Demon Lords (World-Tree Trilogy Book 2)

by EA Hooper

  >Vincent: I don’t know, but he’s not on my list either. Everyone, regroup. I’ll use negative energy attacks to break the gates of the Eternal Ring and get Jim out of there. I’m not playing any more of Isaac’s games.

  Vincent leapt into the air and launched himself out of the trench with Zero Field, landing within eyesight of Xan and Quinn’s tower. Juniper followed him, and those four regrouped.

  >Fynn: I’m on my way to help you. Gwen is following me because she thinks something interesting might be happening. If she gets in our way, I’ll take her out myself.

  Vincent and his friends raced down the street, but then they saw a flash of light from the Foundry at the center of the city. White lines raced across the street and over the buildings for a split-second.

  “Okay, what was that?” Quinn asked.

  Vincent reached down to touch the road. It only took him a few seconds to recognize the feeling. “Restoration runes,” he told his team.

  “But why?” Xan asked. “If it’s to help the war, then that’ll only make it harder to kill monsters that get this far.”

  A scream sounded down the road, and everyone looked to see a man trying to defend himself from drone knights that’d been working on a construction project. The vicious ants tore him apart, only for his body to be mended together with a flash of light. He hit one with Mana Cannon, but its wound sealed over, and they ripped him to pieces again.

  Vincent and his friends charged forward, tearing through the ants with weapons and spells. They gave the man enough time to run away, but the runes restored the ants.

  “We can’t kill them,” Vincent said, raising a greystone wall between his team and the ants. “Let’s just keep running for the gate. We’ll grab Jim and escape.”

  A large green fireball hurtled into the sky before landing near the market, and Vincent recognized the spell even before he spotted Lemm. A couple dozen devils had joined him, all wielding weapons.

  “Charge through them,” Vincent told his team. “They can’t kill us, so there’s no point fighting. Try to conserve your mana.”

  The four players raced ahead, running through a bombardment of spells from the devils. Green and red fireballs exploded all around them, reducing buildings to ruins. One devil appeared beside Vincent in a puff of smoke and slit his throat with a basteel dagger.

  All of their injuries healed, although Vincent noted a delay at some points. They ran past Lemm, and the monster snarled, shaking an angry fist at Vincent. The devil hit the Ranger in the back with a blast that tore halfway through his body before the runes healed him.

  >Vincent: These runes aren’t as effective as the ones in Lucas’s castle. Since they’re buried underground and spread over a larger area, it should be possible to kill someone with strong-enough attacks. So, let’s be careful when we run past enemies.

  >Fynn: You guys have devils and ants attacking you too?

  >Quinn: Yeah, they’re only nuisances, though. Nothing serious.

  >Fynn: Uh, I think we have a bigger problem. Jeanie just stopped me in the streets, but her profile says—

  >Vincent: Fynn?

  When Fynn didn’t respond, their team picked up the pace. They reached the first gate to the Daiglass Tower, only to find it closed. Vincent raised his hands, casting Black Cinder against the forcefield of world magic. A thousand flashes of white and black twinkled across the wall, but his attack only left scratches on the metal. He chugged ethers, then fired four back-to-back Void Guns at one spot. When the flashing light cleared, he found he’d burned a small hole halfway through the wall.

  “This is taking too long!” Quinn shouted, striking the wall with Gravity Fist. A flash of world magic tossed her backward, and her attack only managed to leave a dent in the metal. “Damn, I even used my Concentration Bracer!”

  If I had a powerful-enough void attack, I could bring down this wall, Vincent thought, feeling frustrated and helpless. He drank more ethers, knowing he couldn’t give up until he saved his friend.

  “Uh, those devils are catching up to us,” Xan said, looking back.

  Just as Vincent readied to turn and fight the devils, the gate creaked open, revealing two figures.

  Chapter 23 | Year 93

  Player: Noah the Relentless

  Location: Styxis (World) | Risegard (City) | Setting Sun Boulevard (District)

  Class: Ranger

  Subclass: Warden

  Vitality*: Lv 325

  Spirit: Lv 303

  Resolve: Lv 295

  Perception*: Lv 326

  Agility: Lv 298

  Strength: Lv 300

  To avoid risking damage to the Foundry, Isaac had started the attack on the Inner Sanctum before activating the restoration runes. That way, he could force those players to respawn at the Daiglass Tower, then release them into the Outer Sanctum. Since most of the players in the Inner Sanctum used drone knights as servants, it had only taken seconds to kill over half the players within the Eternal Ring. Many were dead before they even knew what was happening.

  As Noah’s devil-possessed body followed Isaac through the blood-soaked streets, they spotted a man still trying to fend off the drone knights. Noah’s hand raised, and he used Crush to snap the survivor like a twig.

  “Excellent,” Isaac said, watching the man turn to dust. “Vincent should be finishing our trench soon, and then I’ll start the real show.”

  “I can’t wait,” the devil replied.

  Noah felt his mouth twist into an eager smile.

  They crossed the bridge over the koi pond before entering the Japanese-style building. Inside, they saw Crow-Foot Jim behind the counter, drinking straight from a bottle of rum.

  “It’s not polite for a customer to take bottles from behind the counter,” Isaac said.

  Jim glared at the Demon Lord, but then his eyes narrowed on Isaac. His other hand lifted up the head of a hell ant by its antennae. “My bartender tried to kill me, so I thought I’d help myself.”

  Without warning, Jim hurled the ant’s head across the room at Isaac, but the Demon Lord swatted it away before its pincers could snap at the man in glasses.

  “Why’re you hanging out with the Demon Lord?” Jim asked before taking another drink from the bottle.

  “I’m the one that started this war,” Isaac said, holding out his arms in a villainous pose.

  “Ah, makes sense,” Jim said.

  Isaac slouched his shoulders in disappointment. “You really aren’t surprised?” he asked.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I’m plenty surprised,” Jim said. “I’m just drunk and kind of pissed off. Why’re you doing this?”

  “Because… I want to rule over the World-Tree,” Isaac said with hesitation.

  “Bullshit,” Jim said. “Give me a real reason.”

  “I’m just trying to give people a sense of purpose,” Isaac replied. “Why bother living three hundred sixty years in a video game if you don’t have a villain to challenge you? Life is utterly meaningless without purpose—without a challenge to overcome.”

  “Oh god, you’re going through some mid-life existentialism phase,” Jim said before taking another sip from the bottle. “I hate to be that old guy that goes around giving people advice. However, you should know whatever emptiness you feel won’t go away just because you’ve convinced yourself you’re some misunderstood hero. You’re just a self-important douchebag that thinks you know what’s best for other people.”

  Jim downed the rest of the bottle, then equipped a longsword.

  “Hold on,” Isaac said. “If you attack us, I’ll have to take it out on Farah.”

  Isaac glanced at Noah, and the devil snapped his fingers. A portal opened in the room, and two devils dragged Farah out from the other side. Jim’s ex-wife looked beaten and tired, and she struggled just to stay on her feet.

  “Jim!” Farah cried. “Please, help me. They’re torturing me!”

  Jim gritted his teeth, and mixed emotions crossed his face. “Isaac, this is really,
really too far. You’re crossing the line from douchebag to monster.”

  Isaac smiled. “Jim, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll let Farah free, but you must shake the Demon Lord’s hand and let a devil possess your body. The devil’s quest will even include a condition that Farah can take a portal to another City-World if you agree.”

  Jim’s drunken eyes looked from Isaac to the Demon Lord to Farah. “I—I need time to think. Hang on.”

  “No!” Isaac shouted. “I’m not giving you a chance to message your friends. Agree now, or I’m letting the devils take her away.”

  The Demon Lord approached Farah and placed a dagger against her cheek, causing her to scream and cry.

  “Stop! Stop!” Jim shouted, dropping his sword to the ground. He hurried forward and reached out his hand. “Don’t hurt her, please.”

  Don’t, Jim! Why can’t you see through this ploy?

  Jim and the Demon Lord shook hands, and a red light filled the drunken man’s eyes. The devil-possessed Jim looked at Farah. “Does your hero deserve a kiss, milady?”

  Farah chuckled, pulling her arms from the grip of the devils. “Can he hear me?”

  “Yes,” Jim replied. “He’s awfully confused why you don’t look scared anymore.”

  “Jim, you knew I used to be an actress,” Farah said. She put on a faked expression of fear, then said dramatically, “Oh, save me, Jim! Don’t let them torture me!” Her eyes turned stone cold. “You seriously fell for that? After all our years together, you really think I’d be a wimpy damsel in distress?”

  Wow, that’s cold. Give the man a break.

  “God, it’s like you never even knew me,” Farah said to Jim. “You had this idea in your head of some perfect, make-believe wife, and then you acted bitter when I wasn’t her. Maybe it would’ve worked between us if you’d acted like the kind of husband that deserved such a wife! How often did you call me the name of a past girlfriend or ex-wife? How many times did you flirt with other women while you were drunk?” She prodded him in the chest. “You had this coming!”

  “Ahem,” Isaac interrupted. “Farah, I thank you for your assistance, but there’s no need to tear him down. He thought he was saving you, after all. Now, per our deal, you’re free to leave this world.”

  A devil opened a portal to an abandoned guild building on another City-World. Farah smirked at Jim one final time before stepping through it.

  “Jim, I apologize for that,” Isaac said as the portal closed behind Farah. “I wanted your sacrifice to feel meaningful to you. I hadn’t expected Farah to enjoy it that much.”

  “Isaac, we have a small problem,” Jim said. “I just checked his messages, and he warned his friends to leave before removing himself from their party and friend list. Also, it looks like they already found out we smashed the Jump Gates.”

  “Oh, bother,” Isaac huffed. “I really wanted that trench completed too. That’s fine, I’ll just go ahead and start the show.” He equipped a rune pad and shifted half the Foundry’s power to the restoration runes. After switching the drone knights in all regions to attack mode, he turned back to the devils. “You guys can go now.”

  All the devils smiled.

  “Are you coming with us?” the Demon Lord asked. “Torturing those people will be a lot of fun.”

  “No, I’d rather miss out on the gruesome parts,” Isaac said, stepping behind the counter. “However, I will have a drink or two to celebrate. Good luck out there, my minions!” Isaac raised a bottle in the air to toast. “If you can capture Jim’s friends, then that’d be great. We could use more powerful players on our side. Just make sure no one reaches the Inner Sanctum.”

  The Demon Lord raised a hand to Jim, and Noah saw on his HUD that a friend request had been sent and accepted. The devils stepped through separate portals, and Noah appeared in front of a defense tower.

  “Demon Lord!” someone on the tower shouted.

  Several players joined the first at the ledge, but before they could attack, the Demon Lord cast his most powerful spell:

  Greater Flatten (Requires Flatten) – Mana Usage: Very High | The user creates a massive gravity-warping barrier that can repel attacks and crush objects. The user may spend a low amount of mana to move this barrier.

  The huge wall of negative energy smashed against the base of the defense tower, tearing through it in mere seconds. As the entire tower crumbled to the ground, devils appeared from portals and attacked the players that all looked surprised to find themselves still alive.

  Since Greater Flatten took up most of Noah’s mana, the Demon Lord had to wait for charming devils to reappear and blow him kisses. Once enough mana had been restored, he Scanned the dozens of players in the area with the Quickeye upgrade before casting Noah’s best ranged spell:

  Extinction Spear (Requires Lock-On Spear | Requires Critical Bombardment) – Mana Usage: Very High | Magic Rating: 400 | Releases dozens of mana spears into the air. These spears home in on targets the user has recently Scanned.

  The Demon Lord released the spear through the air, and it split into several dozen shafts that rocketed toward all the players in the area, skewering most. As the underground runes healed them, the players struggled to fight off devils that continued to pour out of numerous portals.

  Charming devils refilled Noah’s mana reserve, and the Demon Lord got ready to release another Extinction Spear, but halted when Jim’s voice called in his head.

  >Jim: My host’s friends are trying to tear through the gate. Let’s open it up and welcome them, shall we?

  Once again, Noah felt his face twist into a disturbing smile. The Demon Lord opened a portal that took him to the Daiglass Tower where Jim awaited. Both possessed men stood in front of the gate, listening to the sounds of people attacking the other side.

  Noah glimpsed the glowing lines on the ground. How long till Amelia respawns and finds out she can’t kill herself? It’s just a matter of time until she realizes the terrible mistakes I’ve made. I just wanted to win… I wanted to beat the game so badly.

  Whoever had previously been operating the gates had been slain, and the devil that had taken his place opened the doors. Noah recognized Quinn, Alexandria, and Juniper standing on the other side. He assumed the man with them was the famous Vincent he’d heard so much about.

  “Jim!” Vincent shouted.

  The rest of his team recognized the Demon Lord right away and readied their weapons.

  “Get away from him!” Quinn shouted at Jim. “That’s the frigging Demon Lord right next to you!”

  Jim raised his hand to the side, and three Void Crows appeared on his arm. His shield prevented the negative energy from eating straight through him, but it didn’t stop them from taking off clumps of skin as he sent them flying at his friends.

  The blonde-haired girl, Alexandria, must’ve realized something was wrong, because she sent a wave of piercing light into the ground between the two sides. The Void Crows crossed the divide, but then a wall of world magic rose high into the air. Jim squinted at the players on the other side of the glowing wall, trying to control his birds as the players dodged them. Vincent redirected the birds away with a spell that seemed to manipulate negative energy.

  As the birds faded, Vincent equipped a book, and then a huge wall of greystone rose beyond the wall of world magic.

  Good job, Noah thought. Get out here while you still have your dignity intact… unlike me.

  Noah’s hand raised to cast Greater Flatten. An immense flash of light flickered from the point of contact between his wall and Xan’s, and then the girl’s spell faltered. The negative energy lost most of its momentum, but with a little extra push, the Demon Lord smashed Vincent’s wall as well. When the path cleared, the devil-possessed players saw their targets had fled.

  Both men took off at superhuman speed, racing to catch up. Noah didn’t have the mana to launch any attacks or open any portals, but when they passed Lemm’s entourage, the charming devils in the group blew kisses to restore his mana.<
br />
  Noah’s hand went to the air, and the Demon Lord cast Extinction Spear again. He saw popups on his HUD as his possessor Scanned Vincent’s team while the spell flew into the air. The mana spear split into dozens more that divebombed the team as they hurried around the corner of a building. Mana spears tore the building apart, and all the devils followed in pursuit. Lemm paused to launch an Echoing Bombardment a little farther ahead to cut them off.

  The Demon Lord arrived first, coming across a scene of destruction. Mana spears and exploding fireballs had torn through buildings and temporarily injured dozens of players and devils on that block. However, Vincent’s team had disappeared.

  As charming devils restored his mana, the Demon Lord eyed a section of greystone covering the ground near a construction site.

  They burrowed underground? That’s smart, but if they die down there, they’ll wind up respawning at the Daiglass Tower where Isaac can trap them.

  The Demon Lord raised his hand, spending almost all his mana on Noah’s best spell for excavation.

  Vaporize – Mana Usage: Very High | Magic Rating: 100-800 | The user generates a field of static mana. After two seconds, the static charge reaches a high-enough frequency to unleash a devastating wave of mana.

  After the first second of charging, two copies of Grinning Gwendolyn appeared, grabbed Noah’s arm, and raised it. The Vaporize fired off, sending a massive wave of mana through multiple buildings instead of the ground. The devil in his body used Scan, and Noah read the popups.

  Bomb Doppelganger (Requires Hard-Mana Grenade | Requires Mana Doppelganger) – Mana Usage: Medium+ | Magic Rating: 300 | Creates a doppelganger that explodes after ten seconds or if damaged.

  Both Gwendolyns stuck out their tongues before exploding. The blast knocked the Demon Lord backward, although his basteel armor withstood the attack.

  “You little—” Noah’s modified voice trailed off as a basteel sword with an intense blue aura stabbed him in the side. Noah recognized his attacker as Fynn the Wolf Lord, a powerful opponent that had disappeared for some years before returning to the war.

  “I made this spell just to kill you,” Fynn said as Breaker power rushed over the blade and even covered his entire body.