Chapter 2855: Demon Summoning

"Rejuvenation without a price? That's far better than a time curse. Vanessa, you actually encountered such a good thing?"

This was what the Duchess said when the little Witch went to visit her while she was bedridden. She wasn't teasing; she was genuinely envious. After handing the teacup to Difa, who was beside the bed, she continued while stroking her own face:

"Why didn't I run into something like this? Look at you, Vanessa. Not only are you the first Witch among us to advance from the twelfth tier, but now you've become the youngest Witch of our generation... and you're actually unhappy about it?"

Thus, the Witch of the Earth herself didn't know what kind of emotion she should maintain.

It just so happened that today was Monday, so Xia De planned to visit the Forest Elf to collect his gift while also performing the ritual in the woodland.

Normally, demon summoning rituals need to be completed in the dead of night, and many even strictly require midnight. But after the modified "safe version" of the ritual by Doctor Shi Nai De, it could be completed within two hours around noon, which was why Xia De dared to actually attempt it.

The commotion caused by the high-ring sorcerers did not affect the life of the Elf Miss, who took care of the unicorns and chocobos in the woodland. No matter how special she was, she was still far from the thirteenth ring, and Xia De highly suspected she also had enough time resistance to be immune to such effects.

"I wonder how Emilia is doing now."

When he saw the Elf Miss teasing a unicorn from afar in the woods, Xia De sighed again.

Behind him, in addition to the four "pure maidens" who were going to help with the ritual, there were more than ten mid-ring girls and three high-ring girls.

Vanessa followed closely behind Xia De, her large braid tied up so that the ends reached almost behind her knees. She had changed into a well-fitting little dress, though it wasn't provided by A Jie Li Na; although A Jie Li Na's height couldn't compare to Princess Lei Qianya's, she was at least 1.6 meters tall.

The dress she wore was conjured by Fu Luo La, who had used transformation magic to shrink normal women's clothing. At the time, Fu Luo La had probably struggled to hold back her laughter.

And although the sharp-eared Elf seemed to stay away from any faction, she also knew about the commotion this morning, and even knew that Grandma Qi Sha La had not been affected.

When Xia De invited the younger Vanessa to collect this week's gift, the Elf smiled and asked Xia De:

"Everyone has experienced their own childhood, and many people miss those carefree days, but why is it that once people really turn from adults into children, they become unhappy and troubled?"

"Because the joy of childhood stems from ignorance of the hardships of life. Once one grows into an adult and understands more about life, what people actually miss is not that age, but the mindset of not worrying about the present and the future."

Xia De tried to explain. The blonde girl, sitting on a wooden chair on the platform outside the treehouse with her feet unable to fully touch the ground, stuffed what she was holding into Xia De's hand with an unhappy face:

"You should give this to A Jie Li Na Ka Wen Di Shi instead."

The "gift" she received was a palm-sized doll that could be dressed up. The doll's craftsmanship was exceptionally fine; its head, waist, and limb joints all had pivots, allowing it to move. The golden hair seemed to be made of real human hair, and the clothes it wore were genuine silk products—toys that only girls from noble families could possess.

As for the price of obtaining this "gift," Vanessa needed to give this gift or another toy she cherished to someone else within this week, which was why she stuffed the doll into Xia De's hand.

Moreover, she felt that this toy would make her feel even more uncomfortable when she recalled this incident years later.

After the joke, the Elf girl recommended a location where the ritual could be performed. After leaving the treehouse, the group continued to walk through this "woodland area that cannot be walked out of" under Xia De's lead. After passing a tree hollow hiding an ancient god statue, they saw the clearing the Elf had mentioned.

This clearing was not formed in the dense forest for artificial reasons, but even the Elf girl couldn't explain why only this place was bare.

"You don't need to figure out everything in this forest."

That was what she said at the time.

The time was 9:30 AM, very close to the two-hour window around noon, so everyone hurried to set up the ritual.

As for why Xia De brought so many people, it was to set up divine rituals on the periphery of the demon summoning ritual to "purify evil" and "imprison negative energy," in order to prevent the demon summoning ritual from ending in an uncontrollable mess.

Because of this, the peripheral ritual setup was actually much more complex than the ritual provided by Doctor Shi Nai De.

"Actually, using human blood directly is fine; the official authorities even have legal channels to obtain human blood."

As Xia De thawed the prepared frozen sheep blood, the 1.5-meter-tall blonde Witch said from the side. She was the only one who didn't have to do anything; she just needed to cooperate with Xia De in a while.

"We must try to minimize the impact of this ritual... the sacrifice, let me find it."

The "Wish Demon" itself did not belong to the type of demon that particularly needed flesh and blood, so the sacrifice to summon it should have been something related to the soul, or at least a "cherished object," such as jewelry worn since childhood or the hair of a favorite person.

But the doctor didn't let Xia De provide real human hair or cat fur. He knew that Xia De had the 【Demon · Soul Stealer Bishop】 card from the Moon 9 set in his deck. This card was perfect as a ritual sacrifice, and the doctor guaranteed that the sacrifice could be taken back after use.

In short, human blood was replaced with sheep blood, the sacrifice was a Luo De Pai card, and although the ritual base was still in the shape of an inverted pentagram, a circle was drawn around the outside of the pentagram using 【Night Watcher】 to enclose it as a whole. Then, sheep blood was continued to be filled into the circular grooves on the ground, with about five percent of No. 3 Holy Water added according to the doctor's instructions.

After everything was ready, especially after confirming that the other rituals on the periphery were fine, Vanessa, Miss Beiya, Miss Si Wei Te, and Miss Xiao A Fu Luo La each put on black robes and hoods, then stood barefoot at the four points of the pentagram, holding identical candlesticks in their hands.

"Darkness Art!"

"Darkness Art!"

"Darkness Art!"

The dozen or so girls who followed cast spells together at the positions of the four people. Thus, the bright light in the woods gradually dimmed until only four eternal candles illuminated the surrounding deep darkness.

In this deep darkness, Xia De stood at the bottom point of the inverted pentagram with his Luo De Pai card. After bending down and placing it in the center of the pentagram, he chanted a passage in the demonic language that all the girls present couldn't understand, but all felt exceptionally uncomfortable after hearing.

The demonic language of the ancient era was itself a kind of "blasphemous whisper," and Xia De added the "true name" of the demon that the doctor possessed. If this weren't noon but actual midnight, what followed would probably be a scene from a traditional horror story.

The blasphemous language successfully activated the ritual. The light of the candles held by the pure girls quickly turned black. The red sheep blood on the ground, which was originally in a semi-coagulated state, all turned black after the summoning incantation was finished, and then became dried up.

A colorful mist suddenly surged from the ground beneath the Luo De Pai card. The colorful mist drifted high into the sky, and the phantom of a blue giant spirit appeared without warning above the ritual base within that mist:

"Who wants to have a wish granted... oh, it's you."

It had been more than half a year since they last met, and the demon was still the same as before. It floated high in the dark sky, arms crossed over its chest, not even looking at the others, just looking down at Xia De. The skin of its upper body was entirely blue, and it wore gold and jade jewelry on its fingers, arms, ears, and even nose, while its lower body was an amorphous colorful mist:

"It seems that not only can I not get the souls of these maidens, but I can't even get this sacrifice."

Although it looked quite arrogant, its tone when speaking was quite normal:

"Before you say the first word, I want to know, is it you looking for me, or is it that friend of yours looking for me?"

"I am looking for you through that friend of mine."

Seeing that the other party had no intention of attacking, Xia De did not signal everyone to activate the counter-ritual. He looked up at the giant spirit. The other party's projection state did not trigger too many whisper elements, and "Demon Sight" could only see shallow black marks:

"This time I still want to ask you some questions. Do you know my current location? I want to know about the things here."

"The ritual you set up has confused the time and space of this avatar of mine, so of course I cannot track you. You don't need to test me."

It waved its hand at Xia De:

"What exactly do you want to know?"

"I want to know about the Weisi Ta Woodland. You know about the Ancient One here, right? And you know how it 'distributes' tree hollows to the mortals here. You obtained the wisdom of Jin Si Lai; don't tell me you've forgotten this matter."

"Who is Jin Si Lai?"

The giant spirit asked curiously, then realized after thinking for a while:

"It's that interesting dragon beast from a few hundred years ago.

I really couldn't recall the name immediately. That transaction can be considered the best transaction I've made in the last thousand years. However, you want to know about that respected Ancient One..."

It revealed a smile:

"That is certainly possible, but this time it cannot be a request without a price; this is you making a wish to me."

"I will not make a wish to a devil, no matter what you say, I will not."

Xia De shook his head decisively and brought out the doctor's rhetoric:

"You tell me the answer, and I will give you 4-mark relic-level 【Gluttony】 sin."

Last autumn in the Sin Mansion, it was by relying on 4-mark relic-level Sloth sin that Xia De obtained the 【Sloth】 spirit rune. He only had a total of a little over 10 marks of Gluttony sin—as of last autumn, so this was a truly grand gesture:

"It is not you and I trading; it is I trading with you. The terms of the trade will be drafted by me, and if necessary, my friend can come to act as a notary."