Purgatory: The Devil's Game

by M. A. Carlson

  My plan worked perfectly, or almost perfectly. The only thing I didn’t account for was the new stunned head falling in such a way that I was pinned between two of them, or more accurately, my legs were.

  I just knew it wouldn’t be long before the only not stunned head figured out what happened and attacked. I decided to attack first. I needed to at least finish off the already damaged one. I struck at the base of the skull, once, twice, three times, failing to kill it with each attack. I should have known it wouldn’t work. Crushing blow dealt between six hundred and one thousand-two-hundred damage plus the internal injury. My mace alone only did between one hundred fifty and three hundred damage.

  Before the third head could attack again, the damaged head moved. I couldn’t quite finish it but that was okay, my legs were freed, and I could move again. Better, the damaged head shielded me from the next attack from third head, taking the blow on my behalf. The damaged head wasn’t thrilled about taking more damage and started attacking the third head, seemingly forgetting I was there. I didn’t have enough time to wonder if the damaged head had a concussion and couldn’t tell friend from foe. Or maybe it was just that angry.

  My EP was still low, but I had at least recovered a little, EP 39/300. It wasn’t enough to start slinging crushing blows around, nor was it enough to start running around swinging wildly. But it was enough to try and repeat my previous plan . . . minus the pinned legs.

  I climbed over the still stunned head and positioned myself similarly. I attacked, hammering on the stunned head. I was a little annoyed the other two heads weren’t paying attention. They were ruining my plan. I continued beating on the stunned head until the skull suddenly deformed as bone caved in.

  “Stupid demons,” I groused, trying to come up with a new plan. Feeling frustrated and a little worried about my new plan, I yelled, “Oi, idiots! You’re supposed be trying to kill me! Not each other!”

  Both heads stopped snapping at each other and turned to gaze down on me. I grinned nervously for a second then turned and ran, following the wall of the chamber.

  The beast began lumbering after me, dragging six heads along with it. It barely made it three steps before it got tangled up in the long necks of its other heads. The demon crashed down, both heads slamming into the ground and stunning themselves.

  I turned back swiftly and ran, aiming for the already damaged head. I smashed the flanged head of my mace into the demon’s snout getting a spray of blood as bone broke and flesh tore. Not wanting to accidentally sever the head, I changed targets to the cranium. I beat down several times before the bone under the skin broke and the whole body convulsed. It was the leader head.

  Feeling a little relief that the demon wouldn’t be getting up again now that there was just one head left and it was going to be stunned longer than it survived. I moved next to the last head and went to work. Eight strikes later and my EP was almost completely drained, but the last head was dead.

  I walked a few feet away from the demon and sat down heavily. Trying to catch my breath. EP 5/300. If that fight had gone on any longer, I would have been in real trouble.

  I sat there and waited for the body to dissolve. After about two minutes, the beast remained, and I was left confused. It was only then I realized that several heads were still alive, it was only their necks that were broken. Sighing, I moved to finish them off, draining the little EP I had managed to recover. Finally, the last head died, and it was over. Then the body convulsed . . . and stood up.

  “What the-” I didn’t have time to finish my statement. When the demon tripped, it apparently tore off one of the heads. The body that stood had seven long necks still attached and a shredded stump that had started bubbling black blood in spurts and shoots.

  I cursed and rushed forward. I didn’t have the EP for another fight. I struck at the bubbling neck. I hit it over and over again, stopping the necks from spawning, or that was what I thought I was doing. I got sprayed by the blood as I struck over and over again. I got tired of swinging overhand and took a wind-up swing for the fences from below. I missed the neck, instead hitting the chest. There was a loud cracking sound as bone broke again. The bubbling suddenly ceased, and the monster collapsed. A few seconds later the demon melted into the floor leaving behind loot. I sat down tiredly again. It was over. I had won. And I had never felt so tired in my life.

  I took a nap right there. I didn’t care if anything came to kill me or if the room consumed itself in water. I was tired, exhausted really. I had earned a rest. Calling Asher and Era back as well as looting could wait.

  After what I assumed was hours, I woke with a start. I was still laying in the room where I defeated the hydra. The loot, a pile of tiny crystals, several scales, and a scroll, all still waited for me to collect them.

  I deactivated Raphael’s blessing and laid back again to wait on my SE to recover. While I waited, I collected the scales and the crystals, adding them to my inventory. I would wait to add the scroll until after I knew what it was, which meant waiting for Asher or Era to tell me what it was.

  A few minutes later, Asher was back, and a few minutes after that, so was Era.

  “You actually, did it?” Era questioned.

  I nodded. Era had repeated the question several times and my answer hadn’t changed.

  “Hydra form,” Asher said, his fiery form hovered over the scroll.

  “A transformation proficiency?” I asked. I hadn’t even known something like that was possible.

  “No, it’s a combat proficiency. Basically, if you attack and your attack is blocked or parried, you strike two times in quick succession,” Asher explained.

  That sounded like a good proficiency, just not necessarily good for me. As the last fight proved, I was not good with EP management with the one powerful attack I did have. Adding a second just made things worse. I put the scroll in my inventory, intending to sell it.

  “Okay, anybody see the exit?” I asked, looking around. Of course, as soon as I asked, a ladder dropped down from the ceiling. I groaned and buried my face in my hands even as I heard the water rushing in all around me. “No, no, no, no! There can’t be more! This isn’t right!”

  “Complain later, for now, we need to go,” Era said, urging me toward the waiting ladder.

  I hated that she was right. I had come this far. As much as I wished it was over, I wasn’t going to stop now. I was going to see it through. Grunting with effort to get back to my feet, I trudged over to the ladder. One rung at a time, I climbed almost fifty feet to the hatch in the ceiling. I needed to muscle it open again, almost slipping off the ladder as I did so. I didn’t even look to see what was waiting for me as I pulled myself up into the new room.

  I sat up with a gasp. I wasn’t in a new room . . . well, it was a new room but not a ‘new’ room. I was in the morgue. And there was . . . was that clapping? Looking for the source of the noise, I saw Ramy sitting crossed legged on the stone slab across from me, slow clapping.

  “Well done, a one day clear,” Ramy said, not sounding very enthusiastic or impressed.

  Chapter 38 – Rewarding Experience

  I couldn’t help the grin that crossed my face. A one day clear. That had to be worth a lot of experience and stat rewards. And yet . . . and yet Ramy didn’t look even the slightest bit happy about it. His statement, ‘Well done, one day clear,’ didn’t sound the slightest bit congratulatory. If anything, he seemed . . . upset. Did he really dislike giving out rewards that much?

  “How’d I do?” I asked.

  “Exceptionally well,” Ramy answered flatly, the tone of his voice directly contrasting with the words he said. Before I could ask what was wrong, he continued speaking . . . droning on like he was reading a bland report, “You were significantly underpowered for that floor. For your valor and success, you are rewarded thus, plus seven to strength, plus eight to reflex, plus fifteen to constitution, plus ten to recovery, plus eleven to faith, plus seven to spirit, plus thirteen to righteousness, and plus ni
ne to fortune.”

  It was unbelievable. I didn’t ever expect to see such massive gains, especially after he told me how irregular such increases were.

  The droning continued without any kind of pause for me to absorb what he was saying, “For completing the sixth floor in less than six months, you are rewarded fifty million experience points and one proficiency level to be applied to the proficiency of your choice. For completing the sixth floor in less than three months, you are rewarded one hundred million experience points and three proficiency levels to be applied to the proficiency of your choice. For completing the sixth floor in less than one month, you are rewarded two-hundred and fifty million experience points and ten proficiency levels to be applied to the proficiency of your choice. For completing the sixth floor in less than one week, you are rewarded five hundred million experience points and twenty proficiency levels to be applied to the proficiency of your choice. For completing the sixth floor in less than one day, you are rewarded one billion experience points and fifty proficiency levels to be applied to the proficiency of your choice.”

  Ramy stared at me for a long moment. There wasn’t a hint of emotion on his face. Finally, he placed a single vial of liquid on the stone table next to him. It was a very familiar looking vial. I was drawn away from the bottle when he spoke, “I shouldn’t be giving you this, but your performance says you’ve earned it, don’t expect anything like this again.”

  My eyes were naturally drawn back to the little vial that looked a lot like the soul strengthening potion I earned way back on the first floor. I was shocked. Not only was I given ridiculous experience, but I was guaranteed to be able to raise any proficiency I wanted up to level one hundred. Drawing my gaze from the vial, I looked to thank him, but Ramy was already gone. He didn’t even say goodbye, it wasn’t normal for the guy. I didn’t understand it.

  “Was it me, or did he seem upset?” I asked my companions.

  “Lord Ramiel is a very busy Dominion,” Era answered. “He cannot be expected to spend his days chatting with you.”

  I frowned. It didn’t feel like he was in a rush. “I understand he’s busy running Purgatory. But something about that interaction felt off to me. It was like he was disappointed in me.”

  Neither Asher nor Era had an answer to that. Still not feeling good about the interaction, I hopped off the stone tablet and collected my final reward, quickly stuffing it into the last open slot in my inventory. I was looking forward to unloading it into the safe in my room.

  But first, I left the morgue and popped back into Purgatory, setting it to my current stats before I spent any experience points. The next floor was Envy and I didn’t want to be hit with another floor like greed if I could help it.

  Back in my room, it was time to spend some experience points.

  Name: Victor Goodspeed

  Highest Floor Cleared: 6

  Experience Earned: 1,902,110,852

  I had never had so many. I couldn’t even fathom spending that much experience. Part of me said it was some kind of trap. Another, more insistent, part of me said I had more than earned it. It wasn’t everyday someone clears a floor in a single day. So, I started spending in earnest. I had two soul proficiencies I was very eager to add. I had the vial of soul strengthening potion for one and hopefully more than enough experience for another.

  One billion sixteen million experience points. It cost over one billion experience points to gain twenty unused soul point. More than half of my experience rewards were gone just like that. It got me where I needed to be but that cost . . . and my next point of soul would cost me over seventy-nine million experience points. The rate at which the cost of unused points increased was . . . it was too much.

  Next, twenty unused body points cost me five-hundred and eighty-four million experience points . . . well, slightly more than that, but at this point what was another hundred thousand? The main point there was that it gave me enough stats to add two more body proficiencies, one of which was already waiting in my inventory.

  Just like that, my windfall of experience points was whittled down to three hundred million. I was getting to the point where such an extravagant number of experience points was not going as far as it used to.

  I knew I needed to spend the experience points or risk losing them, but I had no idea what to use them on. I looked to my guides for answers, “Any suggestions on how to spend the rest of the experience points?”

  “Your new proficiencies,” Asher answered as if it should have been obvious, which it was. I honestly forgot that my new proficiencies were going to start at level one, unless I have an affinity for it, which at this point I highly doubted would be the case. I applied all the unused points and moved on to adding my new proficiencies.

  I started with the body proficiency I picked up on the last floor. Stand firm, an active skill that boosted my defense. As soon as I added the proficiency, I leveled it up to bring it in line with my other proficiencies.

  Stand Firm

  Level: 45 (+107 Free)

  Experience to Next Level: 2,463,356

  EP Cost: 5 per second

  Damage Reduction: -12.50%

  Block: +12.00%

  Stand firm and hold your ground against all opponents.

  I didn’t like that the skill required me to not move while it was active, but the damage reduction and increase block chance were excellent bonuses. I may not have cared for the cost either. Still, I was satisfied. I would need to go to the proficiency dealers later to pick up another body proficiency that suited my style.

  Spirit armor came next and just like my other spirit calls, I leveled it up to match.

  Call Divine Spirit Armor: Plate mail

  Level: 30(+107 Free)

  Experience to Next Level: 429,638

  SE Cost: 300

  Call Divine Spirit Armor in the form of a plate mail to aid you in combat.

  Armor Rating: 150

  I whistled in appreciation. From what Asher told me about the chainmail I’d been using, it only had an armor rating of 50. A full set of plate mail armor was clearly superior.

  The last scroll was the divine guide I received from the rainbow slime. It joined my soul just as everything else did. And just like Era and Asher, it had the ability to level up. Now, it was time to see who answered my call. “Call divine guide.”

  Where Asher formed as small flame that grew larger and Era was the wind drawn together, my new call sprouted from the dirt floor at my feet. A small twig grew out of the ground and sprouted branches and leaves that took the form of a very small stick man. It yawned and stretched before looking up at me and bowing.

  It spoke with a deep rumbling voice so low that it was hard to hear, “Greeting’s caller, I am pleased to be of service. I am Silas, seedling of the Tree of Life. How might this humble guide serve?”

  “Oh my,” Era and Asher gaped in one voice, making me fear the worst.

  “Ah, brother Asher, sister Era, so good to see you both doing so well,” Silas said, turning his sleepy gaze on the other two.

  “Brother Silas,” they both said, bowing their heads respectfully, almost reverently. “We are humbled by your presence.”

  Silas chuckled. “None of that brother Silas formality. We all stand equal now in service to this man. Let us all strive to see him succeed.”

  “I’m Victor Goodspeed,” I said, kneeling an introducing my self to the tiny tree.

  The tree smiled and bowed to me again. “It gives me great pleasure to be in your service. But if I might make a request. I do believe you should increase my level to be commensurate with Asher and Era, that I might serve you best. However, before that, what roles do my brother and sister fill.”

  “Asher is a defender and Era is an attacker,” I answered.

  The little tree nodded, the leaves that made up his hair ruffling slightly. “Interesting. I would have expected Asher to be an attacker and Era a healer or support. That leaves either healer or support open for me to fill. Tel
l me, what do you believe would serve you best?”

  “I’m actually in pretty good shape as far as healing goes,” I said, knowing I was going to be spending most of my free proficiency levels to boost Raphael’s blessing to the maximum level.

  “Then a support,” Silas said nodding. “Very well. I shall endeavor to support you to the very best of my ability.”

  With that, I spent enough experience to level him up once, unlocking his specialization.

  Available Paths:

  Support: Uses Proficiencies to support his caller, shaping spirit energy (SE) to enhance his caller or diminish the forces of hell.

  Healer: Uses Proficiencies to heal his caller, shaping spirit energy (SE) to enhance his caller and heal the damage caused by the forces of hell.

  I was only slightly surprised to see there were only two options. I touched the word support on the page, and everything reverted to Silas’ description. Before calling him back, I pushed enough experience to bring him to level twenty like Asher and Era.

  Name: Silas

  Caller: Victor Goodspeed

  Level: 20(+107 Free)

  Experience to Next Level: 693,889

  SE Cost: 200

  Path: Support (Select Unique Proficiency)

  HP: 200/200

  EP: 200/200