The Black Necromancer

As Michael conversed with his long lost friend, Leon stood to the side, watching them. Indeed, Michael was powerful. He had truly pushed his luck this time. Perhaps he had exhausted a lifetime's worth of luck, but at least, it worked out. Somewhat...

"You are truly brave, Leon." A sonorous voice tickled Leon's core and he felt a warm breath wash over the side of his skull. He quickly spun around and put some distance between himself and Asteria, who had somehow appeared behind him.

Asteria merely chuckled as Leon backed away. Her eyes resembled that of a predator that had set its sights on an interesting snack.

Leon's jaw twitched as he took in her features. It was almost as if he was sinking deeper into a bottomless well the longer he stared at her. She snapped her fingers, and the effects suddenly vanished as if it never existed in the first place.

"After all that I've been through in the past months, it shouldn't be surprising that I am brave." Leon managed to reply.

"True, true. But you are something else. You literally went from zero to hero in a little more than two months. I doubt any other person can replicate those feats." She rubbed her chin. "Not even my beloved was able to grow that fast."

"Your beloved?" Leon carefully asked.

"Yes, my beloved. Michael." Asteria turned to Michael and looked at him lovingly. Then she turned back to Leon. "He holds high hopes for you, you know. Do not disappoint him." She said the last part in a lower tone before turning around and waltzing away.

Leon stared at her back in confusion. He did not know whether he should take her words at face value or not. He had learned from all the movies in his past life that Gods were lairs and manipulative. Who knew whether that was actually true, but with how meddling these Gods he had come across in this world were, he could bet a good portion of his riches that they were good at manipulating people. He felt that her words were meant to twist his mind and confuse him, so he quickly tossed them out of his mind. He would still do what he had been doing. He would get strong enough and break the limits of the system.

After a couple of minutes, Michael walked over to Leon. His face had been schooled back into the stoic, but somewhat playful expression that he always wore, but now, he seemed radiate a much warmer aura towards Leon.

"Leon, thank you for finding my old friend. I am not too happy that you gave her a new name, but since she likes it and does not want to change it, I guess we will have to settle for that." The man said. "While I am grateful to you, though, I will not allow you to go scot free after insulting me. Punishment will be served out at a later time. For now, I only have a mission for you." Michael said.

'Eh, I knew he was going to get back at me for it.' Leon sighed, but he still felt a trace of satisfaction at being able to get under a God's skin. But there was something more interesting among Michael's words.

"You have a mission for me?" Leon asked doubtfully.

"Yes, I do. Do not worry, these missions are rewarding in themselves. You do not need to worry about making any losses." Michael waved away Leon's concerns, and Leon could only shrug at that. If he got more benefits from the missions, then that would be good.

"The Demons from the Demon Continent are about to make their move on the Central Continent. I want you to act as one of the barriers that will stop their advance into mainland." Michael said.

"What? Why me? And as a God, shouldn't you be more distant from what is happening in the world?" Leon asked.

"Indeed, you are right, but that is for other Gods to worry about. I have vested interests in the happenings of the Central Continent. As my Disciple, you should also be aware that if the Central Continent is invaded, then you will also suffer many losses." Michael explained and turned around, walking to his throne.

"Fine, then." Leon sighed.

"Aside from that, I will also send you out periodically." Michael suddenly said.

"What? Why?"

"I plan to use Dibella to trace the threads of fate that connect to our other companions. If anything, then they should also be Dungeon bosses. I am not the God who handled the Dungeons, so it makes sense that they were turned into mobs in dungeons to hide them from me." Michael said. His eyes were firm as he spoke, but Leon could not read him.

"Alright, I'm willing to help out." Leon nodded his head. There was absolutely no reason for him to refuse this. Just thinking of how much he gained from the C rank dungeon where he had gained Abyssus and Dibella, along with the spiders, was enough for him to get lost in a cloud of imagination.

If he could gain many more B rank dungeons, then he would practically be drowning with wealth! There was no man who did not think of being rich enough to now know what to do with it. Not only that, but he could gain more dungeons if they saw him as worth! That meant the strength of his army would also rocket up, making him basically invincible below A rank! Heck, he might even give A rank beings a run for their money if he came with enough firepower!

"I can see you are already excited." Michael shook his head. "I will leave you to organize your people. Have these. They should help you." He said and waved his hands. A stack of books appeared by the foot of his throne, and in the next moment, he vanished, along with Asteria.