After half a year. In the hidden dungeon of the Goldberg ducal family's mansion. On the table before Albert stood six vials, filled with blo
After half a year. In the hidden dungeon of the Goldberg ducal family's mansion.
On the table before Albert stood six vials, filled with blood of different colors. Some contained red blood, others violet, and one even dark green. It was the blood of six powerful magical beasts, of B-rank or higher.
The corpses of the monsters had already been disposed of, their tough hides or razor-sharp claws, capable of cutting even steel, sold or displayed in the mansion as trophies, while their cores had been secretly devoured by Albert.
Since Albert had told people that these monsters, strangely enough, possessed no crystals, and argued that perhaps it was due to their unique strength, people believed him without question. They would never have expected, nor even thought, that he would lie to them just to keep the cores for himself.
Besides, although the cores were beautiful like gemstones, they held little value and, compared to the rest of the body, were considered secondary.
["Demon Who Fosters Decay" praises your achievements and asks if you are ready?]
Albert stared with a serious gaze at the six vials before him.
Faced with the message, he remained silent for a moment and mentally prepared himself for what was about to happen.
"Very well, let us begin!"
With that, an instruction appeared on a system screen, sent to him by his sponsor, which Albert followed to the letter without question.
One after another, he took the vials filled with monster blood and began to draw a circle on the stone floor. He filled the circle with a large, inverted star and other patterns. That was all the instructions had told him regarding the monster blood.
"Is that all, what now?" he wondered.
["Demon Who Fosters Decay" says you only need to fill the circle with mana, and it is done.]
Albert furrowed his brow slightly, surprised it was so simple, but nevertheless followed the command and infused the circle he had drawn with his mana.
As he stepped back, first the circle began to glow with red light, then the inverted star, and finally the other patterns, until the entire design on the floor was shining.
A system notification appeared before him:
[You have begun to perform an otherworldly ritual…]
[Your orientation meets the requirements, the ritual begins…]
The ritual was the reason Albert had deliberately increased his orientation toward evil, by slaughtering innocent villagers, sacrificing quite a few of his own men in battle, and letting them "accidentally" die.
For he had learned from his sponsor that he needed a certain malicious orientation in order to perform this ritual.
As ruthless and power-hungry as he was, Albert cared nothing for the victims of his deeds and simply did what was necessary.
[The Hellbeast Ritual is successfully performed … A-rank monster: "Ignorant Despair" will be summoned…]
The magic summoning circle began to expand further within the dungeon.
Albert quickly retreated and watched excitedly, full of anticipation and expectation, his eyes sparkling as he awaited something great. After it had reached a diameter of about five meters, the circle finally stopped expanding, and the dark red light began to flicker.
The mana in the surroundings began to noticeably rise. Sparks formed, bringing a ghastly atmosphere to life.
Albert immediately sensed the change and furrowed his brow.
An ominous foreboding seized him and would not let go, like the claws of a beast sinking into his skin.
The summoning circle began to shine brighter than ever before, and something started to emerge from it, as if coming through a gate from the earth below, stepping into this world through an elevator.
The earth quaked, cracks split the floor, walls, and ceiling, slowly crumbling.
It seemed almost as if this sturdy mansion was on the verge of collapse. And indeed, as the summoning continued, mana whirled wildly about, wreaking havoc on the surroundings.
In hindsight, it seemed a poor choice to perform the ritual in an underground dungeon beneath a large mansion.
At last, the walls caved in, and the mansion collapsed, like a controlled demolition, upon itself.
The whole thing was over in seconds, faster than you could see.
After a few minutes, most of the mansion lay in ruins and ashes.
The people nearby and the servants of the mansion did not know what had happened, panicking as they witnessed its sudden collapse. Quite a few who had been inside were caught off guard and helplessly buried beneath the rubble.
Albert, who fought his way out of the ruins, quickly emerged to see the results of the ritual.
As an Awakened of B-rank, mere rubble could not harm him and had only surprised him without inflicting meaningful damage. Thus, he was left mostly unscathed, though filthy and covered in dust.
As he looked from the ruins of the fallen mansion at the chaos before him, he was struck speechless.
The sight confirmed that the ritual had been successfully completed. For not far from him stood unmistakably the result of the summoning.
It was an unfathomable monstrosity, radiating a repulsive, monstrous aura that made the legs of anyone who beheld it weak.
If one tried to describe it, it looked like this: a giant bird with the maw and tusks of a boar, a single eye on its forehead, curved goat horns, and the two-legged lower body of a great ox, with a tail made of several snakes.
It seemed a mixture of all the monsters whose blood had been used for its summoning.
[In this region begins a special scenario: "Save the Empire."]
Albert dared not avert his gaze from this abomination, named "Ignorant Despair," and merely listened to the notification.
[Special Scenario: Save the Empire.]
[Description: A being that transcends the boundaries of this world has been summoned from Hell and is about to attack the Empire, threatening to annihilate it.]
[Objective: Stop "Ignorant Despair," save the inhabitants of the Empire, and write an unprecedented fable.]
[Consequence of failure: Death and downfall of the Empire.]
Albert listened, shocked, to the description of the scenario.
He knew what he was doing, he knew his actions might have bad consequences, but in his boundless greed he had paid no heed to possible outcomes and had blindly followed through.
[The battle begins in ten seconds…]
[9…]
Albert knew at first glance at the monster that he could not defeat it. The power of this monster was of another dimension. Though only one rank higher than him, the difference was like night and day.
N-no … this is…
He could form no proper words, and only stared in shock at the countdown to the ill-fated scenario that was to decide the fate of his homeland.
["Demon Who Fosters Decay" watches the spectacle with a grin.]
["Throne Preferring Justice" is speechless at your actions.]
["Dragon Slayer" is impressed by your courage and drive.]
More and more messages from constellations poured in. Now that it had begun as a public scenario, other constellations besides his sponsor could also watch and admire the thrilling deeds of the "protagonist."
[A multitude of constellations shows interest in the developments of this world and in your actions.]
[4…]
Albert's thoughts raced. He did not know what to do. I-I didn't want this … I only wanted to grow stronger, why did this happen?!
He nervously bit his fingernail and tried to form a clear thought. But the appearance of such a powerful foe simply would not let him calm down.
[3…]
"That's it!"
Then an idea came to him. No, it would be better called a memory. It was the memory of his first meeting with his sponsor: "Demon Who Fosters Decay."
Back then he had not even been able to move and had almost forgotten to breathe. But comparing that time with now, it was not quite as bad and even bearable.
His gaze fell upon Ignorant Despair, standing frozen as if in time, unmoving. In his eyes hope was visible for the first time again.
[2…]
Exactly! Just because he is stronger than me, does not mean he is the strongest being I have ever encountered. He convinced himself in his desperation to find hope, and it seemed to work.
"On the contrary, compared to that time, he's nothing but a fart in the wind!"
Albert grabbed the sword at his waist, drew it from its sheath, and took a somewhat sloppy fighting stance.
["Dragon Slayer" is impressed by your determination.]
"I can win!"
[1…]
[0.]
And so it began.
ROAR!!! The grotesque abomination, Ignorant Despair, instantly recognized Albert as an enemy and let out a thunderous roar.
The roar generated a violent gust of wind that swept across the area, toppling fragile debris and bending trees.
Albert's clothes fluttered in the wind, but his determination remained. "Come on!" he roared back at the monster.
Ignorant Despair, realizing its attempt at intimidation had failed, immediately took action instead. It beat its massive wings, seemingly able to carry its entire weight with ease, and took flight.
Albert, however, had anticipated this move. He stretched his hand toward the monstrosity and unleashed his new ability.
Chains of the Weak!
Black chains burst forth like the roots of a tree from the earth beneath Ignorant Despair. They quickly coiled around the great, misshapen body of the beast, binding it in place.
The abomination was trapped, its advance halted, and had fallen into Albert's snare.
"Got you!"
Thus Albert made his first step. He raised his sword and released vast amounts of mana. He intended to use this moment, when the monster was immobilized, to unleash his other ability immediately.
Just as Albert was about to swing and discharge his mana, his eyes widened.
Clang! With a loud crash, the chains binding Ignorant Despair shattered, and it freed itself in the shortest time. The monstrosity had managed to break the chains in less than three seconds and escape its captivity.
At the sight, it seemed almost as if those chains had been made of paper, not iron. That was how easily it broke free.
"Damn it!"
Albert nevertheless stuck to his plan and swung his sword twice in succession, unleashing two cutting energy waves one after the other.
Cross Slash!
The two slashes crossed and merged mid-flight into a flying cross, accelerating and shooting straight at Ignorant Despair.
ROAR! Ignorant Despair let out an enraged cry. Instead of dodging, it too gathered its energy and opened its maw, this time not to roar.
It unleashed a breath of black flames that collided with the crossed energy slashes, swallowing them whole.
When the flame breath faded after a moment, the energy slashes had also vanished without leaving any damage.
Damn! What was that? Albert was stunned and took a step back.
Ignorant Despair stopped its advance, beat its wings, and began ascending higher into the sky. At last, it spread its wings majestically and intimidatingly, screeching like a bird.
Kreeeeh!
It displayed its dominance.
A strong wind began to rise, influenced by Ignorant Despair's energy, growing faster and more catastrophic, until it resembled a storm.
But the windstorm abruptly ceased, and the monster simply vanished, as if like a ghost.
Albert braced for an attack, nervously taking a defensive stance. But what happened next was too fast for him to even see.
In the next moment, his left arm was gone, blood gushing like a fountain from the place where it had been.
He only realized a moment later what had happened, and instead of screaming in pain, his eyes simply widened.
At last, Albert dropped slightly to his knees, clutching the wound with a pained expression, trying to stop the bleeding.
Though he outwardly appeared relatively calm despite what had happened, his thoughts raced wildly.
What was that? Where did he go? What happened to my arm? Albert frantically looked around, terrified, trying to locate Ignorant Despair.
Then he finally saw it, hovering in the air not far behind him. It seemed to be chewing on something, and when Albert saw the abomination, his worst fears came true.
Ignorant Despair was carelessly chewing on Albert's severed arm, staring at him with gleaming eyes and a twisted maw, as if mocking him.
Damn it, this is too much, I can't handle this! Albert finally realized the dire situation he was in. He's faster and stronger than me, and my abilities have no effect on him … I can't defeat him alone!
Albert was on the verge of losing all hope.
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Thank you, for reading till now.
To be honest, English isn't my primary language and I'm quite unsure about it.
Therefore, I'm writing it in my own language and using ChatGpt to edit the content, which is why errors or inconsistencies can often occur.
I would be very grateful for any feedback, points you find odd, or suggestions for improvement.
I'm grateful for any help, whether it's comments, ideas for the story, or even just reading my work. It shows me that I'm not doing this for nothing, and I'm personally very happy to be able to share my passion with others.
Thanks for your Time, and have a Good day.