Chapter 68
“Surprised you’d show your face again after what happened the last time we saw you,” Elm said as the groups turned to confront each other. SoulDemon’s party was the same it had always been. James saw Crikey, the trapper, SpinToWin, their tank, BurningJazzHands, who he figured had cast the magical spell, and CheapHealz. During the Siege event, James had found he liked those four. SoulDemon was quite literally the only one he didn’t. Every interaction he’d ever seen with SoulDemon just drove home how self-centered, arrogant, and dickish the try-hard was.
For all those flaws though, there was one thing James knew he had to concede to the man. And that was his obvious skill. Even now, as James looked at him, he couldn’t help but feel his eyes go wide, as a modicum of respect flickered. SoulDemon was over level 100.
“I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to get some extra grinding in before the Dungeon War starts,” SoulDemon said, his arms crossed. The devilkin tattoo patterns glowed with dark light on his flesh, simmering like embers. “To show you the monster you’ve brought down upon yourself for your sins against me.”
“If it’s a fight you’re looking for,” Z stepped forward, “you know as well as I do that, we can’t fight each other. Right now, you’re just a guest in our dungeon, meaning no PvP.”
SoulDemon’s eye twitched. “I’m aware,” the man glowered at Z, “though you and I both know if I wanted to, nothing is stopping me from getting in the way and causing your party to wipe in other ways.”
“If you just wanted to confirm how much of a dick you are, yeah, you could do that.” Oak said. James knew SoulDemon wasn’t bluffing. The forums had plenty of instances of people finding…unique ways around the no PvP rules when it came to people using the Dungeon Gates to visit other dungeons. One of which involved drawing aggro from a massive number of mobs, and then leading the horde to other parties, forcing them to get caught in the onslaught. Another, involved using nonlethal traps or AOE spells that didn’t specifically target friends or foes, to hinder other players and get them wiped.
And of course… there was the ‘tie them up and drop them from a height’ tactic that Steve and the others had joked about using on SoulDemon during the Siege Event, when the asshole had nearly caused the event to fail for everyone. If there was a will… there was a way. Every gamer, and every griefer, knew that.
“Lucky for all of you,” SoulDemon said, his lip curled to reveal his fangs, “I’m not so petty or underhanded as you are. I’m giving you the chance to run this floor with me and my party. My level alone should tell you that I’m a valuable asset. And I really am only here to flaunt my greatness to you, as an open challenge for when the Dungeon War starts tomorrow. I’m here to show you my power, so you will know fear the next five days, always watching your backs, knowing that I’m hunting you. I’m here,” he drew his blades, “to show you the very reaper that will be your downfall.”
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“Edgelord much?” Olivia said under her breath. In the massive hotel lobby though, the words echoed, and everyone heard her. SoulDemon shot her a glare filled with enough intensity that the healer instinctively took a step backwards. Behind him though, James saw his own party trying not to smirk. He knew they were tired of his actions, and yet, here they were, still supporting him. Try as he might, James just couldn’t understand their full dynamic. Though, he supposed, it seemed SoulDemon had forgiven them for their ‘betrayal’, as he had called it.
“Standing around throwing out insults is just wasting time,” Crikey spoke up. He was level 98. “Can we all just play nice? I’m intrigued to see what this floor is going to be, and I know everyone here would rather be killing dungeon mobs, gaining gear, and leveling up. Can’t we just let bygones be bygones?”
“You, you did hear what your boy SoulDemon just said, right?” Med Ic said, glancing from Crikey, to SoulDemon. “He’s literally here just to posture.”
Crikey shrugged, “Okay, well most of us are here to play the game.” He looked at SoulDemon, who seemed to refuse to even acknowledge him, “whatever personal beef Soul has, that’s not for us to worry about.”
So, maybe they hadn’t made up.
“How did you find us, anyways?” Z asked, looking the party over. “You’re timing seems a bit too… exact, to be an accident.”
SoulDemon let out a dark chuckle. He looked at Z as if he’d just asked the dumbest question in the world. “If you can’t figure that out, you really aren’t as good a gamer as you claim to be.”
Z started to say something, glanced around, and then let out a heavy sigh, facepalming as he did. “You’re stream sniping.” He said after a moment. “Are you really that obsessed with us?”
“It’s not an obsession.” SoulDemon growled. “Now stop wasting my time.” He looked at everyone and looked around the lobby. “Talk is cheap. We’ll determine who’s the better gamer by action alone. Now, don’t make me repeat myself again. You are all going to party with us, and take this floor down under my lead, or,” his tone was dark, “or I’ll see to it your full party wipes, and you’re booted from your own dungeon.” There was no doubt in James’s mind, from SoulDemon’s words and his body language, that he was fully prepared to grief everyone there. And from the way his own party looked hesitantly at each other, they wouldn’t stand in his way. They may not like what he was doing, they may have had a falling out the last time they were in the Random Dungeon, but it was clear that right here, right now, they were going to support SoulDemon, no matter how shitty he decided to be.
“Guess we’ve no choice,” Z smiled at SoulDemon, holding out a hand as he walked towards the man. “No hard feelings, eh, party leader?”