It was almost unanimous that they would all take a break once they returned to the Dark Horse Hotel. Paladin logged out for a few hours to get a nap and to tend to his garden. Before he left, Colin thanked him, and the cheerful giant waved as he faded out.
Colin let Rielle fall asleep quickly upon getting to their room; they were all tired, except for Larry. The Demon had actually died and had been resummoned. From the way he described it, when resummoned, they come back rested and refreshed. A fact that actually worked for Colin.
He considered going to sleep but looked on his bed to find an unconscious Cult Leader fast asleep on his bed. Speaker Fahtagin was breathing slowly, and his complexion was pale even as he rested, but he did look a little better. Whatever ability he used to summon Scylla must have done something to him that made either his health return slower or gave him another ailment. It was too bad; he could use the more experienced Enchanter’s help for a few of his ideas.
For the moment, Colin turned his attention to the Demon who was watching out the window of their room. He shook his head at something Colin could not see and chuckled a little as it played out.
“So Larry,” Colin started. “Being a Hollow Incubus isn’t just an empty title, huh?”
Larry was quiet for a long moment, “few things are, DevilWalker. But at least you now know what you got into when you made me your Familiar. Am I right?”
“Can you tell me why wasn’t I told that my new Familiar could turn into a frost-covered ball of demonic fury?” Colin accused. “I definitely think that was something that I should have been told. You went absolutely ape-shit on that Boss.”
“First rule of dealing with Demons. If you don’t ask, then we most likely won’t tell you. For example, you never asked what a Hollow Incubus was, so I never told you. To be completely frank with you, Master, I was hoping to never have you see me go into that state,” Larry told him.
A little caught off guard, Colin asked, “Why? I would think that pure combat and destructive ability would be great for a Demon. Especially a combat class one like you.”
“This is more of a racial thing, Master. Cubi, which is what the Incubus/ Succubus collective race is called, value the ability to control ourselves and situations. We enjoy schemes, intrigue, careful plots, social maneuverings, and even carefully constructed combat. If we have our way, we’d always have some semblance of control over everything around us. This includes our emotions,” Larry stated, a thin grin stretching his sharp features.
“For one of the Cubi to lose themselves in any sort of fit makes us a liability to even our own plans,” Larry continued. “That’s why I became a HellRime Knight; it’s a pretty straightforward class with not a lot of nuance but some synergy with my rage powers. Otherwise, I might have taken a more finesse-based class, like the Vex Blade or Fell Dancer.”
“So, to sum it all up, Cubi like yourself are usually manipulative Demons who hate losing control. But due to you being a Hollow Incubus, you are prone to this sometimes, right?” Colin confirmed.
“Correct,” Larry confirmed.
“Then why has this only just happened? You’ve been my Familiar for a couple days now, and we’ve been fighting for most of it. You’ve even died a few times; why did you only now become the ice-clad ball of fury?” Colin asked.
“I’m not sure. Some say it’s a random chance, and some say it has to have a trigger, whether instinctual or activated. I’ve never found the correlation between when it activates and why,” Larry said, shrugging. “Good news is, though, now that it has been activated, it should be a while before it does so again.”
“Really?” Colin asked a little doubtfully.
“Sure,” Larry answered, shrugging. “I mean, I don’t know for sure, but it doesn’t usually trigger again for quite some time after it activates.”
Colin eyed his Familiar for a moment. Granted that he hadn’t been in this game world long, he knew that powers, skills, spells, everything didn’t activate without any reason. His Demonology Skill was nagging at him in the back of his mind confirming this, even if he had no idea what it was telling him. He did only know that the first and only time the Hollow Incubus’s rage powers triggered was after Rielle almost died.
“Sure,” Colin said, internally filing away the information for another day. With the information from his Familiar retrieved, he moved on to the next item in his itinerary. “So tell me, Larry, you feel like doing a little espionage and Info gathering?” he asked, taking everything off his person.
Colin tool a moment before Larry answered to start, removed his Backpack, Dimensional Bag, weapons, and everything else extraneous. All of it got set down on the table nearby where he usually did his Enchanting research.
The Incubus nodded his head, “Sounds fun; I haven’t had the pleasure since you summoned me,” he answered, grinning.
“Great, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is simple. Go downstairs and find out what people have found out about the Golems. Where they are coming from, where they are taking the bodies of their victims, if anyone has defeated any more of the mini-bosses, anything. With any luck, somebody has found the way into ALAN’s Lair and are preparing to enter. Think you can do this?” Colin asked, giving a small smile to his Familiar.
The Demon’s grin widened to show teeth, “really, you are asking me to do this? This is child’s play for one of the Cubi. Shall I go right now?” he asked, jerking a thumb at the door.
“I have one quick question for you before you go,” Colin asked, appreciating the enthusiasm. “What would happen if I were to die holding a sword from this world instead of one you create?”
“It would vanish. My body is constructed from mana using the Summon Familiar Skill as a medium to guide the creation of my body. When I die here, my body vanishes, and anything I am carrying with me vanishes. The unfortunate thing with that is that it doesn’t even go back to Hell with me; it just vanishes. So most Masters and Summoners don’t equip us unless they have to. Most of us have either a Skill that allows us to create weapons, like I do, or have an ability that brings their gear with them,” Larry finished. “Why?”
“Oh, I was thinking about making most of us a few new pieces of gear, and I was just wondering if you kept it when you die here. Good to know you won’t,” Colin said, shrugging. “Unfortunate, but not a deal-breaker. Just do me one final favor before you go?”
“Yes, Master?” Larry asked.
“I want you to avoid eating anyone for the info. If you have to, I don’t want to hear that you did to get the info, got it?” Colin said, glaring at the Incubus. He knew it would do no good to hold back that part of Larry’s nature forever, but he could rein it in. At least, he thought he could by making it the final option.
Larry rolled his eyes and turned for the door, “oh, you’re no fun, but you got it, Master. Have fun with your projects, Sir!” Larry announced before opening the door and stepping out, closing the door normally with a dull thud.
With Larry gone, Paladin logged out; for now, Rielle and Speaker Fahtagin asleep, Colin thought now would be an excellent time to work. At least for a little bit, his time in the Dungeon had given him a new perspective on this world he was stuck in.
This was a game, it may feel real and act real in many ways, but it was still a game. And it was a fantasy game too, the rules could be incredibly fluid here as he used magic to make it possible. The options, in theory, were only limited by his imagination and skills.
To that end, Colin carefully set all of the equipment that he’d put on the table a few short moments ago and set them off of the table. His workspace clear of gear, he pulled a few pieces of blank paper free from the few notes he hadn’t stashed when he left before and started writing.
He discovered that having air magic would have been very helpful for either actual air or electricity for many of these ideas. But otherwise, he just kept jotting down idea after idea of things that he might be able to pull off, enchanting-wise. Now that he felt less hindered by the restraints that ordinary reality would have given him, he felt his creativity flow.
Eventually, Colin woke up from the desk and bolted upright with a start looking at his phone. It had been a few hours, and though he felt a little more refreshed, his head felt like it was filled with cotton. Rubbing at his temples with a low moan, he took a long moment to simply be and see if the annoying sensation would abate.
“Hello, DevilWalker,” a quiet, raspy voice said from behind Colin.
Turning in his chair, the Antagonist found himself looking at Speaker Fahtagin, the older man sitting up in the bed. His skin was still a sickly and waxy pallor as it stretched tightly across his visible frame. Blue veins could be seen across the thinner parts of his skin around his wrists, and his fingers appeared gaunt. But despite his emaciated form, the Speaker’s eyes were crystal clear as they observed Colin.
“Interesting ideas you have going over there, DevilWalker,” Speaker Fahtagin said, holding up a single piece of paper that Colin recognized from his current working notes. It looked like the Cult Leader had gotten a hold of it somehow without waking him up and had decided to help himself. “While I know that this will definitely require some fine-tuning, most of these ideas are workable. Tell me, where did you come up with this one?” he asked, pointing towards one of the ones that Colin had marked with an X, which meant do not attempt.
Colin exhaled, “there is a very rare disorder where the Outworlders come from; I do not remember what it is called. Pretty much, whenever a part of the body is strained or damaged, bone growth can occur in the affected area. I was just hoping to use Infernal Magic to recreate the effect.”
“Then why did you mark it with an X?” Fahtagin asked. “It sounds nasty but useful.”
“It also sounds kind of evil, and given that I would need to use Infernal Magic Runes on the weapon, I figure it would be better to avoid using it for now. Besides, my level is likely too low to properly create the effect,” Colin shrugged. “I was just jotting down ideas. Ideas that I was not going to show until I did a little more research,” Colin said pointedly, eyeing the Cult Leader.
“Fair,” Fahtagin said, without any show of remorse. “But these are some interesting ideas. Were you just doing whatever sounded good or just creating whatever you think you need?”
“Both, I really don’t know what I’ll need here, so I’ll just create whatever sounds good and go from there,” Colin finished with a yawn. “Besides, I’m not sure what is doable at my Enchanting Skill level, even if I dumb it down to minimize the effects to the bare essentials of what I am going for.”
“What is your Level?” Speaker Fahtagin asked curiously.
“Level 10,” Colin said, lying for the moment to keep the Speaker from knowing his actual level. In truth, it wasn’t that far off from what he told him, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that he didn’t need someone he didn’t fully trust, knowing any of his true strengths.
Nodding, the Cult Leader dragged a finger across the page in his hand and thought about it for a moment. “Well, several here, at baseline, are doable at level ten. You are right, by the way, that Muscle Calcifier Enchantment is not doable at your level. You would need to be at least... “He looked out the window for a moment before finishing, “level 30 Enchanting Skill before that is possible in even a diminished form.”
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“Hmmm, good to know,” Colin said, stretching his arms before standing up. “Since you are awake and willing to talk, I guess you can impart some wisdom on some of my enchanting ideas. Are you?”
The man’s gaze turned up towards Colin’s with a smile. “Oh, sure. Why not. As long as you are the one doing the work here, not me. You need the levels, fair enough?”
Colin nodded, “agreed.”
And together, the two got to work on the project. Realistically, Colin knew that he would probably only have a few hours before Larry was set to return. Hopefully, with the information, he needed to assault ALAN’s Lair. He had plans for Rielle when she woke up, as well as for her equipment. There was one enchantment that he’d heard of that should be possible if he minimized extra the effects as much as possible.
To that end, he took the piece of paper from the Speaker and wrote the ideas on it before handing it back.
“Think it can be done at my level?” Colin asked.
“Depends on what Magic skills you have,” he said bluntly. “Do you have Shadow Magic Manipulation, Divine Magic Manipulation, or Kinetic Magic Manipulation?”
Colin’s smile was the answer he wanted.
<><><><><>
Larry returned to the room a few hours later with a smile on his face and a calm gait. Colin noted from his peripheral vision that he wasn’t in his previous humanoid guise. Now he was a dark-skinned man with exposed biceps that almost physically rippled as he moved. The shape-shifted Demon stepped into the room, closed it behind him, and stood there for a moment. Upon a quick inspection, he found that Colin was deep into some enchanting work with a dagger while the Cult Leader was sleeping.
It did not escape Larry’s notice that Rielle was gone, and the Sumo called Paladin was not yet back as well.
He then took in a deep breath as his dark skin dyed into dark red, his horns grew out, and his previously substantial height of just above six feet tall grew several more inches. The transformation ended with his hair growing out several inches of smooth black hair that made him look like what he was, a handsome devil.
“How did it go?” Colin asked from his workstation, not turning his gaze towards his Familiar. His attention was firmly on the small blade he was etching on, and he kept carefully working on his project.
“Pretty well, actually,” Larry started, taking a few steps closer to his Master. “I found out that other groups around the city have defeated two of the other Golem Mini-bosses, much like we have. All of them were based on creatures and monsters from the natural world. They defeated a Spider Queen Golem and an Ahuizotl Golem but lost sight of a Golem that had not been defeated yet. They claim it is called an Empathic Roulette Golem, and from the description, it sounds like the one you saw before you summoned me, Master.”
“Hmmm,” Colin hummed, still carving symbols deep into the flat of the small blade. “Anything on the entrance to ALAN’s lair?”
“Yes and no,” Larry answered. “There have been Outworlders claiming to have gotten into some of the places the Golems are streaming out from. Most that report back state that the underground area is very labyrinthine, turning back before they lose their way. The few I talked to stated that they were not prepared for that kind of environment, so they turned back.”
Stopping his work for a moment, Colin placed a hand to the dagger’s handle and started channeling more mana into the weapon. With the next rune, the mana requirement would increase, and he began preparing the Mental Mana. Then he pushed it in and started carving as he said, “has anyone seen ALAN’s actual persona again since he introduced his Corpse Golems?”
“No, and it’s making people nervous. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones he was watching and taking notes on. ALAN was watching both of the other Mini-boss fights and being snarky to them as well. The only other thing that everyone agrees on is that the being himself only directly attacks someone if it is attacked directly.”
“Good to know. Did anyone say what sorts of attacks he used?” Colin asked as the carbide tip of the Etching Pen carved out more of the rune.
“It varies, but mostly it was weird attack names that I didn’t recognize. Mostly, some of the players said that they were mostly light-based. No one I talked to said anything different, but supposedly people have heard of the Golem Master using other elements. Like fire and lightning,” Larry finished.
Colin hummed a little in thought as he finished the final rune for this Enchanted weapon. With a bit of will, Colin cut the mana connection to the weapon and finished the process. The creation was completed with an inaudible snap, the magic binding together in a tight loop within the dagger.
He waited a moment to see if the item would reject the enchantment as it finished settling inside it.
Your Enchanting skill is now level 13. Your potential in this skill has increased.
Your Attune Item subskill is now level 13. Attuning efficiency has increased by a small margin, mana control while Attuning has increased by a small margin.
Your Mana Efficiency Subskill is now level 4. Mana efficiency has increased by a small margin, and Enchanting speed while controlling mana flow has decreased by a small margin.
Your Knowledge: Enchanting Skill is Level 10. Your understanding, prompt information, and Charisma bonus, has increased by a small margin when Enchanting or Enchanted Items is involved.
Grinning, he took the weapon and watched it as the item altered slightly. While he was aware that this could happen, most of the changes he’d seen up to this point didn’t alter the weapon’s actual form, the Lesser Infernal Edge being the exception.
This weapon was actually made with an idea that Nox had given him only a couple days earlier when they conducted the Neuropathic Syphon Ritual. The small blade was originally a type of dagger called a Rondel Dagger; it featured a rounded cross-guard and pommel with a slim, twelve-inch blade that tapered to a razor point.
The blade had two changes that were subtle but noticeable. First, the sharp point became an inch wide chisel tip, and the length of the blade no longer tapered to that tip. Second was the lines, three of them, that ran up both sides of the blade’s flats. Each one was a different color, one an amethyst purple, a gritty coal-black, and the last a hard lively green. On both sides, the lines ran up the blade intersecting and crossing without interrupting each other’s flow.
If the weapon worked as he intended, then this would be clutch in his ventures coming up when they all went after ALAN. And they had to go as soon as possible. The Skynet rip-off would get scarier and more problematic as time went on, and it got more levels. There was no way to know how long it would be before more people came from beyond the city to participate in the event that was transpiring here. If someone arrived wasn’t well suited for these things, then they may just end up being overwhelmed. Only powering the Golem Overmind further.
Sheathing his new tool, Colin grabbed his weapons belt off the floor and attached the weapon to it next to his Mythic Xiphos. This was to avoid getting it mixed up with the similarly sized handle of the Lesser Infernal Edge. On the back of the belt was sheathed two other daggers, both with clean leather handles and simple cross-guard. While they were both enchanted, much like the other new dagger, they were circumstantial and did not expect to use them soon.
“I take it you made something else interesting?” Larry asked.
“Oh, a few things,” Colin said with a nod. Not just those Daggers, I got a few items for Rielle, and one thing for Paladin.”
“What would you make for that giant that could actually be useful?” Larry asked incredulously. “I mean this as nicely as I can, Master, but your skills aren’t exactly up to a high crafting level yet.”
“You’ll see when he does,” he told the Familiar. “In the meantime, did you learn anything else that I should know? Any little bits of information that might be important but I didn’t ask about?”
“Just one thing that I can think of,” Larry answered. “The Outworlders are complaining that the others aren’t coming fast enough. According to what I heard, there are caravans filled with Guilds coming from each direction heading this way to participate in this warzone before someone here ends it.”
Colin looked at the Demon, “did anyone have any idea how long until any of them get here?”
Larry just shrugged, “I heard anywhere from around thirteen hours to a day with the ones that headed here right away. I can see someone getting here faster if they get help from other sources. Paladin might be able to give you more information when he returns from ‘Outworlder land,’” the Incubus said, using his hands to make the quote gesture.
“I’ll have to ask,” Colin said simply. “Thank you, Larry. That was all good to know.”
“It was no problem,” the Demon answered. He walked over to the bed that was Rielle’s and sat down on its soft covers. Immediately, Larry turned and laid his legs down on the bed and leaned his back against the headboard. The Demon interlaced his fingers behind his head and closed his eyes, taking a long moment to get comfortable.
Then the door swung open, and Rielle entered the room. She opened her mouth to speak before looking at Larry and glaring at him. Both locked eyes for a moment that felt like it stretched unnecessarily long before Larry sighed and got up from the bed. He walked to stand next to Colin’s table and looked out the window.
Seemingly satisfied that Larry was up, Rielle looked at Colin with no small amount of satisfaction on her face.” Good news, Walker.”
She said nothing for a moment too long, and Colin rolled his eyes, “well, what is it?”
“I found him,” she said, the looked down at the floor. “But I found someone else as well.”
“Oh, who?” Colin asked.
Rielle took a deep breath, “the Lady Noitra of the House Mer. And she has a few Fey Guards with her now.”
“Wait, Fey Guards… Oh, Shit,” Colin said, realizing who Rielle was talking about.
When Rielle was brought into the city, she was escorted by two young Fey nobles who were making a contract with a Prince. Colin got the Document while he was robbing the Prince and killed one of the Fey Nobles in a fight with them. Lady Noitra was the survivor of the two.
“Great, not only do we have a Golem uprising here, but now we have to deal with vengeful Fey!” Colin groaned, rolling his eyes. “Where did you see her?”
“Not with the target, but she was in the area. We might not have to deal with her, but….” Rielle trailed off.
“Oh, goody. This just gets better and better.”
<><><><><>
Meanwhile, deep under the city, ALAN had not been idle like many residents were suspecting. In his Lair, the Golem Hivemind had been busy at work with a new prototype that he’d gotten the idea for after seeing the Outworlders above work. There were many different people and examples up there for him to observe, after all.
Looking at the framework of the new Golem in front of him, suspended from a rack, ALAN found himself thinking that it needed something. He had a lot of options to choose from when it came to his first design for this thing, and he needed it to be a good baseline for the others that would follow.
And ALAN knew it would need more powerful Golems soon. Four out of the Six of its more powerful creations were defeated, and eventually, they would come down here for it as well.
Unlike the other Golems that were made up to this point, this one had a unique design. While its main structure was still humanoid in shape, with two arms and two legs with a head, the rest of it was very different. Built into its upper arms were a pair of one-inch thick discs that would spin and generate and emit energy. Its forearms and shins were covered in unmarred Mirror Steel that would add strong protections. Even better was the head, which was a perfect blank mask with two glassy orbs that would glow when active.
Looking into its open chest cavity, all ALAN had to do was decide on a Power Core to place inside it. The only reason he was unsure here was that several choices he could make here would be effective. It all depended on the Core he inserted. He had just under two dozen Cores types ready to go, being made in the background by one of his Golems while he observed the events up there.
In the end, ALAN shrugged its shoulders and looked at the list in front of him. Creating a quick randomizer in his head, the Golem Hivemind chose and nodded at the choice made. Turning to the wall behind its unit, it faced the shelf that contained these special Cores.
These Special Cores were not necessary to power up a Golem; these instead added powers to Golems when specific other attachments were mounted to the frames. The disc-shaped emitters were an excellent example of one of these attachments.
Looking through the Cores, ALAN eventually found the one marked ‘INFESTATION CORE RANK 1’ right on the item. It was a copper sphere about two-and-a-half inches in diameter; it was covered in a thin green coating that glowed with a sickly light from between the gaps in the sphere.
If the Golem could have sighed, it would have, merely because all of its Special Cores were low ranked ones. It couldn’t be helped since this was an aspect of Golemcraft that could be considered very high level. It could be viewed as a miracle that it had managed to make any of these, let alone most of the different types of Power Cores.
“I wonder what you’ll become if I do something a little different?” ALAN asked the air as it had a spark of imagination. It set some of its other crafter Golems in its factories to make more of this type of Golem with plans ready for them.
This one, though… this one would require a little bit more to meet the vision it had in its head. It would also need to be beefed up a bit to take on the task it would need. An infestation would only be the beginning of what this thing would be capable of.
ALAN felt a surge of happiness as it got the inspiration and got to work on the requisite new pieces needed for the design. This thing would be a terror to behold when it appeared on the city walls. And the ones that come after would make all of the other non-mini-bosses it made up to this point feel like mechanized vermin compared to elite soldiers.