'Black gate'

I'm still down in the caverns, and yet, I can see the room in the castle where I left the magic circle for the gate. It looks like it worked... Not that I'm surprised, I had already done some tests earlier, but this is my first time actually using a gate to save myself some travel time.

*Crash*

Uh?

*Bang*

What's going on?

*Boom*

There's a lot of noise outside. Did someone drop a plate or something? I'll go take a look.

As soon as I open the door to the courtyard I see a large brown object flying at me.

"Guak!"

Something heavy knocked me down and now I'm laying on my back... Is this a person? Yes, he's all hairy but humanoid in shape. He probably didn't notice that I'm here since he stepped on my face to get back up and left running.

"Just what's happening here?"

There are a bunch of dem- manaborn in the courtyard casting spells and trying to hit each other with various weapons. Is the castle under attack or...

"Ah, you finally decided to show up."

Xania is sitting on a bench right next to me. I got distracted by the battle and didn't see her.

"Uh... Do you know who all of these people are?"

"They are the leaders of the various tribes of the wasteland. Did you forget that they were supposed to come here to meet you today? That's why I'm here too since I'm something similar to a leader of the gray demons."

Oh! That's why I was supposed to come back quickly!

"But why are they fighting?"

"What did you expect? If you put all of these guys in the same place, it's normal that they would start beating each other up."

This is NORMAL?! If these are really the leaders of their tribes you'd think that they should be a bit more responsible...

"Well, I'm glad that at least you are not fighting."

Back when I first met her, she seemed to be quite aggressive. It's nice to see that she's learned since then and is behaving even during this brawl.

"Eh..."

Xania makes an awkward expression and her gaze shifts to the side. What is she looking at? There's an ork over there that's fighting against some wolves. Actually, I think that those wolves are dead... Wait.

"Xania!"

"He started it! A-anyway, since everyone is here now, you should take the chance to introduce yourself and become the queen officially."

"What do you mean 'officially'?"

"I mean that you need to beat up all of these guys. To prove that you are stronger than them. That's what it takes to officially become the ruler above other demon lords"

"Don't try to drag me down to your level! I'm not some brute that fights people for no reason!"

"It's not for no reason. Just think of this as your crowning ceremony."

Do I really need to do this? Well, I guess I should at least stop the current fight.

"Hey! Everyone! Stop fighting!" They are not listening... "I said STOP!"

I tried to use 'intimidation' to get their attention and it seems to have worked a bit too well. Everyone is looking at me now... This is embarrassing.

"W-who are you?"

A blonde fairy dressed in yellow is the first one to speak.

"It's her! The queen of darkness! It's an honor to meet you again!"

A rock demon seems to recognize me. He gets on his knees in a hurry, and so does a translucent woman standing next to him. Ah, no, she didn't get on her knees, the bottom half of her legs just turned into a puddle.

"Do I know you?"

"You don't remember? We're two of the four demon lords that got in your way when you were chasing after Kalroth."

"I'm sorry, there were a lot of people around there and I wasn't really paying attention."

"But we were his 4 strongest followers, didn't we leave any impression at all?"

"Even if you say that... Everyone just fell over without any resistance, so I couldn't tell."

"I understand." Says the woman with a trembling voice, she's sweating a lot, it almost looks like her body is made of liquid or something. "Even if an ant is much stronger than all the other ants, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference when stepping on it."

The two of them seem to be getting even more scared than before.

"Ah, actually, there's a very noticeable difference between the strongest and weakest ants. I know that from experience."

And now they went from scared to confused. I guess that's an improvement?

"You cowards! She just looks to me like the type that makes herself look scary to hide how weak she actually is."

A humanoid bull around as tall as I am is approaching me with an aggressive expression. He's carrying a club in his hand, I guess I'll have to fight after all... Maybe I should try using the skill Vilde just taught me.

'Appraisal'

{Race: Minotaur, Class: Warrior, Element: Earth, Level: 268}

How convenient! Now I don't need to point that appraisal stone at people, and this gives more information than just the level!

Vilde said to pay attention to the element, to see if it ever appears empty when I use this skill on a person or object, but this time it seems fine.

The minotaur swings his club at me, but this time I was ready to use 'battle analyst' from the start, so I can predict its trajectory and avoid it by simply tilting my head to the side.

"Agh, so you can dodge."

A warrior of that level should have physical stats higher than mine. But I have 'battle analyst' helping me... I wonder if I can beat him without using magic.

Left, down, left, right... Is this guy really a level 268 warrior? His attacks are so easy to read... Maybe it's just because I cannot help comparing him with Vilde.

I can also see his weak points. After just a few punches to his joints, he falls to his knees.

"What was that?! Those were not even proper punches!"

"Oh, sorry, I don't really know much about punches. I'm a mage."

"A mage?! That's impossible!"

I let him see my mana to prove what I said. He stares at me with a look of bewilderment.

"Wait, now that I look closely... Are you the one who stepped on my face a moment ago?"

"What... I... No... S-sorry!"

Ah, I made him run away. Uh? There's a strange feeling in my chest.

"Ha! I got you now!"

Behind me, there's a girl. But the bottom half of her body is that of a spider.

{Race: Arachne, Class: Mage, Element: Light, Level: 255}

There's a thread of light connecting my chest to hers.

"What is this thread? I don't recognize this spell."

"I've connected your life to mine! If you kill me now you'll die too!"

"Oh, but what did you do that for?"

"Because now it does not matter if you are stronger than me! You cannot kill me without killing yourself!"

"But I wasn't going to kill you anyway. This doesn't really make any difference at all."

The arachne stops to think for a moment. Her face goes red and she detaches the thread for me, then she walks away looking ashamed.

"What a weird girl."

"Ufufu. Looks like it's my turn next."

It's a woman with another strange lower half, a snake this time, , all her skin is green and the only two pieces of cloth she's wearing just barely cover her chest and her crotch.

{Race: Naga, Class: Rogue, Element: Fire, Level: 258}

"Do you want to fight too?"

"Ah, no. I only wanted to take a closer look at you."

She's standing upright leaving only a small amount of her tail on the ground to make herself look taller than me. It doesn't look like it would be easy to keep her balance...

"Is it really necessary to get this close?"

"Mmm, what a beautiful face. So beautiful that it's scary."

She's placing her hand on my face. This is awkward...

"Sorry, could you please stop- Uh? I feel weird."

"Every powerful warrior has ways to avoid or endure damage, but none can deal with this. Nothing feels better than having someone proud and strong at my mercy as I see their face twisted by the most intense pleasure they have ever experienced."

Pleasure? Ah, right, that's what she's doing. She's sending a strong sensation of pleasure directly into my brain.

"I see. A non-violent attack like this would bypass most defenses."

"Yes, and now even you will be overwhelmed by this sensation."

"Nn. I never thought of this method to take down an enemy."

"Erm... I said that you'll be overwhelmed..."

"You said that, yes."

"D-did my spell not work?"

"It did work. I'm clearly feeling all of that overwhelming pleasure you mentioned."

"Then why are you so calm?!"

Of course, in the same way that my brain can ignore pain when there's no point in feeling it, it can also ignore this fake pleasure.

The naga's enticing expression from before is gone. Now she looks all flustered.

"Cute."

"Eh?!"

"Ah, sorry. It's just that seeing that troubled expression after you were so confident before makes you seem cute."

"W-what are you saying?!"

Her face turns red, making me want to poke it. But the moment I do, she falls on her back.

"Ah!"

I knew that it would be hard for her to keep her balance.

"You sure are strong." There's a high-pitched voice, it's that fairy from before. "But no matter how strong you are, you'll still need me."

{Race: Fairy, Class: Mage, Element: Light, Level: 240}

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone needs healers! And there's no better healer than me! Unlike these idiots, I can be useful even to someone as strong as you are."

Right, I think I heard that the light fairies were the best at healing. That's why they have the highest status of all fairies while the dark ones have the lowest.

"Eh... Actually, I can heal too."

"Don't lie! Your element is darkness!"

"I can heal with dark magic, let me show you."

'Gravity bomb'

"EEEK!"

She got scared for some reason even though that spell was targeting my arm and not her. It got twisted to the point that my bones are sticking out, this should be enough to show my healing.

"Look, as good as new."

Just by twisting it the opposite way I could easily fix it.

"Wha- Ho- Eh..."

The fairy floats away backward without moving her gaze from me. I wonder if she's feeling sick.

"Alright, who's left?"

A blue-skinned man dressed in a purple robe approaches me. When I try to move, I notice that my feet are stuck in something.

"Ha! I got you now!"

"You too? Everyone's 'got' me today."

{Race: Blue demon, Class: Weaver, Element: Water, Level: 265}

"You stepped into my trap. Water is the strongest element when there's time to prepare. Not even you will be able to escape from my gel."

Indeed, my feet seem to be stuck in what looks like some kind of blue crystal. It looks like a lot of time was spent preparing this, it might be a bit difficult to get rid of it.

"I see."

"Now the gel will continue to expand until your entire body gets covered by an-"

*Chop*

Yeah, I guess it's easier to just cut off my feet and regrow them after getting out.

"Ah, sorry, I wasn't listening. What were you saying?"

"N-nothing. Never mind."

Mmm, he seems to have given up as well. I think the only one left is the ork that Xania was attacking earlier.

"So, do you want to-"

"Nonono, I'm fine!"

"You're not afraid of me, are you?"

"D-do you want me to be afraid of you?"

"No, I don't."

"Then no! I'm not! This is just... Respect! Yes, that's it!"

"Oh, good. And what about the rest of you?"

I look and all the other dem- manaborn around here, and they all nod in agreement.

Thank goodness. I was worried that I had scared them, but it seems like I was able to give a good first impression after all.