Chapter 55 : Chapter 55

Chapter 55 - Hiring a Butler

I made a choice.

“I will neither make you a familiar, nor will I kill you.”

[…There's an option outside of those two?]

Enad asked.

[If it's not a familiar and you're not killing me, then the only option left is to just leave.]

The altar demon stated definitively.

However, the Youngest Son said curtly.

“Another option clearly exists.”

I intended to do this from the moment the conversation started.

It's just that Enad suddenly appeared and exposed (?) the altar demon's plan.

“This option is similar to a familiar, but a little different.”

[…….]

Enad went quiet, intending to listen for now.

Also, there was something to ask before laying out the options.

“Demon of the altar. Do you know what is inside this box?”

[I do not know.]

“Why.”

[Because I was not the one who made this box.]

“Then who made it?”

[Who else. The worshipers who made this altar and summoned me.]

“From now on, I will open this box.”

The altar demon closed its mouth.

And Enad's mouth started to get busy again.

[You're trying your best to die. Can't you see it? The demonic energy surrounding that box right now.]

“I'm a sorcerer too. I see it well.”

That was the source of the demonic energy that Eclipse held.

In other words, every time a demon was killed, that demonic energy was consumed.

To put it another way.

I hadn't broken through Eclipse by the normal route, so I hadn't killed a sufficient number of demons.

Therefore, the demonic energy had accumulated thickly, and to open the box, I had to take that much of a risk.

If I didn't like that, I would have to go down to kill demons.

But I had no intention of doing so whatsoever.

‘I came here to make this place a home site. It's absurd to erase one of the reasons for that.’

I walked towards the box.

The demons, who had started fighting each other, reacted differently once again.

[Dante. If you die, I, who am on your arm, will also die. Do you know that two lives are on the line right now?]

Enad, who had become anxious along with the suicidal action.

[Hmm…. Even for a Millesdusk, to open the box by breaking through this demonic energy….]

The altar demon, who spoke of the impossible yet did not stop me.

If he died from the demonic energy, it would be possible to possess the empty body.

There was no need to go out of his way to stop me.

So, the only one in a hurry was Enad.

[Think again. You are about to kill a life that has not even been born for a month.]

“My life is also on the line. I think that's fair enough.”

[…If you're going to bet, bet only your own. Why are you betting mine as well.]

“That's what a community of fate is. A new option is here.”

[If it was going to be like this, I wish I hadn't been born.]

“I'm not your creator. Go and argue with them.”

Clatter─

I opened the box.

“…!”

My eyes widened up and down.

My pupils contracted, and the fingers that opened the box stiffened, unable to even flinch.

But the real problem lies elsewhere.

Demonic energy is a chill that freezes the soul, not the body.

Right now, the amount was so much that I was frozen like frostbite, but protecting the soul was the priority.

To do that.

Hwaarrrrrrrrrrk─

The Youngest Son's body underwent Blood Demonization.

He cast off the weak skin of a human and armed himself with a strong rock shell, horns, and blood-colored flames.

His body was completely protected from the demonic energy.

Instead of releasing the Bloodflame, he kept drawing it into his body.

This was like putting on clothes to protect oneself from the cold.

It was dressing the soul in the clothes of Bloodflame.

[…Dante. This isn't enough. How do you think the demonic energy here accumulated.]

“A guy who hasn't even been born for a month knows something like that.”

[I didn't see it, but I feel it. This demonic energy was gathered to summon that demon, and it was indeed summoned, but.]

[The First Family Head of Millesdusk. After he shook the east and the worshipers were completely wiped out, it was sealed.]

The altar demon chuckled as if that story was someone else's.

He came to someone else's house to feast, only to find the door to his homeland closed.

The food he was aiming for was tied up in a box he could never open on his own.

In the end, it was a life sealed without promise, trapped in someone else's empty house.

That was the story of the altar demon.

He was the protagonist of an absurd story for a demon of a demonic realm that everyone feared and avoided.

“Wait. That boring life, I'll soon make it arduous for you.”

That was precisely the Youngest Son's specialty here.

There were already four victims caught up in that field.

I don't know if you're here, Lord, but here comes one more.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah─

Unable to just receive the demonic energy contained in the box, I sucked it in.

The Bloodflame, which burned with my entire body as firewood, seemed like it would go out, yet it maintained its heat.

The altar demon couldn't believe his eyes.

[I-Incredible…! For a human to take the form of a demon is astonishing enough, but was it a power manifested through inheriting a demon's bloodline…? But….]

To be of a demon's bloodline, this intruder was clearly a Millesdusk.

Otherwise, there was no way he could use the First Family Head's sorcery.

And yet, a demon's bloodline was also clearly mixed in.

What kind of contradiction was this?

Furthermore, upon closer inspection.

[Why is there a scent of blood from the hellfire….]

The smell of blood was not that of a human either.

It was of a much nobler being.

It was of a much more noble, dignified, and lofty being.

The smell of that woman, a demon of the surface whose name had spread even to the underworld.

[The-The Vampire Queen. That means, in that body right now, the blood of Millesdusk, a demon, and the Queen are mixed together.]

What kind of hybrid is this.

But at the same time, it was an understandable reason.

In fact, without a body of that caliber, it would have been impossible to receive all the demonic energy concentrated in the box.

[The human sacrifices that continued for thousands of years. Although the main demonic energy soaked into the ground, the box has a condensed core. It was originally mine, but….]

Now that I see it, it's a sickeningly large amount.

In the old days, maybe, but now it was a quantity I'd want to eat divided over several months.

The altar demon had become a small-eater due to centuries of fasting.

Now, just looking at someone eat makes my stomach feel bloated.

[…It's endless.]

An accumulated amount that even Enad shook his head at.

And yet, the amount the Youngest Son was sucking in did not decrease.

If anything, it only increased.

The Millesdusk bloodline is the pinnacle of a sorcerer's body, bred by humans over several generations.

The Vampire Queen's bloodline is the most precious blood, pure without any impurities mixed in.

The demon's bloodline goes without saying.

The energy that comes from negative emotions and is forged by death is a demon's health food.

The combination of those three bloodlines continued to expand the Youngest Son's stomach.

Also, it wasn't just the stomach that was expanding.

[Absorbing a vast amount of demonic energy in demon form.]

[The demonic energy is affecting the human state beyond the Blood Demonization state.]

[Demonic energy is beginning to mix with mana.]

[Internal mana increasing….]

The absorption of demonic energy in the demon state led to an increase in mana in the human state.

‘At this rate, I've jumped to a level where growth is slow even with elixirs in one go.’

I was just hoping not to die, but I've unexpectedly strengthened my foundation.

‘I'll be able to use the skills of other Undead Private Soldiers, as well as the soldiers themselves, while maintaining the Blood Demonization state.’

It was a very significant change.

Then, the box soon ran out of things to spit out.

The contents inside finally revealed themselves.

I lifted it up.

A bracelet of a size that a human could wear.

Its color was dark, and the surface of the bracelet was filled with the crests of the worshipers.

To put it briefly, obedience.

The altar demon spoke with a voice mixed with anger.

[Those worshiper bastards. They planned to bind me with that bracelet and control me as they pleased. Vicious bastards.]

“Isn't that the purpose of a worshiper?”

[Well. The name they are called is worshiper, isn't it?]

“…So you thought they summoned you for the real purpose of worship.”

[We demons…. We were curious as to how they knew of us in hell and worshiped us, and the offerings they had piled up looked delicious, so well….]

“……”

Were demons this seriously naive?

How was that different from a child who follows you if you wave candy?

Sighing, I lifted the bracelet.

“Now, I will make a proposal. Demon of the altar. Reveal your true name and become my limb.”

[…So you're going to come out like that in the end.]

The outer walls and ceiling began to vibrate.

[You're no different from the humans who trapped me here.]

The floor gave way.

The floor, which was made of a circular platform in the first place.

As the circular platform disappeared, my body sank and descended into the altar.

“No. I am different.”

Even as I fell, my arm was still up.

To the demon that must be somewhere in the altar.

To the demon that is the altar itself, I introduced myself.

“To me, this altar is a staircase. A staircase I'm just passing through before obtaining the entire land of the world.”

Shwaaaaaaaaah─!!

The wind brushed past my head and ears.

My hair fluttered wildly in the wind that hit the back of my head.

The floor I was standing on just a moment ago became a ceiling and grew more and more distant.

“I will not stop at this altar. I will not stop in the east. I will obtain all the land that exists in this breathing world.”

The lowest level was approaching in the blink of an eye.

The chance to speak was also now the last.

“If you take my hand, your prison will change. From the altar, to the world.”

So if you're thinking of moving, you'd better grab it.

With those words, I closed my eyes.

As the headwind made my eardrums ring, my distracting thoughts vanished.

The voice directed at my mind was clearer than ever.

[…This is one crazy bastard.]

Halted─

A hand's breadth before touching the ground.

An otherworldly being, seemingly unaffected by the pull of gravity, seized my wrist.

By passing its hand through the bracelet to grab it.

“The First Family Head was a crazy bastard like you too.”

The demon of the altar, now connected to my wrist, was clearly visible with both eyes.

A boy with disheveled ivory hair and tanned skin.

The curved goat horns on his head told who he was.

The boy spoke of a thousand years ago in his boyish voice.

“He came to the east alone and said he would make this place his land, and he caught and cleaned out all the trash that lived on the eastern land. Like you today.”

“Is this some kind of talk like, because the First Family Head did it, I can do it too.”

“No.”

The boy swept his ivory hair back.

His dark purple eyes clearly projected his emotions.

“Because you're an even crazier bastard than the First Family Head. What human would be crazy enough to make the world a demon's prison.”

It was sincere.

Because it was sincere, even a demon could believe it.

“Speak, my lord. What are you planning to do from now on.”

“The title ‘Youngest Son’ is sufficient.”

“Youngest Son? I like that title. In hell, only those of high status use that title.”

[So it turns out like this. This is a combination I really want to escape from.]

Enad shook his head.

And there was something shaking its head on the demon's lower half too.

“Before that, you need to put on some clothes.”

“Ah.”

I didn't realize it when I was a demon, but wearing the bracelet and choosing a human body, I literally became naked.

The Youngest Son, who stood on the floor, took out a suitable robe from a spatial artifact and threw it.

“For now, wear this. Clothes are important in the human world.”

“I know. Even if I only lived here, I've lived for multiples of multiples of your age, Youngest Son.”

“Alright. Let's skip the honorifics. From now on, you are my butler.”

“Butler? What does that do?”

The one who had lived the longest in this altar and on this land was the demon before me.

There could be no one more suitable for the duty of a butler than him.

“I'll tell you slowly. For now, just remember it.”

I looked around.

The Gatekeeper was not on the lowest level.

Did he already go to guard the main gate?

“Let's go. Uhm, hmm. I haven't even heard your name yet.”

“Amon. You can just call me that.”

A name that sounded familiar from somewhere.

“Alright. Butler Amon. Let's get out of here now.”

The Youngest Son, a boy but with an appearance unlike a boy.

A demon who had lived for eons but had the appearance of a boy.

The Youngest Son and the Butler went outside the altar.

The bright sunlight was difficult due to Eclipse.

“Hello there, folks.”

A white-haired man, smiling brightly, was aiming a gun.

Over the heads of a man and a woman who seemed to have been taken hostage.

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