20: Monsters and Magic

David’s view

Edward finally began asking some questions I’d been expecting for a while…

“Why is there a chest of loot after the boss fight?”

“It’s there as a distraction. Makes people think they got what the boss was guarding, so they leave.”

“What does the boss actually guard?”

“The dungeon core, and path to the city on the other side.”

“So, all dungeons can lead to the demon realm?”

“Yup.”

“Then why do the legends claim that only the dungeon in the capital city does?”

“That dungeon is the only one with the gateway left in an obvious location. It was setup to be an obvious entrance as a kind of bait. It’s the most heavily guarded entrance.”

“So, if the demons wanted to invade, they could do so from any dungeon.”

“That’s right.”

“This is some pretty severe power imbalance.”

“Yeah, though every time a demon king gets the idea to attack humanity, they get killed by a hero.”

“Is it because of holy magic?”

“Yup. Demons don’t have a counter to it. They rely heavily upon magic for everything, so a spell that can negate it all is just a disaster for them.”

“Holy magic doesn’t harm demons? The legends mentioned it harming them and weakening them.”

“It just ends or suppresses all the enchantments they have active. A lot of the most powerful demon warriors have enchantments that they literally can’t live without, due to how much they’ve modified themselves, so there are demons who will die from holy magic.”

“Why do the demons do that, if the weakness is so bad?”

“To win inter-city tournaments of course! There’s a lot of prestige to be gained from winning them. Since no demon wields holy magic, any attempt to be less vulnerable to it, just makes one less capable in the tournaments.”

“Um, just how crazy does it get, that they’d be dependent upon magic to live?”

“Oh, some of the most hardcore enhancement specialists turn themselves into living golems. They don’t even look like proper living creatures anymore. The lower end look like animated suits of armor, which is a form of monster as well, but when there’s a proper soul inside, they can wield far greater power and skill than a normal monster ever would.”

“And the higher end?”

“In legend, one once used the bones of a dragon to become what was called a Bone Dragon. Basically an animated dragon skeleton. I don’t think there are any of those around anymore, but new projects involving precious and expensive metals have been underway. The last champion somehow carried a miniature sun inside their chest as a power source. I’m still not sure how they managed to not be destroyed by it. It was so hot, they had to maintain a barrier around themselves, to avoid burning everything around them. It was like looking at a humanoid shaped flame wearing armor.”

“That doesn’t sound like something holy magic would be sufficient against.”

“Oh, it’s not really, but if those champions were to fight a holy magic user, even a victory would be a painful and costly one, due to how much damage all their enchantments would sustain, so they avoid it. The strongest of demon warriors will generally stay away from the hero’s path.”

“What about the feared demon kings?”

“Due to the history of heroes being well known now, it’s common for Demon Kings who aim to fight humanity, to deliberately train themselves for fighting against holy magic. As a result, they often specialize in powerful spells with no real duration, as it’s mainly the enchantments and other long duration effects that are vulnerable. Spells that just unleash horrific amounts of fire or lightning work fine.”

“So, the only reason humanity hasn’t been wiped out by angry demon kings is due to heroes?”

“I doubt the kings would really wipe humanity out. Just take over as a king of both worlds. Demons don’t really consider humans to be all that different.”

“Humans don’t have horns.”

“The horns are created with magic. They carry enchantments. Most use it to improve their mana capacity. Learning how to make them is part of the standard education curriculum… oh, right, not everyone goes to school in the human kingdom.”

“Everyone in the demon kingdom goes to school?”

“Yeah, basic education is free. Even advanced education is free if one does well enough on tests.”

“Just how wealthy is the demon kingdom?”

“Far wealthier than the human kingdom. Though, I suppose humans need to deal with wild monsters. For some reason, the demon kingdom doesn’t have dangerous wild monsters.”

“The church says monsters are a test from god.”

Can’t say I really like that explanation. However, I’m not sure what a better one would be. Too many strange things to note. Like how, if it’s a test, why are the demons not tested? Did they pass? How do monsters even appear, anyway? Is the entire world a dungeon created by god?

…

Jessica’s view

The issue of monsters and their origins stuck with me. It wasn’t something I knew the answer to, and I wasn’t even sure how to go about researching it. Maybe demons know something?

“Why are there so many monsters in human lands, and not in Demi?”

Revenna and Osia just kinda stared at me a while.

“You really weren’t paying attention in magic theory class, were you?”

“How can you not know? Tumult theory of monster manifestation is the foundation of monster making magics!”

“You know how Jess is Rev. She just makes some random thing that should be impossible without consulting history or theory at all.”

“I just pour a bit of will into a magical construct to make monsters. How does that relate to their origins?”

“Ambient mana will naturally pick up on the feelings of living things within it, and if there’s enough mana and emotion in the area, monsters will form naturally from that.”

“Oh. That doesn’t really explain why the two territories are so different though, Rev.”

“We’re using it all up. The enchantments we make continually collect mana from the environment for power and there just isn’t enough left to form natural monsters in Demi.”

What? Osia’s explanation is a little mind boggling to me. That’s like the opposite of pollution. Heavy magic based industry is actually making the land safer? This sounds too good to be true. I’m going to need to do some research on this. Maybe actually read some magic theory books.

***Author Note***

I’m gonna slow down the update rate to every other week for now. My writing speed isn’t high enough to maintain a chapter every week. :(