The Demon King of Fear

To be honest, if you asked what kind of magic in the current magical system was the most mysterious and fascinated me the most, it had to be summoning magic.

Although I had learned attack magic, healing magic, detoxification magic, and holy strike magic quite well.

I had never really dabbled in summoning magic. In truth, though, I had always had ideas about summoning magic. It was just that, because I lacked the necessary knowledge, I had never been able to realize them.

Until I went to help Nanahoshi. Her summoning magic should have been inherited from Perugius.

That could be considered the most top-tier summoning magic in this world.

After two months of secretly learning from her, I also gained a fairly deep understanding of summoning magic.

I began my own attempts at summoning magic.

Summoning magic basically used a magic circle to communicate with some mysterious force, then reinforced that communication in the form of a contract.

Finally, the corresponding thing would be summoned.

The magic circle corresponded to the class of the thing you needed to summon. Higher-level things required higher-level magic circles.

When Rudy had previously summoned the guardian Magic Beast Almanfi of the Radiance and Lord Holy Beast, he had used the highest-level magic circle. Only then had it been possible.

At present, a magic circle of that level was not something I could manage.

In addition, summoning magic could also summon objects, but objects were not something you could summon from just anywhere.

Generally, if the specific object's target was uncertain, you could only randomly summon an object. If you wanted to summon a fixed object, then it needed a special marker.

For example, if you wanted to summon a book, you had to mark that book. Otherwise, what you summoned might be any book in this world.

Learning in that area was also extremely difficult, and I had not learned that part.

I was not clear on the ranking divisions of summoning magic either. In any case, right now I could only summon relatively simple things. This level should count as intermediate summoning magic, right?

After I spent a long time designing magic circles and testing them myself, I finally designed a summoning magic that belonged only to me.

That day, I brought the summoning magic circle I had carefully designed over half a month to Nanahoshi's laboratory.

When Nanahoshi saw my magic circle, her eyes lit up too.

Magic circle.

The main structure was the "Inverted Pentagram Skeleton."

An inverted pentagram was drawn with dark silver ink, and each point was painted with various special totemic patterns from this world.

The middle structure was the "Eight-Wind Circulation Corridor."

Elemental powders of different attributes filled it in. Each rune had a miniature "torii"-shaped spatial anchor inserted into it, and the gaps between the runes were filled with liquid mercury, forming flowing rivers of mana.

The core structure was the "Triple Contract Codex."

There were three triangular contract layers. The first layer was the Celestial Contract Layer, the second layer was the Ley Line Resonance Layer, and the third layer was the Soul Binding Layer.

Finally, at the very bottom of the magic circle, I had also designed an anti-counterfeiting section.

I designed a ring. On the ring, I engraved magical patterns I had specially designed for this magic circle. The actual effect of these magical patterns was to connect a key link within the entire magic circle. That way, as long as this ring was not set into the magic circle, this summoning magic circle could not operate normally.

Although it looked like I had made it very impressive, I had designed this summoning magic circle for only one purpose.

I spread the summoning magic circle I had designed flat on a magic platform made of stone. Then I drove my mana, activated the magic circle, closed my eyes, and recited the directional magical chant I had tried many times.

"Ether echo, dimensional rift!

With my soulflame as the guide, borrowing the wings of the wind spirits, Unbind, ring of contract!

Take form, spirit of the messenger!"

At this moment, in my hand, pale blue-white trails of light split the air along with my fingertips, and a wing-shaped phantom condensed from particles of light appeared in the air.

This was the messenger I had summoned.

Its main body was a blue-green translucent, fluid-like substance, with three rotating cores suspended at its center.

Its outer layer was covered in translucent scale armor. It looked like a balloon, and six butterfly-wing-like light wings trembled behind it.

I used the power of the contract to sense what it wanted to express.

"Master, I am your contracted spirit, Wind-Whisperer Sky-Scar. I will submit to you, hack through thorns and brambles for you, turn into the sharp blade in your hand, and destroy enemies who come to invade you."

"Good. I accept your loyalty. What abilities do you have?"

Then I saw this balloon suddenly puff up. "I have the fastest speed in this world. I can shuttle through any space. As long as you need me, I can arrive by your side at the first moment."

Sigh, it sounded so impressive that I thought it would have some incredible ability, but in the end, it was still just a messenger that delivered letters.

This summoning magic was for summoning a messenger for myself. After all, under the current circumstances where I had yet to master teleportation magic circles, it was very easy to be separated from the people around me in different places.

If some special emergency happened, it would be easy to be unable to receive the relevant information in time. That was why I summoned this messenger.

It had extremely fast speed, and letter-sized items could be placed inside its body.

In the future, if I were outside and someone needed to send me a letter, they could use this magic circle to summon my messenger. After that, they could hand the letter to it, and it would automatically bring the letter to me.

However, at present, this operation could only receive letters one-way, because the messenger had only made a contract with me, so it could only find me. If I needed it to find other people, that would still require deeper research.

I told Nanahoshi the chant for summoning the messenger, then ran downstairs myself, waiting for Nanahoshi to try using this messenger and see if it could operate normally.

While I was downstairs, I heard Nanahoshi upstairs reciting an incantation:

"This letter bears my thoughts; may it cross mountains and seas unhindered. Swiftly reach the recipient's palm, and let neither wind nor frost stain you! Return once your task is done, and disturb not the cause and effect of this present world."

Then a silver light shone from upstairs. Less than two seconds later, spiral ripples appeared in the space before me, and my messenger emerged from the ripples and handed Nanahoshi's letter to me.

The greatest advantage of this messenger magic circle was that even people without mana could use it normally as long as they held a mana crystal. In theory, no matter how Nanahoshi recited the incantation, there should not have been any reaction.

But after using a mana crystal, she still succeeded.

It was something that made me truly happy. After this, as long as I prepared a few more of these magic circles, I would be able to receive letters from people connected to me.

I gave this magic circle to Nanahoshi this time. She was also very interested in my magic circle, saying she wanted to research it!

That was really overstating things. I had only tinkered it together myself based on her research to begin with.

If, in Nanahoshi's eyes, even my summoning magic had points worth borrowing from, then I must still have a pretty good talent for summoning magic. I hoped I could go even further in the future.

For the next few days, I kept making scrolls for summoning my messenger.

I made one messenger-summoning scroll each for Nanahoshi, Rudeus, Ariel, and Doris.

This was not because my relationships with other people were bad, but because the materials needed to make this kind of scroll were extremely rare. Even though I had plenty of money, I had only managed to gather four sets in Sharia.

Besides, I felt the only people likely to run into major incidents were these four. The others probably would not encounter anything too serious.

In my memory, while Rudeus was at school, Badigadi, a Demon King of the Devil Race, once came to challenge Rudeus and then stayed at the school.

Yet throughout the entire Beast-kin mating season, I had been waiting for the Demon King's challenge. I had even thought I would take the chance to observe this late-stage big boss who would later put on the Fighting God Armor.

The result was rather disappointing. Even when the Beast-kin mating season ended, I still never ran into that Demon King.

What followed instead was a huge wave of Beast-kin coming to challenge me. The reason for that went without saying.

After all, I had become Linia and Pursena's boss, so during the Beast-kin mating season, large numbers of Beast-kin came to Ranoa University of Magic to challenge me.

It was truly irritating. The opponents were not hard to deal with at all. There were simply too many of them.

When it was a proper challenge, I felt too awkward to kill them. I did not know whether that made those Beast-kin feel they had something to rely on and therefore nothing to fear, but they lined up in a long queue and blocked the entrance to my house from morning until night.

In the end, it really became too annoying, so I chose to hit them with something ruthless.

On the seventh day of the mating season, I communicated with the beastmen waiting outside my house and told them to gather together five days later on a patch of grass outside the city gates of Sharia.

I would accept their challenges there.

The news that I was going to challenge all the Beast-kin quickly spread through Sharia.

The ones most anxious about it were the authorities of Ranoa University of Magic and the city lord of Sharia.

They were afraid I was planning to wipe out all those Beast-kin with a single spell. After all, my battle record of burying five hundred disorderly soldiers in one go when I had previously gone to the Biheril Kingdom had already spread across the entire Northern Continent.

So they sent representatives to find me and solemnly informed me that I could not use lethal force, or else it would cause diplomatic problems.

Linia and Pursena also heard the news that I was arranging a duel with all the beastmen, and they even specially came over to plead for their fellow kin.

Since you two knew to plead for them, did you really not understand that the two of you were the ones who brought me this trouble?

I gave each of them a flick to the forehead. If Pursena had not helped me develop Fear Magic, I would not have had such a good temper. After that, I agreed to their request.

By accident, I discovered the secret of female Beast-kin during mating season. They seemed to have gotten larger in every aspect, and their faces were flushed red.

After accepting their plea, I went to practice my secret skill.

Five days passed quickly.

That morning, roughly a hundred Beast-kin gathered outside Sharia's southern city wall.

Some of the more robust ones were there polishing their martial skills, while some herbivorous Beast-kin were practicing magic.

I arrived at the scene around noon.

I flew directly into the field from the sky. After reaching the site, I did not descend from the air either, instead looking down at them from above.

There was no need for too many pleasantries. There were too many of them; if every person said a few words, there would be no need to compete today.

I shouted loudly, "I'll give you one minute. Anyone who wants to challenge me, stay inside this circle. Anyone who doesn't, leave immediately."

Using earth magic, I drew a circle in the grass with a diameter of three thousand meters.

The Beast-kin inside the circle looked at one another. A few who knew what was good for them saw me raise my hand and create a three-thousand-meter earth circle.

Realizing the gap in strength between us, they turned tail and ran. About a hundred Beast-kin still remained inside the circle.

Looking at their numbers, it should not have been too difficult. I said softly, "Begin," and used wind to carry those words to every corner of the circle.

All the beastmen immediately moved into action.

Because I had not flown too high, some of the melee-type beastmen chose to form human ladders, while others chose to throw their teammates. Each found their own method to attack me.

From the look of it, the Beast-kin truly had a lot of teamwork experience. Come to think of it, Linia and Pursena often attacked in cooperation too, and they also did not have any mindset that winning with many against few was dishonorable.

To them, no matter how many people there were, as long as they defeated the opponent, it meant their side was strong. Perhaps this was the Beast-kin's nature.

And canines probably all had a talent for cooperative hunting.

After sighing over it a little, I did not grow careless either. In front of my body, I cast the magic I had developed myself: Bastion Guard Stance.

Although the Bastion Guard Stance had been pierced by Orsted's hand chop last time, it had also successfully made his attack veer off course. And that had been Orsted's hand chop. I believed that even if my Water God Style teacher, Leda Lia, had come, she might not necessarily have been able to completely block that strike back then.

Sure enough, I saw the lights of all kinds of magical attacks flashing one after another in the distance, followed by various low- and intermediate-tier spells crashing into my Bastion Guard Stance and bursting into explosions of every color in midair. It was quite a sight!

After the explosions ended, the powerful Beast-kin swordsmen attacked me as well. One swordsman with a monkey tail used his teammates as footholds in midair and successfully circled around my front, flying behind me before launching an attack with the Water God Style's thrown-sword technique.

There were also some swordsmen with tremendous strength who came chopping at me by climbing human ladders.

But attacks like these were not worth mentioning. In the end, thrown-sword techniques were only a helpless long-range measure, not even as penetrating as arrows shot by hunters.

The moment they crashed into my Bastion Guard Stance, they were sent flying by the field.

As for the human ladders, there was even less to say. I was standing in place; if I flew somewhere else, they would not even have the chance to catch up to me.

Even if their slashes reached me, the strikes of upper-intermediate swordsmen among them could not cut through my wind wall.

With that, I successfully blocked all of their first wave of attacks. The experimental data was not bad.

Last time, when Orsted pierced through it with a single hand chop, I had actually been somewhat disappointed. After all, it was my proud work, something I had developed alone for so long, and having it broken through so easily would make anyone lose their balance of mind.

After they ended their first round of attacks, I chose to counterattack.

I rose into the high sky, then recited the incantation I had developed.

Abyssal Eye, hear thy screams of sorrow; Web of Fear, shroud all living beings; Touch of Void, pierce through the soul!

Abyssal Gazer awakens from the void, its pupils reflecting the original sins of all beings; fear everlasting, despair eternal, the abyss is truth!

Fear takes form as threefold calamity—Memory Alterer, Courage Stripper, Soul Crusher!

With my flesh and blood as sacrifice, open "Eternal Labyrinth of Nocturne."

Hear this final poem from the abyss—all living beings shall ultimately submit to eternal fear!

"Eternal Labyrinth of Nocturne"

This magic had truly taken me a great deal of effort to research. At present, I was still not clear on exactly what attribute of magic it belonged to. It should probably count as curse-type magic.

When I recited the line to open "Eternal Labyrinth of Nocturne," a black sphere formed in my hand. Afterward, it kept swelling larger until it finally became a black dome that covered the entire plaza.

Because of the appearance of this black dome, the Beast-kin within the plaza all sank into unease as a whole.

"Wasn't this supposed to be a challenge match? What exactly is he trying to do? Could this be a sacrifice to an evil god?

No, I'm not fighting anymore. I want to get out. I want to leave this place."

Many people rushed toward the edge of the black dome. Because it was daytime, some sunlight still penetrated the dome to a certain extent.

Everyone inside was shrouded in a strange purple light, making the atmosphere especially eerie.

They were not made to wait for long. After I finished chanting the incantation, a wave of magic power emanated inside the dome. All the Beast-kin pierced through by the wave of magic power unconsciously had their fur stand on end. Their expressions became savage, and their eyes became terrified.

I did not know exactly what they felt, since I could not feel it myself.

Afterward, someone began screaming hysterically.

Among the hundred people inside the barrier, not a single one was not occupied by fear. The effect was still quite good.

At first, I had not even thought it could affect this many people.

About ten seconds after releasing the magic, I stopped supplying magic power.

The dome slowly disappeared as if fading in color. All the Beast-kin were drenched in sweat from terror and had yet to recover from the fear just now.

I did not know what sort of harm it would cause these hundred people if I continued maintaining this magic the whole time.

But killing them would still be going too far. Having test results like this was already very good.

After the magic disappeared, I used magic power to vibrate the air and transmit my voice, then spoke from the sky.

"Is there anyone else among you who wants to continue challenging me?"

After hearing me speak, all the Beast-kin who had recovered from their fear shuddered, then all bowed to me, expressing submission.

The effect was unexpectedly pretty good.

After the battle ended, I returned to the walls of Sharia.

In the decades that followed, my name spread among the Beast-kin. At first, some people called me the Herald of Fear, but afterward the rumors grew more and more outrageous.

In the end, I even heard someone call me the Demon King of Fear.

It was really interesting. I wondered whether, among the true Devil Race, there was a Devil Race member called the Demon King of Fear.

After returning to the city wall, the people watching the battle from Sharia's wall all let out a breath of relief. Many people came over to congratulate me.

Among them were people I knew, and I returned their greetings.

Aisha had come together with Rudy as well, and Norn was there too.

But Norn seemed to have delicate thoughts. Seeing so many Beast-kin below wailing in fear, she was a little afraid of me and hid behind her older brother.

Aisha, on the other hand, had no such misgivings. After seeing me fly over, she immediately came forward and hugged my arm.

"Master, Master, you're so amazing. What magic was that just now? It's my first time seeing it.

Could it be magic you created yourself, Master? What rank is it? Imperial-tier, or divine-tier?

When are you going to teach me, Master? I really want to learn it!"

The moment she came up, her little mouth started chattering nonstop.

But because a crowd of Sharia's local nobles came up to greet me, I did not have time to answer her.

I only gently rubbed her little head while dealing with those unfamiliar nobles.

After all, most of them supported Ariel, so it would not be convenient for me to offend them here.

At last, I made it out of the crowd. I lifted Aisha up with both hands. The little girl was about to turn ten.

Rudy had already found a house and had been renovating it recently. I heard he planned to move into the new house before Aisha and Norn's tenth birthday.

I said to Aisha:

"Magic is actually the act of prying open the truths of this world. Anything that exists in this world can, in fact, be recreated through magic.

Humans and Beast-kin both possess fear, so I can use magic to trigger the emotion of fear in them. All of this can be done."

Holding her, I stepped straight down from the city wall. Then, in an extremely showy manner, I walked through the air. In truth, I was flying with flight magic, but my legs were also moving along with it, so it looked like I was walking in midair.

"As long as you keep studying the truths of this world—for example, why birds can fly, why people fall downward from the sky, why some objects can float on water while others sink beneath it.

If you can research the principles behind all these small things that seem perfectly ordinary, then you will have grasped the truth. Once you grasp that kind of truth, you can create magic that seems wondrous as a miracle. Aisha, you're very smart. You can definitely do it."

Aisha was left stunned by my words. I guessed even that clever little head of hers had never considered such things before.

She seemed to have been inspired by my words. I hoped she could become an incredibly amazing scientist!