As I descended the castle tower, the doors automatically opened. At the same time I was greeted by a crowd of murderous glares. It was the thousands of monsters that followed Andalton Bruxelles. The look in their eyes was fierce enough to cause a man to shiver down to his bowels.
I felt faint when I imagined an army like this assaulting Earth.
They looked like they were ready to fight already. There was no way their gazes toward me would be any good, considering that their master hadn’t come down from the castle tower for a hundred or so days.
Ah…!
I heard another sound of exclamation.
It was Laila Diablo. She was like an active volcano in the way she was glaring at Andalton Bruxelles’ army, however, the moment she saw my face she was like a fair flower blooming.
Father! So you were alright!
Laila ran over and clung to my legs. Laila’s height reached 1.8m, not on the small side, but right now my body was twice that size, which was why she appeared to me like a cicada stuck to an old tree.
My forehead creased a little. For some reason I felt an emotion which Uriel should have been feeling instead. To think, that Queen of Terror and Slaughter appeared loveable!
‘Maniac!’
I cursed at myself and shook my head internally. She was the Queen of Terror and Slaughter. Slaughter! Why would she be called thus? I still couldn’t forget the look on the faces of my fallen comrades. It had become something that didn’t happen now, but I couldn’t forget. At the very least…I mustn’t feel any sentiments for her.
Laila then realized her own blunder and took a step back.
Apo-…logies, my Lord. I felt too glad.
Uriel Diablo! Why is our Lord not coming down?
I turned my head at hearing an extremely cold voice.
A doom knight was staring at me. It was a higher species of the death knight, clad in black armor with the wings of a dragon. It was an awe-inspiring monster which even I had only seen once through a ‘purple Gate’.
‘Its attitude is as if ready for war.’
It was well trained, and more than anything it truly followed Andalton Bruxelles; its eyes said it all. It was fiercely staring at me as if it wouldn’t mind overturning this place into hell if I were to have done him harm…but that was a pointless worry.
I shrugged my shoulders.
What is all this noise.
Following that voice I turned to look toward the castle door to see Andalton Bruxelles walking out like he owned the place.
We greet the Lord.
Chuk!
The monsters, including the doom knight, all moved as one and kneeled on one side.
You have made a fuss out of nothing.
Having immediately figured out the situation, Andalton Bruxelles gave a dismissive click of his tongue before simply walking away, as if he no longer had any business here of interest.
He also left some words for me.
Let us meet again, Uriel Diablo.
That made the doom knight flinch, and give me a once over before he roused the army and followed after Andalton Bruxelles. The surroundings became quiet in mere moments.
Laila looked at me with disbelief in her eyes.
He…has remembered my Lord’s name.
Is that something strange?
There are only two cases where Andalton Bruxelles remembers a name. When he must kill someone at all costs, or else when he feels a ‘deep interest’.
Laila followed up with a question.
Perchance, did my Lord fight with him?
Something along the lines of that.
Although unintentional, victory was decided between who drew closer to the Colossus, and I was the victor.
Laila’s expression greatly darkened at my response.
He is an existence incomparable to the likes of Carpediem the Destroyer who is targeting our territory. He is the sole person to have risen to the top without the protection of the Four Great Kings after all. It is said that even Four Great Kings greatly desire him. Of course I believe in my Lord’s victory without a doubt however…I am bothered by his inclination to meet again.
The meaning behind his words should be different from you are thinking.
If he considered me an enemy just because of that, the he truly wouldn’t be doing the name Bruxelles justice.
I didn’t mind it at all as I moved my feet. Perhaps it was because I had seen her once already, but now I had a better grasp on how I should face Laila Diablo.
Let us return. There is much work to be done.
..
..
The first thing I looked into upon returning to the territory was the correlation between the abyss and reality. I meant…for example, the amount of points I held.
[User currently has ‘13,300’ points.]
[A debt of ‘160,000’ points exists.]
User has a debt of 160,000 points with Laila Diablo and other assets as collateral.
540 days remain until the deadline of repayment.
The territory and all assets used as collateral will be handed over to the ‘dark merchants’ to be auctioned upon failure of repayment.
Loss of territory will result in being stripped of the Demon Lord’s right.
I felt my vision grow dark for a moment.
The above messages had popped up when I had placed my hands on the huge crystal in the center of the castle.
‘The points are linked…!
I almost yelled out in surprise, my body slightly trembling. This was an unimaginable occurrence.
13,300 was the number of points I originally had. The points I had were directly linked, which meant that the opposite should also be possible; Obtaining points using Uriel’s body and using them as Hansung Oh!
‘Never say never indeed.’
I was sorely in doubt, but to think even this would be connected!
Points were important. With it, it was possible to accomplish certain achievements and purchase special items from dark merchants and the like. Sealed equipments would occasionally require points as well. In particular, Dominator was a power that was characteristically completely reliant on points.
This may be the opportunity to further promote my rate of development. It may even be possible to catch up to the power of Al Araxar within 5 years. Excluding the 160,000 points debt, there couldn’t be a better situation than this one.
Until now I have tried to maintain all aspects of the territory. But because Carpediem the Destroyer has been targeting the territory in the past few years, time and time again…I had made use of several mercenary companies, however, there was a limit to that. The lancers were the last line of defense after all.
Contrary to what I was feeling inside, Laila’s expression was dark.
Uriel did indeed have 500 lancers following him. Those soldiers made of dragon bones had devastated humanity with their dreadful power. They were the last line of defense, meaning, Laila had made use of mercenaries and the like for the sake preserving them and fended off Carpediem the Destroyer’s attacks until recently.
Were the circumstances so harsh as to be forced to employ mercenaries?
The Lords who have received assistance of the Four Great Kings have no need to recruit their own troops. Aside from that, there were those who revered the Lords who made themselves renown in the abyss. Otherwise there are outsiders who voluntarily offer their service for the sake of future glory. At first there were aspiring candidates coming to our territory, however…Perhaps 100 years was too long…
Laila’s words faded into mumbles.
Sure enough, I understood. I had finally awoken in 100 years. Who would have continued to wait when I did nothing but sleep for such a long time? And so they had all left already which meant that this territory was literally empty. So that must have been why she could only borrow mercenaries from the outside in order to put up a defense, and to cover the expenses she had sold most things in the castle, and made a loan with herself as collateral. Laila had done all this out of desperation while she waited for me.
‘Both sides influence one another. I need strength to protect myself.’
I rubbed my chin.
First I needed something to protect myself, whether it be here, or on Earth. To put it bluntly, I may be killed by others while I was using Transfer, which was why I needed strength to protect myself. It should be possible to keep the other Demon Lords at bay if I grew stronger. Slowing their advance toward Earth as much as possible, thus buying myself time to develop, was the ideal situation.
‘It’s perfect in theory.’
It was a flawless plan. I could make preparations on both sides, meaning that it was possible for me to shake up the Demon Lords in the abyss, while I sharpened and toughened my claws on earth so as to send their heads flying when they came. The problem was…debt.
‘Even if I deducted 13,300 points from the debt, roughly 150,000 remains.’
I was supposed to repay this debt within 540 days.
However, I couldn’t lose Laila Diablo to just that amount of points. Her value amounted to 300,000 points. She would continue to grow stronger, and at least she was definitely the most trustworthy existence who would assist this body.
‘A great amount of information is contained in this crystal.’
The crystal which existed in the center of the castle was a tool that allowed me to control the overall functions of the territory.
I continued to place my hand on it to further understand those functions.
[Territory Management] [Structure Management] [Dark Merchant Store]…
There were many, but these three were the most important. I had no business for now with territory management so I skipped it. Structure management was related to building temples in honor of the god who gave a Demon Lord his name, or building other special structures, so it wasn’t of immediate concern.
‘Dark merchant store, huh.’
Perhaps it held the key to breaking out of this danger.
I moved my finger to the dark merchant store on the crystal, and then numerous words began to line up before my eyes.
[Welcome to the Dark Merchant Store.]
[Weapons] [Armor] [Skill Books] [General]…
I burned everything into my eyes. There were indeed a lot of uncommon items on display, but there was no powerful equipment befitting the use of a Demon Lord. What was unusual was that the creators of each items were all different. Apparently you could personally register an item through a dark mechant.
I turned my gaze to General. I went through the item list in depth and came across two things.
Creates a Gate in a certain location of Earth which leads into the abyss upon purchase.
The dimensional rift is currently 8.3% open. The criteria for what is allowed to cross over differs according to the status of the dimensional rift.
At present, a maximum of five Lv5 or below creatures may pass through a Gate each.
Dark Gate! How unexpected that Gates leading into the abyss could be created!
I was freshly shocked, although It was my first time coming across the term ‘dimensional rift’. Had Uriel Diablo also set foot on Earth through this Gate?
‘Hu. Is this something like a special right exclusive to Demon Lords?’
I marvelled at it a little. The gap between the potential of humans and Demon Lord’s was too large; it was only natural to be daunted by this. But I was now able to utilize such functions. Things were definitely different from the past now. If I could use this well…I may be able to make a huge impact to Earth, even to myself.
I shifted my gaze to the other item.
Carry things no longer, now you can pocket them! This jewel provides the user a small demi-plane.
Water can flow inside, you can even grow flowers.
Only things Lv5 and below can go inside.
It was specially designed so that you can see what is inside at a glance. (Creator, Gourmandi)
99 in stock.
A jewel which contained a demi-plane. I didn’t know how wide it would be inside the demi-plane, but it was certain to be quite useful depending on its use. In particular, its flaws may be covered if it was used in tandem with my ‘Dominator’. For example, I wasn’t able to bring my gnolls around separately, however, with the use of this jewel it should be possible to summon the gnolls when I wanted, where I wanted.
‘Tempting.’
To take away even that bit of freedom!
If I were capable of summon whenever and wherever I wanted, This would become another powerful weapon in my hand.
I decided to purchase one jewel. Some messages popped up when I moved my hand to do so.
[‘Jewel of Space’ has been purchased.]
[2,000 points has been deducted. 11,000 points remaining.]
Shuaang!
An object the size of an egg formed above the palm of my hand. It looked like a jewel that wasn’t crafted well. To be specific, something like an LCD was stuck in the middle of this round item, and below that were some small buttons.
It was familiar for some reason. I’d definitely seen a lot of it somewhere. I think I used it especially often back in my childhood. There was a small house drawn in dot pixels in the screen, and the inside of the house was completely empty. This was just like…
‘Tamagotchi?’
That’s right. The Jewel of Space was without a doubt, a Tamagotchi.
I picked up a pebble fallen on the ground and tried placing it into the demi-plane, just in case. And then a small pebble was added inside the pixel house. The pebble was displayed in pixels also.
‘A Tamagotchi for real.’
Although it was completely empty of content.
It seemed like it was designed this way in order to easily be able to see what was inside it, not to raise anything. For a product of coincidence, it was rather cute. But thanks to its resemblance to Tamagotchi, I came to an abrupt realization.
‘If I use this well…’
I rubbed my chin, and at the same time a small business began to take form in my mind; I had realized an idea involving my Authority and this item which could perhaps prove to be a total reversal of fortune. Moreover, I needed much more points if I wanted to make the most out of the power of Dominator. Business was the right direction to go, not war.
‘The points earned will be linked as well. This is an opportunity.’
A small shiver ran down my spine. Crisis was another word for chance, or so it’s told, and indeed that was the case. Because right now, rather myself as Hansung Oh, my chances of gaining great amounts of points was overwhelmingly higher as Uriel Diablo!
A small smile hung around my lips. I’d chosen my path, and a name for the business too.
‘Absolute Domination Company.’
An expression of my ambition to sweep up points, to dominate and trample over everything!
From time immemorial, drawing aggro properly was the right way to go. I would brave the path which Uriel Diablo had never chosen in the past.
