“What are they doing?”
Shekina, who was watching the twins and Dehan playing through the window, chuckled and murmured.
Snowballs the size of heads were flying back and forth. Whether this could actually be called a snowball fight was uncertain…
Anyway, seeing them playing like that, they were unmistakably children. All three of them were just five-year-old novices, after all.
“It’s hard to believe that those kids will later be known as the crazy brothers.”
The twins she had seen and heard about in her past six lives were vastly different from the ones now. The twins in the previous lives were nothing short of mad dogs.
‘I don’t know what’s changed this time around.’
Shekina shrugged. It couldn’t be that her presence alone had caused such a huge impact…
‘Dehan has changed a lot too.’
It wasn’t hard to deduce why he had changed. He had faced hardships much earlier this time. His village had been annihilated.
‘It must have been Lucifer’s doing.’
Shekina swallowed a bitter smile.
The protagonist growing through someone’s sacrifice was too cliché. Lucifer seemed to have read too many old novels.
Shekina vowed to finish off Lucifer, who not only killed her multiple times but also massacred the villagers.
‘First, I’ll go to the capital and clear the dungeon to help the Demon King.’
In the process, she needed to uncover the truth behind the Crown Prince’s death—that the royal family was in league with black magic. Only then could they cut off the royal family, which was like the right arm of the temple.
Once Lucifer was dealt with step by step, the real quest, <Towards the Destruction Ending of the Game!>, could be completed.
‘I need to regain my strength quickly, both the Demon King and the demons…’
Shekina narrowed her eyes and suddenly stood up.
“Meow!”
Sera, who was curled up on Shekina’s thigh, jumped up in surprise and yelled.
– Why did you get up so suddenly? I feel very comfortable lying over there!
“I’m not your bed, you know?”
– Hmph. If you decided to take me in, you should serve me properly. It’s your duty!
“If you keep this up, I’ll send you off to Calvin.”
– …….
Sera raised her tail high and puffed up, then folded her ears back and licked her pink paw pads.
– What’s going on? You look like you’re in a hurry.
“I’m going out.”
– Why?
“I have something to check.”
Sera tilted her head in confusion. What could possibly be so important to check outside in this cold weather? It was best to just doze off together in front of the warm fireplace.
Shekina didn’t want to go out in the cold either, but she couldn’t hesitate. Once something came to her mind, she had to do it immediately, and she felt she couldn’t miss this opportunity.
“I’m going to open the portal to the Demon Realm.”
Shekina grinned and made a light gesture with her hand.
“Since we’re far from our territory, there’s no harm if we sense some demonic energy here, right?”
The reason they couldn’t easily use the Demon Realm portal before was because of the leakage of demonic energy. But now they were far from the margrave’s territory, and there were no watchers around, so it was the perfect time.
“If there’s something we can extract, we have to extract it.”
Shekina’s eyes sparkled.
***
The last time she opened the Demon Realm portal was when she discovered Lucifer’s existence and realized that Yurian had been manipulated by him.
She didn’t know what she was thinking when she opened the portal then.
It was a risky move that could have been discovered by the priests.
But fortunately, nothing happened that time. She didn’t know why. Maybe someone blocked the demonic energy from leaking.
Anyway, Shekina had not used the Demon Realm portal since then, but now things were different.
Now, Shekina was in a remote village far from the margrave’s territory. Moreover, this was still the northern region, where monsters emerged.
Even if demonic energy is felt here, the priests wouldn’t be able to suspect anything specific.
‘It’s fortunate that Yuriel is also asleep.’
Even if demonic energy is detected while they are asleep, it can be excused as the work of the monsters.
Thinking this, Shekina smirked.
“Activate the Demon Realm portal.”
As soon as she said this, her vision darkened. A large sphere filled with darkness appeared in front of Shekina. But she wasn’t surprised. It was a familiar sensation.
Soon, her vision gradually returned. Though the darkness remained, she began to see what was inside it.
Thud, thud!
She saw massive monsters moving around. Shekina thought she could never get used to it, even though she had seen them before.
‘The concentration of demonic energy seems denser than before.’
Shekina squinted her eyes and leaned her face closer into the portal.
“It would be great if the demons could consume this demonic energy.”
Recalling Arthur’s words that demons who can’t consume demonic energy are always starving, Shekina clicked her tongue and pondered.
“Come to think of it…”
Shekina had been looking for black spinel to counter the elders.
Black spinel is a unique gemstone that can contain demonic energy.
What if he put that gemstone in the Demon Realm and then took it out?
In other words, if she gave the demons this high-purity demonic energy contained in the gemstone…
‘Wouldn’t they regain their strength?’
Shekina’s eyes sparkled.
Given the current situation, it would be difficult to confront Lucifer. Lucifer uses black magic, and the Demon King had his powers sealed because of him. The demons were also expelled from the Demon Realm and couldn’t exert their full strength.
‘If I give them spinels filled with demonic energy, they will become much stronger.’
Then there would be no need to worry about Lucifer or anything beyond that.
‘I need to find spinels right away.’
After the trip to the capital, she now had a destination.
“Wow, this is great. It feels so good.”
With that thought imprinted in her mind, Shekina tried to lift her head from the sphere. Or rather, she tried to.
“Hmm?”
Shekina’s eyes widened.
There was no way she could have expected this.
All the monsters inside the Demon Realm were turning their heads towards her and staring at her.
“Are they looking at me?”
Shekina moved her body around.
Whenever she moved, the monsters’ heads would turn this way and that, following her.
“Why are they…?”
These creatures didn’t even notice her presence last time she opened the portal. Why were they suddenly staring at her?
Moreover, weren’t these monsters supposed to be mindless beings, stripped of all intellect and emotion?
So why…
At that moment,
“Raaaah!”
“Graaah!”
From the far end, the monsters’ cries began, spreading forward like a wave. The monsters in the front row raised their arms as if trying to reach Shekina.
“Oh, oh no?”
Shekina tried to pull away from the sphere, but a monster had already grabbed her wrist, making it impossible.
“Hey, hey! Wait! Let go of me!”
She struggled hard, but a three-year-old human couldn’t possibly match the strength of a monster. Shekina’s body began to be dragged in.
“Aaaah! Why is this happening!”
Hadn’t all summoned monsters obeyed her commands before? So why weren’t these monsters listening? Why were they grabbing her? Cold sweat trickled down Shekina’s back, but she couldn’t afford to hesitate.
‘I need to activate the summoning technique.’
That way, she could control these monsters.
Thinking this, a summoning circle appeared on Shekina’s palm, just as her body was halfway through the sphere.
“Shekina!”
Suddenly, Shekina’s body was yanked up into the air.
