the entire main continent.
"The battles were so brutal that the sheer accumulation of corpses caused a plague to break out in the area. Even the scavengers couldn’t clean it all up before they gorged themselves. The Spiritual Energy released upon death by the creatures who died in battle or from the plague seeped into the soil. The quantity was so immense that it forcibly transformed a human habitable zone into a corrupted Demon Realm. This attracted a large number of dangerous, massive Demonized Creatures to settle there. The overflowing Magic Power not only continuously spawned hordes of Demonized Creatures like Rot Root Balls, but it also awakened organized armies of Undead Creatures.
"Undead Creatures do not belong to the Demon Realm ecosystem. If they are not controlled by Spiritual Energy signals, they will actively attack all living things, including the Demon Race.
"Although the Demon Race can also control Undead Creatures, doing so consumes Spiritual Energy, and the total number of Demonized Creatures one can control is limited. The stronger the Demonized Creature, the harder it is to control and the more Spiritual Energy it consumes. An Undead Legion exceeding 1,000 units is very difficult to control through normal means and becomes extremely troublesome. A place like this is considered a rather harsh environment, even for the Demon Race."