Zhang Nu was surprised by the appearance of the leaderboard, but he didn't find it odd. In his previous life, almost every mobile and online game he played had a leaderboard, so having rankings in a game was not strange at all.
With Zhang Nu's strength, it would be strange if he didn't make it onto the leaderboard. Being listed was inevitable. Now, he had the option to either disclose his information or keep it hidden. Disclosing information could bring some additional rewards, but it would also expose not only his race and level but potentially even his location. Unless one was extremely confident and ostentatious, there was no need to put oneself in such a situation just for a bit of extra reward. Zhang Nu was not lacking in money or resources, so he naturally chose to hide his critical information.
[The Demon King faction leaderboard is being generated... Congratulations, you have made it onto the Demon King leaderboard, currently ranked as: 1st!]
[You have received a 50% extra gold reward!]
[You may claim a ranking treasure chest once a week!]
What? He topped the list? Zhang Nu was somewhat surprised. He felt confident in his strength and was certain of making it onto the leaderboard, even securing one of the top spots seemed likely. However, securing the top position and becoming the number one Demon King was somewhat unexpected. Given his current strength, the population of Darkness City, its influence, scale, and facilities, it did seem fitting for him to be ranked first. Zhang Nu opened the leaderboard and glanced at the current rankings of the Demon Kings:
1st place: Zhang Nu
Level (hidden), Race (hidden), Location (hidden)
2nd place: Berkeley Galbraith
Level (hidden), Race (hidden), Location (hidden)
3rd place: Vivian Strayer
Level (hidden), Race (hidden), Location (hidden)
4th place: Lin Qianqiu
Level (hidden), Race (hidden), Location (hidden)
5th place: Yuto Yokoyama
Level (hidden), Race (hidden), Location (hidden)
6th place: Artyom Romanov
Level (hidden), Race (hidden), Location (hidden)
7th place: Li Renjun
Level (hidden), Race (hidden), Location (hidden)
8th place: Tarak Khan
Level 6 Myth, Dark Titan, located in the Abyssal World at coordinates...
9th place:......
......
33rd place: Han Kexin
Level (hidden), Race (hidden), Location (hidden)
Scanning through the list, Zhang Nu noted that the Demon King leaderboard featured 500 names from various regions and countries. He was currently at the very top. Han Kexin ranked 33rd.
Essentially, every Demon King on the list, even the weakest, had reached at least Level 5, indicating that the number of Demon Kings who had reached Level 5 was not as small as one might think. As for the Level 6 Demon Kings, there were dozens of them. Generally, reaching the 6th tier would place one within the top 100. Looking at the list, it was clear that the Demon King community was brimming with formidable and unexpected talents.
Han Kexin was not weak by any means. The fact that she couldn't make it into the top thirty, ranking 33rd instead, showed that there were thirty-two Demon Kings stronger than her at the moment.
The majority of the Demon Kings chose to hide their detailed information. Only a very few, like the 8th ranked Demon King, Tarak Khan, openly disclosed their information and even their location. Based on his name, he seemed to be a Demon King from India. His decision to reveal his information wasn't entirely due to arrogance; he resided in the mysterious and unpredictable Abyssal Space, which had a sparse population but powerful inhabitants, and he needed to attract more Heroes. This Indian Demon King, by choosing to disclose his information, revealed that he was a Level 6 mythic-tier being. The strength of these supreme Demon Kings could be easily imagined.
Demon Kings with the strength of a Level 6 monarch could barely make it into the top hundred, while Level 6 monarch Demon Kings had a chance to be in the top thirty or forty. Any one of them was powerful enough to dominate a region. The emergence of the Demon King leaderboard immediately caused a stir in the Demon King chat channels.
"Holyshit!"
"A leaderboard!"
"Everyone, go check it out! There's a new leaderboard!"
"Now we can stop arguing; the strength of all the Demon Kings is clear at a glance!"
"Have you guys seen who's at the top? Is the Potato Demon King really that powerful?"
"Hahaha, I've actually had business dealings with the top Demon King!"
"Even though jealousy is tearing me apart, it's still better than having a foreigner at the top. Good job, Potato Demon King, you've made our great China proud!"
"This has revealed so many big shots!"
"Some of them have never even appeared on the forums!"
"Strange, how did these mysterious big shots develop their strength?"
"The one in eighth place is even a Level 6 mythic entity? These guys are too fierce! How did they manage to develop to this level?"
Everyone was discussing fervently, all deeply shocked.
Meanwhile, in every corner of this world, all the Demon Kings, whether ranked or unranked, were surprised. In a distant land, within a magnificent city and a splendid castle, surrounded by millions of subjects, a Twelve-Winged Fallen Angel Demon King looked on in astonishment. Among the top fifty on the Demon King leaderboard, there were only a handful of female Demon Kings, and she was one of the top three, Vivian, ranking even higher than the Succubus Queen Han Kexin.
"How can this be?"
"Why am I ranked third?"
"What's the deal with the two above me?"
It was no wonder Vivian felt perplexed. Vivian was a "Twelve-Winged Dark Fallen Angel," one of the most powerful races. She was fortunate, and her father was even luckier. Vivian's father, as a Hero, was reborn as an emperor of an imperial-level power. A Hero with the status of an emperor is almost unheard of and unique. From the beginning, he controlled a super powerful empire.
Two months ago, Vivian successfully reunited with her father, and since then, her growth as a Demon King skyrocketed. After all, compared to other Demon Kings, she had the full support of a superpower behind her! Billions in gold, thousands of Heroes, resources, souls, and talents -- Vivian had it all. Working together, the Hero father provided resources, and the Demon King daughter expanded the territory, leveraging each other's strengths to become arguably the most formidable duo currently.
At that time, Vivian commanded an army of millions and controlled nearly ten million Demon King subjects. Her strength had nearly reached that of a Level 6 legendary being. She simply couldn't believe that there were two individuals in this world who had surpassed her, and the one at the top, Demon King Zhang Nu, was apparently from China. Narrowing her eyes, she focused on the top-ranked Demon King.
"So, the current top Demon King is Zhang Nu? A Chinese?" she mused. "Damn, surpassing me by two ranks, I must teach him a lesson and show him who truly deserves to be the top Demon King!"
Despite not securing the top spot, Vivian wasn't disheartened. Her full cooperation and partnership with her emperor father had only been for two months, and her territory was still expanding rapidly. She believed that overtaking the top spot was just a matter of time.
Meanwhile, other top-tier Demon Kings were equally shocked by the rankings. The fourth-ranked Demon King, Lin Qianqiu, was formerly the commander of China's top special forces unit and one of the nation's most outstanding soldiers.
Lin Qianqiu belonged to the race of "Doomsday Harbingers," a high-tier undead race considered to be the ultimate evolution of a Death Knight. Although incredibly powerful, this race was slightly inferior to the Abyssal Dragon Kings and the Twelve-Winged Fallen Angels but on a similar level to the Succubus Queen and the Bone Demon King. While not the most top-tier or strongest race, it was still highly formidable. There were numerous Demon Kings ranked below Lin Qianqiu with stronger races, yet Lin Qianqiu managed to fight his way to the fourth position, showcasing his impressive overall qualities.
"Not bad, fourth place," Lin Qianqiu said with a slight smile. "But I won't be satisfied with just this. If I aim to do something, I aim to be the strongest."After viewing the rankings, he didn't pay much attention to it and quickly returned to his battles.
The sixth-ranked Demon King, Artyom Romanov, was a man from Russia. His race was the Chaos Behemoth King, another one of the strongest initial races. Upon seeing his ranking, Artyom was both shocked and angry.
"What's going on? I thought I had secured first place for sure!"
The reactions of the other top Demon Kings varied greatly. Some were exhilarated and joyful, others were sullen and angry, and yet others were indifferent. However, at this moment, all the Demon Kings had one name etched into their memories---the name of Zhang Nu, who had long been nicknamed "Potato Demon King" and had now ascended to the top of the leaderboard as the number one Demon King. From this day forward, he would be a benchmark for others. Zhang Nu would become the target that all other Demon Kings strive to surpass. As for this honor, Zhang Nu himself didn't really care much about it. However, just then, he received a private message from Han Kexin.
Han Kexin: "Hey, have you seen the rankings? You're actually in first place, I really didn't misjudge your strength!"
Han Kexin: "But I can't believe I'm ranked in the thirties, especially with another female Demon King ahead of me. It's simply unbearable!"
This woman was still as competitive as ever. With at least a hundred million Demon Kings, even after many were killed off or eliminated, there were still tens of millions left. Being ranked among the top few tens out of so many Demon Kings, what was there to be dissatisfied about?
Zhang Nu offered comfort: "Ranking thirty-third is not bad at all. Don't worry too much about this kind of thing. What's most important is that we focus on our own business!"
Han Kexin: "No, I'm not satisfied. If that Vivian can be third, why should I only be thirty-third? I at least need to break into the top ten!"
Zhang Nu knew her personality well. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Being spurred on by this, she would definitely work even harder. So, Zhang Nu immediately said: "Okay, I'll help you. As long as we work together, not only the top ten but even taking down that Vivian won't be a problem!"
Han Kexin: "That's what I've been waiting to hear from you. Just make sure you keep that top spot warm for me!"
After the appearance of the Demon King rankings, Han Kexin reaffirmed her decision to join the Darkness City. Without joining the Darkness City, being ranked thirty-third, she probably wouldn't even have the strength of a Level 6 by now and would at most be ranked in the two or three hundreds!
The Succubus Queen set her initial goal to break into the top ten. Then, she planned to make her way into the top five and eventually the top three. With the city's lord being the number one Demon King, the vice city lord couldn't lag too far behind. Only by the two top Demon Kings working together could they conquer the world!
Suddenly, Zhang Nu thought that if the Demon King rankings had been released, it would only make sense for the Hero rankings to be out as well. He immediately summoned one of his subordinate Heroes and asked him to copy down the Hero rankings. These ranked Heroes were like big fat sheep, not only were they top-tier Heroes, but killing them also came with extremely generous special treasure chest rewards!"