After several days of nonstop work, Yumo’s adjustments to the purple crystal had finally come to an end.

Afterward, she began regulating the number of Abyss Demons within the Great Winter Forest.

There were two methods by which Abyss Demons were born.

The first occurred when magical beasts or intelligent races approached within ten kilometers of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons and were directly corrupted by the Shadow of Silence Power, transforming into Abyss Demons.

The second method was through infection spread by existing Abyss Demons. For example, if a human or magical beast was injured by one and failed to properly treat the wound in time, the Shadow of Silence Power lingering in the injury would infect them, eventually causing them to lose their sanity and become bloodthirsty monsters.

Well...

In a certain sense...

It was kind of similar to the zombies from that Resident Evil game she had played in her previous life.

In any case, more than five hundred years ago, before Yumo became the management consciousness of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons—

The Shadow of Silence Power within the Hall transformed all nearby lifeforms into Abyss Demons. And those Abyss Demons rampaged around uncontrollably, causing their numbers to increase explosively!

The rapidly expanding hordes soon exterminated nearly all living creatures inside the Winter Forest. Once they ran out of food, they began advancing outward.

The entire continent was plunged into catastrophe.

Fortunately, when faced with that unprecedented crisis, the various powers across the continent chose to abandon their grudges and unite together.

In the end, they barely managed to repel the Abyss Demon invasion.

However, the damage suffered by those factions was equally unprecedented, and recovery would take an extremely long time.

If the Abyss Demon hordes marched south several more times...

Enmm...

At that point...

There probably wouldn’t be many living humans left on the entire continent...

Starting the game on hell difficulty?

How the hell would the protagonist group even play then?!

Was the trial still supposed to happen or not?!!

So—

After realizing this, around three hundred years ago, Yumo began implementing a strict Abyss Demon population control plan!

At the same time, she also started maintaining the ecological balance of the Winter Forest itself.

Only by ensuring sufficient numbers of ordinary magical beasts inside the forest could the Abyss Demons maintain a stable food supply.

With enough food available, those children naturally wouldn’t recklessly charge out of the forest on their own.

Of course, that was under the condition that the idiots on the continent stopped coming over here to court death....

As the saying goes—

Those who seek death shall find it.

After reducing the Abyss Demon population and guaranteeing their food supply, Yumo was basically able to keep the majority of Abyss Demons peacefully confined to the central and deepest regions of the Great Winter Forest.

Even if a small number occasionally escaped and attacked humans, there was no need to worry too much.

With Yumo’s assistance, the major powers had already established countless defensive lines around the outer perimeter of the Great Winter Forest.

Handling a few Abyss Demons shouldn’t be a problem.

Enmm...

Probably?

Sigh...

In short, Yumo had truly gone to great lengths to buy enough time for the continent’s factions to recover and rebuild.

However—

Doing this also created another problem.

As the number of Abyss Demon appearances gradually decreased, the fear people felt toward them also weakened?!

Little by little, for all kinds of bizarre reasons, more and more idiots began entering the Winter Forest to seek death.

Honestly, it was getting annoying....

Well...

Although most of them ended up dying in the jaws of Abyss Demons just like the exiles, their desperate counterattacks before death occasionally managed to kill a few Abyss Demons too....

Since Yumo couldn’t stop °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° those people from throwing their lives away, she simply decided to use them as experimental data and reference material instead....

—

“Sigh...”

After finishing this year’s annual ‘demon’ population census, Yumo, once again transformed into a red orb of light, let out a helpless sigh.

The latest statistics left her extremely dissatisfied.

This year—

Only 320 Abyss Demons had died?!

That was fifty fewer than last year?!

And this already marked the fifth consecutive year of decline!

However—

Why the hell had the number of dead adventurers risen to 5,300 instead?!

The number of Abyss Demon casualties kept decreasing while adventurer deaths continued climbing?!

What the fuck was this?!

The Abyss Demons she stationed near the outer forest were literally the weakest-tier ones available!

Were they really that hard to deal with?!

Yumo couldn’t stop herself from internally cursing.

The increasingly pathetic performance of these adventurers seriously made her question the quality of the continent’s so-called experts.

Had the long absence of large-scale Abyss Demon invasions caused everyone to lose their sense of crisis and stop training properly?

If this continued—

How were these people supposed to cooperate with the protagonist group and invade the Great Winter Forest in the future?!

‘They’re seriously a bunch of useless trash!’

Extremely rarely, Yumo found herself swearing internally several times in a row.

She even began seriously considering whether she should send Limo and the others out to cause trouble sometime soon, just to awaken those idiots’ sense of crisis again. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

No need to go too overboard.

Destroying one of the small countries near the Great Winter Forest should probably be enough...

Or perhaps she should think of some way to help them reform their educational and training systems?

Sigh...

If only she could leave this damned forest herself, personally training a group of people wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

Even without using the Shadow of Silence Power, she still possessed countless cultivation techniques, sword arts, and high-tier magic scrolls capable of dramatically increasing combat strength.

The only downside was that she wouldn’t be able to control them very effectively.

‘Forget it, forget it. No point thinking about it anymore. I can’t leave anyway.’

Yumo said to herself in resignation.

Afterward—

Her attention shifted toward the open area directly in front of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons.

Several hundred magical beasts of various kinds were trembling as they lay sprawled on the ground.

Beside them stood several hideous Abyss Demons resembling wyverns, their bodies wrapped in black aura.

Under the watchful gaze of these six seventh-tier Abyss Demons, the normally ferocious magical beasts behaved as obediently as tiny puppies, lying motionless on the ground.

It was as though the moment they moved, the Abyss Demons would immediately tear them apart and devour them.

However, the soul aura emitted by these magical beasts still caused the surrounding Abyss Demons near the Hall to become increasingly restless.

Even seventh-tier Abyss Demons could not resist their instinctive hatred toward other lifeforms.

Violent energy spread throughout the surroundings of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons.

Had Yumo not already given them direct orders, those Abyss Demons would’ve long since rushed forward and turned those several hundred magical beasts into dinner.

However—

As crimson light rippled outward—

The instant the red light representing Yumo’s consciousness appeared, the violent atmosphere outside the Hall immediately calmed.

The Abyss Demons all instinctively restrained their killing intent and prostrated themselves upon the ground....

Looking at the magical beast herd gathered by Limo and now surrounded by Abyss Demons, Yumo felt quite satisfied.

Although that girl caused her endless headaches in daily life, her work efficiency truly was first-rate.

Less than half an hour after receiving the order, she had already delivered several hundred magical beasts directly before her.

‘When she comes back later, I should praise her a little.’

Yumo thought to herself.

Afterward, she focused her attention on the magical beasts below.

‘Time to replenish the numbers.’

In the next moment—

As waves of crimson light spread from around the orb, unease instantly began spreading throughout the magical beast herd!

Relying on their extraordinarily sharp instincts, the beasts sensed unprecedented danger the moment the red light appeared!

They immediately began trembling and struggling restlessly!

Escape became the only thought remaining in their minds.

However, the Abyss Demons standing in every direction had already completely sealed off all possible escape routes.

Under such circumstances, the magical beasts could only remain in place while continuously letting out miserable cries.

And as they wailed—

Strands of strange black energy had already begun spreading upward from the ground, continuously pouring into the bodies of the magical beasts!

As this power invaded them, the miserable cries gradually transformed into violent roars.

Their appearances slowly became grotesque.

Terrifying.

But also undeniably stronger and more powerful.

Their auras surged continuously upward.

The magical beasts, whose average strength had originally only been around third or fourth-tier, now collectively reached the fifth and sixth tiers.

Oh.

No—

Perhaps they should no longer be called magical beasts anymore.

They had already become new Abyss Demons....

‘Mm, the aura’s not bad~’

Looking at the newly transformed Abyss Demons below, Yumo commented playfully to herself.

And just then—

Yumo’s consciousness suddenly paused.

Some unwelcome guests had entered the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons’ sphere of influence.

This caused a trace of displeasure to appear within her heart.

‘Enmm... there really seem to be more and more annoying people lately....’