I Regressed With a 10,000x God-Tier Multiplier-Chapter 33: The Betrayal

Lucifer rode his Nightmare Steed deeper into the unnatural bruised-purple fog. The temperature plummeted.

The air was so thick with necrotic energy that it felt like breathing water.

Behind him, the steady, rhythmic hum of the four hundred Aether-Steel Dragoons offered the only sound.

The massive machines hovered smoothly over the terrain. The five hundred Radiant Arch-Seraphs marched in absolute silence, their golden wings glowing faintly through the dense mist.

Visibility was dropping rapidly. Lucifer could barely see twenty feet in any direction.

"The fog is getting thicker," Elara said. She rode close to his left flank, her silver spear resting across her saddle. Her golden eyes darted through the gloom. "It is not natural weather. It is a sustained magical barrier."

"It’s a blinding spell," Lucifer confirmed. "The Lich Lords use it to isolate enemy columns and break their communication lines."

Lyra, the Dawn Saintess, rode behind them, completely surrounded by the Arch-Seraphs. She clutched her pure white reins tightly, her knuckles white. She was terrified, but she did not complain. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Lucifer tapped his comms rune. He opened a direct magical link to his Vanguard commander.

"Lady Scarlett. Report," Lucifer ordered.

Static hissed through the rune. The necrotic fog was interfering with the connection.

"Commander," Scarlett’s voice crackled through the interference. "We are pushing a mile ahead of your Dragoons.

The terrain is a nightmare. Deep ravines. Chokepoints. My scouts are marking traps, but the undead are moving fast. They are not mindless shamblers. They are coordinated."

"What about the eastern flank?" Lucifer asked. His eyes fixed on the thick gray wall of mist to his right. "Has Iron-Heart engaged the enemy?"

"Negative," Scarlett replied instantly. Her voice was strained. "Iron-Heart’s scouts have completely pulled back.

Lord Vorian’s column has stopped moving entirely. They are sitting idle on the ridge, letting a massive swarm of Undead Knights pour down into the valley right toward your rear guard."

Lucifer’s expression hardened into a mask of pure, cold iron.

He didn’t need to guess Vorian’s plan anymore. It was in motion.

Vorian was intentionally creating a gap in the defensive line. By stopping his five thousand heavy infantry on the high ground, he was funneling the undead horde directly into Lucifer’s flank.

"Pull your Rose Company back," Lucifer commanded Scarlett. "Collapse your vanguard into my left flank. Do not engage the swarm. Let them hit my Dragoons."

"Are you insane?!" Scarlett shouted over the comms. "It’s a wall of heavy undead cavalry! They will crush your machines!"

"They will break on my machines," Lucifer corrected her. "Follow the order, Scarlett."

Lucifer cut the connection.

He pulled back on the reins of his Nightmare Steed. The beast halted, snorting a cloud of dark smoke. The Dragoons behind him stopped instantly, their engines idling in perfect unison.

"Elara," Lucifer said. His voice was low and calm. "Vorian has stopped his march. He is leaving our flank completely exposed to an undead cavalry charge."

Elara’s eyes flared with intense fury. She gripped her spear, preparing to launch herself into the air. "I will fly to his position and drag him off his horse."

"No," Lucifer said. He raised a heavy, iron-gauntleted hand. "Do not break formation. We need him to strike first. If we attack him without provocation, the King will brand us traitors."

Before Elara could argue, the fog in front of them shimmered.

A magical projection flickered into existence ten feet away. It was a massive, glowing blue image of Lord Vorian’s face. The noble was sitting safely on his destrier, miles away on the eastern ridge. He was smiling. It was a cruel, triumphant sneer.

"High Inquisitor," Vorian’s projected voice echoed through the damp, freezing air. The sound was distorted by the necrotic fog.

"I deeply regret to inform you that my Iron-Heart vanguard has encountered impassable terrain. We are forced to halt our advance and wait for the engineers to clear the road."

"Impassable terrain," Lucifer repeated dryly. He stared at the giant, floating blue head. "You are standing on a paved imperial highway, Vorian."

"The fog plays tricks on the eyes, Lord Lucifer," Vorian lied smoothly. He chuckled. "We cannot risk the King’s heavy infantry in such treacherous conditions. You will have to secure the eastern flank with your purchased angels and your metal toys."

Vorian leaned closer to his magical projection crystal. The sneer on his face twisted into absolute malice.

"I told you, upstart. You cannot fight a war with just gold and titles," Vorian whispered. The projection flickered, beginning to fade. "Die in the dark."

The projection shattered into blue sparks and vanished.

Lucifer did not react. He did not shout in anger. He sat perfectly still on his Nightmare Steed. The Warlord aura around him condensed, pulling tight against his dark armor.

"He just confessed," Elara said, her voice shaking with rage.

"He thinks he won," Lucifer replied.

The ground beneath their hooves began to tremble.

It was a faint vibration at first, but it quickly grew into a rhythmic, deafening thunder. The sound of thousands of armored boots and skeletal hooves slamming against the earth echoed through the dense fog.

The undead swarm was approaching from the east.

Lucifer system chimed.

[System: Massive Hostile Force Detected!]

[Enemy: Undead Knight Vanguard (Level 35 - Heavy Cavalry)]

[Quantity: 10,000+]

[Status: Charging.]

Through the gray gloom, Lucifer saw them.

A massive wall of rotting, skeletal horses charged down the rocky slope from the eastern ridge. The beasts were clad in rusted iron barding.

Their riders were towering Undead Knights. The knights wore heavy, spiked plate armor that glowed with sickly green necromantic runes. They carried massive, rusted lances that trailed thick, black smoke.

They were not mindless zombies. They rode in perfect, devastating formation. They had bypassed Vorian’s completely stationary lines and were barreling straight for Lucifer’s right flank.

"They are coming fast!" a mercenary captain shouted from the rear guard. Panic rippled through the thousands of Awakened fighters behind Lucifer.

Lucifer did not panic.

He drew his longsword. The Carnage Core on his hip immediately flared to life, glowing with a deep, blood-red light. It sensed the massive wave of death energy approaching.

Lucifer raised his sword high in the air. The red light of the core illuminated his Warlord armor.

"Dragoons!" Lucifer roared, shattered the terrified silence of the mercenary column. "Form a Phalanx on the eastern flank! Lock shields!"

The four hundred Aether-Steel Dragoons moved with terrifying, mechanical precision.

They did not hesitate. They did not need to break rank or turn their horses. Their hovering magitech thrusters simply flared blue, and the entire block of four hundred massive metal centaurs glided sideways.

They slammed together, shoulder to shoulder, forming an impenetrable wall of black Aether-Steel between the mercenary column and the charging undead.

The Dragoons lowered their heavy, ten-foot-long magitech lances. Four hundred tips of crackling blue lightning aimed directly into the fog.

[System: Formation Locked - Aether-Steel Phalanx.]

[Defense Bonus: +500% Physical Mitigation.]

The Undead Knights burst out of the dense gray mist.

They were fifty yards away. The ground shook violently under the weight of ten thousand skeletal horses. The knights lowered their rusted, green-glowing lances, preparing to impale Lucifer’s forces.

Lucifer did not order his troops to brace. He did not order them to hold.

He lowered his longsword, pointing the red-glowing blade straight at the center of the undead charge.

"Fire the shoulder cannons," Lucifer commanded.

The four hundred Aether-Steel Dragoons responded instantly.

Every single Dragoon had a heavy, rapid-fire aether-cannon mounted on its left shoulder. The machines locked onto the charging Undead Knights.

A deafening, synchronized whine sound across the battlefield as the cannons charged.

Then, the world turned blue.

Four hundred aether-cannons fired simultaneously. The barrage was absolute devastation. Blinding streams of condensed, highly volatile mana ripped through the freezing air.

The aether-blasts slammed into the front lines of the Undead Knights.

The heavy, spiked plate armor of the knights did not stop the magic. The rusted iron barding on the skeletal horses shattered like glass.

The front line of the undead charge simply evaporated. Dozens of skeletal horses and their riders were vaporized instantly, reduced to ash and glowing blue sparks.

The kinetic force of the aether-blasts hit the second and third lines of the charge like a physical wall. Hundreds of Undead Knights were thrown from their saddles, their heavy armor crumpling as they crashed into the rocky earth.

The deafening thunder of the undead charge turned into a chaotic chorus of screeching metal and shattering bone.

Lucifer sat perfectly still on his Nightmare Steed, the red light of the Carnage Core washing over his face. He watched the absolute slaughter with cold void eyes.

"Keep firing," Lucifer ordered smoothly.

The aether-cannons hummed and fired again. Another blinding volley of blue light ripped into the struggling undead swarm.

The trap had failed. Vorian’s betrayal was unraveling right in front of him.

Lucifer lowered his sword. He looked up at the eastern ridge, where Vorian’s Iron-Heart knights were hiding in the fog.

"Arch-Seraphs," Lucifer commanded, turning his attention to his five hundred golden angels. "The Undead are broken on our flank.