Chapter 94: EX 94. Harvest Corpses
The Demon Territory stretched endlessly beyond the Federation’s protective walls, an ever-shifting landscape of desolation, darkness, and danger. But it wasn’t just chaos without structure. Over decades of battles, deaths, and bloody expeditions, the Federation had classified the demon lands into zones, a crude but functional system based on proximity to the federal wall and demonic power density.
The deeper one ventured, the more terrifying the demons became.
There were two main reasons for this deadly phenomenon.
First, proximity to the wall invited destruction. Whenever a high-ranked demon approached the barrier, elite trial takers were dispatched without hesitation. S-rank and above demons rarely made it close enough to threaten the wall, and if they did, response was immediate, sometimes involving Black Vanguards, Silver Marshals, or in the rarest and most horrifying cases, the Supreme Warden himself: the Governor.
Second, and more mysteriously, the strongest demons simply chose to remain deeper inside their own territory. Why? The Federation still didn’t know. Countless information-gathering squads had been sent over the years, specialists in stealth, intel, and reconnaissance. But none of them returned.
Some speculated the demons had a city, or even a king. Others believed that the land itself, the corrupted soil, the blood-stained skies, held something sacred or strategic for demons of power. But nothing was ever confirmed.
And yet, none of that mattered to Leon Kael.
He wasn’t out here to uncover ancient mysteries or track down demon royalty.
He had a mission.
Thirty strongholds. One week.
And now, standing before a jagged stone ravine that led into a narrow chasm, Leon and his squad had arrived at their first target, Stronghold 01-D, a mid-sized D-rank stronghold nestled against the base of a charred hill.