Isaac paid no mind to the others’ stares. After taking his seat, he distributed the intelligence he had compiled from the Beast Hide Book on his way here.

The Beast Hide Book was suffused with the Magic Power of the Black Orc God. The others, unlike Isaac, could not ignore its temptation.

Besides, there wasn’t much actual intelligence in the Beast Hide Book. The majority of its contents were a "gift" from the Black Orc God—a series of spells to counter the affliction, as well as the very Magic that caused it.

"This is..." Picking up the pages, everyone’s brows furrowed instantly.

"The Black Orcs are actually in league with Demons? And they can use the Demons’ power to mass-produce High Priests... Have they gone mad?" Barry said in shock as he read the page.

Isaac shrugged, not finding it particularly strange.

"The Black Orcs are hardly civilized. They’ve always revered the law of the jungle and are internally divided into countless tribes of all sizes. It’s not surprising they’d do something like this, especially with a command from the Black Orc God—but even without it, I wouldn’t put it past them."

Demons, strictly speaking, fall into the category of Divine Species. They possess an existence on par with Deities, but the power difference between individuals is vast. The strong are comparable to Deities, while the weak...

...are about on par with a Quasi-Knight.

However, because of their fundamental nature, they are born with many magical abilities, such as bestowing a Blessing.

Like Outer Gods, they can accept sacrifices and then bestow a Blessing on the person conducting the ritual.

Of course, this comes at a price.

It is a transaction.

The supplicant gains power, and upon fulfilling their end of the bargain, the Demon claims their soul.

This type of pact is actually stricter than those made with Outer Gods. A deal with an Outer God is more of a one-and-done transaction; any tricks, whether by the Wizard or the Outer God, can only be performed during the ritual itself. Once the ritual concludes, neither party can interfere with the other.

At most, they might leave behind a Magic Item for communication, as the Master of Billions of Flesh and the Black Orc God did.

But this isn’t necessarily a good thing. A Demon’s deal isn’t a simple exchange like with an Outer God; it’s a loan.

The Demon only claims the soul *after* the conditions agreed upon in the ritual have been fulfilled.

And this gives many Wizards room to maneuver!

Among the various schools of wizardry, there is one known as the Demon Dominator school!

These are Wizards who specialize in exploiting such loans. They gain power by signing contracts with one Demon after another, then use pre-planned loopholes in the contracts to delay their fulfillment.

Some Wizards can even use the contract to dominate the Demon in turn, forcibly extracting even more from them!

Things like Magic Power, Knowledge...

Isaac was quite interested in this himself. He planned to look into the relevant Magic once he became a Grand Wizard.

But that was a matter for later...

Returning to the topic at hand, everyone nodded at Isaac’s words. It certainly sounded like something the Black Orcs would do. It wasn’t as if it had never happened before, just never on such a massive scale. And typically, before they could launch an attack, they would be wiped out by other Black Orcs.

But this time...

"The Demonization of the Black Orcs..." Gaia’s brow was tightly knit. He looked to Cheryl, Isaac, and Snake Princess Barbara—the only three Casters present. "Do any of you have a way to handle this?"

Demonization. It was a Magic—or perhaps a Divine Art—that nearly every new High Priest knew. By sacrificing a certain number of lives, they could perform a Demonization on a Black Orc, granting it power comparable to a Knight! 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Out of fifteen thousand Black Orcs, a total of five thousand could be turned into Demonized Black Orcs!

That’s five thousand Knights!

Solomon Fortress could never withstand such a force!

Not unless a High-level Mage was presiding over the fortress—and not just any High-level Mage. It would have to be a veteran who had been stationed here for many years, with enough accumulated resources and preparations to cope.

Five thousand Knights...

Across the entire Empire, only the Royal Knight Order could field a force of that size!

In the entire Empire, including all the great and minor Nobility, there was one and only one Knight Order of this caliber!

It wasn’t that raising one was impossible. If they poured all their resources into it, the Solomon Territory could probably raise a Knight Order of that size in a short time. But this was an army, not a group of Demonic Puppets. You couldn’t just assemble them and call it a day.

Even Alchemy Demonic Puppets require constant maintenance, to say nothing of actual people.

Secondly, their actual utility wasn’t that great. An army of five thousand Knights could, in reality, be held off by just three High-level Knights working together. Five High-level Knights could repel them, and ten could annihilate them completely!

In this Extraordinary World, individual power is the ultimate answer!

Unfortunately, Solomon Fortress currently had only one High-level Knight: Gaia. In the short term, by pouring resources into it, they could at most push Caesar to that level. And while Barry was at Great Knight Peak, he would still need time to break through, even with the Melting Skill and the necessary resources.

And that was to say nothing of Cheryl. The path of an Arcanist is a steady one; there are no sudden bursts of power. Advancement can only be made one step at a time.

Therefore, lacking sufficient high-end combat power, their only hope was that the Casters could solve the problem on a magical level—by, for example, reversing the Demonization of the Black Orcs...

"This isn’t my field of research, but I can look into it. The association has plenty of information on Demonization. Besides, I don’t know what specific Magic they’re using." Cheryl made no guarantees; she wasn’t even very hopeful about her own prospects.

After all, it really wasn’t her area of expertise. Her primary field of research was material Alchemy, and her knowledge of biology was limited.

Still, she looked toward Isaac. If she knew the specific Magic involved, it might be a different story. After all, she was still a Grand Wizard; her fundamental knowledge was solid.

Isaac nodded, understanding her meaning. "The Beast Hide Book contains both the responsible Magic and the Magic to break it," he said. "The specific effects will need to be tested. However, the book itself is dangerous, so you can’t look at it. I’ll copy down the Magic from it for you all later."

After speaking, Isaac paused for a moment before adding, "We still have plenty of Black Orc prisoners. I see no reason to let them go to waste. We can use them for some experiments. I’ll handle the Demonization myself. As it happens, I’m also somewhat interested in Demons, so you could say this is some preliminary research."

Hearing this, Gaia’s brow twitched. He was clearly displeased with Isaac’s intention to meddle with Demons, but he also knew Isaac wouldn’t listen to him. Besides, to resolve the fortress’s current crisis, contact with Demons was indeed unavoidable...

So he just frowned and said nothing. He wasn’t in a position to object.

After Isaac finished, all eyes turned to the Snake Princess. Isaac and Cheryl looked at her with the most anticipation.

Although they were all Casters, the one most likely to solve this problem was, ironically, the Snake Princess!

Because she was a Witch, and a Witch’s power defies all logic!

Whether a Legendary Mage or a Truth Mage, they must abide by certain rules when Casting. But a Witch does not!

They are simply born extraordinary!