Chapter 36 The Summonable Monsters' Abilities

Incubus and Succubus.

In modern world's tales, they are demons that are addicted to pleasure and lust. By eating people's pleasure, they gained their satisfaction and their fill of energy. Some people hold them in contempt, and some of them, hope that they'll visit them in their sleep so that they could have intercourse with them.

But after my demonification and my journey in this godforsaken realm, I've noticed that people have a great misunderstanding about their tribe. They're filled with kindness, loyalty, and gentleness, not lust, pleasure, and greed.

It's like a human with a curse. A curse that will force you to have intercourse with someone or you'll stay on a brink of death without dying, a curse that forces you to feed on people's feelings of pleasure or you'll lose all of your energy and start to wither but you can't die.

They can't die, only suffer if they didn't satisfy that curse of theirs.

That's why they are just a bunch of sad and unfortunate people. To be born a succubus or an incubus is to hold that curse for hundreds of years or even thousands of years.

And because of the demonification, I have become one of them.

One of the sad and unfortunate people of the demon realm.

May the heavens give mercy to the sad and unfortunate people like us.

-Journal of The Ex-Human, Lyan

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Inside the royal castle of a certain kingdom, two figures are standing inside the secret passage of the royal castle. Dressed in cloaks that cover their whole body and hood that covers their head, none could know whether they are men or women.

"About the matter I entrusted to you, have you completed it yet? How's the progress?" asked one of the hooded figures.

"I have, your highness. Your plan is progressing smoothly. The council of the city of Arkansas is ready to accept our joint expedition whenever we want. Since they are mercenaries, there won't be any complicated procedures that we need to go through to recruit them. And the 'bait' had been laid as well, we only need your order to commence the second phase of the plan," replied the other one.

"Hm..." The hooded figure didn't rush on making his decision, he thoroughly reevaluate the plan he had laid, making sure there won't be any disturbance that might lead to an unwanted outcome.

"It seems that we're ready. Spread the word to our allies, and sent a secret letter to father as well. I'm going,"

"As talented you are, it might still be dangerous. I'll send my best men to guard you on your journey, but please still be careful, your highness," The other hooded figure said with deep concern.

Letting out a chuckle, the first hooded figure that got referred to as 'Your Highness' replied to him.

"Your concern is unnecessary. All is for the glory of Astellia,"

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That night, Lyan asked for another serving of Ravia's tea and continue to converse with her. Lyan's melancholy atmosphere at that time makes him be at the perfect frequency to converse with the stoic Ravia. Slowly but surely, Ravia started to open up to him.

Their talk topics consisted of Ravia's childhood, the House of Roses' daily lives, the mercenaries that like to make trouble inside the house, and other kinds of stuff.

After talking for more than an hour together, Lyan suggested that Ravia take a rest when she yawned, which made their conversation ends. Thinking that it's the perfect chance to look at his summonable monsters' abilities, Lyan went to one of the unexpected rooms the House of Roses' has that Ravia told him.

"An underground training hall... Now, who would ever expect that this building would have a training hall this big underground..." Lyan uttered in admiration.

At the corner of the staff's living room on the highest floor of the building, there is a door that is connected to the stairs that leads into the underground. In every staff-only room on every floor has a door that is connected to the stairs, allowing all of the staff on every floor to access the underground facilities.

(Does the Madam train their staff to fight here or something?) (Lyan)

Not only there's an underground training hall, but there's also a room that seems to be the living room, looking at the mess it's currently in, it looks like it's the most frequently used place by the girls of the house.

"One of them is even sleeping there. Even though Ravia said it's fine, I guess I shouldn't be here," Lyan decided to return upstairs and stealthily went outside the house.

(I guess the best place to stealthily train is the forest. Let's quickly go there and return before sunrise) (Lyan)

With Lyan's agility, it's not a matter since he uses he enforced his body with mana, but at this kind of time-

(I hope that I have a freaking horse) (Lyan)

"*Phew!* That was quite an exercise to do. But it's such a wasteful way to deplete mana, I guess I need to buy a mount soon," Uttered Lyan as he wiped the sweat on his forehead.

"Now, come forth and heed my call, Summon! [Shadow Hobgoblin!] [Papilio Slime!]" (Lyan)

Together with the summoning grimoire, a black magic circle and a purple magic circle appeared before Lyan, summoning the shadow hobgoblin and the Papilio Slime.

"Morning. Sorry for calling you guys so early, but I want to check your abilities. So please bear with me, okay?" said Lyan as he apologized to his two summoned monsters.

As if they understand his words, the both of them gave him a nod. And together with a telepathy, they send their thoughts.

'It's fine, master'

"Eh? So you really do understands my words..." Lyan uttered as he widens his eyes.

The two of them once again nod.

"I see... I haven't tested all of your abilities yet before, so could the both of you tell me what kind of things the both of you are capable of doing?" Asked Lyan, thinking that it might be possible for them to show him what their capabilities themselves without having him to experiment with them himself.

And once again, the two of them gave him a nod.

"Really!? Then please!" (Lyan)

The first one that started to demonstrate his abilities is the shadow hobgoblin. After absorbing lots of shadow essences from powerful spirits inside the grimoire's space, the shadow hobgoblin had grown far stronger than he is before. The sinister black armor he uses and the black sword he's wielding gives off a powerful aura of darkness that could make a normal person tremble because of the sight.

The shadow hobgoblin has the ability of [shadow warp], allowing him to travel to the shadow he saw and several shadows that he had marked beforehand. The other ability is the [shadow poison], the wounds given by the shadow hobgoblin are capable of inflicting shadow damage to the victim. While the last ability is the [shadow lord], the darker the place is, and the more shadows a place has, the ability will strengthen the shadow hobgoblin's overall abilities, making him even stronger.

The last one to demonstrate their abilities is the Papilio Slime. She possesses the ability to spit [Acidic Fluid], the [Absorb] ability that makes her stronger from absorbing or eating something, and [Split] that allows her to split her body to many and leave a small main body that could return bigger after eating. Her butterfly wings could spread [Illusion Mist] and [Poison Powder], and the most interesting ability is the [Scales of Mana] that allowed her to store her mana inside it and make it into something like her reserve mana battery.

"Hou... You guys have quite the unique abilities, huh... Let's try to hunt together next time!" Lyan enthusiastically said.

Actually, the two monsters didn't demonstrate their abilities to Lyan by demonstrating them to a tree or a nearby monster, they are using an illusion that is showing him the abilities they have and how it the ability works.

"To think that the monsters that have a mother are capable of using all of my illusion... The connection between the summoned monsters and the summoner is quite something," (Lyan)

Lyan's impressed with the summoning grimoire's abilities.

When he tried to focus his mind on the connection with the grimoire, he realized that he could feel all that the Shadow Hobgoblin and the Papilio Slime felt. He could see what they saw and what they feel, and he could deliver his commands and communicate with them just by his thoughts as well.

The most peculiar one is the Papilio Slime. Since she is a monster with a mother, she's like Lyan's and Belle's child. She inherited the mana from Lyan and Belle, allowing her to use all of the illusion magic Lyan could use. And because of her special connection with Lyan, the shadow hobgoblin is treating her with respect.

When the hobgoblin shifted his gaze to the Papilio Slime, he always bows his head, and he seems to be accepting her orders as well as suddenly the hobgoblin caught an insect that passed and gave it to the Papilio Slime as he kneels.

"They are so interesting, but the sun is going to rise soon. I guess that's it for today, we'll play again on the next occasion. Hobu, you can return. And for you li'l slime, we're returning to your mother for now, let's go!" (Lyan)

(Let's go~) (Lilith)

That time, the voice that he felt like it has been a long since the last time he heard it appeared inside his mind. At that moment, Lyan realized the blunder that he had just done.

(Last night... I turned the television off with my thoughts, or not...?) (Lyan)

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Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mercenary

Money: 49,722,600 Elnes

Weapon: None

Equipment: Black leather cloak

Grimoire's Companions: 8 High Spirits, Shadow Hobgoblin, Papilio Slime