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nThrough the deepest area of the Devil Forest, an entity gathered demi-human-type monsters around the settlements of abandoned ruins.

nThe ruins had been abandoned for hundreds of years, which made the thick amount of Mana flowing through the Devil Forest transform the settlements into a small dungeon, where monsters from Rank 2 to 6 would be born.

nThese ruins, although unknown by many of its inhabitants, were the sealing place of a Demon God that was defeated by the Dark Gods army in the Ragnarök.

nDemon Gods, unlike the Bright Gods and Dark Gods that were born naturally from the corpse of the Great Bright God Anir and the Great Dark God Kelsus, were originally born as monsters that increased their ranks to the point that they were considered as strong as other gods, some even obtaining new powers and abilities akin to gods.

nSome also call these entities 'Monster Gods'.

nDemon Gods or Monster Gods were an essential force in the fight against the Bright Gods in the Ragnarök, however, not all of them decided to help the Dark Gods. Some had different intentions, such as gathering, and creating their factions to fight against the two main factions (The Dark Gods and the Bright Gods).

nAmongst the Demon Gods, it was said that there were outstanding individuals that led many of the same kin through tyrannical strength, wanting to take over Kritias by themselves instead of obeying or serving the Dark Gods or Bright Gods.

nAlthough it was rare for any Demon God to serve Bright Gods, as the Bright Gods saw them as filthy creatures that should not call themselves Gods but monsters.

nIn the middle of the Ragnarök, while the two factions of gods were weakened, these factions of Demon Gods decided to strike, and several of them ended up betraying the Dark Gods.

nDue to this, the Ragnarök extended for many years, until a conclusion finally came after the death of many gods, from all factions. Although the original gods did not die, many of the ones they created through raising mortals' souls such as those of humans, elves, dwarves, beast-people, and demons, perished, leaving deep holes in the strength of both factions.

nAs both factions ended up retreating, many of the 'original gods' (the ones created at the beginning of Kritias) fell into slumber due to the great wounds they were inflicted with.

nWith both factions' leaders resting and recovering, the remnant Demon Gods that survived or decided to escape had more liberties in what they could do.

nSuch as an entity sealed centuries ago in these ruins, awakened after the ruins converted into a dungeon.

nIt was too weakened though, but with its influence and strange abilities, it managed to control monsters and create creatures similar to his original race, Gazers.

nGazers are a species of monsters that are extremely rare on the Human Continent, they have the appearances of large, person-sized floating eyes with tentacles, some are often covered in scales for extra protection, and others have even more eyes in their tentacles, depending in how high their Rank is, they can reach greater sizes.

nTheir base Rank is 4, and they can grow stronger quickly by taking over the minds of other monsters, hypnotizing them, and creating armies.

nAlthough they were not strong physically and could not use any type of martial skill, they held strong magic capabilities.

nAfter many generations, a High Gazer King was then born amidst the large group of offspring that this sealed Demon God created, and as it developed its abilities, it slowly used its influence and mental encroachment skill to brainwash the minds of monsters and manipulated them through its authority.

nObeying the will of its master and creator, the High Gazer King took control of the varied amount of demi-human-type monster tribes that inhabited the Devil Forest.

nThe Lizardmen that lived near ponds and the swamp were one of the first to succumb to them, often seen as a peaceful race of monsters with their own primitive cultures, they became bloodthirsty due to the High Gazer King's brainwashing, which awakened their inner bestial desires.

nSuch abilities to manipulate the minds of monsters were strengthened even further when the High Gazer King obtained the blessing of its creator, the Demon God of Hypnotizing Eyes, Oggoth.

nFinally finding a worthy successor to his ambitions, Oggoth commanded his 'child' and slowly built the army of monsters that he wanted to create. If he could take over the entire Devil Forest and obtained many followers, their faith and sacrifices would bring him strength, enough to finally break through his seal.

nThe existence of beast-people and demons living in the Devil Forest seemed like a plus for Oggoth, the more the merrier for him. Even if his army had to use brute force, even if they had to cut all of the beast-people limbs so they could not escape and then be brainwashed to worship him through the rest of their lives, he was fine with it.

nIndeed, Oggoth only had in mind freeing himself from this annoying seal, which was inflicted upon him by a Dark God, who discovered that Oggoth was a traitor and quickly disposed of him before it was to be too late.

nIf things were to go as Oggoth had planned, he would form such a massive army that even the Duchy of Sapphira and the surrounding duchies would be in danger… thousands of Rank 3 and above monsters rushing to the duchies would ultimately end in their destruction. Even more when such armies were being led by Gazers that had managed to reach Rank 6 and 7, with the High Gazer King being as high as Rank 8.

nOnly an A-Rank adventurer party would be capable of defeating such an army… but that was only when the boost on the monster stats granted by Oggoth's blessing and the High Gazer King's 'Strengthen Followers' were not put into consideration.

nThen, an S-Rank Adventurer would have to step in… but such a strong superhuman was rare, even amongst entire Kingdoms. S-Rank Adventurers were superhuman amongst superhumans that had gone through many Job Changes, had many Unique Skills, and awakened their abilities multiple times.

nOggoth was confident that if things go as planned, he would be able to conquer the nearby duchies of Humans and gather even more brainwashed followers for him to grow stronger and breakthrough his seal. Even more now that the Bright and Dark Gods were resting after such an arduous war.

nAlthough the Rabbit-kin were the first ones to have been captured by the Lizardmen, large Goblin tribes were brought through the week, alongside a tribe of Orcs surpassing one hundred individuals.

nOggoth and the High Gazer King were now aiming towards the Squirrel-kin beast-women tribe, which was said to have over one hundred individuals as well. Oggoth planned to use these women to produce large quantities of offspring with Orcs and Goblins who had incredibly fast reproductive cycles.

nIf he were capable of gathering even more intelligent monsters capable of understanding faith and worshiping him, he would easily cut the amount of time that it would take for him to free himself.

nThere were also the Ghoul Tribes, which separated into four, each one being above one hundred individuals, and the two Racoon-kin Beast-people Tribes as well, which were just as large.

nOggoth could not simply control some Giant Rats and tell them to worship them, faith and worship could only be done by highly intelligent monsters capable of having beliefs, this is why these tribes of beast-people and demons were appetizing to him.

nThe Demon God used the Rabbit-kin women captured in the previous raid to produce more Orcs and Goblins. Lizardmen, who were reptiles, were incapable of having offspring with mammals such as beast-people, but Orcs and Goblins were more than capable of creating offspring with Rabbit-kin. On the other side, Kobolds had females in their species, so they were able to reproduce within themselves, however, compared to Orcs and Goblins, they were slower.

nOggoth was capable of awakening instincts in monsters, so Orcs and Goblins would always be in mating season, and Beast-people was also influenced by his powers to an extent, ovulating quickly and always giving birth to monster children instead of rabbit-kin, which could happen accidentally if he hasn't taken such precautions.

nUnlike beast-people, Orcs and Goblins grew incredibly fast, only taking a few weeks to fully mature, begging to worship Oggoth almost immediately.

nGazer was born rather slowly, as they were hermaphrodite species that laid eggs every few years. So, they were not as convenient and fast as Orcs and Goblins.

nHaving decided on his next course of actions, Oggoth commanded the High Gazer King, to move a large army of armed Orcs, Kobolds, Goblins, and Lizardmen.

nOggoth was aware that he could not sacrifice all of his soldiers in one go, so he decided to slowly detriment the Squirrel-kin tribe by sending small armies to capture the beast-women one by one.

nAn army of around thirty was good enough for now in his opinion. Slowly diminishing them in a battle of attrition was the best tactic in his opinion, especially when the Squirrel-kin were not as strong as Orcs and Kobolds physically, and although they had outstanding mages, they were often rare.

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"Move, my pawns… gather more faith for me, so I can one day free myself from this prison! If things go as planned… I should be able to break through the seal in about a year. If I can grow strong enough through all this belief, I could even create my own Nation of Monsters and gather even more faith, and after many years, even rival the Dark and Bright Gods! If they even clash against each other again, I shall strike them by surprise and devour them when they least expect it!

" laughed Oggoth through the deepest part of the dungeon.

nFor such plans to succeed, he would need to persevere for many years, centuries perhaps, it could be said that he had very long-term plans, without even thinking that his plans could one day fail at all.

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