Chapter 77: Chapter 77: New Changes!
After he carved out a gravestone and erected it on where Alter Ray died. He sat there and mourned for a moment before emptied out a flask of spirits he created out of magic.
Ray then turned away and finally left his mindscape after almost four years spent there. He left this area of his mind untouched and returned to his foremind.
(Outside his mind.)
He opened his eyes and greeted with the familiar scenery of an open grassland and the temple constructed with pure white marble.
He can feel the part which was taken away upon Alter Ray's creation was returned and fused back to himself.
"Demon God Pillars."
"We arrived upon your summon, king." All Demon Gods instantly appeared, each had already gained a humanoid form.
"Lend me your abilities and mind. There is something I need to do."
"As you wish, king."
The Demon Gods, which each is equivalent to a supercomputer that acts as pillars of the Human Order Incineration Order, was the cornerstone of the Temple of Time itself, a grand magic ritual which supposedly returned to genesis and rewrote the law that governed Earth.
Ray himself knew that his mind had limitations. He has the wisdom to produce an idea but lacks the intelligence to bring that idea into realization.
To become strong enough to kill the untouchable Ommiversal God, Ray Elliot. Sacrifice is inevitable. There is a limit to how much he can grow with training and hard work. No matter how he trained or how long he did. He cannot exceed the universe he is staying in because of the simple issue of resources. Just like a house needs bricks to be built. No matter how he hones his construction and engineering skill, without the material such as brick and woods, nothing can be built.
So, he must acquire the material first. Which is the world and universe. They are the material mentioned in the metaphor.
Thus, he must devour this universe. But not totally destroying it. He will devour the universe but left a world to survive so it can sprout again into more timelines like a sapling after he cut off the tree.
Does he not care about the countless lives he killed? Yes. But he also understands there are things he must do and it's necessary. He had hardened his heart, strengthened his resolve to do it. He will carry this sin he committed out of his selfish desire for vengeance. If there is anyone that wants to blame him then he will tell them to blame Ray Elliot instead for bringing him here.
In his eyes, a resolute glint appeared briefly as he stared at the 72 Demon God Pillars that pledged their loyalty to him.
"To become stronger. I must have the ultimate power. A power that crushes all tricks and renders them useless." Ray spoked to the Demon God Pillars who are trying to understand what he is trying to convey. "You all shall be the first."
Ray explained how he is trying to essentially turn the 72 Demon God Pillars into a weapon that casts spells for him while he supplies the information about the spell to them. Basically an autonomous Mystic Code that allows him to cast spells while simultaneously wielding swords. But it's true use is to cast complex spells. Shorten and reduce the requirements or even insta-cast spell like Ainz hourglass cash shop item in function.
The Demon God Pillars was confused why Ray asked them when they are essentially forced to serve him regardless. But they agreed which Ray then started the creation of a weapon. The weapon that will be his strongest, his symbol of power.
Since both Rho Aias and Solomon's Rings are basically just equipment that is soulbounded. He modified the ring's abilities, making the Demon God Pillars able to receive his thoughts directly from his mind instead of relying on telepathy as of now. He also brings the Temple of Time which is a reality marble, into his mind which removes the need of using the Rings to summon or command the Demon God Pillars. He can summon them at will.
Once he was done, Ray left Ars Paulina and returned to the real world.
"Try it now." Ray ordered and a magic circle appeared midair and shot an energy beam which the pillars mainly use for their attacks.
"Successful." Ray nodded before dismissing the unnecessary thoughts for now and started walking in the snow covered land.
Took him a while of walking around inside the barrier before he found the correct path and emerged in front of a city?
"Hold on, when did the castle turn into a city?" Ray was confused when he saw long stone walls. Covering as far as his eyes could see. On top of the wall is unmistakably Homunculus working as soldiers guarding the walls.
Ray walk toward the wall to be greeted respectfully by the Homunculus and guided in and to his former abode now a giant palace.
Ray was questioning how far was he away for this much changes to happen. Didn't Temple of Time give time dilation and being in his mindscape make time move even slower?
Anxiously, Ray ditch the Homunculus that guides him and fly to the palace and is greeted by rows of maids upon arrival. He asked them to bring him to Tanya and everyone else which they comply with and a maid was guiding him while the others resumed their duty.
He was led to a room before the maid left. He stood before the large door, fearing for the worst that he made them wait for too long.
The whole atmosphere was oddly silent and heavy due to his anxiety. He holds the door handle but the door suddenly tears open.
He panicked for a moment and scolded himself for letting his guard down simply because this is a familiar place. It could be a trap and everyone he just met was fake or hypnotized by an enemy. Many scenarios run through his mind within the one second time frame as his body instinctively summons his Greatsword when entering combat ready mental state.
"Master!"
'Artoria? Could it be an illusion? She wasn't armed but she is going to tackle me! Probably pinning me down before a hidden assailant delivers the finisher while I am helpless.' Ray was pushed to the ground while he was having an internal monologue and 'attacked' with cuddles. Then came Dvalin too and Charlotte, dogpiling on me.
"You three… I thought we agreed to throw him a surprise? You all should have waited at least until he opened the door. You ruined the surprise. And the door too." The familiar voice of Tanya, admonishing the three was heard and my sense of danger finally turned itself off as I instinctively checked my bonds with their souls to verify. I should have checked that first.
"Welcome back, Ray!" Sakura and Illya join the pile.
"Look fun, let me join too!" Venti said before the weight pressed on my body increased.
"Ara. Everyone was doing it, should I join too? Or perhaps later tonight?" Lisa asked with a hearty chuckle before Tanya answered her question. "Not in front of the children, Lisa." Tanya sighed and told everyone to let go of Ray.
Ray was simply too surprised to react. But once he did, he laughed. It was a laugh with joy.
"Let them be, Tanya. I am sure everyone missed me." Ray lifted everyone and himself up with his Telekinesis and fixed the door back with Time Manipulation.
"I'm sorry everyone. But I am back now." Ray gave everyone a big hug except Lisa who sat at the side and smiled while observing us with a cup of tea in her hand. Then, the very last one. He walked over to Tanya and hugged her tight. "I am back." He whispered with a tinge of loneliness which had faded away after he hugged her.
He took a deep whiff of her scent and basked with the same feeling which helped him reach his conviction during his training and allow him to persevere through its duration.
Tanya was surprised by Ray's sudden crave for her presence but it also warmed her heart that he truly missed her that much. But that feeling lasted only a short while when she suddenly felt something poking her navel. The feeling of joy was replaced immediately with annoyance.
"Can't you not control yourself until the girls aren't with us? There are Sakura, Illya and Dvalin looking at us." She said to Ray while her brow was twitching.
Lisa, who was at the side, able to get a view of what happened to Ray's body and chuckled even more as she helpfully diverted everyone's attention.
"Why don't we get the party started?" Lisa said.
"Oh yeah, right. The food!" Illya quickly called the maids who arrived seconds later, pushing carts of food including a large cake. Can't have a celebration without a cake.
The glutton duo are already by the table, waiting for the food to be served. Venti went missing for a moment and reappears with a barrel and a crate of what Ray assumed to be alcoholic drinks.
As everyone becomes excited and brings out their preparations for the small party to celebrate Ray's return. He took a seat with Tanya and asked how long he was away. Tanya said he was away for more than a month.
Then she also told about how the world had changed once again due to his previous action, trying to destroy the universe had caused many things to change, mainly the mana on the surface of the Earth became too thick and concentrated due to the leaking from the Temple of Time through a spatial crack to Earth.
"So, the wall was made because monsters started popping up on Earth? Huh?"
"Yeah, portals start to appear all over the world and the world governments declare them as dungeons. People also randomly gain power nowadays." Tanya took out a tablet and showed Ray a news report about the appearance of Dungeon, Hunters and Monsters.
"Give me a second." Ray said and opened a portal to find Zelretch. He is sure Zelretch is involved in this because this occurrence reek of Kaleidoscope magic, his intuition told him.
Ray disappeared and returned minutes later with his confirmation.
Yes, because Ray previously stole a great chunk of mana from the universe. Zelretch fixes that issue by replenishing the mana by causing these otherworldly dungeon gates to open up on Earth, spilling out its mana if the dungeon is cleared. This phenomena fortunately is exclusive only to this branch of the world. The mana collected will spill over to other branches and ultimately the universe itself.
Shaking his head, Ray pushes all these matters to the back of his mind and focuses on what is in front of him first. The party that was thrown for him.
———
Two hours later, the party ended and now they are spending time together. Mostly looking at Sakura, Illya and Dvalin playing while the adults sitting at the side watching them play and talk.
"Because of the emergence of Hunter, the old conflict of humans and Magus unfortunately reignited and they became daring enough to attack us, especially the National Level Hunters which forced us to ramp up our military forces and defensive structures across our territory." Tanya sighed and sagged on the outdoor table, remembering the hellish amount of paperworks she had to deal with everyday. Thankfully Artoria and Lisa offered to help lessen her burdens.
"Hoh. So, they dare attack my territory. Should I go and exterminate them?" Ray's eyes glow dangerously and his demonic presence starts to appear although oddly they feel repulsed by it like previously.
"Don't. That will cause more problems because Hunters are necessary to eliminate the dungeons. We want to avoid the worst case scenario which is Dungeon Break where monsters are able to cross the gate and enter Earth and infest the area. It happened once and the entire Australia nation and the nearby New Zealand is now inhabitable due to a Rank-A Dungeon Break."
"If you said so." Ray trusts Tanya's judgment to spare those pests but he is worried about the Dungeon Break. Not even the Magic Association can do anything about it?
Tanya also added that the apparent reason why not even the Magic Association can do anything about it is because the monsters that inhabited the dungeon happen to have magic resistance as they are a dragon-like species, most definitely lesser dragons. Wyverns and wyrm from Tanya's description. These monsters now run rampant in Australia and its close neighbors.
(I swear I have nothing against Australians. That is just the first country that comes to mind considering how little people live there compared to their total landmass. Siberia comes next on my mind.)
Intrigued by this, Ray decided to investigate one. Luckily there are few currently in Einzbern territory and a low ranked one too, which makes it easier to investigate.
"There is one Rank-D dungeon not far from us. Just a few minutes away." Tanya asked Charlotte to guide Ray since she is needed here to deal with the administrative task. Especially the dispatching of the military forces to shutdown low ranked dungeons that appeared in mass.
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Weekly Power Status
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