“So,” Lucius sweat as his hands gripped the axe tightly, “what happens when the vampire gets to one hundred percent?”
Archie looked up at him, his emerald eyes sparkling in the red hue of the chamber. “I’m not sure. This curse is… not as it should be, for a handful of reasons.”
The demon watched as the zombie carved bloody carnage through the ranks of his System-created cousins. Humphrey was no less proficient either, his greatsword overpowering all that got in range with severed limbs and broken bodies littering the floor in his wake.
“Handful of reasons?” His eyes drifted over to a new figure that had appeared from the respawning reinforcements.
“The Toad’s curse was different as the Monster was too powerful, and Theo has an odd regenerative body.”
Lucius nodded but frowned at this new demon shot a magic bolt and struck Sally.
Archie yawned and continued. “Normally, the curse lasts a week and is just minor sleep deprivation. Makes you grumpy and exhausted. Theo is peaking in less than a day, and he doesn’t do very well with a lack of sleep.”
“Damon,” Lucius murmured out loud in recognition. “That’s a Unique demon, who works for the Dragon. What are they doing here?”
Demons rushed past Sally, not even trying to attack her - as they went to their proper spawn positions. That was potentially bad, as now she had become surrounded. As if the melee wasn’t getting choppy enough, there was now some kind of spellcasting demon standing by the portal where the stream of replacements hadn’t abated.
“Are you Unique?” She yelled as she ducked a club, stabbing the enemy in the foot before knocking them over.
The spellcaster grinned widely, their fangs showing and gleaming against the dim red glow of this Hell-cavern. They were not only taller than most of the other demons here, but their skin was more radiant - red but as if they were filled with luminant light, like lava. Or magma? Sally always forgot which was which.
“I am,” the figure replied, their hand crackling with dark energy.
“Then-“ Sally took a cut from an outstretched dagger before she grappled with the opponent, headbutting them and following up with a wide bat swing - [Eat Brains] “-why not talk this out?”
“You invade our home, slaughter us - and yet, you expect to parlay?”
“Boats, boats, boats,” Theo murmured from across the room.
“At least, stop attacking me while I’m-“ [Necroblast] a demon, turned and stabbed at the second. Arm, arm, neck, then eye socket. “When I’m in the middle of something.”
The demon pointed their finger out, and a crackle of dark energy zipped across the room and struck Sally in the thigh, rending a hole through her jeans and burning at her undead flesh.
“Ow! Seriously?” She hissed while blocking a sword, then turned from an axe. Things were getting complicated.
She rolled backward and withdrew a [Crossbow], immediately firing a shot off at the magic user. A flare of a dark barrier prevented the bolt from finding its target. Now she was at a disadvantage in the melee. With a kick out at the shins of the approaching demons, she raised her hands, dropping the crossbow. [Necroblast: Barrage]. As chunks of assailants sprayed the ground, she found her footing and retrieved her bat.
Two people versus all of these demons was now turning into more trouble than it was worth. Especially with the spellcaster. If only they had Theo and a useful fifth. She shot a glance over to the original portal to see the cat speaking with Lucius. Reinforcements were still pouring from the larger portal - seemingly faster than they were killing them.
That just meant they would need to kill them faster. She became a dervish of undead energy. Most of her original zombies had been cut down, but new ones were springing forth from the brains she had eaten. Not enough to turn the tide, but each one was a distraction that allowed them a slight breathing space.
She held the bat in her offhand and used it to block as she closed in on each demon, stabbing and slashing out with the [Dagger of Luck]. For her efforts, she received damage of her own, but slowly she was healing thanks to Theo. Her footing stumbled over dead bodies, the cavern fast becoming filled with the corpses of those not rising to obey her command. [Hex: Slow] was switched to the magic demon as they started to cast something new.
An orb of dark lighting crackled over their head, flickers of light briefly illuminating the chamber. With the point of a finger, the orb started to fly towards Sally. Even from the few dozen feet away, the hairs on her arms prickled upwards from the amount of static energy the spell was generating.
[Impenetrable Defence]
The orb started to swerve in the air towards the Death Knight, who had cut a swathe to almost the center of the room. As a shield flared up as the demons tried to stab at him, the electric attack reached his arms spread wide and fizzled out. As his ability ended, he grabbed a demon by its shirt and pulled it in for a quick headbutt before using the limp body to block the attack of another.
“Things are looking a bit wild,” Lucius had a sweatdrop emoji almost permanently affixed to the side of his head. “Is there anything we can do?”
“You could attack?” Archie raised an eyebrow to the demon.
“Ah.” Lucius seemed to sink further into the wall behind them.
“Like this-“ Archie narrowed his eyes as a circle of white light began to pulse from underneath him. Eight beams of light shot up into the air like wiggling snakes and beamed their way through the thick horde of enemies, piercing thin holes through dozens of demons before the white worms of holy energy dissipated most of the way through the room.
“I don’t think I can do that,” Lucius gulped.
Sally was starting to get tired. The constant block, strike, move, parry, block, and attack had begun to numb her arms. She almost wished she had [Adrenaline] - or at least wondered if it would have the effect that she craved. Bodies kept falling, and getting to use [Eat Brains] was becoming more of a liability - despite the ability being near instant, being left in that brief vulnerable position had earned her some injuries that the slow regeneration wasn’t completely healing yet.
“Maybe we should call it?” She yelled at the Death Knight while trying to keep an eye both on the melee around her and the demon spellcaster.
Humphrey cleaved a demon almost in two and kicked away a second. “Respawns are not stopping, I concur.”
“A simple yes would have sufficed,” she grinned, despite the pain.
“Ninety-two.”
Not a great time, all things considered. She ducked and wove through the demons, slashing out occasionally but mostly trying to move through the bodies and toward the exit portal.
The magic caster had mostly been watching them intently. She was all but certain that they were either just curious or trying to get a read on the group. That was never a good thing. Perhaps she should go back to the thoughtless System-created who just ran into melee with no concern for themselves. Barbarian did taste slightly nicer than the demon brains.
As she met with the Death Knight at the small slope up towards the alcove, they turned back to fight off the approaching demons. There was now almost triple the number of Monsters in the room, not including the dead bodies.
“They can’t follow us through, right?” She grimaced as her dagger hit a bone which sent a shock up her arm.
“No, they’ll stay in here.” Archie had backed up and looked like he was about to cast something.
“Alright, then on the count of-“
The magic caster raised up their hand and his voice reverberated through the chamber. “I don’t think so.”
Beside Lucius, the glowing red portal shrunk and closed up. An emoji of a shocked face popped up.
Sally growled. “That isn’t allowed, right, Humphrey?”
“No - well, not normally.” The flames of his helmet flickered wildly as they continued to hack away at the constant assault.
“Ninety-five.”
The spellcaster started to step forward amongst the throng of constantly spawning demons. “You are all quite interesting, so I have an offer to make you.”
“No pyramid scheme! Kill all-“
“Okay, Theo!” Sally seethed, the melee unforgiving even though an attempt at discourse was in infancy. “What is the offer, demon?”
“Join the army of the Great Drag-“
“Pass.” They were going to kill the dragon. Sure, the Outsiders were bad guys, but they weren’t going to join organized crime - that made it both less cool and less fun.
“Then I suppose you will all die here unless you have a way to teleport.”
“Duh,” Sally rolled her eyes. “Theo, use whatever Party Teleport we have, even if it takes us to the Forest.” She would love to do the honors, but the constant fighting made sifting through her Inventory a bit of a struggle.
“No, I must kill all demons.”
“Theo!”
“Ninety-eight percent.”
Sally narrowed her eyes at the demons still pouring forth from the portal opposite. Even if that were a way out, they’d never manage to cut through the dense crowd to get to it. This was their penance for the earlier hubris. Fighting until they physically couldn’t. There hadn’t even been time to check to see if they had leveled up yet. What a slice of misery this had become.
Lucius panicked. “I can open it, but I need time.”
“Any cards hiding up your sleeve, Archie?” If ever Sally needed a small miracle, now would be the perfect time.
“Just one,” Archie narrowed his eyes at the situation. “Big brother, Operation Beyblade“
Without hesitation, the Death Knight swung his sword wide to give himself some space and then unclipped the tethers on the coffin, which struck the floor with a jolt. Growling out, Humphrey grasped the casket and spun, throwing it into the air.
Briefly, all eyes were on the large wooden box as it careened through the air.
A pair of unlucky demons took the brunt of it, crushed as the coffin clattered to the ground and split open in shards.
The air reverberated - shook as if suddenly under wavering pressure. Theo stood slowly and lethargically, his limbs relaxed and weak. Now in the midst of the onrushing tide of demons, a grin widened across his fanged mouth and he pushed his glasses up.
A snap of static electricty burst from around him as the chamber became awash with pitch-black darkness and crimson highlights.
"One-hundred," he hissed.
“So,” Lucius sweat as his hands gripped the axe tightly, “what happens when the vampire gets to one hundred percent?”
Archie looked up at him, his emerald eyes sparkling in the red hue of the chamber. “I’m not sure. This curse is… not as it should be, for a handful of reasons.”
The demon watched as the zombie carved bloody carnage through the ranks of his System-created cousins. Humphrey was no less proficient either, his greatsword overpowering all that got in range with severed limbs and broken bodies littering the floor in his wake.
“Handful of reasons?” His eyes drifted over to a new figure that had appeared from the respawning reinforcements.
“The Toad’s curse was different as the Monster was too powerful, and Theo has an odd regenerative body.”
Lucius nodded but frowned at this new demon shot a magic bolt and struck Sally.
Archie yawned and continued. “Normally, the curse lasts a week and is just minor sleep deprivation. Makes you grumpy and exhausted. Theo is peaking in less than a day, and he doesn’t do very well with a lack of sleep.”
“Damon,” Lucius murmured out loud in recognition. “That’s a Unique demon, who works for the Dragon. What are they doing here?”
Demons rushed past Sally, not even trying to attack her - as they went to their proper spawn positions. That was potentially bad, as now she had become surrounded. As if the melee wasn’t getting choppy enough, there was now some kind of spellcasting demon standing by the portal where the stream of replacements hadn’t abated.
“Are you Unique?” She yelled as she ducked a club, stabbing the enemy in the foot before knocking them over.
The spellcaster grinned widely, their fangs showing and gleaming against the dim red glow of this Hell-cavern. They were not only taller than most of the other demons here, but their skin was more radiant - red but as if they were filled with luminant light, like lava. Or magma? Sally always forgot which was which.
“I am,” the figure replied, their hand crackling with dark energy.
“Then-“ Sally took a cut from an outstretched dagger before she grappled with the opponent, headbutting them and following up with a wide bat swing - [Eat Brains] “-why not talk this out?”
“You invade our home, slaughter us - and yet, you expect to parlay?”
“Boats, boats, boats,” Theo murmured from across the room.
“At least, stop attacking me while I’m-“ [Necroblast] a demon, turned and stabbed at the second. Arm, arm, neck, then eye socket. “When I’m in the middle of something.”
The demon pointed their finger out, and a crackle of dark energy zipped across the room and struck Sally in the thigh, rending a hole through her jeans and burning at her undead flesh.
“Ow! Seriously?” She hissed while blocking a sword, then turned from an axe. Things were getting complicated.
She rolled backward and withdrew a [Crossbow], immediately firing a shot off at the magic user. A flare of a dark barrier prevented the bolt from finding its target. Now she was at a disadvantage in the melee. With a kick out at the shins of the approaching demons, she raised her hands, dropping the crossbow. [Necroblast: Barrage]. As chunks of assailants sprayed the ground, she found her footing and retrieved her bat.
Two people versus all of these demons was now turning into more trouble than it was worth. Especially with the spellcaster. If only they had Theo and a useful fifth. She shot a glance over to the original portal to see the cat speaking with Lucius. Reinforcements were still pouring from the larger portal - seemingly faster than they were killing them.
That just meant they would need to kill them faster. She became a dervish of undead energy. Most of her original zombies had been cut down, but new ones were springing forth from the brains she had eaten. Not enough to turn the tide, but each one was a distraction that allowed them a slight breathing space.
She held the bat in her offhand and used it to block as she closed in on each demon, stabbing and slashing out with the [Dagger of Luck]. For her efforts, she received damage of her own, but slowly she was healing thanks to Theo. Her footing stumbled over dead bodies, the cavern fast becoming filled with the corpses of those not rising to obey her command. [Hex: Slow] was switched to the magic demon as they started to cast something new.
An orb of dark lighting crackled over their head, flickers of light briefly illuminating the chamber. With the point of a finger, the orb started to fly towards Sally. Even from the few dozen feet away, the hairs on her arms prickled upwards from the amount of static energy the spell was generating.
[Impenetrable Defence]
The orb started to swerve in the air towards the Death Knight, who had cut a swathe to almost the center of the room. As a shield flared up as the demons tried to stab at him, the electric attack reached his arms spread wide and fizzled out. As his ability ended, he grabbed a demon by its shirt and pulled it in for a quick headbutt before using the limp body to block the attack of another.
“Things are looking a bit wild,” Lucius had a sweatdrop emoji almost permanently affixed to the side of his head. “Is there anything we can do?”
“You could attack?” Archie raised an eyebrow to the demon.
“Ah.” Lucius seemed to sink further into the wall behind them.
“Like this-“ Archie narrowed his eyes as a circle of white light began to pulse from underneath him. Eight beams of light shot up into the air like wiggling snakes and beamed their way through the thick horde of enemies, piercing thin holes through dozens of demons before the white worms of holy energy dissipated most of the way through the room.
“I don’t think I can do that,” Lucius gulped.
Sally was starting to get tired. The constant block, strike, move, parry, block, and attack had begun to numb her arms. She almost wished she had [Adrenaline] - or at least wondered if it would have the effect that she craved. Bodies kept falling, and getting to use [Eat Brains] was becoming more of a liability - despite the ability being near instant, being left in that brief vulnerable position had earned her some injuries that the slow regeneration wasn’t completely healing yet.
“Maybe we should call it?” She yelled at the Death Knight while trying to keep an eye both on the melee around her and the demon spellcaster.
Humphrey cleaved a demon almost in two and kicked away a second. “Respawns are not stopping, I concur.”
“A simple yes would have sufficed,” she grinned, despite the pain.
“Ninety-two.”
Not a great time, all things considered. She ducked and wove through the demons, slashing out occasionally but mostly trying to move through the bodies and toward the exit portal.
The magic caster had mostly been watching them intently. She was all but certain that they were either just curious or trying to get a read on the group. That was never a good thing. Perhaps she should go back to the thoughtless System-created who just ran into melee with no concern for themselves. Barbarian did taste slightly nicer than the demon brains.
As she met with the Death Knight at the small slope up towards the alcove, they turned back to fight off the approaching demons. There was now almost triple the number of Monsters in the room, not including the dead bodies.
“They can’t follow us through, right?” She grimaced as her dagger hit a bone which sent a shock up her arm.
“No, they’ll stay in here.” Archie had backed up and looked like he was about to cast something.
“Alright, then on the count of-“
The magic caster raised up their hand and his voice reverberated through the chamber. “I don’t think so.”
Beside Lucius, the glowing red portal shrunk and closed up. An emoji of a shocked face popped up.
Sally growled. “That isn’t allowed, right, Humphrey?”
“No - well, not normally.” The flames of his helmet flickered wildly as they continued to hack away at the constant assault.
“Ninety-five.”
The spellcaster started to step forward amongst the throng of constantly spawning demons. “You are all quite interesting, so I have an offer to make you.”
“No pyramid scheme! Kill all-“
“Okay, Theo!” Sally seethed, the melee unforgiving even though an attempt at discourse was in infancy. “What is the offer, demon?”
“Join the army of the Great Drag-“
“Pass.” They were going to kill the dragon. Sure, the Outsiders were bad guys, but they weren’t going to join organized crime - that made it both less cool and less fun.
“Then I suppose you will all die here unless you have a way to teleport.”
“Duh,” Sally rolled her eyes. “Theo, use whatever Party Teleport we have, even if it takes us to the Forest.” She would love to do the honors, but the constant fighting made sifting through her Inventory a bit of a struggle.
“No, I must kill all demons.”
“Theo!”
“Ninety-eight percent.”
Sally narrowed her eyes at the demons still pouring forth from the portal opposite. Even if that were a way out, they’d never manage to cut through the dense crowd to get to it. This was their penance for the earlier hubris. Fighting until they physically couldn’t. There hadn’t even been time to check to see if they had leveled up yet. What a slice of misery this had become.
Lucius panicked. “I can open it, but I need time.”
“Any cards hiding up your sleeve, Archie?” If ever Sally needed a small miracle, now would be the perfect time.
“Just one,” Archie narrowed his eyes at the situation. “Big brother, Operation Beyblade“
Without hesitation, the Death Knight swung his sword wide to give himself some space and then unclipped the tethers on the coffin, which struck the floor with a jolt. Growling out, Humphrey grasped the casket and spun, throwing it into the air.
Briefly, all eyes were on the large wooden box as it careened through the air.
A pair of unlucky demons took the brunt of it, crushed as the coffin clattered to the ground and split open in shards.
The air reverberated - shook as if suddenly under wavering pressure. Theo stood slowly and lethargically, his limbs relaxed and weak. Now in the midst of the onrushing tide of demons, a grin widened across his fanged mouth and he pushed his glasses up.
A snap of static electricty burst from around him as the chamber became awash with pitch-black darkness and crimson highlights.
"One-hundred," he hissed.
