Book 3: Chapter 26

“Devil, come out!” the lead ritualist shouted, his palm releasing blood at a steady rate. Instead of mounds of meat, a small pile of dragon boogers and other miscellaneous items lay in a pentagram formation at the center of the spell circle. A portal was widening over it, but noticeably slower than before. “Accept my offerings, Devil! I summon thee; bring ruin upon my enemy!”

“Compared to the first ritual, this one’s a little … lame,” Tafel said and turned towards Daniel, looking away from the summoning circle, “don’t you think?”

Apollonia responded before Daniel could, “It’s a weaker devil; the summoning ritual for it is going to be lackluster compared to summoning a greater devil.”

“Couldn’t you have started with the weaker devil in the first place?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. “Then you wouldn’t have used so much, err, meat. I guess. I’m sure it must’ve cost something other than meat too.”

“Summoning a greater devil is the best-case scenario,” Apollonia said. “A lesser devil will work too, but that means we’ll have to aid the devil in defeating the demon lord. If only that devil accepted our offer, then we could’ve saved the lives of thousands of our men.”

“Thousands…?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. “How strong is the demon lord?”

“Conventional wisdom doesn’t apply to her,” Apollonia said with a sigh. “All she cares about is killing and pursuing strength. She’s a dark knight; with every person she kills, her strength increases by leaps and bounds. But that doesn’t mean she can’t get tired. With the devil at the lead, we’ll use a human wave tactic to drown her.”

“How is she as a person?” a voice asked from the bottom of the rubble that Tafel and Daniel were standing on. Alice was climbing up with Mr. Skelly following behind her. “Is she evil? She’s evil, isn’t she? She doesn’t care about the lives of her citizens and raises the taxes to the point of starving them, right?”

“That’s right,” Apollonia said, nodding her head. “Even people like you who aren’t from these parts have heard about her evil deeds. Doesn’t that just go to show how cruel she really is?”

A smug smile appeared on Alice’s lips as she raised her eyebrows at Tafel. The demon didn’t have to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking. Tafel snorted and said, “Well, we’re hearing propaganda directly from its source. There’s no way someone who’s summoning a devil to kill someone will claim they’re a bad person. It’s all in the name of justice; who wants to be painted in a bad light? But! Have you ever thought about the fact that someone summoning a devil to kill someone is inherently a bad person? Until we hear from the demon lord herself, our bet’s still ongoing.”

“Devil! You’ve come!”

Alice and Tafel stopped their bickering, focusing their attention completely on the summoning circle. A brown blob fell out of the bloody portal, absorbing all the sacrificial materials into its body. A face with ten eyes and three mouths appeared on the blob’s surface, its eyes peering at the lead ritualist. “Many years have passed since someone has called for me. What is it that you seek, mortal?”

“There is someone that I wish for you to kill, devil,” the lead ritualist said. “She’s unfathomably strong, a worthy opponent for one such as yourself.”

The face on the blob contorted as three hideous grins manifested on its mouths. “Where is she?”

The lead ritualist turned towards Daniel. Daniel and Apollonia shrugged. “She should’ve arrived by now,” Apollonia said, furrowing her brow. “Don’t tell me she got sidetracked again.”

The lead ritualist faced the devil once more. “I’m not sure where she is.”

“…Then what do you want me to do, mortal?” The blob jiggled before shrinking and solidifying, condensing into the shape of a gorilla that had eight spindly legs growing out of its back like a spider’s. The ten eyes shifted around the devil’s body: some entering its legs, others into its arms, and even a few down by its butt, giving the devil perfect vision of its surroundings including the sky and the ground. Its spidery legs extended, lifting the gorilla-like body off the ground. “With these paltry offerings, I can only maintain this form for one moon cycle.”

Tafel turned towards Daniel. “Hey, if you can’t find the demon lord in two weeks, can I kill it?” she asked, pointing at the devil. “I’d get a lot of experience fighting it.”

Apollonia’s eyes widened. “Do you think you can kill it?”

“Um, probably,” Tafel said with a nod. “I’m pretty strong, you know?”

Alice snorted. “Braggart.”

“Hey!” Tafel said, her cheeks flushed. “I whooped your butt before, didn’t I?”

“Just wondering…,” Apollonia said while rubbing her chin, “can we hire you to kill the demon lord?” Upon seeing Tafel’s reaction, she added, “Or even just defeat her if you’re not comfortable with killing.”

“I don’t really like interfering with the politics of other regions,” Tafel said, scratching her head.

“Cough, liar, cough.” Alice cleared her throat a few times as Mr. Skelly patted her back.

Tafel narrowed her eyes at her short party member. “Are you having issues?”

Alice shook her head. “Nope.”

“Mm.” Apollonia nodded. “It seems like I’ll have to rely on the devil still.”

“I’m being ignored,” the devil said, glaring at the group chatting on the rubble. His spidery legs bent, his face getting closer to the lead ritualist’s. His three mouths clacked their teeth a few times before asking in a low rumble, “How do you wish for me to proceed in slaying your enemy? I can track her down by her scent. Or I can drink her blood to place a tracking magic on her.”

The lead ritualist turned towards Daniel. “Do we have the demon lord’s blood? No, in the first place, does she even bleed?”

“I have an article of her clothing,” Daniel said, his cheeks taking on a hint of pink. “Could you get her scent off of that?”

The devil sprang into the air, landing on the rubble without shaking the foundation as if its massive body were as light as a feather. The gorilla head warped and contorted, elongating into a wolf-like muzzle. “Let me smell it,” the devil said, its other mouths growling. One of its eyes shifted to the side of its head, glaring at Tafel. “Don’t do anything stupid, walking goat.”

“Goat?” Tafel asked.

Alice snickered. “Because of your horns. Walking goat, heh-heh. Should I call you that from now on? Maybe you’ll understand how it feels to be called by a title you hate.”

Tafel snorted.

“Here,” Daniel said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a piece of black cloth. “This is the article of clothing.”

Apollonia squinted at Daniel’s hands. Then her gaze turned onto Daniel, an unreadable expression on her face. “Panties. Really.”

Daniel shrugged. “You said I should obtain an article of her clothing.”

Apollonia’s expression darkened. “But why panties?”

“Does that really matter right now, my liege?” Daniel asked, shoving the panties onto the devil’s snout. “I followed your orders, didn’t I?”

“I thought I knew everything there was to know about you, Daniel,” Apollonia said with a sigh. “It turns out dark secrets are hidden in deep places.”

“My liege, please,” Daniel said. “You’re embarrassing me in front of our guests.”