Elite Demon

Upper Demon!? This guy is actually an Upper Demon!?

Roy had vaguely guessed this before. He felt that even a Middle Demon couldn't completely negate the effect of his Bloodthirst Technique with a single spell. But now, hearing the other party admit his Upper Demon Race rank with his own ears, he couldn't help but be surprised.

Damn it, what bad luck. I didn't expect it to be an Upper Demon activating the Summoner to attract demons. If I had known, I shouldn't have stepped into the Magic Array's corresponding summon...

Roy knew very well that there were only two attitudes High Demons had towards Low-Rank Demons: kill or enslave. There were no other choices. He didn't even need to look at this Demon Contract to know it was a slavery contract.

Roy didn't want to be enslaved by anyone, even if the other party was a High Demon. Perhaps in the eyes of other demons, submitting to a High Demon was a matter of course, but Roy was an anomaly among demons. His thoughts dictated that he never wanted to be enslaved.

He wanted to take a gamble and fight this guy, even if it meant his soul would be injured, Roy wanted to go back. Even if the other party was a demon and an expert at manipulating souls, as long as it wasn't an Angel, an enemy of demons, they couldn't break through the Ouroboros Mark's protection on Roy's soul...

But the problem was that Roy had no way to deal with Serlun's magic right now. With Weakness and powerlessness, he had no combat power. How could he fight in this situation? Moreover, judging by Serlun's attitude, he didn't seem willing to just kill him...

He could refuse to sign the contract, but he would have to stay in this world for a year. Serlun would probably lock him up, which would be no different from being in prison?

After much thought, there was only one way: activate the Magic Array himself to go back!

So, while Serlun was still speaking, Roy secretly placed his hand on the Magic Array, trying to output demonic energy to activate the teleportation array. He remembered that even a faint amount of demonic power could activate the summoning array.

However... there was no reaction!

Was something wrong? Was it because the ritual wasn't performed, or was it different from the Summoning Ritual because the demon wanted to send him back??

While Roy was still in astonishment, his output of demonic energy was detected by Serlun. Serlun said with surprise, "You... you can output demonic energy?? Ah, that's right. You have the bloodline of an Upper Demon, so it's not strange that you have an Output Circuit... but..."

Serlun touched his Demon Horns with some Doubt, saying, "But when I activated the Magic Array, I was summoning towards the Shallow Abyss. As a demon with an Upper Bloodline, how did you end up in the Shallow Abyss?"

As he spoke, he looked at Fat Tiger in Roy's arms and continued, "And this Hellhound too. I've never seen a Hellhound with Demon Wings... It's too strange! What kind of variant is this?"

There were too many suspicious points about Roy. However, despite his doubts, Serlun never doubted Roy's identity, because Roy also had the unique demonic aura of the Abyss World. He wouldn't be mistaken about this. So, after a moment of doubt, Serlun didn't think much about it. The Abyss World was so vast, weren't there many strange things? He put aside his doubts and became even more eager to subdue Roy.

He felt that although Roy was a Low-Rank Demon, he was definitely an Elite among Low-Rank Demons! There had indeed been such cases before. Even among demons of the same kind, there could be huge differences. Occasionally, individuals much stronger than their peers would be born. Such demons were usually called Elite Demons within the same rank.

So, he showed rare patience and said to Roy, "I told you, don't waste your effort. To teleport back, you must reverse the magic power of the summoning array. This requires a huge amount of demonic power, not just a little. If you think you can teleport back easily, you are greatly mistaken!"

Towards the end, he became impatient. "My patience is limited. I'll give you one last chance. If you really refuse to sign the contract and submit to me, I'll handcuff you and throw you directly into the human kingdom. Those Angels in Cloud City will take good care of you!"

Roy was also helpless. He felt like his path back was completely blocked, so he could only stare at the text on the contract.

The content of this Demon Contract was that Roy had to submit to Serlun and obey his commands while staying in this world, fighting for him as his subordinate until he died or was expelled from this world. During this period, all souls harvested on the battlefield must be handed over to Serlun. In return, Serlun would provide him with a certain amount of food.

Originally, it was like this. However, because he wanted to recruit Roy, an Elite Demon, Serlun added a clause to the contract at the end: if a war was won, Roy would receive one-tenth of the souls harvested in that war as a reward!

Seeing the content of this contract, Roy instantly understood why an Upper Demon like Serlun would appear in this world. It was precisely because they could stay in this world for a long time that they would not hesitate to conscript armies and wage war in this world. After all, every time a war was won, the victorious demons could harvest a large number of souls from the battlefield. This method of harvesting souls for Upper Demons was much faster than a single demon hunting for them!

If Roy were just an ordinary Low-Rank Demon, Serlun would never have shared the spoils of war with him. He would have squeezed him dry like a slave owner.

It had to be said that Roy's modification to add Demon Wings back then was really fortunate for him. Upper Demons valued bloodlines, but Serlun would never know that Roy's bloodline was actually very complex. It was only after misjudging Roy's bloodline that he looked at him with new eyes...

Overall, this contract, while still a slave contract, was much better than those for other summoned demons. With ten percent of the soul's profit, Roy had gone from a slave to a contract worker...

So after carefully examining it and finding no traps, Roy signed his name, making the contract effective.

Seeing Roy sign his name, Serlun couldn't help but laugh triumphantly. He took off the helmet on his head, revealing his true appearance. It was a face that looked a bit like a human's. If it weren't for the pair of demon horns, Roy wouldn't have doubted he was human.

These humanoid demons were often symbols of the Upper Demon Race...

"Come down, I still need to continue recruiting an army!" Serlun pointed at Roy and said, "You are the master of that Hellhound, right? Then I won't sign a contract with it. You will be responsible for it from now on! You are not allowed to send it away. My orders to you are also effective for it!"

This was Serlun's command. After signing the contract, Roy naturally could not disobey, so he could only nod in agreement.

Actually, this was for the best. Only Roy knew that Fat Tiger was not a real demon Hellhound and could not form a contract with anyone... Since Serlun didn't sign a contract, he wouldn't discover this.

"Now, I'll give you a task. Go to the surface and keep an eye on the progress at the crater!" Serlun continued, "Once I've summoned enough troops, I'm going to detonate the volcano!"

Roy didn't know why Serlun wanted to detonate the volcano, but he didn't ask and left with Fat Tiger.

The place he was in before was underground. The reason he felt that burning sensation when he came out of the summoning array was this. This seemed to be a branch of an underground magma river. Following the magma river all the way would lead from underground into the base of a volcano.

After climbing from the bottom to the crater, Roy found that there were already a large number of Abyssal Creatures present. However, most of them were Low-Rank Demons. They were following the drawn patterns, burning mercury-like liquid and pouring it onto these patterns, forming a huge Magic Array circling the crater...

Recalling Serlun's previous words about detonating the volcano, Roy instantly understood. The purpose of this Magic Array was likely to forcibly detonate the volcano; otherwise, Roy estimated that the volcano couldn't erupt for the time being.

Watching these Low-Rank Demons at work, Roy didn't interfere. He took Fat Tiger and flew into the sky, looking at the environment around the volcano.

"Heh, Chaos Dragon Ogas, and Cloud City... In the Heroes of Might and Magic world, I've been summoned to a very dangerous place this time!" Roy muttered to himself with a wry smile. "However, while a demon like me is dangerous in this world, are you, an Upper Demon, safe?"

You want to enslave me? It's not that easy...

This material was taken from the Dungeon and Devil campaign chapter of Heroes of Might and Magic III.

PS: In the Heroes of Might and Magic world, Chaos Dragon Ogas is the ancestor of demons, but he probably won't appear in this book. In this book, Hell, the Abyss, and the Demon Realm actually refer to the same world. I will try to reconcile the worldviews that can be reconciled and maintain consistency as much as possible, but please forgive me for those that cannot be reconciled. Niche books are already difficult to write, and if the difficulty increases further, I estimate I won't be able to continue.