The demon was obviously too small for that basement. Which was bad. And he was still orienting himself, which was good. The System was aware of the demon summoning, which was good too. And Bundeus decided to make an appearance, which was terrible. But he offered a quest, which was good. And alerted everyone, which was bad.
I'm not getting anywhere. Sorry, it was my brain trying to jumpstart itself and still stay in denial.
But what happened was as follows. The cultists were trying to summon a minor demon. The girl's lifeforce would be enough to bind it for a good amount of time. When I killed the cult leader and the other casters, they were added to the ritual as extra sacrifices. So the quality of the demon summoned improved. But the caster, being a wimp and a corpse, failed to assert his will upon the demon. Which meant we had a level fifty-one demon loose in the city.
Right, the part about Bundeus of all deities offering a quest. A prompt like this popped up.
> Bundeus, god of Sun, Humans, and War offers you a Quest!
>
> 1. Slay the summoned Demon Lord.
>
> Reward: 2 Perks of your choice, up to {very rare}.
>
> Bonus objective: Kill the summoners.
>
> Reward: 1 Perk of your choice, up to {very rare}.
>
> Doth thou accept thy quest? [YES] - [NO]
I selected Yes. Another prompt immediately popped up.
> You completed the bonus objective. Select a perk.
It seems the Gods assign quests but aren't omniscient. Bundeus probably didn't know the summoners were already dead, only that a Demon Lord was summoned.
"{Favored Enemy [Demons]}!" I shouted.
> You gained the Favored Enemy [Demons] (rare) perk. Treat all your combat Skills as one rank above when fighting against demons.
>
> For your selfless Choice, Bundeus, god of Sun, Humans, and War wishes to grant you the Demon Slayer (very rare) Perk. Increase the damage dealt to demons by 50%. The damage you deal to demons fails to regenerate. Do you accept it? [YES] - [NO]
I think Bundeus wasn't aware of who was questing on his behalf. Before he could figure it out, I shouted, "Yes!"
And that's when the demon decided to act. He stood up and burst the house, sending a shower of debris and rubble everywhere in a two-block radius. Did the quest say "Demon Lord"? I'm sure it did. The fucker was fifteen meters tall because he grew more after he got enough room to stretch.
And he caught on fire.
Resigned, I put a contract on the demon lord and almost fainted. What the?
**DOOM**
That's how a Demon Lord's footsteps sound, by the way. He had already set the block on fire. People were screaming and running away in a panic. The whole city was domed.
The city where my living family lived. The choice was made when that thought crossed my mind. I ran and started to climb the flaming body of the demon.
> You are hurt by fire. You lost 43 HP.
I started to claw the demon and bite chunks of his tough hide as I climbed higher. I was taking forty-something HP of damage every time one of the flames licking the body of the demon touched me. He was searing hot but my {Temperature Tolerance} perk lowered that temperature. My regeneration was working to keep me alive.
I smelled a deep acrid stench of brimstone along with the peculiar hissing of acid dissolving stuff. I looked down and saw that the blood oozing from the wounds I caused was tainting and eating away at whatever it fell on. Bad.
I reached the thigh of the demon but hadn't scored a critical hit yet. The Demon Lord noticed me and tried to swat me. Even if it was a bad joke by Loki, the power of the Guardian of Caerbannon wasn't just slice limbs with its bite. It also was the art of fighting while clinging to the body of a bigger enemy. And this demon was almost twenty-five times my size. He had as much chance to swat me off of his body as a human killing a flea, if that flea was smart, had System perks, and absolute clinging power.
I spat a chunk of demon butt and climbed up to its back. Dodging flames, clawing its skin, trying to reach the neck and land a critical to finish him at once. The demon bled, twitched, and swatted his back attempting to remove me. So long he didn't do like the bear-hugging caveman King did to bunny-me, I would be fine.
I appraised him again. "Level 53 demon", was what I got. The fucker had gained two levels in these few minutes.
A wing talon the size of my forearm scratched the demon's back. I climbed more and didn't use my claws for a while to throw him off my trail. His skin was too thick to feel me crawling over him but he felt the pain of my blows. His HP was immeasurable, I wasn't skilled enough. But I knew I had barely splashed his HP pool.
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I reached his ribcage. It was harder for him to strike with his arms or wings here. Climbing more, I looked behind me. The demon was going for the slums, which was good because my family was the other way and terrible because there were oh so many more souls to feed him.
He chortled and took off, launching both of us to the sky. I hung with all four claws, drawing more acidic blood and being forced to move or be dissolved.
I was on the shoulder blades where the wings sprouted from when I saw an orange glare on the other side. The heat rose and the flames running over its body dimmed. The screams below told me the demon was breathing fire down on the slums, murdering people in great sums.
Flight gave it too much of an advantage. Instead of reaching for the thick neck which I knew would be almost impossible to land a critical one if the leg was any indication, I went for the wings. Clipping its wings would make the back a much safer place to be and cut on its mobility. A leap took me to the appendage. I set myself to bite, claw, and ravage. The demon roared with pain, but its wing I did manage to bite and sever.
Down we crashed, the demon spinning as he plummeted. He didn't have that much time to do a full turn and landed on his side, raising a plume of dust and smoke as he burned everything around him. The crash did take a nip at his HP. I could sense he was a bit damaged.
He roared and stood up, with me dangling on his back. Blood spurted from the severed wing splashing down on the city and causing massive damage. The other wing was broken so it was time to go for the neck.
> You gained the Skill Riding [Demons] (very rare). You have better control and coordination when riding a demon bigger than you.
The demon roared, "⛥ψ⛧ψ☠ GЭГ ⛧ФӺҒ ☠ԠЄ,⛧ ҰФЦ ☠PЄSҐ ☠ ψψ⛧", and I could swear I kinda understood him.
I started to chew on his neck. I had to move because every time a droplet of blood touched my mouth it hurt a lot.
> You are hurt by demonic blood. You lost 132 HP. Endurance test passed.
I was afraid to discover what would happen if I failed that test.
While I tried in vain to decapitate him with my {Vorpal Bite}, I tried steering him out of the city. I saw flashes coming from below. The city guard joined the fight and a [Mage] was throwing lightning bolts at the demon, which were completely ignored. Arrows flew at the gigantic infernal but they didn't find purchase in his thick hide. I was more at risk of being shot by the arrows than the demon.
I made a second line of bleeding bite wounds on the demon's neck and got no critical. I was almost thinking it was impossible. I didn't land a single {Stunning Bleed} either. The size difference was too big and the properties of a demon's body too strange. It defied logic.
Another volley of arrows caught the demon's attention. These arrows sunk into the demon's body and drew a roar of pain. One of these hit the demon's neck and I plucked it out to find out why.
It was silver. Demons were vulnerable to silver.
In retaliation, the demon raised its hands and said a word of power. Two enormous balls of fire appeared in his hands and he tossed them down on the assembled city guard. A flash of orange light and waves of heat were soon followed by another rain of debris as the demon's fireballs blew entire blocks of houses away.
And the demon fed on the souls of the fallen. "Level 57 Demon Lord", his Appraise now read.
I used the silver arrow I obtained to cut the demon's flesh. The skin parted before the silver as if it was butter. The multipliers from his vulnerability and my new {Demon Slayer} perk combined to make the damage soar. Even if I was only causing little HP damage, I would saw off the neck of this beast.
A shadow clouded the sky and I jumped away without looking. The demon's hand fell down on his neck and swatted the blood-soaked skin, splashing blood everywhere.
> You are hurt by demonic blood. You lost 45 HP. Endurance test failed. You are suffering from Corrupted Blood.
In a surge of inspiration, I pressed the silver arrow to the place where the blood splashed me. My flesh hissed and seared.
> You lost 56 HP. Your blood is no longer corrupted.
The blood dissolved the shaft of the arrow but not the arrowhead. His demonic blood couldn't dissolve silver. I had an arrowhead and no leverage to cut his skin. The demon stopped.
"☠ ⛧̷ ̸ψ̷ ̷⛥̸ ̴ψ̸ ̶ψ̸ ̸ψ̶ ̸☠̴ ̶ψ̸ ̴Ԡ̶Ф̴Я̵Ґ̵Д̴L̷,̸⛥̶ ̶☠̶ ̸Ї̷ ̵Ш̴Ї̴S̶Ҥ̸⛧̷ ̶ψ̶ ̷Ґ̸Ф̴ ̴Ъ̸Д̶Я̷G̶Д̸Ї̶Й̷.̵ ̴☠̴ ̶☠̶ ̴⛥̸ ̸⛥̸ ̷ψ̴ ̷⛥̶ ̶☠̶ ̴⛥̷ ⛥" He said. I got the idea that he wanted to talk.
"I shall offer you your heart's wish if you stop attacking me," He said.
"See, the other guy offered me two {very rare} perks of my choice without any string attached."
"I can make you rich. Immortal. Pretty," He tempted.
"I already have the first two, and I'm not interested in the third one. Can I murder you already?"
"{Demon Slayer}. Yours is an amusing soul. I can't see anything from you."
I looked at his neck. If only I could score a critical with a bite. Maybe it was because his skin was too thick. I would need to brave the demonic blood and bite the flesh. There was a flap of skin dangling where I cut with the silver arrow, showing pulsing purple strands of muscle underneath. He had no fat layer. Demon physiology 101, it seemed.
I also noticed that the wing he broke in the fall was regenerating. Talking to this demon was useless. I had to finish him because he was stalling for time.
I went for the exposed muscle. I grabbed the sides and dove with my head, biting and ravaging the fibers. I tasted the acrid demon blood and felt my tongue dissolve. Yet I kept ravaging it with my teeth, biting and chewing as fast as I could.
I hit a bone and felt it give under my fangs. The perk did its magic and a sheath of force severed the demon's head.
> Contract fulfilled.
>
> You killed level 59 Demon Lord. You gained 636,538,862 Exp (34,810 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 3.05 perk x 7,57 contract x 20 size x 8 rank x 0.99 participation x5 quest).
> You reached Assassin level 20. Class Rank Up available.
>
> You reached Human level 20. You are now a High Human.
>
> You reached Chemist level 20. You are now a High Chemist.
>
> You reached Surgeon level 7 [20]. You are now a High Surgeon.
> For slaying a demon lord, the Gods wish to grant you the Hero (unique) perk. All Skill growth increased by 20%. [YES] - [NO]
> The title "Hero" will be displayed in your Status.
I felt sick. The demonic blood was consuming me. The system had already assigned my points to prevent it. I looked at the list of rank ups for Assassin and selected the rarest of them.
> You became a Silver Slayer (very rare).
>
> As a silver slayer, you gain:
>
> 1 Attribute point every even level.
>
> 1 Dexterity every odd level.
>
> 1 Strength every third level
>
> 1 Endurance every fourth level
>
> 1 Magic every fifth level.
>
> 5 Skill points per level
>
> 1 Perk every three levels.
>
> 4 HP per level
>
> 0 MP per level.
>
> You gained the Silvered Soul (very rare) perk. All your weapons and attacks are treated as silver. Your blood and hair are laced with silver.
>
> You lost the Silver Vulnerability (curse, rare) trait.
The corruption inside me started to burn, burning me along for the ride. My HP was plummeting.
> You reached Silver Slayer level 13.
>
> You gained 7 Attribute points.
>
> You gained 6 Dexterity
>
> You gained 4 Strength
>
> You gained 3 Endurance
>
> You gained 2 Magic.
>
> You gained 4 perks.
>
> Attributes above the cap were redistributed.
>
> You gained 52 HP.
>
> You gained 65 skill points.
>
> You reached High Human level 12.
>
> You gained 13 Attribute points.
>
> You gained 2 Strength
>
> You gained 2 Dexterity
>
> You gained 2 Endurance
>
> You gained 2 Mind
>
> You gained 2 Willpower
>
> You gained 2 Charisma
>
> You gained 2 Magic.
>
> You gained 4 human perks.
>
> Attributes above the cap were redistributed.
>
> You gained 36 HP.
>
> You gained 46 Skill points.
>
> You reached High Chemist level 10.
>
> You gained 60 Skill points.
>
> You reached High Surgeon level 10.
>
> You gained 60 Skill points.
> You purchased the Strengthened Health (rare) perk. Your HP pool is based on either Strength or Endurance, whichever is higher, plus half of the lower Attribute.
>
> You purchased the Limber Health (rare) perk. Your HP pool is based on either Dexterity or Endurance, whichever is higher, plus half of the lower Attribute.
>
> You purchased the Willful Health (rare) perk. Your HP pool is based on either Willpower or Endurance, whichever is higher, plus half of the lower Attribute.
>
> You gained the Corrupted Blood Resistance (very rare) perk. Damage taken by Corrupted Blood is lowered by 50%.
>
> You gained the Corrupted Blood Resistance II (very rare) perk. Damage taken by Corrupted Blood is lowered by 75%.
>
> You gained the Corrupted Blood Resistance III (very rare) perk. Damage taken by Corrupted Blood is lowered by 87.5%.
>
> You gained the Corrupted Blood Resistance IV (very rare) perk. Damage taken by Corrupted Blood is lowered by 93.75%.
The demon's body started to crumble into ashes. A glowing red star made of crystal fell to the ground next to me.
> You have claimed a level 59 Magic Core.
Quest completed. Bundeus, god of Sun, Humans, and War grants you 2 perks of your choice.
> You gained the Favored Enemy Exp Boost (very rare) Perk. Experience from favored enemies is increased by 50%.
>
> You gained the Favored Enemy Exp Boost II (very rare) Perk. Experience from favored enemies is increased by 125%.
>
> You purchased the Favored Enemy Exp Boost III (very rare) Perk. Experience from favored enemies is increased by 237%.
The influx of HP from the levels and perks were enough to force my body to regain its strength. I scooped my core and fled before the cloud of dust and ashes settled.