It was less the Blood Vulture Army that was the screw-up, and more the Abyss Lord himself. Those who could become the leaders of the various races might not possess strength surpassing the Abyss Lord, but none were fools; they saw through the deception almost instantly. This was surely a ploy by the Abyss Lord to strike at his rivals while killing two birds with one stone. Otherwise, even if the Blood Vulture Army hadn't intercepted that contingent of Winged God reinforcements, why the hell wouldn't they send a signal through the communication array?

No, they did send a signal, but based on the relayed information, it only came when the Winged God reinforcements were practically at their doorstep. Damn it, wasn't that clearly leading everyone into a trap?

Upon learning the news, countless Abyss races unleashed their most venomous curses, directed at the Deep Ascent Lord and his entire ancestry for eighteen generations. Not only did his actions render their recent battle pointless and result in so many needless deaths, but more critically, all those spoils of war, gained from a victory, were now watching themselves slip away. What sorrow! What profound misery! Especially that slut, Queen Liuyue—rumored to be a rare beauty, perhaps even the forbidden beauty of King Shengyao. Everyone was eager to sample her charms.

The cooked duck had flown right out of their grasp. The Commander Lei had explicitly stated during the grand rally before the decisive battle that all spoils taken by the respective races would belong to them, and no one would encroach upon even a fraction of it. In an instant, the Abyss allied forces under Commander Lei developed a hatred for the Abyss Lord, Udis, that pierced their very bones. Crushing rivals wasn't done this way. If he had reservations about his ally, Commander Lei, a degree of precaution would be understandable. But to pull a trick after the fighting was over?

Suddenly, the morale of these Abyss races, who had been coerced and tempted into joining in the first place, plummeted. They lost all confidence in future campaigns. When their supreme leader committed such an outrageous act, who knew how they could possibly continue fighting?

Even some of the more radical leaders began privately contacting Commander Lei, urging him to raise his own banner, declare independence, and eventually amass enough strength to usurp the Abyss Lord. After all, following Commander Lei would never put them at a disadvantage; at least, he never exploited them when it came to dividing the spoils.

But Commander Lei righteously and sternly rejected these proposals, claiming the incident must have been a mistake, a rumor, and that they should trust the Abyss Lord's resolve and power to win the war. However, even Lei's defense of the Abyss Lord couldn't stop many from secretly planning betrayal.

Commander Lei held not the slightest interest in the so-called Abyss Lord. His sole objective was to annihilate both King Shengyao and the Abyss Lord in the Abyss Domain, allowing him to seize and acquire that realm brimming with chaotic spiritual energy. Although a secret conflict had erupted with the Abyss Lord, creating apparent fissures between them, the reality was that neither the Abyss Lord nor Commander Lei felt the time was right to completely tear off the masks.

Meanwhile, the Abyss Lord was engaged in his own war. The day before the reinforcements from Ajiana could reach Queen Liuyue, the Abyss Lord had already begun leading his massive army in a full-scale assault against King Shengyao, following the established plan. He could no longer tolerate the drawn-out attrition warfare conducted by elite small squads—the method of slicing slowly with a soft knife.

Under unfavorable circumstances, allowing the opponent to continue with their "soft knife" tactics would only render his side more passive. Taking advantage of Commander Lei tying down two enemy armies and one reinforcement contingent, the Abyss Lord launched a lightning-fast general offensive. After all, the dark, unsavory forces under his command could unleash their greatest might on the main battlefield. Once King Shengyao and his contingent were eliminated, he would turn back to deal with that boy, Commander Lei.

This was a decisive battle far grander and crueler than Lei’s engagement, and it erupted in an instant.

Overall, King Shengyao’s side was at a significant disadvantage. Not only were the forces of King Chixing and Queen Liuyue unable to participate in the decisive battle, but they had also dispatched fifty thousand of their own kin and one hundred thousand elite human troops to support the other side. This was a consequence of King Shengyao’s overconfidence in his own strength; he never anticipated that the Abyss Lord, whom he had been relentlessly pressuring like playing whack-a-mole, would dare to switch from defense to offense, unafraid of the terrifying defenses of his Sky City.

After sending out such large contingents of reinforcements, King Shengyao’s three main forces consisted of only slightly more than 110,000 pure-blooded Winged Gods. The human army numbered over a million, and the Abyss forces controlled by King Yingmo were the largest, numbering just over two million.

While this seemed like formidable strength, the Abyss Lord’s confidence in launching a full assault must have been immense. His core forces, the Abyss Demon race, though inferior to the Winged God race in overall strength, had secretly formed a contingent of 150,000 through his hundred years of diligent organization.

This was his direct lineage, the true cream of the Abyss Demon race. The Abyss Lord poured the majority of his financial resources, material wealth, and the benefits gained from the Chaos Realm into this direct force. In terms of sheer numbers, the adult, surviving Abyss Demons were far fewer than the million-strong Winged Gods, who were a powerful race. But in terms of elite quality, the Abyss Demons were in no way inferior to the Winged Gods. Brutal competition and infighting among their own kind, coupled with their worship of strength, meant that the Abyss—ShuShu Net

Fifteen thousand elite direct subordinates, bolstered by the power of Chaos Crystals, meant that the Nascent Soul level combatants within this segment of the Abyss Demons reached four thousand individuals. Although the vast majority of these Nascent Souls were controlled by his Mind-Stealing Demons, their terrifying combat power remained undeniable. Consequently, if this army focused specifically on King Shengyao’s Winged God contingent, they would not be at a disadvantage; rather, they would hold a slight edge.

In addition to his most relied-upon force of 150,000, the Abyss Lord’s personal guard, the Blood Luster Army, composed of numerous powerhouses, was also part of his direct lineage. The most authentic and core Blood Filth Army numbered only ten thousand. However, with the Abyss Lord investing resources without regard for cost, this unit boasted no fewer than three thousand Nascent Soul experts, the majority of whom were controlled by Mind-Stealing Demons. This extremely ferocious army, with each soldier riding a Blood Luster beast, possessed astonishing fighting power. Formed by drawing the finest elites from various races, they were one of the Abyss Lord’s trump cards.

Furthermore, the exceptionally strong Naga race had also been courted and recruited by the Abyss Lord, becoming one of his direct subordinate forces. The Naga race boasted a population numbering close to a million and was considered one of the major warring races within the Abyss Domain.

This million-strong Naga contingent was unlike those garbage races. Upon reaching maturity, every Naga possessed frightening combat prowess, reaching at least the Foundation Establishment level. The elite Golden Core experts within the race were countless, and they even possessed nearly a thousand Nascent Soul masters and two Soul Transformation beings. Currently, the Naga War God serving the Abyss Lord, Udis—a Soul Transformation expert named Birith—ruled over more than half of the entire Naga population. For this campaign, Birith mobilized four hundred thousand troops, a force of supreme might.

Another traditional powerhouse of the Abyss, the Cyclops race, was similarly won over by Udis through a combination of flattery, deception, and coercion. The Cyclops were a minority race, numbering only a few tens of thousands in total. Yet, with such a small population, they were ranked among the four great traditional strong races, standing alongside the Abyss Demons, Nagas, and Shadow Demons. This speaks volumes about the immense strength of the Cyclops.

Of course, the strongest among the Abyss races was generally still considered to be the Abyss Demons. Originally, this race did not have a large population of Golden Core experts, maintaining around a hundred thousand. Yet, based on these mere hundred thousand, they were still ranked first among the four major races.

Although historically the position of Abyss Lord rotated among these four races, due to their inherent strength, at least forty percent of all past Abyss Lords had been Abyss Demons. Among the other three, the Cyclops held the position the least often, as they were rumored descendants of the ancient War Giants and were not overly astute. In the cunning and treacherous environment of the Abyss, a lack of sharp thinking often led to disadvantage.

However, the reality was precisely because of the Cyclops' less flexible nature that they were the most sought-after race. Whoever became the Abyss Lord would first expend enormous resources and effort to court the Cyclops, not their own kin. Securing the trust and support of the Cyclops was tantamount to gaining a powerful and fiercely loyal super-enforcer. Under Udis's management, this race had grown to over 150,000, truly surpassing the other three to become the strongest race.

As for the Shadow Demon race, after Udis took power and the previous Abyss Lord, King Yingmo, fled, Udis consciously began suppressing and purging the Shadow Demons. Udis knew well that given King Yingmo’s personality, he would never suffer such a loss without seeking revenge. And revenge would begin by rallying his own people. Thus, in this short century, the entire population of 100,000 Shadow Demons had been hunted down like rats scurrying through the streets. The number surviving today was likely under twenty thousand. Of course, these surviving Shadow Demons, consumed by hatred for Udis, promptly crawled out of their holes when King Yingmo raised his banner, joining his cause to fight Udis.

In summary, among the powerful races, Abyss Lord Udis held an absolute advantage. Among the second-tier vassal races, the indigenous allied forces gathered under Udis already numbered over five million. While this contingent might not be individually reliable, they served excellently as cannon fodder and for overwhelming numerical tactics. Even an ant swarm can kill an elephant, especially since these disparate races weren't entirely weak; they were simply too mixed and lacked true refinement.