IBDAW 2

Chapter 2

The Demon God of Summoning (2)

“Waaaaaaaaah…!”

Geon-hyeok squeezed his eyes shut.

Then, he felt something touch him from the ground.

Squelch.

“…?”

What was that?

When he opened his eyes, countless trees and shrubs came into view.

Was this the world called Rugnis?

Geon-hyeok looked around and slowly got to his feet.

“Oh…”

It was just a forest.

Would it have killed them to start him in a city?

Geon-hyeok let out a sigh and pulled up his status.

“…Summon Skull Dragon.”

Whoosh!

Black smoke appeared before his eyes.

Its size was tremendous.

-Grrrrr…

When a beast’s roar came from within the smoke, Geon-hyeok flinched and backed away.

“Ah…”

Whoosh!

The dragon slowly revealed itself.

30 meters in length, 10 meters in width… no, with its wings spread, it looked to be at least 50 meters.

Black bones and glowing red eyes.

The dark aura it gave off sent chills down his spine.

-Grrr…

The creature bowed its head toward Geon-hyeok.

“Ah…”

Fortunately, it didn’t attack its master.

That was only natural, of course…

Ding!

[Please decide on your Divine Name (神名).]

So he was to decide on a name to act under as a god?

What name should he set?

Geon-hyeok looked at the dragon before him.

“Chaos… Chaos.”

It was a pretty good name.

[Will you set your Divine Name as Chaos?]

“Yes.”

Ding!

[Your Divine Name has been saved.]

The name in his status changed from Park Geon-hyeok to Chaos.

In this world, he would have to live not as Park Geon-hyeok, but as Chaos.

Chaos, his red eyes glinting, immediately summoned additional Skull Dragons.

Afterward, he tried breaking a stone with his bare hands.

Crack!

It was a strength that had been impossible in his past life.

However, with this level of power, it would be impossible to face other players… gods.

“I need to build up my forces as much as possible and prepare for battle.”

Magic power recovered at a rate of 1 per second.

In other words, it would take roughly 3 hours to fully recover all his magic power.

Chaos placed Skull Dragons around him and sat down, waiting for his magic power to recover.

“…I’m a bit hungry.”

Did gods feel hunger too?

Should he look around?

“There’s no need for me to move myself, is there?”

Chaos smiled faintly and summoned 10 Skeleton Warriors.

Clatter.

White skeleton soldiers wielding one-handed swords and shields, armed with leather armor, glinted with red light in their eyes.

They weren’t as impressive as the Skull Dragons, but the Skeletons’ appearance was still somewhat terrifying.

“Search the surroundings for fruit or something to eat.”

The Skeletons nodded and scattered in all directions.

Chaos, who had been looking around, spotted a boulder and sat down on it.

Afterward, he checked the fruits the Skeletons brought back.

“This one… looks like anyone could tell it’s poisoned… Is this an apple? What kind of berry is this?”

Chaos examined the fruits and tasted them one by one.

“It’s pretty sweet?”

While eating an apple, his skin tingled.

Something powerful was approaching.

Chaos used his recovered magic power to summon one more Skull Dragon.

Then, leaving the Skeletons behind, he climbed onto the Skull Dragon.

“Fly!”

At Chaos’s command, four Skull Dragons soared into the sky.

-Grrrrr…

These creatures seemed to sense something too.

After a moment, something dark came into view.

Flapping black bat wings… a person?

No, should he call them demons here?

There were more of them than he had expected.

As the Skull Dragons opened their jaws and prepared their breath, a woman with purple hair at the front hurriedly raised both hands.

“W-wait a moment…!”

Chaos was momentarily entranced.

A woman with wavy purple hair and red eyes.

She was more beautiful than anyone he had ever seen on Earth.

But he must not let his guard down.

‘…She’s a player.’

He could sense an alien aura… different from the others.

“I-I didn’t come here to fight! I only came out to greet you because a new god was summoned in my territory!”

“…Greet?”

“My name is Freya, a Demon God like yourself… I am called the Goddess of Beauty.”

She was sweating profusely and swallowed hard.

She wasn’t the only one.

The demons around her were also trembling with pale faces.

‘Sk… Skull Dragons…’

‘Four monsters that can use 7th-circle breath…!’

‘Does this mean the Demon God summoned this time can call forth Demon King-class monsters…?’

The demons wanted to leave this place right now.

Normally, newly summoned gods possessed abilities similar to lowest-tier to mid-tier demons.

The reason they followed them anyway was because most demons were lowest-tier to lower-tier demons.

Without receiving a blessing from the gods, they could not awaken as mid-tier or higher beings.

There were rare cases of those who grew to upper-tier demons without receiving a blessing, but…

“F-first, I would like to talk.”

Chaos nodded with furrowed brows.

What he needed right now was information.

Freya let out a sigh and clutched her chest in relief.

Fortunately, it seemed they could communicate.

“Everyone, stand back.”

“B-but…”

At Freya’s instruction, the demons hesitated for a moment.

“Stand back.”

“Ah… understood.”

A demon who looked quite strong bowed his head and withdrew.

Once the demons had retreated about 2–3 km, Freya slowly parted her lips.

“In Rugnis, new gods are summoned on a yearly cycle. Ten to the Heavenly God side, and ten to the Demon God side.”

That many were summoned?!

Twenty gods were summoned each year.

In 10 years, 200 gods; in 100 years, 2,000 gods would be summoned to this world.

However, that number would never be maintained.

Because they had to kill each other to gain activity period.

“Newly summoned gods are mostly lowest-tier to lower-tier gods.”

“Lowest-tier…? Do gods have grades too?”

“It’s not a grade determined by the system. We simply classify them by level. Levels 1–99 are lowest-tier gods, 100–299 are lower-tier gods, 300–499 are mid-tier gods, 500–699 are upper-tier gods, and 700 and above are classified as highest-tier gods.”

Freya paused to catch her breath.

“Of the 10 gods summoned each year, 5–7 are summoned as lowest-tier, and 2–3 as lower-tier. Exceptionally, mid-tier to upper-tier gods are sometimes summoned… mid-tier gods about once every 3 years? Upper-tier gods are also rare, summoned about once every 5 years.”

“Highest-tier gods…”

“I’ve never actually seen one, so I’m not sure… The highest-tier gods that currently exist all started as upper-tier gods.”

Chaos fell into thought for a moment.

His level was 777, so he was classified as a highest-tier god.

The problem was that this case was said to be special.

That was fortunate… wasn’t it?

“Phew, so… for what reason did you come to find me?”

“We Demon Gods are cooperating to oppose the Heavenly Gods.”

“Cooperating?”

“Killing fellow Demon Gods only benefits the Heavenly Gods. Even if you covet someone’s skill, you only gain 1 SP… In the end, you’d have to kill other Demon Gods to strengthen that skill. If you whittled down your allies’ forces for such gain… you’d be subjected to concentrated attacks from the Heavenly Gods and lose your life.”

Certainly, unless one could strengthen an acquired skill to its maximum, coveting it would be foolish.

“Of course, there are those who kill allies to raise the levels of skills they already possess. But the highest-tier gods that currently exist are preventing that.”

“Even if you’re wary of concentrated attacks… isn’t it more beneficial to form a small elite force rather than just having numbers?”

“Raising a skill level to 5 requires 150 SP. In other words, you’d have to kill 150 gods. To reach level 6, 210; to reach level 7, 280… You’d lose far too much fighting strength. Rather than that, it’s more beneficial to nurture newly summoned gods so they can become strong.”

“In the case of highest-tier Demon Gods, they might move to strengthen their existing skills…”

“Even so, comparing the gains and losses… the losses are far too great.”

“Come to think of it… how many gods are on the Demon God side?”

“I believe around 370.”

That’s quite a lot.

If he killed about 270 of them, he could raise his skill level to 10.

The question was whether highest-tier and upper-tier gods were mixed among those 370.

“And the Heavenly God side?”

“About 730, I believe.”

“……”

Why was there such a difference?

“Right now… the Demon God side’s situation isn’t good. Because many highest-tier Demon Gods lost their lives in a war a few years ago…”

The Demon God side currently had 6 highest-tier Demon Gods forming factions.

“Among the highest-tier Demon Gods, there is a ranking based on strength. The Demon God named Hades, who currently holds the 1st rank, was once 3rd. The 2nd, Loki, was once 6th.”

Those were names from Greek and Norse mythology.

In addition, there were 3rd-ranked Erebos, 4th-ranked Tsukuyomi, 5th-ranked Izanami, and 6th-ranked Cheok Jun-gyeong.

“…Cheok Jun-gyeong?”

“An unusual name, isn’t it? I heard he’s a Demon God from Korea. Something about the name of the Korean Peninsula’s Swordmaster…?”

Not a single one of them was sane.

Of course, he wasn’t in a position to talk.

“They’re mostly monsters who use 8th-circle dark-attribute magic or wield sword aura of mid-Grandmaster level or higher.”

“…And you?”

“I am an upper-tier Demon God and can use 7th-circle magic.”

“7th-circle…? Didn’t you say upper-tier Demon Gods range from level 500 to 699? Considering SP…”

“Ah, magic and sword aura are a little different from summoning-type skills. Even when the skill level is 0, if you raise your level to a certain point, you can use 1st–2nd circle magic. Also, my level is currently in the 600s, but Demon Gods in the 500s can also use 7th-circle magic.”

“Raising the skill level changes the depth, even at the same realm.”

“Depth?”

“Yes, the power of magic becomes stronger, and mana efficiency increases greatly as well.”

For that reason, gods possessing summoning-type skills reportedly had low survival rates.

Because if their initial level was below 100, they couldn’t summon any summons at all.

“A-anyway, I currently belong to Loki’s faction. The highest-tier Demon Gods protect and educate the gods summoned in their territories, nurturing them into powerful forces. That’s how they strengthen their faction’s power.”

“So… you’re going to bring me into Loki’s faction?”

“O-originally, that was the plan, but…”

Freya looked at the Skull Dragons with a tense face.

There were four beings equal to herself.

That meant he already possessed abilities comparable to upper-tier to highest-tier Demon Gods.

At this level, couldn’t he just create a new faction of his own?

“F-first, how about going to my palace? You seem to have many questions about this world…”

Should he follow her?

If it became a one-on-one situation, defeating Freya would be impossible.

She might even have the upper hand in physical ability as well.

“Come find me again tomorrow. Today, I will remain here.”

“…What? But there’s nothing here…”

He was going to spend a day in a place without even bedding?

Wouldn’t it be better to just go together now?

“Send a guide, and I will visit.”

Freya nodded with a puzzled face.

Taking him along rashly would only raise suspicion.

Whether today or tomorrow… there probably wouldn’t be much difference.