Things had unfolded more or less as Okdo had expected.
If there was anything he had guessed wrong, it was probably only one thing—
From the very beginning, the Demon Lord had never intended to negotiate with them. That was why he had provoked them again and again, making them lose their reason.
Unfortunately, by the time Okdo realized this, it was already too late, and his reaction was a step slower than that inhuman bastard's.
"Frost Shock!"
A ghostly blue arc streaked through the dark space and struck the center of the Lizardmen delegation with perfect accuracy.
Leon had been preparing his spell ever since Arakdo had offered Weave Shadow Nest's loyalty. Although ice magic was not his specialty, it was the most effective against Lizardmen, who were resistant to fire and piercing attacks.
One reason these creatures were called four-legged snakes was that they feared the cold.
Five Lizardmen guards failed to dodge and were struck head-on by the ghostly blue arc.
Exploding frost scattered in all directions, as though even the air had frozen over!
The five lizards did not even have time to scream before they were instantly transformed into five ice sculptures.
And that was not all!
The Cave Spiders, who had originally stood on the same side as them, also mercilessly kicked them while they were down—
Or rather, added icing to the cake.
"Splat!"
More than a dozen gobs of cloudy phlegm flew toward the Earth Dragon Clan delegation. They could not be called completely useless, but the humiliation certainly outweighed the damage.
Arakdo, the shamelessly self-proclaimed foremost strategist of Weave Shadow Nest, raised his voice and shouted as if claiming credit.
"Lord Demon Lord, strike quickly! I am holding them back for you!"
Leon had no time to pay attention to him.
At that moment, all his attention was focused on the large lizard that had escaped disaster.
This guy's level...
Might not have been much lower than his own!
"Roar—!"
Seeing his clansmen frozen into statues in an instant, Okdo's eyes turned bloodshot. He only regretted failing to see through Lord Demon Lord's scheme sooner and being caught completely off guard when the table was suddenly flipped.
Escape was no longer possible.
The cowards of Weave Shadow Nest had already rushed toward the entrance of the hall, waiting for him to walk into their trap.
Knowing there was no way to survive, Okdo roared. Instead of retreating, he advanced, drew his curved blade, and charged Leon.
"Champion's Blood!"
His frozen blood seemed to have been injected with industrial methanol, accelerating through his veins! The cold was driven away! Under Dragon God's Blessing, a faint golden glow coated his body!
That was the power of qi!
It seemed these lizards had not merely cosplayed as dragons; they had even copied the other side's inheritance.
The power that erupted in that instant might already have surpassed Gold-rank! But—
Trying to take down a mage on his home turf with a momentary burst of strength was still far too naive.
Leon had already stacked all his buffs before the negotiations had begun.
"Die!!!"
Execution—! Okdo swung his curved blade fiercely, slashing at the motionless Demon Lord like a whirling gale.
The explosive vortex passed through the black cloak and blasted into the stone pillar behind the Demon Lord like a cannonball.
The marble pillar, thick enough for two people to wrap their arms around, was forcibly severed and crashed down amid rolling dust.
A cruel grin rose onto Okdo's lips. So the so-called Demon Lord was nothing more than this.
However, before he could rejoice for even two seconds, that savage expression froze into stunned disbelief.
He had dodged?!
How was that possible!
His amber eyes darted rapidly as he tried to lock onto the Demon Lord's figure through the swirling dust, only to see Skeleton Soldiers rushing at him, their jaws clicking.
"Brothers!"
"Kill him!!!"
"Experience! My Experience Points!!!"
Okdo curled his lips in disdain.
Cheap tricks!
Just as he raised his hand to cut down the Skeleton Soldiers before him, the sensation of being watched by a venomous snake crawled across his entire body. Then he felt the strength in his body drain away at a visible rate.
This was—
Soul Extraction?! With no time to hesitate, he pushed off hard with both feet and leaped backward, trying to widen the distance from the caster.
Yet the instant he rose into the air, a premonition of death pursued him like a shadow.
That zombie! Terrified, Okdo tried to twist his body, but with nothing to push against in midair, he could only watch helplessly as his back crashed toward the raised blade.
"Hungry..."
Bond, who had been waiting with his strength gathered for a long time, raised his head. Like a batter on a baseball field, he swung the greatsword in his hands forward with all his might!
Snap—! The battered greatsword broke in response.
Yet the broken blade plunged into Okdo's spine without suspense! Boiling blood sprayed into the air, adding another savage mark to the blood-red hall.
Okdo had no time to leave behind even a final word. Carried by momentum, he knocked Bond over and, after rolling several times, silently breathed his last.
"I knew you would jump backward."
Soul Extraction was fairly useful against Bronze-level opponents. Against Steel-level opponents, it needed to drain them for a while.
Still, as bait to create an opening for an attack, this move remained as useful as ever.
The reason he had not summoned Bond to protect him was because he had been waiting for that guy to jump in, then jump back out.
From behind the granite pillar, Leon smiled faintly and put away the lens in his hand.
Besides, his coordination with You You was becoming increasingly proficient.
With only a glance from him, she would obediently stand where she was supposed to appear.
As for the players...
For now, they still needed more time to mature.
Watching Bond pounce toward Okdo's corpse, trying to bite it, Leon raised his Magic Wand and tightened the dog leash in his hand. Then he chanted a spell and flicked a green light into Okdo's blood-gushing chest cavity.
"Awaken—"
"My servant."
The dried blood no longer spurted forth. Okdo, awakened in the form of an undead, slowly rose from the ground. Grasping the broken blade with both claws, he forcibly pulled it from his body and tossed it aside.
Unlike Bond.
A powerful killing intent—or perhaps resentment—radiated from him, as though he might go berserk at any moment.
Yet as Leon watched the Lizardman puppet sway to its feet, a trace of delight flashed through his eyes.
"...Its Soul Level is actually Gold-rank?"
He had really struck gold this time!
Although undead could not cultivate like living people, necromancers had many methods to strengthen their awakened puppets.
Simply put, the enhancement limit was determined jointly by the necromancer's own strength and the level of the deceased's soul.
Take Bond, for example.
If Leon did not actively raise his Soul Level, then the ceiling of his strength would be Bronze-level.
But for Okdo, as long as Leon strengthened him a little, displaying Steel-level combat power would not be a problem!
But why would a Gold-rank soul appear on the first floor of the maze? It seemed that while Reggie Dragon had been in office, many things had happened here that even Hell did not know about...
As Leon refined the Champion Warrior of the Earth Dragon Clan, Arakdo and the envoys from Weave Shadow Nest respectfully prostrated themselves on the ground.
If Arakdo had still harbored even the slightest doubt about Lord Demon Lord's strength before, he now no longer dared to doubt him in the slightest and had completely submitted at Lord Demon Lord's feet.
The players had originally wanted to rush up and cut them down too, but just as they were about to do so, their bodies stopped moving again.
"Damn!"
"I thought it was a boss fight!"
"Why can't I move again?!"
"Who exactly is the tool here?!"
"Skip! Skip it! I want to go on a killing spree! I want rivers of blood!"
"Skulls for the skull throne! Blood for the blood god!"
Hearing their incoherent complaints, Leon nearly failed to hold back his laughter.
If you are not the tools, then am I supposed to be one?
"Enough. I will give you a chance to make blood flow like a river, but not now."
As soon as Leon's words fell, the clicking sounds erupted again.
"Wooooo!"
"Lord Demon Lord looked at me! He looked at me!"
"Eek! I thought NPCs ignored people?"
Leon: "..."
Although he had played games too, he still found this bunch unexpectedly difficult to understand.
Had the times changed?
Leon walked up to the five ice sculptures and tapped them with his Magic Wand.
The ice sculptures cracked in response, shattering into pieces of corpses all over the ground.
"You You, once the CG cutscene ends, find a few players to deliver these things to those lizards."
"The war has already begun."
You You, who appeared gentle and considerate but actually feared nothing more than a peaceful world, said energetically.
"Got it, Lord Demon Lord!"
After arranging the Lizardmen's aftermath, Leon turned back to Arakdo and continued speaking slowly in the language of Hell.
"I came to this land bearing Demon God's decree, to take over the mess Reggie Dragon left behind."
"Now, let us discuss your loyalty."
Arakdo gave a loyal answer.
"Please give your orders, respected Lord Demon Lord! Though there may have been some misunderstandings between us before, our loyalty is beyond doubt!"
Leon did not stand on ceremony and spoke in a commanding tone.
"I need one thousand adult Diggers to help me expand my territory. I also need one thousand Weavers. I need the silk they produce to make tools."
"Besides that, I need one thousand Hunter eggs to expand my army."
"Go back and tell your leader that as long as he sends me what I want, I can guarantee that the name Weave Shadow Nest will continue to exist in my maze."
"Also, my servants crave blood. They will indiscriminately attack every living creature they see in certain areas of the maze. I will order them to avoid your nest, but you had better place some offerings outside it... such as Cave Spiders from other tribes."
Answering the Demon Lord's summons was an obligation that monsters in the maze could not refuse.
However, after hearing this outrageous demand, Arakdo's body could not help trembling slightly.
"Yes..."
He agreed meekly, then hurried away with the Cave Spiders who had accompanied him under the Demon Lord's gaze.
Watching the envoys of Weave Shadow Nest depart, Leon continued giving orders to his divinity.
"You You, mark those envoys green so the players will not cause them trouble."
"Also, prepare the update for version a04. Allow players to choose when entering the game whether they enter as Insect Type or Skeleton Type."
There were two primary requirements for injecting a Soul Mirror Image. One was that the target could serve as a vessel for a soul, and the other was that the target was not already occupied by a complete soul.
Adult Cave Spiders could not serve as vessels, nor could the adventurers he had imprisoned in Stone Prison... Their bodies already housed their own souls, and their bodies had completely adapted to the shape of those inherent souls.
Forcibly stuffing an unfamiliar soul inside was no different from injecting Type A blood into veins carrying Type B blood.
As for the sacrificial ritual that devoured souls, that was another matter altogether, and its side effects were considerable.
In short, allowing players who wanted to become Cave Spiders to be reborn inside spider eggs that were about to hatch, then using Faith Power to catalyze their growth, was currently the most suitable choice.
As for the future, this process could be carried out through the facility known as an altar.
Hell's acolytes could directly sacrifice spider eggs to mass "summon" adult Cave Spiders, and most Cave Spiders in the maze had come into being that way.
Some of the spider eggs Leon had previously ordered the players to collect were about to hatch, making them perfect vessels for souls.
"Received!" After replying playfully, You You quickly went to prepare the update announcement.
After completing all his arrangements, Leon opened his status panel for a look. As expected, his Experience Points had risen by a huge amount, nearly equal to the amount he would gain from farming several hundred Cave Spiders! But that was not all. Another thing surprised him—and delighted him even more—
The daily increase in Faith Points had finally stopped merely matching the daily consumption!
Before you continue