Versatile Mage: Get the Desert Emperor clone at the start

Chapter 22 Pyramids Fall, War Declared
As soon as the strange changes occurred in the Sahara Desert, people knew that a powerful demon king had appeared here.

The Magic Castle in Cape of Good Hope in Africa immediately summoned the Cathedral of St. Paul in Europe, the Mage Tower of Dubai in Asia, and high-level officials from many surrounding countries to begin discussions. Even the Holy City and the Hunter Alliance joined in the discussions. Only the Parthenon remained aloof and did not participate.

Among these forces, the Holy City is undoubtedly the strongest. As the apparent ruler of human mages, their only strategy is to wait and see.

The other forces basically just stood by and watched. The crisis did not affect them, so they just came for the formality. Faced with such a situation, the Cape of Good Hope Demon Castle was helpless.

The Sahara Demon Empire, which has been marked as an "absolute forbidden zone" in the history of human magic, is listed as one of the world's three roof-level demon territories along with the Antarctic glaciers and the Bermuda Triangle.

Its horror lies not only in the countless high-level demons lurking within, but also in the fact that humans know almost nothing about its interior - any mages, hunters, or reconnaissance equipment that explores deeply, once they cross that invisible boundary, will be swallowed by the desert, and no news will be heard of them again.

Today, the Sahara's sand sea is expanding outward at a slow but unstoppable rate. Faced with this threat, human forces have been slow to take action.

On the one hand, the demonic expansion was unusually gentle—no massive sandstorms, no bloody massacres, simply the silent, outward advance of the desert's boundaries. While human cities were squeezed, casualties were minimal, leading many factions to delude themselves into thinking, "Perhaps they simply want to occupy more uninhabited wasteland?"

But what truly kept the Cape of Good Hope Demon Castle inactive was a deep sense of powerlessness. They knew full well that they could not contend with the demon king deep in the Sahara, and that a hasty war would only lead to devastating retaliation.

Therefore, the Cape of Good Hope Demon Castle had no choice but to retreat, watch the desert encroach on its marginal areas, and pray that this expansion would stop on its own at some point.

Furthermore, the Sahara's expansion isn't solely aimed at humans. Beyond the desert's borders, other powerful demonic empires stalk the landscape: North Africa's "Pyramid Kingdom of the Dead," West Africa's "Red Blood Rainforest Demon Nest," and East Africa's "Rift Valley Abyss Demon Realm." These demonic forces are equally fierce and will not easily relinquish their territories.

Soon, they will encounter the Egyptian pyramid kingdom of the dead. How will the desert emperor respond?
That day finally arrived.

The expansion of the Sahara Desert finally reached the territory of Egypt's Empire of the Dead - the kingdom of the dead ruled by ancient pyramids.

Headed by the Pyramid of Khufu and supplemented by the Pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, this empire of the dead has stood in the demon world for a thousand years. It has millions of mummies under its command and a pharaoh emperor in charge, making it extremely powerful.

And now, the yellow sands of the Sahara are slowly spreading across their borders, silently declaring new territorial sovereignty.

The human mages stationed at the edge of the desert watched the situation nervously, hoping that the two demonic forces would consume each other, yet fearing the possibility of a catastrophic conflict.

However, no one expected that the prelude to this confrontation would kick off in such a shocking way—

"boom--!!!"

A deafening roar erupted suddenly, as if the entire North African continent was trembling! The mages in the garrison camp stumbled to their feet, looking in horror towards the source of the sound.

At the edge of the distant desert, a dozen small pyramids, symbols of the majesty of the Undead Empire, collapsed in an instant! Yellow sand surged like a raging tide, completely engulfing them, leaving not even a trace of debris.

"It's a sand trap! The Sahara sands are swallowing them!" someone exclaimed. "Have the demonic empires begun to collide?" an elderly hunter's voice trembled.

The desert roared, the sand trembled. The entire Sahara seemed to have transformed into an ancient beast awakening, issuing the most direct warning to the Undead Empire before it—this desert was its territory, and anyone who set foot in would be swallowed by the endless yellow sand! The dozen or so collapsed pyramids were the most vivid demonstration of this.

The Pyramid Undead Empire obviously did not expect that the desert emperor would be so domineering. He did not even give them a chance to negotiate and directly declared war with the most violent means!
More than a dozen subsidiary pyramids collapsed in an instant, and the yellow sand surged like huge waves, burying them completely.

The Undead Empire was furious. For thousands of years, no one had ever dared to challenge their majesty like this!
"boom--!"

The Pyramid of Khafre, the one with the Sphinx in front of it, among the three major pyramids, suddenly burst out with a dark green light, and a decayed and cold atmosphere instantly swept across the entire edge of the desert.

The huge stone at the base of the pyramid shifted with a bang, revealing countless dark passages, and then—

"Click, click, click..."

The horrifying sound of bones rubbing against each other echoed as thousands of mummies crawled out from the depths of the pyramid! They were wrapped in yellowed shrouds, with green soul fire dancing in their dry eye sockets, and their rotten finger bones tightly grasped rusty bronze weapons.

Even more terrifying was the Bull Ghost Legion that followed closely behind—these half-human, half-bull monsters were three meters tall, with muscular build, foul-smelling air coming out of their nostrils, and the giant axes in their hands dragged deep grooves on the ground.

The undead army surged out like a tide and lined up at the edge of the desert. The cold breath of death even made the air freeze. They stared intently into the depths of the sand sea.

However, the Sahara Desert's response was even more violent!

"Ugh——!"

The sandstorm in the distance suddenly intensified, and the strong wind blew up a hundred-meter-high sand wall, covering the sky and the sun!
Under the control of some force, the sand grains unexpectedly condensed into countless ferocious demonic forms, as if the entire desert had come alive! Immediately afterwards, the ground began to tremble violently, the sand surging like boiling water, and countless demons emerged from the ground.

The first to bear the brunt were the "Sand-Eating Army Ants," each the size of a hound, their jaws capable of easily shattering steel. Close behind were the "Devil Sand Scorpions," their carapaces covered in purple magic patterns, their stingers dripping with venom that corroded the sand, emitting bursts of green smoke...

But the most striking sight was the herd of sand giant lizards. They stood over ten meters tall, their craggy backs sharp as blades, their scales covered in magical patterns gleaming with a cold metallic sheen. These predators exhaled a foul-smelling mist of sand, their amber pupils fixed intently on the undead horde, and every sweep of their sturdy tails stirred up small sandstorms.

And in the depths of the sandstorm, a mountain-like black shadow could be vaguely seen, with a violent aura on its body. It was it that had just taken action, sinking more than a dozen pyramids with yellow sand.

The two demon empires were facing each other on the edge of the desert. The breath of death and the pressure of the sandstorm collided wildly. Half of it was the dark clouds of the Undead Empire, and the other half was the dim sandstorm of the Sahara!

(End of this chapter)