“Just like that?!”

“I told you, my people hate humans, and your appearance is particularly…” He raised his eyes to the ceiling, thoughtful. “How can I say this? Disgusting! That’s the word.”

“What the fuck do you mean?” I was surprisingly more annoyed by his comment than I thought I’d be. Damn, I knew I wasn’t an Instagram model, but I had a lean build and had been praised for my looks more than once. I wasn’t ugly, let alone disgusting.

“Hey, calm down. We have a very strict way of measuring if someone is pleasing to the eye. If you aren’t as strong as a dragon and as muscular as an ogre, you’re probably never breeding.”

“There are dragons on your planet?”

“Of course. They are mighty creatures and also our makers.”

Every word that exited the devil’s mouth was more absurd than the last, but I couldn’t let myself get carried away. I shook my head, shoved my questions aside, and returned to the topic.

“So, one of you challenged me to a duel to the death, but I can just deny it, can’t I?”

I wasn’t particularly afraid of fighting, but I had learnt the hard way that the wisest choice was always to avoid conflict if possible—especially a freaking duel to the death.

“No, you can’t. Once the words are spoken, your fate is tied to your opponent’s. We take the duel tradition very seriously.”

“And the outcome is always death?” I regained my calm, grabbed another cup of juice, and started drinking it slowly, ideas flooding my mind.

“You can always spare your foe’s life. That grants you a request, and the defeated can either accept it and live or deny it and die.”

“You seem like very nice folks to be around.”

“Is that irony?” The demon smirked. “That’s very funny, Zach. We don’t do that much back home.”

“I can see that,” I commented, getting up and moving to the stairs. “I guess if I don’t find him, I’ll never have to duel, right?”

“Right. Do you mind if I join you?”

I turned to face him just as I reached the first step. The demon had risen, and for the first time, I noticed how tall he was. His wounds had closed, and his tunic was pristine again.

“Are you sure? I’ve had my fair share of betrayals already. Besides, you wouldn’t want to hang around with someone as ‘disgusting’ as me.”

“Nonsense. My friends are all horrific like you.” He pointed it out nonchalantly, moving toward me with quick steps. “I have a high affinity for magical illusions and fire magic, and I guess you have some close-combat skills since you dealt with that flying goblin so easily. It would be wise for us to stick together.”

“Yeah, I think so.” I let my shoulders drop, releasing all the tension from the past hours. Strangely enough, I felt far safer around this demon than I ever did with Max and Mila. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” He smiled and moved one step closer. Placing a hand over his heart, he closed it into a fist and spoke solemnly. “My heart opens to you. My soul tightens the noose of our alliance. The dragons in the sky testify to the truth of my words as I, Elk’Marir, vow to a nonviolent alliance with Zach, the human.”

He extended his closed fist toward me, and I stared at it, unsure what to do.

“Okay…” I began. He raised his eyebrows and pointed at his fist. I mimicked his gesture, letting my fist touch his. “What do I say?”

“Repeat after me. I, Zach, the human.”

“I, Zach.”

He waited for me to add ‘the human’, and when I didn’t, he continued—slightly annoyed but still serious.

“I, Zach, accept and vow to a nonviolent alliance with Elk’Marir. The dragons in the sky seal this deal in truth and respect.”

I repeated the words exactly as he said them, and the devil smiled widely.

“Now, you can rest assured that unless you explicitly say you want to part ways, we are friends to the death.”

“I just hope there’s no duel involved in this.”

“Nonsense!” Elk’Marir patted my shoulder—with more strength than I expected—and walked past me, climbing the stairs toward the wall. When he touched the rock, a rectangle of light appeared and slowly opened, revealing the tunnels beyond.

“Hey, I have one question,” I started, and he turned to me. “I’ve been thinking about how many times I can use my spells, and I saw you casting a lot of illusions. Do you think there’s no limit to it?”

This question had been on my mind for a while, and there was no better time to ask.

“There’s definitely a limit. When I used them to escape, I was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. Nothing told me what the limit was—I think we have to figure it out ourselves. But don’t overuse it.”

The devil turned back to me and waved for me to follow, leaving me no room to ask more.

“C’mon, Zach. The tunnel is clear.”

A smile crept onto my face as I watched Elk’Marir and thought of Leo back home. He’d laugh his ass off seeing me make friends with a devil and swearing an oath like this.

I hope you’re well, Leo. And if you’re not, I’ll make sure you will be after I win this, I promised as I climbed the stairs.

“Elk! Wait!” I called as he disappeared into the corridor.

“I’m here.” His voice came from my right, and when I crossed the doorway, I realized we were back in the exact spot where we had found him earlier.

“See anything?” I asked, scanning both ends of the corridor. A part of me suspected Max and Mila were lurking in a corner, but there was nowhere to hide.

“It looks clear. Come.” He waved again, summoning his magical staff and heading in the opposite direction from where I had come—the same way the goblins had fled and the only path Max and Mila could have taken.

“Do you know where you’re going?”

“Yes, Zach. We’re going to the entrance to the second floor. It’s not far.” He smiled over his shoulder and resumed his walk. He didn’t seem to be trying to outpace me; it was just his physiology that made him naturally faster.

I quickened my steps and caught up with him.

“Are you sure?” I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder to ease his rhythm. He seemed to notice the difference in our pace and slowed down.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Yeah. I found it, but there were too many goblins chasing me. I had to flee back to the Safe Room, but before I could enter… you know what happened.”

“I see. Lead the way, then.” I nodded, and Elk started walking again, this time slower. Even so, I still had to push myself to keep up. If we traveled together longer, I’d need to put some points into speed.

“This way,” he muttered more to himself than to me and kept walking.

I kept my eyes and ears open as we moved through the tunnels, but I heard nothing. If monsters were being drawn to the Safe Room, they had probably found other enemies along the way.

Elk kept one hand on the right wall the entire time, as if searching for something with his palm. After a few minutes of silent, tense walking, he finally stopped.

“Here.”

I followed his gaze and watched his hand sink into the wall. Upon closer inspection, I realized it wasn’t a wall at all—it was one of Elk’s illusions. It was as if I were looking at a strange, ethereal curtain made of rock. He pressed his hand down on the fake wall, and it vanished like steam on a hot pan.

“Be careful. I made this to hide from three—”

His words died on his tongue as three pairs of red eyes shot toward us with immense speed. The sound of their boots stomping against the ground froze Elk in place. I heard something cutting through the air and shoved Elk violently to the side.

A dagger flew past where the demon had been a second ago, and the silhouettes of the creatures finally became clear.

They were goblins, but something was different about them. There was a glint of intelligence I hadn’t noticed before. Besides that, they were bigger—not as tall as me and certainly not as as Elk, but the size of a human teenager. They were also far better armored than the previous goblins.

When I summoned my weapons, they stopped in their tracks. The middle one was unarmed, though its chest, legs, and arms were heavily armored. The other two carried daggers and wore lighter armor.

I raised my wand, summoning a lightning strike from deep within my bones, and the crystal at its tip glowed in response. A second later, a bolt of light erupted from the wand, flying fast toward the middle goblin.

They were expecting it. As soon as my hand outstretched to conjure the spell, they rolled out of its path.

Thunder echoed through the corridors as the creatures picked themselves up, grinning smugly. They seemed proud of their ability to dodge the spell.

However, they didn’t see the fireball coming.

Elk’s magic struck the goblin on the left square in the face, burning off its eyebrows and sparse hair. It let out a desperate shriek, dropping its dagger to the ground, while the other two moved away from it.

I seized the moment, taking advantage of the distraction. I used the silent steps of my basic stealth skill and dashed toward the middle goblin—the strongest of the three.

My dagger found its mark on the creature’s neck. I held it firmly as its eyes bulged with surprise and fear.

The air rippled beside me, and I realized the third goblin was attacking. I spun around, using the weight of the second goblin as a shield, and when the dagger descended, it struck the wounded goblin instead.

As the assailant struggled to free its blade from the thick armor, I raised my wand again and fired a lightning strike directly at its face.

The spell discharged from my weapon with such force that I was hurled against the opposite wall. The resulting thunderclap was so loud that my ears rang.

I didn’t need to look to know I had just activated a critical strike.

Ding!

Congratulations! You have slain Hobgoblin level F9.

Congratulations! You have slain Hobgoblin level F9.

Where’s the notification for the third one? As I slowly got up, my question was answered.

The stronger goblin, which should have been dead, rose with fury in its eyes. It had entered the same murderous trance I had encountered before. Its burning gaze was fixated on me.

“Bring it on…” I muttered, gripping my wand and dagger tightly.

The creature lunged at me, and my vision blurred.

I felt something leave my body—almost as if a piece of me had been torn away. It didn’t hurt, but it felt bizarre. Smoke filled my vision, and a second later, the creature was inches away from me.

Then I understood.

An illusion had just been created from my body’s mold.

The illusion stepped forward, and the hobgoblin leaped to tackle it. Its body passed through the illusion, like a cartoon character hitting a painted tunnel, and it fell face-first onto the ground in front of me.

I wasted no time.

My dagger plunged into the creature’s neck again, and this time I slit from one side to the other. It never got up.

Ding!

Congratulations! You have slain Hobgoblin level F6.

Congratulations! You have earned a new Shard. Common - Fire Serpent.

Congratulations! Zach Walker, you earned the title "Bring it On," the first to kill an overleveled creature.

Upon facing a creature with at least one level above yours, or your party’s level, you’ll receive a boost of +1 in all stats.

Congratulations! Elk’Marir, you earned the title "Bring it On," the first to kill an overleveled creature.

Upon facing a creature with at least one level above yours, or the mean level of your party, you’ll receive a boost of +1 in all stats.

Congratulations! Your Soul Core upgraded.

Calculating…

General Rank upgraded.

Constitution upgraded.

Magic upgraded.

Mana upgraded.

Speed upgraded.

Strength Upgraded.

New stats:

Subject: Zach Walker.

Race: Human (Earth)

Class: Mage, Rogue.

Merged Class: Undergoing calculations.

General Rank: F7

Constitution F8

Magic F5

Mana F6

Speed F4

Strength F6

Damn, those were a lot of new stats. The fact that the creature was over my level had granted me an immense bonus of stats and I could only imagine that Elk had just read a similar message.

I caught my breath as Elk slowly approached me.

“Sorry about the illusion. I thought it was the wisest choice.”

“You made a good call. Were there more of them?” I asked. Seeing the relief in his eyes, I already knew the answer.

“Just those three. The entrance is near. Let’s go.” He started moving, eager to leave the corridors and the prospect of more hobgoblins behind, but I grabbed his arm.

“I have something for you.” I summoned the shard and handed it to him. “You have a fire affinity, don’t you? You’ll make better use of this.”

“Are you sure? I think you can still use it with your magic weapon.”

“I’m sure. If you find something I can use, you can hand it to me. Sound fair?”

“That’s fair.” Elk stretched out his hand toward me. I reached for his palm, but he grabbed my forearm near the elbow and shook it.

Okay, that’s different, but at least it’s not awkward, I thought as we continued through the tunnels.

It didn’t take long for him to point to a staircase leading to another blank wall, similar to the one in the Safe Room.

He started climbing, and I followed close behind. There was nothing remarkable about the place—just a narrow corridor leading upward. I was thankful my claustrophobia was under control at that moment.

As soon as we reached the top of the stairs, the rectangular door appeared again, and a flood of messages filled my vision.

Names from Earth, demonkind, and elves appeared in a stream, accompanied by different congratulatory messages. They all said something similar: the players had reached the second floor.

Part of me had hoped we were the first, but it became clear the thatthose who arrived first earned a knowledge advantage.

Elk glanced over his shoulder, worry etched on his face, but he kept walking until he passed through the doorway.

The tunnels on this floor looked just like those on the first—nothing noteworthy.

Until the club slammed into the back of Elk’s head.

Massive red arms emerged from the shadows, wielding the crude weapon that instantly dropped him. I scanned my surroundings and saw a second club flying toward my face.

I was quick enough to dodge and roll to the ground, but as I rose, two strong hands grabbed my arms and held me in a crushing embrace.

“Human…” A voice called from the shadows ahead, and I didn’t need to see the speaker to know it was one of the demons. “My ancestors will rejoice in the heavens when I’m done with you.”

From the shadows emerged a massive devilman. He wasn’t as enormous as the one who had tried to kill me in the briefing room, but he was at least twice as strong as me.

Before panic could take over, an idea flashed in my mind, and I spoke the words before I could think twice.