She Demon

by A P Gore

  That was a hefty spirit cost, and he wouldn’t be able to raise more than 4 zombies at a time, even with his huge spirit pool. He glanced at the Curse of Raise Zombie, which would help him today.

  Curse of Raise Demon Zombies (Level 1): Raise 10 demon zombies (cap reached)

  Zombie Life: 300

  Zombie Damage: 165

  Zombie Time: 12 minutes

  Spirit Cost: 50

  “Damn good.” This was his trump card. He didn’t need any corpses going forward and could summon cheap zombies. With his current pool of 520 spirit he could summon 10 zombies quickly enough.

  He glanced at his latest stats and felt proud. He currently stood at 665 health, 80 mana (thanks to -1 intelligence), 520 spirit and 365 stamina.

  He looked at the timer. Twenty minutes remained, so he thought of checking into the enhancer design mode. The two cores he had combined were due tonight, and he hoped for another miracle, for one more unique crystal.

  He didn’t get one. The mold opened with a bright red light, and a heart-shaped crystal appeared on his palm.

  “What the heck? Where is my spellgem?”

  “Next time you do this, read the properties on the mold you are using.” Sumara’s divine voice echoed in his respawn room. He squinted at the molds.

  Mold of Crystal Enhancement.

  “Damn! Then where is my spellgem mold?” He couldn’t find it anywhere in his design mode.

  “It was one-time use, duffer, and this one is multi-use. It’s written on it. Read the damn fucking thing!” Sumara shouted.

  Noah slammed his hand on the table. There were so many things he was missing out by just not reading closely.

  He focused on the crystal he had received.

  Crystal of Skeleton Bone

  Add this crystal to an item with the socket to enhance it.

  Enhancement bonus: Blood Magic: Allows to cast spells with blood when wielded.

  “Does that mean if I fit it into my gloves it would allow me to summon zombies with my blood?” He looked up.

  “Yes, you moron. It’s written in the description clearly. And don’t disturb me again without bringing me some coffee first.”

  “Okay.” Noah pulled his gloves out. The socket on the glove was heart-shaped too. “Wow! I’m so fortunate today.” He thanked his lucky stars and pushed the crystal inside the socket.

  Do you want to enhance the gloves with the crystal? This process is un-recoverable. Crystal will be consumed. Yes/No?

  He prayed to Goddess Sumara and pressed yes. The glove lifted itself in the air, and the crystal snapped into the socket, giving the gloves a red glow.

  He looked at the marvelous looking gloves.

  Enhanced Uncommon pair of leather gloves

  Durability 15/15

  Level required: 5

  +5 to armor

  +1 to attack speed

  Socketed (1/1)

  Blood Magic: Spells cast by you consume blood instead of Spirit/Mana. The spell has an enraged effect.

  So, the enhancement added a level requirement too. It was below his level, so it didn’t matter. When he left designer mode, the respawn counter was almost over. Sitting down, he readied himself for the upcoming battle. He was going to zombify the shit out of Mathial and that nosy bastard high priest.

  29. Sacrifice

  The first thing Noah tried after emerging from the respawn room was to raise a spirit zombie. A demon in black pants and leather armor rose from the black circle of the curse. He had a small golden diadem clenched in his right hand. It resembled the diadem Noah had received from the Xamphala quest line. The demon looked decayed, sludgy, and not at all like the head demon Noah had consumed to form this curse. Oh well, he couldn’t expect to raise a high-level demon. Not yet.

  Noah headed for the inn on the dusty path. The white rays of the blue moon were sufficient for maintaining a quick pace. The zombie followed him mindlessly for a time and vanished when its timer ran out. A normal zombie would have lasted longer, but he didn’t have a corpse to raise one. At least that zombie had seemed faster than the zombies he had raised before.

  The inn’s door was bolted from inside. It was the first time Noah had seen the big patchy wooden door. In all the time he’d spent at the inn, the door had always remained open, even at night. Mathial slept in a small room next to the bar, and he kept a close watch on outside. There was no lock on the outside of the door and pushing it didn’t do anything.

  Even his spirit-strengthened hands were useless against the thick door. Noah traced his hand over the patchy wooden door, feeling the small gaps in it, trying to find a notch or something. But nothing was there. Noah even tried to get in from the backyard, but he was met with another thick door. This one had a metal lock.

  Noah conjured a fire orb curse and hit the lock with it, to no avail. Upon closer inspection, Noah got a prompt next to the lock.

  Enhanced metal lock.

  Durability 10/10

  Immune to fire damage.

  “That’s it.” Noah prepared a dual poison orb and blasted the lock with four of them. The lock lost its durability and fell apart.

  Noah stormed into the light-deprived interior, but Thia wasn’t there. He checked in the kitchen and found that all his preparations for coffee-making were intact, so at least there was that.

  His momentary happiness vanished when he spotted Roderich lying on the floor, dead.

  Roderich must have performed his last spell in that room. It was painful to see his lifeless body. Roderich had gifted him something precious before he departed for the afterlife. Noah had misunderstood the demon, and now he was paying the price.

  “I won’t waste your sacrifice, Roderich.” He closed Roderich’s glassy eyes and walked out of the inn.

  He knew where he would find Mathial.

  With spirit run he dashed toward the sacrificial grounds. Today he wasn’t bothered by the shadows; he’d come prepared for anything.

  The bright moonlight failed to reduce the grimy intensity of the sacrificial grounds. The smell of death dampened his heart, even though he was all set to wreak havoc on the blacksmith and his boss, the bastard priest. He stopped at the first sight of blood around the pole in the center of the grounds. Fear and doubt gripped his heart.

  Am I too late?

  No, he couldn’t lose. Not after Roderich sacrificed himself for little Thia. There was still time. Four hours, Mathial had said—unless they’d killed Thia even sooner.

  “A leech is a leech. Fock the goblins!” Mathial’s voice echoed in the sacrificial grounds as he stepped into view. He wore the plate mail he had prepared for himself. A shiny silver hammer decorated his new leather belt. It must have added to the already huge defensive stats of the blacksmith. Mathial had come prepared for battle.

  So had Noah.

  Noah called upon his spirit zombie curse, and for just 50 spirit a demon wearing light gray pants appeared in front of Mathial.

  Noah quickly checked the zombie’s stats. He was level 9, with 250 life and 130 damage. A gray message below the zombie icon told him the zombie was downscaled to his current level. That was a bummer, but 250 life wasn’t bad.

  At Noah’s will, the zombie attacked Mathial. With the 20% speed bonus, the zombie moved faster than Noah expected.

  Mathial laughed. He swung his shiny new hammer horizontally, leaving a trail of silver flickering in its wake. The hammer hit the zombie in the chest and took 100 points from its life pool. “Did you really think this would kill me?” Mathial swung his hammer one more time, and the zombie died.

  Noah conjured five more. “Is this enough for you?” he said coldly, willing his zombies to attack Mathial at once.

  Mathial’s confident grin faltered, but he swiftly regained his composure. “I’ll kill these too, and then I’ll kill you and send ten demons to the temple.”

  Noah conjured the evilest smile he could and raised five more demon zombies. The 50 spirit cost let him raise 10 zombies back-to-back due t
o his 520 spirit pool.

  Mathial stepped back, looking at the gate of the sacrificial grounds. Fear was visible in his eyes.

  Noah ordered his zombies to surround Mathial.

  Mathial sprang into action, swinging his hammer horizontally, hitting two zombies at once. But two other zombies were already on him, slashing their claws across his chest.

  Mathial crouched, dodging the next attack. He called upon his black buff and swung his hammer in a vertical motion to tear the nearest zombie in two. By the time his hammer emerged through the zombie’s head, four zombie tails pierced his body, doing 50 damage each.

  Mathial spun and hit two zombies with a single attack, taking 50 life from each one. He would have won the fight if he was fighting only 4 or 5 zombies. But more zombies had joined the battle, and then it was a zombie fest. 9-10 hands swung their claws at Mathial. Various tails pierced his body. Blood sprayed out like water from a hose.

  Mathial’s life dropped faster than the stock exchange on a doomsday. When he was down to his last 20 life, Noah commanded his zombies to stop. He stepped forward, getting close to Mathial.

  Noah bent, staring into Mathial’s bloody eyes. “That’s what you get for betraying a friend and putting a four-year-old in danger.”

  Mathial coughed blood. “This was for the greater good.”

  “Did you forget about your own daughter? She was five, right?”

  Mathial’s eyes closed for a moment. Noah feared he lost him, but Mathial opened them again. They were misty with unshed tears. “Yes, she was five.”

  “Thia was like your daughter. She trusted you blindly. Roamed around you for hours. Played on your shoulder. And yet you put her in danger?”

  “It was...” Mathial coughed up more blood. He pushed his hand in his bag and pulled out a golden key. “Thia is in the council hall. Please—” he coughed up more blood. “—take this.”

  “I don’t want anything from your filthy hands.” Noah conjured a fire orb and pushed it on Mathial’s heart.

  Mathial face twisted and his life left him. The fire burned his body, disintegrating it slowly. After ten minutes, only the golden key remained.

  Noah kicked it. The key flew through the air and clanged against the pole, landing on the blood-soaked soil. Noah refused to accept anything from Mathial. He’d trusted this man and was betrayed. Any other time, he would have tortured the blacksmith, but now wasn’t the time.

  A notification popped up.

  You have killed a demon blacksmith. Reputation with black faction of demons decreased by 5000 points. New reputation level: Irritated.

  So, these bastards have a name as well.

  You have gained 2100 experience for killing a level 12 demon blacksmith. As the sole owner of the smithy, you may choose to inhabit it. Do you want to bring it under your command? Yes/No?

  Noah didn’t understand what that meant, so he chose yes.

  New profession gained, Blacksmith. Do you want to replace Enhancer or Herbalism? Yes/No?

  Noah chose no.

  *ERROR* You can’t own a smithy without being a blacksmith. But still you do. You have unlocked a system quest. Find a blacksmith to work for you in one month or face the consequences. Do you accept the quest? Yes/Yes.

  “What the heck. Where is no?” There was no other choice, so he accepted it.

  Noah left the sacrificial grounds. Mathial had told him where he would find the bastard priest. His zombies followed him, but the first batch soon died when their timers expired. His plan was clear: overwhelm the priest with zombies and wipe that smug face from the surface of BlackFlame.

  With spirit run, he reached the council hall in less than ten minutes. He slowed as the ruined dark hole of the council hall came into view. From there onward, he would have to take cautious steps. The bastard high priest would be waiting for him somewhere, and he didn’t want to trigger an alarm.

  First, he would check on Thia and then take care of the priest. If Thia had lost even an ounce of blood, the priest would suffer pain worse than death. He would reduce the priest’s life to 10 points, heal him, and then repeat it until eternity!

  Noah slowed considerably as he inched closer to the hole. His heart stopped as he stumbled across a dead body. Somehow, he managed to keep his balance. It was a pitch-dark path, and he couldn’t guess who the heck the person was. He cast Raise Zombie; by the faint light of his spell, he recognized the corpse. It was Xithala, the blue pants demon who had helped him in the council hall.

  A wave of helplessness washed over him. Another life had been wasted, helping him. This had to stop somewhere. The high priest had to be stopped.

  “You’ll pay for this,” he whispered, looking at the zombie. When he was alive, the demon had killed Noah many times, but a single helpful act had redeemed the demon in Noah’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry, friend. I’ll avenge your death.” Noah bit his upper lip until blood oozed out of it. The pain and blood reminded him that this was all real for him. The high priest was going to pay the price.

  He felt like the zombie moved his head in a nod, but that wasn’t possible. The soul of the demon was lost to the gods.

  A red notification of -5 health appeared. Ignoring it, Noah pressed onward. He didn’t have to go far to find the high priest, as he was sitting on the throne talking with another demon.

  Noah coughed, making his presence known. Maybe it was a foolish move, giving up the element of surprise, but he was going to kill the demon. The bastard should know what was coming for him.

  The high priest clapped his hands, staring at Noah. “You’re late, human. The filthy child is already dead, and the curse will be lifted by noon tomorrow. Soon, everything will be back to normal.” He beamed an evil smile.

  Everything went dark. Noah’s heart declined to beat, and his knees gave out. Every single emotion drained from him like water from a bucket. Time froze around him. He wanted to cry, shout, kill the priest, but there was nothing left in his heart anymore. Memories of Thia rolled in front of his eyes like a movie. The way she talked, the way she licked his face, the way she slept with her tail wrapped around his arm. Everything was lost. He had lost the battle once again; his daughter was dead, and he’d failed to save her.

  It was the biggest failure of his life.

  30. Revenge

  Something sharp pierced Noah’s chest. “I can’t believe how many times this trick works. It’s so easy to kill the weaklings.” The high priest’s words echoed in Noah’s ears as his health dropped by one quarter. “You just tell them a lie, and they drop on their knees, crying. They just don’t understand the deception.”

  Noah’s eyes lifted with hope. Was it all a deception? He wrapped his hand around the demon tail stabbed inside his heart and pulled it out. The pain was there, but it was barely noticeable. He stood with the tail still clutched in his hand.

  “Did you say Thia is alive?”

  The priest was caught off guard, mouth open wide. But he snapped back in an instant. “No, I didn’t say that.” His voice flickered a little, and Noah knew the reason. His girl was safe.

  “Thank you, High Priest.” He pulled the high priest closer by his tail and hugged him tightly.

  “What are you doing, human?” The high priest hit Noah with a black tendril.

  The tendril spread across Noah’s arm, but Noah didn’t care. He willed his zombie to attack while conjuring spirit zombies. Ten zombies surrounded them in a fraction of a second.

  The high priest pushed Noah away, but Xithala’s zombie corpse held fast, hugging the high priest tightly like the metal chain that had bound Noah when he woke from his twenty-year coma. Noah commanded the other zombies to pierce both of them with their tails. Ten tails moved as one, piercing the high priest and Xithala.

  The high priest’s life dropped by half. He chanted something, and black tendrils shot out of his hands, wiping out three of Noah’s spirit zombies.

  Noah brought them back with the help of his newly enhanced gloves, giving
the new zombies the enraged effect. The new zombies created from his blood had extra sharp claws. They dashed forward and performed an autopsy on the high priest’s living body. The priest cried in pain, cursing Noah with new words.

  Noah stood there until every bit of the priest’s body was torn apart, until every ounce of his blood painted the ground red. As the high priest’s body was shredded by the new zombies, Noah’s painful memories and anger vanished too. He was enjoying a death today, and he wanted to see it again. Only then would the hatred he carried in his heart vanish. He dropped on the ground when nothing of the high priest remained to be seen. His eyes scanned the council hall, but no one was there. The demon talking with the high priest was gone. Better for him. Noah would have killed him too.

  31. Head Man

  A gray notification popped up, alerting Noah to a 3200 experience gain. There were a bunch of others as well, even an ornate one. Noah ignored all of them and got to his feet. His health was waning, but before he died, he needed to see his child. He went behind the throne where he had spotted a door the last time he was hiding behind it. The door led to a stairway, and the stairway led to a hallway. There were six doors on each side. Noah opened the first door and fell on his face; his health was down to the last 100 points. But he couldn’t die, not before he saw Thia with his own eyes.

  Noah used all his willpower to stand. His health was dropping by 5 points every couple seconds. He opened the next door; that room was empty too. Then he opened the third door. Thia was lying on a bed, foam coming out of her mouth. Noah tore open the last health potion and poured it inside her mouth. He watched her life go up until his own ran out.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “Why do you keep dying?” Sumara sat on the chair across the white table in Noah’s respawn room. She wore the same metal plate armor he had always seen on her, but there was a subtle change today. One of the eight plates on her armor shone with a silver color, and her face was lit up with a bright smile.