Chapter 59: Infernal Refinement of Demons

In the arena, the pile of demon corpses grew ever larger, but Muria became increasingly enthusiastic about summoning. He relished the unpredictability, the thrill of not knowing what demon might emerge next, which made the whole process invigorating for him.

Muria felt like he was playing a hardcore game from his previous life, where he had limited chances to draw characters, but now, there was no limit to how many times he could summon. He would keep any demons he liked and kill those he didn't. So far, only three types of demons had caught his favor: succubi, flame demons, and blood lion demons.

Among these, the blood lion demon was the highest-level demon Muria had managed to summon. He wasn't yet capable of summoning upper echelon demons without risking the lives of his subordinates. Upper echelon demons were at least soul-intent level, and he only had fifteen soul-intent first-tier storm giants. Summoning such a powerful demon like a six-armed snake demon could decimate his forces.

Muria's modified summoning circle, based on the Demon Book, was a permanent fixture that allowed summoned demons from Hell to stay in Erathia indefinitely without a time limit. However, it also had a major flaw: it didn't allow any control over the summoned demons.

"Your Highness, isn't this enough?" A storm giant, looking rather exhausted, approached Muria to plead for a stop.

Muria, caught up in the excitement, glanced around and realized the extent of the chaos. The arena, designed to host soul-intent level giant battles, was now a gruesome site of demon carcasses and flowing black blood.

Most of Muria's giants were now floating in mid-air to avoid the mess, except for the spot right around Muria, which remained spotlessly clean.

In the arena, seventeen blood lion demons and over a hundred flame demons were diligently cleaning up the demonic remains by consuming them—cannibalism among demons was normal, especially when they weren't of the same kind.

"How many succubi have I summoned?" Muria inquired to a nearby storm giant.

"Excluding the succubi taken by the red dragons, you now have fifty-two succubi, Your Highness," the storm giant replied respectfully.

"That should be enough," Muria nodded. "Train them to dance. I want to see these succubi perform in the great hall where I reside in one month."

"Your Highness, if it's dance you want to enjoy, the mermaids, Sirens, and even the cloud giant maidens could perform for you. There's no need to train a group of succubi for dancing!"

"I'm tired of the dances from mermaids, Sirens, and cloud giant maidens," Muria responded, turning to the storm giant who had tried to advise him. "I want something fresh. What's the issue?"

"Your Highness, they are demons."

"So what? They are just weak trash that I can crush easily. Are you worried I'll be seduced and fall into corruption?" Muria chuckled, "Don't worry, it won't happen."

Muria's words left the advising storm giant kneeling in resignation, unable to sway him.

"Not only do I want to form a succubus dance troupe, but I also intend to summon succubi from Hell to serve me," Muria shared with a smile. "I haven't seen a devil from Hell yet."

"Your Highness, that's not advisable," several storm giants knelt down, "Devils are masters of temptation. Even the gods in heaven have been lured and fallen into Hell. They are potent and malignant."

"Evil?" Muria scoffed, "Let me summon a devil now. Let's use these demon remains as a tribute."

Muria pulled out a black book surrounded by a faint ominous aura from his space necklace, opened it in front of the giants, and began setting up a new summoning circle imbued with sinister and mysterious energies. He then ordered the giants to pile up the mountains of demon corpses on the circle.

"Muria, what level of devil are you planning to summon?" Cynthia asked, alarmed by the growing pile of demonic remains.

"Of course, I'll summon a big one," Muria reassured the visibly frightened red dragons. "Don't worry, I won't summon anything too powerful. Just a soul-intent level devil."

"Soul-intent level!" Jessica exclaimed in disbelief. "Do you understand what that level of devil represents? How many do you want to die on this island?"

"No one will die," Muria raised an eyebrow confidently. "No matter what I summon, I will make it submit. Just watch!"

"But Muria, you're only at the third tier of gold level, not soul-intent level," Renata timidly interjected.

"Even if I'm just at gold level, I can still take down a soul-intent level," Muria reassured her, patting her fearsome dragon head before standing up to direct the cloud giants in their tasks.

"Muria is becoming too arrogant," Cynthia murmured as he walked away.

"It can't be helped. Who else on Tai Chi Island is as strong as him? Even the soul-intent level storm giants can be defeated by him. If I were him, I'd probably act the same," Jessica said nonchalantly.

"This will lead to trouble sooner or later," Renata predicted.

"But this is Titan territory," Jessica countered. "What trouble could Muria possibly get into here? If a big enough threat arises, surely a Titan will step in to deal with it."

---

"Tarrens, have all the giants left the arena?" Muria asked the storm giant leader Tarrens as he looked over the nearly hundred-meter-wide summoning circle filled with demon remains.

"All have exited the arena as you instructed, and the blood lion and flame demons have also been temporarily cleared," Tarrens reported.

"Are you afraid?" Muria looked around at his fifteen soul-intent level storm giants, the fruits of two years of his Titan bloodline's influence. "If you're afraid, tell me now. It's still not too late to leave."

"Your Highness jests!" one storm giant brandished his spear-axe, creating a slight sonic boom in the air, "We are facing only a soul-intent level devil, not a legendary one. Why would we fear?"

"Good!" Muria smiled at his loyal giant's response and without hesitation, activated the summoning circle.

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!" The circle roared to life, and the eerie red light illuminated from the runes of the circle caused the demon remains to melt like candles in fire, turning into pus that flowed into the circle and disappeared.

As large chunks of demon remains vanished, the ominous light from the circle grew brighter and the air became thicker with a foreboding presence, causing the storm giants to grip their weapons tighter.

"Ah, such intoxicating essence of the material realm!" Along with the increasing glow, a large shadowy figure with swirling dark mists appeared at the center of the circle, taking a deep breath and speaking in almost a singing tone.

"Summon me to your lo..." The figure's speech was abruptly cut off as it caught sight of Muria and the others.

Seeing the surroundings without assessing the situation, then starting to show off was foolish

. Muria didn't hesitate to throw a punch imbued with golden lightning and hurricane-force winds, aiming straight at the figure, using full force without any reservations.

"Titan!" The figure exclaimed in horror as it saw the fist approaching, recognizing the species with a mix of fear and awe. "Pfft!" Black and red blood and scales splattered as the demon staggered from Muria's punch.

"No, not a mature Titan." The demon, whose face was indented from Muria's punch, was surprisingly still intact, having thought it would be vaporized by such a blow.

"I had seen a mature Titan fight when I was still a lesser demon. Even now, I couldn't withstand a punch from a mature Titan. I'd be dead without question."

"A young Titan." The large demon looked at Muria, who was only slightly taller than itself, with an expression of delight.

"My luck seems not too bad." Muria grimaced at the high-level demon he had summoned. "I've apparently summoned the highest level of demon possible, an Infernal Refiner."

Muria had called forth an Infernal Refiner Demon, standing thirty meters tall and enveloped in flames capable of scorching souls. The demon's feet were circled by twenty-seven dark red soul-intent rings, intricate and sinister.

"Your Highness, this must be a peak soul-intent level great devil!" a storm giant said with a dry voice.

"Yes, peak soul-intent level," Muria squinted his eyes, observing the rapidly healing demon, whose bones and muscles were regenerating at a visible rate.

"But something is off about him." Muria had calculated before summoning; he wasn't reckless enough to summon a true peak soul-intent level devil.

"He's injured." Muria noted the demon's soul-intent rings under his feet; most of them were dim, indicating only a fraction of their usual power was left.

"He's only a fraction of his full power. Let's take him down together." Muria charged forward, covered in thunder and wind, leading the charge. The storm giants followed, swinging their heavy weapons and launching an all-out attack...