< Demon Tribe (2) >
The power of the Holy God, the creator of a dimension, is absolute.
Literally, it could decide the beginning and end of the world as it pleases.
Because it is so vast, it is closer to a system than a personality, they cultivated their own domains according to their respective inclinations with an almost omnipotent power.
However, even though they are close to omnipotent, they still had limitations.
Because they were so large and powerful, they could not meticulously tune every single aspect of the delicate world.
If they accidentally modified something, everything connected to it could potentially collapse in a chain reaction and the world could shatter; thus, they could not recklessly intervene if even the slightest error arose in the dimension.
The fact that the involvement of gods varied from dimension to dimension was also due to this.
Reluctant to suffer losses after assembling haphazardly, some took a hands-off approach, merely watching as things unfolded in accordance with natural order, while others, wanting to invest aggressively for greater profit, placed lower deities to adjust the world in their stead.
Each had their own way of managing based on their inclinations.
The Holy God of Auterica was of the commonly seen intervention type.
After molding the world, he created gods from parts of himself to manage the creatures up close.
Although the lower gods had limitations as well, those who could do much more than the Holy God slowly cultivated the world in their own ways.
The World Tree that governed the richness and cycles of nature created elves.
The Titan who oversaw fire, metal, and technology created dwarves.
A deity responsible for animals, wildness, and hunting created beastmen, while a god overseeing the sea created mermaids, and the one maintaining strength and balance created dragons.
There was even a god who managed humans, the so-called profitable entities, who live short lives but create vigorous karma.
“Grughhh—Oh, Holy God…”
“Hoo, hoo—What on earth…?”
The heavenly gods and demonic gods were in similar circumstances.
To maintain the balance of the world, the Heavenly Realm isolated the overflowing light energy, while the Demon Realm conversely contained dark negative energy.
They established themselves in their respective realms and created angel tribes and demon tribes.
So much time passed.
Conflict and harmony, war and development…
The creatures burned their lives on this land with their values, leaving nothing but karma behind.
Naturally, peace was not the only thing present during that process, yet they managed to take steady steps forward without excessively losing balance.
—Until one god became overly immersed in his creations, indulging in excessive greed, crossing the line.
The aftermath of one god going rogue while managing the world on behalf of the Holy God was not minor.
Especially since that god wielded greater influence than several others combined, backed by immense karma production.
Due to humans expanding explosively, most other races were forced to flee their homes and migrate to new continents.
The few elite dragons were a bit better off, but even they had limited options when facing the direct intervention of the rogue god.
Eventually, the Holy God, unable to remain passive, uprooted that existence and confined it into the abyss, the dimension’s trash can, and only then did the chaos settle.
Rather than simply obliterating the god, allowing the painstakingly cultivated world to shatter, he merely stripped them of their authority over the established infrastructure and obliterated their records. Keeping them sealed in the abyss for an extended period would ensure they naturally decayed into the world’s compost, so it wasn’t a bad decision.
After all, the abyss was originally created for such a purpose.
…Well, as long as they kept quiet for a few tens of thousands of years.
To the gods, a few tens of thousands might be nothing, but for that existence—the ‘Human God’— who had already been tainted by human thought, it felt like an eternity.
Persistent determination, blazing impulses, unquenchable desires, and insatiable greed formed the foundation for the Human God, who refused to give up and stretched his hands in every direction.
While his main focus was the continent where his creations, the humans, thrived, he knew that pouring all his strength into one plan was foolish.
Wasn’t the abyss a place where various dimensional scraps gathered?
Naturally, the drains and pipes for those scraps stretched across the entire world.
[Aah! Refreshing air! Feels good, feels great!]
“Crack! Step back!”
[Kill them all! Sacrifice their bodies and souls!]
“Damn it! I knew those guys would do something someday!”
“Monsters of the abyss…!”
And now.
In a section at the center of the Demon Realm.
The sewage of the sewers began to backflow.
*
“A war in the Demon Realm…”
In Hubert Association’s Head’s office.
The devil, Miyamoto Ken, who had appeared unexpectedly, vanished silently as he came.
Leaving behind only a promise to return and containers of food that had been devoured.
In a way, this was a positive sign.
Despite having the power to act with bad intentions, he had not caused any harm and left willingly.
Thinking of it this way, there was a possibility of developing a mutually beneficial cooperative relationship, but…
Hubert maintained his guard and never let his heart down.
“Demons don’t become demons for no reason.”
It had nothing to do with brute force.
Demons’ nature is that they can take your nose even as you are awake.
Of course, Ken was a postnatal demon, so it couldn’t be judged on principle, but who knows how much he had adapted living for a long time within the Demon Realm?
“Showing friendly intentions might suddenly lead to swallowing us whole.”
Upon reflecting, this didn’t seem too bad.
While he was observing, not knowing what would happen next, if they crossed the line first, they could devour from head to toe without any guilt.
“Um… Head?”
“Hmm?”
As Hubert was lost in thought in the now-empty office, he turned to the one who called him.
“Are you really okay? That person who just came…”
With a worried expression, a mature girl looked at him.
Diana, his competent personal secretary, who was involved in most of the association’s affairs as Hubert’s right-hand.
“I guess she caught on.”
It felt like just yesterday when he met the skinny girl in a small town occupied by vampires, but having eaten well and lived comfortably over the years, she had grown tall enough to be called a lady now.
“Her mysterious sense of smell seems to have matured too.”
Even vampires guarding the premises had not noticed.
It seemed she had vaguely sensed the identity of the other party with her keen scent.
Hence, she looked at him worriedly.
“Ah, I’m fine. I have a separate plan.”
“Then I’m glad to hear that… um, I might be sensitive, but… after sniffing that person, I feel uneasy.”
“Uneasy?”
“…‘Foreboding’ would be more accurate. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“Hmm.”
Hubert slowly stroked his chin.
Diana had both the characteristic of “mysterious smell” and “despair and misfortune.”
Now she was with Hubert, who disregarded predetermined fate in this world, but her words, laden with her long experience of misfortune, were incredibly convincing.
“Yeah, don’t worry.”
In fact, he was a little torn.
It wasn’t a matter that could be decided lightly.
But after hearing her words, he managed to gather his thoughts.
“I have a definite means.”
For now, he planned to use everything he could.
*
I gazed at the many items that appeared in front of me in the 『Karma Shop Ver.2』 with a sense of nostalgia.
‘…Alright, I have enough points.’
When I checked right after restoring the Ganghwan Realm, my karma points were just around 9.5 million.
Now, a few days later in Earth time, it had soared to over 13 million.
‘There hasn’t really been any big events besides Hubert Association’s trade.’
It was truly a terrifying growth rate.
The accumulated results of many deeds during that time.
Watching the numbers go up in real time made my stomach feel full even without eating.
“Let’s get started right away.”
With enough resources, there was no reason to hesitate.
『Unique Skill Enhancement (2,000,000)』
Without hesitation, I selected that option.
“Ugh.”
Immediately, a familiar headache pierced my mind.
A sharp pain that couldn’t be filtered out even by my formidable mental defense.
Simultaneously, the area of cognition that had already reached distant realms began to expand even further.
《The effects of the derived abilities from the unique skill increase further, and the area where avatars can be summoned expands.》
After a moment passed.
A message I had seen during the previous enhancement appeared before my eyes.
Enhanced abilities linked to the unique skill and astonishing increase in the remote summoning range, which was previously about 60 kilometers.
‘With this, maybe it’s approximately a radius of 300 kilometers?’
That level would cover most of the Korean Peninsula.
Now, within that range, I could summon avatars freely with just my will, anytime, anywhere.
‘The next enhancement requires 3 million points.’
I licked my lips at the fact that the cost had jumped by 1 million all at once, but I quickly shook it off since I had somewhat expected it.
Anyway, I was overflowing with points, and what I was truly lacking was just time to adapt to the enhanced unique skill.
‘Besides, I have something more important to do now.’
That was the fact that I could finally create a new avatar.
It had been a long time since I was able to create an avatar since in several recent enhancements, only different abilities had been upgraded.
“Is this the 11th avatar?”
All the necessary preparations were already completed.
I took a deep breath and headed down to the basement.
Woooo—
There, various magic circles and spells tightly packed into the area were radiating a faint presence.
They were all types of mysteries designed to prevent the internal energy from leaking out.
While my residence was already enveloped in several layers of security, this place was an area where facilities took that protection to the extreme using complex spells.
‘In here, even if Hans hides his power, it shouldn’t be observable from outside.’
Of course, if he emitted his full strength, it wouldn’t be completely blocked, but the aura leaking naturally could be perfectly contained.
The costs for the manpower of the top-tier capabilities that entered this place were astronomical solely based on the resources consumed.
“Now, then.”
I had already decided what the next avatar would be.
Fortunately, I had sufficient materials for it, didn’t I?
“Finally, the time has come to make use of this.”
Woooo—
The moment I took out the item.
The barriers in the basement glowed as they began to suppress the internal energy.
A silver chain blessed with the holy power of a high priest was wrapped around and fixed to one arm, which was dotted with sharp metallic spikes.
It was the right arm of ‘Lreya, the 14th Demon King,’ sealed in the “Treasury of Gold Dragons,” inherited by the hatchling Horus.
‘Impressive indeed.’
Despite being firmly sealed for over a thousand years, the residuals of this demon king still exuded a powerful presence.
If it weren’t for the barrier set up here, guardians would have stormed in long ago.
“Now…”
And right before using “Customization”…
I searched for an item in the 『Purchase Items』 section.
There were still more preparations to be made.
『Horn Containing the Essence of the 14th Demon King Lreya (4,080,000)』
At first glance, this item had been priced at over 5 million points.
However, even at a price exceeding 400 million was still an astronomical amount.
I never expected to have a need for such an item…
‘Well, life is full of surprises.’
So far, I had created avatars using a single medium each.
Honestly, that was enough to target specific races.
‘However, with the enhancement of the unique skill and the growth of “Customization,” other possibilities opened up.’
It was now possible to create an avatar using additional similar mediums alongside a specific one.
But what if that medium were the remains of a demon king?
Especially if those remnants were of the 14th Demon King, whose records indicate he was not inferior to the Undead King at his prime?
‘Surely I have 10 avatars now; starting a new entity from scratch wouldn’t do.’
These days, leveled-up jumping characters were the trend in the gaming industry.
So why would I fall behind?
Smirking, I carefully placed a pair of black horns at the very center of the magic circle.
Gracefully curved, about 30 centimeters long.
Perhaps because it was named containing “essence,” the power within was beyond comparison with the sealed right arm.
Woooo—!
The barrier, which had been gently operating in the basement, activated more violently.
With a majestic vibration, clusters of light glowed faintly.
Yet, due to the immense resources already poured into this, it looked a bit more relaxed.
‘Right, it should be like this. It would be a problem if the limit was already being reached.’
There was still one more thing left to do.
I immediately took out another item.
A thin glass bottle wrapped in a delicate silver chain inscribed with a tiny prayer—
As the bottle tilted slightly, a black sphere within began to roll.
A ruby-like eye embedded in the center of that black sphere.
It locked eyes with mine.
“The Eye of the 14th Demon King Lreya.”
This was an item brought from the shrine of the Holy Church Order, Rosellia Temple.
Naturally, it wasn’t just the fragment of the Undead King that was sealed there.
One of them was a remnant of the demon king who invaded the surface a thousand years ago, which Heinrich had slyly smuggled out under the pretext of permanently eliminating it.
‘…Honestly, it’s not a lie. Soon this will completely vanish from the world.’
Thanks to that, I was able to gather three remnants to serve as mediums.
The horn, the right arm, and now the eye of the 14th Demon King Lreya.
Especially since the horn contained essence and was obtained from completely identical entities, it was the best combination, expecting extreme synergy.
‘Isn’t this going to produce something amazing?’
The barrier in the basement was slightly burdened, so I could no longer delay.
I couldn’t hide my rising anticipation as I immediately used “Customization.”
And…
“Huh? What is this?”
*
The avatar creation through “Customization” was completed.
I felt an unprecedented power within my body.
It was a new strength that resided in the newly acquired body, but adjusting and mastering it didn’t take long.
I had experienced wielding tremendous power enough to be accustomed to it from different avatars already.
Step by step, carefully and deliberately.
I took small steps feeling a subtle awkwardness.
It always felt strange every time I created a new avatar, but this time it could not be helped; it felt particularly unfamiliar.
Slowly, I arrived in front of the mirror set in one corner.
I cautiously lifted my head to look at my reflection.
A pair of high black horns towering over both sides of my head.
Black sclera with ruby pupils glowing brightly.
Jet-black wings bursting forth, tearing through the clothing around the shoulder blades.
There was no mistaking it—a perfect resemblance of a demon king.
However, during the “Customization” process, an unexpected variable arose—
Perhaps due to using too many materials from one powerful entity, my authority to modify the specific entity was somewhat limited.
Of course, I could still adjust the detailed elements significantly, but altering some major aspects proved impossible.
“14th Demon King Lreya.”
For instance, the pair of black horns.
Or the ruby-like glowing eyes.
Or perhaps…
“Wait… could it be female?”
As for the entity’s gender.
“Sigh— I didn’t see this coming.”
The beautiful figure reflected in the mirror sighed deeply.
With a voice so enchanting, it felt like it would mesmerize anyone who heard it.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.