Newly Summoned Demoness - Chapter 13 – Domesticated (Patreon)

Interlude – Anton

Anton made one final lap through the complex; his arcane sensing stone dialed to its highest sensitivity. There was no sign of any further artifacts or cultists that he had found, and yet he had failed in his mission. The summoned lesser demon had escaped, and the leader of the cult had nearly killed him before the tides had reversed and the Black Bishop had utilized a teleportation spell to vanish.

It wasn’t often that one of the Black Candle Cult’s bases was revealed to the Order, and he had fumbled the chance to eliminate the chapter completely.

Returning to the summoning chamber, the stacked pile of arcanist corpses had begun to decompose into a black miasma. The death of so many members of the Cult would set them back for quite some time, he hoped. He raised a gauntleted fist and a pulse of light magic flared out from the metal, immolating the darkness in a karmic fire.

His eyes narrowed as he watched the remains of darkness wither in the purifying flames. Even if he had fallen short of his primary goal, at least he had interrupted the Cult from binding a powerful ally to their cause. The demon had been left resourceless and without the treasure trove of mana shards and monster cores, that would have given it a terrifying capacity for destruction.

With the detritus taken care of, Anton turned his attention to the large, shining chest. A layer of gold filled the bottom, but it was the glittering mana shards that captivated. It was a ridiculous number of them, and he had found even more in the stronghold’s treasury. Just how the cult had procured so many was a major question.

The only place nearby that could have supplied so many was one of the places he hated most: Neftasu. The underworld city was one of the few that possessed a Celestial Engine capable of making the area around it stable enough to be habitable. It had the same squalor and troubles as above ground cities, except it reveled in its excess of violence, artifice and… obsession with the demonic.

Tracking the terrified female form the Demon had taken had been hampered by the fact she’d likely been the culprit who set the entire under-cavern surrounding the stronghold aflame. The events in the dungeon played back in his mind, and the fact that his blade had refused to cut her down when he had finally cornered her was galling.

Drawing his blade, he began to clean it. The blue shimmer tinged the light from the mana shards to match it. He could tell the blade was hungry and wanted one of the shards.

“Why wouldn’t you cut her?” Anton asked. There was no immediate reply, not that he expected Eziel to answer. The sword was moody and rarely communicated with any of its bearers any longer. At some point, it had gone silent.

Once the blade was wiped down and oiled, he placed the tip on one of the mana shard which promptly winked out as the sword soaked in the stone’s power. There was no question as to the artifact’s power when facing the enemy, and the Light-bringer Order needed all the advantages it could get.

“Eziel, Arch-Seraph of Light, Judge of the Divine, hear my inquiry. Why didn’t you cut the demon?” Anton asked formally. Maybe the meal would put it in a better mood for answering?

A vision suddenly filled his mind.

A young woman that looked similar to the escaped demon was sitting at a desk wearing strange attire, with a strange artifice casting a warm light over an open book. The image winked away quickly, but the sword’s words echoed in his mind longer: “She is more innocent than you, bearer.”

Anton took a moment to process that, then finally scoffed. “The High Cardinal won’t be happy to hear that one of the Order’s seven artifacts is going senile. You were never fooled by fake numbers before. Why now?”

The sword’s hilt sparked in his hand, offering a shock, but the effect was easily mitigated by his [Magic Resistance] and he sheathed the sword in its scabbard. Sometimes it was just better to put away the unruly thing.

Chasing after the demon wasn’t a priority, though. It was very unlikely that it would find its way to a population center, so it would be joining the throngs of monsters that inhabited the underworld. Exactly where it belonged. It was still hard to put the young woman’s face out of his mind, though, which put him in a foul mood.

Inevitably, he’d take it out on some of the demonologists when he made it back to Neftasu to make his report and search for more evidence of the cult.

Chapter 13 – Domesticated

Elania’s gaze widened, her breath hitching as she absorbed the panorama unfolding before her. She’d climbed up to the flat second floor of the ruins she’d taken up habitation in. The cavern pulsed with life and dozens of new sounds filled the area, the loudest being something that sounded like a swarm of crickets or June Bugs playing out a constant symphony.

Near the ceiling, ethereal beings that resembled jellyfish descended gracefully from their hideouts between hanging vines and moss, their luminescent forms dancing playfully in the shadowy pockets untouched by the radiant glow moss. They were aptly named [Jelly]when she played [Identify] over them. Just how they were floating in the air was left a mystery.

Her thoughts were disrupted by an echoing “Moobaa” that sounded something like the noise a terrible cow-sheep hybrid would make. Elania spotted the source, a quadruped that was covered in hairy moss that formed a shaggy coat. A second one appeared nearby the first before a small herd of them came out of hiding on the opposite side of the cavern from her ruins. Each one was designated a [Ralfot] by the [System].

The lack of levels on the creature’s info cards hinted they weren’t the same as people, or demon-monster things because of the missing level. Unless there was something more at play, like a hidden skill or something like husbandry or the like blocking more information.

She wasn’t sure how the [System]accounted for animals. These were the first ones she’d seen, and she wondered just how dangerous they were. A silly thought occurred to her; What if there was a super high-level cow that was doom to anyone who tried to milk it? She tried to suppress her mirth, which was at odds with her nearly fatal encounter just a day earlier, but the sight of cute animals that probably weren’t interested in eating her was… nice.

A new species of smaller creatures appeared; each one simply labeled an [Elnat]. They were a funny-looking cross between a jackrabbit and a squirrel. They appeared in large numbers and made their home on the green mossy plateaus she’d had to travel over to reach the ruins. A few of them were adventurous and began to spread out, while others clustered together in a large group of about twenty.

One of the little critters jumped on the back of another and she thought they were going to fight, but it appeared to have other intentions. She choked down a reflexive inhalation before blushing and looking away, if she had needed any confirmation, she was in the wild with wild creatures then that was more than enough to confirm it.

It was like the entire eco-system had been holding its breath while her [Demonic Aura] was on. It was a bit worrying that it had been oppressive enough to affect so many creatures, although maybe it had been beneficial, too.

Other than the Bone Demon, she hadn’t seen any predators yet.

That didn’t mean there weren’t any, though.

There were a few larger insects flittering around the stream, and she realized they were preying on an even smaller insect that was hard to see. The tiny ones were called [Moss Flies] and the larger ones were each called [Fly Eater]. It was funny how the [System] grouped up the tiny insects in a swarm, but not the larger one.

[You have gained a rank in Identify!]

Elania’s eyes lit up with excitement. That’d be useful! Maybe it would show more information?

Much to her dismay, the same simple names appeared for everything she tried the leveled-up skill on. She’d been cheated.

When a few of the bugs flew closer to her camp, she felt skittish. Maybe [Demonic Aura]hadn’t been all that bad after all. Maybe she’d be able to learn how to control its radius and use it as an effective insect repellant?

That was something she needed to try before going to sleep, because she wasn’t ready to wake up covered in whatever this world’s equivalent of mosquito bites were. Although maybe [Regeneration]would protect her from itchy bump things?

No. Not something she wanted to test. Regrowing a hand had already taught her just how painful using the skill could be.

All the animals showing up led to the thought of what she was supposed to do. The makeshift javelin she’d made was…crude but maybe she should try hunting something? She had not had any hunger pangs despite eating absolutely nothing since arriving, and although she’d been drinking from the stream, it didn’t actually seem required other than to soothe her own worries about it.

That seemed to suggest she lived off her [Power] stat. A combined health, mana, and hunger bar?

If absorbing an animal had the same [Power] boosting effect as what she’d done to the Bone Demon, was knowledge critical to her survival. If it was even possible.

One thing had become clear: the mana shard wasn’t going to last forever, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to fight another demon again. If there even were any more nearby.

The option to absorb flora hadn’t shown up at least, which might mean she’d been transformed into an obligate carnivore. Or demonivore? There was only one way to find out, and she needed to know.

She spied on the creatures and their habits and traits while watching for signs of anything she missed for another hour before finally making up her mind. The Ralfots seemed too big, but the Elnats were a lot less intimidating. There were so many of them that there were plenty of targets, too. Sneaking up on an isolated one wouldn’t be too hard, would it?

She even had the [Stealth]skill!

Elania climbed down from the roof and got her things ready. Magic rock in one pocket. Dagger in the other. Pointy stick in hand, and what was left of her shredded fabric went with the dagger. It had actually poked her a few times, and the scraps made a makeshift scabbard. She just needed to be mindful to definitely not fall on the stupid thing.

She crouched down and crept along once she reached the plateaus, doing her best to keep her head down. Keeping an eye on where her feet went, she avoided anything that would make noise. After a few minutes, she’d closed the distance to where the Elnats were congregating.

Peaking over the ledge sent her into a mild panic and she crouched back down instantly; a half dozen of the animals were really close! A brief feeling of disappointment gnawed at her at not having ranked up her [Stealth] skill. Really, hadn’t she just performed an impressive feat? Sneaking up on wild animals was supposed to be hard, and she’d got it on the first try!

The memory of her and her father going camping one year when she was little came back to her randomly. He’d offered to take her hunting, but mostly it had just been a fun hike through the woods. Other than that, she’d hardly ever been anywhere she’d consider ‘out in the country’ or anything. She was definitely a city-girl.

Which was probably why she was drawing a blank about what to do next. Was she… just supposed to jump up and stab one with her stick? It would probably run away as soon as it saw her. Was she supposed to chase it around like that?

Suddenly everything seemed much, much more complicated than the little consideration she’d given things. What if she couldn’t absorb it, how was she going to cook it and deal with carcass? Killing the thing then wasting it…was in the high-middle of her ‘bad things to do’ list.

The memory of her father hammered into her just how far from home she was and there wasn’t a phone to call for advice or…just to hear her parents’ voices.

The grip around her javelin tightened as she swallowed back the sudden breakdown that threatened her. She didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself, and she needed to see if she could use the animals to live off of, assuming she lived off her [Power]stat.

Reaching up, she vaulted up onto the plateau and zeroed in on the nearest [Elnat] which was only a few strides away. All the creatures perked up at her sudden appearance, their rabbit-like ears going erect and homing in on her. Thinking to attack before they could run away, she charged forward and closed the distance as fast as she could.

A spear-length away, she pulled her javelin back and went to stab it, when she realized something was wrong.

None of the Elnats had retreated. The one she was aiming at looked up at her curiously and let out a cheerful, chirpy sound. “Cheep? Cheep-Cheep?”

Confusion filled her. This was not what she had expected. Carefully, she lowered the spear. The creature hopped forward and began to sniff her foot with no malice or fear. She realized she couldn’t kill the thing. At least not unless she was going to die or starve to death, a state she was far from being close to at the moment.

“Hh…hi? Little guy?” Elania mumbled. The other Elnats began to chirp at her in greeting before going back to their business of sniffing around the grassy moss for something to eat.

She crouched down and discarded her hunting plans. When she reached down slowly and petted the one that was sniffing her, it didn’t seem upset and actually stopped to press into her hand, just like a cat would have. “You’re pretty much tame, aren’t you?”

Not everything was out to kill her. That was nice, but…

What the fuck was a tame fantasy bunny-squirrel-rabbit thing doing in a random underground cavern with ancient ruins?

A pungent odor suddenly greeted her, along with a new voice, causing her head to snap in the direction.

The “Glua-Glua-Glaa!” came from a humanoid shaped figure approaching with a spear held in both its hands. Humanoid was the primary word there, because other than being bipedal with two arms, it wasn’t human. Its head resembled some type of mushroom cap, with a set of glowing yellow eyes and a wide mouth full of teeth.

“Glaa! Glaa! Glaa!” came a second shout from nearby. There were at least two of them.

[Tender – Mushroohum – Level 17]

She’d discovered mushroom men! They also had a class and level, so that mean they were definitely not animals and were intelligent. The second one joined the first, pulling a shield and another kind of weapon off of its back.

They both yelled out again and the realization that intelligence didn’t necessarily mean friendly or safe occurred to her. One of them gestured to the Elnats and let out a whistling sort of sound, and the entire group of them jumped up and bolted in every direction.

That’s why they were so tame. The Elnats were the Mushroohums’ pets! The one nearest to her let out a confused chirp and looked around for the danger. She stood up and felt bad. She’d almost hunted and ate someone’s pet.

The nearest Mushroohum raised his spear and aimed it at her and then threw it, the trajectory fell well short of her, hinting that it was a warning, but the act startled her so much she took a step and stomped right down on the poor creature underfoot. She almost tripped and fell, and it went running while yelping in pain.

“Sorry!” Elania shouted, but the Mushroohums were angry, and a second spear was aimed much more accurately. She had to jump out of the way to not get hit.

[You have gained a rank in Improvised Combat!]

“I’m really, really sorry!” She shouted again. They began to approach her with weapons raised and she backed away. She jumped down into the trench network separating the plateaus when the clack of another missed spear throw echoed nearby.

This was not the good type of first contact. She needed to retreat. Did she even have anywhere safe to retreat to? The ruins had been her first instinct, but it wasn’t like they were anything special.

As she sprinted around a bend, there was a Mushroohum crouched waiting for her. He’d been silently sneaking towards her to intercept!

[You have gained a rank in Stealth!]

Fuck you [System]! Why now when she wasn’t even sneaking?

She batted the message away just in time to watch her assailant jab his spear towards her face.