Chapter 152 - The Demon Lieutenant (Patreon)

Talia wove through the forest of obsidian stalagmites, her motions fast and fluid. With her recent levels, her agility and dexterity had jumped by leaps and bounds, the stats further increased by Zeke’s [Avatar of the Beast] as well as her own [Alacrity of Undeath]. When she was fully enhanced by Zeke’s skill, both her agility and dexterity were more than thirty points higher than her baseline, and with her stats compounded by the doubling effect of [Alacrity of Undeath], she had an effective agility and dexterity approaching four-hundred. Her other stats were incredibly enhanced, too, but not to the degree of her agility and dexterity.

She rarely pushed herself to her limit, in terms of speed. If she did, she would not only leave her teammates behind, but despite having diligently worked on it for months, she still wasn’t quite accustomed to such intense speeds. Perhaps she should work on her other stats instead of constantly investing in agility and dexterity, she thought – at least until she got control of her body.

But that went against everything she’d ever been taught. True elites specialized. Even her mother had agreed with that tenet. Lady Constance was extraordinarily powerful, but she was almost wholly focused on intelligence and wisdom, eschewing the physical stats. She had invested more than a few points into endurance and vitality – everyone did, eventually – but in a hand-to-hand fight, she would be woefully outmatched. The mark of the successful, according to Talia’s mother, was knowing which battles to pick and which to avoid. Knowing yourself was just as important as skills and stats.

Of course, that advice came with the caveat of originating with a woman who’d only wanted to fatten her up for the slaughter, so Talia had trouble giving it too much credence. Besides, Zeke was living proof that a balanced approach could succeed. His mental statistics were almost as impressive as his physical stats, and his combat prowess certainly hadn’t suffered. And that was considering that he barely used any skills, save for the one that allowed him steal vitality and ones he used to enhance his teammates’ survivability. For a man with so much power and potential, he never seemed to make the selfish choice, even when he should.

Talia admired him, and not just because he’d saved her from the abyss. She had grown up in a world where personal power was all that mattered, and companionship was thrown aside in favor of subservience. Her mother didn’t have friends. She didn’t have teammates. She had underlings. And that attitude had trickled down through the Radiant Guard and infected Beacon itself. Talia couldn’t speak to how the commoners approached such relationships, but she had seen enough of the guilds to know that they’d followed her mother’s lead.

And then there was Zeke, a man who, according to Abby, at only level fifteen, had punched out an elder of the Champions of Light. He contradicted the very fabric of Talia’s worldview, and in the best way possible. He didn’t just see her as an asset to be used. He wanted to be her friend. That, more than anything, was why she’d chosen to stay with the group, rather than set off on her own. Of course, there was some degree of self-preservation in that decision; she knew that without Abby, Zeke, and Pudge, she would never have retained her humanity. But that wasn’t such a bad thing, a good portion of her mind told her. There would be a sort of freedom in letting it go, in letting the undead monster free. In those moments where she’d let it envelop her, Talia didn’t have to worry about her mother’s betrayal. She didn’t have to think about how she would be received when she finally reached civilization. Nor did she have to ponder her own monstrous actions. It was strangely liberating, but she knew, deep down, that it was a trap. If she fully surrendered to the undead monster lurking inside, she would cease to be a person. Her myriad problems would cease to exist, but so too would everything that made existence worth enduring. No more companionship. No more love. Nothing but hunger and slaughter.

Curiously, one of the most impactful moments, in terms of her continuing humanity, had come when she’d first encountered the transformed tower. Even as the others inspected the various statues depicting Zeke’s violent history, Talia had only had eyes for the centermost piece that had eventually grown into the grand, spiral staircase that led to the upper levels. There, she was depicted right alongside Abby, Pudge, and Zeke, the implication being that she was part of the group.

Until that moment, she’d gotten the impression that they were only putting up with her out of pity or because they knew just how dangerous she could become if they let her loose. Talia didn’t begrudge them that; she was more dangerous than they really understood, and, at the time, she was far closer to giving in to the monster inside of her. She needed to be watched. She needed guards. In fact, she sometimes wished they would simply take the obvious next step and rid the world of her presence. That would’ve been easier and probably much more prudent.

But that statue told her just how wrong she had been.  They weren’t just putting up with her. They didn’t think of her as a burden or a prisoner. She was part of their group, almost like a surrogate family. And that bolstered her humanity in a way she couldn’t even describe.

Right now, though, on the precipice of a battle against demons, Talia didn’t need her humanity. She needed the monster. So, she loosened her grip a little, letting her monstrous nature flow free. It was a subtle change. Even as her mind gained the focus of a predator, her senses became sharper, her movements more instinctive. And without her humanity asserting itself, she maintained the grace of a hunter even when she pushed herself to her top speed.

The obsidian world blurred past until, suddenly, a trio of possessed miners presented themselves in front of her. She didn’t slow, dipping beneath their outstretched hands and swinging pickaxes, moving as if she was dancing to a well-known tune. Her opponents appeared as if they were moving in water – an effect of the increased perception that came with her enhanced dexterity. The stat didn’t only affect her coordination; it also gave Talia the mental acuity to deal with the blistering speed that came from her monstrous agility.

As she ducked beneath their blows, Talia’s claws, coated in the green shimmer of her skill, [Plague Strike], as well as the misting frigidity of [Chill of Undeath], flashed, dragging shallow grooves in their durable bodies. The demon-possessed people were incredibly resilient, so she didn’t bother with trying to take them down quickly. Such was impossible. Instead, she’d altered her strategy, utilizing her speed to slow them down with [Chill of Undeath] while inflicting the slow infection of [Plague Strike] in order to give her teammates the edge they needed. However, that didn’t stop her from ripping deep into the third miner’s exposed throat. Blood arced out in a black spray, splashing against the obsidian stalagmites.

Talia didn’t stop moving. Instead, she pushed past the trio of attackers and went on the hunt for more of the possessed. As she sprinted away, she heard the telltale sound of cracking thunder, announcing that Abby had gone on the attack. In addition, she could feel the reverberations of Zeke’s mighty swings as they pummeled the possessed as well as the environment.

Slipping through the forest of obsidian rock, Talia was like a pale ghost. Sometimes, her targets reacted at the last moment, but they were too slow to do anything about her attacks. Other times, she caught them completely unaware as they rushed to confront her friends. As she swept through the cavern, infecting and chilling as many of the possessed as she could find, she often caught sight of the others, and she wasn’t disappointed with what she saw.

Zeke was a stalwart pillar amidst the chaos, alternating between the familiar [Leech Strike]-like mode of his evolved skill and the more powerful scythe mode, which sent an arcing blade of red energy into the gathering horde of possessed miners. Not only did it snatch vitality from multiple enemies in one go, but it was also significantly more powerful than the unevolved version of the skill – to the point where it left the miners visibly withered in its wake. That, combined with Talia’s efforts, left the creatures primed for Pudge, Abby, and Tucker, who wasted no time in decimating the mass of demon-possessed people.

To Talia’s monstrous side, it was beautiful. Her human side, buried in the back of her mind where she’d shoved it, wailed at having to witness so much needless death. She didn’t listen. Instead, she continued her work – without it, her friends might get overwhelmed, and even the part of her that had given in to the undead monster refused to let that happen. On that, Talia was of one mind.

Out of nowhere, Talia found herself flying through the air, her ribs shattered into a thousand pieces. It felt like her entire left side had been caved in, and more forcefully than even Zeke’s ridiculous strength could manage. Perhaps if he used that momentum skill of his, but certainly not a naked swing of his mace.

It was times like these that Talia appreciated the detachment that had come with her racial transformation. Unperturbed, she twisted in the air, avoiding one of the obsidian stalagmites before kicking off another. As she did, she glanced back the way she had come, where she saw a leaping demon. This one wasn’t some semi-solid lesser demon that relied on mental attacks, either. Rather, he – and it was definitely a male, given what was hanging between his legs – was even more muscular than Zeke, but possessing a height that would see him towering over Tucker. If he was less than nine feet tall, Talia would have been surprised.

In its hands was a jagged shard of obsidian in the rough shape of a sword. With its bright red skin, smoldering yellow eyes, and the broad horns jutting from the sides of its head, it looked like the classic devils Talia had heard about from her tutors. Back then, she’d considered them myths, but now, with one leaping at her with malice in its eyes, she couldn’t deny their existence.

Talia landed on an open patch of obsidian ground, skidding to a stop. Even as she did, she yanked one of the hearts from her pouch and unhesitatingly bit into it. In the space of a moment, she’d devoured half of the muscular organ, which had, until the beginning of the fight, been kept fresh and warm in Zeke’s storage space. Blood squirted from the mass of flesh, staining her chin red.

Heart’s flesh was strange. In the past, she’d never really cared for organ meat, though she’d been forced to eat it anyway. Her mother would brook no argument when it came to her orders, and if Constance wanted her to eat fried liver or stewed kidneys, then that was what she was going to do, regardless of whether or not it made Talia gag. However, ever since her transformation, flesh had taken on a very different taste. It wasn’t that it had changed overmuch; the familiar flavors were still there. Rather, it was somehow more than it had been before. The tastes went deeper, enveloping the meat in such a way as to render it wholly changed.

And then there was the vitality that came with it. A cascade of life energy washed down her throat and began to disperse through her body. After only a second, it found her destroyed ribs and started piecing them together. Even as it started working, a rush of emotions – fear, anger, alarm, and joy all mingled together into something that hit Talia’s mind like a hammer – nearly overwhelmed her. Luckily, she’d felt it all before, so she managed to retain her focus as well as her skills.

The demon swung its enormous, sword-like slab of obsidian in a horizontal attack, aiming to cut Talia in half. She danced nimbly back, pushing her agility and dexterity to their maximum effect. The demon missed by only a couple of inches, and Talia took another bite of the heart, continuing the flow of vitality to her injuries.

He growled, clearly unused to missing, and adjusted so his next attack came in a diagonal slash. Talia swayed only a few inches to the side, narrowly avoiding the jagged blade. She took another bite, but that’s when her luck ran out. Its clawed foot erupted from the ground in a front kick, and Talia tried to dodge, but she was too slow. It hit her in the hip, and she felt bones crack as she was sent flying into another obsidian stalagmite. She hit with a thud, and the brittle rock cracked, pieces tumbling onto her head. Dazed, she still remembered to take another bite. The life energy helped, but she knew she couldn’t fight the demon the way she was. He was too strong. Too fast. He was just better.

But she wasn’t going to let that stop her from trying.

Forcing the last bit of the heart into her mouth, she chewed furiously as she rolled to the side in order to avoid yet another relentless assault. She kept going before springing to her feet and swallowing the last bite. The infusion of vitality continued to work on her injuries even as she went to work on the demon. She wasn’t recovered – not by a long shot – but she was well enough to harness most of her stats. So, she pushed herself to the limit and darted forward, her claws raking across the demon’s exposed torso. One slash. Two slashes. Three. All in quick succession. She even managed an uppercutting strike on his most precious bits, eliciting a howl of pain and rage.

Each one of Talia’s strikes stole a tiny bit of vitality, the result of her borrowed [Leech Strike]. It wasn’t much, but it maintained a steady trickle of the life-giving energy, bolstering the healing fostered by her consumption of the heart.

The undead girl continued to dance around the giant demon, her claws arcing out in a flurry of blows that would have eviscerated a lesser creature. He was fast, but he wasn’t quite up to her level, so, as long as she maintained her focus, she would whittle him down. The problem was that she was in the middle of a battlefield, and she couldn’t afford the tunnel vision required to fell such a powerful foe.

Her fall came at the claws of a lowly lesser demon. The thing was only partial corporeal, but when it swooped down from the ceiling and latched onto her face, she couldn’t help but flinch. That flinch was all the opening the demon needed, and he clipped her with his obsidian sword. The sheer momentum of the giant blade sent her sprawling, and its sharp but brittle edge sliced a slab of pale, white flesh from her shoulder. A bit of green fluid seeped from the wound, but she didn’t bleed.

The pain opened her up for further attacks, and the lesser demon, weak though it was, took advantage. With a human-like mouth, it bit down her cheek, and Talia immediately felt a foreign presence in her mind. It was as if a wave of malevolent intentions washed over her consciousness, trying to wash away whatever constituted her personal identity. Not only did such an intrusion elicit panic, but it also sent a spike of pain through her mind.

Talia had been through much worse, though. The abyss had given her incredible mental resilience, which had in turn been bolstered by her comparatively high wisdom as well as the potion she’d been given before the beginning of the battle. As a result, the lesser demon never stood a chance, and after only a brief moment of reorientation, its attack washed away like a wave crashing against a breakwater. She clawed at the little monster, yanking it free and crushing it with her [Avatar of the Beast]-enhanced strength. It died with an all-too-human wail, and she tossed it aside just in time to see the giant demon looming over her, a crooked grin playing across its scarred and disfigured face.

In that moment, Talia saw through its hulking frame. She looked past the red skin, the horns, and the massive power. Looking into its alien eyes, she saw a fellow tortured soul, and that brief glimpse brought with it a sense of pity.

The demon raised its sword over its head, and Talia tried to scramble away. But there wasn’t time. Even healthy, she could barely stay ahead of the demon’s attacks. After taking yet another blow, she could only shift a few feet in either direction, a move for which the demon could easily adjust.

The only solace to be had was that Talia’s attacks had begun to take effect. She could see green-and-black splotches of disease marring the demon’s red skin, and its movements had become stiffer than in the beginning. If that lesser demon hadn’t attacked, she might’ve been able to outlast the giant creature. But now, there was only one thing to do.

Talia embraced her most powerful skill, [Circle of Death], and felt her mana rush to a spot in the center of her chest. She couldn’t sense it – not like Zeke – but she knew that was where the skill’s rune lived. The moment she felt it reach capacity, she released, and a wave of black death erupted from her, sweeping out in a twenty-foot diameter. The demon took it head-on, and immediately, the already-injured spots on its durable body began to wither, taking on a deathly gray color. Even more, it staggered to a stop, bellowing like a wild beast.

It was the chance Talia needed, and she took her only other heart from the pouch at her waist, and brought it to her mouth. However, the demon recovered quickly and kicked her hand away, breaking her forearm in the process. Jagged bone erupted from her skin, and the heart flew a few feet away.

“No,” came the thing’s unearthly voice. It was deep and resonant, and it cut through her very soul. “Not this time, little revenant.”

Black fire had erupted across the demon’s body, and everywhere it flowed, healing took hold. The decaying splotches of flesh shrunk, and with their dissipation, any hope of Talia’s victory dissolved into nothingness. She had failed, and what’s worse, the demon wouldn’t even be weakened by the battle. Soon, it would be back to full strength, and her companions would pay the price for her failure.

A glint in the corner of Talia’s eye drew her attention, and she glanced to her left to see a tiny marble ripping through the air. It was moving so quickly that, even with her perception enhanced by her high dexterity, Talia could barely see it. The demon followed her gaze, turning his head to see what had caught her attention. However, he never even got the chance to complete the turn before the ball shattered on his shoulder.

It erupted with an explosion of force, and Talia flinched. She only looked away for the barest of instants, but when she refocused on the demon, his shoulder had been ravaged by a dozen long, jagged shards of metal. A second later, the surrounding shadows came alive, impaling the demon with a host of spikes that, the moment they entered the demon’s skin, began to expand. Even as the demon screamed in pain, a silvery arrow slammed into his chest, and a thick bolt of lightning descended from the ceiling, striking one of his horns and sending a web of lightning coursing through his body.

The demon wasn’t done yet, though. It took a step forward, breaking one of the shadow spikes that had pinned him in place, and with grim determination and boiling hate, raised its obsidian sword in a one-armed strike. As it fell, powered by every ounce of the demon’s considerable strength, Talia knew it was all over. Instinctively, she closed her eyes and braced for the impact, wondering just what a true death would feel like. However, the strike never came. Instead, a mighty clang filled the air, and when Talia opened her eyes, she saw Zeke standing over her, his shield raised to meet the obsidian blade. He struggled under the sheer magnitude of the attack, but he didn’t waver.

Shoving the obsidian blade aside, Zeke growled, “Pudge. Get her out of here!”

Jaws clamped down on Talia’s shoulder, and suddenly, she was being dragged away. She tried to resist, but found herself relaxing when her mind caught up to the circumstances. She looked up to see Pudge pulling her to safety.

Then, Zeke unleashed his most powerful skill.

With a roar, he swung his mace at the demon’s midsection, which had borne the brunt of Talia’s attacks. The impact came with an echo of thunder. The demon flinched slightly, but it didn’t react, other than to glance down at Zeke as if to ask, “Is that it?”

It wasn’t.

An instant later, a sound like a gong being struck by a giant exploded from the point of impact. Zeke was thrown back. Stalagmites shattered. Even Talia, who’d been dragged a good distance away, felt the shockwave rattle her organs. But nobody took it quite like the demon, who was torn into pieces by the explosion of force. As gobbets of red flesh rained down upon them, Zeke pushed himself to his knees and said, “I guess that’s one way to do it.”

Then, he climbed to his feet and walked toward Talia. By the time he reached her, the others had joined them. Tucker said, “I think that was overkill.”

“I’ve been building it for a while,” Zeke said. “He wouldn’t have gone down so easy if Talia hadn’t already weakened him, I don’t think.” He handed Talia a heart, this time, it was one of those leftover from the giants, and Talia unhesitatingly began to eat it. However, it didn’t come with any joy, as it had before. She was still riding high off of her last two hearts, so all she got was the vital energy. Looking down on her, Zeke said, “Good job. I think we need to stick together, though. We can handle one of those lieutenants together, but if any of us are alone…”

He left the statement hanging, but the implication remained. If they hadn’t saved Talia, she would have died. However, she didn’t focus on what might have been. Instead, she chose to think about what had happened. They had saved her. When all had been lost, they had come to her rescue. Like friends did.

Like family should.