Wizard: Scamming a Demon God

Chapter 198: Chapter 156: Forced Awakening

It was a pity. Lorna and Smith were too close to Isaac and could only be considered retainers, so they couldn’t acquire tokens on their own. They weren’t even allowed to obtain one through the trials instead of taking Philo’s shortcut.

Logically speaking, an army of five hundred thousand—commander skill aside—should certainly be stronger than fifty separate armies of ten thousand. Even without a single general capable of leading half a million soldiers, armies of seventy, eighty, or a hundred thousand would surely be more powerful than individual ten-thousand-man corps.

But unfortunately, this wasn’t a real war. The war in Itra was, in essence, a transaction. Thus, ”selling” a one-million-strong army to two people was a completely different concept from ”selling” it to one million people.

That was why they could only obtain four tokens. It was originally supposed to be three, but Remington, who should have participated as Philo’s retainer, received one as well.

”I believe it’s time we discussed the specifics of our future cooperation, don’t you think?” Isaac said, looking at the silent Philo and Remington inside the pumpkin carriage as it headed toward the army camp. ”What’s the deal with you two?”

”I am participating in this war on behalf of Duke Norns. My purpose is to provide cover for Princess Philo and conceal the Empire’s involvement,” Remington said, being the first to speak.

”Is that so?” Isaac asked, turning to Philo.

”I don’t know,” Philo said, shaking her head. ”This wasn’t part of our plan. At least, *I* wasn’t aware of it.”

Isaac nodded. ’So it wasn’t just good acting on Philo’s part.’ But that no longer mattered. He extended his hand toward the others.

”Alright, so that means we’re all on the same side. Hand over your tokens. It would be best for one person to command this forty-thousand-strong army.”

”Here.” Upon hearing his words, Angel handed her token to Isaac without a moment’s hesitation. The registration was already complete, anyway. From this point on, besides its recording function, the token’s only purpose was to mobilize soldiers.

She didn’t need to hold onto it for the recording function to work. As long as the army assigned to her performed meritorious deeds, the credit would go to her. Since she couldn’t lead soldiers anyway, it didn’t matter if she gave the token away.

Philo, however, clutched her token and looked at Isaac with suspicion. ”You know how to lead soldiers?”

”Of course not,” Isaac said matter-of-factly. ”But Smith does. There are only two people here who can lead an army, and you wouldn’t want *him* to do it, would you?”

As he spoke, Isaac glanced at Remington, making no effort to hide his distrust.

Philo glanced at Remington but couldn’t discern anything. ’That’s the advantage of a mechanical body, I suppose.’ As long as he kept quiet and didn’t try to act like an expert, it was hard to see through him, since his cold helmet and faceplate revealed no expression.

”Fine.” Philo placed her token in Isaac’s hand. Just as he’d implied, she didn’t trust Remington, either. ’That man’s ties to Duke Norns run too deep!’

’A little foolish, to be honest...’

Isaac held his hand out to Remington, saying nothing, simply watching him with a smile. When Remington didn’t move, the gazes of Philo and Angel also shifted to him.

Remington sighed and finally surrendered his token.

”Excellent.” Isaac nodded in satisfaction, then passed all the tokens, including his own, to Smith, who was driving the carriage from outside the cabin.

”What’s our next move? Do we just steamroll them?” Philo asked Isaac.

”Let’s not rush. First, we need to take command of the army. The ritual you provided is too crude and needs to be modified,” Isaac said with a wave of his hand. If this were before, he would have simply summoned two thousand Great Sword Ghosts and started to steamroll the enemy.

After all, his only goal back then was the Kaleidoscope Eye. All that mattered was winning.

But things were different now. Now, just winning wasn’t enough. Enough people had to die!

The more, the better!

Only then would the Master of Billions of Flesh be greatly pleased!

And only when the Demon God was pleased could the Terra Royal Family’s goals be better accomplished. Only then would it be convenient for him to go happily reaping in the Void!

”Too crude?” Philo frowned, eyeing Isaac with suspicion. ”This was designed by Great Arcanist Mensa himself, leading the Royal Mage Order. You’re not just trying to stall for time, are you?”

”What about him being a Grand Arcanist? Does that mean he’s automatically right? Rituals don’t care for authority; they only answer to Truth!” With that, Isaac looked at Philo curiously. ”You don’t even understand such a simple principle? Don’t tell me they designed all of your previous transactional rituals as well, did they?”

Philo was rendered speechless, muttering, ”Well, not all of them...”

To be precise, it hadn’t always been the case. In the beginning, she used to create her own rituals. But after someone made a few ”minor optimizations” for her, she started studying them on her own less and less. Now, she had all but completely given up on researching rituals herself.

Of course, it wasn’t a big deal. She had the Emperor’s Decree, after all. Whenever a ritual failed, she could just weather the consequences. Besides, even if you studied a ritual meticulously, there was never a guarantee of success.

That was the theory, anyway. But feeling Isaac’s astonished gaze on her, she couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed.

”So, how long do we have to wait?”

”Not too long. Two more days should be enough. Great Arcanist Mensa’s ritual is actually quite complete. It’s just that our sacrificial target is different, so some details need to be adjusted.”

”You’re changing the sacrificial offering?” Philo’s brow furrowed. ”Those Artificial Humans have no souls. Very few Outer Gods would want them. Besides, that old man from the Itra Royal Family is Tier Four. Even an Outer God can’t be compelled to kill him without a sufficient incentive.”

”Don’t worry. Not all Outer Gods want only souls. The Master of Billions of Flesh desires only flesh and blood. These Artificial Humans will be more than enough to satisfy It. As for Its ability to kill him... heh. Are you questioning a Demon God?”

Upon hearing the name ’Master of Billions of Flesh,’ Philo’s tightly knit brow finally relaxed.

Among the Outer Gods, the Evil Gods were the most active. Their thought processes were even more erratic than those of a Mad Witch. As long as something pleased them, they would get involved, even if there was no benefit to be gained.

That was why many of the Outer God invasions throughout history had been initiated by Evil Gods.

However, despite invading the most frequently, Evil Gods were not the Outer Gods who could most easily interfere with the Real World. Outside the scope of their Authority, they too had to pay a steep price to meddle with reality.

The ones who could interfere most easily were the Dimensional Demon Gods!

Although they rarely caused trouble, their nature as beings whose Dimensions run parallel to the Real World made them the easiest to interfere with it. This was also why there were far more Secret Mages than, say, Evil God Priests.

However, Dimensional Demon Gods spent most of their time asleep, which made it extremely difficult to strike a bargain with them.

”The Master of Billions of Flesh? Isn’t It slumbering?” Philo’s brow creased. She knew for a fact that this particular Demon God had only recently fallen asleep, because she had made a bargain with It before. Twice, in fact.

The first bargain had been successful. The second time, the ritual was completed without a hitch, but It never responded.

And the slumber of a Demon God...

’Honestly, for an Existence like that to sleep for a few hundred years was perfectly ordinary.’

’Could it be that Isaac doesn’t know It’s slumbering?’

”It is. But I’ve recently been researching how to forcibly awaken It, and I’ve made some headway. With a sacrifice of this magnitude, I’m certain it will work!” Isaac declared with confidence.

Everyone: ”...”

Philo stared at Isaac, speechless for a long moment. Finally, she said with a sigh, ”You’re a true madman!”

’Forcibly awakening a Demon God...’

’It was such a terrifying notion, she didn’t even dare to entertain the thought!’

’One had to understand that crankiness upon waking wasn’t exclusive to mortals. Demon Gods had it, too!’

’Demon Gods usually went to sleep because they’d encountered some vexing problem or their Dimension had become unstable, and they needed to sleep to calm things down. They were already in a bad mood, and you wanted to piss them off even more!’

’Most importantly, Philo knew very well that Isaac never settled for a simple transaction. The man was definitely planning to swipe something from the Demon God on the side.’

’He was planning to add fuel to the fire of Its already-blazing wrath!’

’A madman...’