Chapter 55: Chapter 45: The Ritual Commences

"It will be a success."

At the Third Training Ground, Caesar felt a surge of helplessness upon hearing Isaac’s confident declaration. He wanted to advise Isaac against such arrogance, to urge a little humility—this was an Outer God, after all. But since he knew nothing about the subject, the words caught in his throat. All he could do was turn and look helplessly toward Cheryl.

But what he didn’t know was, did Cheryl actually know any better?

While it was true that Arcanists were profoundly knowledgeable, they were, first and foremost, respectable Casters!

Rituals for trading with Outer Gods were the ultimate taboo, all of them sealed away by the Truth Association. She had little access to them herself; the only ones that circulated in the open were basic rituals that were impossible to completely suppress.

Those things had a sliver of an Outer God’s power attached to them, making them impossible to completely prohibit.

So, meeting Caesar’s questioning gaze, she could only spread her hands helplessly. This wasn’t her area of expertise; there was nothing she could do.

Isaac, however, wasn’t overthinking it like they were. He expertly drew the Magic Array—the classic circle and hexagram. This was the simplest design for a Magic Array, as its precision requirements weren’t particularly high. Even a Magic Apprentice with no Magic Power could draw one. That was why Magic Arrays for trading with Outer Gods typically followed this format.

The only differences lay in the inscribed Magic Texts and the materials used in its construction.

Before long, the ritual site was fully prepared, sprawling over an area a third larger than the array itself. At Isaac’s command, Black Orc Warriors, shackled heavily at their hands and feet, numbly took their positions around the site.

Only a select few, those of exceptional quality, were arranged by Isaac in the center of the ritual area.

The Black Orcs were essentially just buffers. And buffers didn’t need to be inside the ritual proper. Once the ritual began, Isaac could channel its power to devour them, thereby amplifying its efficiency!

Isaac was already quite proficient at this technique, even though this was his first time performing a live sacrifice.

However, most of these Black Orc Warriors had been purchased from slave traders and were already thoroughly broken. They had almost no will to resist, making this little different from his usual experiments.

Of course, once the ritual started, it wouldn’t matter if they resisted or not. As beings not even equivalent to an Official Knight, they would be utterly powerless against Isaac’s Magic Power, Enhanced as it would be by the ritual.

Soon, Isaac had selected 583 Black Orc Warriors, positioning most of them on standby at the outer perimeter of the ritual area.

"Is that enough? Should we add more? Don’t worry about the expense." Seeing that Isaac had used just over five hundred Black Orcs, Caesar frowned and asked with concern.

From Caesar’s perspective, it didn’t matter how many Black Orcs died, so long as Isaac himself survived.

Therefore, there was no need to be frugal!

"No, this is enough. Any more would actually cause problems," Isaac said, shaking his head and declining Caesar’s offer.

’Buffer was just a term Isaac had coined himself. In truth, they couldn’t be added to the ritual indiscriminately. Anything exceeding one thousand percent would not only fail to increase the fault-tolerance rate, but would actually interfere with the ritual’s effect, strengthening the Black Orc God instead.’

’Of course, adding more Black Orcs in the middle of the ritual would be a different story.’

’But Isaac had no intention of doing so. Trading with an Outer God wasn’t like his usual experiments; failure would be truly fatal. He couldn’t afford to take a single risk. If a problem arose, the plan was to retreat immediately!’

’With my Golden Finger, I don’t need to gamble everything like other Mad Witches, desperately trying to achieve a grand success with every single trade.’

’I’m not picky, so long as it’s a success. I can always just grind it out again, anyway.’

’Besides, there’s no need to fixate on fleecing a single Outer God dry. There are countless Outer Gods out there—does it matter which one I harvest?’

’Spreading the risk—that’s the supreme strategy!’

’Of course, this approach will end up offending most of the Outer Gods, but who cares!’

’As long as I don’t reveal my identity during the transaction, the other party will have no idea who they’re dealing with. And if my identity is exposed, offending one is no different from offending a thousand.’

’So the priority is to remain anonymous, not to limit the number of gods I anger.’

Hearing Isaac’s explanation, Caesar could only swallow his concerns. He quietly moved to one side to stand next to Cheryl, his breathing growing shallow, terrified of disturbing Isaac.

Beyond Caesar and Cheryl, many pairs of eyes watched Isaac from the corners of the training ground. Most of the Soldiers didn’t know what was going on, but the two... contraptions... that Isaac and the Snake Princess had been working on in the fortress lately had given them a terrible fright. Now that Isaac was causing another huge commotion, it was impossible for them not to be terrified!

The four Barons were also in the crowd of onlookers. They knew a little more than the others—only that Isaac was preparing to trade with an Outer God, though they didn’t know which one.

Based on the offerings, they could only guess that it must be an Existence hostile to the Black Orc God. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many Black Orcs laid out as sacrifices.

As they watched Isaac on the verge of activating the sacrificial ritual, the Barons exchanged glances across the distance, each seeing the grave look in the others’ eyes.

Mad Witch...

In any kingdom, they were an Existence that inspired extreme terror!

Because no one ever knew what they were thinking. For the sake of Forbidden Knowledge, these lunatics could initiate a trade with an Outer God at any moment. And if they failed...

Not only would the Mad Witch die, but the entire region would suffer the consequences. And while an Outer God could not directly attack a domain if the caster was not its Lord, what kind of Existence was an Outer God?

The slightest ripple from such an Existence could claim their insignificant lives!

Therefore, the only publicly known lunatic of this kind had been the Empire’s Eldest Princess; all others had been exiled. And now, there was another—Isaac. And he was so close...

This was... going to be the death of them...

Meanwhile, in the castle not far from the training ground, the white-haired Gaia stood before a window, his hands gripping his sword.

He didn’t know how wide the gap was between himself and an Outer God, but if Isaac were to fail, he would use every ounce of his strength to try and save him.

...

Feeling the numerous, emotionally charged gazes upon him, Isaac smiled faintly, let out a long breath, and swiftly cleared his mind of all distractions, entering his zone.

’It’s just the stares of a few hundred people. In my previous life, back in university, when I acted as a "guinea pig" for my classmates, the gazes I endured—while fewer in number—were far more intense than these!’

’So...’

’Ritual, commence!’

"Solum’ka... vexin’a... tal’asar..."

As the low Magic Spell issued from Isaac’s lips, a gray, almost tangible Magic Power surged from his body and merged with the shadow behind him. His shadow then twisted, transforming into several hideous demonic specters that rose from the ground and danced in the wind.

A peculiar rhythm spread out from their dance, draining the Magic Power from all the offerings in the ritual area and fusing it together. Then, under Isaac’s control, this power transformed into a tangible gray mist that swirled toward the 583 Black Orc Warriors, silently and utterly dissolving them!

And then...

WHOOMF~~

Before the terrified and solemn eyes of the crowd, a ball of gray flame suddenly erupted above the ritual, coalescing into a faint, yet hideous, face!

The Black Orc God had arrived!