------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
Chapter 40: O Great Master!
Elneor Grants, the Master of the Blue Mage Tower.
Recently, she had a moment where she nearly lost her mind, but even so, there was no doubt that she was a figure who had reached the pinnacle among high-ranking mages.
She was a veteran who had dedicated about a century solely to magic, witnessing countless astonishing spectacles.
Normally, even groundbreaking research or spells wouldn’t elicit more than a scoff from her.
Yet, even the mighty Tower Master Elneor was left aghast at the sight before her in the laboratory.
"…Wait, are all these people named black mages? And those... demons? Are they actually demons?"
Recently, she had lent a laboratory to a benefactor.
She had heard that black mages would be summoned there, and that demons might be called forth too.
But she truly hadn’t imagined the scale would be this outrageous.
There were dozens of black mages with dark, hollow eyes standing around.
About half of them, even if by some shortcuts, had reached the realm of high-ranking mages.
Even more shocking were the beings with combat power comparable to great magi.
And—there were seven demon nobles tied up in white chains, listlessly sitting in the lab.
‘Is this a dream?’
The destructive power here easily surpassed that of a major world power's military.
And all of it was crammed into a secret lab she had personally lent out.
‘...Seven demons, creatures I'd be lucky to see once in a lifetime. Am I under an illusion spell right now?’
Elneor Grants, Master of the Blue Mage Tower, blinked as she scanned his surroundings, as if doubting her own senses.
If these beings broke free, it would be worse than an S-rank dungeon break.
Seoul would be leveled to the ground.
If outside help from other nations arrived too late, South Korea as a whole might be doomed.
...Maybe if the ancient elders of the Academy lent their strength, they might barely manage to stop it.
Still, demons were monsters capable of inflicting devastating losses…
But—how on earth were they so obedient?
They weren't the typical, deceitful demons described in textbooks—they were lying around like broken puppets.
'Seriously, what the hell is going on?'
Unable to comprehend, Elneor Grants finally began bombarding the man next to her with questions.
"…Hmm, there’s so much I want to ask, but first—how did you summon all these demons? I don't recall lending you treasures on this scale."
"Oh, we just went self-sufficient. We summoned those black friends over there and made them handle it."
"Wait, even with black mages, how do you summon seven demons? Even seeing one demon is a once-in-a-lifetime event!"
"Well, after summoning about three demons, I forced them to summon more."
Shockingly, using a demon's own mana as an offering dramatically reduced the cost of drawing summoning circles.
Shin Yuseong said it as casually as if he were explaining the weather, while Elneor stared at him, mouth agape.
Was this real?
"Ah, would you like me to show you directly?"
With a bright smile, Shin Yuseong immediately commanded the surrounding black mages and demons to start drawing a summoning circle.
Elneor began to wonder: Was this man insane—or had she himself lost her mind again?
* * *
In this world, there were multiple dimensions, multiple universes, multiple Earths.
In modern terms: the multiverse.
Moving across worldlines would reveal similar but different people living in slightly altered versions of the world.
This "Reverse Earth" also had its own separate universes—higher planes like the divine realms and demonic realms existed distinctly here.
Unlike the alien planets that Hero Shin Yuseong had shattered, these dimensions were more independent and fragmented, existing as realms like "Hell."
It wasn’t a place you could simply teleport to from an outer planet—it was truly another world.
Because of this, demons from this dimension required massive effort to summon into the mortal realm, and their powers were heavily diminished by the causal laws during the crossing.
The offerings required were steep—and even then, the summoned demons were often weaker than expected, making summons rare.
Also, due to Earth's improved law and order, large-scale crimes or mass sacrifices had become harder to arrange.
Thus, demons and dark beings from the Reverse Earth's demonic realm had few opportunities to cross over or interact with humans.
Especially the noble-ranked demons.
Summoning them required absurd amounts of sacrifice—on the scale of thousands or tens of thousands of lives just to get a chance.
In the modern world, finding that kind of offering was nearly impossible.
[Ahh, another tedious day.]
Thus, the demon Countess—Albania of the Illusions—lay stretched out on a sunbed, staring up at the black, burning sun.
She was indeed a mighty existence within Hell.
But with her underlings handling all the chores, her only duties were occasionally appearing on battlefields to flaunt her power.
There were hardly any events that stirred her true, demonic excitement anymore.
It had been centuries since she’d last caused havoc after being summoned to other worlds.
Even when she paid attention, it only left her feeling empty and disappointed.
Thus, whenever she had spare time, the demon countess Albania would do a little photosynthesis, gazing up at the bloody sky and its black sun.
Gooooo—
This was a privilege of the noble class: by gazing at Hell's sun, demons could accumulate their own mana much more easily.
In other words, they grew stronger simply by breathing.
The power of Hell’s noble demons was beyond imagination!
Aside from divine beings or other demon nobles of similar rank, there were no beings worthy of comparison, and thus, concepts like fear or caution were almost nonexistent among them.
[...Ooh?]
Which meant—when a summoning circle appeared before her, she would leap into it without a second thought.
Wouldn’t that be dangerous?
For whom?
For her?
Even among the devastating beings of hell, this great count-ranked demon, Albania?
Albania, confident in her own strength, had a hobby: every time she saw a coward foolishly worrying, she would snort in disdain.
Even if humans in the present world had grown stronger, at most they could serve as upper-class demon slaves, and she could easily crush such beings even with her weakened powers.
Sure, she might get a little hurt, but to miss out on such a grand opportunity to wreak havoc in another dimension just because of a little fear?
------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
If there really were such cowards in hell, they were unworthy of being called demons at all.
In contrast, Albania, a pure-blooded noble demon, gladly responded to the summoning call, wearing a confident expression as she faced her summoner.
[Ah, foolish one! What is it you desired to summon the illusion of Albania!]
She spoke those words grandly, but then—
[Whimper... I want to go back to hell.]
[Aaaargh! It’s finally over! Master! I’ve completed my quota — I can leave now, right? I’ll finally be a free demon, right?]
[So jealous, so jealous...! In this filthy world, you need to pay a huge bail to get released! Why didn’t I gather more treasures until now!]
[Screeeech! Please, just send me back!]
[Hehe, a newbie’s here.]
What Albania saw next was a scene completely different from what she had imagined.
Even if the trend had shifted over the past few centuries, this sight was beyond comprehension.
The Count of Hell, Albania, paused in shock.
It wasn't unusual to see summoners looking like wrecked addicts, but why were the summoned demons themselves...
Surely it was just her imagination, but the demons were chuckling emptily, looking like exploited slaves or deranged patients.
'...No, is it really just my imagination?'
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
And when she noticed a demon snickering at the corner of the room, her unease reached its peak.
Applying her superior demonic intellect, Albania quickly reached a terrifying conclusion.
As absurd as it sounded — what if this wasn’t a misunderstanding, but the reality?
What if she really had been summoned into a pit of exploitation?
Chills ran down her spine.
She had to escape immediately — before it was too late.
Shivers running across her entire body, Albania hastily attempted to cancel the summoning spell.
Even among demons, she was a high-ranking noble mage.
She gathered her mana at an astonishing speed, making even her lazy past efforts seem like a joke.
But just as she was about to cancel the summoning—
Another shiver coursed through her.
She turned and saw a man swinging a sword that shone with pure, blinding white light.
[...Huh?]
For a moment, Albania saw the sparkle of stars in her vision.
Normally, an attack from a mere human swinging a sword would be nothing to her — as a demon noble bearing the rank of Count of Hell, she could brush it off with ease.
But somehow, the man and the radiant sword gave off an ominous feeling.
The strike wasn’t just powerful or sharp; it carried a chilling, deathly aura that made Albania’s blood freeze and her breath catch in her throat.
Would she even survive one hit from that?
It didn’t feel like she would just lose an arm or a leg — her entire body might be cleaved apart.
Splitting seconds even finer, Albania’s demonic mind whirred at full speed, trying to find a solution.
But no matter how she thought it through, only one conclusion kept surfacing: she was going to die if she got hit.
Terrified, the great illusion of Albania abandoned all pride and immediately threw herself flat on the floor.
[...O Great Master! If you spare me, I will serve you with utmost sincerity until the day I die!]
It was the fastest surrender anyone had ever seen in that secret laboratory.
"...Oh."
Shin Yuseong, who had been active in the Hero’s Party for the past twenty years, was amazed.
He had never seen such a pitiful demon before.
Maybe it was a trick?
He instinctively moved the Holy Sword closer to Albania’s arm to check—
Twitch—
Was it instinctive fear or revulsion?
Even without being struck, Albania flinched violently, as if the mere presence of the sword overwhelmed her.
[...If you’d like to summon more demons, should I call some others for you?]
She hadn’t even been hit yet, but she was already scheming, trying to sell out her fellow demons.
Rubbing her body against the floor in a pitiful attempt at flattery.
Even the other demons and black mages looked down at her with shocked, disgusted expressions.
[...Hehe.]
It seemed that an astonishingly survival-driven demon had appeared.
------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
