Chapter 371 - Devouring The Artifact!

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Chaos had decided to devour the Summoning Artifact that his father had once created! Previously, he wasn't confident he would be able to completely assimilate this artifact's powers, but now, he seemed oddly confident on it, and wanted to give it a try. He thought that perhaps now, he could assimilate its powers some more, and be able to acquire a Skill that could do the same thing as the artifact.

"This artifact… It is ideal for my goals." Said Chaos. "What I need is an army that I can control, the monsters I've summoned are not really enough, I need a larger army that I can bring with me… perhaps if I can merge this artifact's powers with other abilities I got, something else could be created."

"Hmm… I see… Perhaps that's the case, Chaos…" said Abyss. "But isn't this the artifact that your father made? I-Is it really okay?" Abyss seemed concerned that Chaos might regret it later if he ate it and didn't got anything in return…

"I know… and I am willing to eat it, for my father… I have to." He said. "I am rather confident it will work this time."

Abyss felt confused, why did Chaos felt so confident about this all out of the sudden when he wasn't at all some time ago? Well, it was bad to question her lover, so she let him do as he pleased, she was preparing deep down to comfort him in the chance that he were to not get anything at all…

Chaos put his hand over the artifact and then spread it like a red-colored slime, devouring the entirety of the artifact in a few seconds, it slowly began to reduce its size until nothing was left.

As Chaos finished his meal, nothing happened to him.

"…"

Internally, he began to scream.

"Don't tell me it didn't work?!"

However, just after that, a flash of light entered his mind, as he began to see small memories… memories of the machine itself.

"Eh?!"

The memories were faint, but it showed how an old skeleton slowly began to build the machine, bit by bit, material by material, and step by step… it was slow yet methodical, and the skeleton added the power of many conjurations, runes, and all the knowledge he could.

He was working hard, and seemed to want to build this badly for a big reason, loneliness…

The skeleton always spoke with himself as he built the item.

"Once I am done making you, I will finally have allies…"

"I will summon many friends…"

"And… Perhaps I will finally be able to guild a family…"

"Father…"

Chaos felt filled with emotions as he heard the old skeleton speak to himself, even though these were just strange memories imprinted into the inert materials that made up the artifact, they seemed so vivid to Chaos, he felt the urge to comfort his father.

Fate was quite terrible… just when his father finally got a son, he had to give up his existence to protect him from the Heralds of Light, so Chaos could survive, and keep on living.

He sacrificed himself for his dear son… so his son would be able to live and be free.

Chaos felt within his very core as the transcendental power that his father had channeled within this old artifact slowly became his, the power of summoning.

The ability to bring forth beings from another world, dimension, or area of the Universe… it was a completely different power from the other summoning abilities he had…

FLASH!

[You acquired a [Fragment of the Dao of Summoning]!]

[You learned the [Ancient Summoning Magic: Level 1] Ability!]

What greeted Chaos eyes as he saw the holographic windows emerge in front of him was surely quite shocking. He had suddenly learned that his father had somehow gotten his hands into a Dao Fragment, and it was a Dao of nothing else but the Dao of Summoning!

This was how Ainz was capable of channeling such enormous power into the artifact, and now, Chaos acquired such a fragment for himself, alongside the Ancient Summoning Magic Ability! It wasn't a Skill, but an Ability, which meant it could be leveled up and strengthened even further…

"Amazing… But this Dao… It feels… off…" said Chaos.

Indeed, this wasn't a complete Dao like his Lesser Dao of Demise, this was but the fragment of a Dao, a small piece of it which contained a miniscule fragment of the power that the true Dao of Summoning possessed.

It could be used as the channeling core for his new Magic Ability though, and that was more than enough for him, if he wanted its full power, he would have to find some way to make a Dao grow out of a fragment or find other fragments of the same Dao and fuse them together, which seemed quite hard.

"Father… Thank you for this last gift." Said Chaos with a genuine and gentle smile, as he clenched his fists.

"I've done it… I acquired it as an Ability." Said Chaos. "Not a Skill, but an Ability… Ancient Summoning Magic it is!" Chaos told this to Abyss, as her bright yellow-gold eyes shone brightly in enthusiasm and happiness of seeing her beloved Chaos happy as well.

"I-I am so happy it worked!" she said. "I-I was totally not thinking that it wouldn't work or something!" Abyss said while averting her gaze, Chaos knew she had some doubts, but it was only natural, he also had them.

"It's fine, I also was preparing myself for it to not work, but it actually worked, and that's enough to make my day… Now that we are done with this, we should keep moving forward and assess the complete situation some more…" said Chaos, he had to now check what the power of the new Dao Fragment could do coupled with the new Ability of Magic he acquired, which seemed to be a whole new magic element by itself…

What secrets could Ancient Summoning Magic have in store for Chaos to discover?

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