Chapter 226
Chapter 226
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 225
Chapter Title: Invasion of Valhalla
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Ruler of the Night.
After Aheta, once hailed as the Lord of the Moon, went bankrupt.
His body and territories were all auctioned off and sold to demons.
"Haha! So this is Aheta's territory! It truly overflows with mystery!"
One such place.
A territory known as the "Land of the Warrior Where Lava Flows."
The demon lord Helium arrived there, leading his kin.
"Congratulations, Lord Helium!"
"The land's fertility and the castle's grandeur both suit you perfectly!"
"It's far too fine a land for a fool like Aheta to have ruled."
Over a hundred kin.
A hundred thousand demons!
They began praising Helium in satisfaction with their newly settled territory.
It was thanks to demon lord Helium winning the bid at the auction.
Helium shrugged his shoulders.
"The castle is massive. The scenery is breathtaking beyond compare. Isn't it the perfect domain for the legend of I, Helium, to begin?"
The demons nodded and chattered excitedly.
"Exactly!"
"At this rate, you'll soon qualify as a 'Creator'!"
"Think you'll stop at just Creator? Lord Helium has the makings of a Demon King!"
Helium puffed out his chest with pride.
Compared to his previous trash heap of a territory, this place was beyond perfect.
For a rushed auction item, it was utterly to his liking.
'Well worth investing my entire fortune.'
He had been a minor lord, but he'd amassed a fair amount of coins.
He'd spent every last one, yet harbored no regrets.
For a demon lord, territory meant power.
The Abyss territory itself defined a lord's status and prestige.
And that was not all.
'I can become a true Creator.'
Among the qualifications for Creator, "territory" was the most crucial.
To create a Creation Abyss and connect it to other races' worlds, vast "territory" was essential.
'Once I become a Creator, recouping the coins spent on land will be a piece of cake.'
It was a form of investment.
Besides, it was Aheta's land.
Aheta was famous for owning only the most prime real estate.
That was why he'd jumped into the auction without a second thought.
The results were immensely satisfying.
A castle at least five times larger, with lava and mana flowing around it—it delighted him just standing there.
Helium sat upon the castle throne.
That was the moment.
Craaaaaack!
"Ooooooh!"
"Lord Helium's wings!"
"Congratulations!"
His kin made a huge fuss.
Wings had sprouted from Helium's back.
From two to three.
This signified that Helium, as a demon and a lord, had advanced a full rank.
Demons grew stronger based on the territory they owned.
And then.
"...I've finally met the qualifications for Creator."
Helium smiled.
How long he had waited for this.
If anything, it felt overdue.
He was confident his abilities surpassed most Creators.
Yet to truly become a "Creator," he needed to produce a "Creation Abyss."
'But I lack the coins to make a Creation Abyss.'
The problem was coin supply.
He'd invested everything into buying the territory.
Now he was short on coins for the Creation Abyss itself.
Of course, there were plenty of ways to acquire coins.
The easiest among them was.
"Scout the 'territories' connected to this land and their owners."
"War?"
"Ooooooh!"
The demons grew excited.
War.
...Helium had revealed his intent to invade.
All Abysses were interconnected.
This meant there were accessible neighboring territories.
Helium planned to invade the most vulnerable one, conquer it, and harvest coins.
If that wasn't enough, he could always sell the conquered land to make up the difference.
'It was greedy Aheta's land, after all. Powerful lords wouldn't bother settling in places connected to his territories.'
At best, there would only be minor lords like himself.
Helium was thrilled.
Once he won the war and created the "Creation Abyss," he too could make a name as a legitimate Creator!
How much time passed after dispatching the scouts?
"We've found it! And it's an incredible territory!"
One scout demon rushed back, having completed reconnaissance.
"Tell me. What kind of land is it?"
"It's the Valhalla territory Aheta used for the 'Second Night' on Earth!!"
"...That land went to auction too? But a place like that must have been bought by a powerful lord?"
Valhalla's territory.
It was incomparable to the land Helium had just purchased.
Neither in size nor fertility could they compete.
It seemed Aheta had put it up for auction upon bankruptcy.
Who would have thought it was connected to his own land?
The issue was that such prime real estate could easily have been snatched by a lord rivaling a Demon King.
Yet the reporting demon shook his head.
"It seems a lord who became a Creator only recently took it over."
"A freshly minted Creator got Valhalla's territory? Doesn't that imply backing?"
"We checked the auction records, but there's nothing. It looks like Aheta transferred it just before bankruptcy."
"...Oh ho. So... he handed over ownership right before going bust?"
"Yes. It happens sometimes, doesn't it? When bankruptcy looms, they pass territory to the weakest demon under them first."
"...!"
It made sense.
It wasn't unheard of.
It was a common tactic right on the brink of bankruptcy, if not actual bankruptcy.
To avoid forced auction, they temporarily transferred territory to their kin.
Auctions were random, so prized lands often slipped away unwillingly.
A land named Valhalla.
Naturally, Aheta would have wanted to protect it.
"Indeed... so he only became a Creator recently? His backer Aheta truly went bankrupt. That means the demon who received it must be utterly worthless."
"Precisely. It seems he barely qualified as Creator thanks to the land's power after receiving 'Valhalla's territory.'"
"No kin or following demons either."
"Exactly."
"...You there, what's your name?"
"They call me 'Cabron.'"
"Cabron. You've earned great merit. After this, serve as my direct kin."
"H-Honored!"
Cabron prostrated himself flat.
Helium's smile deepened.
Fortune was pouring in right after moving territories.
Meeting Creator qualifications was exciting enough.
'If I seize Valhalla's land too, few lords will dare challenge me.'
The mere thought was exhilarating.
He might even ascend all the way to Demon King.
Helium rose from his seat.
"We begin the war. All demons and kin, arm yourselves immediately."
'That's supposed to be a titan?'
Demon merchant Dagon was overwhelmed by the colossal statue before him.
He could only gape blankly at the sky.
Countless demon lords ruled their Abysses.
He had seen endless golems and titans guarding their territories, but this was on another level entirely.
'...That's no golem.'
Demon merchants sold golems too.
And as a demon merchant, Dagon had traveled myriad territories.
The number of golems he'd seen numbered over ten thousand easily.
But their appearances, traits, and purposes were mostly similar.
What was the definition of a "golem" to begin with?
Golem.
A magical lifeform that faithfully obeyed its master's commands.
Though called a lifeform, it was merely a doll powered by a mana core embedded in an artificial heart.
Some called golems "soldiers guarding the gods," but the mana cores and activation magic systems originated from dragons.
Their prototype was the dragon-tooth soldier.
Soldiers made from dragon teeth to guard dragon nests.
Dragons shed when reaching adulthood.
All teeth, scales, and more regrow.
The shed parts became materials for nest-guarding soldiers.
'Dragons passed golem-making magic to subservient lesser races out of largesse—that's how it started.'
Golems were an adaptation of dragon-tooth soldier production.
Hastily taught by dragons to their self-proclaimed slaves, the lesser races.
Over time, those races pooled their strength to advance golem craft.
After eons, they even created "titans" surpassing dragon-tooth soldiers, rivaling dragons in power.
But.
'Titans can't surpass dragons. Inherent limitations.'
Titans were not dragons.
They mimicked dragons but fell far short.
Even using bones, teeth, scales, and hearts from immature dragons as core materials yielded only massive dolls ignorant of true magic.
They barely used pre-engraved spells on command.
Ultimately, they never escaped the limits of "golems."
Yet.
The titan before him was different.
No, it couldn't even be called a titan.
Its form perfectly mimicked a "dragon."
The Sloth dragons had scoured every record of the Despair Clan.
They'd crafted its exterior to best match "Arcana."
They spared no ether crystals or materials.
Not only that.
They'd dumped over two hundred coins into top-grade magic stones like madmen.
The result.
...was completion.
An origin god surpassing even titans!
"...It lives."
Ataraxia declared.
The Despair Dragon Arcana had revived.
True to her word, it moved and thought independently, just as in life.
"I never thought this would actually work......"
"A dragon incarnate. No, it surpasses dragons."
"Ah, how beautiful!"
The Sloth Clan dragons stared in disbelief.
Magic spells floated around the origin god.
Not pre-engraved—they formed as needed by the origin god itself.
What of the core's fission?
The moment the "Despair Mana Core" was inserted into the artificial heart membrane, it split into nine.
Despair Dragon.
Fitting the most radiant, noble being who had reached the pinnacle of lords.
Vvvvvvvrrrr!
That was when it happened.
"Hm?"
"Warp?"
"Who's crossing over?"
Suddenly, a massive warp tore open at the edge of the land.
At the same time.
"Attack!"
"Kill them all!"
"Offer Valhalla to the great Lord Helium!"