Seeing the children unresponsive, the middle-aged human kicked the leading child in frustration and scolded, “This is Lord Demon God! You must not be disrespectful to Lord Demon God!”
Finally, the children came to their senses and anxiously lowered their heads.
But Daniel smiled and said, “No worries, Lord Demon God will forgive you. Take them down and let them work well, understand? Whether I can return to the front line depends on you all.”
“Alright, alright, sir, take care.”
The middle-aged human smiled obsequiously at Daniel, courteously sending him on his way.
After Daniel left, the middle-aged human sighed and said, “Come on, follow me down. Remember to tear a strip of cloth from your clothes to cover your mouth and nose. Don’t be afraid of the cold; anyway, the wind isn’t strong here, so you won’t freeze to death.”
After saying that, the middle-aged man took the initiative to demonstrate, wrapping a piece of rag around his face.
“Sir, what exactly are we going down to do?”
The middle-aged man glanced at the leading child and asked, “You were sent down here without knowing anything?”
“We know, of course we know, we are here to serve Lord Demon God.”
The leading child responded, “But we don’t understand why we need to bring mining tools to serve Lord Demon God.”
As the middle-aged man led the children down, he glanced at the huge mass of flesh below and said, “What else could it be? They gave you mining tools, so you naturally came to mine.”
“It’s just that this mine is Lord Demon God’s Holy Corpse.”
“Holy Corpse? What does that mean?”
The youngest child kept repeating this awkward term.
The leading child explained to the youngest, “It means a corpse.”
The youngest child immediately shuddered.
“That’s right.”
The middle-aged man brought the children to the bottom of this abyss and introduced, “This is the corpse of Lord Demon God. Lord Demon God loved His people, so He contributed His corpse, and it is served as Holy Communion to His people.”
As a former follower of the Goddess, the middle-aged man knew this part was taken from the Goddess’s doctrine, although the Goddess used bread and milk as Her body and blood to conduct the mass.
Whereas this so-called Demon God truly contributed His own corpse and corrupt blood.
As one of the first groups of humans captured in the Eternal Frozen Land, the middle-aged man knew these doctrines were nonsense, later fabricated stories. This was just a strange creature that the Demon Clan dug up after its death.
Upon discovering some special properties of this strange creature, the Demon Clan began to refer to it as the god who would save them, and later even found that the flesh and blood of this Demon God could be consumed and had some peculiar effects, continuously pulling humans into the Eternal Frozen Land for excavation.
Is this really a god? The middle-aged man didn’t know, for he had never heard of a god’s corpse in his entire life, but since the Demon Clan said it was, he could only nod in agreement and painstakingly learned the doctrines of the Demon God, eventually becoming a minor leader.
The foul environment, decaying flesh, and the dead deity—this truly was an abyss.
The children were clearly terrified; at first, they thought serving Lord Demon God was like serving the Goddess, singing and learning with the priest and sisters every day, but it seemed now that they didn’t know about singing or learning, but mass was certainly going to happen.
When these children observed closely, they noticed that the blackened masses of flesh were still twitching and occasionally convulsing.
“Is Lord Demon God really dead?”
The youngest child gripped the iron shovel tightly, his eyes revealing evident panic and fear.
“Dead, you can rest assured. As long as you have a sincere heart, you can safely finish excavating Lord Demon God’s Holy Corpse. Once you dig enough, you will receive a hefty sum of money to reunite with your family.”
The middle-aged man continued, “Moreover, you have two meals a day here. The cold winds of the frozen land won’t reach the bottom; you just need to work tirelessly day and night—isn’t that easy?”
“But remember, these masses of flesh must not be eaten. You understand? Not at all! That is something only the warriors of the Demon Clan are allowed to enjoy. If you eat it, even your family will be in danger! We, as lowly humans, have no right to enjoy the blood and flesh of Lord Demon God.”
The children nodded in understanding. A piece of flesh that was black, emitted a foul odor, and was even dug from a corpse—who would dare eat that?
Soon these children began to adapt to the environment of the abyss, as digging the flesh was not difficult. The workers only needed to cut the flesh off and then use a shovel to place it in the cart, sending it to the designated location. Some hard areas might have formed scabs and required a pickaxe to break, and they had to be careful not to be splashed by the corrupt blood.
Looking at the children, the middle-aged man averted his gaze. These children would likely never leave this abyss again. Even if they dug enough, death awaited them.
The Demon Clan’s precautionary measures were straightforward: workers were not allowed to leave this abyss. Should someone actually dig enough, that worker would be killed after being sent out.
It was simple, but effective.
Of course, there were a few exceptions, namely truly naturalized humans or honorary members of the Demon Clan.
After settling these children, the middle-aged man received a notification to go to the surface and accept the Demon King’s award, becoming an honorary member of the Demon Clan. The next day, the middle-aged man left the abyss under the watch of two “guards” from the Demon Clan.
To ensure nothing was hidden on him, the middle-aged man changed into clothes prepared by the Demon Clan. Although the north wind was biting above the abyss, the middle-aged man, who had not been to the surface for a long time, greedily breathed in fresh air and saw his wife and children.
The man’s wife was mute and could not speak. Upon seeing him, she joyfully hugged him. The child appeared to be only six or seven years old, looking somewhat simple-minded, with a large flatbread hanging from his chest. Although it had long been stiff from the northern wind, the child dazedly grabbed the flatbread and started to gnaw on it, completely oblivious that his father had returned.
Just as he wanted to say a few words to his child, the Demon Clan’s guard reminded, “Time’s up.”
Reluctantly, the man grasped his wife’s shoulder and said, “If anything happens, tell the lord of the Demon Clan. Don’t resist if he hits you, alright? I will come back later.”
Afterward, the man pulled out a few copper coins from his pocket and stuffed them into his wife’s hand, then left with the Demon Clan.
The awarding ceremony was rather simple, but the stage where the Demon King appeared was extraordinarily luxurious, made entirely of pure white marble, every inch polished to a mirror-like sheen with a warm luster.
The base of the stage was covered with a thick plush carpet, the bright red carpet’s edges embroidered with exquisite vine patterns in gold thread. The man could even feel the warmth emanating from the carpet.
The Demon King, Antipa, also stepped onto the red carpet, and this was the man’s first time seeing the Demon King at such close range. Aside from the attire, the Demon King looked no different from other greenskins. However, the man sensed a familiar smell on the Demon King, the scent of the flesh and blood cut from the corpse of the Demon God.
The man dared not entertain any thoughts and could only kneel with the others.
At that moment, a woman in the crowd miraculously passed through the guards, kneeling on the ground, holding a child and crying out to the Demon King, “Lord Demon King, please, save my child! He is about to die!”
The woman held her child high. The child had already shriveled in the piercing north wind, looking as if he was beyond saving.
The Demon King stretched out his hand, and a black-gray magic circle appeared over the child. Immediately, the red-frozen child seemed to be corroded by something, transforming into a sludge-covered monster. The man watched this all unfold from the high platform; that was not so much sludge as it was the decaying corpse of the Demon God.
But looking at the sludge monster in the woman’s hands as it released a cry, she wept, “My child has come back to life! Thank you for your mercy, Lord Demon King, thank you!”
“There’s no need to thank me; this is the power of Lord Demon God. It was Lord Demon God who brought your child back to life.”
The crowd immediately bowed to the Demon King, thanking him and Lord Demon God for the resurrection spell.
The man waiting for his award on the stage felt a chill as he looked at the monster in the woman’s hands. He thought of his own child still hanging from his neck with the flatbread. Could this truly be considered coming back to life? The man did not know.
