Ritual, Activate!

"It'll succeed."

At the Third Drill Ground, Caesar heard Isaac's confident declaration and felt somewhat helpless. He wanted to advise Isaac not to be so arrogant, to be a little humbler—it was an Outer God, after all—but he knew nothing about such matters. Words rose to his lips, only to die there. In the end, he could only turn helplessly to Cheryl.

But did Cheryl know?

Arcanists might possess vast knowledge, but they were proper spellcasters!

Any Trade Ritual involving Outer Gods was a taboo among taboos, all sealed away by the Truth Association. She could not access much information either. What circulated outside were all basic rituals that simply could not be contained.

Those things bore traces of an Outer God's power, after all. There was no way to ban them completely.

So when Caesar looked to her, she could only spread her hands helplessly. This was not her field. There was nothing she could do.

Isaac, however, did not overthink it as they did. He skillfully drew the magic array—still the classic circle enclosing a six-pointed star. This was the simplest way to draw a magic array, with less demanding requirements for precision. Even magic apprentices without mana could draw one, which was why arrays for trading with Outer Gods usually followed this format.

Only the magical script used to fill it and the materials used to construct it differed.

Before long, the ritual site, which occupied roughly a third more space, was complete. At Isaac's instruction, black orc warriors, one after another, stood around the ritual in numb silence, heavy shackles binding their wrists and ankles.

Only a select few of better quality were arranged by Isaac in the center of the ritual site.

The black orcs were basically just padding, and padding did not need to be placed inside the ritual. Once the ritual activated, Isaac could guide its power to devour them and use them to increase the ritual's efficiency!

Isaac had become quite practiced at this trick by now, though this was still his first time performing a living sacrifice.

But most of these black orc warriors had been bought from slave traders and thoroughly broken in. Their will to resist was almost nonexistent, so there was not much difference from before.

Of course, once the ritual began, whether they had the will to resist or not, they were not even Official Knights. Before Isaac's mana, strengthened by the ritual, they would have no ability to resist whatsoever.

Very soon, Isaac selected five hundred and eighty-three black orc warriors, arranging most of them on standby outside the ritual grounds.

"Is this enough? Should we add 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 some concern.

In Caesar's eyes, it did not matter how many black orcs died, so long as Isaac survived.

There was no need to pinch pennies!

"No, this is enough. Too many would cause problems instead." Isaac shook his head, refusing Caesar's suggestion.

Padding was merely a term Isaac had coined for himself. In reality, it could not be added to the ritual site at will. Anything above one thousand percent would not continue increasing the success rate; instead, it would affect the ritual's effects and strengthen the God of Black Orcs in turn.

Of course, if black orcs were added in the middle of the ritual, the situation would be different.

But Isaac would not do that. Trading with an Outer God was not like his usual experiments. Failure here would truly cost him his life. He could not shoulder even the slightest risk—if anything went wrong, he would withdraw immediately!

With the Golden Finger, he had no need to gamble everything like other Mad Wizards, striving to make every trade a resounding success.

So long as it succeeded, Isaac would not complain. He could simply farm it again and again.

Besides, there was no need to keep shearing the same Outer God to the bone. There were countless Outer Gods—who said he had to cut only one?

Spreading out the risk was the true royal road!

Of course, this would offend most Outer Gods, but that did not matter!

As long as he did not reveal his identity during the trade, the other side would not know who had dealt with them. And if his identity was exposed, offending one was no different from offending a thousand.

So the key was not to expose himself, not the number of them.

Hearing Isaac say this, Caesar could only set aside his worries. He silently walked to one side and stood beside Cheryl, even lightening his breathing for fear of disturbing Isaac.

Besides Caesar and Cheryl, many pairs of eyes in the corners outside the drill ground were also watching Isaac. Most of the soldiers did not know what he was doing, but the two things Isaac and Snake Woman had made in the fortress these past few days had frightened them badly. Now that Isaac was making such a huge spectacle again, it was impossible for them not to be afraid!

The four barons were among the spectators as well. They knew a little more, but only that Isaac intended to trade with an Outer God. They did not know which one.

They could only make a rough guess based on the sacrifices. It should be some existence at odds with the God of Black Orcs; otherwise, so many black orcs would not have been laid out as offerings.

As they watched Isaac prepare to activate the Sacrifice Ritual, the men exchanged glances across the distance and saw the gravity in one another's eyes!

Mad Wizards...

No matter what nation they were in, they were beings people feared to the extreme!

Because no one knew what they were thinking. In pursuit of forbidden knowledge, those madmen could strike a deal with an Outer God at any moment—and once they failed...

Not only would the Mad Wizard die, but the region where he was would be caught up in it as well. Though an Outer God could not directly attack a territory without a lord, what kind of existence was an Outer God?

Even a tiny ripple from such an existence could take their miserable lives!

Thus, before this, the only Mad Wizard publicly known was the Empire's Grand Princess. All the others had been driven out of the country. And now, there was another Isaac, so close to them...

This was... killing them with worry...

Meanwhile, in the castle not far from the drill ground, the white-haired Gaia stood before a window, gripping his sword with both hands.

He did not know how great the gap between himself and an Outer God was, but if Isaac made a mistake, he would use every ounce of his strength to try to save Isaac!

"Whew~"

On the other side, sensing the many gazes filled with complicated emotions, Isaac smiled faintly, let out a long breath, and swiftly cast aside all distracting thoughts as he entered the zone!

It was only the stares of a few hundred people. Back when he had served as a "lab rat" for his classmates in university in his previous life, the gazes he felt might not have matched these in number, but in intensity, they had been far hotter!

So...

The ritual, activate!

"Jiliwalakusalakawuliwasa..."

As Isaac chanted the low Magic Spell, gray magic power, almost tangible, surged from his body and flowed into the shadow behind him. Then his shadow twisted, transforming into several savage demonic phantoms that drifted up from the ground and danced in the wind~

A peculiar rhythm spread with their movements, drawing out the magic power from every sacrifice in the ritual grounds and melding it together. Under Isaac's control, that power then transformed into tangible gray mist, sweeping toward the five hundred and eighty-three black orc warriors and silently dissolving them completely!

Then...

"Boom~~"

Under everyone's horrified, solemn gazes, a mass of gray flame suddenly appeared above the ritual and condensed into a fierce, indistinct face!

The God of Black Orcs had arrived!

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