Chapter 307 - Into Hell (Patreon)

Zeke stretched as he tried to get used to the leather cuirass. It was a curious piece of armor, mostly because he had no idea what sort of animal the leather had come from. After a little testing, he’d discovered that it was more resistant to penetration than steel, but far more flexible. Even so, there was something about it he just didn’t find comfortable. Given a choice, he would’ve much preferred a metal suit of armor.

But soon enough, he hoped that wouldn’t be an issue for much longer. Because he’d already caught a glimpse of the portal to the demon realm, and he’d been happy to see the purple-black crystals growing all around it. It didn’t take a great level of deduction to determine that it was the netherite he needed to complete the second part of his quest. Once that was done, he would only have to find some black adamantite before he could unlock what he expected was his class’s defining skill.

After all, the class was called {Arcane Colossus}. It only made sense that a skill called [Colossus] would be important. In addition, the skill had evolved from [Armor of the Colossus], which had in turn absorbed his Armor of the Crimson Juggernaut. So, Zeke felt fairly certain that it would be some sort of an armor skill that would make his leather cuirass completely obsolete.

Or perhaps he was entirely mistaken, and it would present itself in some other form. Hopefully, he’d find out sooner rather than later.

“Might want to bring your weapon, kid,” someone snorted. Zeke looked up to see the smirking face of Eefik, another slave who’d been tasked with showing him the ropes. The man was mostly human, though judging by the jut of his jaw and prominence of his brow, Zeke suspected that there was some orc heritage in there somewhere. In any case, he cut an intimidatingly well-muscled and brutal-looking figure, which was only enhanced by his propensity to walk around shirtless so he could show off the red tribal tattoos that covered his entire body. He hefted his own axe, adding, “Don’t know who you pissed off to get sent down here, but you’d better shape up or you’ll end up dead the second you step through the gate.”

Zeke shook his head. He’d been subjected to numerous such comments since being selected as one of the slaves who were routinely sent into the demon realm. He still didn’t know what they were supposed to gather on the other side of the gate, but it seemed rare and important.

He bent down and hefted his mighty club. More than once, Zeke had forgotten the weapon, leaving it behind in various places. That, as much as his status as a newcomer, was the biggest source of the other slaves’ mocking. At first, it had bothered him, but it hadn’t taken long before he grew adept at ignoring the derisive comments. These people just didn’t matter. Not really. All Zeke cared about was getting his quest finished. Everything else was secondary, at least for now.

Still, it was annoying that he kept forgetting the club. In his defense, he’d never really had to remember things like that before. When he wasn’t using Voromir, he just dismissed it into his spatial storage and summoning it whenever he needed it. The same was true for most of his equipment, which had put him in the habit of keeping his hands free.

For now, that was a bad habit that he needed to break. Once he was in the demon realm, he intended to break free of his bindings and go back to normal, but for the time being, he needed to at least pretend to play by the same rules as everyone else. Even if doing so was annoyingly tedious.

“Yeah, yeah. I got it,” Zeke muttered.

Eefik slapped him on the shoulder saying, “You’ll get the hang of it! Or you’ll just die. Either way…”

Zeke didn’t respond except for another shake of his head. It felt like he was doing that a lot, lately. There was a certain fatalism hanging in the air that hadn’t been present in the mines. Even the pit fighters hadn’t seemed so dire. But these forerunners, as they were called, were entirely ambivalent about their own deaths.

Some, like the Armory, even looked forward to it. Was that one of the effects of the corruptive atmosphere wafting out of the gate to the demon realm? Or was it just an expected side effect of the slaves’ captivity? Of seeing so many of their peers fall? The mortality rate, which Eefik had gleefully confessed was a little more than half for each expedition, suggested the latter, but Zeke suspected that it was a combination of both factors.

Either way, he seemed immune to it.

But then again, he’d yet to go on his first expedition, so perhaps he’d sing a different tune once he’d seen a few dozen people fall. How would he react if he knew it was only a matter of time before he was sent to his death?

Not well, Zeke expected.

So, it was a good thing that he didn’t intend to stick around for longer than absolutely necessary. Once the kobolds were settled in the tower and he completed his quest, he would enact his plan for escape.

Until then, playing along was the only way forward.

Once he was armed, Zeke joined Eefik to assemble alongside the rest of the forerunners who were scheduled to head into the demon realm. There thirty-five of them in all; some were huge and hulking, much like the half-ogre Zeke had killed back in the pits, but others were small and slim. All seemed dangerous, even without the benefit of their skills.

“So, what are we supposed to be doing on the other side of the gate?” Zeke asked, glancing toward Eefik. He’d been taken to take a look at it just after his arrival, and the portal itself had actually been a bit disappointing. Still, no one had told him what to expect, which was more than a little concerning.

“You’ll see.”

“You could just tell me,” Zeke prodded.

The brute just grinned, exposing his elongated, tusk-like canines, and said, “Nope. I won’t ruin the surprise.”

Zeke sighed. They’d had a similar conversation more than once in the day since Zeke had arrived, and each instance had ended the same way – with Eefik’s stubborn refusal to reveal anything about the demon realm on the other side of the portal. It was frustrating because it wasn’t some mandated rule. Eefik could have told him whatever he wanted. He’d just refused. The same could be said for each of the other forerunners, who saw a slave’s first steps into the demon realm as some sort of rite of passage. Telling him what to expect would somehow ruin that.

It was total nonsense, but Zeke had decided not to rock the boat. Instead, he’d chosen to simply accept things the way they were. After all, he didn’t want to make waves before he got what he needed. After that, things would change.

Once everyone was assembled, the group set out through the tunnels and to the chamber that held the gate itself. The trip was short – only about ten minutes – and soon enough, Zeke and the others found themselves standing before the gate.

The cavern was much like any other in the general vicinity, though with the notable exception of playing host to quite a few more dwarves than usual. In fact, it seemed as if a constant procession of the short, stout figures came and went through the gate, which looked like nothing so much as a freestanding doorway in the center of the chamber.

The borders were carved from solid onyx, and they were covered in dense runes whose purpose Zeke could only barely understand.  But even that comprehension was limited to the most basic generalities. It would require years’ worth of study to get any further. But that was okay; Zeke had no intention of fiddling with the gate. And even if he did, it would be to dismantle it, which wouldn’t require nearly as much study.

After all, breaking things was by far the easiest facet of runecrafting.

Around the gate grew thick clusters of netherite.

“What’s that?” Zeke asked, pointing to a particularly dense grouping of the dark purple crystals.

“Worthless,” Eefik stated. “The dwarves have to clean it out every few days, or it’ll overwhelm the whole cave.”

“Any chance I can get a bit?” Zeke asked.

“Why? It’s worthless,” Eefik responded, raising one heavy brow.

Zeke shrugged. “I think it’s pretty,” he said. It was the only feasible reason for why he would want a bit of crystal that was supposed to be worthless. “Used to collect rocks and such when I was a kid.”

Eefik laughed. “What a worthless hobby!” he guffawed.

Zeke waited on his hulking guide’s laughter to die down before he asked, “So? Do you think anybody would care?”

“You could stuff a bag full of the trash if you want, and nobody would care one bit,” Eefik said, amusement still lacing his tone. “But not now. If you start digging around, the dwarves’ll start thinkin’ we want to clean up the joint. And nobody here’ll thank you for volunteering us for extra work. Get it on your way out. If you survive.”

“Fine.”

Zeke didn’t like that plan, and he had no intention of following it. Instead, he would wait until they were on the verge of entering the gate before he snagged a bit of crystal. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need that much to satisfy the requirements of his quest. It would’ve been much easier if it had specified what sort of units it used for measurement instead of just saying that he needed to gather thirty netherite. Was that thirty pounds? Thirty pieces? Some other quantity? He had no idea, and he’d just have to play it by ear.

Over the next few minutes, more groups from other forerunner camps joined them in the cavern, and soon enough, there were more than a hundred people present. And given the size of some of them, things got extremely crowded very quickly. Thankfully, it wasn’t long after that before the flow of dwarves in and out of the portal ceased and they were given the go-ahead to cross over.

Zeke and his group were positioned toward the middle of the crowd of forerunners, so it took around half an hour for them to reach the gate. Waiting for their turn provided a perfect opportunity for Zeke to harvest a number of netherite crystals, so by the time his group reached the front of the crowd, he’d gathered more than enough to satisfy the terms of his quest.

So, it was with a bit of relief that his turn to cross over into the demon realm finally came. Zeke could feel the tension all around him, but for his part, he experienced very little anxiety. It wasn’t his first trip to the other dimension, so he felt as if he was well-prepared for whatever he found on the other side of the gate.

But when he finally stepped through, he discovered just how mistaken he really was.

It took a moment for Zeke to get his bearings, but if he’d have taken any longer, he’d have been skewered by a wicked harpoon. He narrowly dodged to the side, but before he could adjust, another came in his direction. Then another. And another after that.

That’s when his fighting instincts kicked in.

With one hand, Zeke slapped a harpoon aside, and with the other, he raised his club to intercept the next. The final attack, he took directly in the chest, trusting his endurance to deal with the blow.

It couldn’t.

Not completely at least. The barbed blade bit into his chest, spearing straight through his flesh as if it wasn’t even there. Fortunately, it got hung up on his ribs; otherwise, he’d have ended up with his heart destroyed. But what were ribs if not natural armor? Zeke hardly even registered the pain. Instead, he went on the offensive, attacking with his massive club.

The focus of his ire was a curious-looking creature. At first glance, Zeke would have considered it to be a mermaid. With a fish’s tail and a humanoid body, it had the basic requirements for that classification. However, humanoid did not equal human, and this creature certainly only qualified for the former.

For one, it was completely covered in shiny, silver scales. For another, it sported a pair of horns that put Zeke in mind of a bull. Or a demon, which, given their location, was probably appropriate.

Oh, and it was swimming through mid-air, which probably should’ve been the first thing Zeke noticed.

None of that mattered, though. Not really. An enemy was an enemy, and this one bore the thick, acrid stench of demonkind. That was all Zeke really needed to know. He let loose, swinging his new club with all his considerable might. The creature attempted to block the attack with a flimsy-looking shield that looked like the shell of a blood red nautilus, but the moment Zeke’s weapon hit its shiny surface, the creature’s arm crumpled, and it’s body slammed into the ground.

Zeke pounced, stomping down on its prone form with every point of strength he could muster. The skull that was his target held up surprisingly well under the first blow. The second brought with it a different story, and Zeke’s efforts were rewarded with the sickening crunch of cracking bone.

Wheeling around, Zeke found his next target – another mer-demon, this one with a thick mane of jellyfish-like tendrils flowing down the center of its head and into its back – and went on the attack. His club arced through the air, but the mer-demon quickly dodged to the side before lashing out with the speed of a striking serpent. Its harpoon skewered Zeke’s bicep, but he didn’t even consider reacting. Instead, he dropped his club, grabbed the harpoon, and yanked.

The stunned mer-demon should have simply let go, but the tactic took it by such surprise that it reacted a second too late. By that point, it had come into Zeke’s range. His hand darted out, and his fingers curled around the monster’s tendril-like mane. In the back of his mind, he could feel his arm going numb – clearly, the tendrils were venomous – but he pushed through it, yanking the creature forward.

That’s when it met his fist.

One blow after another rained down on the mer-demon’s face, each one wreaking incredible damage. Delicate facial bones cracked, and the thing lost consciousness, but Zeke couldn’t stop himself. He didn’t dare. Nor did he wish to. It wasn’t until he felt a strong hand latch onto his shoulder that he stopped pounding the mer-demon into submission.

He wheeled around to find himself facing a grinning Eefik. The hulking, heavy-browed man hefted Zeke’s club, saying, “I told you to hold onto this.”

After a second, Zeke’s mind began to clear, and he managed to croak, “What…w-what happened?”

“Other than your little rampage? Didn’t think you had it in ya, to be honest. Woulda made a netherbian cragwalker jealous, that. But as you can see, they’re all dead,” Eefik explained.

That’s when Zeke took a look around, and he saw a hundred or more scattered mer-demon corpses, each with one of the slaves standing over them. However, that wasn’t what really caught Zeke’s eye. Instead, he focused on his surroundings.

“What is this place?” he asked.

“What’ve we been tellin’ you? This is hell.”

Zeke had been to Mal’araxis, so he’d thought he knew what to expect. But it seemed clear that the demon realm on this plane was as different from Mal’araxis as the Eternal Realm was different from the Radiant Isles.