Reborn as the First Boss, Chapter 67

Chapter 67 – Good Boy

We had spent part of the morning shopping, and a wagon pulled by oxen, even skeletal oxen, wasn’t as fast as a rider on horseback. So, it was little surprise to me that it was late afternoon by the time we reached the ruined temple Angelina had found in the old maps. We ought to have plenty of time for setting up and conducting the rituals before we needed to sleep for the night.

At one point, there had been a cobblestone road to the temple, branching off from the western road from Magehallow to Dirthill, and the border with Bikar. But it had been a long time since the road had been maintained, and the trees on either side had pushed roots under some stones, while others had been worn down over time and grass grew up between them in many places. The only reason the undead oxen didn’t snap their legs at some point was solely due to the fact that their physical stats were all close to six thousand, thanks to the [Ox Skull Talisman (Team)] boosting them by 5% of my total SP. The end result was a bumpy, uncomfortable ride, that would have been far worse if we’d been using living beasts to pull the wagon.

The ruined temple itself was little more than a stone floor with a few crumbling walls at this point, at least above ground. No sign of its former glory. Well, considering it had been so long since it was brought down, and all the monsters and bandits who had made it a base in the ensuing years, the fact that even this much was impressive.

At some point, it looked as though one of the walls had been deliberately collapsed over the stairs heading down, into the basement and the foundations of the temple, completely blocking them, unless one wished to go through the effort of lifting heavy stone. Of course, that didn’t actually stop a new batch of creatures from moving in, as evidenced by the tunnel emerging from the ground. It wasn’t a terribly large tunnel, but not exactly small, either. Even Astruth would be able to fit in it, though fighting in such close quarters would not be ideal.

Cautiously, we stowed the oxen and wagon away, and drew weapons. As we entered the tunnel, I used [Radiant Armor] to cause my clothes to light up as a torch, increasing my defenses and shedding light on the tunnel walls. The packed earth led downwards, to a large space under the temple. However, it was empty.

Well, not entirely empty. The refuse of past inhabitants was strewn about. From the looks of things, the most recent ‘guests’ had been some orcs, or maybe goblins, but it had been some time since they’d last been here. The most recent signs were at least a month old, according to [Ranger’s Training]. Nothing to worry about.

Long disuse and abuse had taken its toll on what remained of the basement storehouses and living quarters that once served the temple above. The basement walls were sturdy, but that was all that remained of the temple’s former glory, with all the rest despoiled beyond recovery. One would likely be better off tearing the temple up by the foundations and starting from scratch than trying to build on the site at this point.

However, there was one part of the basement that had been spared much of the desecration and desolation. The warded ritual space was oddly intact, still lit by magical torches firmly set upon the walls. Oh, it had been deconsecrated and reconsecrated again and again by different monsters or cults, from the looks of things, but the wards were strong, the engraved circles on the floor were intact, and the altar in the center was still suited for its purpose.

It wasn’t accident that the ritual space was like this, however. [Detect Magic] highlighted enchantments embedded into the stones, designed to protect the integrity of the space, and repair any damage, over time. The worshippers of the former Succubus Queen had built this ritual site to last.

I let [Radiant Armor] drop, as we moved into the ritual space. Yes, this would do nicely. “Right, we’ll stay here the night, conduct our rituals, and continue on in the morning. Everyone, see about making yourselves comfortable while I go to work.”

My pets acknowledge my orders, and I turned away from them, moving to the center of the ritual space. I shifted into my true form, since that would most likely get a better reaction from the creatures that I intended to summon than a human guise. I wanted to summon and bind both an angel and a demon as my familiars, so appearing as the fusion of both would command attention. There was some question about which to do first, however.

While the [Bind Familiar] skill and [Familiar Binding Ritual] had similar effects, they went about things very differently. [Bind Familiar] required the creature to be either willing, or to submit, even if they were charmed into submission. The [Familiar Binding Ritual], however, was more forceful, designed to be used on creatures that were more likely to resist your attempts, and would require me to either render the creature helpless, or force them into submission. Either way, it was a more hostile act than the [Bind Familiar] skill.

With that in mind, I decided to use [Summon Demons] with the [Bind Familiar] skill, to get my first familiar safely bound, before turning my attention to [Summon Angels] and the [Familiar Binding Ritual]. Fortunately, the [Summon Demons] skill brought with it the knowledge of how to use it, and the ritual space’s magic circle would keep the summoned demon from escaping unless it could overwhelm me. And I doubted there was a ‘normal’ demon who could accomplish that so easily.

Summon Demons

Do you wish to summon a specific demon by their true name?

Yes / No

Please choose Tier and Level of desired summon:

Tier 1, Level 40

Please choose demonic race (will include subraces, if any):

None

You have chosen not to specify a demonic race. Summoned demon will be of a random demonic race.

Confirm?

Yes / No

For an additional mana cost, you can filter results to better find your desired demon, adding classes, professions, or individual skills to the list. Class and Profession choices increase the MP cost of the summoning by 20% each per tier of the desired choice. Skill choices increase the MP cost of the summoning by 10% each per tier of the desired skill.

Do you wish to add any additional filters?

Yes / No

Note: Choosing a class below the demon’s current tier will include all demons with that class in their System logs, even if they have undergone a class change upon Tier up. Demons who have used class change items to move away from the desired class will not be included.

Do you have a class or classes you would like to filter possible summons by?

Yes / No

Note: Choosing a profession below the demon’s current tier will include all demons with that profession in their System logs, even if they have undergone a profession change upon Tier up. Demons who have used profession change items to move away from the desired profession will not be included.

Do you have a profession or professions you would like to filter possible summons by?

Yes / No

Note: Only skills that can be taken as General Skills can be selected for filtering.

Do you have a skill or skills you would like to filter possible summons by?

Yes / No

Please enter the skill or skills you would like to filter by. Note: adding multiple skills will include only demons with all skills in their System Logs.

Carnal Arts

Appraise

Choices noted. Summoning cost adjusted +20%.

Total adjustment: +20%

Normally, all summons are chosen from a list of demons who are registered as willing summons with the System. However, summoning costs can be reduced by expanding your choices to include unregistered demons without the [Block Summons] skill. Please note that unregistered demons may be unwilling to be summoned, and hostile to you. The System takes no responsibility for a summoning resulting in your serious injury or death.

Do you wish to expand the results in return for a 50% MP cost reduction in the summoning?

Yes / No

Connecting to System archives…

Connected.

Searching archives for possible matches…

631,520 possible matches found.

Eliminating matches within warded space…

Eliminating matches currently Summoned…

Eliminating matches under Familiar binding…

Eliminating matches with Slave title…

Eliminating matches with Thrall title…

Eliminating matches with Puppet title…

21,533 matches remaining.

Picking random match…

Summoning…

Magic swirled in front of me as the skill went through the process of finding a demon for me. The summoning was not cheap, draining almost five thousand MP in an instant. Of course, I had plenty more, due to my cheating existence, but that was still an impressive amount of MP to spend on a single skill’s activation. Sure, I could have saved some MP if I didn’t care about the demon’s willingness to be summoned, but I didn’t want to push my luck too much so soon. Especially since I intended to bind an angel after this.

Rastran

Hellhound Male

Level 40 Barbarian / Hunter

Titles: Tough, Well-Endowed, Quick One

Mana became visible as light, and then a roar of hellfire. When it cleared, there was a Hellound, a wolf-like creature with black and red fur, with a trail of hellfire running down his spine. He was big, and tough, but his titles suggested that he could move faster than he looked, and was packing a substantial weapon.

The hellhound’s eyes focused on me and I could see him snarl. He didn’t recognize what I was, and his first instinct when confronted with the unknown was to try and assert dominance. Well, I knew how to deal with that.

“Sit, boy!” I gave the command both with my voice, and through [Telepathy], turning the full weight of [Intimidation] boosted by the Executioner title and with my CHA doubled thanks to the Krenrena’s First Angel title. No matter what skills or abilities the hellhound might have to try and resist intimidation, this was, literally, my wheelhouse. The wolf sat, yelping slightly in surprise.

“Good boy,” I smiled, hitting him with [Seduction], as well. “Now, I’m going to give you a choice, Rastran the hellhound. If you’re a good hound, and pledge to serve as my familiar, then you will get to have a taste of this,” I said, brushing one hand seductively across the crotch of my leather pants. The hellhound’s eyes focused intently, eagerly.

“On the other hand, if you do not submit, then I guess I have no use for you, so I would just send you back, straight away, and try for a better demon. But you don’t want that, do you, Rastran? No, you want to be my familiar, my pet, and serve me, like all my pets. Don’t you?”

As I spoke, I moved towards Rastran. The Hellhound did not resist as I reached out to stroke him behind the ears, taking that moment to hit him with [Magic Touch (Ease Heart)] to remove his uncertainty, and then [Touch of Depravity], causing his WIS to plummet as his libido increased at least tenfold. The hellhound tried to move, and press his nose against me, get a scent of me. Maybe thinking he could try and push me down, and take his pleasure.

I pushed his head away, gently, but irrefutably. He was horny, but horniness hadn’t beaten out the Intimidation. “No, no, no. Become my familiar, and then you get to have your fun. Not before.”

The ‘battle’, if you could call it that, only lasted a few seconds more, as the hellhound’s reduced Wisdom made him easier to manipulate. The hellhound submitted, and became my familiar, as expected. Of course, I wasn’t going to go back on my side of things, but it was still pushing the hellhound’s patience to the brink as I stripped down, and then hurriedly set the proper ingredients for the [Ritual of the Beast]. But, when I got down on all fours and nodded to him, the hellhound was more than ready, and his ‘weapon’ was on full display. I licked my lips in anticipation.

“Good boy.”