The Great Forest War
The Great Forest War. Though the High Elf Queens had beaten and carved him up since he was a boy, he was still a great dark mage who had reached the realm of the Main God.
It’s not that I’m afraid of them. My body’s simply in no shape to finish this right now, and I lack proper justification. I did damage their allied forces with ninth-circle magic earlier, but the death count stayed under ten thousand.
The explosion had hurled them kilometers into the air like broken bridges, yet as the finest awakened warriors of their races, countless of them emerged without a scratch. That level of magic would have wiped out any human army beyond the mountains. These monsters only lost fewer than ten thousand out of the hundred thousand that charged me after building their bridge.
Because every single one of them was an elite, the blow was devastating to their tribes’ total fighting strength, yet the enemy still numbered over a billion. I have to assume they can reinforce endlessly. On top of that, there are ten thousand dragonkin comparable to seventh-circle mages and even an eighth-circle Dragon Emperor. Worst of all, the High Elf Queens have decided on total annihilation, claiming the World Tree’s strike doesn’t work on me. Granzoa might even descend in her incarnated form.
Even at full strength, defeating an incarnated Granzoa would cost the Magic God of Dimensions catastrophic damage and force him into open war with the divine races. After all, Granzoa was the highest-ranking goddess representing the young goddesses of the God Realm.
She’s also the leader of the Goddess Department. That’s the real problem.
He subtly scanned the exterior of the Survival Magic Tower with magic. Beyond the restored dimensional barrier at the center of the Great Cavity, the sky was blotted out by dragonkin and giant naga. Whether magic could be cast freely or not, the dragonkin and nagas were experimentally hammering the barrier with every spell and breath attack they possessed.
I’m alone, and there are a disgusting number of them.
On the World Trees and the earth surrounding the Great Cavity, High Elves were testing arrows and elementals. Orc Lords hurled curses and, with truly brainless disregard for the ten-kilometer distance, flung their weapons. The fact that those reckless throws actually reached the dimensional barrier in front of the tower proved that the races of this Great Forest were monsters compared to their kin outside the mountains.
Unless it’s a Main God with over a billion divine power surpassing my own, nothing can affect the dimensional barrier no matter what they try. Earlier it was nullified through a loophole by gathering divine power from multiple gods, but that trick won’t work again.
Because of the mental spirit’s side effects, an entire generation would have to pass before he could use it once more. The only other option was increasing the High Elf population from one billion to two billion.
Even with thousands of World Trees and the blessings of the Great Forest, that’s impossible in a short time. It would require more than ten millennia and the Chief God’s explicit permission.
Granzoa had already secured nearly a billion fanatical High Elves and explosively increased her divine power. She’s been eyeing the position of Chief God of the God Realm with open greed. There’s no way the current Chief God would allow the population to jump by two billion right now.
No matter how the Magic God of Dimensions looked at it, fighting now gave him less than a fifty-percent chance of victory and nothing worth gaining. Why should I even fight the races of the Great Forest? There’s zero reward even if I win.
He had already remodeled the tower into a completely self-sufficient Survival Magic Tower. There was no reason to step outside ever again.
Perfect. Simple answer. Eternal farewell to the outside world.
The Magic God of Dimensions suddenly laughed. At last, he would never have to look at those horrible creatures again.
“Kuhahahahahat—!”
The Magic God of Dimensions, who had been roaring in fury and about to charge out, suddenly froze. He muttered to himself, tilted his head, then burst into laughter once more. The Demon King and his demons were utterly bewildered by the bizarre display.
Yet the Succubus Queen, who had been watching the Magic God of Dimensions with the fond smile one gives a cute pet, spoke up.
“You still have that old habit of playing by yourself since you were a child.”
At her words everyone fell silent, simply waiting for the Magic God of Dimensions to finish laughing. What he did next, however, completely defied common sense.
He began remodeling the Survival Magic Tower by summoning the chief gods of the Spirit Realm.
“Rise.”
The golden magic tower sitting on the floor of the hundred-kilometer-wide hexagonal space floated into the air and locked into place.
“Summon! Spirit Gods of the Otherworld.”
As soon as he confirmed the information on the summoned spirit gods and activated the spell, five kilometer-wide magic circles appeared around the tower. Humanoid figures materialized within them.
In the sky above, the light spirit god representing the Otherworld blazed with circular rings of intense flame.
Fuhahahahahahaha—!
To the right, a translucent, water-wrapped being resembling a naga glowed with sharp eyes. To the left stood an enormous wolf that looked as if it had been molded from compressed earth, its face twisted with irritation.踩 on the wolf’s head was a spirit god twice her own height, holding a bow made of leaves that covered her body, glaring straight at him.
Same as always. I don’t even need to look behind me to feel the wind spirit god hurtling toward us at supersonic speed, radiating a gaze that says she wants to kill me.
The spirit chief gods had all refused to contract with a dark mage who practiced black magic, so he had forcibly bound them. The result was this atmosphere. A sigh escaped him naturally.
Still, I am their contractor. Would it kill them to treat me a little better?
The killing intent radiating from the summoned spirit gods was almost preferable to the insect-like stare the darkness spirit god gave him while her long black hair covered her pale naked body.
I definitely summoned the spirit gods I contracted with, so why do I feel more nervous than when I fought the High Elf Queens?
For the record, every spirit god was a goddess.
All the spirit gods have rotten personalities and only care about themselves. They seize on the tiniest excuse to attack me—the very contractor who shares his vitality with them. Yet if you ask why they contracted with me, they all say it was a man’s childhood dream.
Every one of them matched the Magic God of Dimensions’ boyhood tastes: tall, voluptuous women with generous breasts and hips.
Above them, the sun spirit god wore a pure-white dress decorated with flowing golden accents, her black hair elegantly coiled with jeweled ornaments and crowned by a golden coronet of light. Without even opening her eyes she snapped at him in clear displeasure.
“Didn’t I tell you never to summon me by force without my permission? Do you wish to apologize for your rudeness inside the flames of the sun for all eternity? The fire you tasted last time must have felt lukewarm.”
The Magic God of Dimensions watched hundreds of small suns float into existence and hurriedly checked the reflection spell he had cast on himself—All Things Shall Return to the Sower—to make sure it was functioning properly.
Each of those is stronger than a ninth-circle Hell Tempest and carries purifying holy flames. An ordinary dark mage or demon would be reduced to ash, soul and all, with the slightest graze.
Fortunately she did not fire them, so he assumed she would let it slide this time. He was wrong; she had simply changed her target.
“What is this shabby, empty space? There are no pitiful fools here to praise and worship my noble radiance. To think you only summon these low-grade spirit gods. How utterly pathetic.”
The Sun Goddess could not restrain her temper and immediately began provoking everyone around her.
Saying something like that is going to cause big trouble.
Whoooong—!
The gazes of the Otherworld spirit gods surrounding them in all four directions locked onto the Sun Goddess in the sky. Without waiting for their contractor’s permission, they began stealing vitality and strengthening their authorities.
“Oh? You fallen commoners who were forcibly contracted to an evil dark mage still have your pride? Very well, come at me. I shall show you why the sun stands above every other attribute.”
A migraine began to throb in his skull. This has already escalated into an uncontrollable emergency.
They were all spirit gods; one would think “green and green go together,” yet their equally rotten personalities meant they only ever fought one another. It was practically tribal self-loathing.
Kwaaaang—! Whoooong—! Crack—!
Solar divine power exploded, sending thousands of fire streams whipping toward the other spirit gods. In response, an endless tidal wave of water—utterly incomparable to any naga sorcery—tried to swallow the sun whole. The wind spirit god’s roar multiplied hundreds of times over, piercing and shaking space itself. The darkness spirit god’s hair covering her naked form unraveled wildly, absorbing the flames and threatening even the Sun Goddess’s main body. From the earth spirit god’s colossal arrows, countless shafts of light detonated, erasing the approaching orbs of fire. The giant wolf made of earth howled as if venting all its accumulated stress, smashing or swallowing the miniature suns and beginning to rampage.
Ooooooooooong—!
It opened its massive maw like a dog with rabies, trying to bite everything in sight. And its primary target was him.
Shoo—! Go away. I’m your contractor, damn it.
With the other spirit gods also subtly directing attacks his way, he genuinely felt tears coming. Other spirit mages say their elementals help them even at the risk of extinction. So why do mine always try to kill me first? They have such foul tempers that no one but me would ever contract with them anyway!
Watching the spirit gods go berserk from wounded pride over a few exchanged barbs while still diligently firing off attack fragments, the Magic God of Dimensions truly regretted summoning them.
They wouldn’t listen even if I told them to stop. I should just do what I came here to do.
The purpose of summoning the spirit gods was to create the foundational environment for properly exercising his creative power.
“My world manifests here, so obey.”
The moment the Magic God of Dimensions’s vast magical and divine power filled the space, the spirit gods who had been trying to kill one another froze in place.
Oooooooooooooooooong—!
Overwhelming, pure power saturated every corner of the area and poured infinite vitality into the spirit gods’ bodies.
“Mmmnnn~! Your vitality is still as useful as ever.”
Bestowing such immense vitality brought extreme ecstasy and exaltation to the spirit gods who had lost their physical forms. Of course, as supreme spirit gods they had no reason to be swayed by mere sensation, yet the Magic God of Dimensions’s vitality was strong enough to shake even their level of transcendence.
“Hoooooh! How truly rude!”
The rampaging Sun Goddess stopped attacking the others. She produced a golden fan from somewhere and hid her flushed face behind it. The remaining spirit gods likewise ceased their assault and straightened their postures.
Their bodies are heating up from the vitality.
What a truly troublesome contractor.
Spirits follow their contractor because of vitality. A spirit that receives it can grow hundreds of times more efficiently than through self-cultivation in the Spirit Realm.
The Spirit Realm doesn’t have the same merciless hierarchy of kill-or-be-killed like the Demon Realm.
Since rank is still determined by strength, they must protect their precious contractor at all costs to receive more vitality.
The spirit gods’ desperate need for vitality was not because of insolent spirit kings rising up against them. Having once been gods, their primary goal was to rebuild physical bodies and regain their divinity.
They lost human faith and were defeated in the War of Verification.
Though they did not fall to become demon gods of the Demon Realm, losing their bodies left them on the verge of extinction.
The place where defeated gods were ultimately used for the sake of the world was the Spirit Realm.
The Spirit Realm is both a prison and a forced labor camp for the gods.
Feeling vitality overflow through their bodies after so long, the spirit gods suddenly recalled the past.
I was once revered as the national god of an island nation and rose to the rank of God King. Yet because of my worthless younger brother’s rebellion, my divinity plummeted and I ended up as a spirit god. I never imagined it would come to this.
Of course her younger brother had also been left in ruins, his divinity shattered, and her divine realm had been destroyed.
That younger brother and this contractor always overlap in my eyes. They truly resemble each other.
A spirit’s contractor possessed the right of absolute command. While there were limits based on ability, a contractor with power overwhelming enough to subdue them could order even the most humiliating acts and they would be forced to obey.
When I was first summoned for the contract, no matter how far I had fallen I still tried to incinerate the wicked dark mage who dared seek a pact with the national god of light and sun. After losing that fierce battle and being forcibly contracted, he has never once invoked the right of absolute command.
He makes no unreasonable demands. He supplies endless vitality and occasionally lets them vent the stress accumulated in the boring Spirit Realm. He is, without question, the best possible contractor.
As a god who once belonged to the light, I should neither willingly help a dark mage nor be able to do so.
It is a relationship in which the dark mage unilaterally loses out, yet he silently endures it.
They are still foolish little girls who have not accepted their circumstances and rampage like lunatics. Yet he indulges their tantrums so well. He resembles my younger brother, who endured more scorn and sacrifice than anyone on the battlefield under the banner of being the strongest.
She found the contract with the dark mage extremely satisfying.
I cannot openly help because of the other spirit gods’ gazes. Still, I would like to redirect the emotions of these foolish girls toward me. After all, he must survive for a very long time so the contract can continue.
She had once been a mighty being who rose to God King. Yet as she continued absorbing the Magic God of Dimensions’s vitality, something that should have been impossible was happening.
My destroyed body is recovering.
Traitors and betrayers, just wait a little longer. I will leave not even ashes behind.
As the Sun Goddess’s emotions surged, her authority fluctuated and the surroundings turned white-hot. Even the pleasure rushing in from absorbing vitality could not dull the burning desire for revenge that had driven her from the highest position to contract with a mere dark mage.
If I continue receiving this mighty dark mage’s vitality as I am now, I can return as the national god of my world and exact my revenge. There is, however, one small point about the contractor that worries me. He possesses greater power than anyone, yet my rude and reckless younger brother eventually lost his reason beneath a torrent of contempt and criticism, destroying his own divine realm. I hope this dark mage does not meet the same fate.
She prayed as much as possible that the Magic God of Dimensions would not. Given the power she sensed in him, the destruction would likely not end with merely this world.
Ruin? That might not be so bad. I’ll burn every insolent spirit king who dares refuse to bow before me simply because they grew stronger after obtaining a slightly powerful contractor.
Imagining the spirit kings burning away into ash, the Sun Goddess hid her face behind her fan and laughed with chilling menace.
“Ohohohohoho—!”
At the eerie laughter, the Magic God of Dimensions—who had been carefully watching the other spirit gods—sighed automatically.
Huuuuuu—! Why is she acting up again? Is today that day?