Ritual, activate!

"It'll work."

At the Third Training Field, Caesar felt rather helpless upon hearing Isaac's confident declaration. He wanted to advise Isaac against being so arrogant and urge him to show a little humility—this was an Outer God, after all. But he knew nothing about the subject, so the words died on his lips. In the end, he could only turn helplessly toward Cheryl.

But if he didn't know, did Cheryl?

Arcane Masters might possess extensive knowledge, but they were legitimate spellcasters!

Trade Rituals involving Outer Gods were the most forbidden of taboos, all sealed away by the Truth Association. She had little access to them either. Everything circulating outside was a Basic Ritual that could not be suppressed.

Those rituals carried traces of an Outer God's power, making them impossible to ban completely.

So when Caesar looked her way, she could only spread her hands helplessly. This wasn't her specialty. There was nothing she could do.

Isaac, meanwhile, wasn't thinking nearly as much as they were. He deftly drew the Magic Array, using the classic circle and six-pointed star again. This was the simplest way to draw a Magic Array, with relatively low precision requirements. Even magic apprentices without magic power could draw one, so arrays used to trade with Outer Gods generally followed this format.

Only the magical script filling them and the materials used to construct them differed.

Before long, the ritual site, covering roughly a third more space than before, was ready. At Isaac's direction, Black Orc warriors wearing heavy shackles on their wrists and ankles took their places around the ritual, one after another, their expressions numb.

Isaac placed only the exceptional few with decent qualities in the center of the ritual site.

The Black Orcs were essentially filler, and filler didn't need to be placed inside the ritual. Once the ritual began, Isaac could direct its power to devour them, boosting its efficiency!

By now, Isaac was quite proficient at this trick, although this was his first time using living sacrifices.

But most of these Black Orc warriors had been purchased from slave traders and already broken in. They had almost no will to resist, making this little different from his previous attempts.

Of course, once the ritual began, whether they wanted to resist or not, they would have no power to do so against Isaac's ritual-enhanced magic power. They weren't even full-fledged knights.

Soon, Isaac had selected 583 Black Orc warriors, stationing most of them outside the ritual site to await his orders.

"Is this enough? Should we add a few more? Don't worry about the cost." Seeing that Isaac had used only a little over five hundred Black Orcs, Caesar frowned and asked with concern.

As far as Caesar was concerned, it didn't matter how many Black Orcs died, as long as Isaac stayed alive.

There was no need to economize!

"No, this is enough. Adding more would cause problems instead." Isaac shook his head, rejecting Caesar's offer.

"Filler" was merely Isaac's own term. In reality, these sacrifices could not be added to the ritual site indiscriminately. Anything beyond one thousand percent would not increase the success rate any further. Instead, it would affect the ritual's outcome and strengthen the Black Orc God.

Of course, things would be different if he added Black Orcs midway through the ritual.

But Isaac had no intention of doing that. Trading with an Outer God was nothing like his usual experiments. Failure here could genuinely cost him his life. He couldn't afford even the slightest risk. If anything went wrong, he would withdraw immediately!

With his golden finger, he didn't need to gamble everything like other Mad Witches, chasing a spectacular success in every trade.

Isaac was happy with any success. He could always repeat the process, after all.

Nor did he need to keep milking the same Outer God dry. There were countless Outer Gods out there. What difference did it make which one he fleeced?

Spreading out the risk was the way to go!

Of course, this would offend most of the Outer Gods, but that didn't matter!

As long as he didn't reveal his identity during the trade, the other party wouldn't know who had traded with them. And if his identity was exposed, there was no difference between offending one and offending a thousand.

The key was to avoid exposure, not to limit their number.

Hearing Isaac say this, Caesar could only put his worries aside and quietly move to stand beside Cheryl. Even his breathing grew much lighter, lest he disturb Isaac.

Besides Caesar and Cheryl, many pairs of eyes watched Isaac from corners outside the training field. Most of the soldiers had no idea what he was about to do, but the two things Isaac and the Snake Princess had created in the fortress over the past few days had frightened them badly enough. Now that Isaac was causing another huge commotion, it was hard not to be afraid!

The four barons were also among the spectators. They knew a little more, but only that Isaac intended to trade with an Outer God. They had no idea which one.

Judging from the sacrifices, they could only guess that it was a being at odds with the Black Orc God. Otherwise, he wouldn't have laid out so many Black Orcs as offerings.

As Isaac prepared to activate the Sacrifice Ritual, they exchanged glances across the crowd and saw the gravity in one another's eyes!

Mad Witches...

No matter the nation, they were beings who inspired profound terror!

No one knew what they were thinking. For the sake of forbidden knowledge, these lunatics might initiate a trade with an Outer God at any moment. And if they failed...

Not only would the Mad Witch die, but the surrounding region would also suffer. Although an Outer God couldn't directly attack a territory unless the person involved was its lord, what kind of beings were Outer Gods?

Even the slightest ripple of their power could snuff out their lives!

That was why, until now, the empire's Grand Princess had been the only such lunatic openly acknowledged. All the others had been expelled from the country. And now there was Isaac, too, right on their doorstep...

This was... going to be the death of them...

Meanwhile, in the castle not far from the training field, the white-haired Gaia stood before a window, gripping a sword in both hands.

She didn't know how vast the gap between herself and an Outer God was. But if Isaac failed, she would do everything in her power to try to save him!

"Whew..."

Elsewhere, feeling the many gazes laden with mixed emotions, Isaac smiled faintly and let out a long breath. He swiftly cast aside his distracting thoughts and focused!

It was only a few hundred people staring at him. Back when he had served as a "guinea pig" for his university classmates in his previous life, there had been fewer eyes on him, but their gazes had been far more intense!

So...

Ritual, activate!

"Jiliwala kusalaka wuliwasa..."

As Isaac recited the low incantation, gray magic power poured from him, almost tangible, and merged into the shadow behind him. Then his shadow twisted, transforming into several hideous spectral shapes that rose from the ground and danced in the wind.

A peculiar rhythm spread with their movements, drawing the magic power out of every sacrifice within the ritual site and merging it together. Then, under Isaac's control, that power became a tangible gray mist that swept toward the 583 Black Orc warriors, silently dissolving them completely!

Then...

Whoosh!

Under the spectators' horrified, solemn gazes, a mass of gray flame suddenly appeared above the ritual, condensing into a hideous, flickering face!

The Black Orc God had arrived!

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