Chapter 57: Succubus!

Upon hearing Muria's words, the three young red dragons looked at each other with dismay. Gaining voluntary favor from the females on the island seemed an insurmountable task given their inherited memories—wasn't dominance the usual method?

"Muria, you forbid us from touching the female creatures on the island, but what about those beyond the island, or even outside the world of Erathia?" Andre racked his brain for alternatives, then asked Muria.

"That's none of my concern," Muria responded, furrowing his brow at the obviously lust-driven red dragon. "What are you planning?"

"Summon a demon!" Andre exclaimed excitedly with his newly thought-out plan: "I want to summon a seductress from the Abyss to serve me."

Muria was rendered speechless by the red dragon's enthusiasm, clearly driven to the brink in his attempt to satisfy his own desires without Muria's intervention. Demons were chaotic evil beings. Muria could not condone sheltering them.

"Do you know how to summon a demon?" Muria inquired.

"No." Andre's excitement deflated instantly; dragon heritage did not include knowledge on demon summoning. The proud dragons had no reason to include such methods in their heritage, as they never needed to rely on demonic powers.

"So you admit you don't know how?" Nearby, Austin and Albert, who had been equally excited, grunted in frustration. Had it not been in Muria's presence, they might have given their brother a beating for such a thoughtless remark.

"Summoning a demon." Muria stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I recall there's a fifth-level spell that summons a swarm of cowards—completely useless, really."

Cowards, or lesser demons, were the most numerous and disposable of their kind in the Abyss, utterly insignificant in power. The spell required a gold-level mage to cast and summoned only eight bronze-level cowards.

These coward demons were hardly battle-worthy; typically, only two would follow the summoner's commands while the others fought among themselves.

"To summon properly, you can't use a spell; you need to set up a ritual with a magic circle capable of calling forth a sufficiently powerful demon."

"I think I can help you with that," Muria suddenly said, noticing the three young red dragons almost coming to blows.

"Muria, you would help us summon a demon?" Austin looked at Muria with surprise and disbelief. Considering Muria's lineage—his mother was a lawful good gold dragon and his father a lawful neutral Titan—Muria was naturally anathema to demons.

"Of course, I've never seen a demon before. It might be fun to summon some," Muria said, intrigued. After so much indulgence in music and dance, he was looking for new diversions.

"Your Highness! You would..." A storm giant beside Muria started to object to this unorthodox behavior.

"Sharpen your weapons, prepare for battle!" Muria glanced at the storm giant who had just begun to protest. "Simply waiting for my bloodline to influence breakthroughs isn't enough. Combat is the best catalyst."

In the newly constructed martial arena of Giant City, Muria inspected a magic circle drawn in fresh crimson blood, feeling a natural revulsion. He was tempted to destroy the evil-emitting circle.

"Muria, is this circle really going to summon a demon? Are you sure this will work?" Albert eyed the formation skeptically. "Just using the blood drawn from low-level beasts raised by cloud giants, can it really summon a demon?"

"If you doubt it, why don't you try?" Muria glanced at Albert, waving a dark tome in his hand. "I based this summoning circle on the rituals described in this Book of Demons. It's foolproof."

"Where did you get that book?" Austin was suspicious, sensing something off about the circle—it didn't seem sufficiently vile.

"I found it in my mother's library."

"And you followed the summoning procedures described in the book exactly?"

"Not exactly. The original instructions were too gross and complicated, so I simplified it. Doing it by the book would make me as bad as a demon."

"Then this way..."

"Can you shut up?" Muria, in his Titan form, lightly kicked Austin, who had reverted to his true dragon form. "My modified circle might work or might not. We'll see, no need for your commentary."

The circle hummed to life, powered by luminous magic crystals at key points. According to the Book of Demons, it should have been powered by profoundly corrupt substances, such as the souls of the violently deceased or hearts from creatures that died in agony.

Lacking these materials and unwilling to use them, Muria had substantially altered the summoning ritual, resulting in the current setup.

The crimson light of evil brilliance emanated from the circle, casting everything in a blood-red hue. Unknown demonic roars echoed from within, prompting the giants behind Muria to grip their weapons tightly.

"Hey, Muria, is this really just for summoning succubi? This doesn't look right; succubi are just silver-tier creatures, aren't they?"

"Cough, the circle doesn't specify." Muria coughed. "I modified it so it randomly summons whatever comes through. It could be a horde of cowards, maybe the succubi you want, or even..." He grinned at the apprehensive red dragons, showing his white teeth, "maybe a Balrog Demon."

"A Balrog Demon?" Albert shivered, then shouted at Muria, "Are you insane? That's a high-level demon! You're trying to summon one of those?"

"Relax, I went too far with that joke." Muria surveyed the now restless giants around him and explained, "This size of a circle couldn't possibly summon a high-level demon. At most, we'd get Soul Judges or Berserk Demons."

"Oh, I see." Jessica, whose claws had gone numb with fear, exhaled deeply.

As they spoke, the circle's glow peaked, and a large, horned demon, reeking of foulness, appeared laughing maniacally.

"The scent of the Material Plane!" The demon inhaled deeply, intoxicated. Reaching the Material Plane, a demon could harvest countless souls, gaining immense power.

"Drag him out and chop him up!" Before the bewildered demon could grasp its situation, Muria motioned, and two storm giants, grinning wickedly, rushed at the still daydreaming demon.

As the giants approached, it was only then that the ten-meter-tall, gold-tier demon realized its plight. Surrounded by various giants and spotting the six red dragons—and particularly the enormous "giant" among them—it recognized Muria as a Titan due to the innate pressure of his bloodline. Despair washed over its face, and it knew it was doomed.

"No!!!" As the storm giants pulled the unfortunate demon from the circle and decapitated it, Muria simply ordered, "Continue summoning."

The circle activated again, and this time, hundreds of squealing, diminutive cowards appeared. These were just bronze-tier fodder from the Abyss.

"Drive them out and clean them up," Muria said, massaging his temples and waving dismissively. A squad of well-armed cloud giants advanced, herding the infamous fodder of the Abyss to their deaths.

As Muria listened to

 the desperate pleas and screams of the cowards, his expression remained unchanged; he felt an odd sense of relief.

"These are Quasits, useless, drive them out, kill them all!"

"Dretch demons, kill them!"

Muria activated the circle repeatedly, each summoning bringing forth a variety of bizarre, hideous demons that revolted him. Combined with a deep-seated revulsion, Muria ordered the giants to slaughter every demon they summoned.

On the martial field, piles of demon corpses formed small hills, their rank black blood pooling underneath, a testament to the filth they represented.

But Muria was unconcerned. No matter how many demon bodies accumulated, the giants would handle them. He continued to use vast quantities of magic crystals to fuel his relentless summoning...

"Ah, finally summoned the succubi I wanted." Muria observed the eight graceful female demons standing in the circle, a smile spreading across his face.