After his experiment, Cedric removed the dragon's bodies from the Divine Space and retrieved the mental power he used to possess the dragon.
Once Cedric cleaned everything, he asked. "Hey, system. What do you think of these dragon races that I created?"
This time, the System gave him a praise.
[This is actually quite amazing for your first attempt.]
Cedric felt his ego inflate after hearing the System's praise. But he quickly calmed down and begin the next step.
Just like he initially planned, Cedric wanted to create a dragon king who can control the dragon race and do things to his bidding.
But, even after playing around with the dragon's bodies for a long time, Cedric still failed to achieve the effect he intended.
He didn't even know where to start.
Should he create a special dragon whose descendant will continue to be a king? Or should he give the dragon an instinct to respect the strong from the same race?
Also, how should he achieve the effect he wanted by modifying the dragon's body?
There are too much question that Cedric needed an answer to. But the System seems to want him to find a way on his own and stopped giving any freebie knowledge.
Still, it won't hurt to ask.
"System, do you know how I should create the dragon king for my dragon race?"
[It's indeed quite difficult for the current you to create something like that on your own.]
[The System recommended you to either purchase Permanent Divine Item, Racial Crown. Or purchase some books related to the study of instinct and bloodline.]
Cedric read through the System's suggestion and started from checking the first recommendation.
He opened the shop and found the Racial Crown that System has mentioned.
There are Racial Crown of different levels. But, Cedric chooses to check the weakest one that's being sold.
[Level 1 Permanent Divine Item, Racial Crown.
Cost: 1.000 GP
Details: Allow the user to pressure and command creatures of the same species as the user. Only creatures at Level 1 and below can be targeted. The more creature targeted at once, the weaker the effect will be. The higher the user's Life Level, the more creature that can be affected at once.
Note 1: If the user's body contains multiple bloodline from different species, the effect of Racial Crown will focus on the thickest bloodline.
Note 2: the effect on creatures with mixed species will be weakened.
Note3:…]
Cedric read through the description and closed it. "This is the first time I have seen such a long and detailed item description from the system shop."
He scrolled through the description for Racial Crown and saw there were actually 67 Notes.
After reading all the notes, Cedric shook his head and decided against buying the Racial Crown.
It's not like the item is trash.
The item is extremely useful, and also exactly what he needed to create a dragon king.
It's just that his GP isn't enough for such a massive expenditure.
That's why he chooses to check the System's second advice and scrolled through the part selling knowledge about bloodline and instinct.
After scrolling through the lists of books sold by the System, Cedric quickly found a few books that interested him.
They're titled 'Basic Knowledge On Racial Instinct Engraving', 'Preliminary Study On Bloodline Inheritance', 'Preliminary Studies On Vampire's Bloodline Suppression Against Lower Rank Vampire', and '101 Basic Tricks To Add Bloodline Inheritance in your Creatures'.
The first two books respectively cost 10 GP and 20 GP. Meanwhile, the third book cost 25 GP to purchase.
It's the fourth book with a silly name that surprised him. It actually cost 10.000 GP to purchase it!
'I guess the 101 easy trick isn't exaggerating. There should indeed be 101 tricks to add bloodline inheritance written in that book.' Cedric thought while removing the book from his purchase lists.
He then checked the details from the three books that he fancied.
The more he looked at the book's description, the more Cedric felt he liked all three books.
Even though he felt all three books were suitable, Cedric didn't make a rash decision and asked the System before making his purchase.
"Are there any other books I need to purchase, or are there a book that I don't need to purchase on my list?"
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[The books you choose are indeed suitable. But the System also recommended another book titled, 'Creating Race That Respect The Strong'.]
Cedric found the book that the System mentioned and checked its price.
When he saw it cost 10 GP, Cedric unhesitatingly bought all four books.
Seeing 65 GP disappear from his balance, Cedric took a sharp breath. 'Purchasing these four books is equal to Sixty five years of my income!'
Not long after his GP deceased, four books appeared neatly above a nearby table.
They are 'Basic Knowledge On Racial Instinct Engraving,', 'Preliminary Study On Bloodline Inheritance', 'Preliminary Studies On Vampire's Bloodline Suppression Against Lower Rank Vampire', and 'Creating Race That Respect The Strong'
Seeing the four books in front of him, Cedric asked in curiosity, "System, why don't you recommend me to purchase books from the start? That way, I won't need to waste time experimenting on my own.
[It's important to start from the basic.]
[If you hadn't even learned how to set a goal for an experiment, what use is there in purchasing books?]
"Oh… that's actually quite logical. I thought you gonna ridicule me by saying I am piss poor or something." Cedric nodded while reaching his hand to open the book he has purchased.
The moment he opened it, the book titled 'Basic Knowledge On Racial Instinct Engraving' immediately turn into light and entered his head.
Although the physical book has turned into dust. In exchange, Cedric has gained all the content written in the book.
After understanding the knowledge he had just gained, Cedric couldn't help but gasp in shock.
The knowledge written in that book has given him many inspiration for his next research.
He excitedly opened the other books and sat down in contemplation.
Occasionally, he waved his fingers in the air to do some calculation and check the possibility of his theory.
Just like that, Cedric spent two whole years designing several research that might help him to create a dragon king, the leader of all dragons.
As the main reason he wanted to create a dragon king is to make them a remote control that he can use to command the whole dragon race by using [Divine Intervention: Urge]. The requirement he has for that dragon king is also simple.
He didn't care which specific dragon will be the dragon king. As long as the dragons will always have a leader that every other dragon will absolutely follow.
Based on the knowledge he gained, Cedric wants to engrave the instinct to obey the strongest of their species, and the instinct to seek to be the best among its species into the dragon's bloodline.
Basically, he plans to have the dragons fight against each other to choose the strongest dragon.
Then, the winner will be acknowledged and respected by other dragons as the dragon king that can command every dragon. That's until he is defeated by another dragon who feels they're strong enough to defeat the current king.
With a definite goal, Cedric began his experiment and stated, tinkering with the dragon he wanted to create.
Occasionally, he checked the situation in the Crystal Cube world and watch out for any disasters.
This kind of boring but fulfilling life continued for more than a century.
***
While he was busy controlling a dragon's body to test his experimental result, Cedric received a notification from the System.
[Your world's balance and stability have been mostly restored. But it's recommended to not intervene too much within the next century or two.]
"Really? Does that mean there won't be any more weird disaster like a double sun or random tornadoes happening in the Crystal Cube world?" Cedric excitedly paused his experiment.
Then, he checked the situation in the Crystal and recalled something.
"System, is it okay for me to send a basic system screen and a few words?"
[Just sending Basic System Screen and a few words won't affect your world's balance too much. At least it won't reach the point of being broken once more.]
"Alright." Cedric immediately bought a [Basic System Screen] for 100 GP.
Holding the blue octahedron crystal that contains the [Basic System Screen], Cedric activated it and sent it into Lacius.
He has planned to give this Basic System Screen when Lacius reached Level 2. But at that time, he felt it's such a waste.
After all, at that time, Lacius will only live for twenty more years.
But now, the situation is different.
Not only has Lacius fully controlled the human race, his lifespan has also greatly increased.
No matter how he sees it. Giving Lacius a [Basic System Screen] that can decrease his point consumption is definitely worth it.
***
Inside the Crystal Cube world.
Lacius has been petrifying himself while falling into a sleep like state.
Suddenly, his sleeping consciousness woke up with a jolt.
Lacius's petrified body quickly returned to normal as he stared at a screen he hadn't seen for hundred of years.
On it, a few words are written.
[Basic System Screen successfully installed.]
[Installation complete. Please think of status panel to open the status window.]
Lacius read it and remembered the word written on the screen.
Then, he bowed and said, "Lacius has greeted the creator."
[That's not a message from me. It's a message from the Basic System Screen.]
[Anyway, it's a bit late. But, congratulation on being the first creatures to control faith energy in the world. This Basic System Screen is my gift for you.]
"I appreciated the creator's kindness." Lacius kept on bowing for an entire minute after the screen with Cedric's message disappeared.
When he saw there was no more message from the creator, Lacius sat on the dusty ground and rubbed his chin.
"It's been hundreds of years. But the creator merely thinks of it as 'a bit late'."
Lacius's eyes glistened as he was in awe and curiosity at the creator's existence.
He then looked around and tested the gift he has just gained.
'Status Window.'
The instant he thought so, a simple screen appeared in front of him.
[Life Level: Peak Level 2
Exp: 100%
Potential: Peak Level 1]
'is this a message from the creator?' He is a bit confused at what's written on the screen.
He also waved his hand on it and found out his hand simply passes through it.
Then, he thought of closing it, and the screen disappeared from his view.
After contemplating, Lacius thought of 'Status Window' once more and saw the screen reaper in front of him.
[Life Level: Peak Level 2
Exp: 100%
Potential: Peak Level 1]
While he is confused by what's written on the screen, a new message appeared in front of him.
[What do you think of this gift?]
"I apologize for my ignorance. But I failed to comprehend the creator's gift." Lacius bowed the screen that Cedric has created.
[It's alright. Let me explain what this gift is.]
[The Basic System Screen is a blessing that allows you to check your progress. It will also allow me to contact you a lot more easily.]
[The Life level shows your current level. You should know that blessed who have trained longer have a much stronger power. 'Life Level' is the classification used to differentiate the strength of blessed. For mortals, they usually started at Level 0 and can increase their Level up to Level 15. Then, every level is further divided into Lower, Middle, Upper, and Peak.]
[Meanwhile, EXP is how much more progress you needed to reach the next level. Right now, your EXP should be 100%. That mean, you can advance to the next level once you found a training method to reach the next level.]
[As for potentials, it's related to your talent and the maximum life level you can gain from killing demons.]
Lacius read through the message Cedric has sent and fell into thought.
He then realized he has ignored Cedric and said, "I thank the creator for your generous reward."
[It seems you're satisfied with the reward.]
Lacius gently nodded.
[Good. Then, I have a task for you. I want you to stop the humans from expanding northward or eastward. Instead, make them focus on exploring the south.]
Lacius saw the task from Cedric and quickly nodded. "I won't disappoint the creator."
Remove
In the Divine Space.
After Cedric watched Lacius went to chat with the current high priest to follow his command. He checked the situation in the Crystal Cube world.
First, he took a look at the elves and saw them still living in their forest as per usual.
Then, he checked the Dwarves who has expanded their settlement to cover twelve mountains around their magic mountain.
The amount of blessed on their race has also greatly increased. But the strongest among them is still at the peak of Level 1.
On the other hand, the humans have reached 1 million population and separated themselves into 2 big kingdom and 6 small kingdoms.
After an accidental leakage of the training method which Lacius created. The amount of Level 2 blessed in the human race has increased.
There are also some geniuses who have created the training method for their respective elements. Which caused the amount of blessed in the kingdom to spike.
Now, every small kingdom in the human territory has one Level 2 blessed, while the Sacred Kingdom and the Great Sun Kingdom have three Level 2 blessed each.
As for the temple, including Lacius, who is at the peak of Level 2 with insane combat power due to the buff from faith energy. They owned five Level 2 blessed.
In total, the humans have 17 Level 2 blessed, while the other race has none.
No matter how Cedric sees it. Once the humans met the dwarves, who are also busy expanded their territory. They'll definitely curb stomp them into extinction.
Especially since the dwarves have gathered incredible riches from digging their seemingly inexhaustible magic mountain.
Which is why Cedric asked Lacius to stop the humans from expanding northward and westward, because they're already incredibly close to the dwarven territory.
***
Cedric checked the situation in the Crystal Cube world for a few weeks.
When he is certain that the temple has made a move to make the humans focus on expanding southward. He finally returned to experiment with adding some trait to the dragon race he wished to create.
Soon, fifty years have passed, and Cedric finally felt he was close to creating the perfect dragon race as he wanted.
In the Crystal Cube world, the humans have been expanding southward and already found the sea.
The sight of an endless expanse of water made every human who saw it turn shocked.
Soon, news began to spread far and wide, to the point that even Lacius went to check it.
Some people began to try exploring the sea with the boats they usually used to traverse the rivers.
Although many died amidst the tumultuous sea, those who returned brought with them many interesting items from the sea.
Those items quickly became an exotic treasures that can be sold of exorbitant price, which caused more people to explore the sea and seek it wonder.
This sea faring craze caused the boat making technique of the human race to rise at incredible speed.
In just a few years, they have found a way to craft a huge boat that makes use of the ocean wind to sail.
The influx in explorer caused the southern kingdom of the human race to become prosperous.
Meanwhile, the northern kingdom can only stare in envy after their path of expansion has been blocked by the temple.
Ten years later, the sea craze hasn't ended and the southern kingdoms has became even more prosperous, while the kingdom located in the north has become depressed.
At last, the northern kingdoms finally couldn't sit still and decided to wage a war to expand their kingdom southward.
They didn't dare to expand northward and fight against the temple due to the sheer difference in armed force. But that doesn't mean they couldn't fight against other kingdoms to expand their territory.
After hundred years of smooth expansion, having their kingdom stopped expanding all of a sudden has caused the northern kingdoms to fall into instability.
The nobles accused the kings of incompetence, which caused the king to take drastic measure in exchange.
Luckily, Cedric saw their war preparation before everything was too late, and prepared to order Lacius to stop it.
That's when he thought of another idea.
He asked the System several questions, "Hey, system. You said when my world leveled up, I can intervene directly in the world, right? "
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[Yes.]
"Then, may I ask that by intervening, it means I can create things in the world?"
[Yes.]
"Then, if a demon king appeared at that time, am I allowed to kill it? Let's say I accidentally created a giant meteor above the demon king, which coincidentally killed it." Cedric asked.
"Am I allowed to do that?"
[....]
The System send an ellipsis and paused for a short time before replying.
[Yes.]
Cedric smiled, 'I guess I need to change my plan.'
This time, instead of stopping the war, Cedric planned to incite it even further and generated plenty of NE infected creatures.
This way, instead of using the dragons to terrorize the elves and dwarves. He'll send the demons generated by the human's war toward the elven and dwarven territory.
Then, he'll control the dragons he has created to do damage control while those demons wage havoc in the elves and dwarves' territory to generate NE and infect even more creatures with NE.
This way, the dwarves and elves will be able to level up by killing demons, while the demon will still be the common enemy of the world.
As for the dragons that he initially created to terrorize them, they'll turn into an ally instead of an enemy.
'But, there is a few important information I need,' Cedric thought as he asked the System a few more questions. "How long will it be before my world leveled up?"
[The System estimated it should be able to level up in approximately 70 years.]
"Can you be more specific with the time?" Cedric asked.
[No. The condition in a world is ever changing. But, the closer it is to the estimated time, the more accurate the System's predicted time will be.]
Cedric nodded, "Then, if I incite a large scale war that caused tons of death, will the demon king also appear 20 years later just like before?"
[As your world is still at Level 1, the demon king should be born after 20 years after the NE began to accumulate. But, if the amount of NE generated is too much, there is a possibility that the time required for the demon king's birth will be advanced.]
"Alright." Cedric nodded as he ordered Lacius to find a means to delay the war between kingdoms for fifty years.
Meanwhile, he continued his experiment on the dragon race.
Cedric can feel it. He is already incredibly close to his goal.
Right now, he only needs to do a bit of adjustment to engrave the instinct he desired for the dragon races.
After eight years of tireless experiment, Cedric looked at the newly created dragons in front of him.
Because for some reason he couldn't create souls inside the Divine Space. The dragons he created are merely their fleshy husk, which makes them seem in a state of deep sleep.
Cedric sent his mental power toward a dragon to control its body as a test.
After the dragon body he possessed opened its eyes, Cedric controlled it to check the surrounding dragons.
When the dragon he possessed saw a bigger dragon, Cedric's mental power received a response from the body it possessed. The dragon's body sent the instinct to fight against that dragon to determine who is stronger between them.
The moment Cedric felt that instinct, he knew that one of his goals had been achieved.
Right now, he only needs to check whether the instinct to follow the strongest has been successfully engraved on those dragons. But he didn't know how to test whether that instinct had been successfully engraved. So, he tried to ask the System about it.
[This question should've cost you some GP. But the System is quite touched by your effort, so it'll answer your question for free this time.]
[Yes, you have successfully engraved the instinct to obey their strongest to those dragons.]
"Eh? Really?" Cedric asked in astonishment. He thought he'll need to make some further adjustments.
Now that the job he has spent hundreds of years doing is completed, Cedric feels some sort of emptiness inside him.
To think it actually took him more than 400 years to create the dragon races!
[That's because the race you created is quite amazing for a first attempt. When the System suggests that you create some species, the System is talking about simple species like fire breathing frogs or other weak magical species, and not a dragon.]
[The System estimated that those dragons will have combat power equal to Level 1 the moment they reach adulthood. Furthermore, they all have the power to use magical breath regardless of their current life level.]
[The only thing lacking is only their intelligence that's more like a beast. But that can be handled by spending more GP when you added souls to them after creating their body in the Crystal Cube world.]
Cedric nodded at the System's words.
Now that he has successfully created a dragon that he is satisfied with. Cedric decided to take a rest and watched the situation in the Crystal Cube world.
He first checked the dwarves and the elves. But they all still remain the same.
The situation in the human's territory also hasn't changed much.
The northern kingdoms are being suppressed by the temple and already became extremely dissatisfied. Meanwhile, the southern part of the human territory has been focusing themselves on exploring the sea.
Cedric must say Lacius did a good job suppressing the dissatisfaction of the kingdoms located north of the human's territory. Even though they have already started war preparation, Lacius has used threat and other methods to stop them from starting a war.
After he checked the overall situation, Cedric checked the situation of several random people in the world while lounging on a couch he had just created.
Cedric spent some time observing an academy that gathered blessed and taught them training methods, then he moved to check the market that has become prosperous after everyone in the world has accepted trade.
He also checked the temple and found that Lacius has separated the blessed and alchemist into levels according to his explanation.
Lacius separated those blessed and alchemists into Level 0 to Level 2, with lower, middle, upper, and peak subdivision.
For blessed, the stronger their power, the higher their level is. As for alchemists, they need to concoct a few potions that can affect blessed of a certain level before they can advance in level.
"This somehow reminds me of cultivation novels," Cedric commented as he switched his attention to observe other things.
Finally, he checked the kings from every kingdom in the human territory, before checking Lacius's condition.
After Lacius completed the task Cedric assigned to him, he immediately petrified himself to decrease his lifespan consumption.
Cedric initially planned to move his mental power and check somewhere else upon seeing Lacius's petrified body. But he felt something and activated his Divine Sight while looking at Lacius.
[Life Level: Lower Level 3
Potential: Peak Level 1]
"Huh?!" Cedric unconsciously let out a confused voice. "When did he level up to Lower Level 3?"
Cedric activated Past Observation and checked what Lacius had been doing.
After turning back time and watching the event happening years ago, Cedric found out that Lacius has always been busy researching a training method that can be used to reach Level 3.
It just so happened that three years ago, Lacius's research finally bore fruit, and he discovered the training method that allows earth elements blessed to reach Level 3.
Cedric created a copy of the training method and read them.
"Well, I have nothing better to do after successfully creating the dragons. So, let's study these training methods." Cedric muttered as he began to study the training method Lacius invented, while also upgrading the training method of other elements to allow them to reach Level 3.
Without realizing it, forty years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Cedric looked at the research notes that's strewn across the floor around him and nodded in satisfaction.
During these forty years, he has been studying the training method that Lucius has invented.
Once he understood it, Cedric also upgraded the training method for other elements and allowed it to be used up to Peak Level 3.
He hasn't only created Peak Level 3 training method for all elements that have awakened in the humans living in the Crystal Cube world. But has also adapted some of the training methods and created training methods suitable for the dwarves and elves.
Without anything else to do, Cedric asked the System.
"How long will it be before my world leveled up?"
[If the current growth of your world persists, it should happen in 24 years and 3 months.]
"After I allow the war in the human's territory that's going to involve most of the kingdoms, will the time required for my world to level up got affected?"
[Yes. It will at least decrease or increase by a year or two depending on the situations.]
"Alright."
"Then, do you know how strong the demon king will be this time?"
[the System isn't sure. But, it'll most likely be stronger than the previous demon king.]
"Why?"
[That's just how the rule is. Usually, demon kings that appear in a world will be getting stronger with each iteration. That's why most gods will try to suppress the NE in their world from gathering. Rarely are there any insane gods who play with NE like you.]
[The System can't tell you the exact reason yet. But it's recommended that you didn't try this kind of thing too often.]
Cedric listened to the System's advice and nodded his head. "Alright."
Then, he began to calculate the timing of his plan. After all, this plan to gather NE artificially requires perfect timing.
If he started it too early, then the demon king might've wreak havoc in the world before he can intervene.
But if he started it too late. Then, the demon king might not be born yet when his chance to intervene in the world ended.
"The System said the demon king will be born 20 years after a lot of NE appeared in the Crystal Cube world."
"If I include the possibility that my world might level up in advance or got delayed, and also the possibility that the demon king will arrive in advance. About two years later seems to be a suitable time to start the plan. Especially since it took time before the NE caused by war will gather," Cedric muttered.
He patiently waited for two years before starting the plan.
Cedric picked a [Divine Intervention: Word] from a nearby table, and connected with Lacius.
Cedric ordered Lacius to allow the kingdom in the north territory to start a war against the kingdom in the southern part of human territory.
Once the temple released the blockade for kingdoms to attack each other. The north kingdoms can only sit still for a year before they started gathering troops and immediately invaded the south.
The northern kingdoms, which consisted of three small sized kingdom quickly gathered into alliance for the attack.
They ignored the two giant kingdoms that's Sacred Kingdom and Great Sun Kingdom. Instead, they targeted Golden Light Kingdom, one of the three small kingdoms located in the south.
Hundreds years of peace have caused every kingdom's defense against invasion to be extremely weak.
Within a month, Golden Light Kingdom has lost a small city to the northern kingdom alliance.
Due to the delayed response from the southern kingdom. It's only when the northern kingdom has conquered another small city does the kingdom that's being invaded responded.
The Golden Light Kingdom sent their troops to stop the invasion from the north.
But even if the southern kingdom has relatively stronger strength compared to their northern counterpart.
The strength of a kingdom still can't defeat the strength of three allied kingdoms.
After three months of constant battle, a thousand soldiers, or approximately half of the Golden Light Kingdom's army, have been obliterated.
At the same time, many casualties have also happened in the northern kingdom alliance's army.
Even so, the northern kingdom alliance has ignored the loss for now and continued steadily claiming the village and city under the Golden Light Kingdom's jurisdiction.
Seeing the Golden Light Kingdom's predicament. The other two kingdoms located in the south have joined the fray and sent some reinforcement to the war.
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Due to the massive amount of death from the war. The notification that Cedric has awaited finally arrived.
[Warning! The density of Negative Energy within an area has reached a dangerous degree!]
[NE infection rate within the area has greatly increased.]
[Warning! The density of Negative Energy within several areas has reached a dangerous degree! A demon King will be born in your world.]
[Estimated time until demon king's birth: 20 years.
Estimated level of the newly born demon king: Lower Level 3 to Middle Level 3.]
Cedric read through the familiar but slightly different notifications calmly.
He realized the demon king's estimated level was actually only Lower Level 3 to Middle Level 3 and couldn't help but look at Lacius's stats through his Divine Sight.
[Life Level: Lower Level 3
Potential Level: Peak Level 1]
Cedric can't help but fall into doubt. 'Perhaps… I don't even need to get involved?'
"Considering the buff he gained from faith energy, Lacius seems to be strong enough to handle that demon king." Cedric contemplated before continued watching the war happening in the Crystal Cube world.
In the world, he saw the six small kingdoms started a large scale war.
After the initial attack where the northern kingdom alliance easily captured two small cities. Both parties quickly entered a seesaw like situation where one side one and soon the other side won a different battle.
Cedric felt the amount of death from those battles might be too much for his plan, and will cause the demon king to appear earlier or even with stronger power than estimated.
He activated Divine Intervention: Word and told Lacius to stop the war, and also told him about the birth of demon king that'll happen in less than twenty years.
Cedric's command to allow the war before quickly stopping the war made Lacius confused. But he still followed it, especially when Cedric mentioned the demon king's appearance.
With the movement from the temple, the war between the six small kingdoms quickly decreases in intensity.
Even so, several small skirmishes still happened around the border of those kingdoms, which causes NE to continuously gather.
This caused the amount of NE infected creatures to be several times higher than during the first demon king's time.
Soon, the kingdoms began to get busy dealing with the chaos caused by the demons and started a cease fire.
Among the kingdoms, the Golden Light Kingdom is the one that got affected the most.
The damage to their kingdom's military coupled with the fact that their territory is where the war happened and most of the NE gathered at, made the amount of resistance the Golden Light Kingdom has against the demons became extremely weak.
Soon, the Golden Light Kingdom fell into a hard time, to the point they are barely surviving. Luckily, the temple took action and sent their humanitarian aids.
The temple's knight helped the Golden Light Kingdom to slaughter the demons. While the temple's headquarter began to send resource to the Golden Light kingdom to make sure they won't suddenly collapse and cause further chaos.
All that war led to misery and death, which caused NE to gather at an increasingly faster speed.
The demon king that initially needs twenty years to be born has already appeared eighteen and half a year after the System notified Cedric of the demon king's birth.
In the Divine Space, Cedric asked the System, "How long will it take before the Crystal Cube world leveled up?"
[If nothing much changed, approximately 1 years and 8 months]
"This… should I tell Lacius to quickly kill the demon king, or should I wait until my world leveled up before I kill demon king on my own?" Cedric fell into a dilemma upon seeing the time until he could directly intervene.
That's when the System suddenly appeared to warn him.
[You need to kill it ASAP! Don't underestimate demon kings. Their level will increase with the amount of NE it absorbs. So, the longer it took for the demon king to be defeated, the stronger they'll be. Furthermore, the destruction that demon king caused might delay the time your world took to level up.]
[Delaying will cause needless death to hundreds of thousands of lives!]
After reading the System's warning, Cedric seems to wake up and at the same time began to sweat when the recall what he has planned to do.
His plan to not take immediate action will cause the death of thousands or even tens of thousands people. Yet, he didn't even feel anything from considering such action.
He then recalled everything he has done for the last few years and said, "I think there is something wrong with me!"
[Indeed. The System has detected some problem with your mentality since hundreds of years ago. It's just quite unexpected for the problem to get so serious in just a few hundred years.]
"Problem with my mentality?" Cedric asked in confusion.
[Do you recall the time when the System asked you what you think of the people Lacius used as experimental materials?]
Cedric rummaged through his memory and quickly found the moment that the System mentioned.
[At that time, the System felt there was something wrong with your view of the world. You seem to see the Crystal Cube world as a mere game, or perhaps a drama serial. You didn't see the creature in the world as a living creature and only merely as data.]
[The System won't say that seeing the world as a game is a completely bad thing. But for the current you, it definitely is. If this goes on, you'll turn into an emotionless machine sooner or later.]
"Why don't you tell me if you realized there is a problem with me since centuries ago?"
[This is a personal problem. Until you realized it, the only thing the System can do is to send some tips and clue.]
"Then how do I fix this problem?"
[This is beyond the scope of free information. Do you wish to spend 10 GP to receive an answer?]
"Yes!" Cedric quickly nodded. This isn't the right time to be stingy.
[During the moment when the world advanced, and you gained the right to directly intervene. It's recommended to create several weak clones to experience the life in the Crystal Cube world.]
[By directly experiencing life in the world, you should be able to connect more with it and empathize more to the creature in the world.]
Cedric kept the System's advice in mind and refocused his attention on the Crystal Cube world.
As the area affected by the war is quite wide, Cedric has been searching through the world for the demon king's location while talking with the System.
Soon, he finally found its location.
This time, the demon king isn't a humanoid species. Instead, it's a swarm of gigantic ants.
They created their colony below the land where the Northern Kingdom Alliance's army first fought against Golden Light Kingdom's army.
If not for the NE that seems to seep deep into the ground when the demon king is born, Cedric might not have realized the existence of this ant colony.
He skimmed through the ant nest and found out all of them are currently busy continuously shedding their carapace while their strength is raising at incredible speed.
Cedric activated Past Observation to check the situation and saw the ant colony initially consisted mostly of Lower Level 0 worker ant and only have a few soldier ants at Mid Level 0.
But, after the demon king was born, and the NE began to gather around the nest, they began to continuously shed their carapace.
With every shedding, their body turns bigger and their life level increased.
At the short delay between shedding their carapace, the ant are busy enlarging their nest to fit their newly enlarged body.
Cedric closed Past Observation and began to sweat when he saw all ants have reached Mid Level 0. 'This time, the demon king seems to be a bit too powerful.'
Spreading his mental power widely throughout the ant nest, Cedric soon found the queen of the nest and activated his Divine Sight on it.
[Life Level: Lower Level 3
Potential: Peak Level 1]
Just like he expected, the ant queen of this nest is actually the current demon king!
Cedric thoroughly observed the ant queen and realized it's actually ten meters long.
Next to it, there is the corpse of another ant queen and the empty shell of a massive egg.
Even without Past Observation, Cedric can guess that the demon king ant, or perhaps demon queen ant, has killed the original ant queen and became the new controller of this ant colony.
Then, he began to check the ant queen's surrounding.
Around the ant queen, seven five meter long ants are busy expanding the nest.
Cedric got a bad feeling and activated his Divine Sight on those seven ants.
[Life Level: Lower Level 2
Potential: Lower Level 1]
[Life Level: Mid Level 2
Potential: Mid Level 1]
[Life Level: Lower Level 2
Potential: Lower Level 1]
[Life Level: Lower Level 2
Potential: Lower Level 1]
[Life Level: Upper Level 2
Potential: Upper Level 1]
[Life Level: Mid Level 2
Potential: Mid Level 1]
[Life Level: Lower Level 2
Potential: Lower Level 1]
There are exactly 4 Lower Level 2, 2 Mid Level 2, and 1 Upper Level 2 ants.
This ant colony's power is actually only second to the temple!
While observing the ant, Cedric asked the System, "Don't you think the difficulty spike is just too much?"
[The difference between this ant queen and Gratian is indeed a bit too much. But this is still within the normal difficulty spike.]
Cedric gulped, "Well, maybe I shouldn't artificially start gathering NE."
[It's good that you finally understand. In fact, at lower leveled world, most gods are basically playing a race against NE. Their world's growth must be able to keep up with the increasingly difficult NE disasters.]
"Nevertheless, I didn't regret gathering NE this time. After all, it's just a matter of time before massive war broke out in the world. With this chance, I'll be able to show the humans the result of starting a massive war thoughtlessly."
"Even if the humans actually failed to defeat the demon king this time, it won't matter much, as there is a failsafe prepared. Once the world leveled up, I'll be able to directly intervene and kill the demon king."
[That's true. But let me remind you that even if the stability of your world is strengthened when your world leveled up, the amount of stability isn't infinite and there is a limit to how much intervention you can do to the world.]
"Okay."
While chatting with the System, Cedric didn't forget to ask Lacius to make a move to kill the demon king.
All he needs is to mention that the demon king is also a Level 3 creature, and Lacius quickly went there to kill that ant queen and gather its corpse as an experimental material.
Cedric continued chatting with the System while observing the ant colony and occasionally checking Lacius's current whereabouts.
While observing the ant colony, Cedric suddenly realized they've been moving in a certain direction all this while.
Initially, he isn't sure what the ant colony is trying to do. But once they arrived nearby a city and began digging intricate tunnel around and below the city, Cedric can immediately connect the two dots together.
'They're going to attack the city!'
Cedric quickly searched for the city lord of that city and found him sitting inside his study in the city lord's mansion that's located right in the middle of the city.
Holding his [Divine Intervention: Dream, Cedric] sent the city lord a brief message.
[Warning! Demon king attack from underground]
"What's this?" The city lord asked in confusion while looking around the study.
Upon finding no trace of human, the city lord soon shouted outside the door, "Guards! Some blessed have played a trick with me! Quickly search through the mansion and find them!"
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The guards who heard the city lord's shout quickly gathered other guards and begin searching through the city lord's mansion.
***
Inside the Divine Space, Cedric felt confused as to why the city lord didn't recognize him as the creator.
That's when he realized that hundreds of years have passed since the last time he intervened in the world.
Although Lacius, a living relic from ancient time still existed. The record about the era where he often intervened has mostly been forgotten and destroyed.
The fact that he often sent messages through a screen has most likely stopped being spread at some point.
Even the fact that Lacius still lived in the temple's headquarter in River Stone City is only known by a few higher up of the temple.
What's more about the news regarding a creator that never shows its form?
Cedric felt a bit awkward. But right now isn't the right situation to waste time.
He gritted his teeth and spent 100 GP to purchase [Divine Intervention: Dream]. Once he felt the octahedron crystal representing [Divine Intervention: Dream], Cedric sent his mental power inside it and entered the Dream Space that's lit by faint pink light.
Cedric willed it and changed the Dream Space's light from its initial pink color that make the ambience felt like a place inside some red light district, into golden white colored light that give off the feeling of sacredness.
Then, he created a clone inside the Dream Space, complete with accessories like throne, scepter, and others.
Finally, he added the light in his face, and added a function that add dignity and pressure on everyone looking at the light.
He also added what he called the name recognition function in the light. Basically, anyone who saw the light will think he is the creator of the world they reside.
This might sound grand, but it's basically just a name tag with some beauty filter.
Once everything was ready, he pulled the city lord into the dream space to have an audience with him.
***
City lord Hendrick recalled he has just ordered the guard to comb through every corner of his mansion after he was affected by an unknown blessed power.
That's when he suddenly felt a sudden but strong sleepiness.
The abnormal sleepiness is so strong that even the invigorating potions he drank to work overtime are unable to resist that sleepiness.
When he woke up, he found himself standing above clouds.
Around him, faint mists gently floats and dispersed the golden white light shining from above.
While he was in awe at the sight, Hendrick saw a vague figure sitting on a throne.
Even though he never saw the figure with their face hidden behind a glowing light, Hendrick still knew the one standing in front of him was the creator of the world.
When he realized it, Hendrick quickly kneeled according to the temple's custom and praised the creator.
The figure ignored him and simply said. "Beware, my child, the demon king has reappeared in the world and has targeted the people under your care."
"The demon king has prepared an ambush from deep underground. Prepare to evacuate the city."
After that word, Hendrick felt his body pulled downward as he reopened his eyes on the study while being drenched with sweat.
He deeply remembered his meeting with the creator and quickly ran outside the door.
"Servants! Quickly prepare my carriage. I need to visit the city's temple branch!"
Hearing their lord's panicked shout, the servants immediately got into action and quickly prepared the carriage.
Soon, City Lord Hendrick arrived in front of the city's branch temple.
When a priest greeted him, Hendrick immediately informed the priest, "Immediately inform the head priest. There is an emergency! I think I've just received a revelation from the creator!"
The priest saw Hendrick's panicked face and also became panicked.
He ran deep into the temple and arrived at a wide hall, at the end of the hall stood Cedric's statue and Lacius's statue.
Kneeling in front of the altar is a grey haired old man wearing a slightly more intricate clothing compared to the priests in the temple.
The old man heard the priest's panicked footstep and stopped his prayer before opening his eye.
He questioned the sweating priest who has ran in a panic, "What's wrong with you? Don't you know the prayer hall is a sacred place? Why are you running like a small child?"
The priest, who has ran out of breath from running, turned even paler upon hearing the old man's scolding.
While accompanied by his heavy breath, the priest tried to explain as concisely as possible, "Head Priest, the City Lord has visited. He said he received a revelation from the creator!"
"Prosperous!" the old head priest shouted while walking toward the priest. "How dare he mention the creator lightly? I'll taught him a lesson."
The priest sighed in relief once he saw the head priest's anger have been directed to someone else, and immediately brought the head priest toward the city lord's location.
The moment they met, the head priest immediately rebuked the city lord and began scolding him for using the creator's name thoughtlessly.
***
Inside the Divine Space, Cedric couldn't continue how the people wasted their precious time, and decided to pull the head priest into the Dream Space.
Once he pulled the old head priest, Cedric merely show his figure and said, "Evacuate everyone from the city and protect the people from the demon king's attack."
Then, he immediately sent the head priest's consciousness back to the world.
The high priest who has just returned from the Dream Space paused a moment to digest what has just happened.
The surrounding people looked at the head priest, who has paused midway through his scolding in confusion.
Soon, everyone saw the head priest's eyes became teary as dropped of tears began to fall from the corner of his eyes.
"Ah!! I have just received a revelation from the creator! The creator has finally returned their sight to the world. This humble servant of yours shall immediately follow your will!"
Everyone watched in astonishment at the head priest's sudden change in mood.
The high priest ignored their weird look and ordered, "Prepare the temple knight. We shall show our piety to the creator and evacuate everyone from the city!"
Then, he barked at the city lord, "What are you waiting for? Quickly follow the creator's will!"
Outwardly, City Lord Hendrick nodded cordially. But deep inside, he sighed, 'This is why I hated meeting this insane fanatic bunch.'
With the combination of the temple and the city lord's forces, the evacuation proceeds smoothly.
But, when only more than half of the people has evacuated the city, rumbling sound appeared from below the city.
The deep rumbling sound is followed by a crack on the ground that began to spread around the city.
Once most of the city has been covered in crack, panic spread through the remaining people who have yet evacuated.
That's when they saw a scene that'll be etched deep in everyone's memory.
The eastern part of the city wall has suddenly collapsed and disappeared into the ground.
In the place where the city wall once stood is now a deep hole where many gigantic ants crawl.
Most of the ants are fifty meters long, while some have reached more than one meter long and looked much more ferocious.
Followed by the fall of the eastern city wall and the appearance of the ants. More building inside the city began to fall into the ground as gigantic ants appeared from deep underground.
The temple knights and soldiers left in the city quickly regrouped to protect as much civilians as possible and exited the city that has turned into ruins.
After creating a bloody path, the group successfully escaped the city and regrouped with the people who has evacuated.
Inside the Divine Space, Cedric observed the destruction happening in the Crystal Cube world while having a headache.
After the ants dug complicated tunnels under the city, the building standing on top of those tunnels began to collapse from pressure.
The ants have also risen from deep underground and dealt massive casualties to the humans.
Although more than half of the civilians have already evacuated, the remaining who haven't left the city are basically facing certain death.
He also checked Lacius's location and found he'll need a long time before he could arrive at the city.
So, all Cedric can do for now is watch and study the demon king's ability.
His mental power spread deep into the ground and reached the complicated tunnel that has been dug by the giant ant colony
Cedric checked the tunnel and saw many humans have actually been captured inside the tunnels.
The humans tried to resist, but the sheer difference in strength caused their resistance to be futile.
The ants passed through many tunnels before finally arriving at the queen's location.
Compared to the other tunnels, the location the queen stayed at is much bigger and is filled with a lot of ants and trace of flesh and bloods.
Once they arrived, the ants proceeds to tear the human's limbs while ignoring their scream.
The ant queen saw the humans writhing in pain and released a screeching sound before killing and eating the loudest human.
The moment that person is killed, NE appeared from his corpse, which is mostly absorbed by the queen while the remaining part is absorbed by the guards around the ant queen.
After absorbing the NE, the ant queen continued to kill the remaining humans before eating their corpses.
After eating this batch of humans, the queen stopped at a corner of the room and began to lay eggs.
She fertilized some eggs while also imbuing them with some of her power.
Soon, the eggs that have been fertilized began to hatch into giant ants and left the queen's room.
The recently hatched eggs mostly consisted of Mid Level 0 ants, while a select few are of much bigger size and have reached Peak Level 0 or Early Level 1 the moment they're born.
Meanwhile, some of the unfertilized eggs hatched and began to surround the queen.
At this time, another batch of humans arrived which make the queen repeat the same movement of screeching, eating, and giving birth.
In the Divine Space, Cedric feels nauseous after watching such a brutal scene. Compared to the ant queen's brutality, Lacius's human experiment seems much more humane.
But now isn't the time to think about useless things. Especially after Cedric checked through the ant nest once more and saw that one of the bigger Peak Level 1 ant has actually shed its carapace several times and evolved into a five meter long ant at Lower Level 2.
That means there are now 8 Level 2 ants and 1 Level 3 ants in the nest.
"They're multiplying too fast!"
Cedric looked as the ant continued to collect humans, whether dead or alive.
The dead ones are stored inside an area that seems to be a food storage, while the living humans are brought to the ant queen to be tortured and killed for the sake of generating NE.
By the time Lacius finally arrived, the city had been thoroughly pillaged by the ants.
Occasionally, some ants exited from the hole and crack inside the city to scout the surroundings to look for some food.
Every time Lacius saw such ants, he immediately killed them.
After killing a few ants, Lacius followed the trail of humans and arrived at open plains nearby the city.
On the plain, he saw a settlement that had been erected in a hurry, and walked toward them to ask for further details.
The moment he arrived, Lacius immediately walked toward the center of the settlement where the biggest tent was erected. The tent is surrounded by people wearing city guard uniforms and temple knight uniforms.
The moment he approached the tent, a few guards blocked his path. "Halt! This is the city lord's tent. Identify yourself!"
Different from the tense guard, the surrounding temple knight looked at Lacius with wide open eyes.
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Some occasionally rubbed their eyes as if in disbelief.
"The god of alchemy…"
It's unknown who spoke first, but the surrounding temple knight woke up from their daze.
"Is this the god of alchemy?"
"Hasn't the god ascended to heaven?"
"Has the god descended to help us tide through this difficulty?"
Finally, an experienced temple knight who seems like the captain commanded, "Call the head priest!"
A temple knight ran toward a nearby tent that's equally massive and soon brought the old head priest outside.
The moment the head priest saw Lacius, he immediately kneeled while his eyes turned red as pea sized droplets of tears continuously fell from it.
"O.. the great god of alchemy, be praised shall your name, may your glory shine far and wide for eternity!"
The surrounding priest, temple knight, guards, and civilians, who has heard the head priest's word, immediately kneel to the ground and greeted Lacius.
Seeing such exaggerated greetings, a corner of Lacius's eye slightly twitched. But he quickly controlled his expression and gently patted the head priest's shoulder. "Pray tell me, what happened to the city?"
"Sob*, the demon ant appears *hiccup* underground city, *2ahhh* *sob* killed the civilians *boohoo* *weep*"
After the city's destruction, his short meeting with the creator, and now seeing the god of alchemy himself in the flesh, the head priest's turbulent emotions make him unable to speak properly.
Lacius felt his headache and his lifespan decrease from just listening to the old guy's voice.
Luckily, the city lord who has heard the commotion outside the tent has silently exited it.
"Greetings, your holiness the god of alchemy. This one is the city lord of the fallen city. Please permit me to describe what has happened to the city as your servant, the head priest, seems to be in an unfit condition to do so."
City lord Hendrick spoke with utmost respect to Lacius.
No matter what, the god of alchemy is a god whose legend and power has spread far and wide
Compared to the more mysterious creator that gives off an amiable feeling during their meeting, the god of alchemy in front of him gives off a much more dangerous feeling.
It's a widely accepted fact that the god of alchemy is the one who has taught alchemy to humans. Some people have even theorized that the god of alchemy might have absolute power over alchemical items.
City lord Hendrick didn't want the god of alchemy to change every reinvigoration potion he drank to keep an all nighter into poison simply because he talked to the god of alchemy in disrespect.
Lacius stared at City Lord Hendrick.
"Please explain the situation as thoroughly as possible."
City Lord Hendrick nodded and described the situation from the beginning. Starting from when Cedric has sent him a message about the demon king's appearance and how he has doubted the message which leads to his meeting with the creator.
Listening to it, Lacius's mind became active. 'The creator is too generous. If someone were to doubt me, I would've directly obliterated them from this world.'
Then, he thought of something, 'Now that I think about it, I don't recall the creator ever making any direct move to the world. They will only send revelation through a dream or that floating screen. The most fearsome warning the creator has ever shown is merely the sight of utter destruction through the means of a dream. Is there some sort of reason for this?'
While he listened to Hendrick's explanation, Lacius's mind became full of conspiracy theories about the creator's lack of activity.
Finally, City Lord Hendrick finished his explanation, and Lacius fell into deep thought.
"First and foremost, you need to send the survivor to the nearest city as soon as possible. There might be another wave of attack from the demon ants soon."
City Lord Hendrick's expression fell when he heard Lacius's word.
Even the head priest who has calmed down also looks serious.
''Then, let's immediately start our journey to the neighboring city!"
"" Yes!"" The guards and knights replied in unison as they prepared the civilians to continue their travel.
Due to the sheer amount of people involved, everyone only started to leave an hour later. That means they probably need another two to three hours before the entire group leaves the plains.
While watching the survivor walking in line to leave, Lacius's extremely high earth sensitivity sensed movement from deep underground.
He quickly told the head priest and city lord who still stood behind him. "Both of you need to leave first. As expected, the demons has launched another attack from deep underground."
The city lord's eyes widened in shock as he questioned without even caring for formalities, "What about the remaining people?!"
"I'll buy as much time as possible." Lacius calmly replied while looking at a message that Cedric had just sent.
***
Inside the Divine Space, Cedric knew that while Lacius is in his psychotic state, he might have got some ridiculous head breaking idea. But when he is in a calm state, Lacius is someone he can depend on.
Just as expected, even without his command, Lacius has met the survivors and helped them to migrate.
Now that the survivor has been mostly handled, and the ant has actually started another attack, it's time to finish off the ant queen.
Cedric sent a message to Lacius through his [Basic System Screen].
[Let me assist you in killing the demon king.]
Cedric copied the data regarding the ant nest, location of the ant queen, and the current distribution of ants to Lacius by using [Divine Intervention: Image] and [Divine Intervention: Word] to write the explanations.
When Lacius saw the message Cedric sent, which was accompanied by a 3D image of the nest and surrounding area, he became a bit confused before he finally understood how to read the map.
Lacius looked at the jumbled dots which show the ants that almost attacked them and clicked his tongue, "Tsk, killing this much demon ants is going to be quite troublesome."
Then, he looked at the location of the ant queen, which is marked with the word 'Lower Level 3 demon king'.
'I am excited to meet this new demon king.' Lacius thought in interest. 'I wonder how I fare against someone at the same level?'
After understanding the map that Cedric sent, Lacius calculated the distance before walking to a spot and stopped.
"This should be the right place." Lacius said as he placed his right arm into the ground and channeled his power to the ground. "The demon king should be located around 100 meters underground. So, let's open a hole directly to that place."
Accompanying his blessed power, Lacius spent approximately 40% of the faith energy he has gathered for centuries. It's a new method of using faith power that he has found during an experiment. It allows him to amplify his blessed power to an unreasonable degree.
As his body begins to glow and slightly crack from the pressure, a massive amount of faith energy is channeled underground.
"Open!" With a shout from Lacius, the surrounding earth trembled as a vortex appeared on the ground a few meters in front of him.
The vortex slowly widened and showed a deep hole that seemed to lead straight into hell.
Deep in the ground, the ant queen raised its head upon feeling a warmth coming from the ceiling of its nest, "Screech?"
There seem to be traces of confusion hidden in that screech.
Lacius looked at the crack on his body that's caused by releasing faith energy beyond his current limit with calmness.
After gaining that blessing, Lacius knew that his regeneration speed had increased to an incredible degree. Unless it's a wound on the level of severed limbs, everything will heal with time.
Lacius looked down at the hole he had created and jumped downward from wall to wall to control the speed of his descent.
Soon, he could already see the ant queen and its guard standing inside a massive man made, or to be exact, ant made cave. Around the cave, there are many tunnels with ants crawling out of it.
Lacius felt fighting against too many ants at once will be pretty troublesome. So, he activated his blessed power that has been slightly reinforced with faith energy and caused those small tunnels to collapse.
With that, the ants won't be able to send reinforcement until they dig another tunnel.
While he is busy collapsing those tunnels, the ant queen has ordered its guard to surround Lacius and attack him.
Being surrounded by eight Level 2 giant ant, Lacius used his blessed power to cause a part of the ceiling to collapse and fall into them.
Except for the recently promoted ant that's unlucky enough to have its head being cracked from a massive boulder. Most of the Level 2 ants survived thanks to their enormous body and strong carapace.
After handling the Level 2 ants, Lacius dashed toward the ant queen, who screeched and slashed her mandibles at him.
Lacius unsheathed his sword while controlling the ground below the ant queen's leg to collapse. The collapsed ground caused the ant queen to lose its balance and allow Lacius to easily parry her attack.
The loss of balance also allows Lacius to launch a sneak attack by spending some faith energy and his blessed power to raise a super compact earth spear that pierces through the ant queen's abdomen.
While the ant queen screeched in pain, Lacius got closer and slashed his sword at the ant queen.
The moment his sword hit the ant queen's carapace, it emitted a spark and released the clanging sound of metal against metal.
"I guess my sword attack is of no use against it," Lacius muttered as he retreated upon seeing the ant queen has broke free from the earth spike that pierced it.
He then felt something and focused his eyes to look at the wound on the ant queen's abdomen.
There, dark mists gathered as the wound on the ant queen healed in an instant.
This made Lacius recall Gratian's resurrection like ability after he became a demon king.
"This is going to be troublesome." Lacius said while glancing at the Level 2 ants that has broke free from the collapsed ceiling.
He checked the amount of faith energy remaining within his body and started his second round of attack.
Lacius first targeted the Level 2 ants by collapsing another part of the ceiling.
With the Level 2 ants taken care of, Lacius looked at the ant queen who has been busy releasing eggs
Before those eggs could hatch, Lacius turned the earth above the ceiling into massive stalactites that pierced the back of the ant queen.
He controlled the ceiling above the eggs to drop down and shattered all of them.
After using so many fancy maneuvers, Lacius can feel the cave getting unstable. Which forces him to waste some of his power to reinforce the cave's wall and ceiling.
The ant queen, who has been injured, screeched in pain as it glared at the invader with its beady eyes.
With its huge but probably not so smart brain, it felt it has ran out of option, and decided to engage Lacius in a melee.
The ant queen charged toward Lacius like a massive locomotive that ran out of control.
To handle it, Lacius simply waved his hand and summoned reinforced earth spikes that pointed toward the ant queen.
With its incredibly hard carapace, the ant queen easily shattered the first few earth spikes by running through it. But the following earth spike became harder as Lacius got more time to reinforce it even further.
It forced the ant queen's mad charge to come to an end as it need to evade the earth spike that can easily pierce it with the help of momentum.
Lacius, who saw it, felt pity. 'If only that thing is stupid enough to charge at my spike.'
And so, both sides engage in close combat amidst a forest of spike that Lacius has summoned.
***
Inside the Divine Space, Cedric watched the battle between Lacius and the ant queen.
"I never expected Lacius to be this powerful. What a pity he seems to lack attacks that can pierce the ant queen's defense."
Cedric mulled as he decided to lend a helping hand.
He checked the store and locked his sight on an item.
[Level 3 Consumable Divine Item, Wind Sword.
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Cost: 150 GP
Details: Slightly increase the power of wind element and the user's affinity to wind. Contain three usage of Level 3 Wind Slash.]
Initially, he wanted to give Lacius a Level 3 Earth Sword or Flame Sword.
But thinking that the Earth Slash's effect won't be much better compared to Lacius's skill, and that Flame Slash's effect might burn the surrounding oxygen and instantly suffocate Lacius. Cedric finally decided on the [Wind Sword], whose Wind Slash sound like it's extremely good at cutting through things.
Before purchasing the item, Cedric asked the System, "Will sending this cause my world to lose balance?"
[Not yet.]
"Can Lacius use the Wind Slash to slash through the ant queen?"
[Yes.]
"Then, I'll purchase this Wind Sword. I should give it to Lacius and let him kill the ant queen ASAP!"
[Are you sure? Didn't you say you plan to wait until your world leveled up to intervene and directly kill the demon king yourself?]
"Change of plan. I felt the demon king this time is simply too dangerous to be left alone."
[Good choice.]
[You've spent 150 GP to purchase Level 3 Wind Sword.]
Watching his balance decrease by 150 GP pained Cedric's heart.
All he can hope now is for the sword to be worth its price and allow Lacius to kill the ant queen. Otherwise, there will be a giant ant infestation happening in his world.
Holding the expensive sword that he hadn't even touched for a minute, Cedric sent a message to Lacius before sending the sword into the Crystal Cube world.
***
Inside the ant cave, Lacius and the ant queen are still engaged in combat.
During the battle, the ants have reopened the tunnel that Lacius has closed. From the tunnels around the cave, the ant queen's reinforcement arrived as giant ants filled the area.
Lacius saw the sea like ants and he prepared to retreat for now. But, he changed his mind upon seeing the message that Cedric sent.
[Take this sword. It's called Wind Sword and has the ability to summon Level 3 wind slash three times by willing it.]
In front of him, Lacius saw a sword appear out of nowhere.
He quickly picked it up and tried to get used to the sword by slashing at the surrounding low leveled giant ants.
Soon, he saw the ant queen have charged once again, and willed the sword to release its Wind Slash.
The instant he sent his thought, Lacius can feel a breeze coming from the sword.
He slashed it toward the charging ant queen and saw the gentle breeze turns into a massive crescent moon like wind bade.
The barely visible wind blade passes through the ant queen right in the middle and sliced it into two halves.
After the queen ant got split into two halves, the surrounding ants come into a pause before they continued their attack.
Lacius casually handled the surrounding ants while focusing his sight on the ant queen's corpse.
From the queen ant's corpse, dark mists began to gather and got absorbed into its body.
The mists brought forth a miraculous scene where one of the halved body part quickly grew flesh before growing their carapace and returned into the familiar ant queen.
Although there is no trace of wounds on its newly reconstructed body. But on its small bead like eyes, traces of fear can be seen as it released a screech that reverberated throughout the cave.
The ants who heard the ant queen's scream scrambled around the cave and started hitting the stones that Lacius has reinforced.
Lacius can feel the ants are trying to destabilize the underground cave and bury him there. So, he activated another Wind Slash toward the ant queen, who somehow evaded it.
Even though the ant queen has evaded the attack and escaped from being split in half. Its massive body couldn't entirely evade the attack, as part of its abdomen and hind leg failed to escape and got hit by Lacius's slash.
Lacius took advantage of the wound and summoned a reinforced earth spike toward the ant queen's abdomen that has been severed by Wind Slash.
As those parts have lost its carapace, the earth spike easily pierced into the ant queen's body.
Lacius didn't stop his attack and controlled the earth spike that has embedded into the ant queen's abdomen to bloom like a flower. From the big stone spike, smaller spikes grow and cut the ant queen's insides.
He even controlled the spike to spin and thoroughly mix the ant queen's innards.
After screaming in pain for ten seconds, the ant queen finally died as disgusting mucus spewing out of the wound.
Things that seem to be a minced internal organs can also be seen flowing in the mucus.
Not long after the ant queen died, black mists reappeared and seeps into the ant queen's body.
Compared to before resurrecting the ant queen, the black mists are much fainter and smaller.
Soon after, the ant queen's body recovered as the reinforced earth spikes Lacius used to pierce the ant queen got ejected from its body.
Lacius saw all that and prepared to retreat. After all, he doesn't know how many times the ant queen can resurrect to full health.
He has consumed more than half of the faith energy he has gathered over the last few centuries.
Furthermore, the surrounding ants have almost succeeded at collapsing the cave.
***
Inside the Divine Space, Cedric saw the ant queen resurrected once more and asked the System, "How many times can that ant queen got resurrected?!"
[Based on the amount of NE around it, this is its last life.]
Cedric widened his eye and sent a message toward Lacius to stop his retreat and kill the ant queen immediately.
Inside the Crystal Cube world, Lacius looked at the message that appeared on his screen and sighed.
[This is the demon king's last life.]
Knowing such a thing, Lacius decided not to retreat and dashed toward the ant queen, who was in the midst of its recovery.
The ant queen who saw Lacius charging toward it immediately screeched while wildly flailing its limb that hadn't fully recovered.
While charging toward the ant queen, Lacius also created several earth spike that pierced the surrounding ants and reinforced the cave once more.
As Lacius went closer to its location, the ant queen went into a panic and screeched to ask the surrounding ants to block Lacius's advance.
Lacius merely activated his earth power to push the ants blocking his way while charging undisturbed.
Soon, the ant queen has fully recovered its body and immediately tried to escape from Lacius by digging a hole in the wall.
But Lacius has also arrived close by and immediately slashed the wind sword in his hand toward the ant queen after activating the last Wind Slash stored in the sword.
This time, the ant queen has no place to escape and immediately got slashed into two by the wind slash.
As blood splashed around the place, Lacius waited and observed the ant queen's corpse.
He saw that this time, there was indeed no more black mist seeping into the ant queen's body.
"Seems it has thoroughly died." Lacius muttered and changed his focus toward the ants.
He reinforced the cave one more time and killed the surrounding ants by creating reinforced earth spike or slashing at them with his sword.
After the cave has been filled with dead ants, Lacius counted the relatively bigger ant corpse and muttered in confusion. "I am pretty sure there are 8 ants that's only slightly smaller than the ant queen. But there is only 7 carcass here."
He checked the surrounding to look for that missing ant but to no avail. So Lacius decided to leave the ant queen and ant guard's carcass for now and returned to the surface through the hole he first created.
After jumping upward for a long time, Lacius finally saw the sky that has long since darken.
He glanced at the deep hole and activated his power to cover the surface of the hole,
"I'd better hide it first. For now, I'll notify the other to help me retrieve the demon king's corpse. After all, its carapace is hard enough to block my non reinforced earth spikes."
"After being processed, it should be possible to turn the carapace into a shield and armors that can defend against most Level 1 blessed's attack."
Lacius activated his faith energy to fly toward the nearest city, before pausing upon sensing that he merely have 20 percent faith energy remaining in his body.
Lacius felt kinda sad upon seeing his loss.
This battle with the ant queen has consumed the faith energy gathered for centuries.
"I'd better walk and save my energy."