DD 202 Ch 21 (Patreon)

Chapter 21

I had Trish bloodied in my hands and then suddenly, I couldn’t feel her.

My hand was… sliding off to the side with a clean cut in it, leaving it hanging by a thread.

An incredibly thin barrier was three quarters through my wrist as Trish threw herself to the side and a gust of wind swept past my feet, disappearing my prey.

I flashed to the side, faster than the gust of wind, grabbing the old man in a suit.

There was a wet squish in my hand as my grip tore right through his shoulder. My demonic fist pulped his muscles and crushed his bones.

I was surprised that his body wasn’t stronger. Was he a low level? With how calm he had been I had treated him at least as an equal.

I considered the fact that they didn’t want to send someone irreplaceable down here with Brandon Sayer, then a half a dozen other options flitted through my mind before reality forced me to pay attention.

The whirlwind caught up to me and sucked away the man’s corpse. I was sure with that much of his shoulder and chest missing, he wasn’t going to last long, especially if his stamina was so weak that I’d been able to do that in the first place.

I stood there without something to hit as Charlotte’s magic wrapped around my arm, already working to restore my missing hand. If she could bring back people from the dead, what was reconnecting a hand?

Instead, my attention turned to the mass of nobles that had drawn their weapons on my women.

Purple lightning flashed over me as I closed the distance between us in a heartbeat, then blew right past any melee fighters into the back with the healers and casters.

The second the healer turned to see me, my claws were already on their second swipe and I could see the moment the pain registered and the panic set in.

I was several times faster than their reaction time.. My claws tore apart two healers in quick succession before they could even start to counter attack.

Arrows flew in the space I’d just been, instead burying themselves in the cast behind me as I shot across the hall, my knee flying into the solar plexus of a caster trying to catch me with an area effect spell.

Their concentration was immediately broken and I grabbed their head, twisting with all my strength and throwing the corpse into the fighters to slow them down.

It was like someone had let a demon out of hell as I tore through them.

In what felt like an eternity, but had likely been less than thirty seconds, I stood still in my demon form, the hallway stacked with bodies.

Des had a hand over her eye to concentrate. “The whirlwind left the castle. It’s on a straight shot from the exit heading towards the 31st floor.” She’d done her job and continued to monitor from the sky.

“You all did great.” I nodded and shot off. My stacks wouldn’t last much longer unless I had something to hit.

Still, I was probably faster than her travel skill.

My field of vision was lit up by the purple lightning as I activated [Sprint]. It was complete overkill with my stacks so high, but I felt my stomach lurch with the sudden change in speed.

In no time, I was shooting out a window, landing and bolting the direction that Des had indicated.

With every second, I covered an enormous stretch of land and the whirlwind appeared up ahead.

It was fast when I’d seen it the first time. But with all of my stacks at present, it was slow, but speeding up.

No.

I was slowing down as stacks started to fall off.

Rather than waste any time, I activated [Arcane Singularity] as soon as I was close enough. I could not let them get away and try to hunt me or my clan.

A pulse of clear magic swept out from me before a dark energy swept up all magic around me.

Four figures fell out of the whirlwind as I pounced on Ray, my demonic fists hammering her to stop the sudden decline of my stacks before I pressed a hand to her stomach.

She needed to die. [Arcane Singularity] only lasted ten seconds. I kept my hands on her, not wanting to give her the opportunity to turn into a whirlwind again and fly off. I might not be able to stop her again.

[Mana Implosion] planted a small blue sphere in her gut that sucked up just a trickle of mana before it started to devour her flesh. She’d been using that travel spell for a large number of people, and I knew that that type of ability was often costly in mana.

I jumped backwards just in time to hear a loud thump as my ability tore her apart and destroyed Brandon’s legs, putting the other two figures into a small crater.

Trish gasped and waved her hand to form a thick barrier over her and the older man who was most certainly expired at this point. His eyes were glassy and empty. “Who the fuck are you!?” She shouted at me.

I smirked, punching her barrier again and finding it surprisingly sturdy. But at the moment my focus was refreshing my stacks.

Deciding to humor her, I pulled back the hood and let go of [Metamorphosis]. If I was honest, I could feel my own mana was too low. The prolonged use of it had worn me low and my finisher was not cheap. “Surprise.” I wasn’t going to let her survive this anyway.

She blinked. “You? We did nothing to you.”

“What about those people?” I waved off in the distance where all the debtors were in shacks and going to wake up tomorrow to farm for her and Brandon.

“That’s business.” She scoffed and spat at the foot of the barrier.

My lips curled up in a huge smile. “I’m an assassin. Thankfully, you understand, this is just my business.”

Her eyes went wide. “You were scouting before. Wait, the Nekorian?”

“We aren’t to be trifled with.” I exaggerated. “Our organization spans the Elves, Nekorians and Humans. We tried to get in with the Dwarves and Naga, but they are just downright bad customers.”

She frowned at me and didn’t laugh, but that was okay. Not all jokes could be winners.

Then again, I knew I was making jokes to ease the tension of the moment, even within me. I was about to kill in cold blood. The heat of battle was fading and it didn’t change the fact that I was going to murder her in a moment.

“Who?” She asked. “Was it a competitor?”

I tilted my head. “Competitor? I really hope there aren’t more of these.” My hand rapped against the barrier, keeping my stacks rolling.

Finally, Trish laughed, throwing her head back and howling. “This was some personal vengeance?” She seemed to have read me quite well. “It was that adventurer group that escaped a few months ago, wasn’t it? Fuck me. I told Brandon he should have just killed them when we first got wind of them trying to escape. He was so damned cocky that they couldn’t make it though.” She spat on his corpse. “Fucking ass.”

The wooziness of my low mana was starting to fade. I could have drank a potion, but at the same time I wanted information from Trish the same as she wanted from me. “My question is, who are you? Brandon, Ray and all the people we saw here? They were easy to track down and get information about. You were another story.”

“Of course I am. This is my operation! I used to be a lawyer, but then SJS used me as a fixer. Creating clear barriers? Ones that can cut off limbs and heads?” Trish snorted. “A reporter causing trouble? Gone. An influencer reporting that Prince Albar paid for her to visit and then went too far? Oh no.” Trish made a convincing face of concern. “Her car ended up in a freak accident. Don’t get me wrong, I tried to pay most of them first.”

“Want to confess to anything more?” I asked, punching the barrier hard enough to make it quake.

“If it buys me another minute of life, sure. I could go on for hours.” She gave a self deprecating laugh. “You would never understand. Clawing for every inch of ground I made, it turned me into a monster. Or maybe you do understand? Heck, you even turned into a monster! I saw those claws and horns. Kill so many people you became a demon?”

I kept my calm. “No. We scouted you to make sure it wouldn’t be a burden on my conscience to crush you. Killing you will be good for everyone. My question, who was he?” I pointed to the dead older man.

“Prince Albar’s lawyer.” She answered with a sneer of malice. “Spare me and I’ll give you everything. Enough to expose him horribly.”

I shrugged. “We both know that wouldn’t do any good. His family would shield him even if I tried to do something against him legally. He probably has half a dozen of your type cleaning up after him. Thank you though. I was dangerously low on mana and I needed that moment of respite before finishing this.”

Her eyes flashed with hope before it was dashed as I shattered her barrier with [Triple Breach].

The world blurred as I reappeared at her side as she put a barrier between herself and where I’d just been.

“So fast.” She breathed. “You toyed with us this whole time?!” Her hand went to her CID and tried to do something.

My blades cut off her arm and I kicked her knees to drop her down as my blades crossed in a flash of purple lightning, cutting cleanly through her neck and dropping her head to the ground.

Reaching down, I picked up her CID, her staff and pulled at a chain around her neck. The other end of the silver necklace dangled not a dungeon item, but a locket with a picture of a little girl.

Perhaps it would be useful to identify her.

I left the rest for the dungeon to take. In an odd way, it had given me so much. Perhaps I was respecting Felin’s beliefs and sacrificing the bodies to The Great One. Who knows, maybe the dungeon would favor me in the future. Treating the others the same, I rifled through their pockets for a moment making sure I wasn’t leaving behind any keys to the kingdom, so to speak.

Brandon was a king after all. Who knew what kind of keys he could have.

Sadly, besides the old man, the rest of them just had their gear and their CIDs which were currently locked out.

Someone running made me look up and see Charlotte on the back of a horse-sized Bun-bun.

She skidded to a stop and threw herself off Bun-bun, grabbing me with a glowing green hand. “Are you hurt?” Charlotte was beside herself.

“Just a little light headed from using a touch too much mana.” I admitted. “Otherwise, they didn’t harm me at all.”

She picked up my hand that had nearly been severed and poked at it. “Do you feel that?”

“Yes, Dr. Charlotte, I’m fine.” Scooping her up, I worked to prove my current vitality to her. “Now, let's get Bun-bun to deliver us back and clean up so Des can portal us out. Last thing we need is to alert the village.”

“They know. Des said they were all cowering in their homes… uh… must not be the first time they heard fighting from the castle.” She said as I dropped her on Bun-bun’s back.

I took one last look at the bodies and spit on them for good measure. “Assholes. Alright, let’s go Bun-bun.”

The rabbit tossed his head and chittered at Charlotte.

“What?” I squeezed his sides like you would a horse.

The move only made Bun-bun plant himself more firmly, as if to insist that he wasn’t moving. He continued to say something to Charlotte.

“No. Get moving Bun-bun.” The healer sighed. “You aren’t some unicorn.”

Bun-bun gasped and turned his head away from Charlotte, his ears pulled together to a single spot on his forehead and said something short to her while he twisted them into a uni-ear-horn.

Charlotte rubbed her face. “He says only beautiful women can ride him. He’s refusing to carry you.”

“Bun-bun.” I had just the thing for this as I pulled out a magical carrot and waved it in his peripheral.

His head snapped to the dangling vegetable and then he turned away with a force of will and huffed.

I didn’t miss the way his eyes lingered even with his head turned. “Eh?” I added another carrot to my hand and waved it.

The rabbit’s expression wavered and I added a third to strike while the iron was hot. He broke and tried to nibble at them.

“No. After you take us back. I’m not waiting for you to finish. We are in a hurry.”

Bun-bun nodded hard enough that his uni-ear-horn flopped about and split. That was just a split second before he shot off.

I had to hold onto his fur and clamp down with my thighs.

Charlotte, seeming used to the bounciness, rode the strides with far more poise, lifting her hips so she didn’t crash down with each bound.

He might be the size of a horse, but he was nowhere near as smooth of a ride.

Bun-bun made it back to the castle in record time, leaping over the wall with ease and sliding into the castle halls, weaving through the doorways and coming to a stop a few inches from running over Fayeth.

The horse-size rabbit backed up carefully from the elf.

“Good boy.” I rubbed his neck as I slid off. “Want to shrink him so these carrots last more than a second?” I held them out and they disappeared down a greedy rabbit’s gullet faster than I could react.

It had been a mistake to even hold them.

“Too late now.” Des chuckled. “I don’t suppose any of you are experts in mana-tech?” She poked at the servers gently like she was afraid they would crumble if she pushed the wrong spot.

“No. Honestly, this is something we should loop my grandparents in to help clean up. I don’t feel ashamed for asking for this sort of help after the job is done.” I glanced at Des.

“Oh, right. My time to shine.” Des smirked and waved her hands. “Portal!”

A rip in the fabric of reality opened up to somewhere I didn’t recognize.

“Ah.” Grandma Hemi came into view. “Grandson, how goes everything?”

“Wonderful Hemi. There’s some servers that seem to be UG type equipment that connects to CIDs. All of their CIDs locked up when they died.” I explained quickly.

Her brows went up and the kindly old grandmother nodded. “Let me get my tools. Ah, Yui, there’s some mana-tech troubling him after his job. Yes, he finished, just doing clean up. No, tell that old coot that it’s done and he doesn’t need help. Sorry.” Hemi apologized to me after shouting at her sister wife from somewhere we couldn’t see.

Grandma Yui appeared not long after, carrying a heavy toolbox. “Ah. How’d it go, tell Grandma all about it.” Yui was trouble. As the healer of the group, you’d think she was the kind, sweet one.

But no, that was Hemi.

Yui was sweet up until you got to know her better. Then you’d realize she was a sadist that used her healing to inflict more pain without killing. She was the torture expert among my grandmothers.

So when she stepped through the portal and got a look at the hall full of noble’s bodies, she smiled at the scene and gave me a nod of satisfaction. “Looks like they made you work for it. Loot them already?”

“For what good it served us.” Des handed her a bricked CID.

Yui was followed by Hemi who took the toolbox from her and opened it up on a shelf by the server before selecting a few screwdrivers and started working the face plates off.

“All of them were like this.” Des explained. “What about Brandon or Trish’s?” She asked me.

I held the two in question out to show they were the same.

Yui was already taking the first CID apart carefully.

“You’d better not have her start with the important ones.” Grandma Hemi warned. “She’s more of a break it to figure it out kind of worker.”

“Just like she is with people.” Fayeth added in a far too chipper tone.

Hemi looked thoughtful. “That’s not wrong. We can’t move this and it might take me a while to work on it. Can you seal the area off?”

“Collapse the hall?” I suggested. “The place seems pretty under engineered. If we just drop the ceiling in the hall that should keep anyone out.”

“Likely.” Des agreed. “None of the villagers seem remotely interested in the castle. I think it’ll stay that way for a few days, if I had to guess.”

“Plenty of time.” Hemi said taking out a laptop and uncoiling a cord. “This’ll just take a few hours I think.” She plugged it into a port she’d exposed and started working.

I had no idea that Hemi was technically inclined. Mostly she just made me cheesecake and was a kind hand after Grandpa or Yui tortured me with training.

Speak of the devil.

“Hiya, Grandson!” Grandpa poked his head out through the portal. “Who’s my favorite grandson with a whole harem of lovely daughter-in-laws. OH! The Nekorian.” He zipped over in front of Felin fast enough that she straightened up in surprise. “A very pretty one. I heard about you from the dwarven attack, but I haven’t had a chance to properly introduce myself.” Grandpa tried and failed to slick back his unruly hair. “I don’t suppose there are any older Nekorian’s interested in exploring new territory?”

He completely overwhelmed Felin to the point that she didn’t have anything to say back.

“It’s okay. He takes a little getting used to.” Fayeth put a hand on Felin’s shoulder. “Why don’t you help me smash a few walls? It’ll make you feel better.” She pulled the Nekorian away from my grandfather who reached after her with grabby hands.

I stopped him from continuing to pester either of them. “Enough. Let’s talk.”