Two months later, in the capital of Maddon Duchy.
Inside a luxurious estate.
In the garden pavilion, Olthagia, in his human form, sat calmly on a chair, dressed in lavish attire that matched the culture of this world.
On the table before him were fruits that had been urgently transported from across the nation. The clear sunlight filtered through the leaves of the plants above, scattering faintly across his handsome face.
Though his expression was blank and he sat quietly, there was an innate sense of malevolence in his demeanor, as if a sharp blade were pressed against one's throat. This made the temperature in the pavilion feel inexplicably colder, and even the sunlight failed to bring warmth.
Olthagia calmly observed a wisp of mist-like substance in his hand.
It was translucent, grayish-black, resembling fine, swirling dust, yet it lacked any tangible form, as insubstantial as air.
At this moment, Sartre, no longer dressed in the hooded black robe typical of a cultist but instead in noble attire, entered the courtyard. He stood respectfully at a distance from Olthagia and said, "My lord, everything you requested has been gathered."
"Hmm, you may leave."
Olthagia nodded, not even glancing at him, his tone indifferent.
Naturally, Sartre dared not voice any objection. In truth, he didn't want to face Olthagia in the first place. Merely standing before him felt like teetering on the edge of death.
The being before him, though currently cloaked in a human appearance, was at its core a pure monster.
In the stillness of the night, whenever Sartre recalled the events of the Summoning Ritual and the disbelieving eyes of the followers who had died before him, he couldn't help but tremble.
Though he had always regarded them as expendable subordinates, easily replaceable, witnessing their gruesome deaths had inevitably stirred a sense of pity within him. He found himself repeatedly overcome with remorse for them.
It was a strange feeling, one that even Sartre, who had always considered himself a villain, found difficult to bear. Perhaps this was the complexity of human nature. In the past, he had willingly sacrificed subordinates without a hint of regret, only cursing them as useless.
This time, however, there was a sense of empathy. After all, many people only learn to see things from another's perspective after experiencing despair themselves.
One can never truly understand the pain until the blade is turned on them.
Before Olthagia made him understand his place, Sartre would never have entertained such thoughts.
After all, he had always considered himself a genius, far above the level of mere commoners. Why should he care about the thoughts of others? Wasn't it an honor for the weak to serve the strong?
This simple belief had been ruthlessly shattered the moment Olthagia appeared before him.
There was no struggle, no resistance. It was merely Olthagia's gaze—those golden vertical pupils that involuntarily exuded an aura of dominance and indifference—that shattered Sartre's pride completely. The eyes of an absolute predator, standing at the pinnacle of the food chain, tore apart Sartre's courage and utterly erased his dignity as an Evil Sorcerer.
It was only when Sartre personally realized that, in Olthagia's eyes, he was nothing more than a weak insect that could be crushed at any moment, that he automatically adopted the perspective of the weak. Through this, he finally understood the feelings of his subordinates in the past.
Although Olthagia didn't fully grasp Sartre's thoughts, he could roughly guess them based on their recent words and actions. However, knowing was one thing; Olthagia had no intention of addressing it. He simply found it somewhat amusing—a case of "killing the chicken to scare the monkey," where the rabbit mourns the death of the fox.
After all, would a truly good person summon a Demon like him? Were the corpses used in the Summoning Ritual and Sartre's identity as an Evil Sorcerer just free gifts from someone else? It was laughable.
If Sartre couldn't be a good person, then at least he should have been a better villain. Did he really think that turning over a new leaf could erase his past? He must still be dreaming!
Even without using any special abilities, Olthagia, with his innate Demon powers, could sense the immense resentment clinging to Sartre—a souvenir left by the victims he had used to practice his evil arts. Did someone like him really think he could turn over a new leaf and become a good person? Olthagia thought it would be more realistic for him to go to sleep early; at least in his dreams, there might be a slim chance.
However, Olthagia had no intention of voicing these thoughts. After all, he was genuinely curious to see if a cult leader who had slaughtered the innocent and disregarded human life could truly turn toward goodness. What if a miracle happened? It would add some color to his life, and watching it unfold would be like enjoying a theatrical performance.
Speaking of which, Olthagia had to thank Sartre. If it weren't for his summoning, this opportunity might have been snatched by someone else. He truly hadn't expected his luck to be so good. He had stumbled upon a rookie who had been screwed over by his predecessors.
The "screwed over" part referred to the Magic Circle that had been used to summon Olthagia earlier. After casually taking Sartre's spellbook, Olthagia immediately noticed that some of the knowledge within was completely misleading, laced with deep malice. The Magic Circle meant to summon a Demon from the Abyss was labeled as one to summon a magical creature called the Rage Ape.
Moreover, a standard Summoning Ritual typically consisted of five components: [Search], [Communication], [Summoning], [Restriction], and [Expulsion]. These represented [Searching for summonable entities], [Communicating with the summoned entity], [How to summon the entity to the destination], and most importantly, [How to restrict the entity after summoning to prevent betrayal], and [How to send the entity back if it refuses to cooperate].
The magic circle used by Sartre only depicted the first three parts, while the last two parts were filled with meaningless, chaotic runes. This indicated that he had imposed no restrictions on the summoned entity and had no means to expel it. Moreover, the runes responsible for communication within the magic circle contained a large amount of fraudulent information, simulating the aura of thousands of offerings from just a few dozen. It was a classic case of commercial fraud.
A ritual that should have summoned at most a Lesser Demon was instead used to summon a Low-Rank Demon.
Under normal circumstances, due to this deception, the summoned Demon would not comply. The Abyssal Contract between the two parties could not be established, so the Demon would essentially be sent back to the Bottomless Abyss, as if it had made a wasted trip.
However, the problem lay in the fact that Sartre's magic circle lacked the expulsion function. It was more like a one-way portal, serving only to deceive and transport, akin to inviting a Demon to an all-you-can-eat buffet—and a half-coercive one at that, with the unspoken message of "you're not leaving until you've eaten your fill." What a grand display of universal love!
It transcended races, transcended worlds!
In this situation, if the Demon who responded to the summoning was not Olthagia but another Low-Rank Demon, upon realizing the deception, the Demon would naturally demand immediate "travel fees" from the summoner, who had no countermeasures, and would also take the opportunity to make a "friendly visit" to this world.
From this perspective, Olthagia could almost be considered a savior!
He could only humbly accept this role, refraining from making a big fuss about it to avoid being met with excessive fanaticism.
As for the origin of this entire incident, the summoning ritual recorded in that magic book, Olthagia understood that it was likely the work of a long-dead Evil Sorcerer who, in their final moments, sought to exact revenge on society. By providing misleading information, they aimed to misguide whoever later obtained the book, thereby creating a catastrophe and adding some "color" to the world.
It was the simple mindset of "if I'm going down, I'm taking everyone with me."
Similar incidents had happened more than once, most of which ended with the Demon successfully freeloading, though in a few cases, the summoners managed to turn the tables.
If given the chance, Olthagia sincerely hoped that every future summoning would be like this.
However, he also knew that such opportunities, akin to winning the lottery, were rare even once.
According to Olthagia's innate Abyssal biological clock, he could clearly sense that the time in this world flowed at a ratio of 3:1 compared to the Bottomless Abyss, meaning it was three times slower—perfectly aligned with Olthagia's goals. If only the mana concentration could be a bit higher, it would be even better.
The mana reaction in this world was quite weak. The mana concentration in the atmosphere was less than one-twentieth of that in the Wailing Forest, a Demon newbie zone.
And this was the result after the hundreds of millions of Demonic Creatures in the Wailing Forest continuously absorbed mana day and night.
In this mana-scarce world, although there were still some spellcasters, based on the records collected by the Kingdom of Mardon, Olthagia judged that their spellcasting methods were still quite primitive, likely at a very rudimentary stage.
Perhaps there were some exceptionally talented geniuses among them, but the overall environment ultimately constrained them, cutting off their path forward.
When Olthagia was first summoned, his strength was suppressed by the world to about half of its original level. Now, after some recuperation, he has mostly recovered.
This is largely thanks to the resistance to world suppression provided by the [Armed Rune - Scarlet]. Creatures like Demons are essentially lifetime VIP members of the blacklists of various worlds. As soon as they enter a different world, they are targeted. It's not just a 50% suppression; 70-80% is quite normal.
This is also why, in many cases, Demons immediately initiate large-scale massacres upon arrival.
Because only through extensive killing and the plundering of souls can they accelerate their own recovery.
However, even so, Olthagia can still feel the entire world rejecting him, constantly trying to expel him. This is a pervasive influence from all directions. Even drawing mana from the atmosphere requires forceful extraction, and the resistance is gradually increasing.
Eventually, the world will forcibly expel him back to the Abyss. Even with the [Armed Rune - Scarlet], it can only delay this for a while.
But Olthagia doesn't particularly care about this, as he couldn't stay here forever anyway. As long as he can achieve his goals, that's enough.