Preparations

The Goddess Ariana was looking down at the world from the heavenly realm. A human Demon Lord she mused. Ral'guud always did manage to keep things interesting.

'Maybe this Demon Lord will be just as entertaining as the last'

"Goddess?" a trembling voice asked

Looking down at her feet there kneeled one of her apostles, Samuel. "Speak" she commanded

Samuel stood still keeping his head deferentially lowered. "Are we really going to let the Demon Lord slaughter that village?"

Without pause she sneered at Samuel, "You wouldn't understand, this is for the good of this world."

Samuel hastily apologized and stepped back cowed into submission once more thinking 'Or maybe it's simply for your amusement' but he wouldn't dare utter such a thing out loud. The last apostle who so brazenly questioned her was mysteriously reincarnated as a lizard. Something the Goddess keeps in an aquarium inside her home for "safekeeping".

…

Along the journey to the village Dah made good use of his time questioning Annabelle on fighting tactics, strengths, and weaknesses. He had decided to be accompanied solely by her and leave the inner workings of the castle under the minister, Raphael's hands.

It seems in this world humans were fairly average in all forms of combat.

Beastmen excelled in terms of close combat skills.

Meanwhile demihumans tended to prefer magic and were exceptionally good at it. Paired with above average speed and strength demihumans in large quantities tended to be a formidable adversary. However there were far fewer demihumans then there were beastmen or humans.

'Likely due to discrimination similar to what the Strivico experienced' Dah thought as he absentmindedly patted Nucleus's head.

The only exceptions to these rules are the champions that the Goddess Ariana can summon. These champions are usually granted requests enabling them to use strong magic, have dangerous equipment, or have high physical capabilities. Sometimes champions will be gifted two of the three and these indeed will be our most dangerous foes.

'Since I wasn't summoned by the Goddess but only allowed to be summoned is why I never got the chance to meet her or receive a gift'

They were still traveling quite fast towards the village and as they had left early this morning they should arrive near it by early evening. The plan was to find a place near the village spend the night then attack before first dawn.

Demons had exceptionally good eyesight and could even see in darkness so attacking while still dark left them many advantages.

As they continued to ride Dah asked Annabelle about the magic of this world.

"Magic is created through the expenditure of mana. Some species are more easily able to absorb mana and regenerate it within their own bodies which allows for higher mana retention and higher level spell usage. Demons are exceptionally strong in this regard and can even use mana to fortify their own bodies hardness."

'However as he had learned the Demon Lords army actually had very few demons within it and they were typically appointed to positions of power. Since demons were slow to populate and often hunted, goblins and other monsters swelled the ranks of his army'

"Magic is composed of six elements; fire, water, earth, thunder, lightness, and darkness. Each with their unique spells and specialties."

She paused sheepishly, "I tested to determine your element while you were sleeping and it was darkness which is to be expected with the amount of dark energy Ral'guud poured into you even if you had initially had a different element it most likely would have been overwhelmed."

"Spells in this world are ranked 1-5 with 5 being the strongest. Exceptional humans can perform rank 2, while most human mages are stuck at rank 1. You should be able to perform several rank 2 spells right away without any practice. Then after absorbing enough souls rank 5 will become attainable for you."

Dah smiled.

'I will obtain rank 5, and become the most powerful individual in this world. I won't allow anyone to stop me.'

It was getting late and Annabelle motioned for Dah to stop here.

"We are about a mile away from the village. We can make camp here for the night and begin in the morning."

'The terrain is heavily wooded here and we should be able to sleep peacefully with no surprises'

Dah agreed and begins preparing camp with Annabelles help.

Unexpectedly several voices start shouting from nearby

"You ready to die freak!?"

"You aren't going to make it back alive"

…