She Demon

by A P Gore

  She raised her face with a sheepish smile and, with his help, pushed herself up. She once again offered him a hand, and this time without any incident he got up. Her hand was soft, like she hadn’t been using her bow for long.

  “Thanks,” Noah said, releasing her hand. She smiled sheepishly again.

  “Now, tell me… Why are you here? Is it a trick? A spy from the human side?” she asked.

  “If he was a spy, the goddess wouldn’t have blessed him in the first place,” Mathial said. “And I can confirm that when he arrived here, he was just a level one puppy.” He chuckled, stroking his mustache.

  “Come on.” Noah kicked dirt toward Mathial, but that movement alone was enough to put the female in combat mode. She drew her bow in a split second and had an arrow mounted on it. The arrow was an inch away from Noah’s face. The world slowed down, and everything blurred expect the arrowhead in front of his eyes. “Woah, wait! I was just...” He paused and looked in her suddenly black eyes, trying to decide if they looked sexier than they were in their original color. “I’m a traveler. So even if you kill me, I’ll come back. And I ain’t a good enough leveled character for experience.” He cast a quick perception on her and received very few details. She was a level 5 archer. That’s it. No name. No class. No information. If she killed him, he would only remember her ravishing black leather armor and her two lavender eyes.

  She lowered her bow but kept the arrow nocked. Her eyes went back to their normal lavender, a color he could stare at for hours if she were a human.

  Damn! I’m not here to admire women. I’m here to pick herbs and improve.

  “By the way, I’m Noah.” He extended his hand.

  She started at his hand and then slapped it with hers. “I’m Rihala. And I’m not doing the weird thing you want me to do. My mom says stay away from the strangers.”

  “What weird thing?”

  “I’ve seen a human men and woman. They wrapped their hands in each other’s and then kissed each other and started removing their clothes. I’m not doing that.” Her face reddened with each word.

  “Wait, I didn’t mean that when I asked for a handshake. Forget it.” Noah looked away. The more he looked at her cheeks, the more tomato-red she turned. “So, Rihala, what brings you near the demon town of Sumara?” He asked the most mundane question he could think of, hoping to ease the tension between them.

  “I’m here to check on the dungeon. The cave of Xamphala.”

  “Okay.” Noah wondered for a moment if he should reveal his desire to go into that cave or not. He chose not to. “We are here for a girl that is suffering from the curse of Sumara. She need help, and I think we can help her by collecting some special herbs.”

  “Oh? How old is she?”

  “Four.” Noah sighed sadly.

  “How in the Zedusa did she end up in your cursed town? That’s the town of death for any female. I wouldn’t even tell my enemy to live in that town. Leave it now, human, and you may survive to tell your tale next year.” Her voice had suddenly turned serious. A loud thud echoed from nearby, and her movement changed. Her body stiffened, and her eyes circled around. “I have to go. Stay away from that town, human. And sorry for this mess.” Those were her last words before she jumped over the head of an orc, coming at them with an arrow sticking out of one eye, and ran away.

  8. Ice Shot

  This orc was different from the last one Noah faced. It was shorter, but more muscular than the previous one. The worst thing was it stank profoundly.

  Blood dripped down from the orc’s right eye where the arrow was stuck. He looked at them and turned back to look at the running shadow of Rihala. For a moment Noah thought he would run after her, but instead he turned back, facing them with grimy eyes that evoked fear in Noah’s heart.

  The orc grabbed the arrow and pulled it out of his eye.

  Noah lost his breakfast when the eye of the orc came out, stuck on the arrowhead.

  The orc roared with pain and raised his club in the air. “You. Hurt. I. Hurt. Hard.”

  “Great. We’ve got an orc on our tail. How considerate, bitch!” Mathial shouted after Rihala, then faced Noah. “Listen, human. He is tougher than a stone, because he has the title of toughness, but he’s weak against magical attack. I hope you’ve got some flashy spells. I’ll do the dirty work, you just support me with spells.” He glanced at the vomit on the ground. “Get yourself under control, human! You’ll see worse than this in the future, and you’d better be prepared for that.”

  Noah nodded. Mathial was right. If he had to do this, he’d better get tough, and better sooner than later. He cast perception on the orc, who was still grunting at them while trying to remove another arrow stuck in his gut.

  Perception partially successful due to a title revealed by a higher level member of the party.

  Orc of toughness

  Level 13

  Health 910/1000

  Other stats are hidden due to level difference.

  Noah took a step back when the orc removed another arrow from his gut. The only good thing was the orc was already missing 90 health, maybe because of a critical strike or a special arrow. A surge of anger rushed through Noah as he realized why Rihala had run away after saying sorry.

  “Roger, sir. Go ahead, I’ll support you.” Noah sped away from the orc, moving behind Mathial. There was no way he could kill the orc by himself at his current level.

  Mathial started chanting in some strange language, and his body began to emit a strange black aura. The aura spread to Noah and surged through his body as well, giving him a strange sensation. He felt more powerful than before. A quick glance at his stat sheet told him that it was a War Cry of Endurance. All his physical stats were bumped by 2 points, pushing his health to 445 and stamina to 270.

  When the black aura stopped radiating through his body, Mathial charged the orc, who met him halfway with his club raised high in the air. Mathial’s ax and the orc’s club slammed against each other, knocking them both back with the sheer force of the impact.

  The orc recovered first. He raised the club to hit Mathial again. Mathial swung his ax horizontally, scoring a cut across the orc’s midsection. Blood sprayed out, painting Mathial’s ax in red. The orc lost momentum, but still brought his club down at Mathial’s head. Mathial jumped nimbly out of the club’s arc.

  Noah was ready with his spell. He cursed the orc with the fire ball curse and shot two poison orbs simultaneously at the monster. The fire balls surprised the orc, and the impact pushed him backward. Noah’s poison orbs missed the orc because of the sudden movement, wasting 50 spirit.

  Mathial was back in the leading role. He charged, ax forward, and activated some skill which pushed him toward the orc in a blur, hitting the orc with the head of the ax. The orc lost his balance and dropped, but grabbed the head of Mathial’s ax and pulled Mathial down with him. They both hit the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.

  Noah struggled not to laugh, as both heavy fighters looked like a happily kissing couple when the dust settled. The orc had Mathial in a bear hug. But he pulled his act together when he spotted Mathial’s life going down. Within seconds, Mathial’s life was below half. The orc had done something, and if he could bring Mathial’s buffed life to half, then he could kill Noah in a fraction of a second. Fear clenched his balls and squeezed them hard.

  Mathial put his hands on the orc’s chest and pushed himself out of the bear hug. His life was at 250 when he broke free. The orc stood; he was at 820 life.

  Noah threw a fire ball curse, but it only took 70 life from the orc, bringing it down to 750. Even with his passive skill of -10% enemy fire resistance, the orc was putting up a tough fight.

  “Let me join your party and finish up the brute once and for all.” A now familiar voice echoed from their backs. Noah turned to face Rihala, who stood behind him with an ashamed face. There was a guilt inside those lavender eyes.

  Noah sent a party invitation to her, which she instantly accepted. She no
cked an arrow and closed her eyes. After a moment, her arrow started glowing with frost at the tip; the frost quickly covered the arrow, and when it was about to extend to her hand, she shot it toward the orc charging Mathial. The arrow hit the orc at the base of his neck just before two poison orbs hit the same spot. It was a critical damage spot. The orc’s health spiraled, hitting the 400 mark. Her arrow had done 150 damage.

  “That was great! Ready to pull another one?” Noah asked, beaming at her. But the smile retreated when he spotted the orc’s life going back up, reaching the 700 mark once again. “What was that?”

  The orc jumped forward, engaging Mathial in fierce combat. Both were furiously swinging their weapons at each other, taking pieces of their flesh here and there.

  “Do you have anything to pull him down?” Noah asked, worried about Mathial’s life.

  “No. I have something that will crit him for triple damage, but I need a clear shot. Right now, I may hit your demon friend.”

  “Will he regenerate his life if we bring it down again?”

  “No, the toughness title only allows a one-time recharge.”

  Noah nodded and watched Mathial do some activity that increased his speed. He was holding his own against the orc, but for how much longer? His life was slowly ticking down toward one quarter of his total life, and soon fatigue and other effects would kick in.

  Noah glanced at his spirit reserve. It was hovering around the 50 mark. He couldn’t cast another round of curses, but it was enough for a couple of different skills. “I have an idea. Let me separate him from the orc. Shoot your special arrow even if I’m in the way. Worst case, I’ll die with the orc, but I’ll come back.”

  Noah ran toward the fight, increasing his speed with the spirit run ability. He also activated his poison shield. He readied his dagger to hit the orc, but ended up ducking as the backward spin of the orc’s club almost took his face off.

  Noah clenched his fingers around the cold dagger hilt and sliced it upward, piercing the orc’s gut where Rihala’s arrow had previously bored a hole in his armor. He used his all might to shove the dagger into the orc, until only the hilt of the dagger remained in the open air.

  The orc didn’t even flinch. He was a tough bastard.

  Noah used the remainder of his spirit and hit the orc with a point-blank poison orb.

  The orc turned to look at the pest who disturbed him. Before Noah could flee, he grabbed Noah by the throat and lifted him in the air.

  Noah strengthened his neck muscles with his remaining bits of spirit energy and yelled, “Rihala, now!”

  The orc tightened his grip, overcoming Noah’s strengthened muscle resistance. His air pipe was collapsing, and his red life bar started falling. Before everything went black, he heard a whoosh sound coming from Rihala’s direction. He knew it was her special arrow, and he hoped it would kill the orc and save both of their lives.

  But there is always a moment of strength you receive before dying in vain. Noah received one too. He pushed his leg against the hilt of the dagger he had planted in the orc’s gut. The dagger slid deeper inside the orc’s gut.

  The orc roared in pain, losing his grip on Noah’s neck.

  That one moment of weakness was enough for Noah to dig his fingers inside the orc’s grip and pull himself out of the monster’s hand. The moment his feet hit the ground, he activated his spirit run skill and ran away from the orc with all the speed he could muster. Unfortunately, he was caught in the ice trail left by Rihala's arrow. Ice washed over his back and froze his skin below the neck as he landed face down on the ground. His life instantly dropped to 30, and fatigue washed over him. He closed his eyes with every expectation of opening them in respawn room.

  9. Final Nail in the coffin

  Instead of the respawn room, Noah opened his eyes below the large nut tree, spreading its branches over the horizon like a mother would spread her arms for her child. Noah was hanging on to the game world with a mere 30 life. The pain was excruciating. and the ice-bites were itching all over the places. The ice had left multiple cuts on his back, and small, rough dust particles were piercing through them, but he was alive and had been spared the trauma of death—so far.

  He blinked to focus and read the notifications that had piled up.

  Your party member Rihala has killed the orc of toughness.

  You have received 1250 experience.

  He clicked on the plus sign to see how he got so much experience.

  The orc gave 500 base experience which was multiplied by the party size, and then by 5—which had a tool tip - it mentioned about capped multiplies for the level difference. That brought the total to 7500. Then the total experience had a -3000 penalty for the party member level difference. Because of his contribution to the kill, he received 1250 out of that 4000, which was pretty good.

  Congratulations! You have learned the new sub-spell Spirit Strengthening. You can now strengthen a single part of your body with the spirit cycling technique. +1 to spirit strengthening. This skill can’t be increased by investing skill points. Each level will provide +2% strengthening effect for the body part.

  Congratulations! As you have demonstrated the courage to jump in to save a party member, +1 to Intelligence, and -1 to Wisdom.

  Congratulations! You have reached a new level in the poison shield due to progression.

  Congratulations! As you have continuously used your spirit energy in multiple skills you have received +1 to wisdom.

  Congratulations! You fought with the demon archer Rihala, back to back, blood mixed with blood. Your reputation with her increases by +5000. New reputation with Rihala: Considerate.

  Noah wasn’t sure if he should be happy or sad. Negative wisdom? The game was playing with him now.

  He pulled up his delta character sheet to see all the effects in detail.

  Name : Noah

  Class : Cursemancer

  Second Class : Zombiemancer

  Stats

  Strength 12

  Dexterity 8

  Constitution 13

  Wisdom 29

  Intelligence 7

  Charisma 6

  Chance 5

  Health: 30/410

  Stamina: 230 (6.68/sec)

  Spirit: 290 (13.41/sec)

  Mana 70 (5.49/sec)

  Skills

  Poison Shield (Level 4): Absorb 40 damage. Maintenance cost: 6 spirit/sec. Skill Progression: 0%

  Poison Orb (Level 5): Damage 32.5. Require 25 spirit per cast. Skill Progression: 50%

  Curse of Fire Ball: Damage 65. Requires 100 spirit per cast. Charges Left 30/50 Skill Progression: 60%

  Spirit Cycling (Level 8)

  Micro Spirit Cycling (Level 1)

  Spirit Strengthening (Level 1)

  Spirit Run (Level 1)

  Current Experience: 10760/13000

  Noah only needed about 2300 experience to level up. Zombies were coming closer, baby.

  He turned his head to look at the place where the orc had died. The orc’s body had dissolved into skin and meat pieces, along with a couple of gear pieces and a monster crystal. He was about to move to check it when Rihala picked it up.

  “If you don’t mind, can I look at the crystal?” he asked. She could refuse, and he wouldn’t be able to stop her, but he hoped their improved reputation would give him some bargaining power.

  Rihala studied the crystal, swirling it in her hand before looking at him with wide eyes. She blinked, contemplating. “This is a costly crystal, a copper - II level, and it will fetch me at least fifty gold.”

  That was the exact crystal Noah needed for the second antidote. But fifty gold was a huge number, and why would a stranger give him something so valuable? Noah’s hope drowned in the river of broken hearts. He didn’t even have that much gold to spare. “I need to save the girl I mentioned previously, and that crystal is part of her antidote.” Sadness leaked into his voice.

  Rihala froze in place, staring at Noah and Mathial alternately. “If you let me t
ake the orc’s club, I’ll give you the crystal. Deal?”

  Noah’s eyes darted to the club, which glowed with a faint blue color, indicating it had some special property. An urge sprung to mind to identify that club using his new device, but he pushed it aside. The crystal was more important. He would get thousands of such clubs, but not another Thia. “Sure, go ahead.”

  Mathial too nodded at her.

  A gorgeous smile lit Rihala’s dusty face, revealing a dimple on her left cheek. She grabbed the club, put it inside her bag, and walked over to Noah with the crystal. But just before she reached him, she tripped over a small stone and fell on him again. Her bow twisted and pierced a hole in his gut with one of the corners. Before he realized what was happening, her breasts were pressed tightly against his chest and her lips were inches away from his own; his brain went into hyperdrive and sent all the wrong signals toward his organ when he felt the softness of her body—and then he died.

  His vision was filled with a big red notification.

  You have taken 30 damage from Rihala’s sudden fall on you. Once more, you have found a stupid way to die. I can’t stop laughing at you. +1 to chance, just because you got a glimpse of what the game could offer you. +1 to charisma for successfully convincing Rihala to hand you the crystal.

  The death was brutal and left him in a hazy state for few minutes, but this time he had the pleasant memory of Rihala’s body pressed against his, and it was enough to pull him out of the death fugue.

  Noah facepalmed and changed his clothes just before Sumara popped into the room.

  “Where’s my coffee?” she asked.

  Though annoyed, Noah willed five coffee cups to appear on the table, then ordered a masala tea for himself. He’d earned a break.

  While the goddess enjoyed her coffee, he pulled his crystal mold out and opened it.

  A bright golden light emerged from the mold, blinding him briefly. When the light dimmed, a tear-shaped crystal core floated out of the mold and swirled around itself. The core emitted faint blue light and had the pleasant scent of a Jasmine, a flower his dad used to grow on the farm. Memories of freedom and love were associated with that aroma.