Her body crumpled and dropped to the ground as if her strings were cut and folded in on itself. Monika clutched her chest before keeling over onto her side.
The exposed body trembled, eyes dazed, breaths hazed, and soot-streaked skin grazed against the razed floor.
Blood and vomit gurgled in and dribbled from her charred lips.
The burns ignited every nerve and fiber in her. Monika began to thrash as it seared and ripped through. Her fingers clawed beneath to peel away the skin and leave bloody gouges with every itch.
Her legs kicked out violently while her muscles spasmed uncontrollably—breaths coming in choking gasps in a twisted addition to cuts and bruises covering her.
Regeneration knitted her charred flesh back together. Newer layers of skin brought a new wave of agony washing over her. Monika curled. She shuddered with each sob as tears mingled with each substance on her face. Monika convulsed. Her body jerked violently as the pain reached even newer heights.
The cycle of destruction and regeneration was way worse than the initial burns.
Hel watched her stupefied. Monika was all smiles and jokes a moment ago. Now, she was squirming on the ground like the worms surrounding them.
Monika suddenly sprang up. “I haven’t been grilled before either,” she said calmly. Mania spread across her face as she gazed at Hel with bloodshot eyes and heavy breaths. “Let’s continue completing the achievements or whatever this thing is.” She spat a tooth.
Hel adjusted his glasses to mask his astonishment. “We should take a rest. Perhaps you should create a potion or two to amplify the healing,” he urged.
Monika shook her head. “That’d be a waste,” She clenched her chest to calm her throbbing heart. “Do you know what the two most valuable resources are?”
“Time and money,” she said.
“Time is the currency of life while money is its engine.” She coughed another mouthful of blood. “But passive money is as good as no money. We should indeed invest these points somewhere,” she whispered.
“Inventory.”
—Inventory—
|470 LS| |70 CP|
Talisman of Trickery |D|
Lash of Passion |D|
Agility Potion |E|
Strength Potion |E|
“What do you think, Hel?” she inquired.
Hel lowered his glasses. “Where did you get this ominous lash?”
“It came in a complect with you,” she churned. “Perhaps because you are into this stuff?”
Hel’s face reddened. “No way!” he exclaimed.
So you are…
Disappointment flashed over Monika’s face. “So?”
“Ehm!” Hel coughed awkwardly. “We have enough CP to summon another rank two subordinate for you,” he pondered aloud. “It costs precisely 70 CP.”
“Do you think we should?” Monika glanced at him absent-mindedly.
Hel shook his head after pondering for a while more. “Well, not really. I think we should invest in armor and weaponry for you.” He brought his hand to his chin. “Since we can’t possibly craft a good relic with these resources.”
“That’s the most reasonable option.” Monika nodded. “But Hel, before the spending, I need to know—”
“Gag… Blah…” Her voice choked off as her body convulsed. She gurgled as she vomited mid-speech. Each attempt to speak was cut short by the retching.
Hel shifted his gaze away in repulsion. “Take your time.”
“For fuck’s sake— blugh…” Bile rose in her throat until she could no longer hold it back and threw up. Again.
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“So,” she wiped at the mess on her cheeks. Monika let her arm fall limply to her side. Her eyes closed briefly as she tried to gather her strength. “How do you gain strength? What I mean is SP.”
Hel side-glanced at her with his face contours twitching. “I have an idea,” his nose wrinkled in disgust. “In this world, there are two types of beings—Seekers and Keepers.”
“Keepers increase their strength by enhancing their runes. Seekers, on the other hand, have souls instead of runes embedded into their hearts.”
“Keepers have runes and Seekers souls?” she asked.
“Correct,” he clarified. “They both gain strength by cultivating their Spirit with lifestones,” he said. “But what sets them apart is their way of gaining Karma,” Hel pointed at her heart. “Keepers obtain Karma by slaughter and crystals. Seekers attain Karma by completing the missions of their Gods.”
“Hold on a minute,” Monika raised her hand. “I only asked about SP. Crystals? Missions? Gods? I’d rather you explain it slowly and steadily, mate.”
“Well, alright…” Hel adjusted his glasses. “I’ll start by explaining what the Seekers are first,” he pointed his finger upward.
“Seekers predominantly reside on the surface. There are thirteen Gods and, correspondingly, thirteen empires and thirteen orthodox church organizations there.”
Hel cleared his throat. “Those Gods are technically Demon Lords, but they tend to antagonize all the other demons and Demon Lords. Oh, demons are the keepers with human intelligence, while monsters are the unintelligent keepers.”
“Who are they? The Gods?” Monika asked. I wonder if He’s among them. I have many questions to ask Him.
“You don’t really need to know this, but well—
Demon Lord of Nonexistence Sona, with the authority over Mysteries,
Demon Lord of Space Jumeirah, with the authority over Dimension,
Demon Lord of Detachment Zhuang, with the authority over Mind,
Demon Lord of Eternity Duzyalan, with the authority over Faith,
Demon Lord of Justice Everly, with the authority over Fate,
Demon Lord of Order Junia, with the authority over Vow,
Demon Lord of Conquer Set, with the authority over War,
Demon Lord of Evolution Ilfidar, with the authority over Growth,
Demon Lord of Reform Kalindra, with the authority over Spirit,
Demon Lord of Peace Verdenant, with the authority over Hazard,
Demon Lord of Beauty Freya, with the authority over Love,
Demon Lord of Balance Ren, with the authority over Iteration,
Finally,
Demon Lord of Truth Mir, with the authority over Life.” he finally finished the barrage.
“So, if we manage to crawl to the surface, we’re going to be in the territory of one of those Gods, right?” Monika inquired as her bloodied scalp closed with skin.
“Well, yeah… We’ll get hunted no matter where we are,” Hel nodded while brushing his hand past his tousled hair. “Even if we delve deeper into the labyrinth and reach The Abyss, it will only get worse. Even those with the rank of 3 are not exempt from danger there. The truly safest place is Hell, but that place is below The Abyss, so…”
“We’re fucked,” Monika finished his sentence. “But we need to get out of our current predicament first before thinking of the future,” she said. “Continue.”
Hel nodded. “Your situation is really bizarre. You have a core in your heart and are an archdemon, making you a keeper or, more specifically, a dungeon master. But you are also a human and have a soul, making you a Seeker. A variable, per se.”
He glanced at the corpses scattered around. “You should try absorbing their Karma. I’m not sure whether it’s going to work.”
“So I’ll get SP by upgrading my Karma?”
“You should,” Hel said as he walked toward Degloth’s corpse. “As to how to obtain CP, I honestly have no idea.”
Monika followed Hel as they approached Degloth. She could swear the bastard had a smile on his ‘face’ despite passing out.
The golden strings weaved a web around the corpse. Hel felt the strings slice through muscle and guide unerringly toward the worm's massive heart. They punctured the worm's heart and drew it toward him with the strings wrapping around it.
Hel brought the slick heart closer. The bright strings retracted back into his fingers. He held it aloft. The strings shimmered briefly before fading away. “Try doing the same thing you did with a lifestone. Clasp your hand around the heart. The feeling will be different, but you should get the gist of it. You’re an archdemon, after all.”
Monika didn’t waste any time as she pressed her hand against the heart. She closed her eyes to be slowly filled with energy. This energy was a dark and chaotic storm that shook her to her core. It was contrary to the spiritual energy that invigorated her with a strong dose of ‘caffeine’ instead.
Karma |F| |1/100|
The edges of her sight dimmed as an oppressive darkness crept in. Her sight blackened for a heart-stopping moment. Completely. She felt as if she were standing on the brink of the precipice of the abyss. The void swallowed her whole.
Karma |F| |4/100|
The energy seemed to claw and shake at her sanity. It was as if tens of voices were screaming inside her head. Disjointed images flashed rapidly before her eyes. Her mind fragmented and shattered.
Karma |F| |12/100|
The surge suddenly stopped. Monika’s eyes shot open as she gazed at her hand. There, the heart began to tremble under her touch. Its color faded and shifted from a dark crimson to an ashen gray. Veins shriveled and blackened. The life force within them dissipated.
Monika could feel the texture becoming brittle and fragile. She watched as the heart imploded upon itself with pieces of it flaking away and disintegrating into dust-like particles that floated away on a seamless breeze like fractures in delicate porcelain. Crumbling, a single rank 1 rune of sin remained in its place.
“How was it?”