Preparations & Machinations (IV)

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「◈ 73rd Demon Lord, The Outcast Arzalon.」

「◈ Solomon's Calendar; Year 2001, Month 5, Day 2. 」

「◈ Arzalon's Dungeon, Lowest Floor (36th)」

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If the other Demon Lords knew that I spent a large percentage of my wealth on three skill books, I would be labelled a fool. They won't even consider me part of the war, well, did they even from the start? I chuckled.

If they knew what I knew, they would make haste and imitate me, but unfortunately for them, they needed to die first to know this information. Fortunately for me, I already did. 「Faith's Seal」was a useless skill book not containing even a letter in its description. It was filled with nothing but blank pages.

One would think, why was such a useless book be sold for an outrageously high price? Only I knew the answer to that thought.

Simply, 「Faith's Seal」 wasn't an independent skill. It was a skill that would only show its true nature once used in tandem with two other skills.「Insight」, and 「Clarity」that was the sole reason why I bought these two.

「Insight」this ability would allow me to gain basic information for just about anything, while 「Clarity」lets me deepen my understanding about basic information that I obtained from 「Insight」.

Now, let us begin. To learn these skills, I simply needed to open the book, and the information to use them would be known by my body and mind instinctually as if I had already been using it since I was born.

「Insight has been learned 」

「Clarity has been learned 」

That feels refreshing. The books I was holding have disappeared, instantly crumbling to dust as I finished learning them. Now, to make use of 「Faith's Seal」.

I held the book and opened it. Unlike the other two, it didn't crumble into dust. This unique skill book could only be learned by reading its blank pages with 「Insight」, and 「Clarity」.

The edges of my eyes began to glow a faint yellow light indicating that I've activated 「Insight」. I proceeded to activate 「Clarity」next and began to skim through the blank pages.

There was a word that I needed to find amongst these pages that contained thousands of words. From what I can recall from my past life, the person who discovered this secret was none other than the person who destroyed my dungeon. Cole Dreysfin.

The reason why I knew this information was because I was there when it happened. This human, who would later become known as the symbol of hope, made the accidental of reading the blank pages of 「Faith's Seal」while having「Insight」, and 「Clarity」activated.

I had not a shred of information on how he obtained that book, but I felt envious when I discovered what the ability could do. 「Faith's Seal」was not meant for a Demon Lord to utilize, but for humanity to take advantage of.

Its ability was to unseal hidden segments of the dungeons that we demon lords governed over. Even the guides had no information about this ability. The hidden segments varied in contents, but I knew exactly what was inside mine—a simple room with a single item found in a podium at its centre.

The item in question was unknown to me. Once Cole Dreysfin entered the room, the item simply vanished, but against my expectations of seeing the confusion in his face, a smile of satisfaction was plastered instead. Oh, how I yearned to find out what that was.

After a few minutes of skimming through the book, I reached page 183 and at the bottom of the page was a phrase that glowed goldenly. This was what I was looking for.

"I-lem Vibra Lores Tum Kwalitra"

The book I was holding began to crumble into dust, and the information on how to utilize this skill was ingrained within me.

"Your highness,"

Faro called out to me. Was something wrong?

"Speak,"

"Your highness, this one noticed that your horns have grown a few centimetres and have begun to take on a subtle golden sheen to it."

Were these the side effects of this skill if used by a Demon Lord? How peculiar to have my horns increase in length just by unlocking this ability. Demon horns were the sign of pride within our race. The longer and more menacing it looked, the higher the status of the demon. This was an unexpected bonus.

"Is that so?"

"It is so, your highness."

I nodded my head, and Faro lowered his gaze once more now if I remembered correctly. The place where he found that item was inside the Dungeon Core room.

"Faro, lead us back."

"As you wish, your highness."

I've built up quite the anticipation within me. That item was what I could guess what made Cole Dreysfin gain a considerable leap in strength after vanquishing my dungeon.

He was the typical hero you'd find in a cliche fantasy storybook. Kind, charismatic, has an overly emphasized sense of justice. Ugh, just thinking of how characters like him were written made me nauseous. Honestly, they don't deserve the spotlight as the protagonist. I sighed.

Just like how things developed in the typical heroic fantasy book, as the Demon Lord, I was the bad guy. Unfortunately, I didn't live up to the part of being his antagonist. I was nothing but the first villain in his story that would awaken his latent powers. Simply, a side character.

Now, things have changed. I refuse to play the role of being a mob, and I shan't accept being nothing but a stepping stone for the hero. This time, I control the stage. I shall create a cast that would dance in my palm, and when their time is up, I shall simply cut their strings.

But before the performance begins, I must prepare and secure my schemes. Only then will the stage be set. As we turned a corner, the familiar golden door came into view. This was the proper entrance to the dungeon core. Another wave of nostalgia hit my mind.

The door I remembered was torn to pieces by a magical axe from a party member of Cole Dreysfin's group. I gently pressed my hand against the cold golden surface of the door. This pristine condition must be kept the same as always.

For a door to bring about such heavy emotions within me was a sign that I regretted neglecting my dungeon and losing it early in the war. That won't happen again.

Faro flew forward and began to push the door open. I could have done it myself, but that was fine. It was his duty to do so.

At the centre of the room was the dungeon core steadily floating a few feet above the ground. This was the heart of everything inside the dungeon. If this was lost, then my authority over the dungeon disappears with it.

The dungeon does not cease to exist when the core is lost, but it goes into complete mayhem, turning into a rogue monster breeding ground. We Demon Lords kept the population of the monsters found inside our dungeons. With the power of the core, if we willed for half of the population to disappear, then half of the population would crumble into ashes instantaneously.

That was how much authority the core had inside the dungeon. I paced around the floating core, imitating what Cole Dreysfin did to find this hidden item. A-ha, there it is.

I bent over and found inscriptions that glowed goldenly that were only visible to my eyes. I began to read them inwardly, and the floor began to vibrate ominously. Just as expected. The shaking of the floor was a hint that another room had appeared within the 33rd floor of the dungeon.

The inscriptions I read a while ago began to float in the air and moved towards the exit of the dungeon core. So, this was how Cole Dreysfin was able to find the room. The skill itself guided him. Interesting.

When I saw him aimlessly wandering throughout the corridors of the 36rd floor, I was laughing in delight, for those who walked within these halls without a guide suffered the fate of being lost forever. Little did I know he was being guided by these golden symbols. I indeed was a fool.

I chuckled, ridiculing myself. A fool who only judged by what he could see and not pierce through the thin surface veil was genuinely laughable. Now that I've gained experience and knew the truth in most things, would I be considered wise? Of course, not.

I began to follow the letters outside the dungeon core room, and Faro trailed behind me.

"Your highness, I advise against walking through these corridors by yourself. The 33rd floor was made out to be a shifting labyrinth, and those who walked alone end up being lost forever. Please follow me back to the room."

"Your worries are appreciated, but I, Arzalon, the 73rd Ranking Demon Lord, am capable of finding my way through this Labyrinth. All you need to do is follow me and observe,"

"As you wish, your highness,"

We were greeted with a dead end as we turned another corner, but the floating letters proved otherwise as they slowly phased through the dark dungeon wall. I found it.