Demon Bible

Chapter 188: Demonic Summoning

Despite the currently dreadful situation, his gloomy face betrayed little panic or despair.

He knew that a certain philosophy governed this world: the belief that success was the only metric that mattered.

Just like his Golden Rank ancestor.

Back in the day, that ancestor of his was no honest man.

Of course, if he had been an honest man in the environment of that era, he probably would never have managed to accidentally inherit a Warlock's legacy as an Ordinary Person, much less gather enough resources step by step to reach the Golden Rank.

On the surface, he was a Warlock, but in the shadows, he researched Demons.

Even back then, the Church opposed Demons and considered researching them a grave sin. They vaguely knew that his ancestor was researching Demons, but so what?

After his ancestor reached the Iron-Species Extreme, he still earned the Church's favor, using their resources to complete his Advancement.

This ideological framework, where success erased all past transgressions, had always existed.

Even now, though the times had changed again and again, the underlying reality remained the same.The Church could not possibly be ignorant of the fact that many chambers of commerce, Nobles, and even their own Clerics were compromised.

It was just that the Church had always been enabling them. Yes, enabling was the exact word Ben had in mind.

They permitted these individuals and groups to make mistakes, even assisting them to a certain extent, right up until the moment they failed.

Throughout this process, the Church kept its own hands completely clean. Meanwhile, the wealth manufactured by the transgressions of those people would be confiscated and absorbed by the Church.

Therefore, Ben possessed immense confidence. As long as he wasn't caught and successfully advanced to the Golden Rank today, something like Demonic Summoning could be completely covered up. It would never become a stain on his record.

The crimes definitively pinned on him today could be overturned after some time passed.

It would likely be written off as the actions of a rogue few, completely unrelated to a Golden Rank entity like himself.

Thus, Ben had been prepared from the very beginning.

"Even if I have to sacrifice every other member of the family, as long as I can use this to complete my Advancement, the family will survive, and the Glory will still fall upon me!" Beneath this conviction lay Jacquard Ben's intense self-confidence.

He was the member with the greatest Innate Talent the family had seen in hundreds of years.

Unhurriedly, he stood up and spread his arms wide, activating the Magic Array inscribed beneath his feet.

Surging Mental Power poured into it. In that very moment, atop the main castle of the Estate, the rather hideous Stone Golems all opened their eyes.

These Stone Golems were the manifestation of a Demon Warlock's application of Demonic Power.

They would trick Lesser Demons into emerging from The Abyss, forcing them to possess stone statues. Trapped within, the demons were coerced into servitude through Covenants, Magic Arrays, seals, and other methods.

If one possessed a deeper understanding of Demons, they could modify these stone statues to fully exploit the Lesser Demon's Trait of immortality. Consequently, aside from being immune to mundane weapons, the statues would also resist ordinary Spells and Divine Arts.

Furthermore, by utilizing knowledge of Constructs, one could grant these Stone Golems abilities such as camouflage and flight.

It could be said that a single meticulously crafted Stone Golem was worth as much as three Lesser Demons.

"Wraaagh!" the Demons, having been imprisoned within the stone statues for years, let out excited roars.

Then, they dove headfirst into the divine tides of the Holy Chant.

This ocean of Holy Chants would normally cause even a Formal Demon to feel immense discomfort, yet these Stone Golems appeared completely unaffected. Relying on the sheer weight of their stone bodies, they soared through the sky and smashed directly into the choir of Priests.

On the other side, a large number of members who either couldn't run away in time or had fled in panic toward the perimeter were captured by the Holy Knights. A single strike from a sword hilt was enough to render them unconscious.

Only a small fraction of the members managed to rush into the family's vault. However, upon entering, they did not find the family's stockpiled resources. Instead, most of the shelves here were already bare.

The few items that remained held basically no value.

The leading family member evidently knew what was going on. Ignoring the empty shelves, he lifted a floorboard that blended seamlessly with the surroundings, revealing a subterranean tunnel below.

"Go, move quickly."

A chaotic cacophony of shouts, sobs, and complaints made the interior of the warehouse exceptionally turbulent.

Fortunately, their survival instincts propelled them forward into the passageway.

Outside, the Demonic Butler and the Stone Golems summoned by Jacquard Ben had bought them some precious time.

Although Ben was confident that his successful Advancement would salvage the situation, he still wanted to ensure as many of his family members survived as possible.

His Advancement had consumed almost everything the family possessed; therefore, once he succeeded, he wanted more people to be alive to share in this Glory.

Of course, before that, there was another matter he needed to attend to—displaying his Strength!

Among the Formal Demons he had contracted, one was a Shadow Demon.

Slipping into the shadows to escape wouldn't be particularly difficult for him.

However, only by displaying sufficient combat prowess could he make the Church understand that they could not pursue a Ruthless Extermination against him.

Only then would the Church's familiar enabling nature surface once more.

He wouldn't be pressed too hard; instead, he would gain a certain amount of breathing room, giving him time to search for the remaining resources for the Golden Elixir.

The World was just like that—victory was Justice!

Thick black mist surged from within the castle. To prepare for his future misunderstanding with the Church, Ben did not show his true face.

Massive amounts of dark shadows wrapped around his body, subsequently forming a black robe, while a Bone Mask materialized over his face.

The leader of the Floating World Society, the master of countless Demons—the Demon Warlock had descended!

He emerged alongside the shadows, appearing high above the castle. Moments later, several Magic Arrays lit up simultaneously.

Then, a massive horde of Demons materialized from within the formations.

Among them were numerous entities akin to Lesser Demons, as well as quite a few Demonic Beasts.

Beyond that, the most noteworthy entities were three specific Demons.

One was a Demon that perfectly matched the common stereotype. It had bulging muscles, pitch-black snake-like scales covering its entire body, and a pair of spiral horns marked with numerous scars. Its eyes currently stared at the surrounding Mankind with unrestrained Greed.

Another was a Demon with a serpentine tail. It possessed three pairs of arms, and in each hand, it tightly gripped a Sword.

But the final Demon took on the appearance of a human.

Its overall build was not far off from that of an ordinary human. With long black hair paired with delicate, handsome features, it was difficult to discern its gender.

It wore a full set of Gothic Style attire—a black, form-fitting, armored one-piece long dress.

Aside from that, if it weren't for the few black scales peeking out from beneath the hair resting on its cheeks, some of the Clerics present might have even mistaken it for the young master or lady of a Noble family.

After being summoned, it did not act like the other Demons, drooling over the flesh and souls of the humans.

On the contrary, it was gazing at the distant sky, staring intently at the Sun that was striving to climb higher.