Prologue

Located at the western edge of the Kingdom of Lyferia could be found the front-lines of the races—the Stronghold City of Faltra. A sprawl of steep mountain ranges could be found to its north, while the south contained the vast Seplia Lake. The expansive forest that spread along the eastern side of this lake was called the 《Eastern Lakefront Forest》. This forest was located southeast of the city of Faltra. Unlike the much more dangerous west side, this location still fell under the territory of the races. The chance of running into monsters or Fallen was slim, with rarely any appearances from large wild beasts.

In this world, it was a place used regularly for hunting by the townspeople. In the game, however, it was a place for players who had finally managed to arrive at Faltra to grind out levels and experience.

Lyferian Calendar: Month 6, Day 8, Year 164—

Diablo and the others arrived at the Eastern Lakefront Forest. It had been a week since he fought the Elves and Galford nearby. Diablo had made a complete recovery since then, both physically and in terms of his MP.

Beams of sunlight streamed through the spaces in the trees; birds were chirping; the air was filled with the smell of grass and earth.

Diablo stood with his back leaned up against a tree, staring at Rem and Shera. Shera was drawing something in the white sand on the ground.

“Is this all right?”

“...It’s a bit messy... But since this is your first one, we’ll say it’s fine.” Though she was frowning, Rem still gave her approval.

“Oh, you.” Shera waved her hand in front of her face dismissively. “This isn’t my first time! Diablo was my first Summon, so this will be my second one.”

“...I was the one who drew the summoning circle back then,” Rem sighed.

Rem Galleu was a small, lithe Pantherian girl. The panther ears on her head, the long tail she sported, and the hair that extended down to her waist were all a glossy black color. Normally, Pantherians had orange hair and amber-colored tails, but Rem was different. She was one of the rare few Pantherians who boasted black fur. She also sported an Enslavement Collar wrapped around her neck.

Her face, while still youthful in appearance, was a stunning sight to behold as well. Her slanted, cat-like eyes and tightly drawn lips worked to show the strength of her will. She was giving instructions to Shera, a fledgling Summoner herself.

Shera L. Greenwood was an Elf who was endowed with long, well-proportioned arms and legs, and a slender body. Her hair was the color of melted gold, while her eyes were a cerulean blue that matched the color of the ocean itself. She was a member of the race said to be the closest to the Celestials themselves—and a princess to boot. Though that may not be the reason why, Shera’s chest, which should normally be much more reserved in size (due to her being an Elf), was instead quite bountiful. She was only wearing a normal hunter’s outfit, yet it still managed to emphasize her cleavage, which almost seemed ready to burst free from the fabric.

“Um...so first, I just have to put the crystal in the middle of the circle, right?”

“...Be careful not to step on any of the lines.”

“I know, I kn— Ah?!”

“.........”

“I-It’s okay! We’re good!” Shera tried to brush off her mistake with a nervous laugh.

As she bent forward, focusing on her work, her chest jiggled as she moved. Before he knew it, Diablo found himself staring. He hurried to avert his gaze.

—A Demon Lord would never let his gaze wander to a girl’s cleavage!

Diablo had the appearance of a man with two ominous horns sprouting from the top of his head. His race was that of a Demon, with his face and body covered in tattoo-like marks. He proclaimed himself to be a “Demon Lord from Another World” when he was first summoned to this one. However, his arrogance and overflowing self-confidence was all just an act. In reality, it was only his Demon Lord role-play that allowed him to speak in any capacity whatsoever.

“Hmph... Even though elemental magic is stronger than any Summon.”

“But that’s because you’re special!” Shera pouted.

“...Even if we were to use Elemental magic, it would not be as powerful as your spells,” Rem agreed with Shera. “Most likely, we would not be able to defeat Fallen the way you do. Besides, Summons become shields when it comes time to do battle.”

“Well, whatever. Just hurry up and get this ritual over with. No matter what power you may obtain, what matters is how you use it in battle.”

“Yeah!” Shera happily nodded.

There was a drawing in the sand by her feet with layers and layers of circles. Symbols and numbers were inscribed within them.

Rem began her lecture anew:

“Listen, and listen well: Each component of this circle has meaning. It regulates the flow of magic, and is the key to causing a clear and distinct phenomenon to manifest in this world.”

“Uh-huh.”

“...The important things to focus on are the time, place, magic circle, incantation, and, most important of all, the magical power and concentration of the caster. A combination of all these elements allows you to perform 《Ritual Magic》, with the ritual magic you are trying to use now being 《Summon Magic》.”

“Seems like a pretty big pain in the butt, huh...”

“...This is the most rudimentary of the basics for this magic. When using Summons, it is possible to call them by throwing crystals, or even by 《Chanting》 a spell, like how an Elemental Sorcerer does with their magic. Ritual magic, however, requires a decent amount of preparation beforehand. While I’m on the subject, using a magic circle to perform spells is formally called 《Rune Magic》. It isn’t suited for combat situations, so you will not find many Adventurers using it. However, for traps found in dungeons—”

“Zzz...”

“...No sleeping.” Rem smacked Shera on the head.

—So that’s how it works...

Diablo made a note of this in the “Cross Reverie Other-World Ver. Strategy Guide” in his head.

In the game, players would only see ritual magic and magic circles in cutscenes. They never actually got a chance to use them for themselves. So even though you would see it in those cutscenes, it was the first time for him to see all the specific details that went into preparing the ritual. Since the time and labor that went into ritual magic took longer than any other method, you could expect a much bigger result as well.

Shera stood in front of the magic circle, with Rem giving her instructions.

“...While this might be a bit difficult to wrap your head around—using a ritual to summon a being from another world is called ritual magic. Once the Summon appears, the 《Enslavement Ritual》 is used to force it into the service of the Summoner. Doing this allows the Summon to turn into a crystal.”

“Now that you mention it, Diablo can’t turn into a crystal, can he?”

“That is because he appears to be a Demon Lord from another world... Not only that, but the Enslavement Ritual reflected off of him as well.”

“Then, are we the ones who are gonna turn into crystals?!”

“...Though I have not tried it, I have never heard of any of the races successfully pulling off a crystallization. In terms of magic, I would say crystallization is something similar to the Enslavement Collars in that regard. Perhaps it is best to think of it as one of the Summon’s abilities.”

“Having the Summon out of crystal form causes the Summoner to constantly lose magic power. Tell me: Is our magic power being drained by having Diablo with us?”

“Ah, I guess not, huh.”

“From that, we can discern Diablo is a Demon Lord, and not a Summon—though the fact that I am his master remains unchangeable truth.”

There they went again, arguing over which one of them actually summoned him. He had become used to this by now, and the girls eventually got back on topic.

In his mind, Diablo breathed a sigh of relief. Right after he had been summoned to this world, he had stressed over whether he was going to be turned into a crystal or not. The truth was that Diablo wasn’t an actual Demon Lord from another world—that was all just an act. He was just your ordinary game addict. But it was too embarrassing to admit that now. It was a secret he would have to keep hidden.

“Calling forth a Summon in crystal form is also called ‘Summon Magic,’” Rem continued her explanation. “This means that the enslavement process and the act of using the Summon are both the same type of magic.”

“I getcha, I getcha. It’s like how when we say ‘grabbing a bite to eat,’ it can mean going to a restaurant, or physically putting food in your mouth.”

“...You seem to have a decent grasp on the concept, considering it’s you.”

Shera puffed out her chest with a triumphant chuckle. “Then here I go! I’m going to try using Summon magic!”

“All right... First, start by infusing the circle with magic energy.”

“OK! Hiyaaaah!”

“...We can do without the shouting, thanks.”

“Hm... Now that I think about it, I practiced this on you, didn’t I, Rem?” A mischievous grin on her face, Shera wiggled her fingers as she made grabbing motions with her hands.

“I-If you’re going to bring up dumb things like that, then I won’t teach you!” Rem’s face flushed bright red.

Diablo blushed as he remembered what the girls had done when they were messing around the other evening. He cleared his throat to try and cover up his embarrassment.

“Just get on with it already! I’m a busy Demon Lord—I don’t have all day!”

In reality, there were no quests for them to do, so most of his time was spent lazing around in their room at the inn, but...

Shera nodded.

“All right, then here I go! Again!”

She placed her hands near the circle—as if she had thrown a lit match onto oil, the drawing in the sand burst into emerald green flames; but it gave off no heat.

—So this is what they call a “torrent” of magical energy...

“...As a race, Elves carry the elemental property of Wind... But it seems Shera’s magical energy might be more suited for the Fire element,” Rem said.

This caught Diablo’s interest. He had been so addicted to fantasy MMOs that it had pretty much thrown his life out of whack. These were the kinds of conversations he thrived on.

“Are the beings of this world given a specific elemental property at birth?”

“Yes... However, if one were to experience something that changed the way they thought, then it would be possible for their element to change as well. From what I can gather, I think the state of one’s mind has an effect on one’s magic energy. Those with extreme dispositions, for example, tend to carry the Fire element.”

“Extreme dispositions?”

Shera, who always had a happy-go-lucky smile on her face, did not give off even the slightest impression of being “extreme” anything.

“...She gave up her status as princess and left her family and home behind as she embarked on a journey by herself. The only thing I can think to call that is ‘extreme.’”

“Hm, I guess that is true. Then what about yourself?”

“...I would be ‘Earth.’ All Pantherians start off carrying this element, but the reason I carry it now is because of my persevering nature.”

“So I see...”

—Shera had left Greenwood to be free, so that extreme nature of hers granted her the property of “Fire.” Rem’s perseverance on the other hand, as she endured being a cage for the soul of the Demon Lord Krebskulm, granted her “Earth.”

“Then from what you can tell, what would I be?”

“...What?”

“Ah, well... Of course, I am a Demon Lord, so I cannot be measured by any of the scales used by the races... But I am interested in hearing how those inferior to myself see me. Go on, give me your analysis. I shall allow it.”

What he really meant was: “I am so dang curious to hear your elemental diagnosis, Dr. Rem”—but a Demon Lord asking others what they thought of him would be pretty lame, which is why he pressed her using his arrogant Demon Lord role-play.

Rem settled deep into thought.

“...Demons have the element of ‘Darkness.’ Ah, I am fully aware that you are a Demon Lord, but your appearance is similar to that of a Demon, so your element might be similar as well. Thinking back to how the mirror turned black when you had your level diagnosed at the Adventurer’s Guild, perhaps it is safe to say you are a Dark-elemental.”

“True.”

—Demon Lords are all about darkness. If she had said I was a different element, that would kinda ruin the image I’m going for.

“...But, as for what ‘Darkness’ reveals about a person... I believe it would be ‘deception.’”

“...What’s this now?”

“It’s possible you could be hiding some big secret, or... Actually, never mind. In the end, this is nothing more than simple fortune-telling. After all, trying to classify something as complex as a person’s heart into one of six categories is just unreasonable.” Rem smiled, seemingly embarrassed.

Calm and composed, Diablo gave a short chuckle in response. On the inside, however, his heart was pounding as he panicked over whether she had seen through his act.

Cutting off their conversation, he looked back toward Shera. She was focused intently on pouring magic energy into the circle.

“...Though I hate to admit it, Shera seems to have a talent for this.” Rem nodded. “It’s her first time, but the gate to the other world is remaining stable.”

“What kind of Summon is she calling?”

“That all depends on her luck.”

“Hm...”

—So it’s all a gacha, just like the game...

Diablo often heard stories of players who had spent hours toiling for materials to perform the summoning ritual, only to end up calling forth a low-rank Summon. On the strategy wiki, you would always see comments like, “It’s not showing up;” “I have a better chance of finding Bigfoot;” or “I don’t think they even put it in the game,” in the comment sections for the rarer Summons.

Rem leaned forward: “It’s here.”

The gale-force wind coiled around, scattering the magic circle and the now pale blue flames that covered it. White sand danced in the air, blocking their vision. On the other side of the debris—the silhouette of a Summon.

“I did it!!” Shera shouted in victory.

†

It was a Summon about the size of a basketball. It almost looked like a plump, rotund turkey. It had black feathers on its body, and fan-like tail feathers. It flapped its wings, leisurely keeping itself airborne. Its round black eyes sparkled continuously.

“...That would be a 《Turkey Shot》,” Rem sighed.

“It’s so cute! This is exactly what I wanted!!” Shera smiled ear-to-ear, completely overjoyed.

“...This could be just right for your first practice.”

“Really? What kind of Summon is this?”

“...To put it bluntly, it is not very powerful. In fact, it may be one of the weakest kinds of Wind-elemental Summons. It’s on the same level as a 《Wind Spirit》—though judging it purely in terms of combat prowess, it is inferior in almost every way.”

“Whaaaat?!”

“It possesses the ‘Synchro Sight’ skill, an ability that allows you to see everything the Summon sees.”

“That’s pretty useful, right?”

“I’m fairly certain it can be used for things like reconnaissance... It takes magic power to activate the skill, so it can’t be used for long periods of time. It might come in handy if you get lost or something.”

“Sounds haaard.” Shera looked a bit dejected.

Rem shrugged. “There are many kinds of Summons, but in the end it’s the sturdiest ones with the highest attack power that are strong.”

“Oh...”

“What are you going to do? There isn’t any reason for you to go through with the Enslavement Ritual...”

“Nah. This Summon came all this way just for me, so I’ll make a contract with it.”

Shera reached into the pouch at her waist and produced a pure white gem. Diablo cocked his head to the side; he had never seen anything like it in the game before.

“And that is?”

“Hm? I don’t really know myself, but apparently you need it for this.”

“...I just explained this to you yesterday.” Rem scowled at Shera’s response. “This is a 《Binding Crystal》. You use this for the Enslavement Ritual.”

“Oh yeah, that! I-I remembered, honest!”

—These kinds of things exist, too? Cross Reverie never even had an “Enslavement Ritual”... Was it redundant to implement from a gameplay standpoint, so they just cut it out?

Or, there could be another reason for it: The “Enslavement Ritual” used to subjugate Summons seems to share similar qualities to the 《Enslavement Magic》 used to enslave other races. It most likely takes Binding Crystals to make slaves as well.

Anything related to slavery in the game had been completely removed.

Rem offered Diablo a white stone.

“...I know you have no interest in Summons, Diablo, but it might be useful when it comes to researching how to remove the collars around our necks. I think it would be good for a Sorcerer like yourself to at least have one on hand.”

“True, it wouldn’t hurt to have,” Diablo said, taking the binding crystal.

Shera uttered a short incantation:

“...By the name of Shera L. Greenwood, I command you: Heed my call. Give yourself unto me, and obey me.”

Opening her thin, cherry blossom colored lips, she put the white crystal into her mouth. The Summon descended to the ground, still enough to make one think it was sleeping. Shera placed her lips upon the Summon’s head. Faint red sparkles trickled from her lips; the binding crystal had turned into pure light.

Shera stared intensely at the Summon. A black light started to gather around the Turkey Shot’s neck, and a dull, low-pitched hum reverberated in their ears. A loud clank followed, as if something was being locked by a key. It was the same thing that had happened when the enslavement collars were put on Rem and Shera; but the collar on the Turkey Shot was smaller, and made to fit perfectly around its tiny neck. Because of its thick plumage, the collar was mostly hidden from view.

Eyes sparkling, Shera excitedly looked over toward Rem and Diablo.

“It was a success.” Rem nodded.

“Yay! I did it!!”

“Hehe... Thank goodness the spell wasn’t reflected back at you this time.”

“Bleh... I don’t wanna be enslaved by a Turkey Shot!”

The air was filled with the girls’ laughter. Diablo couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across his face as he listened to them.

Diablo suddenly remembered something he had read on the strategy wiki.

“Now, about that Turkey Shot... With him and your bow, you two might just make an interesting combination.”

“Huh...?”

“If this were an FPS, you would be a sniper, while it would be your UAV. I read you could use it like that on the wiki, and—”

“Huh? What??”

Both Shera and Rem looked thoroughly confused—but of course they would; there was no way they would have ever heard of those terms before. He decided to redo his explanation.

—What can be done in the game can’t necessarily be done in this world, though...

Putting some distance between himself and the girls, he placed a coin in the grass.

“Can you see the coin from there?”

“Nope?”

“Then try sending out your Summon.”

With a nod, Shera began to concentrate.

“Um... Go and take a look, Turkey Shot!”

Heeding her command, the Summon flapped its wings and took to the air. It did seem a bit dull-minded—but even if it happened to be shot out of the air, the Summoner would not take any damage.

Shera’s eyes opened wide. “Wow, I’m flying! —Ah, I see it!”

“If you know where it is, then that means you can hit it with your arrows, correct?”

“Leave it to me!”

In one fluid motion, she pulled an arrow out from behind her back and nocked it into her bow. It didn’t even seem like she took aim as she released the arrow from the bowstring with a twang. It traced an arc in the air, falling down near Diablo—right where the coin laid in the undergrowth. It pierced straight through the center.

“I got it!”

“Good work!”

Back in the game, you weren’t able to target anything out of your line of sight. By using Turkey Shot to expand your field of vision, you could mark targets to attack from the air. Even back in the real world, as long as you knew where your target was, all that was left was how skilled you were with the bow.

“What’s this...?!” Rem exclaimed in surprise. “I never thought it could be used that way... As to be expected from you, Diablo. Though you say you have come from another world, you are much more knowledgeable about these things than we are.”

“Heh, it’s something you could figure out if you just think it over. I am a Demon Lord, after all.”

In reality, this was just something he had remembered seeing on the wiki. Cross Reverie had hundreds of thousands of players. With that many people, there were bound to be some more eccentric players out there, too—specifically ones who had gone through a series of trial-and-error to see if Turkey Shot, a Summon everyone viewed as a failure, could actually be useful in some way.

But Diablo was in awe of something else—

Shera’s proficiency with a bow was no joke.

—I can’t believe she managed to pierce the coin, especially after how lackadaisical she looked when she shot the arrow. Shera’s level as an Archer must be pretty dang high.

He pulled the arrow out from the ground. The coin had been split clean in half.

Shera ran over to them. “Thanks, Diablo! At first, I thought that I got the short end of the Summon stick... But I’m really liking this little guy!”

“S-So I see...” Diablo wasn’t used to being thanked like this. He averted his gaze to hide his embarrassment.

“Ehehe, I’m gonna train a bunch more and get my level up!”

“Hm.”

“...Training is all well and good... But with this method, wouldn’t the only thing going up be your level as an Archer?”

Shera seemed to be in shock in the face of Rem’s pointed comeback.