My jaw continued to work as we walked to the side of the palace.
The news that Candlekeep had fallen was… irritating. Even if we were in the normal world, it wasn’t guaranteed that we would have been able to do anything about it, anyway. But just knowing that the Crimson Shadow was succeeding was enough to ruin my mood.
And how? We had been reducing their numbers to the point that they were struggling to assault the city - it can't be that she had found another enclave of Players to wrap around her finger to bolster her power. Not knowing was figuratively killing me.
Ren placed a hand on my shoulder, bringing me out of my thoughts. “I know you’re overthinking things, trickster. Let’s deal with one problem at a time.”
I nodded and gave her a smile. She was right, as always.
Tanya and the other two groups were close to where the Eternal Wardens used to be, just waiting for us before engaging. Not that they were incapable, but given that I was the expert on bullshit, they wanted us to catch them up before they walked into whatever nightmare had befallen the group. Hopefully something we could twist to our advantage.
Only then could I focus my ire and overwhelming abilities on erasing the Lady in Red from this world. We were getting close to being more than anyone could handle. All we needed to do was get Wolf a Guardian’s powers, and the three of us could trample any opposition to dust.
That said…
I ran my hand along the stone wall as we circled around. Warm, as expected. Not overtly evil in a demonic way - which was disappointing. Worst yet, I couldn’t feel the draw of a Guardian within the walls.
“I can’t feel it either,” Ren confirmed, her bright blues seeing what I was doing.
“Perhaps a good thing.” I shrugged and wrinkled up my face. We didn’t exactly want to be pushed right to the edge in this fight. As long as I got the killing blow, then… well, I was done with this place.
The bear sniffed at the air, before pausing and turning around. I followed his gaze to see a couple of large groups of demons standing at the top of the valley. Not approaching, just watching to see what happened. Perhaps hoping to be on the winning side.
Ren brought her rifle up and looked down the scope at them. “Nothing much to note,” she informed us. “I could give them a warning shot?”
I shook my head. “No. They know they are outclassed. Just the sight of the carnage we have caused is crippling enough for their spirits.”
The elf licked her lips, but lowered her gun. “Well, I hope they got their kneeling knees on today, because we’re about to be royalty.”
“An upgrade from princess to queen.” I grinned, even as she rolled her eyes.
We moved down the side of the palace until I stopped and looked at the plain wall beside us. Without saying anything, the rest understood my cue. Scroll appeared in my hand as Ren and Wolf flanked my sides. Roger was behind us all, and I could feel his nerves. This was the final battle, after all.
Scroll disintegrated to dust as I cast [False Entrance] on the wall ahead of us. A spiral of runes etched into the brickwork before it twisted into a circular entrance, leading into the room beyond… which appeared to be a bathroom.
The confused look of an elite demon currently seated upon a rather evil looking toilet was quickly erased by Ren’s shot. We stepped through, not wanting to be split up when the spell ended.
I looted the demon, finding mostly useless garbage at this stage. Another container called [Sealed Demonic Stash]. I had a lot of these, but as the name suggested, they couldn’t be opened. After the first week of not finding a key, I just looted them without a thought. I was sure to find a way eventually, but given my luck with random chance boxes, I paled at what further debris they’d grant me. My Inventory was already overloaded.
Light dimmed as the circle closed behind us, the four of us now trapped inside the palace. One single exit from this room. I stretched out my arms and relaxed. Felt calm, considering - but it had all been leading to this. Three weeks, give or take, of hell.
Now it was do or die, and those were simple instructions I’d follow to the letter, with no complaints.
We burst out of the bathroom, emerging into what looked like servant quarters. Clusters of bunk beds, drawers, and basic furniture, all with a hint of evil to them. No demons present - which made sense considering the situation. All hands were up and ready to serve and protect the king.
For as good as that would do them.
Roger had been able to tell us that the king himself was a powerful magic user, as well as pretty formidable in melee. As we strode across the dorms to the exit, we downed the rest of our potions, reapplying buffs that had fallen off and using the more powerful things we had stockpiled. Increasing our damage and defenses to a degree that would make us sickeningly overpowered in the above world.
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“Wait.” Ren put her hand on me, and I turned to see her eyes were swirls of green energy. “They have a barrier over this doorway, and demons waiting on the other side.”
“They know we’re here?” My questions came out flat - as we hadn’t been exactly covert in our approach, and the king must have some manner of tracking.
“Perhaps. I can see which one is putting up the barrier.” Her tongue ran across her teeth.
I smiled. “Care to ask them to stop, then?”
The elf nodded, her eyes still that odd color - some manner of magic detect, I imagined. Rifle went up, and she fired a shot that exploded through the wall, chunks of the stone dropping to the floor.
Without waiting for the confirmation, I burst through the doorway. They’d definitely know we were coming with a bullet making the first appearance, and I didn’t want them to have a moment to reposition or prepare.
I emerged into a lobby. Wide and with a tall ceiling, decorated with engravings and reliefs depicting demons and hellish acts being done to naked humans. All rather grandiose, if not a little macabre.
Large demon to the immediate left was already toppling over, half of his head missing. A second towering monster to the right swung down at me with a mace as thick as a tree. These were some of the elite royal guard - fifteen feet tall and overtly muscled. Even the spell casters—of which there were three others in this room—weren’t wearing the traditional robes you’d expect.
The weapon struck the floor where I had been standing, flattening my ace and cracking the square tiles. From beside him, the cannon I was standing upon fired a spear through the side of his leg. As the demon hunched over to grasp at the wound, my two magic cards spun in the air like a saw to slash through his throat.
A gust of wind blew past me as Wolf tore down the chamber to reach the casters at the other end. We’d found three different speed boosting consumables he could stack with his charge and other skills. It turned him into a blur, if only for a few seconds. My hand raised to use the [Silence Area Scroll] to see how they liked being prevented from using their skills.
Turned out, they didn’t like it at all. Third one barely had a chance to switch to his a melee weapon before Wolf was upon him - the first gored and the second Ren had erased.
There were wide doors to our left, up a handful of stairs. Ornate. Clearly led to the throne room itself. Before we could consider this option, the doorway at the end near Wolf swung open, and demons poured forth. Remnants of the army that had retreated or had been held in reserve.
Little did they know what they were in for.
Doors were terrible chokepoints. A radiant bullet slammed the first three through the opening before golden lightning crackled out through maybe a dozen more. Still standing atop my cannon, I sent my demonic ace over the heads of the fallen and into whatever room was beyond.
I activated three [Lightning Storm Scroll]s in a row, the resulting static in the air tangible, as a wave of burned flesh smell washed back through. I switched places and landed amongst the confused throng of dead and dying demons. First card I pulled was critical, which exploded most of the chest of one demon. Second card was also a critical.
Mundane cards circled me like a hurricane, magic power tapping into them just as they were about to touch a demon. I became a tornado of violence, my sphere of influence expanding until the cards touched the walls.
I clapped my hands, and they all fell to dust, leaving no demon standing. Two panicked faced looked in from the door out of here, more in reserve losing their spirit.
“If you give me five minutes, I’ll be the new king and I won’t kill you.” I smiled and tilted my head. “Or step inside and join your brethren in oblivion.”
Other than giving me a grimace, the two faces did little else other than sink away from view. A good enough answer as any.
I stepped back into the lobby to find the others waiting for me. Roger had all but accepted he was mostly an observer at this point. Usually he would get stronger alongside me, but since I wasn’t meant to be in hell, the System had been skipping on conventional norms for a while.
“Ready to entertain royalty?” Ren asked, giving me a soft smile as I joined them once more.
“Something something greatest show ever,” I murmured, leaning forward to give her a brief kiss.
“I definitely miss normal bullshit.” She sighed and rested her head on me. “Rather than hell bullshit. I honestly do hope that we can escape here and just be goofy magicians again.”
Although ‘goofy’ wasn’t how I’d describe our dazzling feats, I was on the same page. For the most part, we had just been killers here. There wasn’t much point trying to wow the demons with tricks, and after a few days we were just under constant exhaustion, anyway. I wiped the saliva running down my mouth as I imagined a soft, clean bed.
“I miss the sunshine,” Wolf said. His amber eyes were focused on the large doors before us. “Fresh running water. The rest of our friends.”
We were now a group of fifteen once we returned. Not quite enough to retake a city, maybe - but I felt as though the three of us counted as a few extra bodies when it came to power levels. One quick detour to see what happened to the Eternal Wardens—and if they left behind any useful information about Guardians—and then we’d head toward Candlekeep.
Before going against the demon king, I had one last look at my equipment and stats. It had been a while as I had mostly tried to ignore the System bullshit down here, just as the System tried to ignore us.
Head: [Headband of Woe] [+5% Damage per 5% Mana used for a spell]
Shoulders: [Hellborne Spaulders] [+8 Int, +2 Dex]
Back: [Skinned Horror] [+5 Int, +3 Dex, +3 Luck]
Chest: [Hellfire Wrappings] [+7 Int, +10% Magic Damage]
Arms: [Arcane Guards+] [+5 Int, +5 Wis, +10% Mana, (+3 Int)]
Hands: [Tricksters Gloves+] [+8 Int, +5 Dex, (+3 Int)]
Belt: [Compounding Arcane Belt] [+10% Int]
Legs: [Brilliant Studded Leathers] [+5% Defense, +5 Int, +10% Mana]
Feet: [Dire Boots+] [+6 Dex, +10% Move Speed, (+3 Int)]
My jewelry and other accessories gave another +20 Int, +5 Luck, +25% Magic Damage, and +30% Mana.
Stats sheet didn’t show the effects of potions or scrolls, but even the base numbers surprised me, after so long without checking.
[Stats]
Strength - 12 (12)
Constitution - 13 (13)
Agility - 12 (12)
Dexterity - 46 (30 + 16)
Intelligence - 101 (30 + 62 + 9)
Wisdom - 17 (12 + 5)
Luck - 29 (21 + 8)