Dragon King Part 22 (Patreon)

"Risum vocare daemonium, vinculum, risum vocare magum," Viaria chanted as she pushed mana into the summoning circle she'd drawn on the stone with chalk.

'Daemonium should be Latin for demon, vocare for summoning, calling? No clue on Risum or vinculum,' Myst mused as she watched the trench coat Viaria was holding vanish as she completed the incantation. She took a step back when the lines of the pentagram ignited with blue and purple flames, despite the fact that she was already fifteen feet away from the circle.

"Huh," Harry muttered when a blond haired man wearing a trench coat and a pair of black jeans fell out of the stone in the middle of the summoning circle and up into the air, his eyes burning with blue fire.

'Too short and blond to be Dresden,' Myst mused as she looked at the warlock wearing a trench coat that was falling back towards the ground with her upgrade ability, fairly sure the gods were screwing with her. 'Fucking Constantine.'

John used his telekinesis to flip himself around so that his feet were under him and floated over the ground. He glanced down at the flaming pentagram he was in the middle of then looked at the magic users standing outside of the summoning circle. "That's a nice trick, what do you want?"

"A couple of aspirin and a bottle of something nasty," Myst admitted, fairly sure John was going to give him a headache by the time they were done.

Viaria gave Myst a look then focused on the man she'd summoned. "We need help killing a demon lord that is in the process of turning a parallel world into a hell dimension."

"Demon lord?" John asked warily, knowing the term demon lord covered a wide range of power and hoping they'd narrow things down. "Which one?"

"Narb," Viaria replied, unwilling to say the rest of his name.

John winced as his mind connected the dots to the first part of the demon's name and the fact that he could turn a world into a hell dimension. "He's out of my league."

"We don't need you to kill him or even get close," Myst assured him. "We just need a way to avoid turning into demons if we're exposed to his aura. In theory we're not getting that close, but theory has a habit of going out the window when it comes to an actual fight."

John glanced between Harry and the attractive women as he mentally reviewed the various protection spells he had the ingredients to cast or that he could expect someone to come up with on short notice. "I can buy you two minutes, maybe three."

"Two minutes total or two minutes in the aura?" Myst asked, wanting to make sure they could pull things off.

"Assuming it works, in the aura," John replied, knowing there was a chance that his best spells would fail. "How are you planning on killing the demon?"

"Orbital strikes and magically boosted explosives," Myst admitted. "If we surround the area with barriers, we can probably keep the collateral to a minimum."

"I'm going to need ingredients," John warned them as he floated down to the ground.

Harry pulled a miniature cabinet out of his pocket and set it on the ground. "Vortex, cabinet," he said, causing the cabinet to expand until it was person sized. "I should be able to help with that."

John smiled when the wizard opened the door, revealing a couple of dozen shelves filled with a rather impressive collection of magical plants and samples of various creatures that shouldn't have fit in the cabinet. "Where did you get that?"

Harry smiled as he thought about the girl he'd saved from some dark wizards. "I saved a girl from a couple of dark wizards, her grandfather makes magical cabinets."

Myst created a skill book of her luck ability then walked over and handed the book to John. "Speaking of gifts, you should probably read this."

John cast a quick detection spell on the book then opened it and blinked when a floating window appeared asking him if he wanted to learn a luck based power. "Is this for real?"

Myst gave the warlock a smile. "You're a hero dealing with monsters, every little bit helps."

John hit the accept icon and smiled as he felt the magic flow into him. "That almost makes up for being late to my date with Zatanna."

"Sorry," Myst admitted. She quickly made two skill books and handed them to John. "Use the first one, give the other one to Zatanna. They'll give you regeneration and a decent boost to your durability."

"Downsides?" John asked, wondering if it was worth it as that sort of thing almost always had a price.

"You'll get hungry if you're taking a lot of damage," Myst admitted. "It's a small price to pay for the ability to regenerate and heal other people by loaning them your regeneration."

"Is that sufficient payment for your help?" Viaria asked.

John opened the book on top then hit accept when it asked if he wanted to learn Hero's Vigor. "Do I even want to know how much this cost?"

"Consider it a reward for keeping the world spinning," Myst told him, not seeing a point in admitting that the skill books were basically free.

"Thanks mate," John replied as he slipped the second book into his coat pocket then stepped out of the pentagram. "Let's get started."

Viaria stared at John warily. "You're not supposed to be able to do that."

"I'm mortal," John replied with a smirk. "Do any of you have a spell to keep our large rock intact?"

Mione glanced at Hermione. "Impervious charms with some charms to protect against heat?"

Hermione nodded. "We should be able to layer them."

"I know a spell to make things hit harder," Ginny offered.

"That's a start. What are you thinking for explosives?" John asked, wanting to make sure they had a chance before they got themselves killed.

"No clue," Myst admitted. "Dawn mentioned something about cold iron casings before she wandered off to get started, I should probably check."

"Cold iron is a good start but I wouldn't count on that being enough," John warned them.

"I'll settle for distracting him," Myst replied as she pulled a baseball sized iron ball out of her inventory, wishing she'd kept better track of which gacha wheels everything came from because she couldn't remember which wheel it came from. She dropped the sphere on the ground then focused on the radius with her upgrade ability and burned mana to increase the ball to the size of a basketball. "Let's get the ball enchanted while Dawn finishes the explosives."

John smiled as he glanced over the collection of ingredients, fairly sure he could buy everyone at least five minutes in the aura.

0o0o0

Narbadrados had a moment of unease when he felt a spike in the local mana level and a massive wall of magic sprang up around the mountain and twenty five or thirty miles from him, mostly because his seer had informed him that the locals didn't have that type of power. "Bow before your god!"

"No!" a voice screamed back, shaking the heavens with the volume and intent for a second before Narbadrados' world exploded in pain, mostly because of the twin explosions in his ears followed an instant later by twin flashes in front of his eyes bright enough to hurt, even without the thirty tons of cold iron shavings, spears and broken shards ripping through his eyes from the shaped charges. Following that was the series of explosions that obliterated his manhood in nuclear fire.

He opened his mouth to scream and promptly regretted it when nuclear fire exploded down his throat, obliterating his tongue and causing him to reel from the pain, at least until something slammed into his head with the force of an angry god and he lost the ability to do much of anything, mostly because he was dead.

Myst smiled as the second apartment sized ball of iron struck the demon lord causing a massive shock wave that struck the barrier that the local Nynaeve was maintaining. He waited another five seconds for the fifth ball to strike the demon lord then gestured. 'Next phase!' he mentally told the group as he continued sending more balls of iron at the demon lord, wanting to make sure he was actually dead.

"Portus, Portus, Portus," Mione chanted on the next three explosive devices that Myst had enchanted to hell and back. "Go!" she shouted cheerfully, causing the three explosives to teleport through the demon's massive portal and explode with holy fire thanks to the unicorn hair and one of Constantine's spells.

John smiled as he watched the demon lord topple back towards the mountain as the portal started closing. 'Nearly invulnerable isn't the same as immune to physical damage,' he thought as he watched the third apartment sized ball of iron and fire strike the demon lord in the chest.

"Portus," Mione chanted as she tapped the creepy device that Myst, John and Harry had enchanted that they were supposed to be very careful of with her wand. She waited another two seconds for the portal to shrink to only a thousand feet then shouted, "Hellfire!" causing the device to teleport through the portal.

'No explosion?' Dawn asked when the portal closed and nothing seemed to happen.

'There's a delay,' Myst replied as she watched the rest of the two dozen apartment complex-sized balls of enchanted iron they'd enchanted strike the demon lord, rather thankful for the enchanted ear protection and the massive wall of air that was blunting the damage to the rest of the world.

'Why?' Viaria asked, wondering what warranted a delay considering the rest of the stuff they'd tossed at the demon lord.

'Let's just say I'm almost as much of an asshole as Constantine,' Myst replied, not wanting to mention the upgraded cursed fire they'd unleashed as the less people that knew she could do that the better as far as she was concerned.

"Not even close," John replied with a grin as the ground shook. 'Cleanup is going to be a bitch.'

'Can I drop the wall?' Nynaeve asked, not sure how to feel about the mental conversation and wanting something to drink and a chance to relax and not think about the nightmare they'd just finished killing or the monsters that were still out there killing people.

'Might as well leave it up for a couple of minutes, let the dust settle,' Myst replied as she watched the hell god for any signs of movement. 'Unless that's a problem?'

'No, it just takes concentration,' Nynaeve replied, trying not to let anyone see how shaken she was by the last couple of minutes.

'We're going to have to hunt the demons down,' Laurena thought, her excitement bleeding through.

'I'm more worried about Narb's corpse tainting the land,' Myst admitted as he pulled his globe out of his inventory and looked at Narb's corpse.

'Can we drop it through a portal into a hell dimension?' Harry asked, figuring that would be the easiest.

'The demonic energy would probably cause his body to regenerate. How are you planning on getting rid of the body?' John asked Myst as he took his silenced earmuffs off.

'I have a spell to summon slimes,' Myst replied as everyone pulled their earmuffs off. She stuck her earmuffs in her inventory.

John shook his head. "What are you going to do when the slimes mutate and try to kill you?"

"Burn them to ashes, blast them with magic or freeze them," Myst replied with a shrug, fairly sure most of the slimes wouldn't last a minute but she had an insane amount of mana to toss at the problem and the mutated slimes might end up with interesting abilities she could copy.

"And the tainted mana?" John asked.

"One of my abilities creates a construct that consumes mana which means I don't have to actually pull the tainted shit through my body or soul. I should be fine as long as I'm paying attention to the duration of your ritual," Myst assured him as she opened a one way portal to a thousand feet above Narb's body. She focused through the portal and spent a decent chunk of her mana pool to cover the demon lord's body with the most powerful slimes she could. She wasn't particularly surprised when most of the slimes started dying and or mutating less than ten seconds later. "This could take a while."

"On that note, I should probably get going," John said, figuring he could still make his date if he hurried.

"Give me a minute." Myst handed the globe to Laurena and quickly created two skill books for the resistance to normal weapons that she'd picked up off the werewolf. "One for you, one for Zatanna for having the patience of a saint."

John accepted the books. "What do they do?"

"They give people a defensive ability. It won't stop a hit from someone on Bane's level but it will certainly blunt it unless you're hit with silver," Myst explained as she created another wave of slimes through the portal to work on eating the demon lord.

"Thanks mate," John replied, thinking of all of the times he'd been tossed into things over the years.

"How often do you run into Batman?" Myst asked thoughtfully.

"Whenever I'm in Gotham, which I try to avoid," John replied with amusement as he opened one of the books, causing it to vanish. "Zatanna runs into him more, why?" he asked as he stuck the other book in one of the pockets of his coat.

Myst created a third book and handed it to John. "See if you can trick him into using one of them, he could use the help."

John shook his head. "Are you trying to get him to kill me?"

"Nah, I just have a warped sense of humor." Myst created another two books and handed them to John. "For Robin or Nightwing and Batgirl, I want to make sure shooting her in the back won't help."

John frowned as he put the books in his pockets. "That's oddly specific."

"I know a precog, you should probably check Gotham for curses, Arkham specifically, if there's not an ancient warlock in a crypt, there's probably a curse from the natives." Myst created a skill book for flight and handed it to him. "Give this to Batgirl, it should let her fly."

"You're lucky Batman doesn't kill people," John warned him.

"Speaking of, see if you can get Diana to wander through Gotham while the Joker is running around, he needs to die," Myst said, fairly sure Diana would be resistant enough to whatever curse kept the bastard around to get the job done.

"Not a bad idea," John agreed then turned to look at Mione and Hermione. "Let's head back and work on the ritual, I'm running out of time."

Hermione opened a portal back to the ritual site where the blue girls were waiting.

Myst turned to look at Nynaeve. "Drop the barrier and get some rest."

Nynaeve sighed in relief as she let the barrier drop then released the source, feeling like she'd run nonstop for an hour. "Does this mean it's safe to go home?"

Myst glanced towards where he knew Tar Valon was, even though he couldn't see it thanks to the smoke coming from the burned sections of the city and the distance. "You might as well wait until we've tracked down most of the demons or at least spend a couple of days learning combat magic so you can stop them from causing problems when you go home."

Nynaeve frowned as she thought about some of the Aes Sedai she'd run into and realized Myst had a good point. "I wouldn't mind learning more about healing while I'm here."

"That's why we're here. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to check on the slimes." Myst spent half of her mana to upgrade the quality of the protection rune drawn on her arm, wanting to make absolutely sure she didn't end up twisted by the mana, despite the fact that she'd already upgraded it an insane amount.

"Stay safe," Dawn ordered.

"That's the plan," Myst replied and stepped through the portal. She shivered as she felt the demon lord's twisted mana crawling over John's barrier, more uneasy than she'd like to admit. 'I need to figure out something more permanent,' she thought as she started looking at the mutated slimes with her upgrade ability, curious if they had any useful abilities she could steal.

"Acidic slime, acidic slime, blunt resistance, acidic slime…" she trailed off as she realized the dead slimes were dropping loot, creating a massive mess they'd have to clean up. "Screw it," she muttered as she pulled up her slime creation skill on her HUD. 'Let's see, minor corruption resistance, an acid that only works on organic material, let's try that.' She spent a decent chunk of her mana pool and covered the demon lord with the improved slimes then opened her gacha menu, curious what she could get.

'Artifact of doom, decently expensive weapons wheel, totem of corruption, minion, coffee?' She stared at the wheel as she reached out to the demon's tainted mana and pulled it towards her coffee gacha wheel, being careful not to let the tainted mana soak into her or bleed through her mana into her reserves as she didn't want to end up crazy and she wasn't sure how well John's spell would protect her if she actually touched it.

Myst swapped to powering up the artifact of doom wheel when the coffee wheel started spinning, wanting to destroy as much of the demon's mana as she could before the entire area turned into a demonic wasteland. 'Hopefully the girls will have a decent amount of luck tracking down the rest of the demons.'

0o0o0

"Burn!" Dawn shouted as she tossed another fireball at the swarm of twisted shape changing demons flying towards the village they were trying to save. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that she'd spent a decent amount of time on the hellmouth or the fact that she wasn't actually human but the strange effect that made the locals scream and start clawing at their eyes didn't seem to phase her in the slightest.

Zara laughed as she sent a volley of arcane missiles at the twisted creature that weathered Dawn's fireball, laughing as it crashed to the ground and changed from an abomination with a thousand animal heads of various types to a malformed goat with hundreds of wings and musical instruments for body parts. "Dibs on the wings!"

Dawn blasted a slinky-like creature that looked to have been made out of cats, sheep, several old shaving razors and bailing wire as it tried to escape, causing it to stop shifting forms and collapse into a pile of typewriters, car horns and abacuses, along with a party hat like you'd see at a child's birthday party. "Yeah, because that's not creepy."

"I've seen worse," Zara replied as she glanced around, making sure they'd killed everything.

"Old gods?" Dawn asked as she used the scanning ability she'd picked up from Myst to check some of the random bits of 'loot' the creatures had fallen apart into, trying to make sure they weren't demonic traps.

"Yeah," Zara admitted, trying not to think of some of the stuff she'd found in the Twilight Hammer's notes.

Dawn glanced between the piles of loot. "This is going to take forever to check everything, we're going to need a cleanup crew."

"We're at least a hundred and twenty miles from the mountain, the girls should be fine with Mione's knockoff ritual," Zara pointed out, not interested in sorting through the loot when the rest of the demons could be flying around killing people or trying to breed with everything they ran into.

"True," Dawn replied as she reached out with telepathy and sent her location to Hermione along with a message, 'We need a cleanup crew, they fell apart into potentially useful loot.'

'I'll send a group,' Hermione replied as she gestured for three of the blue girls to get ready, fairly sure Dawn was crazy for not wanting to just melt everything down or toss it through a portal.

'Thanks,' Dawn replied as she turned her attention to the man that was a curled up gibbering wreck, wondering what the hell was wrong with the locals because the demons weren't particularly scary. 'Hopefully we can catch up with them before they hit the city.'

'Hopefully,' Hermione told the blue girls as she opened a portal to Dawn and Zara's location. "You're on cleanup, there might be loot."

"On it," the leader of the team of blue girls replied then walked through the portal.

"Scan and grab the piles, we're heading to the next location," Dawn told the blue girl then flew up into the air and headed west.

"No problem," the leader of the girls replied as she headed towards the closest pile of stuff that didn't fit the setting.

"I'm going to want the wings or at least the feathers unless they're completely corrupted," Zara told the girls then followed Dawn.

"You kill it, we bag it," the leader of the group joked as she continued scanning things and stuffing them in spatial rings.

0o0o0

Myst wasn't particularly impressed by the vacant eyed female cyborg that her minion wheel dropped that looked partially rotted and the metal bits corroded. She quickly pulled the cyborg into her spatial ring, not seeing a point in letting her fall to her death on the slime covered demon lord. She checked the stats on her newest minion, less than pleased to see the notes for the control chips and shattered personality flaw or the fact that she was basically more machine than flesh at this point. 'At least she has a built in plasma cannon that might be worth saving.'

Myst turned her attention back to the latest generation of slimes that were doing a halfway decent job of eating the demon lord's skin, judging by the scattered pools of demonic blood that were melting or twisting every slime that so much as got near them. "At least they're making a dent and they're lasting longer," she muttered, fairly sure they weren't supposed to have chicken heads sticking out of them or dogs for that matter,

She smiled when she spotted a trait on one of the slimes that had a goat head. 'Legendary: Demon Eater, effectively reduces the natural armor and resistances of any demon by 3% against their attacks, regardless of values.' She quickly created a skill book of the new skill before the corruption or one of the corrupted demonic slimes could kill her slime.

She put the popsicle stick skill book in her inventory then spent a decent chunk of mana to upgrade the slime's durability, bite attack and acid so it could actually take advantage of its trait then boosted the trait from 3% to 50%, burning through a quarter of her mana pool and making the area warp as his mana burned away some of the demon's mana.

'Upgrade for the win,' Myst mused as she created a skill book of the boosted trait. She double checked to make sure the skill book hadn't been corrupted then used it, giving herself the upgraded Demon Eater trait. 'This would be easier if I could just torch it,' she mused as she thought about the spells she could to destroy it.

Myst shook her head, wondering if something was messing with her or if she was just getting tired because burning it wouldn't help destroy the tainted mana. 'Screw it, no shortcuts,' she told herself as she looked at the slimes with her upgrade ability, hoping to find some useful traits while she waited for the gacha wheels to stop spinning because she had a couple dozen stacked up and she didn't want to be in the middle of filling a gacha wheel when she had to catch something dangerous.