00:10
Owin couldn’t be more bored. There was only so much that they could do for six hours. After telling stories, they went and tried to hunt for some loot. The few sea stars they found dropped some coins and nothing more. Shade kept picking up rocks, hoping they were special, and every single one of them ended up being just a normal rock. It didn’t stop him from doing it forty times.
Finally, the timer was almost done. The girhuma were scared and hiding in the cave, but Owin had assured them he wouldn’t let the demon get into the cave. He was confident in that promise. Fighting a water elemental underwater was an impossible task for him, but fighting a demon was something he had experience with, and something he enjoyed doing.
Shade paced nervously around the giant crystal in the middle of the plaza while Owin had stood, waiting, for the last hour right in front of the mass of grasping hands. The white skin of those hands still reminded him of cathkabel more than it did a demon, but there were plenty on both sides he had yet to see.
Most of his attention was on the timer counting down at the top of his vision. It felt as if it had slowed down for the last half hour, but that was probably just because he had stood waiting. The lich bone knife hung loosely in his hand, ready to stab whatever left the portal, unless it ended up being a cathkabel.
The area darkened as the timer counted down the last minute. Owin didn’t think it could get much darker before, but now the only light came from the portal itself. Even with the dark cloud, it gave off a light, making it easy to see the countless white hands grasping.
00:00
“I don’t like this!” Shade yelled.
Every white hand grabbed the portal frame at the same time. The white hands gripped with enough strength to crack the stone as a figure emerged from the shadows. A cackle echoed all around the plaza as the white demon appeared.
It was hunched with about twelve arms coming from its right shoulder and one single, much more muscular arm on its left. Its legs were splayed to the sides as it squatted low to the ground.
“The goblin,” it said before breaking into another fit of cackling.
A Lord of the Abyss has risen
The Vile Fiend - 50% Manifested
Level 50
The demon was a lower level than the battery guardians. If the consequence for not getting the batteries was fighting the demon, Owin expected it to be stronger.
“You know me?”
“I do.” The Vile Fiend’s right hands all spread across the stone as it walked forward. Giant white horns sprouted from the side of the demon’s head, just above its pointed ears. It had a wide face with beady white eyes. Everything about it looked entirely different from the demons he had seen before.
Owin crouched, ready to pounce.
The Vile Fiend held up its left hand. “Calm down, goblin. I was hoping you would allow me to emerge.” It held all its arms out to the side. “Feast on me.”
“What?”
Shade repeated the question.
“Feast and become powerful. I have heard tales of you in the Abyss. I know the effect demon blood has on you, and what better blood than that of a Lord? No need to kill me first. I will not move from this position.” The demon closed its eyes.
Everything around Owin shuddered. He tried to take a step forward, but he found himself unable to even move his muscles.
“Shit,” Shade said quickly.
It looked like a dart flew down from above, but an abnormally tall man stood at the point of impact, beside the Vile Fiend. He had black hair with white stripes and weird blue tattoos on his face. They didn’t look like anything Owin had seen before with the way they glowed. His eyes were mostly light blue and a tattoo of a snake moved around his arm as if it was alive.
Owin immediately tried to use Examine, but nothing appeared.
The Vile Fiend grunted and lowered its arms. “I knew you would ruin my fun.”
Owin continued to try to move, but couldn’t even wiggle a finger. Meanwhile, Shade calmly walked right past Owin and up to the Lord of the Abyss and the unknown person.
“I was wondering if you’d visit,” Shade said.
“Don’t think you’ve earned the ability to speak,” the person said.
Shade nodded and took a step back.
“This is not an acceptable way to end this floor,” the person said with authority.
The demon didn’t flinch at all. “You knew what was going to happen as soon as you forced me here. You have no authority in the Abyss.”
“I have authority over all!” The man pointed a single finger at the demon. The water shuddered and forced the demon to his knees.
Shade took another step back.
“I will never bend to your will.” The Vile Fiend forced all thirteen arms against the floor. The water seemed to shake even more as it grew unbearably cold.
A Lord of the Abyss has risen
The Vile Fiend - 75% Manifested
Level 75
The demon continued to force its way through the pressure, but another flick of the man’s finger brought the demon back to the ground. Another cackle came from the demon as a smile spread across its wide face.
A pulse rippled through the water, causing the portal ring to crack. If Owin hadn’t been stuck in place, he would have been sent flying, maybe as far as the boundary wall. The demon shifted, releasing another pulse of energy that was even stronger than the last. It felt like Owin was about to vanish, smashed into oblivion by the overwhelming energy. His bones shook and his muscles twitched, trying to force him into some type of motion, but no matter how hard he tried, he didn’t move.
The tall man narrowed his eyes and finally lifted his other hand. “You are limited here. You waste your—”
The Vile Fiend - ???% Manifested
Level ???
Abyssal flames erupted all over the demon’s skin as it stood to its full height. “Someone lost control of their domain.”
The man took a step back. “You— How?”
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The demon cracked its neck and rolled its shoulders even as the water continued pushing down on it. “Did you think the Lords of the Abyss truly let the gods enslave us? You are a fool, Sloswen. Keep your powers toward Elysium. You waste them on the Abyss.” The Vile Fiend shivered, throwing more quick pulses of energy through the water. “I will make a deal with you. Allow the goblin to feast and I will return to your servitude as a mob of your domain. Or I will return to the Abyss with a path back whenever I please.”
“This isn’t a deal,” the man said quickly.
“Then we’re in agreement?” The demon extended all twelve right hands.
The man looked at Owin with his unusual blue eyes. There was no pupil as he looked over Owin. “Hm.” The pressure suddenly stopped, causing Owin to fall to his knees.
“This is cheating.” The man cast his blue eyes at Shade. “You know what happens to those who cheat the towers.”
“It’s an anomaly. If this is cheating, so is his existence.”
“Hm.” The man stroked his jaw. The snake tattoo moved through his hand, into his face, and down his neck, disappearing beneath his tunic. “No information. He has to earn that himself.” He turned back to the demon. “If you choose to defy me again, Diphinadra and Ruvaine will be finding your replacement.”
The Vile Fiend nodded. “We’re in agreement.” The demon quickly waved and shooed the man away.
“Wait,” Shade said. “Before you go—”
“The Cursed have no right to speak.” The god took a step toward Owin. “I will see you on the tenth floor.” He vanished in another burst of water.
“Was that . . .” Owin stared toward the surface.
“Old Sloswen can be a real cranky god,” Shade said. He flinched, but nothing happened.
“Freedom feels . . . odd.” The Vile Fiend walked toward Owin, using its hands as extra feet. “Your friend passed to the seventh floor.”
“Myrsvai?”
“And his demon.” The Vile Fiend leaned on its twelve arms, dipping its head to look at Owin. “The Malignant Spirit spoke of you.”
Owin’s eyes widened.
“It commended your viciousness. I will do you the same honor of allowing you to feed. The Lords all know of you, and each will extend this gift.”
“The Malignant Spirit didn’t let me feed. I won that battle.”
“Believe what you must, goblin.”
Owin took a step back. The grotesque form of the Vile Fiend quivered as the demon moved its twelve right arms. The demon’s wide, bat-like nose sucked in water as it sniffed itself.
“Are Myrsvai and Suta safe?”
The demon raised its white brow. “You are so worried of others? Being powerful means worrying about oneself.” He relaxed and let his arms hang down. They were long enough for his claws to brush the stone floor. “I passed a boon to the familiar. They are a powerful duo. I suspect they will pass through the tenth floor.”
Owin nodded. They were powerful. If they just passed onto the seventh floor, Owin could catch up with them. It was the last common floor of the Ocean Dungeon, so he could at least stay with them for a bit.
“Why are you doing this? I thought we would fight.”
The Vile Fiend looked at the surface. “Lords do not go against their word. You will have to learn yourself. If you conquer the Ocean, Sloswen will owe you an answer to a single question. Ask what you wish at that time.” The demon extended its arms. “Leave nothing but bone and take that bone. An alchemist can only dream of such material.”
Owin looked at Shade, who shrugged and gestured back toward the demon.
“Are you sure?” Owin asked.
“An odd question, goblin. I have not made a mistake. Eat me.”
Owin hesitantly approached the demon, expecting some sort of movement or some quick attack. When he used Examine, it said the Vile Fiend had returned to 50% manifested, making it level 50.
“Are you sure?”
The Vile Fiend opened one eye and extended its single arm to Owin’s height. “Bite.”
Owin wanted to ask so many other questions, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that he wasn’t going to get an answer. He needed to hurry if he was going to catch up to Myrsvai. Even with the need to rush, it felt beyond weird. Every other time he had eaten someone, it had been pieces during a fight. With the cathkabel in the fortress, he had eaten pieces after the battles when they were dead, not while they stood in front of him asking to be devoured.
This was uncomfortable, but . . . he needed the strength. If the Vile Fiend was truly going to let Owin raise his strength that high, he couldn’t let the opportunity pass. There wouldn’t be any boss or mob that would stop him from getting the shards.
He took a bite and felt the demon blood rush into his mouth. The Vile Fiend didn’t flinch or make a single noise.
+1 Strength
The numbers continued ticking in as he swallowed the first piece of demon flesh. He stopped, took a step back, and met the Vile Fiend’s white eyes.
Somehow, that made it even worse. He was about to say something in protest, fighting the urge to ask if it was fine, when the demon grabbed Owin around the neck with his single left hand, effortlessly lifting him off his feet. The hand held tight, immediately choking him.
“Eat or die.”
The Vile Fiend dropped him back to the stone floor. Owin gasped and spat out some demon blood that had lingered in his mouth. Shade was at his side, picking him up. Owin fully expected the skeleton to say something, but instead he just pushed Owin forward and awkwardly gestured at the demon lord. Blood leaked from the bite mark on his arm.
There was no reason to wait. Owin used his teeth to tear a chunk out of the demon’s arm while simultaneously tearing with his nails. Blood quickly poured into the water, clouding the ocean.
Without the ability to even get full, Owin found that he was able to actually eat surprisingly fast. He devoured the Vile Fiend in a bestial, monstrous flurry until there was nothing but a skeleton standing.
Shade had spent the ordeal by the giant crystal in the center of the plaza, humming or talking to himself. Owin had been aware of the absolutely awful noises he had made while eating, but at least only Shade would remember it.
“Cursed,” the Vile Fiend said. It sounded the exact same, even though only bones remained. It took a few steps and cocked its head. “The Withered Shade.”
“Yes?” Shade ran, tripped, jumped back to his feet, and ran a little more until he stopped beside Owin. He put his hand on his shoulder before noticing the blood covering Owin’s face.
There was some flesh or something still sticking to his nose and cheeks, and Owin wasn’t sure when it would be a good time to clean that off. Would the Vile Fiend criticize him for wasting flesh? Would it draw more attention then if he just left it for the water to slowly wash off?
Shade picked a piece of flesh off and flicked it into the water. “Disgusting.”
“I remember you,” the Fiend said.
Shade quickly turned his head. “What?”
“The troubadour. Saboator. You were once famous in the Abyss, but even demons can forget. You have truly been lost to time.” The Vile Fiend put all thirteen of its arms on Shade’s shoulders. “We will have our revenge.”
“Our?”
The Vile Fiend’s skeleton collapsed, leaving all thirteen hands wrapped around Shade’s shoulders and arm.
Quest Complete
Stairs to the Seventh Floor have opened
They both stood for a moment, then Owin poked the demon’s skeleton with his boot. Shade did the same, then picked up its skull. “Do you think—”
“Don’t try to change heads, Shade.”
“Ah. Fine.” He squatted and shoveled as many bones into his arms as he could. “Want to hide these in the box?”
“Are you sure? Won’t that take up the rest of the room?”
“Send me to the closet, commander!”
Owin laughed and cast the spell.
Summon the Withered Shade
He took the opportunity to quickly wipe his face and the front of his helmet, letting more of the demon blood wash into the water.
Summon the Withered Shade
Shade reappeared with his head bent all the way to the side. “We are out of room!”
“Are you okay?”
His head snapped back into position. “Funny, wasn’t it? Oh, a comedian, I am. Incredible how I come up with ways to entertain you every single day. What would you do without me?” The demon’s hands were still connected to his arm and shoulders.
Owin looked around the plaza. The portal was empty now, leaving only a circle of stone, covered in cracks from when the Vile Fiend emerged. “Where do we go?”
“You aren’t even going to acknowledge my comedy? What are you? Some kind of humorless hero sent to ruin my eternal life?”
“Where are the stairs?” Owin spotted them in the corner and pointed. “Stairs.”
“Eternity spent developing ways to entertain my new master, and you won’t even listen to my jokes.”
Owin stopped at the top of the stairs. The black doorway to the seventh floor looked inviting. Myrsvai and Suta wouldn’t get far. He was quicker than them, after all.
Shade squatted at his side. “Did eating all that demon blood change your brain?”
“Are you okay?” Owin asked without looking at Shade. He didn’t need the skeleton acting casual.
“What?”
“Saboator. What’s it mean?”
Shade leaned on Owin’s pauldron. “I don’t know. Maybe part of my name. Maybe a demon who doesn’t know the word saboteur. Maybe something else entirely. Plenty to learn for us both, I suppose. Do you want to catch up to Myrsvai?”
“I do.”
He nudged Owin with enough energy to almost knock him over. “Then we better hurry.”
Hero
Owin
Deficient Wizard
Nimble Hog Hero Company
Level: 1
Strength: 700
Constitution: 310
Dexterity: 270
Intelligence: 467
Wisdom: 169
Charisma: 160
Who was going to stop him now?