“They are,” Asher confirmed.
For the second time that day, I felt a little relief. The waiting was almost the worst part. A little danger and excitement kept things interesting.
With an established method for killing the golem trios, I went to work. Destroying one group after another, not exactly in quick succession, but enough that it felt fast by comparison.
I was grinning when the last golem of the ninth wave fell.
“You feel up for the tenth wave and being done with this floor?” Asher asked.
“God, yes,” I said enthusiastically. I was done with this anger and rage filled floor. I didn’t like being an angry person. I didn’t want to be an angry person. I was done being angry, letting this floor make me angry. In that instant, relief seemed to wash over me. As though wrath had lost its grip on me. I felt the tension bleed out of me, and my shoulders unclench and relax.
Asher must have noticed because he immediately asked, “Are you okay? Is something wrong? Did Purgatory throw a different aura at you?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m . . . I’m good. I don’t know what happened, but it’s like wrath has lost its grip on me.”
“How is that possible?” Asher asked suspiciously.
I wasn’t exactly sure how to explain it, but I did the best I could. “I kind of decided I didn’t like being angry. I decided I was done with it. And just like that, it’s hold over me kind of vanished.”
Asher gave me a look of disbelief but slowly bobbed anyway. “Well, let’s just be sure we keep an eye on it.”
I agreed with that sentiment. I would not put it past Purgatory to try and trip me up. Still, I was grateful for the change. I even sent another small prayer of ‘thanks’ to the big man upstairs.
I was fully recovered and ready to finish what I started. I tapped my mace to the barrier to start the last wave. In short order, the room filled with eighty golems and within a few second, four of them started marching toward me.
Asher and I both cursed. Of course, it was going to progressively become more difficult.
Four lethargic, large, lustrous, gold golems marched through the door, shoulder to shoulder. I hit the second from the left with shield slam, stunning it and creating a small living barrier. I dove back to the right, dodging a pair of attacks from the two there. I came up swinging, taking one in the chin, missing the neck joint I was aiming for. It still made the demon stumble a step backward. It crashed into the other golem, stopping it for a short moment. That short moment was all I needed. I hit the neck joint this time, popping the metal head free. Then I hit the one behind it with shield slam, stunning it just in time to turn and dodge the fourth golem. This time my counter hit the neck joint perfectly.
Two down, two to go. I went after the first one I stunned, dodging a swing and countering, killing it with the perfect strike to its weak spot. One to go. Unfortunately for it, it was still stunned.
I checked my EP, 144/200. I burned just over a quarter of it and there were four more golems already on the march. I needed to get a lot more efficient, or I wouldn’t have enough EP to last through twenty rounds . . . nineteen more rounds of fighting.
A minute later, I recovered some of my EP and the next group of four golems was upon me.
The fighting became harried, the more groups I fought. I started drinking EP potions after the fourth group and every other group after that. At least, I drank them until I ran out of them with two groups left.
“Don’t waste any movements you don’t need to,” Asher snapped.
I snapped back, “Tell me something I don’t already know.” I ducked a swing and struck back, hitting the golem in the side. I couldn’t waste a big swing to try and take the demon out in a single attack. Unfortunately, one of its brothers wasn’t happy with me and tried to take my head off. It missed and this time I had the opening I needed. My mace cracked into its throat, stressing the metal to the point of breaking away.
I quickly turned to face the last one from this group. I couldn’t help but check my EP in my periphery. It wasn’t good, 4/200. I chose to wait for it to attack. I dodged easily, burning another two EP, but then my regeneration ticked, and I was back up to 22/200. And then I had an idea. The demons were slow. They couldn’t attack that quickly or often. And when they did attack, the movement was very slow. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. I waited for the next attack and dodged it, costing me another two EP. I moved into the demon’s blind spot, like I would have done against one of the lesser sloth demons.
“What are you doing? Kill it already!” Asher yelled.
I didn’t. I waited as the large and slow demon tried to turn around to attack me. But it couldn’t. It just couldn’t maneuver with any kind of speed or agility. A minute passed with nary an EP spent and my EP ticked up again. I grinned. “It’s going to be a long fight, but I can stay behind it and recover my EP.”
Asher looked dumbfounded for a moment before grinning. “Yes!”
I agreed with the sentiment. I only wished I’d thought of it sooner.
Minutes ticked by and my EP recovered. After that, the demon dropped with a single strike to the neck, breaking the brittle joint.
“Last group,” Asher said excitedly. “Let’s finish this.”
The last four lumbered through the door and I went to work. I didn’t care about my EP usage anymore. I just wanted this group done and over so I could move on. Within thirty seconds all four were dead and broken.
I collected my paltry loot and added it to my inventory. I leaned against the wall and let even more relief wash over me. I’d done it. I’d beaten wrath. All that was left to do was walk down the stairway. I sank to the floor and basked in my triumph. Thankfully, Asher didn’t rush me, choosing instead to hover nearby until I was ready.
Finally, I stood and moved toward the vault door and looked inside the room for the stairway down. “It can never be that easy, can it?”
Asher growled. “Of course not.”
Standing in the middle of the room was the largest gold covered golem I had seen yet. It stood twice the height of the others, sporting four arms and two heads. I already knew, if that thing hit me even once, I was as good as dead.
“Weaknesses?” I asked.
Asher answered quickly, “The neck joint is still its vulnerable spot. However, both heads will need to come off to truly defeat this thing.”
I nodded. I called on my mace and waited the short time necessary to activate Raphael’s blessing.
I reached my mace forward to tap the barrier and start the fight but there was no barrier. I was a little relieved I wasn’t going to be forced to fight such a massive monster in my little room. Hopefully, the room to maneuver would be to my benefit.
I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck. The action had started becoming a habit. A way to both, loosen me up and psych myself up. I took my first step into the room, triggering the demon to life. Its eyeless face looked at me intently for a moment, then it moved. Raising one massive foot into the air, the demon stomped down in my direction. I dove aside on instinct. A glance at where I came from showed several metallic spikes sticking out of the ground, they were slowly sinking back into the ground.
“Hurry, while it can’t move!” Asher shouted.
I was confused for a second, one look at the demon put it all together. It was suddenly short two arms. The spikes were the arms, or at least, they were the metal that made up the arms. Arms that were slowly growing back as the spikes retreated into the ground.
I came up running for the golem. As soon as I got in range of the demon, one of its remaining arms swung at me. It was an easily ducked swing. My swing was not easily dodged. Pain shot through my arm as the mace impacted a body that was much sturdier than the golems I’d fought previously.
Then there were the golems countermeasures. I barely pulled back in time to avoid the metal spike that formed next to where I hit, trying its hardest to impale me. Thankfully, I l
earned long ago to never stop moving in a fight. So, even though my arm was aching from the blow I delivered, I pulled back and tried to get behind the demon.
“Attack the knee, you can’t reach its neck while it’s still standing,” Asher called out.
I went to work. There was a heavy clang with each hit, and I swear, I thought my arm was going to break after a few of those attacks. Worse, I wasn’t sure those hits were doing anything to the demon.
Suddenly, I was forced to dodge a sword blade and a mace. The two arms, I thought were almost done reforming, were gone again. Instead, the two remaining arms now carried weapons.
I dodged a downward slash and charged forward, smacking my mace into the golem’s knee, finally hearing a snapping sound as some of the metal that made up the joint cracked. It wasn’t enough to break the joint, but it was at least proof that it was working.
My celebration and follow up attack were stopped by the demon’s mace wielding arm trying to crush me. A blow I sidestepped. Before I could counter, the sword was there again. Given the monster’s strength, I didn’t feel comfortable trying to block its attack, so dodging was the order of the day. It was the first time I ever wished I had taken Asher’s evasive maneuver’s proficiency.
I backed away from the demon to buy myself a few seconds. So far, I was undamaged, a good thing considering I didn’t know how much damage a single hit from this guy would do. At the same time, my EP was getting low.
“If you’re worried about your EP, back off and recover. Just watch out for that spike field,” Asher suggested.
My EP was at 82/200. I could still fight for a bit, though his suggestion did give me an idea.
I backed further away from the golem. Just as I hoped it raised one giant foot in the air and the weapons were reabsorbed. The demon stomped down, and I dove to the side. I rolled once and came back up to my feet running.
I reached the demon and hammered my mace into the damaged joint, cracking it even further. A few more hits and it would break. The demon’s two fists didn’t like that and tried to stop me. They were still slow, which meant they were easily dodged. On the fourth hit to the damaged knee, the metal snapped completely. More interesting was the way the other leg couldn’t compensate, not with all the metal underground still trying to be reabsorbed.
The body twisted slightly, then twisted even further as several popping and snapping sounds filled the air. The metal of the other leg had started to buckle and tear. With a loud thud, the golem fell to its back legless. I suddenly had much better access to the demon’s throats. It was suddenly a much easier fight after that. A few strikes to each neck joint and the large demon was dead.
“Yes!” Asher cheered, his voice echoing off the empty chamber.
I smiled at his enthusiasm. I collected my crystals and a chunk of gold the size of my head. The stairway was now waiting for me. I breathed yet another sigh of relief when I took my first step into the darkness.
Waking up in the morgue was gratifying. Seeing Ramy sitting lazily on one of the stone slabs as if he had nothing better to do was annoying.
“Trying to set a record, are we?” Ramy asked placidly.
“I’d be okay with it if I did,” I replied. I also wouldn’t mind being reward appropriately for doing so well.
Ramy raised a single eyebrow, “Well, you set your own personal record.”
I sighed. “Oh well. So, how’d I do?”
“Exceptionally well,” Ramy answered. “You were quick and efficient in defeating the wrath demons. Your economy of motion was . . . impressive. But the most impressive thing you did, you let go of your anger. You stopped wrath from having any kind of hold over you.”
“Is that why I suddenly felt that . . . relief?” I asked.
Ramy nodded. “That is absolutely correct. You let go of your anger and actively chose to not allow it to dictate your path. Wrath will no longer hold sway over you. So, I say again, most impressive thing you did. Most impressive thing you’ve done since you came to Purgatory.”
I might have felt a little blush creep into my face. I wasn’t used to this kind of praise. Not even when I was alive. Back then, the best I could have hoped for was an atta-boy from my boss.
Ramy continued, “Your power was just about perfect for this level, not too strong, nor too week. For your great success, you are awarded thus, plus five to strength, plus ten to constitution, plus five to recovery, plus ten to faith, plus ten to spirit, plus twenty to righteousness.”
That was . . . that was . . . that was astounding. I couldn’t even fathom such increases in my stats. Not all at once.
I was about to the thank the angel, the dominion of Purgatory, but it seemed he wasn’t done. “Your hard work has not gone unnoticed, and you have impressed once more, Metatron would like to see what you are capable of doing with this,” Ramy paused to hand over another scroll, a proficiency. “While these are impressive and irregular gains, do not expect to seek such gains again.”
I accepted the scroll and started to move to show it to Asher, but Ramy still wasn’t done.
“For completing the fourth floor in less than six months, you are rewarded one million experience points and one proficiency level to be applied to the proficiency of your choice. For completing the fourth floor in less than three months, you are rewarded five million experience points and three proficiency levels to be applied to the proficiency of your choice. For completing the fourth floor in less than two months, you are rewarded ten million experience points and five proficiency levels to be applied to the proficiency of your choice. For completing the fourth floor in less than a month, you are rewarded fifty million experience points and ten proficiency levels to be applied to the proficiency of your choice. Now, please leave and don’t come back any time soon,” Ramy finished and vanished. It might have been my imagination, but Ramy sounded annoyed with me there at the end.
“Was he annoyed or was it just me?” I asked my companion.
Asher’s reply was rather blunt. “No, he was definitely annoyed. I’m guessing we did a little too well with that last floor. Unfortunately, those points he granted us will only make the next floor more difficult.”
I frowned. I didn’t like the idea of a dominion, specifically the dominion of Purgatory, being annoyed with me. It could only mean bad things were coming my way on the next floor.
Asher’s voice broke me from my worry over angels making my life . . . my afterlife more difficult. “Now why would Metatron give you that?”
“What?” I asked dumbly. Then I followed his gaze to the scroll I still had clutched in my hand. “What is it?”
Asher frowned, working his mouth from side to side. “It’s a call divine guide proficiency. Is he saying I’m not good enough?”
“I’m sure that’s not the case,” I replied. “Maybe he felt you needed a friend. Or maybe he felt I needed the help. What if it’s another flame of Enoch? Wouldn’t that be helpful to you? To us?”
Asher frowned. “I suppose it might not be the worst thing ever. Still, I hate to waste a proficiency slot on a potential flame of Enoch. You might just be saddled with the normal, lifeless, mostly useless, guide.”
“I can’t imagine Metatron would give me this without reason,” I said.
Asher bobbed at that. “Yes, Metatron is awesome like that.”
“There you go,” I said, making the little fireball glow with pride. “So, we’ll use it when we get back to our room.”
Asher bobbed his agreement.
It was time to find out what was waiting for me on the next level. I was more than halfway through the seven deadly sins. I was curious what I would face next.
Chapter 30 – Era
As soon as the light faded from adding my new proficiency, I turned the page of my scroll to see what I got.
Call Divine Guide
Level: 1 (+19 Free)
Experience to Next Level: 10,000
SE Cost: 10
Call a Divine Guide to assist you on you
r journey through Purgatory. Divine Guide is incorporeal and invisible to all but the Caller.
The description was the same as Asher’s, exactly. However, that was less important than the ‘+19 Free’ in parenthesis next to the level. “Is that my free proficiency levels?”
“I think so,” Asher said.
I didn’t dare touch those free proficiency levels. They would undoubtedly become important later. I asked, “Should I spend the experience to level it up before calling on it or should I just call it then level it up?”
Asher didn’t seem very excited when he said, “Call on the guide, let’s see what you’ve got.”
I was excited. If this new guide was like Asher, I could level it up and gain an attacker or healer. Either of which would be fantastic for me.
“Call Divine Guide,” I intoned.
The air swirled before me until a ball of air formed with feminine features. She, at least I think it was a ‘she’, opened her eyes and smiled at me. A sultry, breathy voice spoke, “You called and I, Era, have answered. How may the breath of God serve you?”
“Oh no,” Asher groaned. “Anyone but her.”
Asher’s comment drew Era’s attention. “Oh, hello Asher. I heard you were sent to Purgatory to help some poor soul, surprised to see you so soon. I thought it would be a few millennia before you rejoined the war. Or did you get a new caller already. Tsk, tsk, such a sad little flame of Enoch. Metatron must be so disappointed.”
Asher smirked and chuckled. “No, same caller. Still in Purgatory, as are you. Meet your new caller, Victor Goodspeed.”
Era started looking around wildly. “What . . . no . . . Metatron would never do this, not to me. There must have been a mistake.” She looked skyward and spoke again, “Father, you’ve made a mistake. Please, return me to where I belong. Father, are you listening? Hello, father?”
Asher sighed happily as he watched the ball of air, I didn’t know how else to describe her, freak out. “It’s the little things in life.”
Purgatory: The Devil's Game Page 32
