Chapter 61: Demonic Profanity |
"Summoning a demon?" The old pastor paused in shock, but then his conviction only grew firmer.
Downs was indeed problematic.
Back when Nemus first brought Downs before him, he had immediately sensed that dense Demonic Aura.
That was absolutely not an aura that would appear merely from being influenced by demonic power.
And now, for the other party to directly summon demons meant that Nemus himself undoubtedly had issues as well.
Previously, claiming that Nemus was an evil man using Isabella to fuel his own ambitions had felt like quite a stretch.
But now, there was absolutely no doubt about it.
For any orthodox god''s church, as long as the enemy was a demon, they could swiftly seize the moral high ground and look down upon them with absolute disdain.
In this day and age, the foul reputation of demons remained overwhelmingly powerful.
Even his idealized heavenly kingdom felt increasingly real at this very moment.
The magic array dissipated. The desires offered as sacrifices had already transformed into the medium, anchoring the demons'' existence to this realm.
These incorporeal demons quickly surged with a dark aura, absorbing nearby matter. In the blink of an eye, they took form as a pack of lesser demons.
These lesser demons were wreathed in a pitch-black aura. Under the effect of their Immortal Trait, even though their bodies were constructed from the basic matter of the Material Plane, they possessed incredibly formidable defenses.
According to Warlock research manuals, all that was needed was to supply these lesser demons with a bit of blood food.
Then, their physical forms would achieve a stable Magic Construct.
Afterward, even if the demons were banished, as long as they weren''t destroyed by a Holy Attribute, their residual bodies could be harvested as magical materials.
Upon solidifying their bodies, the lesser demons roared in sheer excitement.
They had finally arrived in the Material Plane! Rumor had it that this realm offered an endless bounty of flesh and souls, and the inhabitants could be slaughtered with a mere flick of a finger.
The most wonderful part was that this particular summoner was exceedingly generous. They had used raw desire directly as a medium, completely omitting a binding contract.
As long as those desires did not dissipate, they could roam freely without any restrictions.
Moreover, if things went south, all they had to do was scatter the desires acting as their medium. Returning to The Abyss would only require a single thought. It was incredibly... safe?
Once the thrilled demons overcame the sensory disorientation caused by the planar shift, they finally took stock of their surroundings.
They were standing in a domain filled with auspicious clouds, and even the rippling water beneath them glimmered with a radiant golden hue.
Not far away stood two Cherubim.
Most lesser demons had only seen such entities in their inherited memories; there was a high probability they would never encounter the real deal in their entire lives.
Yet here they were, face-to-face with two of them at once?
A particularly cowardly lesser demon let out a bizarre shriek and instantly tried to scatter the desires to flee back to The Abyss.
However, the moment they tried to dispel it, the desires shifted. They intertwined and wove themselves into a simple contract—one that was already in a signed state.
"Clause 1: Fulfill a single request from the individual designated by the contract drafter."
"Clause 2: The summoned entity shall face no other restrictions."
"Clause 3: Upon fulfillment of the request, this contract shall immediately dissipate."
"Fuck! This trick of weaving desires into a hidden contract is absolutely something only a demon would do!"
"I''m going to rip open all nine holes in his body!"
"So vile! Is this summoner''s brain filled with a mixture of old sow piss and shit?!" The moment the desires transformed into a contract, the lesser demon''s resentment surged madly.
"His soul is a literal demonic cesspool!"
"Demonic Profanity!" "Absolute Demonic Profanity!" By this time, the other demons had also realized the trap, and a chorus of vulgar curses erupted.
The binding power of this contract was not particularly strong. The problem was that once it was established, the clauses were far too simplistic.
As a result, there was no alternative way to bypass its restrictions. They could only rely on their own demonic corruption to slowly erode the contract away, bit by bit.
Enduring the painful backlash of the contract during this process was a minor issue.
The real issue was their current environment. Did they truly have the time to suffer the backlash while painstakingly unraveling the contract?
"I need ninety percent of the Demonic Accumulation you brought with you. Give it to me, and you can go back," Downs, the designated individual, stated calmly.
The lesser demons instantly weighed the pros and cons. A barrage of Demonic Profanity echoed one after another, yet all of their demonic power "voluntarily" flowed straight into Downs.
With the contract fulfilled, the lesser demons—now reduced to faint, nearly invisible phantoms—heeded the call of The Abyss and fled this heartbreaking place.
Making this trip, they had not secured a single scrap of flesh and blood, yet they had lost almost their entire life''s savings.
Returning to The Abyss in this state was essentially the equivalent of starting over from a blank slate.
They would have to compete all over again with other lesser demons for already dangerous prey, or even hunt other lesser demons for flesh and souls to rebuild their Demonic Accumulation for Advancement.
This stolen Demonic Accumulation now rapidly surged toward Downs, drawn into his body with every breath he took.
Downs''s body instantly swelled with muscle. Fine, black scales sprouted across his skin, and a pair of small black horns pushed through his forehead.
Aside from lacking wings, a tail, and backward-bending hooves, Downs was virtually indistinguishable from a true demon.
The crucial point, however, was that Downs did not emit a single trace of Demonic Aura, even though his sheer strength had already broken through to the Iron Rank.
Of course, this was only temporary.
Demonic Advancement was never that simple.
The power gained from flesh and souls was merely raw strength. To truly elevate their rank and increase The Number, they required the assistance of the Abyssal Will.
Once a demon had gathered enough accumulation to cross the minimum threshold for the Abyssal Will to intervene, it would help compress and refine The Number within that accumulation. The vast majority of it would be siphoned away by The Abyss, leaving only a small portion for the demon to absorb.
Only after acquiring enough of this refined power could a demon complete their Advancement and become a Formal Demon.
Some lesser demons who were too slow or failed to gather enough of The Number would be forced to begin the accumulation process all over again for a second attempt.
If they were in the Material Plane, the required accumulation was even higher. Otherwise, the Abyssal Will simply could not be bothered to pierce the planar barrier for such a paltry transaction.
Therefore, even though Downs had gathered several distinct portions of Demonic Accumulation, it was still insufficient to allow Krog, sealed within his body, to advance.
He could only temporarily absorb the power in tandem with the Breath of Holy Precepts, briefly elevating his own strength to the Iron Rank.
Although it was fleeting, Downs felt exceptionally euphoric.
The sensation of raw power coursing through his entire being was simply intoxicating.
In the next instant, Nemus also felt the feedback from the fulfilled Precept. After all, while Nemus wasn''t the summoner, he was the drafter—the core authority behind this absurd, demon-scamming contract.
Because these were simultaneously completed Karma-linked Events, Nemus directly synthesized the feedback gained from Oath-keeping.
Compared to dealing with Opper and his subordinates earlier, the power of these lesser demons was much more uniform, making the synthesis process relatively effortless.
Very quickly, Nemus acquired a brand-new trait called Pollution Attachment.
"Precept Feedback: Qi Instrument New Trait - Pollution Attachment: Upon parasitizing a host, the Qi Instrument can pollute the host body, forcing it to adapt to the Qi Instrument."
"What a shame. Letting those lesser demons escape back to The Abyss didn''t count as Absolution," he muttered.