The process of going through the portal was a little more underwhelming than Sally had expected. There could have been some tunnel extending through a hellscape or some infinite plane of fire - or even just a little elevator music would have been nice.
Instead, stepping through the glowing portal was just like going through a beaded curtain. Now, on the other side, the colors of red and purple were more apparent - as she had traded the sandy browns and ambers of the topside world for the glowing crimsons and fired oranges of Hell.
It was also reasonably warm.
A large cavern opened up from the small alcove they had popped out into, and as each member joined her, they stood and took in the view.
Across the walls of dark burgundy, cracks of amber-like lava veins ran across the rocky surface to the apex of the apparent cave, where a large orb of glowing menace illuminated the area. Opposite their entrance was another portal - this one was kept in shape by a dark stone doorway that had engraved runic symbols upon it.
The cavern itself was filled with demons. Naughty System-created ones, by the looks of it. So far, they hadn’t noticed the newcomers. Probably some form of teleportation immunity, Sally reasoned.
“Shall we?” She nudged the Death Knight. There were at least four-score demons here, and if her intuition were right, the respawns would come in through the looming structure across the other side.
“My pleasure,” Humphrey grinned and withdrew his sword.
“I will stay here and keep Lucius safe,” Archie stretched out. The demon looked pleased with this suggestion, given the panicked smiley face next to him.
“Can I come out and kill all the demons, Sally?”
“No chance, bud.” She sighed. It would be so nice if she could trust him; they fought so well together. Instead, she checked her STAR. Thirteen zombies left in the tank from after the Golem fight. That’d have to do - once she got eating, then the demons would make up for it.
“Let’s start with the group in the near right,” the Death Knight pointed the tip of his sword out. “Then circle around clockwise? Best we don’t aggro the whole room.”
“I can taste the reference.”
“Sounds good, Humps,” she gave a gesture for him to attack at will and withdrew the new bat with her dagger in offhand.
With a short pause to limber up his shoulders, Humphrey pulsed in various shades as he buffed up with [Adrenaline] and [Dead King’s Court]. Tensing his legs, he then ran forward.
Sally joined him, slightly slower, and raised a hand to cast [Endless Dead]. As soon as the Death Knight caught the attention of the demons, and they began to draw their weapons in anger, zombies burst out from the ground around them.
As Humphrey swung away with his wide attacks, Sally followed in, finishing off the ones that he wounded or tried to surround him. The bat struck a demon on their wrist, disarming them, which she followed up by pressing into them and slitting their throat. She spun from a sword swipe and stumbled backward into the coffin.
Behind them, the group of demons from the bottom left quarter of the chamber had taken offence to their presence and had started off towards them. A number of them had raised crossbows.
“We have company, behind,” she growled to the Death Knight.
She ducked to the floor as he swung a wide arc around himself with the flat of his blade, knocking three of the fired bolts from the air before slapping a slow demon in the side of the head with the blazing greatsword. Two other bolts cluttered off his plated armor, with a final one embedding into a joint.
From their entrance portal, Archie sneezed, and a large globule of vibrating dull green energy flowed forth. It hovered a foot above the ground and slowly careened towards demonic group two. With half of them already on their way into the melee, the odd magic hit them unprepared - a wet burst spreading across them and causing them to be slowed or rooted in place.
Sally let the Death Knight and zombies contend with the first group as she leveled a [Necroblast: Barrage] into the approaching group. Two were wounded and two killed, the last blast dodged by the panicked target. She ran and blocked an axe with the bat, stabbing into the opponent's gut, letting go of the blade to use her new weapon two-handed.
She swung, and a crackle of red energy ran down the weapon before it struck the demon in the head, shattering its skull. [Eat Brains]. The blade was withdrawn; she decided to sheathe it for now and put [Hex: Slow] on the nearest demon. Like a bloodied dance, she spun between all the enemies that Archie had managed to restrict, swinging the bat with both hands and cracking bones or blocking strikes.
Despite being made of wood, it held up to the damage pretty well. As she twirled from one demon to the next, she wondered if this was how Theo felt when using his skill. Her bat was blocked and she kicked at the shin of the demon. As they recoiled, she jabbed forward at their face, knocking them backward. With a short leap, she brought it downwards, another crackle of critical energy causing the weapon to burst through the bones of arms held up in defense. [Eat Brains].
Her group had almost been cleared now, and in turning to look back at the Death Knight, it seemed he was mopping up too.
“Ahead, Sally!” Lucius called out.
The two other quarters of the cavern had now decided to join the fray. She dove and rolled across the floor slick with demonic blood to try and avoid the crossbow bolts of the ones aggroed at her. One stuck into her shoulder, but the rest were rendered inert on the hard stone ground. She was thankful that the vampire was present for his Auras, at the least.
Clambering back to her feet, the outfit now marred with more blood and dust, she immediately had to be on the back foot as both a spear and a sword were thrust against her. The sword was blocked, but the spear pierced her jacket and gashed at her side.
“Ass! I just healed that up!”
“You can talk?” One of the demons looked slightly taken aback.
She swung the bat around and struck their face, the crack of a broken jaw followed up by point-blank [Necroblast] to their chest. [Eat Brains].
Combat was for fighting and witty banter only. Just because they were System-created, it didn’t mean that they weren’t capable of thought. They were just programmed to do a set thing. Respawn when they die with no memories. If her food started talking back now, it would give her an upset stomach.
Overhead a dark cloud began forming, quickly followed by forked lighting cracking down into a handful of demons, the sound echoing around the cavern alongside their yelps of pain. Three of them dropped to the floor, charred and smoking - while two more looked seriously injured.
[Lord of the Damned] Humphrey raised his Skeleton Warriors around him. While they might not be as numerous as the zombies or as flashy as causing a night sky to appear over the area - they were an extra layer of defense. They were also buffed by the Party Auras, and in keeping them in defense mode they blocked additional hits so that he didn’t have to. In their dark grey armor they moved as if knowing his intended actions, ducking below his sword strikes or engaging where he was currently weakest.
Blunt force trauma wasn’t really Sally’s idea of fun. The bat was definitely a better choice in melee for blocking and dealing damage - but there was something about her dagger that felt more personal and effective. She sidestepped a wild overhead swing of a two-handed axe, wincing as a spark flew from the struck ground. Piercing or slashing was much more fun - perhaps she should ask Humphrey about crafting - if she could just duct-tape the dagger to the bat…
“More spawns!” The tiny voice of Archie rang out, only just reaching her dulled hearing. The day had been tiring, but this fighting was almost relaxing in a way. As she shoved the demon out of the way, [Necroblast] blew out part of their leg, and she caught the underside of their jaw with an upswing. [Eat Brains] from the snapped neck.
With a brief respite, her blazing red eyes looked up to the proper Hell Portal. More demons had been spilling forth, jogging over to the starting quadrants of the cavern as if on a set pattern. Well, in a way, they were. It looked like Lucius had been correct - the respawns were very quick. Usually, this kind of thing - duck and quickly withdraw the dagger to slice across an arm - would take - stab again and crack the bat down on an elbow - days.
Humphrey roved through the throng, a blaze of unholy energy as each sweep of the greatsword cleaved crimson sprays of demonic blood or knocked bodies flying if they attempted to block the wide strikes. Skeletons stabbed out with their shortswords to finish off the fallen and wounded.
She was slightly saddened that they filled her original purpose - but this way, she could go off and do other things. Being self-reliant was important. Humphrey was sure to drill that into them. You never knew when you’d be caught alone or away from the Party. Each of them was both strong and too stubborn to die. When the world wanted to kill you, it seemed like the smartest thing to be.
Despite her usual undead qualities, she found herself sweating in the humidity. A terrible mixture of battle and… Hell. Plus, there was a weird burnt ozone smell that constantly bore down on her senses; it was no wonder Archie sneezed-
A black bolt crackled through the air and burst on her shoulder, rending the jacket and her shirt from the impact area. With pained anger, she turned to see a taller demon, a staff and a weird headdress denoting them as a magic user.
“Eighty-six percent,” Theo murmured to himself.
The process of going through the portal was a little more underwhelming than Sally had expected. There could have been some tunnel extending through a hellscape or some infinite plane of fire - or even just a little elevator music would have been nice.
Instead, stepping through the glowing portal was just like going through a beaded curtain. Now, on the other side, the colors of red and purple were more apparent - as she had traded the sandy browns and ambers of the topside world for the glowing crimsons and fired oranges of Hell.
It was also reasonably warm.
A large cavern opened up from the small alcove they had popped out into, and as each member joined her, they stood and took in the view.
Across the walls of dark burgundy, cracks of amber-like lava veins ran across the rocky surface to the apex of the apparent cave, where a large orb of glowing menace illuminated the area. Opposite their entrance was another portal - this one was kept in shape by a dark stone doorway that had engraved runic symbols upon it.
The cavern itself was filled with demons. Naughty System-created ones, by the looks of it. So far, they hadn’t noticed the newcomers. Probably some form of teleportation immunity, Sally reasoned.
“Shall we?” She nudged the Death Knight. There were at least four-score demons here, and if her intuition were right, the respawns would come in through the looming structure across the other side.
“My pleasure,” Humphrey grinned and withdrew his sword.
“I will stay here and keep Lucius safe,” Archie stretched out. The demon looked pleased with this suggestion, given the panicked smiley face next to him.
“Can I come out and kill all the demons, Sally?”
“No chance, bud.” She sighed. It would be so nice if she could trust him; they fought so well together. Instead, she checked her STAR. Thirteen zombies left in the tank from after the Golem fight. That’d have to do - once she got eating, then the demons would make up for it.
“Let’s start with the group in the near right,” the Death Knight pointed the tip of his sword out. “Then circle around clockwise? Best we don’t aggro the whole room.”
“I can taste the reference.”
“Sounds good, Humps,” she gave a gesture for him to attack at will and withdrew the new bat with her dagger in offhand.
With a short pause to limber up his shoulders, Humphrey pulsed in various shades as he buffed up with [Adrenaline] and [Dead King’s Court]. Tensing his legs, he then ran forward.
Sally joined him, slightly slower, and raised a hand to cast [Endless Dead]. As soon as the Death Knight caught the attention of the demons, and they began to draw their weapons in anger, zombies burst out from the ground around them.
As Humphrey swung away with his wide attacks, Sally followed in, finishing off the ones that he wounded or tried to surround him. The bat struck a demon on their wrist, disarming them, which she followed up by pressing into them and slitting their throat. She spun from a sword swipe and stumbled backward into the coffin.
Behind them, the group of demons from the bottom left quarter of the chamber had taken offence to their presence and had started off towards them. A number of them had raised crossbows.
“We have company, behind,” she growled to the Death Knight.
She ducked to the floor as he swung a wide arc around himself with the flat of his blade, knocking three of the fired bolts from the air before slapping a slow demon in the side of the head with the blazing greatsword. Two other bolts cluttered off his plated armor, with a final one embedding into a joint.
From their entrance portal, Archie sneezed, and a large globule of vibrating dull green energy flowed forth. It hovered a foot above the ground and slowly careened towards demonic group two. With half of them already on their way into the melee, the odd magic hit them unprepared - a wet burst spreading across them and causing them to be slowed or rooted in place.
Sally let the Death Knight and zombies contend with the first group as she leveled a [Necroblast: Barrage] into the approaching group. Two were wounded and two killed, the last blast dodged by the panicked target. She ran and blocked an axe with the bat, stabbing into the opponent's gut, letting go of the blade to use her new weapon two-handed.
She swung, and a crackle of red energy ran down the weapon before it struck the demon in the head, shattering its skull. [Eat Brains]. The blade was withdrawn; she decided to sheathe it for now and put [Hex: Slow] on the nearest demon. Like a bloodied dance, she spun between all the enemies that Archie had managed to restrict, swinging the bat with both hands and cracking bones or blocking strikes.
Despite being made of wood, it held up to the damage pretty well. As she twirled from one demon to the next, she wondered if this was how Theo felt when using his skill. Her bat was blocked and she kicked at the shin of the demon. As they recoiled, she jabbed forward at their face, knocking them backward. With a short leap, she brought it downwards, another crackle of critical energy causing the weapon to burst through the bones of arms held up in defense. [Eat Brains].
Her group had almost been cleared now, and in turning to look back at the Death Knight, it seemed he was mopping up too.
“Ahead, Sally!” Lucius called out.
The two other quarters of the cavern had now decided to join the fray. She dove and rolled across the floor slick with demonic blood to try and avoid the crossbow bolts of the ones aggroed at her. One stuck into her shoulder, but the rest were rendered inert on the hard stone ground. She was thankful that the vampire was present for his Auras, at the least.
Clambering back to her feet, the outfit now marred with more blood and dust, she immediately had to be on the back foot as both a spear and a sword were thrust against her. The sword was blocked, but the spear pierced her jacket and gashed at her side.
“Ass! I just healed that up!”
“You can talk?” One of the demons looked slightly taken aback.
She swung the bat around and struck their face, the crack of a broken jaw followed up by point-blank [Necroblast] to their chest. [Eat Brains].
Combat was for fighting and witty banter only. Just because they were System-created, it didn’t mean that they weren’t capable of thought. They were just programmed to do a set thing. Respawn when they die with no memories. If her food started talking back now, it would give her an upset stomach.
Overhead a dark cloud began forming, quickly followed by forked lighting cracking down into a handful of demons, the sound echoing around the cavern alongside their yelps of pain. Three of them dropped to the floor, charred and smoking - while two more looked seriously injured.
[Lord of the Damned] Humphrey raised his Skeleton Warriors around him. While they might not be as numerous as the zombies or as flashy as causing a night sky to appear over the area - they were an extra layer of defense. They were also buffed by the Party Auras, and in keeping them in defense mode they blocked additional hits so that he didn’t have to. In their dark grey armor they moved as if knowing his intended actions, ducking below his sword strikes or engaging where he was currently weakest.
Blunt force trauma wasn’t really Sally’s idea of fun. The bat was definitely a better choice in melee for blocking and dealing damage - but there was something about her dagger that felt more personal and effective. She sidestepped a wild overhead swing of a two-handed axe, wincing as a spark flew from the struck ground. Piercing or slashing was much more fun - perhaps she should ask Humphrey about crafting - if she could just duct-tape the dagger to the bat…
“More spawns!” The tiny voice of Archie rang out, only just reaching her dulled hearing. The day had been tiring, but this fighting was almost relaxing in a way. As she shoved the demon out of the way, [Necroblast] blew out part of their leg, and she caught the underside of their jaw with an upswing. [Eat Brains] from the snapped neck.
With a brief respite, her blazing red eyes looked up to the proper Hell Portal. More demons had been spilling forth, jogging over to the starting quadrants of the cavern as if on a set pattern. Well, in a way, they were. It looked like Lucius had been correct - the respawns were very quick. Usually, this kind of thing - duck and quickly withdraw the dagger to slice across an arm - would take - stab again and crack the bat down on an elbow - days.
Humphrey roved through the throng, a blaze of unholy energy as each sweep of the greatsword cleaved crimson sprays of demonic blood or knocked bodies flying if they attempted to block the wide strikes. Skeletons stabbed out with their shortswords to finish off the fallen and wounded.
She was slightly saddened that they filled her original purpose - but this way, she could go off and do other things. Being self-reliant was important. Humphrey was sure to drill that into them. You never knew when you’d be caught alone or away from the Party. Each of them was both strong and too stubborn to die. When the world wanted to kill you, it seemed like the smartest thing to be.
Despite her usual undead qualities, she found herself sweating in the humidity. A terrible mixture of battle and… Hell. Plus, there was a weird burnt ozone smell that constantly bore down on her senses; it was no wonder Archie sneezed-
A black bolt crackled through the air and burst on her shoulder, rending the jacket and her shirt from the impact area. With pained anger, she turned to see a taller demon, a staff and a weird headdress denoting them as a magic user.
“Eighty-six percent,” Theo murmured to himself.
