Penguasa Malam.
Usai Aheta, yang dulunya disebut Penguasa Bulan, bangkrut, tubuh dan wilayahnya seluruhnya dilelang dan dijual ke para iblis.
"Haha! Jadi ini tanah Aheta! Benar-benar penuh misteri!"
Sebuah wilayah yang dikenal sebagai 'Tanah Pejuang di mana Lava Mengalir'.
Ke tanah itu, raja iblis Helium tiba, memimpin bawahan-bawahannya.
"Selamat, Tuan Helium!"
"Kesuburan tanah dan ukuran benteng keduanya sangat cocok untukmu, Tuan Helium!"
"Terlalu bagus untuk tanah yang dikuasai oleh orang bodoh seperti Aheta."
Lebih dari seratus bawahan. Lebih dari seratus ribu iblis!
Mereka mulai memuji Helium dengan puas atas wilayah baru mereka. Itu berkat Helium memenangkan lelang tanah tersebut.
Helium mengangkat bahu dengan bangga.
"Bentengnya luas. Pemandangannya indah tak tertandingi. Bukankah alam ini panggung sempurna untuk memulai legenda ku, Helium?"
Para iblis mengangguk dan berbicara setuju.
"Tentu!"
"Kalau begini, kau akan segera mendapat gelar 'Pencipta'!"
"Kau pikir dia akan berhenti di Pencipta? Tuan Helium layak jadi Raja Iblis!"
Helium menegakkan bahu dengan lebih kuat. Dibandingkan wilayah sampahnya dulu, tempat ini tak lain sempurna. Untuk properti yang dilelang tergesa-gesa, ini sangat memuaskan.
'Syukur aku menginvestasikan seluruh hartaku.'
Meski hanya raja iblis kecil, dia menabung cukup banyak koin. Dia habiskan semua, tapi tak menyesal.
Bagi raja iblis, wilayah adalah kekuatan. Di Abyss, wilayah seseorang langsung terkait dengan status dan presti mereka. Lebih dari itu...
'Sekarang aku bisa jadi Pencipta sejati.'
Syarat kunci jadi Pencipta, bahan yang paling penting, adalah 'wilayah'.
Untuk membangun 'Abyss Pencipta' dan menghubungkannya ke dunia ras lain, butuh 'wilayah' yang luas.
'Begitu jadi Pencipta, mengembalikan koin yang ku belanjakan untuk tanah ini akan jadi urusan sepele.'
Ini semacam investasi. Apalagi, ini tanah Aheta.
Aheta dikenal hanya mengakuisisi wilayah prima. Itu sebabnya Helium tak ragu ikut lelang.
Dan hasilnya lebih dari memuaskan. Benteng minimal lima kali lipat yang dulu, lava mengalir di dekatnya, dan energi sihir lingkungan yang membahagiakan hanya dengan hadir di sana.
Helium duduk di singgasana benteng. Dan saat itulah—
SPLAAAAASH!
"Ooooooh!"
"Sayap Tuan Helium!"
"Selamat!"
Bawahan-bawahannya berisik.
Sayap tumbuh di punggung Helium, dari dua jadi tiga. Menandakan Helium, sebagai iblis dan penguasa, naik satu level penuh. Kekuatan iblis memang bisa naik berdasarkan wilayah yang dimiliki. Dan—
"...Akhirnya aku memenuhi syarat jadi Pencipta."
Helium tersenyum.
Tunggu yang lama.
Faktanya, terasa kelewatan. Dia lama percaya kemampuannya melebihi kebanyakan Pencipta. Tapi untuk benar-benar jadi 'Pencipta', harus menghasilkan 'Abyss Pencipta'.
'Koin ku tak cukup buat bikin Abyss Pencipta.'
Masalahnya dapat koin. Dia habiskan semua koin beli wilayah. Sekarang kekurangan dana bangun Abyss Pencipta sendiri.
Tentu, banyak cara dapat koin. Yang paling mudah—
"Intip wilayah yang terhubung ke tanah ini dan identifikasi penguasanya."
"Ada perang??"
"Ooooooh!"
Para iblis antusias.
Perang.
...Karena Helium sekarang jelas berniat invasi.
Semua Abyss saling terhubung. Berarti ada wilayah sekitar yang bisa diakses.
Helium rencanain invasi dan kuasai yang paling rentan buat kumpul koin. Kalau kurang, dia bisa jual tanah hasil penaklukan buat nutupi sisanya.
'Ini dulu wilayah Aheta. Penguasa kuat pasti tak mau berbatasan dengan tanah dia.'
Paling cuma raja kecil lain seperti dia.
Helium bersemangat. Kalau dia menang perang ini dan bangun 'Abyss Pencipta', namanya akan tetap sebagai Pencipta sejati!
Beberapa waktu lewat usai dia kirim pengintai.
"Ketemu! Dan tanah luar biasa!"
Satu iblis, selesai rekognisi, lari masuk antusias.
"Bicara. Tanah macam apa?"
"Valhalla! Tanah yang dipakai Aheta saat 'Malam Kedua' di Bumi!!"
"...Tanah itu dilelang juga? Tapi kalau seharga itu, pasti dibeli raja kuat?"
Wilayah Valhalla. Tak bisa dibandingkan dengan tanah yang baru dibeli Helium.
Soal ukuran dan kesuburan, beda level. Katanya, Aheta bangkrut dan tanah itu dilelang juga. Siapa sangka terhubung ke tanahnya sendiri?
Masalahnya, wilayah sebesar itu pasti dibeli raja level dua bawah Raja Iblis. Tapi iblis pelapor menggelengkan kepala.
"Sepertinya diambil raja yang baru jadi Pencipta baru-baru ini."
"Pencipta baru ambil Valhalla? Berarti dia punya pendukung kuat."
"Kita cek catatan lelang, tapi gak ketemu. Sepertinya tanah dialihkan sebelum Aheta bangkrut."
"...Oh? Jadi tanah diserahkan tepat sebelum dia runtuh?"
"Ya. Kau tahu kan. Kalau raja duga bangkrut, kadang mereka alihkan tanah ke bawahan paling lemah mereka dulu."
"...!"
Masuk akal.
Hal itu gak jarang. Taktik yang dipakai tepat sebelum bangkrut.
Supaya tanah gak dilelang paksa, dialihkan ke bawahan sementara. Karena lelang acak, gampang kehilangan tanah yang mau dipertahankan.
Tanah bernama Valhalla. Tentu Aheta mau lindunginya.
"Jadi... dia baru jadi Pencipta? Aheta, pendukungnya, sekarang benar-benar bangkrut. Berarti penguasa sekarang adalah iblis yang lemah parah."
"Benar. Sepertinya dia cuma dapat gelar Pencipta berkat mewarisi kekuatan Valhalla."
"Dia pasti gak punya bawahan atau ikutan iblis."
"Betul."
"...Kau di sana. Nama kau siapa?"
"Aku disebut 'Cabron'."
"Cabron. Kau bagus. Usai ini, kau bakal melayani langsung di bawahku."
"I-Iya, terhormat!"
Cabron membungkuk dalam.
Senyum Helium semakin lebar. Sejak pindah ke wilayah baru, keberuntungan curah ke dia.
Memenuhi syarat jadi Pencipta saja sudah bikin gelisah.
'Kalau aku ambil Valhalla juga, tak ada raja kecil yang berani tantang aku.'
Pikiran itu bikin kulitnya merinding. Kalau naik terus begini, dia mungkin sampe takhta Raja Iblis.
Helium bangun dari tempat duduknya.
"Kita berperang. Semua iblis dan bawahan, bersenjata segera."
* * *
'Itu golem?'
Pedagang iblis Dagon termangu oleh boneka raksasa di depannya.
Mulut terbuka, dia cuma bisa menatap langit. Di antara raja iblis tak terhitung yang punya wilayah di Abyss, Dagon lihat golem dan penjaga tak terhitung jumlahnya. Tapi makhluk ini level lain sama sekali.
'...Bukan golem.'
Pedagang iblis juga jual golem. Dan Dagon, sebagai pedagang, keliling wilayah tak terhitung.
Dia lihat lebih dari sepuluh ribu golem. Tapi penampilan, sifat, dan fungsinya selalu mirip. Apalagi, definisi 'golem' apa?
Golem, makhluk sihir yang setia ikut perintah tuan. Meski disebut makhluk, cuma boneka yang digerakkan energi sihir lewat hati buatan yang berisi inti sihir.
Beberapa sebut golem 'prajurit yang menjaga yang ilahi', tapi sistem sihir bikin golem asalnya dari naga.
Prototypenya Prajurit Gigi Naga. Penjaga sarang naga terbuat dari gigi naga.
Saat naga dewasa, kulit, sisik, gigi, semuanya berganti. Bagian buangan dipakai bikin prajurit lindungi sarang mereka.
'Naga turunin sihir bikin golem kayak amal ke ras bawahan.'
Golem tiruan kasar Prajurit Gigi Naga. Ras bawahan nanti kembangkan lebih jauh.
Usai era lama, mereka ciptakan sentinel, konstruksi dengan kekuatan setara naga. Namun—
'Sentinel tak bisa melebihi naga. Batasan bawaan.'
Sentinel bukan naga. Mungkin niat meniru, tapi jauh beda. Bahkan kalau terbuat tulang, gigi, sisik naga muda, mereka tak bisa pakai sihir dengan benar dan cuma boneka raksasa. Dan tetap cuma pakai sihir preset saat diperintah.
Akhirnya mereka tak bisa lewat batas 'golem'. Tapi sekarang...
Sentinel di depannya beda. Não, bahkan tak bisa disebut sentinel. Penampilannya replika sempurna naga. Naga kemalasan telusuri catatan 'Klan Keputusasaan'. Dan bangun gambaran paling cocok untuk 'Arcana'.
Mereka tak pelit bahan atau batu sihir. Lebih dari itu, mereka tuang lebih dari 200 koin batu sihir tertinggi.
Hasilnya lahir sesuatu yang baru. Dewa primordial yang melebihi sentinel!
"...Dia kembali.", kata Ataraxia.
Naga Keputusasaan, Arcana, telah kembali.
Sama seperti saat hidup, dia sekarang bergerak dan berpikir sendiri.
"Aku tak sangka ini benar-benar berhasil..."
"Naga sejati. Não, sesuatu di atas naga."
"Ahh, betapa indahnya!"
Bahkan naga kemalasan menatap tak percaya.
Sihir melayang di sekitar makhluk primordial. Bukan sihir terukir sebelumnya, tapi sihir yang dibentuk dan dilepaskan sendiri entitas itu.
Dan pembelahan inti, begitu 'Inti Keputusasaan' diletakkan di dalam hati buatannya, ia belah jadi sembilan.
Naga Keputusasaan. Yang paling bersinar, paling mulia, makhluk yang pernah berdiri di antara penguasa tertinggi.
ZIIIIIIIIING!
Lalu—
"Hm?"
"Warp?"
"Ada yang lewat?"
Tiba-tiba, di ujung tanah, warp raksasa terbuka. Di saat bersamaan—
"Serang!"
"Bunuh mereka semua!"
"Mari kita persembahkan Valhalla untuk Tuan Helium yang mulia!"
Chapter 225. Invasion of Valhalla
The Ruler of the Night.
After Aheta, once called the Lord of the Moon, went bankrupt, her body and territories were all auctioned off and sold to demons.
“Haha! So this is Aheta’s land! Truly overflowing with mystery!”
A territory known as the ‘Land of the Warrior where Lava Flows’.
To that land, the demon lord Helium arrived, leading his subordinates.
“Congratulations, Lord Helium!”
“The fertility of the land and the size of the fortress both suit you perfectly, Lord Helium!”
“It’s far too fine a land for a fool like Aheta to have ruled.”
Over a hundred subordinates. Over one hundred thousand demons!
They began to praise Helium with satisfaction for their newly claimed territory. This was thanks to Helium winning the bid for the land at auction.
Helium shrugged his shoulders proudly.
“The fortress is vast. The scenery is splendid beyond compare. Isn’t this realm the perfect stage for the legend of me, Helium, to begin?”
The demons nodded and chattered in agreement.
“Indeed!”
“At this rate, you’ll soon earn the title of ‘Creator’!”
“You think he’ll stop at Creator? Lord Helium is fit to be Demon King!”
Helium squared his shoulders with even more strength. Compared to his former, garbage-like territory, this place was nothing short of perfect. For a property hastily put up for auction, it was incredibly satisfactory.
‘I’m glad I invested my entire fortune.’
Though he had been a minor lord, he had saved up a fair amount of coins. He spent it all, but had no regrets.
To a demon lord, territory is power. In the Abyss, one’s territory is directly tied to their status and prestige. More than that…
‘Now I can become a true Creator.’
One of the key requirements for becoming a Creator, indeed the most important, was ‘territory’.
To build a ‘Creator Abyss’ and link it to the world of other races, one needed vast ‘territory’.
‘Once I become a Creator, recovering the coins I spent on this land will be a trivial matter.’
It was a kind of investment. More than anything, this was Aheta’s land.
Aheta was known for only acquiring prime territories. That was why Helium didn’t even hesitate to participate in the auction.
And the result was more than satisfactory. A fortress at least five times the size of his last one, lava flowing nearby, and ambient magical energy that delighted him just by being present.
Helium sat on the throne of the fortress. And at that very moment—
SPLAAAAASH!
“Ooooooh!”
“Lord Helium’s wings!”
“Congratulations!”
His subordinates made a fuss.
Wings had sprouted on Helium’s back, from two to three. This signified that Helium, as a demon and a lord, had advanced one full level in rank. A demon’s strength could indeed increase based on the territory they possessed. And—
“…I’ve finally fulfilled the requirements to become a Creator.”
Helium smiled.
What a long wait it had been.
In fact, it felt overdue. He had long believed his capabilities surpassed that of most Creators. But to truly become a ‘Creator’, one must produce a ‘Creator Abyss’.
‘I don’t have enough coins to create a Creator Abyss.’
The problem was acquiring coins. He had used all his coins to purchase the territory. Now he lacked the funds to build the Creator Abyss itself.
Of course, there were many ways to acquire coins. The easiest of which was—
“Scout the territories connected to this land and identify their rulers.”
“Is there going to be a war??”
“Ooooooh!”
The demons were thrilled.
War.
…Because Helium had now made his intention to invade clear.
All Abysses are interconnected. That meant there were surrounding territories they could access.
Helium planned to invade and conquer the most vulnerable of them to gather coins. If that wasn’t enough, he could always sell the conquered land to make up the rest.
‘This was once Aheta’s territory. Powerful lords likely had no desire to border his lands.’
At best, there would be other minor lords like himself.
Helium was exhilarated. If he could just win this war and build a ‘Creator Abyss’, then his name would be solidified as a true Creator!
Some time passed after he dispatched scouts.
“We found one! And it’s an incredible piece of land!”
One demon, having completed reconnaissance, ran in excitedly.
“Speak. What kind of land is it?”
“It’s Valhalla! The land Aheta used during the ‘Second Night’ on Earth!!”
“…That land was auctioned off too? But if it’s that valuable, surely a powerful lord purchased it?”
The Valhalla territory. It couldn’t even be compared to the land Helium had just bought.
In size and fertility, it was simply in another league. Apparently, Aheta had gone bankrupt and it had been auctioned as well. Who would’ve thought it was connected to her own land?
The problem was that a territory of that scale would surely have been bought by a lord second only to a Demon King. But the reporting demon shook his head.
“It appears to have been taken by a lord who only recently became a Creator.”
“A new Creator took Valhalla? That suggests she has a powerful backer.”
“We looked into the auction records, but found nothing. It seems the land was transferred before Aheta’s bankruptcy.”
“…Oh? So the land was handed off right before she collapsed?”
“Yes. You know how it goes. When a lord expects bankruptcy, they sometimes transfer land to their weakest subordinate ahead of time.”
“…!”
It made sense.
That kind of thing wasn’t uncommon. It was a tactic used just before bankruptcy.
To prevent the land from being forcibly put up for auction, it would be transferred to a subordinate temporarily. Since auctions were random, one could easily lose land they wanted to keep.
A land bearing the name Valhalla. Naturally, Aheta would have wanted to protect it.
“I see… So she became a Creator recently? Aheta, her backer, is truly bankrupt now. That means the current lord is a pathetically weak demon.”
“Correct. It seems she only gained the title of Creator thanks to inheriting Valhalla’s power.”
“She likely has no subordinates or following demons.”
“Indeed.”
“…You there. What’s your name?”
“I am called ‘Cabron’.”
“Cabron. You’ve done well. After this is over, you’ll serve directly under me.”
“I-I’m honored!”
Cabron bowed deeply.
Helium’s smile grew even broader. Since moving to this new territory, luck had been raining down on him.
Fulfilling the requirements to become a Creator was exciting enough on its own.
‘If I seize Valhalla too, no minor lord will dare challenge me.’
The mere thought made his skin tingle. If he kept rising like this, he might even reach the throne of the Demon King.
Helium stood from his seat.
“We march to war. All demons and subordinates, arm yourselves immediately.”
* * *
‘That’s supposed to be a golem?’
The demon merchant Dagon was overwhelmed by the massive puppet before him.
Mouth agape, he could only stare at the sky. Among the countless demon lords who claimed territory in the Abyss, Dagon had seen countless golems and sentinels guarding their lands. But this creature was on an entirely different level from those.
‘…That’s no golem.’
Demon merchants also sold golems. And Dagon, as a merchant, traveled between countless territories.
He had seen over ten thousand golems in his time. But their appearance, traits, and function were always similar. After all, what was the definition of a ‘golem’?
Golem, a magical creature that loyally follows its master’s commands. Though called a creature, it was nothing more than a puppet driven by magical energy via an artificial heart containing a magic core.
Some referred to golems as ‘soldiers that guard the divine’, but the magic system for creating them originated from dragons.
The prototype was the Dragon Fang Soldier. Guards of dragon nests made from dragon fangs.
When a dragon reaches maturity, it sheds its skin and scales, teeth, everything is renewed. The discarded parts were used to craft soldiers that protected their nests.
‘Dragons handed down golem-making magic like a favor to their subordinate races.’
Golems were a crude imitation of those Dragon Fang Soldiers. The subordinate races later developed the craft further.
After many ages, they created sentinels, constructs with power rivaling dragons. However—
‘Sentinels can’t surpass dragons. It’s a built-in limitation.’
Sentinels were not dragons. They may have aimed to imitate them, but were far from it. Even if made using the bones, teeth, and scales of an immature dragon, they couldn’t use magic properly and were just oversized puppets. And even then, they only used preset spells on command.
They ultimately couldn’t surpass the limits of being ‘golems’. But now...
The sentinel before him was different. No, you couldn’t even call it a sentinel. Its appearance was a perfect replica of a dragon. The sloth dragons had scoured the records of the ‘Clan of Despair’. And built it in the image most fitting of ‘Arcana’.
They spared no material or magical stone. More than that, they poured in over 200 coins’ worth of the highest-grade magic stones.
The result was the birth of something new. A primordial god that surpassed sentinels!
“…It has returned.”, Said Ataraxia.
The Dragon of Despair, Arcana, had returned.
Just as it was in life, it now moved and thought on its own.
“I didn’t think it would actually work…”
“A true dragon. No, something greater than a dragon.”
“Ahh, how beautiful!”
Even the sloth dragons stared in disbelief.
Magic floated around the primordial being. Not pre-inscribed spells, magic the entity itself was shaping and casting.
And the core division, as soon as the ‘Core of Despair’ was placed inside its artificial heart, it split into nine.
The Dragon of Despair. The most radiant, most noble, a being that once stood among the greatest lords.
ZIIIIIIIIING!
Then—
“Hm?”
“Warp?”
“Someone’s coming through?”
Suddenly, at the edge of the land, a massive warp opened. At the same time—
“Attack!”
“Kill them all!”
“Let us present Valhalla to the glorious Lord Helium!”
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