Raising both claws in the air, Dorian conjured twin balls of fire in his palm, snapping the two of them in my direction as he leaped forward once more. Dodging to the side in a panic, I managed to avoid one of the fireballs, only to have the second slam directly into my side in a burst of fire, its flames washing over the side of my face and searing the stubble from my head. Staggering from the blast, I fell to one knee as I tried to catch my balance, seeing a blinking alert appear across my vision.
[Dorian the Soul Eater] hits you with [Fireball] for 137 points of fire damage!
“Lazarus!” Molly’s voice rang out at the same moment a thunderous concussion of magic filled the air as she, Quinn, and Ransom joined the fight. “Look out!”
Looking up, I saw Dorian’s claw descending down towards me as he shielded his face from the timely wave of magic that slammed into his head, effectively blinding him for a moment. Rolling out from under the claw as it slammed into the ground, I swung my sword in a clumsy one-handed attack that added another wound across Dorian’s forearm. Springing up onto my feet, I saw Sawyer’s golden shield out of the corner of my eye as he attacked Dorian’s flank, his dull-colored axe already covered in thick black ichor.
Howling from the onslaught of magic, Dorian began rapidly conjuring small fireballs and throwing them wildly around us, in an attempt to disrupt the barrage that Molly, Quinn, and Ransom were laying down upon him. Multiple explosions drowned out all hearing as the fireballs detonated in rapid sequence, throwing burning soil and ash into the air.
Mindful of the sigil’s detrimental effects on my body, I made use of the party’s distraction and rushed back in close to Dorian’s body, landing a powerful blow that carved through the thick, bony armor on his hip and deep into the flesh below.
You [Power Attack II] [Dorian the Soul Eater] for 160 points of damage!
Twisting my blade as I sawed deeper into the wound, I was forced to pull my weapon free as Dorian kicked his clawed leg out in my direction while hissing wildly in pain. Shifting to the side, I darted past the leg and rushed behind Dorian, catching his flailing tail on the edge of my sword.
Nice try, but I learned my lesson with the Devourer! I thought to myself as I absorbed the impact of the spiked tail, my glass-steel blade biting deep into it and drawing forth even more blackened blood. Pushing down on the blade, I worked it even further into the wound, until I felt it grate on hard bone underneath.
“ENOUGH!” Dorian roared in both pain and frustration as he whipped his body away from me, throwing down two large fireballs at his feet, which promptly exploded in spray of dirt and fire, throwing both Sawyer and I out of melee range from the blast. “YOU ARE BEGINNING TO ANNOY ME!”
I groaned in pain as the flames licked over me once more, my body slowly coming to a stop a short distance away from Dorian.
Looking up at the large devil, I saw that Molly, Ransom, and Quinn’s attacks had taken their toll on Dorian’s upper chest and face, the once smooth scales giving way to bleeding wounds and savage burns caused by the relentless torrent of magic the trio had poured into him. Favoring one side, Dorian leaned heavily on one leg, his lower body completely covered in a patchwork of cuts and bleeding wounds, courtesy of mine and Sawyer’s efforts, his thick blood slowly dripping onto the ground below.
“IT IS TIME TO PUT AN END TO YOUR MEDDLING ONCE AND FOR ALL!” Dorian howled as he coiled his one good leg and sprang away from me, leaping directly towards Ransom and Quinn.
Diving out of the way just in the nick of time, Ransom barely evaded Dorian’s sweeping claws as he threw himself to the ground with a cry of surprise.
Quinn, on the other hand, was too slow.
Catching him fully in the side, all four of Dorian’s wicked talons pierced through the thin mage’s body, two of the longest claws bursting forth from the mage’s chest in a spray of blood. Staring upwards in abject shock, Quinn coughed weakly as Dorian lifted him off the ground and clenched his hand, driving the razor-sharp talons through the hapless mage’s body. With a cry of triumph, Dorian savagely flicked his claw, the motion tearing open Quinn’s chest as he threw him to the ground.
“Quinn!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I felt his presence fade from the Party Sense, a heartbeat before his body dissolved into nothingness. All it had taken was a split second, one failed dodge, and we had lost a member of the party.
Emboldened by his success, Dorian raised a clawed hand, casting his gaze downward at Ransom’s prone form, the half-orc desperately pushing himself away from the black-scaled devil. Scrambling onto my feet in a panic, I saw the claw thrust itself forward towards Ransom, the half-orc moving far too slow to evade Dorian’s attack. Seconds before the claw reached Ransom, I caught the blurred figure of Sawyer leap right in front of him. The edges of Dorian’s talons slammed into Sawyer’s golden shield with a loud clang of metal, the impact driving the warrior down onto his knees.
Not waiting for Dorian to recover from Sawyer’s timely intervention, I launched myself forward, raising my sword high for a punishing attack the moment I entered range. An inky black orb of magic splashed across Dorian’s face as I ran, followed by a second purple missile as Molly resumed throwing magic. Hissing wildly at Molly’s temporary curse, Dorian swept a blind claw before him, catching both Sawyer and a half-risen Ransom, sending the both of them tumbling back to the ground as his other claw reached up to rub his eyes.
Pumping my legs with every ounce of strength that they possessed, I closed the final distance between Dorian and me, leaping high into the air as I swept my blade downwards, catching the tall devil just under its arm. Both scales and bone parted under my colossal blow, the momentum and weight behind my attack driving my sword deep into Dorian’s body. Driven by pure rage as a flare of power from the sigil surged through me, I tore my blade free from Dorian’s side before thrusting it directly into his abdomen and twisting it viciously.
Howling in pain from the two attacks, Dorian took a staggering step backwards as he pulled himself off of my sword, the effects of Molly’s spell finally wearing off.
“YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!” Dorian growled, his once powerful voice having weakened since the start of the battle. Lunging forward, Dorian wasted no time in pressing his attack once more, leading with his two oversized claws as he worked himself up into a frenzy, attempting to rend me to shreds.
Forced back onto my heels, all conscious thought faded from me as I descended into the maelstrom of battle. My world shrank to one of flashing claws and gnashing teeth as Dorian and I worked our hardest to kill one another, each of us accumulating even more injuries that ever so slightly slowed us down. We fought with tooth and nail, neither of us holding anything back. A single mistake would be enough to spell the end for either one of us, giving the other a chance to strike a killing blow.
My foot slipped.
I knew immediately when it happened that I was doomed. My foot was slipping off the edge of a small crater in the ground from one of Dorian’s earlier attacks. My eyes widened in panic as the tip of Dorian’s claw caught me directly in the throat and tore it wide open, followed by a savage kick to my chest that had me tumbling across the ground until I landed on my back, staring up at the smoke-covered sky of Avernus.
Shit, I lost. The realization surged through me as the sigil’s power faded, leaving me with a sickening drowning sensation as my lungs began to pool with blood. Coughing wildly as I lay on my back, I saw a spray of blood shoot up into the air, my hand coming up belatedly in an attempt to stem the flow. My vision slowly began to blur as the blood loss caused my head to spin, blotting out the sky above me.
“Gavin!” Molly voice sounded distant as she called my name, followed by a blurred shape appearing above me. “Oh God, this is bad, hang on!”
I felt a warmth surge through me as Molly put her hand on my throat, the spinning sensation slowly fading as I made out her teary-eyed expression looking down at me. A second wave of healing energy coursed through me and my vision began to s
harpen, enough to see a large shadow looming in the distance.
“Molly.” My voice was faint, barely enough to be heard as my throat slowly reknitted itself under Molly’s healing magic. “Look…behind…”
“I can’t,” Molly said with a sad shake of her head. “You’re still bleeding, I need to finish this…before…”
Molly shook her head and blinked tears from her eyes. “Sawyer and Ransom are out cold. I managed to stabilize them both, but I can’t beat him on my own. No. You have to. You have to make sure the portal closes, too.”
Realization slowly dawned in me what exactly Molly was saying, and I raised my hand to push her away. “No, don’t…”
“I’ll catch you on the other side, Gavin,” Molly said, giving me a crooked smile as the shadow stood over us. “Don’t be late.”
“Molly!” I barely managed to get the words out of my mouth before four massive claws burst from Molly’s chest, her face straining to hold the smile as she stared into my eyes, the light slowly fading away from them.
And then she was gone. Dissolving into dust like she had never been there at all.
“MY, MY,” Dorian’s cacophonous voice echoed from high above me. “IT SEEMS THAT SOME OF MY WORK HAS BEEN UNDONE. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.”
“No…” I stared in shock at the spot where I had just seen Molly, my heart hammering wildly in my chest. I shifted my glance upwards, seeing Dorian standing directly above me, looking down with his burning red eyes.
The moment that I met his eyes, I felt the sigil pulse with an intensity that I had never felt before, an unspeakable cold filling my heart and causing it to spasm with rage.
“OH MY,” Dorian said with surprise, seeing my hate-filled expression. “SHE MEANT SOMETHING—AAAH!”
Dorian roared in sudden pain as I leaped to my feet with my sword in hand, carving a long slash across his body as I rose.
“You are responsible for so much death today, Dorian,” I called out to the black-scaled devil, embracing the numbing cold that surged through me. “I can’t think of a better place to kill you than in Hell itself. Whatever soul you may still have left won’t have far to travel.”
Howling with rage, Dorian quickly recovered from my renewed attacks and threw himself at me in a frenzy, his claws sweeping through the air just inches away from my face as I ducked under a poorly aimed swipe and darted in close to Dorian’s body. Moving out of reflex, Dorian flinched, his second claw moving to protect his wounded torso that already bled freely from our earlier battle.
Except that this time, my target wasn’t his torso.
“Rah!” I shouted with rage as I brought down my glass-steel sword down on Dorian’s knee, feeling the ancient relic carve through scales and bone, completely severing the limb in a spray of blood.
Keening in unbelievable pain, Dorian spun his arms wildly as his balance suddenly shifted and he began to fall forward to the ground, catching himself with his two clawed hands. Spinning to the side, away from his fall, I positioned myself directly at Dorian’s elbow, my blood-covered blade flashing out once more as it bit into the joint, effortlessly parting it from the rest of his body.
Crashing into the ground as his precarious balance faltered once more, Dorian writhed in pure agony, his roaring cry of pain echoing across the plains. Moving without hesitation, I leaped onto the fallen devil’s back as my hand shot out to grip one of the twin horns that sprouted from Dorian’s head. Pushing hard on the horn, I forced Dorian’s face into the ground, giving the space to guide the tip of my sword into the back of his neck.
Feeling the blade grind against bone and muscle, I ruthlessly drove the weapon straight through Dorian’s spine, pushing it until I felt it burst free from his throat and bury itself into the dirt under me. Switching my grip on the horn as Dorian’s body began to convulse, I pulled his head backwards with all the rage given strength I could muster, hearing bones snap and crack as I ground them against my blade.
Letting go of the sword, I grabbed Dorian’s other horn with my hand and viciously kicked the hilt of my blade until it was flush against his scaled neck. Bracing my foot against the hilt, I then began to pull, slowly bending Dorian’s head, closer and closer towards me as I stretched his flesh to its limits.
And beyond.
A tearing sound filled the air as Dorian’s head slowly came free from his body, a torrent of blood gushing upwards into the ash-filled air of Avernus. Twisting violently, I tore the last shreds of clinging flesh that tied the Thief Lord’s head to his body, seeing a pair of messages appear in my vision.
You have slain [Dorian the Soul Eater]!
You have gained experience!
It’s over, I breathed with a sense of relief as I released the power of the sigil, feeling the seeping cold energy fade away from me, replacing it with a crushing sense of fatigue and loss. Looking down at the large head that I held in my hand, I shuddered at the thought that all of this had been set in motion by just one man.
And not the man whose head I was holding.
No time to worry about that now, I thought as I felt Dorian’s body begin to dissolve under me, forcing me to leap off of it. Turning back at the where the body once was, I was surprised to find that everything vanished, except for the head that I was still holding, a single loot sack appearing in its place. Surprised that the head didn’t despawn with the rest of the body, I looked at it warily before remembering Isabella’s words in what seemed like a lifetime ago, telling us to get Dorian’s head at any cost. I don’t think this is exactly what she had in mind, but I’ll take it along with me anyway.
Sighing heavily, I walked over to the loot bag, unable to ignore my basic Adventurer instinct despite everything that had happened, and grabbed everything inside of it, grimacing as I added a few of the items to my inventory.
Hellborn Soul Shard Fragments
Quantity: 6
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Fine (+10%)
Strength: +1 Agility: +1 Constitution: +1 Intelligence: +1 Willpower +1
Durability: 0/0
Weight: 0 kg
Devil Heart
Quantity: 1
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Average (+0%)
Durability: 0/0
Weight: 1 kg
Devil Blood
Quantity: 10
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Average (+10%)
Durability: 0/0
Weight: 1 kg
Devil Scales
Quantity: 15
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Average (+10%)
Durability: 0/0
Weight: 5 kg
Hellborn Slag
Quantity: 5
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Average (+10%)
Durability: 0/0
Weight: 5 kg
Nothing but crafting ingredients, I noted with slight disappointment as I emptied the bag, idly wondering what I could even attempt to do with a devil’s heart. Might be worth money, though, and I’m sure I might be able to make myself some newer armor with the scales.
“Lazarus,” Sawyer’s raspy voice caused me to flinch before turning my head towards it.
Sitting on the ground with what appeared to be a broken arm cradled against his chest, Sawyer slowly glanced around the battlefield, his face still in shock. “What happened?”
“We won,” I told the man wearily as my eyes shifted to Ransom’s still unconscious form.
“Molly?” Sawyer asked as his eyes landed on Dorian’s head in my hands.
“She didn’t make it,” I replied, feeling my heart twist at the words before looking over to where I remembered the portal and artifact being. With a crackle of energy, I saw the still spinning artifact discharge another crimson bolt into the ground, the wavering crimson portal hanging a short distance behind it.
“Shit, we have to go,” Sawyer exclaimed as his gaze shifted past me and he began scrambling to his feet
. “The Ascendancy…they’re almost here!”
Whirling to look behind me, I spotted the once distant army, now barely minutes away from us as they doggedly approached the portal. Dark shapes rushed ahead of the advancing army towards us, no doubt being scouts or mounted riders looking to secure the portal before the army arrived.
“Come on, Lazarus!” Sawyer called back to me urgently, causing me to tear my eyes off the advancing army and back to the Bounty Hunter as he lifted Ransom’s unconscious body onto his shoulders with his uninjured arm. “It’s up to you to close the portal, or we’re about to get a front-row seat to the invasion of Eberia!”
Sawyer’s words spurred me on as the two of us sprinted towards the crackling artifact and portal. Rushing on ahead of me as I slowed to approach the artifact, Sawyer ran directly for the portal with Ransom dangling limply over his shoulder, vanishing without another word as he leaped into the crimson tear.
Reaching out to the damaged artifact, I fought past any reservations I had about getting struck by a bolt of energy and grabbed hold of the spinning object, feeling it stop and come free from its fixed position in the air the moment I touched it.
“What?” I looked at the artifact in my hand, completely dumbfounded, as my stomach clenched viciously, an unexpected wave of nausea washing over me.
With no better option at hand, I stumbled towards the crimson tear before me, slowly building momentum with every step I took until it filled my entire vision. I heard a loud shout ring out behind me, a second before something hit me very hard in the shoulder and threw me forward into the portal.
Hell to Pay (Ascend Online Book 2) Page 34
