It was a rout. Even before the last dragon was destroyed, reconnaissance had detected the opening of a portal through which all the remaining demons fled. The remnants of the undead army were once again abandoned. Apparently, the demons valued their lives more than the 'lives' of several million elite zombie-mages.
The subsequent actions of my army could be described as 'tedious area clearing.' The undead offered little resistance but constantly tried to spread out and hide in every nook and cranny. This was further complicated by my desire not to destroy the demon base, where many magical artifacts were preserved. We also managed to capture a few dozen living demons who had miraculously survived the artillery bombardment. Most importantly, one of the captives turned out to be almost an archmage, whom my warriors literally pulled back from the brink of death, healing him from almost complete fragmentation of his body.
For the next three years, I focused on studying the spoils while simultaneously overseeing the colonization of the central continent. Demon magic was extremely unusual. I was most intrigued by soul magic. This branch was crucial for any demon, so each of them was a professional in this field.
The thing was, demons had an astounding control over magical energy. Any complex spell could be woven by them in mere seconds. Moreover, the energy regeneration rate in their magical source was so minimal that using magic from their own reserves was out of the question. However, every demon could enslave the souls of living beings, which were used as a source of the energy they desperately needed.
It should be noted that a soul itself does not produce much magical energy—about the same amount as the demons themselves. But when placed in a suitable body, this construct could make even archmages weep with envy. Of course, demons couldn’t create artificial bodies, but they could make ersatz analogues out of pure magic, using crystals as anchors. As a result, the captured soul became a source of energy. Not the strongest source, but quite useful. There were two approaches to using these souls.
Firstly, a demon could absorb this energy, casting spells of insane power. This approach was limited by the maximum number of souls a demon could bind into a network. Additionally, these souls had to be in close proximity. So, 'great archmages of demons' were effectively only such if they constantly carried a wagon and a little cart full of soul crystals.
The second method of using the crystals was raising the undead. It was quite evident that demons kept the best souls for themselves and tried to make use of any scrap. The undead were an excellent solution. Even the most lowly peasant, when turned into a zombie, gained magical abilities. So it was only necessary to implant a subjugation program into its consciousness and send it to kill enemies, while also equipping it with traps for souls. This created a kind of network marketing, accelerating the conquest of undeveloped worlds faster than the growth of Herbalife branches in post-Soviet Russia.
In three years, I not only figured out how demons used human souls but also how humans used demon souls. Due to their ability to perform intricate energy manipulations, demon souls were excellent raw materials for producing artifacts. For example, to establish production of 'blasters,' my scientists had to spend three years calculating the structure of the spell that could be embedded in the artifact. However, a similar effect could be achieved in a single day. The only catch was that while I could mass-produce my artifacts, artifacts made from demon souls required those very souls. This could be considered a serious drawback if not for one thing.
Demons could control spells of mind-boggling complexity. An average demon could create a spell that even a hundred spiders couldn’t hold. Fortunately, the demons opposing me were quite primitive. In terms of 'magical research,' demons were even worse than the spiders from my 'native' colony. All they could do was apply spells developed by mages who had fallen into spiritual slavery.
So, it was sufficient to theoretically calculate the structure of the spell I needed, then have a demon create that structure and infuse it with energy. This way, it was possible to 'craft' artifacts capable of performing entirely impossible feats. For instance, I managed to create an anti-gravity engine, which opened the path to space. Or I could open a portal not just three meters in diameter but three hundred meters. After that, with a small adjustment of parameters, I could expand the portal window to three kilometers.
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In general, it was clear to the entire society of spider-mages that we needed more demons. Naturally, those trapped in soul crystals and used in magical artifacts. What we managed to capture during the military operations was only sufficient for experiments. Even then, the waiting list for experiments was already a year ahead. There was only one option left—to open a portal to the demon world and harvest them on an industrial scale.
Before breaking into other worlds, it was decided to send a reconnaissance expedition. It consisted of a dozen warriors, a couple of mages, a couple of workers, and... my chakra clone. Only I on the entire planet possessed this type of energy and could create clones. I was not sure how stable the clone would be in another world, so this was also a sort of experiment.
Opening the portal was not a problem, as we had a demon well-versed in its principles. Although normally a portal led to a strictly defined location, it was possible to form what was known as a 'wandering portal.' There was no way to know exactly where it would open, except that it would be within a few hundred kilometers from the main portal. For example, hundreds of kilometers up or down.
In the end, on our fifth attempt, we managed to open a portal not into magma or outer space, but just a couple of kilometers from the ground. Keeping it open for long was extremely difficult, so my clone jumped into the tunnel, and after confirming that he was functioning well even in another world, although being directly controlled by me from here, fourteen suicide operatives followed. The return path for them was now only possible after a full-scale invasion from our world.
The descent went smoothly. The spiders used a levitation spell based on air flow control, which was somewhat analogous to a parachute. I used a similar technique that operated on chakra. Unfortunately, I couldn't transmit magical energy over long distances, let alone to other worlds. The way chakra handled this was unclear. In some ways, this energy was much less comprehensible than ordinary magic.
As we descended, I surveyed the surroundings. How does the Bible put it? The Earth was formless and void? That’s exactly how the demon worlds looked. I think even Mars would look more picturesque. All around stretched a yellow-brown wasteland, only occasionally adorned with rolling hills. There was no water, no plants. However, demons were occasionally encountered. These creatures either chased someone or fled from someone. Beautiful life!
Our arrival did not cause much commotion. I think we were simply unnoticed because the local inhabitants preferred to look not at the sky but to the sides. The sky, by the way, was not particularly beautiful—an indistinct haze evenly lit with a light gray glow, giving no hint that there was a sun somewhere up there.
The clone had no physiological problems, but the spiders felt that the air pressure here was much lower than on my planet. Also, oxygen could only be found in carbon dioxide. It seemed demons did not need to breathe. So my companions switched to life support via magic. This was one of our developments for interstellar travel. A spider would surround its body with a protective barrier, maintaining air pressure, and a special spell in its lungs would convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose. This didn’t replace proper nutrition but allowed survival in a hostile environment for at least a month.
After landing, we immediately set out to find the nearest demon. We needed a 'tongue' that could tell us where we had landed. After half an hour of brisk running, we captured a demon's soul. This one was spiritually impoverished and thus unable to resist our magic—there was simply no energy.
Interrogating the trapped soul in a crystal revealed that we had ended up in an area even demons called the 'Dead Wasteland.' The needed castle with the portal was almost two hundred kilometers straight ahead. But it was too early for that. Instead, we decided to visit a small 'den' of demons a hundred kilometers in the other direction. The gang there was considered quite strong, and most importantly, they resembled spiders in appearance, which was quite interesting.
As we advanced, we hunted demons that ran past us. This behavior surprised none of the victims. On the contrary, as soon as they spotted us on the horizon, they immediately started fleeing at top speed. Upon reaching the 'den,' we found an entrance to a cave, around which was constructed something like a stockade. The building material was stone. In fact, there were no other materials here.