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Unfortunately, Zeth wouldn’t be able to keep his living prisoners protected from wild animals inside of a Hellfire Circle like he had with monster corpses in the past. There was no way to selectively protect some people from activating one when they touched it, which meant his usual method of simply drawing a particularly wide circle and putting what he wanted to protect in the middle of it would just kill them.

Instead, what Zeth wanted was some sort of structure he could keep them in. If he had a home base that he could just trap the entrance of, it’d solve all of his problems. Not just with his storage issues, but also his issues of staying safe when being chased like he had been before. He’d been forced to throw off his pursuers, which had fortunately worked in that instance, but he wouldn’t always be so lucky.

He needed a location he knew would be safe, defensible, and, most importantly, hidden. At least, more hidden than a clearing in the middle of the woods. Right now, all that was preventing people from finding this place was the fact that nobody knew to look out here. But they’d likely start searching now, after the jailbreak. This clearing was on the entire other side of town than where he’d fled into—he had circled all the way back around to get here—so hopefully it’d take them a while to try looking in this area, but it was only a matter of time.

So, he thought, he suddenly found himself with access to quite a bit of demon labor, with all of these prisoners waiting to be killed. And if demons were so adept at digging, there was one obvious option when it came to bases.

An underground complex. Systems of tunnels and rooms, all defended to the maximum to repel anyone foolish enough to enter. With a place like that, keeping himself and his possessions safe would be trivial.

But to dig out such a massive area, he’d need demons. And if he wanted demons, he’d have to conduct more rituals to summon them.

So he bent down and got to work.

[Ritual Circle Mastery’s Rank has increased to 7.

+1 Skill Point. You have 4 Skill Points.]

Zeth spent time thinking about what his negotiating strategy would be while he drew the ritual circle for Demonic Covenant. And after the almost five hours required, he was just about ready to activate it.

Zeth remembered the ridiculous amount of mana he’d had to pour into the ritual in order to summon a demon the last time—how long it’d taken and the strain it’d put him under—and braced himself for a painful, exhausting couple more hours.

He was already on the brink of passing out, but Vile Focus helped him ignore his discomfort while he was drawing. Unfortunately, though, pushing mana into the circle after it had already been drawn wouldn’t count for Vile Focus. He just hoped he’d find the mental fortitude to push through. His Poise Stat would likely help with ignoring mental pain like that, so he was glad the Blood Magus Class at least gave him a couple points each Level.

As he drew the final line of the circle, Zeth breathed, feeling the wave of exhaustion hit him once again as Vile Focus’s effects faded away. Just a little more, then he could sleep. But not now. Not yet.

He dragged one of the two bodies over to the ritual circle and flipped it over, letting blood spill out of the hole in the back of the neck.

Judging by how quickly the requirement filled, it seemed like the demon had been correct in choosing these people as the strongest of the bunch. Who knew what their Levels were—how many people they’d killed.

He still needed to widen the neck wound with his own dagger to get enough blood out to complete the ritual, but it was certainly not the entire body’s worth of blood. There was plenty to spare.

Once the percentage hit one hundred, he received the familiar notification telling him the ritual was complete, and he’d need to touch the circle to summon the demon. The lines of the circle glowed their bright pink, awaiting his activation.

Alright, he thought, time to put in some real effort. Hopefully I’ll be able to survive these next few hours of agony.

And he placed his hands on the circle’s edge.

Instantly, he felt the power begin to drain from his inner self. It was slow and subtle—barely even an uncomfortable sensation. But he knew how awful it would begin to feel after long enough.

Just push through it, he told himself. Think about something else. Anything. Like, where are the other five thralls? The ones that had the X marks next to their names on that list. I’ve thought about it for some time now, and I can’t think of a reason why they’d just be missing like that—especially if the guards themselves don’t know why. At least, not the ones I spoke to. Maybe it’s something only higher-ups are supposed to know about? But that only makes the question of what exactly is going on even more strange.

An ache struck through Zeth’s head, interrupting his thoughts.

C’mon. Just ignore the pain. Why would the guard precinct hide information from its own guards? Could it be one of them is the Blood Mage and the whole thing is corrupted to keep them safe? They could be taking prisoners away to use their blood, or something. But then what’s going on with Garon? He had nothing to do with the guard precinct, and it felt likely he was at least connected with the Blood Mage in some way. Maybe it was just my bias that made me think that? Or maybe it’s all connected—Garon, the thralls, the guards, everyone. Is there something I’m missing? Is there just some gigantic conspiracy surrounding all this? I’m beginning to think I got involved in something way deeper than I originally—“

Zeth’s thoughts were interrupted by a sudden notification.

[Demonic Covenant’s Rank has increased to 2.

+1 Skill Point. You have 5 Skill Points.]

He blinked, looking up at his surroundings. The pink light had shut off—the ritual circle was inert. It almost looked like it had when Zeth had completed the Demonic Covenant ritual before, but that couldn’t be right, could it? It hadn’t been longer than a few minutes since he started activating it—far less time than the several hours it’d taken before.

He stared cautiously at the center of the ritual circle. Had he accidentally done something wrong? Shut it off early? He certainly hoped he could do the ritual again without having to redraw the circle or offer a new sacrifice—wasting those resources on a failed cast would sting, especially if he didn’t even know what he did wrong.

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But then, the center of the circle began to glow orange, and the air started heating up. Zeth’s eyes widened as he hurriedly stood and began backing away. It was seriously activating? After only a few minutes? What had he done differently this time?

Sure enough, after the light and heat reached their peaks, the air above the circle burst into flame, and as the fire faded away, Zeth was faced with yet another demon.

[Influence check failed.]

The demon’s aura of fear struck into him, and he felt his chest immediately tighten, suddenly aware of every minor noise in the forest and shifting leaf on the edge of his vision. He felt surrounded by enemies, like the guards had found him and were preparing to strike at any minute. But he took a deep breath, calming the irrational emotions. It was much easier to overcome the fear this time, compared to the last demon he’d summoned. Maybe he was just getting used to it?

Examining the demon, he found it clearly looked different from the one he’d summoned before. Its skin was a lighter, more pale shade of red, its horns curled outward instead of upward…But none of that was what he noticed first; while the first demon had seemed generally masculine in body shape, this one looked far more feminine—not just in the obvious areas of its chest, waist, and hips, but even its face seemed to radiate a sort of cold, threatening beauty, with long lashes over its murderous eyes.

“Do demons have genders?” Zeth absentmindedly muttered to himself as he watched it glance around at its surroundings.

It looked over at him, eyes finally settling on his face. “What did you just say to me, slug?”

He blinked, realizing he needed to start laying down some orders. “Do not harm me. And don’t leave the bounds of that circle for now.”

It rolled its eyes.

“To answer your question,” he continued, “I was just wondering if demons had genders, like humans do.”

“Were you stabbed through the head as a child? Of course we do.”

“Oh, okay. So you’re a woman?”

“Yes, I am, you ignorant fool. Perhaps you need me to stick my claw through your skull and stir the contents of your damaged brain? I cannot think of another way to fix such irreparable stupidity.”

“I did not miss this,” Zeth muttered as the demon instantly got to threatening his life.

“Why would you even need to know such a thing?” she asked. Then she squinted, staring suspiciously at him. “…Please do not tell me you are one of those deranged fetishists who summon our kind with the hopeless goal of luring them into your bed and—“

“What? No, no, no,” Zeth interrupted her, unable to help his disgust. Maybe it was just the fear aura influencing his perception, but the idea of having sex with one of those horrifying things was unthinkable. He was able to control his actions around them so he didn’t collapse in fear anymore, but the emotions underlying those instincts remained the same. It would be like trying to sleep with a tornado, or the theoretical concept of death. Unthinkable.

“Ah, good,” she said. “So, you require my combat talents, then? Tell me, which of your kind shall I be hunting today?”

“Uh, I actually don’t want you for that, either,” Zeth said. He pointed at the ground. “Can you just dig me a big hole?”

She blinked. “A…big hole?”

“Yeah, like, a home base. Somewhere to do rituals, store stuff, all that. And it should be hidden. So if you could make some sort of hatch system that covers the entrance and looks like natural ground while closed, that’d work.”

For a moment, she almost seemed like she was in shock. She simply stared at Zeth, saying nothing. But eventually, she sputtered out, “D-Dig a hole for you?! I am not some puny human common worker, slug, I am a being that exists on a completely different level to you. To think a slug could be so ignorant as to believe that is the best use of my talents—“

“Are you gonna do it, or not?”

“Why would you not just get some of your human lackeys to do such simple labor? This is simply below me.”

Zeth chuckled, furrowing his brows at her. “I don’t have ‘lackeys,’ lady. I’m just trying to get something built that I can hide out in, and I can’t do it myself.”

“Can you even offer me anything in return? Or are you so ignorant that you did not even think to—“

Zeth pointed at the pile of thralls lying at the edge of the clearing.

She shut up. He could practically see her salivating at the sight of a bunch of gift-wrapped humans.

“You can have one of them if you perform eight hours of labor to the best of your ability for me,” Zeth said.

“Eight?! I will dig for one hour and no more in exchange for one human.”

“Absolutely not. The last two demons I summoned were perfectly happy working for eight hours,” Zeth lied, pointing at the two corpses as evidence.

“Then you have been extraordinarily lucky with who you summoned. You must have gotten the only two demons in the entire Thirteenth Realm that would work for that long.”

“Doesn’t matter. I can’t do one hour. That’s barely anything.”

She folded her arms. “Then I will leave. This is a waste of my time.”

Zeth shook his head. “I don’t think you will. You’ve got an opportunity to get a guaranteed human with no real effort on your part, and no risk of dying in combat and getting nothing for your time. Far from disrespecting some stupid sense of pride, I’m offering you one of the best deals you’ll ever get from being summoned.”

Standing there with her arms folded, she continued staring Zeth in the eyes for a few moments. Eventually, she said curtly, “Two hours.”

Zeth barked out a laugh. “Six.”

“Four.”

“I can do absolutely no less than five. Otherwise I’ll simply unsummon you and get someone more agreeable.”

She sighed in frustration. “Fine. Five hours of work and no more. I wouldn’t be able to stand staying in this disgusting realm for any longer.”

Zeth nodded, internally celebrating. He had no idea what would be considered standard, but that felt like a good deal. “I don’t suppose you’ll take two humans to work for ten hours, then?”

“Absolutely not. And the fact that you would even suggest I stay for so long is—”

“Okay, cool. Let me show you where to start and I’ll give you my specifications, and then I’ll leave while you work. I’ll probably be back before your five hours are up, though; I just have some stuff to do.”

She rolled her eyes, muttering, “Good. At least I won’t have to work near a slug.”

After giving the demon her orders—mainly just to dig out the structure in the way he wanted, with some wiggle room to change plans if it seemed like something wouldn’t work, as well as to defend his stash of prisoners and corpses from any monsters that came by, and a whole list of instructions on what to do if she saw any humans—Zeth departed and began heading back home. He had technically told his mom he’d be back by nightfall, but hopefully she’d just assumed he had been out late looking extra hard for some work and didn’t worry too much before going to sleep.

He crept up to the house and headed over to his bedroom window, sneaking in through there so as to not wake anyone up. Every step he took felt like they filled his legs with stone, his eyes feeling like they’d fall shut any moment now. His breaths were heavy purely from the exertion of staying awake so long. And as he gazed through the window at his waiting bed, he realized that nothing he had ever laid eyes on had been so beautiful.

He wouldn’t be able to rest for very long—it was extremely late at this point, and he’d be woken up soon—but any amount of sleep would be a lifesaver at this point. Besides, he didn’t want to sleep for too long right now; he needed to get back to the demon before she left so he could ask her some questions. His encounters with these beings continued to leave him more and more interested in the world they came from, and what he could do to get the best value out of his rituals. The idea of somehow finding a demon who could be a genuine ally, not just a temporary hire, refused to leave his mind.

As he fought to crawl through the window, he received a notification.

[Requirement fulfilled: Deprive yourself of sleep until your body begins to shut down on its own.

You have unlocked Universal Skill: Sleep Deprivation.]

He chuckled internally at the unlock requirement. At least you understand my pain, dear System.

He couldn’t even muster up the energy to look at the Skill’s effects right now, though. As far as he was concerned, anything that wasn’t time sensitive was a job for future Zeth. Right now, he just needed to sleep.

And so he collapsed into his bed and did exactly that, dreaming of the base that was being constructed as he lay in rest.