14.Chapter 14 The Awakened Shadow Demon

Chapter 14: The Awakened Shadow Demon
In the game, when searching for Veronica’s body, you can get [A letter sent by someone to the Noble Red Junction].

This is a must-have pre-main quest item. It is directly used to open the next stage of the main quest.

This “someone” is the agent of “a certain minister” who was involved in the incident.

Ivars can’t remember exactly who this someone is, and he also forgot which minister …… is that minister, but it’s enough to know a rough range.

It’s just like the final exam, the teacher has defined the scope of the exam in advance.

Excluding those people that Ivars had no memory of, and those people that he clearly knew could never be, there were only three remaining possibilities.

The Minister of Finance, the Minister of Law, and the Minister of Trade.

The common point was that all three of them were high-powered, over a hundred years old, usually kind and well-liked, middle-aged fat men who couldn’t see their shoes when they were wearing their regular clothes–this was the impression that Ivars had of this “certain minister”.

The classic three choose one belongs to is.

One of the three of them had been bribed by the spies sent by the Star Antimony Kingdom to regularly and secretly send some top secret high-level information to the Kingdom. And the remaining two were innocent.

–The medium they used to deliver the information was the “Noble Red Society”.

The Kingdom of Star Antimony, which is behind the Noble Red Society, is intent on destabilizing the Kingdom of Avalon, which was the main theme up until version 2.0.

This minister is the mole of the Star Antimony Kingdom’s connection with Avalon.

It’s a real traitor.

The letters exchanged with him were naturally top secret. This kind of important thing would definitely not leave one’s body.

After all, there were quite a few thieves in Avalon, so if they stole this kind of thing without a word and it was publicized, they wouldn’t have enough lives to die.

If the letter fell into the hands of the Inspectorate, it might not be useful. If he had planted a nail in the Inspectorate, he might just be cleared out.

But with Ivars getting his hands on it, things would be different.

He could follow the letter and trace it back to that “someone”. Then he could find out which of the three classic choices was the traitor.

…… My Lord

A low, booming, hoarse voice like a lion just waking up sounded in Ivars ears.

It was the Shadow Demon underneath Aiwass.

A black serpent made of pure shadows, slender and the thickness of a young girl’s arm, crawled down Aiwas’s left leg, waist, chest, and all the way up to his throat.

The Shadow Serpent’s eyes smoldered with scarlet light, hissing and spitting smoky black snakes.

Then that lion-like voice turned into a snake-like hoarse voice:

[What are you …… doing?]

“Destroying evidence of my own crimes, as you see.”

Without flinching, Ivars didn’t even look down at the black snake wrapped around his neck.

He simply concentrated on retrieving evidence from Veronica while casually replying, “As well as searching for evidence of other people’s crimes.”

Interacting with these demons, one must not appear to be tired or afraid.

For the more you fear it and awe it, the more the demon despises you.

The so-called “demons” are not the otherworldly creatures from the abyss found in other fantasy settings, but are a type of phantom demon.

The most accurate way to say this is that only demons from beyond the path are called demons. However, after the name was generalized, other evil illusory demons from other paths, dark-attributed illusory demons, and illusory demons that looked like demons were all generalized to be called demons.

Illusion demons are special beings that do not have a material body, do not have a lifespan, and do not die completely, but only belong to a single path, and have self-consciousness and the possibility of gradually becoming stronger. In most cases, they are born from the power of different paths, and in some cases, they are transformed into living creatures.

Ivars’ sister Yulia is in very bad health, specifically in a state of near-perpetual fever – this is because she is harboring the seed of the Phantom Demon within her, and from this perspective, she can be considered a sacrifice for the birth of the Phantom Demon.

And a Demon Scholar who had mistakenly advanced could also transform himself into a demon through a complicated ritual. In other words, the person himself or herself is directly transformed into an Illusion Demon.

Those were the two main ways to transform into an Illusionary Demon.

Because the orthodox demons all come from the Way of Transcendence, they all have the pure characteristic of “intent on transcending the strong and despising the weak”. That is to say, they have strength and power of action, and are extremely proud and ambitious.

Demons that have signed a contract can gain experience in practicing the Way while their masters walk the Way of Transcendence. They can’t do that on their own.

Because the demons of the original species lack the desire to belong to themselves – they lack the goal of wanting to transcend.

As long as they have a promising future and a clear goal and strength …… that is, to prove their determination and ability to walk the “way of transcendence,” demons will not betray their masters for the time being.

If the demons recognize their temporary master, even if the master falls into a desperate situation, they will not defect and will even fight for him until the last moment. Demons are not afraid of death because they do not dissipate when their master dies. If the master is able to survive a certain death, this strong destiny beyond the predicament will greatly satisfy the demons. Therefore, if the demon feels that you are not pure enough, not capable enough, and have no hope for the future. Unable to provide him with sufficient sustenance from the following behavior, it will calculate how to leave you.

It doesn’t sound like much, rather it’s rather normal – just jumping ship and changing companies if you think your boss isn’t working.

But after signing the contract, the demon scholar doesn’t die, and the demon can’t leave his body. So once a demon dislikes its contracted master, it will find a way to get him killed. Demons can’t hurt their masters, but there are still many ways to get someone killed.

Many demon scholars would only summon demons that were only a little stronger than themselves. It was because they were too afraid of demons, worried that they wouldn’t be able to satisfy their appetites.

But Aywas was not afraid at all.

Because these demons looked like very ambitious hitmen to Aiwas.

It made him look very kind.

There were some capable and ambitious ones who would go to big companies, that is, they would submit their resumes to high-ranking demonic scholars; but there were also some demons who liked to respond to low-ranking demonic scholars, and those were like hit-and-run workers who liked to go to start-up companies.

There are some that are not capable enough and big companies don’t want them, which are the lower level demons and lesser demons; there are some that want to start their own company but don’t have the capital, so they have technology to invest in startup companies with the intention of usurping power one day; these are the higher level demons that deliberately respond to the call of the lower level demonic scholars, rushing to the other side to keep themselves under control; and then there are some that are simply pitched over here! –Rushing to some big company to put in a resume, and ended up being assigned to a subsidiary company that has a lot of work and little money.

This is like being summoned by a high-level demonic scholar, and then being controlled and handed over to a low-level demonic scholar for signing. In the Star Antimony Kingdom, where Transcendent Dao Dao is legal, this is how their instructors there capture demons for their students.

Ivars’ Shadow Demons are of this type as well.

Of course, the Shadow Demon’s situation was a bit more complicated – because Aiwas, himself, was the one who tricked it into coming over as a sacrifice.

The payroll card becoming an elf and turning over as a boss falls into the yes category.

If only the Shadow Demon was a little stronger …… When Aiwas feeds him a little bit of other demons as food and lets it evolve once more, it will be eligible to be sealed as a great beast. At that time, it would no longer be a demon, and it would be impossible for it to betray itself.

But for now, Aiwas still needed to show off his abilities in particular.

…… There is no way, it is now a labor market.

He more or less had to perform.

When he signed a lifetime contract afterward, he wouldn’t have to be afraid of the Shadow Demon Devouring Lord.

Even though the Shadow Demon had been sealed by Ivars with a wheelchair, it had stayed in Ivars’ shadow. It must have seen everything that happened before as well.

This was another purpose of Ai Huas’s trip – to stabilize this job seeker that had been tricked into coming here by demonstrating his ability to lay out, his level of intrigue, and his level of lies along the way. To give the Shadow Demon enough spiritual food to make it recognize him.

“Now, what do you think of me?”

Ivars asked casually in return.

At that, the black snake around his neck melted and dripped, turning into a pure black hound.

It rubbed affectionately against Aywas’s calf and let out a low sound.

[Perfect, delicious, excellent ……]

Apparently, the Shadow Demon was satisfied.

The black dog opened its mouth word by word and in a subdued manner and said, [I’m incredibly looking forward to your future …… our future]

“–In that case.”

Ivars casually discarded the letter that belonged to him, “Then destroy it and leave.”

[Ho-ho-ho ……]

The Shadow Demon ho-ho-ho’s low chuckle.

After several seconds, it responded:
[Your will …… Master]

[Looking forward to you, the next time you awaken me ……]

[At that time I hope to gnaw on real flesh and blood.]

The black dog leapt up and picked up the letter, and when it landed it disappeared into the mire-like shadows.

The letter melted into nothingness. Like a plastic bag roasted by fire, it blackened, shriveled, wrinkled, shrunk, and disappeared without a trace.

Without a doubt, if the person it bit was a living creature, it would have been dragged directly into the shadows and melted.

This is by no means something that Ivars can do with only one level of “Shadow Ability”. Rather, it was the result of the Shadow Demon’s own handiwork.

–This is what the Shadow Demon is showing off to its master, its ability to “hunt”.

(End of chapter)