The Fifth Demon God, the one and only who truly doesn’t fear death, made his grand entrance!
Not long after Mike and his group entered the Eighth Abyss, the Fifth Demon God had already arrived nearby. His motto was simple: *Never miss an opportunity to embrace death!*
If Thor, with only Cedric and Maxen by his side, ran into the Fifth Demon God, there was a real chance he wouldn’t make it out alive!
In fact, Mike had already pieced everything together.
The Supreme Demon God had tried to tempt Mike through the Demon Emperor’s Throne, which had once belonged to the previous Eighth Demon God. But where had that throne come from?
On the surface, it seemed like Poseidon had reclaimed it himself. But behind the scenes, the Fifth Demon God had undoubtedly played a role.
Poseidon was still too naive. He didn’t realize that every gift comes with a price tag.
The moment Mike regained his senses, he had keenly picked up on this connection.
The Fifth Demon God operated differently from the Second Demon God. The Second Demon God appeared to be cunning and calculating, but in reality, he was always scheming and always losing. He failed to grasp that over the past three hundred years, the tide of war between the Abyss and the human race had slowly turned, with the demons’ chances of victory growing slimmer by the day. Hiding in the shadows and refusing to risk his life made his schemes seem petty.
The Fifth Demon God, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. Every time he concocted a plot, he led the charge himself!
He had a 100% participation rate in battles and a 0% death rate!
His record was impeccable!
Even among demon gods, there were vast differences in power and approach.
Since Mike had deduced that the Fifth Demon God was lying in ambush outside, running away wasn’t an option. That would be walking right into the trap!
Sure, the Eye of Truth had given Mike a 100% survival rate, but that was based on the assumption that Mike would act rationally and not do anything reckless.
If Mike stepped out now and challenged the Fifth Demon God to a duel, the Fifth Demon God might just unlock the achievement for single-handedly killing a potential Supreme Being.
That’s why Mike had chosen to stay put, waiting for Cedric to arrive and then figuring out the next step.
Not long after Cedric arrived, a dust cloud rose on the horizon as Ace rushed over, covered in dirt.
“You’re still fucking alive?” Ace greeted Thor with his usual trash talk. Sometimes, if he didn’t throw out an insult, he just didn’t feel right.
“Everyone’s here now…” Mike began, but before he could finish, a crack appeared in the space before them, and a bloodied figure tumbled out.
It was none other than Michael, the gold-star mole who now served as a deputy leader in the Fifth Demon Cult!
As soon as he hit the ground, the heavily injured Michael shouted at the top of his lungs, “Boss, run! My leader’s coming to kill you!”
Mike: …
*Is this mole useful or not?* On one hand, the Fifth Demon God’s ambush was already obvious, and Michael’s warning was a bit late. On the other hand, he had risked his life to come and warn Thor.
*Well, at least his spirit is commendable.*
Mike helped Michael to his feet and casually cast a healing spell, advising him, “Next time, don’t go so hard on yourself.”
Michael knew exactly how he had gotten those injuries. If the Fifth Demon God had really wanted him dead, Michael wouldn’t have made it here alive.
Instructor Michael didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed. He chuckled awkwardly and quietly took his place behind Thor.
With just a glance, Michael recognized the heavyweights gathered here.
Thor, the potential Supreme Being of this generation. Little Calderon (Ace), Cedric, Maxen…
In a gathering of such high-profile figures, Michael knew better than to speak out of turn. He was content to just watch the show.
After all, ever since his rebirth, Michael had only one goal: to strive to survive and please Thor!
Just as things seemed to settle down, Poseidon returned, only to find that the group had grown even larger.
With the combined strength of everyone present, they could kill him a hundred times over.
But since they were still technically allies, Poseidon wasn’t too worried. Even his cooperation with the Fifth Demon God had been reported to the human race and approved before proceeding.
Being a god at his level came with very little dignity.
“Perfect timing. Let me introduce you,” Mike said, gesturing to Poseidon. “This is Poseidon, the future Eighth Demon God.”
After introducing Poseidon, Mike pointed to the teacher standing behind him. “And this is a friend of mine with extensive experience working in demon cults. You’ll need an Eighth Demon Cult in the future, so consider hiring him.”
Though it sounded like a suggestion, it was more of a job offer.
Poseidon didn’t hesitate. He wasn’t particularly interested in running a demon cult, so leaving it to the humans was no big deal.
Michael stepped forward enthusiastically and shook Poseidon’s hand. “Looking forward to working with you!”
Poseidon, curious, asked, “Which demon cults have you worked for?”
“First, Third, Fourth, and Sixth,” Michael rattled off a series of numbers.
With each number, Poseidon’s face grew darker.
If Poseidon remembered correctly, the fates of those demon gods… weren’t exactly great.
This wasn’t “extensive work experience.” This was a track record of failure!
With this guy as leader, Poseidon was doomed to bad luck!
“And now I’m the acting leader of the Fifth Demon Cult!” Michael added proudly. “The Fifth Demon Cult hasn’t collapsed yet!”
Poseidon: …
*Why do you sound disappointed about that?*
Michael hadn’t expected that by risking his life to warn Thor, he’d end up landing a cushy job as a cult leader. Now he could collect another paycheck for doing nothing.
*Nice!*
“So, what’s the plan now?” The conversation returned to the original topic: how to get Thor out of this mess.
Everyone turned to Thor, and Thor turned to Cedric.
Cedric began to speak. “Ares is on his way…”
But then he suddenly stopped.
Mike’s eyes lit up. “My second brother is coming?”
“No,” Cedric shook his head. “Your second brother… stopped.”
…
In the void, a massive Abyssal Plane was slowly moving forward.
The Archdemon still lay on the ground, but if you flipped the perspective, it could be said that he was carrying the Abyss on his back.
That’s right. The Archdemon, with the Abyss on his back, was dragging the First Abyss through the void.
At the highest peak of the First Abyss, a swordsman sat cross-legged, leisurely enjoying the view.
Ares had been admiring the scenery of the Abyss for many years, and he never grew tired of it.
Now, Thor was in a dangerous situation, surrounded by enemies, with his life hanging by a thread.
Ares couldn’t help but be reminded of his own battles, where he had fought for survival in the face of death.
The trials of blood and fire were something they had never lacked.
It wasn’t intentional, but the human race had always been weak, forced to survive in the cracks between stronger powers.
Throughout history, every potential Supreme Being of the human race, once they reached a certain threshold, would unleash terrifying power.
With that in mind, Ares found himself feeling a bit… excited.
Thor was an interesting little guy. Very interesting.
But what was Thor’s breaking point?
No one seemed to know the answer to that question.
Ares found the mystery intriguing.
“Besides… Snoozefest (Apollo) won’t let him die,” Ares muttered to himself.
With that thought, the swordsman gave a simple order.
“Slow down.”
…
Back in the Eighth Abyss, Cedric’s words—”Your second brother stopped”—left Mike feeling a bit surprised.
He turned to Maxen and asked, “Translate that for me. What does ‘stopped’ mean?”
“What’s there to translate?” Maxen replied, genuinely confused. “Stopped means stopped!”
“I said translate it! What the hell does ‘stopped’ mean?!”
“…”
Poseidon, curious, glanced at the increasingly frustrated Thor.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Michael, ever the helpful mole, explained, “Nothing serious. He’s just having a mental breakdown.”
Mike’s mental breakdown lasted a full 30 seconds before he finally pulled himself together.
He had to face the reality that maybe the Supreme Beings knew something he didn’t, and they weren’t planning to intervene too much. In the future, Thor would have to rely on himself!
Apollo was too far away, Ares was too slow, and Morpheus was busy cooking.
If Mike didn’t rely on himself, there was no way he’d escape this death trap.
The most frustrating part was that Ares had inexplicably stopped moving.
If things got really bad, Mike might even have to free himself up to go help Ares!
“Enough joking around,” Mike said, pulling out a mask with the words Serious Business Mask written on it.
Maxen, Cedric, and Ace all turned to Mike, waiting for his next move.
For them, this death trap didn’t really exist.
The Fifth Demon God wasn’t targeting them, and each of them had their own ways of staying alive.
The most dangerous person here was Thor!
There was also an unspoken rule among the powerful humans: on the battlefield, the potential Supreme Being was in charge.
Through his past battles and experiences, Thor had already proven that he had the ability to make decisions.
So, when they found themselves in this precarious situation, without any prior discussion, everyone instinctively handed the reins over to Thor.
It was a sign of trust, but also a test.
Mike understood the weight of the looks they were giving him and nodded in response.
“I will survive!” he declared.
Everyone: …
Normally, the line at this point would be something like:
“I’ll make sure we all survive!” “Not a single one of us will be left behind!”
But no, Thor’s first words were, “I will survive.”
For a moment, everyone’s emotions were complicated, and their expressions even more so.
Mike continued, “Our first priority is figuring out what the Fifth Demon God is up to.”
Maxen nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I can’t figure it out either.”
This was the Eighth Abyss. If the Fifth Demon God forced his way in, his power would be severely limited, and he wouldn’t be able to fight at full strength.
Without his full power, the Fifth Demon God wouldn’t be able to kill Thor.
In other words, as long as Thor stayed inside, he wouldn’t be in any immediate danger.
What Maxen couldn’t figure out, Ace and Cedric had a rough idea of, but they weren’t entirely sure yet.
“Um…” Michael, who had been eavesdropping the whole time, cautiously raised his hand. “My mast—uh, I mean, the Fifth Demon God, that guy who should be killed…”
With just one sentence, Michael demonstrated his incredible emotional intelligence. He managed to avoid offending both the human race and the Fifth Demon God.
*Impressive. Very impressive.*
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Michael continued, “He might be planning to destroy the Eighth Abyss.”
Everyone: ???
Mike had expected the Fifth Demon God to be crazy, but not *this* crazy!
Normally, demon gods didn’t have the ability to attack other abysses.
For one thing, Supreme Being Ares patrolled the Abyss and would never allow such a thing to happen.
For another, the demon god of the targeted abyss would fight back with everything they had, possibly even cooperating with the human race!
If an abyss were breached, it would be a catastrophe for the demon gods.
In the face of such a crisis, every demon god would prioritize their own survival.
But now, with the Eighth Demon God dead, Ares was stuck in the First Abyss.
This gave the Fifth Demon God a rare opportunity!
If he could breach the Eighth Abyss and destroy it completely, all the demon gods would level up to 1000!
And that was something the human race would never allow!
Realizing all of this, Mike sucked in a sharp breath.
For the Fifth Demon God, he had tried to ambush and kill every potential Supreme Being, and every time, he had failed.
If he targeted Thor again, he would likely fail once more.
So, the Fifth Demon God had decided to take a different approach and catch the human race off guard.
*You won’t let me die for my dream? Fine! Then no one gets to live!*
If he destroyed the Eighth Abyss and raised all the demon gods to level 1000, the Fifth Demon God would see how many lives the human race could throw into the Abyss!
If the situation in the Abyss spiraled out of control, chaos would reign. The demon gods would storm the Tower of Truth, and the Supreme Demon God would be released…
No matter which way things went, the Fifth Demon God didn’t care!
He had only one goal: to die as quickly as possible!
“This explains everything…” Mike muttered.
With Michael’s intel, everything became clear.
Now that the situation was laid out before him, Mike knew that his top priority was to defend the Eighth Abyss!
“Damn it, what a mess,” Mike grumbled, feeling utterly exasperated.
The entire Abyss was in chaos!
But now that he knew what the Fifth Demon God wanted, the path forward was clearer.
After a moment of thought, Mike began issuing orders.
“Ace, take Poseidon to the Mystic Market and have him sign a contract to expedite the construction of the Demon Emperor’s Hall. Buy the 1.2 million Lord merits acceleration package!”
After assigning Ace his task, Mike turned to Cedric.
“Try to contact the nearby human corps and get a sense of what’s happening in the other abysses. If the Eighth Abyss is in this much turmoil, I doubt the other abysses are quiet.”
Cedric nodded slightly, agreeing to the plan.
“Man, come here,” Mike called out to Michael. “I need you to run another errand. Go find Shadow Two…”
The moment Michael heard the word “errand,” his face turned dark.
He had nearly lost his life breaking into the sealed Eighth Abyss, and now Mike wanted him to go back out?
With the Fifth Demon God lurking outside, wasn’t that a death sentence?
“Don’t worry,” Mike reassured him. “Shadow Two is the prince of the Fifth Abyss. If you go out to contact him, your leader won’t give you any trouble.”
Michael swallowed nervously and asked in a trembling voice, “But… what if something goes wrong?”
“If something does go wrong…” Mike said with a kind smile, “Just make sure to study hard and be a good person in your next life.”