Chapter 371
Ikenga’s gaze shifted to the demons. Their savagery was as brutal as it was efficient. Yet, what disturbed him most was their apparent disregard for their own lives. The lower-tier demons hurled themselves into the ratmen’s traps and blades without hesitation, their bodies piling up but never retreating.
He turned his head slightly to look at Vaegur, who was tossing in a handful of herbs with a flourish. "Vaegur," Ikenga called, "why do they throw themselves to their deaths like that? It’s not strategy; it’s senseless."
Vaegur’s crimson eyes glinted as he glanced up, a sinister grin spreading across his face. "Senseless? No, no, my dear god of nature. It’s contempt."
Ikenga raised an eyebrow, urging the demon to continue.
"The lower demons hate their higher-ups," Vaegur explained, leaning casually against his cooking pot. "They only follow orders because they must. So when told to sacrifice themselves, they don’t see it as death. They see it as a way to spite those who command them. Why obey perfectly when they can rot the land and make the higher-tier demons’ jobs harder? Even though this rot is helpful for invasion but like my lord Zarvok, many demo lord would like their invaded world as prestine as they could as the benefit is much higher"
"But they die," Ikenga countered.
"They don’t die," Vaegur corrected with a sly grin. "Not truly. Their souls return to the Abyss, to the River Styx, where they’re reborn. It’s a cycle, see? They’re content to burn their bodies, knowing they’ll live again. To truly kill one of us, you’d need to destroy our soul before it escapes. Otherwise, we’re just borrowing time until we return."
Ikenga frowned, the weight of the revelation settling over him. "So... war with the Abyss isn’t just a battle of flesh and steel. It’s a war against an unending cycle."
"Precisely," Vaegur said, stirring his pot. "And a messy one at that. Best avoided if you value peace and sanity."