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Chapter 45

The voice appeared in my ear as I stared at the yawning entrance to the cave.

“So, what are we doing today, kiddo? My, but that’s a big ominous-looking cave… wait… what are you up to?”

I said, “Leveling. Like a boss.”

The voice said, “Wait, where are we? Is this… are we… what in the name of Caesar’s ghost do you think you’re doing?”

The being that began to wrestle its way out of the cave was easily the largest fiend I had ever seen. The huge, clawed paws loomed out of the opening and gripped the edges of the entrance. The rocks and earth that composed the cave mouth shook and crumbled under the force of those paws pulling the rest of the thing out of the cave.

The scale of the creature made me question my decision-making process. The hulking head and torso squeezed their way out of the cave, crushing and distorting the sides of the cave entrance. I had to remind myself that size did not directly correspond to deadliness. This thing was much, much bigger than the fiend I had battled in the arena alongside Morningstar. But it was a Class 9. That meant it was roughly equivalent to a level 18 Griidlord. Morningstar was far beyond level 18 and had said himself that he would have struggled to defeat the creature in the arena on his own. It stood to reason then that this monster was less powerful than the arena fiend.

This thought process brought me little comfort as the titanic being turned its head toward me. It was nearly jet black in color. Its torso was long and bulky, its belly dragged on the ground as it moved. Its head was long, the jaws disproportionately gigantic even when compared to its body. It looked altogether like a drawing of a dragon, brought to life without wings and with an unbelievably oversized mouth.

The voice spoke, “Kiddo… you know I believe in you, I’ve told you that before, right? I feel a compulsion to talk very carefully and very clearly to you right now. You have an odd tendency of pointing yourself at things and finding yourself unable to turn away. I’m afraid if I spook you I’ll just send you galloping at that thing. So, nice and slow, are we paying full attention? Yes? No? Maybe? You need to turn your ass around and get out of here. Do you know who that is?”

I kept my eyes fixed on the creature. It was less than a hundred yards from me, and the monstrous head at the end of the long, thick neck was pointed at me. But it wasn’t moving, or charging. It was regarding me with sleepy interest.

I said, “It’s Doom. A Class 9 fiend. I know it’s a bit strong for me, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. Imagine the levels I can gain from beating it.”

The voice said, “Imagine the levels you’ll lose if it fucking eats you.”

I tried to remain calm, to sound easy and aloof. “What’s happened to you? You were all about me growing as fast as I could and as high as I can.”

The voice said, “Yeah! Growing! You won’t do much growing while it digests you.”

I said, “Are you losing faith in me… Enki?”

“Oh yeah… we didn’t talk about that little detail yet, did we? You know what, I don’t know what I was thinking. Go on up there and sock it to that oversized teenage turtle.”

I said, “That’s the plan.”

Enki said, “And yet you’re not moving. Having second thoughts? Or should I say, having first thoughts? Because coming out here to fight this thing alone strongly suggests you haven’t been thinking.”

The demon cocked its head. It had been standing there, languid and inactive, just observing me. There was a sudden rippling of light, flashes of dull energy peeking out from between the scales, its eyes suddenly beginning to glow, first faintly and then brighter.

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Enki spoke urgently, “It’s time to be moving now! Fucking jump or something!”

I moved as much on instinct as on Enki’s urging. I grabbed POWER, felt the energy course through me, and leapt to the side. As I did, Doom opened its mouth and a pillar of fire shot forth. The flames didn’t gout and spread as they would from a normal source. Instead, the fire came in a tight, straight-lined beam. The beam was greater than six feet in diameter. I felt the heat of it on my back as I leapt out of the way. The fire and energy struck the ground where I had been standing, exploding the earth. As I rolled and came back to my feet, I felt little clinking impacts on my armor. At first, I thought they were pebbles or bits of dirt, but as I glanced down, I could see that I was being struck by tiny crystals.

Enki said, “Yeah, that would be glass. Doom over there just hit the ground with enough heat to melt the silica in the soil and turn it into glass. How do you think your little level 16 suit is going to hold up to that?”

But I was focused, determined. Clothed in the embrace of POWER, I raced forward. Doom seemed to be gasping as it refilled its lungs.

I said, “I won’t need to test how my suit holds up to it if I take its head off.”

My SPEED was terrific. I felt like I was skating along the surface over the ground instead of running. The hundred yards of distance collapsed in heartbeats. Doom turned its head and lashed out for me with that gigantic maw. I leaped over it. The jaws smashed into the earth, making a crater, making the hilltop shake.

I landed easily on Doom’s back. I ran the length of it easily, turning so that I was approaching the fiend’s head from behind. My footing became uneven as the enormous skull and neck began to ponderously rise. I wobbled slightly, but driven by the SPEED of POWER, I made it to my goal—the point where the neck narrowed beneath the skull.

My CUT must have seemed like fireworks to Olaf and the Burghsmen from where they watched. I was exhilarated myself by the surging strength that ran from me through the blade. I hacked deep into Doom’s neck; black, stinking blood, like pureed sewage, spurted out by the gallon. The creature shook and convulsed from the wound. I swung again, my CUT deepening and widening the wound before the spasms of the creature sent me tumbling to the ground.

I landed on my feet and danced back to avoid being crushed under a monstrous paw. I took a moment to look up at Doom’s face, at the man-sized wound I had inflicted. I was waiting to see if I needed to attack again. That damage was surely lethal.

But Doom just turned its head, losing concern for the wound. I met those terrible dark eyes and felt a reflection in them. I didn’t want to shy away; I wanted to charge to meet that gaze.

But the corner of my vision showed me something of very great concern. The wound had stopped bleeding. The edges of the wound were melting, flowing together, knitting closed.

“The fuck?” I breathed. I leapt back from another probing paw, my blade flashing to hack at it as it passed. My CUT passed through the scales easily enough, tendons snapping in there, and the clawed fingers went lax as I disconnected them from the muscular structure that gave them life.

Again, the wounds started to close. I felt the first hint of panic edging at me then.

The scales shimmered, the light peaked from them, the eyes of Doom blazed bright.

“Shit!” I heard my voice as I tore away from where I’d been standing. Heat of flame and apocalypse reigned again. A tree a few yards away exploded into flames at the heat of the firebeam. Had I not been wearing the suit, I was sure my clothes would have exploded the same way.

Enki said, “You see why this was a bad idea now, don’t you?”

I dashed around to the side of the being. Doom was huge but very slow. Its head swiveled to follow me, but barely fast enough to keep track of me. I darted in under its front and leapt. AGILITY and SPEED put me under its head easily, and I thrust up hard with my sword. I aimed to pierce the brain through the bottom of the skull.

Doom reacted, at first, as though I had achieved my goal. It shuddered and twisted and even seemed to grow vaguely weak.

But the weakness passed in a heartbeat, like an eye blinking. The claws were churning the earth around me, the gaping maw snapping out to take hold of me.

Enki said, “See? It’s time to skedaddle, don’t you think?”

I said, “I can beat it. Or at least I can fight it without risking myself so much.”

Enki said, “One touch of those claws, and you’ll be Tiberius Bloodpuddle. Besides, the fucker can heal as fast as you cut him. What do you think will run out first—his murderous energy or your POWER?”

Enki was right. Without POWER, Doom wouldn’t feel nearly as slow. And it would only take one smash from those paws, one bite from the jaws, or one brush with that firebeam to put me out of action.

I raced up the slope past Doom, aiming for the outcropping of rocks that surrounded the cave mouth. I had no sense of how much POWER I had used up, but I knew that if I needed time for it to recharge, being near hard cover could give me the moments I would need to survive the assault.