Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity
Chapter 70
Meanwhile, Priestess Lunia was also performing a similar role.
However, the scene was significantly different from Taion’s.
In the depths of the Forest of Death lived a unique species known as the Poison Ogre.
These rare creatures, with poison oozing from their sweat glands like a toxic toad, considered humans as nothing more than a meal.
There was a colony of these ferocious and terrifying monsters.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground shook as if an earthquake had occurred.
– Grrroooarrr!
– Roarrrr!
Poison Ogres were running while screaming.
However, they were not chasing Priestess Lunia.
– Ugh! Ugh! (A mad demon is chasing us!)
– Ugh, Ugh! (I want to live! I don’t want to die!)
“Kya ha ha ha ha! Where are you going?!”
Priestess Lunia burst into a clear laugh.
That’s right, they were being chased by Lunia.
She swung her beloved morning star at the Poison Ogres as she chased them.
When a human woman first appeared, they thought they were in for a treat and fought each other to devour her.
“Kya ha!”
However, after dozens of their kind’s heads were smashed and their chests were pierced, they realized this was not food.
They felt fear towards this monster that looked like a human woman.
“Ah! Don’t go that way! If you don’t want your heads smashed, go up!”
She swung her chain and smashed the ground with her morning star, directing the Poison Ogres’ escape route.
Boom! Crash! Boom!
Each time she smashed the ground right behind them, they felt a chill.
The spiked morning star was soaked with the blood of their kind.
“Kya ha ha! This is fun! I’m glad I came on this pilgrimage!”
– Ugh, Ugh! (Someone please save us!)
Thus, Priestess Lunia drove the Poison Ogre horde towards the top of a dormant volcano in her own way.
—
<Using special ability, Wraith Subjugation.>
<Please select the wraith to summon.>
<Wraiths available for summoning: 8 >
While the two were busy, Aden was also doing his part.
Aden stood in an area where various types of monsters were densely packed together in small clusters.
“Summon High Troll Shaman.”
First, he summoned a High Troll Shaman, who used fire magic.
Ssshhh.
A portion of Aden’s mana was consumed, and just like before, black mist appeared and gathered to summon the wraith of the High Troll Shaman.
– Kurrwa, Watu.
The giant High Troll knelt before its master, Aden.
Ets, who was beside Aden, was startled, his leafy hair standing on end.
“Eek! Tr-Tr-Tr-Troll?”
Aden ignored the almost panicking Ets and assessed the strength contained in the High Troll Shaman.
He soon frowned.
‘Hmm, still a bit weak.’
The High Troll Shaman’s abilities fell short of Aden’s standards.
So, he checked the new feature that had developed as his subjugation ability advanced.
<[Slot Overlap]>
<Concentrate the power allocated to other summoned wraiths to enhance a specific wraith. The buff lasts until the summoning is canceled.>
<A 10% ability increase buff is granted per slot, and the buff effect stacks with more slots allocated.>
Slot Overlap.
The number of wraiths Aden could summon had increased from initially just one to eight.
This meant that by summoning only one High Troll Shaman and allocating the remaining seven slots to it, he could increase its abilities by up to 70%.
Aden immediately used Slot Overlap.
< Overlapping 6 empty slots with the wraith, ‘High Troll Shaman.’ >
< The abilities of the wraith, ‘High Troll Shaman,’ increase by 60%. >
– Kurrrrrr…
The aura emanating from the High Troll Shaman grew more intense.
Aden smiled faintly.
“Good. Just right.”
Aden deliberately left one summon slot empty.
There was another entity he needed to summon besides the High Troll Shaman.
A being whose soul was entirely subjugated within Baalzebul.
“Summon Mephisto.”
Shurururuk!
Black mist rose and rapidly formed a shape.
Black goat horns.
Bat-like wings with a membrane.
Sturdy legs and hooves resembling those of a goat.
Mephisto.
Once a high-ranking Talos treated as a noble even in the underworld, but after being defeated by Aden, it had fallen to a mere wraith—a Talos of deception and lies.
It was summoned.
– Lord… please command me.
Surprisingly, even as a wraith, it spoke with a clear will.
Being entirely subjugated, it retained its intellect.
The wraith Mephisto trembled and knelt humbly before Aden.
It instinctively knew that Aden was no longer the Underlord.
The soul’s aura emanating from the human before it was strikingly similar to that of the underworld lord, yet he was undoubtedly human.
‘But that doesn’t matter.’
It had not followed the Underlord out of loyalty.
‘What matters is that this one possesses my soul!’
It simply bowed before the overwhelming power of the one who had taken its soul.
And currently, the one possessing its soul was the human, Aden Remes.
This was its new master.
Aden looked down at Mephisto with a sharp gaze.
“Yes. Follow my orders, Mephisto.”
—
– Kyaaaak! (Fire!)
– Kweeeek, Kakakak! (Everyone, run!)
A commotion arose in the Venom Lizard colony deep within the Forest of Death.
Suddenly, a wildfire engulfed the colony.
– Keke, Kyasharak! (No matter how much water we pour, the fire doesn’t go out!)
– Kikarak! (It’s a possessed fire!)
Oddly enough, the fire showed no signs of extinguishing despite the large amounts of water poured on it and continued to grow.
There was another strange thing.
Even with no wind, the wildfire rapidly expanded, consuming the forest.
The Venom Lizards felt fear in front of this unquenchable fire.
– Kwishik! Kwik! (Fire is everywhere!)
– Krashak! Krak! (Everyone, move up! There’s no fire there!)
The Venom Lizards, in a state of panic, ran towards the direction still untouched by the fire.
They gradually ascended towards the crater.
Meanwhile, there was someone looking down at them from above with a sneer.
– Kahahaha! Flee, you lowly creatures! Be even more terrified!
Mephisto controlled the wind with his wings and black magic, directing the fire’s path.
“Eek! It’s too high! Kyaaak, it’s shaking!”
“Stop whining and fly properly.”
– I-I’m sorry! Lord!
Behind Mephisto, Ets and Aden were riding, trembling.
They were witnessing a disaster unfold in real-time.
They could see the source of the wildfire on one side.
– Ararararal, Lararal.
The wraith of the High Troll Shaman was creating fireballs with its magic and shooting them everywhere.
The fireballs ignited the trees, growing in intensity, and due to the High Troll’s magic, they were not easily extinguished.
Yes, this wildfire was a man-made disaster created by the combined efforts of fire magic and Mephisto’s black magic.
The wildfire blazed intensely.
Aden asked Ets beside him.
“Are you really okay?”
Ets was of the tree fairy tribe.
Aden wondered if setting the forest on fire would cause him mental distress.
Even though they had discussed it beforehand, he couldn’t help but worry.
As expected, Ets’s face turned pale as he watched the burning forest.
However, Ets faintly smiled and shook his head.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
Ets spoke while looking at the burning trees.
“Surely, for a single tree, fire is a disaster and death. It’s natural to be afraid.”
But then, Ets said something unexpected.
“But from the forest’s perspective, fire is not an enemy. The forest does not hate fire. The land becomes fertile after the fire passes, providing nourishment for its children to grow.”
The forest does not hate fire.
Even though fire burns and causes pain, the forest remembers that it grew from seeds with the help of fire, using the ashes as nutrients.
It acknowledges that its growth was aided by fire.
– The grace received from the fire is simply reclaimed by it. So do not hate but understand.
Thus, Ets said it was fine.
Ets smiled.
“My village taught me that. So, don’t worry.”
Aden smiled wryly at Ets.
‘The forest does not hate fire…’
It was quite a unique perspective.
It was indeed different from humans.
While Aden and Ets were chatting, the fire chased the Venom Lizard tribe up the crater.
The flames enhanced by Slot Overlap were powerful.
As a result, they fled towards the crater without a moment’s respite.
Aden, observing this scene from the sky, smiled.
“Hm, they’re finally gathering.”
The giant venomous spiders chasing Taion.
The Poison Ogre horde chased by Priestess Lunia.
And the Venom Lizard tribe fleeing from the fire Aden had caused.
Three different monster species were converging on the Ent village.
Seeing this, Curse reproached Aden.
– To think of such a sinister plan, you are indeed despicable.
‘Thank you for the compliment.’
– ……
Being called despicable by the Underlord was the highest praise.
Accepting criticism as praise, Curse gave up on mocking him.
—
Meanwhile, the black magicians occupying the Ent village noticed the black smoke rising from the wildfire.
“That smoke…”
“Looks like there’s a wildfire.”
They did not find the smoke strange.
Wildfires could happen anytime.
Moreover, the flames and smoke could not reach the Ent village inside the caldera, so there was no sense of danger.
However, they had another concern.
“By the way, Faragus and the thieves are taking too long.”
“Could they have gotten caught in that wildfire? That would be troublesome!”
The black magicians were more worried about losing valuable materials needed to complete the ‘gem’.
At that moment.
The black knight, Dares Clayman, who had been sitting silently at the stump of a felled fairy tree, suddenly stood up.
He pulled out his beloved black greatsword, which had been embedded in one side of the stump.
Since occupying the Ent village, he had been stationary like a Death Knight, so his movement surprised the black magicians.
Gellard, one of the black magician leaders, asked.
“Black Knight? What’s going on?”
Dares Clayman stared ahead.
He replied bluntly.
“Something is coming.”
At his words, the other black magicians also turned to look in the direction Dares was facing.
From afar, a human figure was approaching.
Someone was running towards them, shouting something.
– Move! Get out of the way!
Who was it? One of the thieves?
Then they saw something like a dust cloud behind that person.
‘What is that?’
The black magicians were puzzled and curious.
Their eyes widened as they recognized what it was, their jaws dropping in shock.
“W-Wait…”
“What is that…?”
“What on earth is happening…?”
As the dust cloud drew closer and its nature became clear, they turned pale and froze.
The black knight’s expression also hardened with a trace of agitation.
Cold sweat trickled down his neck.
Kurururuung-!
The ground trembled.
The dust cloud’s nature became clearer.
– Kyeessshh!
– Roaaarrr!
– Kyakakak!
Hundreds of giant venomous spiders.
Hundreds of Poison Ogres.
Hundreds of Venom Lizardmen.
And various other monsters desperately fleeing to avoid being trampled to death by those three species.
They were all roaring and chasing a single human.
“Damn it all, sh*t!”
Taion cursed as he was pursued by nearly a thousand monsters.
Taion’s curses echoed loudly.
Hearing that, the dazed black magicians snapped back to reality.
“Mon-Monster wave!”
“Ahhhhh!”
“Stop all operations immediately!”
“A monster wave is coming! Everyone, run!”
Panic, confusion, and fear swept over them, creating instant chaos.
At last, the black knight and black magicians clashed with the monster wave—or rather, the Monster Rush.
At that moment, Aden achieved a new feat.
< You have achieved the title of ‘Demonic Strategist.’>
