While My Mage Wife Grinds, I Power Up Idly-Chapter 100: The Growing Demon

Ashu’s face was full of compassion as he looked at Antikythera. "Kid, I am that ’luminous saint.’"

"Ah?!"

Even wearing his mask, Antikythera could feel the shock on Ashu’s face.

Despite being a Shadowkill Master, he was stunned for a full three seconds before quickly dropping to his knees and kowtowing. freeweɓnøvel.com

"Bishop, I was wrong. I have made a fatal mistake. Please punish me!"

"Enough, get up." Ashu said, "Go investigate. See who is on the battle roster and bring me their intelligence."

"Yes, Bishop!"

After his words, Antikythera hurried off.

He was sweating nervously, but he never expected that Ashu was actually the ’luminous saint.’

This shock only strengthened his confidence in expanding the Cidi cult. Just imagine: the Bishop of the Cidi cult being certified by the Divine Mother Goddess as a ’luminous saint’—what did that represent?

It represented boundless love!

"Ashu, what did the letter say?" Anna asked.

Ashu said nothing. He silently handed the letter to Anna.

Anna read it and said, "So it is as expected. I had heard before that the Atras Royal Family was deliberately plotting to overthrow the divine authority. It seems that framing you is just one part of their plan to overthrow the divine power."

"No wonder Vivita told me to train hard these past days."

From beginning to end, Ashu never underestimated the matter. He retained the caution of a traveler from another world. Yet he truly did not expect the specific details: it was the Atras Royal Family, allied with the Kingdom of Ankgarde’s Queen’s Faction.

The Queen’s Faction needed to weaken the Duke’s Faction.

And the Atras Royal Family needed to weaken the divine authority.

Both sides were using each other.

"In that case, can’t you just not go?" Ymir asked. She didn’t even know why she suddenly cared about Ashu; before she realized it, the words had slipped out.

"Of course... not," Ashu explained. "When you’re inside the system, enjoying the power within it, you have to fulfill the obligations within it. That’s how the rules work here. If I don’t go, the danger will hit directly — that’s called a hard landing. But if I go and find a way to solve the crisis, that’s a soft landing."

"So what will you do? Do you have a plan?" Ymir glanced toward the Kingdom of Ankgarde’s direction. "You can’t just send them one by one to the Netherrealm like last time, right?"

"Right now, I lack the full intelligence of the entire setup. But even with that, I already have two plans," Ashu said slowly. "First, I need a gigantic Divine Mother Goddess statue. As a luminous saint, in front of the Divine Mother Goddess, I am nearly invincible. No one can hurt me."

"There are some things I don’t understand. How does someone like you become a ’luminous saint’? How do you get the Divine Mother Goddess’s blessing?" Ymir asked.

"What do you mean? What’s wrong with me?" Ashu gave her a sharp look and said, "Compared to those traitors, am I not a breath of fresh air? The Divine Mother Goddess favoring me is only natural."

"Hmph... and the other plan?"

Ashu smiled faintly. "Hold a 100-day wedding anniversary celebration."

"Huh?"

Ymir’s expression was exaggerated. What kind of plan was that?

What did he mean by holding a 100-day wedding anniversary?

He was going to the Imperial Princess’s coming-of-age baptism—what did that have to do with a wedding anniversary? Did he really think the Atras Royal Family would spare him just because he was romantic enough?

"Pfft..." Anna burst out laughing.

Only she understood what Ashu meant.

Holding a 100-day wedding anniversary would attract the Witch’s Guild’s ’relatives’ to show up.

Putting everything else aside, if anyone from the Royal Family dared to kill the husband of a Witch in front of the Witch’s Guild’s watchful eyes, they might as well prepare for their entire kingdom to be wiped out.

"If our anniversary can avoid this risk, then I think I would be willing to attend the Imperial Princess’s coming-of-age ceremony," Anna said.

"Just joking," Ashu said. "I’m going to use these two-plus months to train hard, so that when the time comes, I’ll have more protection."

The three returned to Riven Town, and Ashu began his seclusion.

With the aid of tens of thousands of Divine Points, his cultivation speed was extremely fast.

Yet his Archmage intermediate level hadn’t improved much, and meanwhile, another force sent a ripple of disturbance.

As the saying goes, when the east doesn’t shine, the west will.

A surge of Evil Power rushed straight into Ashu’s mind.

This was exactly the skill reward randomly granted once the Cidi faction’s achievements reached a certain level.

As the Cidi Bishop, Ashu knew that not only could practicing sexual rites increase his Cidi Evil Power, but also the daily expansion of the Cidi Devotees’ influence could boost his Cidi Evil Power.

At this very moment, his Evil Power had reached a certain level.

Ashu felt the newly acquired skill emerge. This time, the skill had a summoning nature, but it also required sacrifices.

"’Bloodrite Beast Legion’... after sacrificing a large number of living beings, can it summon a Demon from Cidi’s hellish legion..."

This reminded Ashu of the method used by the previous Cidi Bishop.

Back then, to cover their retreat, they sacrificed many Cidi Devotees alive and borrowed Carol’s monstrous body to transform into a beast.

Now, this skill was similar.

"I just don’t know what the conversion ratio is..."

Everything had to be cost-effective. For example, if sacrificing one cow could summon a Demon with the fighting strength equal to a cow, that would be a loss.

Because the summoned Demon obviously wouldn’t have the same freedom as an ordinary cow.

Places a cow could go, a Demon might not be able to.

And the Demon would only have the strength of one cow.

Or, for example, if sacrificing one cow could summon a Demon with the fighting strength equal to a tiger, that would be acceptable.

It could be used to handle some urgent matters.

But it still wouldn’t be practical enough. That kind of cost-effectiveness was reasonable at best, but not great.

On the other hand, if sacrificing one cow could summon a Demon with the fighting power equivalent to a tank, that would be impressive.

That would justify investing some chips.

Therefore,

Ashu needed to test.

He went to Riven Town’s marketplace and bought three sheep of different ages and weights.

Then, he went down to the Church basement.

He tied the three sheep separately to three stone pillars, then started testing them from left to right.

The sheep on the far left was the one with the poorest overall constitution, and the one on the right was the best.

"Baa—"

The sheep’s horizontal pupils stared at Ashu, seeming to sense danger, growing restless.

Ashu didn’t waste any words. He pressed one hand on the sheep’s head and immediately activated the Bloodrite Beast Legion.

"Snap—"

Everything happened in an instant. As Ashu activated the skill, a spray of blood mist burst out from under his palm.

Within the blood mist, a faint magic circle appeared. In the flickering of the circle, a Demon crawled out.

Ashu observed it and saw that this Demon was smaller in size than the little Demon encountered in Kakase.

"Tch, the conversion rate is too low. This little thing probably isn’t even worth as much as a sheep."

"A negative conversion rate? What a joke."

"Could it be that you have to sacrifice a living human to get good stuff from Cidi?"

Ashu had always been bothered by the resurrection mishap in Kakase. He had used cattle and sheep instead of humans to seek help from the Cidi god. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the livestock, but in the end, Cidi pulled the wrong soul.

A mistake was a mistake, regardless of the process.

Sacrifice was a transaction—only the result mattered.

So maybe the Cidi god didn’t like beef or mutton?

Ashu ignored the little freak writhing on the ground and moved on to the second sheep.

Since he had already bought them, of course Ashu had to finish testing.

Watching the first sheep explode right before his eyes, the second and third sheep grew increasingly panicked, bleating nonstop, restless and agitated, as if urging Ashu to hurry up.

Ashu had no choice but to comply and immediately sacrificed the second sheep.

With another snap, the second sheep’s soul returned to Cidi, and in its place, a new Demon crawled out.

Looking closely,

this Demon barely resembled anything impressive. Although he looked thin, weak, and short, he stubbornly held a short spear and a shield, showing a desperate, do-or-die attitude.

Ashu didn’t say a word and simply kicked him with one foot.

In his normal state, Ashu was at the mid-level Archmage rank, so as a Mage, his kick wasn’t especially heavy.

But after that single kick, the second Demon flew backward, slammed against the wall, and instantly turned into fragments of Magical Essence.

"Damn! Such trash, how dare Cidi even show this off!"

Muttering his complaint, Ashu walked over to the third sheep.

This one was the healthiest and strongest of the three, a typical well-fed sheep commonly found in the market.

"Bloodrite Beast Legion!"

"Snap—"

"Gugaga—"

A new Demon crawled out from the magic circle on the ground. It hadn’t fully appeared yet, but already it was emitting disgusting low whispers.

This time, just judging by appearance, it was somewhat decent.

He stood about 1.6 meters tall, wielding a small green poison-coated axe.

"Come on, attack me," Ashu said.

The third Demon hesitated for a moment, then raised his axe and swung it down at Ashu.

Ashu observed his movements, strength, and speed — roughly equivalent to that of an average farmhand.

This was the second kind of cost-effectiveness: bland to consume, but a shame to waste, only useful for emergency situations.

"Damn it, after all the hard work expanding the territory for the Whore Goddess, this is the crappy skill they give me as a reward?"

Ashu finished his test, and the result was a pile of crap.

He seriously suspected Cidi was just using this skill to trick people into making sacrifices — it was really not cost-effective at all.

However,

just as he was thinking this, the third Demon charged forward and swung his axe down on the first Demon’s skull.

The first Demon died on the spot, but a streak of green light flashed across the third Demon. Within that green glow, his hunched, thin frame somehow gained a few muscles.

Ashu saw this and couldn’t help but brighten up, "Is this a growth-type Demon?"