Pov Silven

The roads were crowded, not as crowded as when a parade happens, but crowded nonetheless. I may be rushing to rescue Eclipse, but that doesn’t mean I will harm innocents by running straight through them. This of course caused me to get creative.

Scaling up a house wasn’t too difficult thankfully. I might have misplaced one or two tiles on every building on the way, but I’m sure Jack will sort out the payments for the damages.

As the buildings progressively started looking less pleasant, Wiliam’s apothecary shop came into view, it was a short building with a mossy roof and multiple vines crawling up its yellow walls. Its windows were boarded up making It looked abandoned, which made my heart drop.

If he’s not here, where would he be... Or maybe he is in there.

With a sliver of hope, I landed roughly on the roof. The roof in turn began to collapse before completely giving way, catching me off guard. I fell and landed on the rafters below and breathed in dust, mold and the vile stench of rot. I had been through worse, and my high level left me mostly unaffected thankfully. I stood up and looked through the unsettled dust and at the collapsed ceiling I had fallen through. I couldn’t help but wince as if Wiliam was innocent and still running this shop, someone would have to pay for the damages... I’m sure Jack will handle this.

Anyways I need to focus, looking around the rafters led to no results that I wished for as I only saw debris and crates, walking around I pushed some boxes around and after a minute I found what I was looking for, a hatch. I grabbed onto the handle and lifted it. The shop below was too dark even for midday. I grabbed a device called a ‘flashlight’ from my bag of holding. The flashlight was useful but finicky and the mana stone inside the flashlight would need to be changed often. But the amount it lit up, and the fact that it was easier to maintain and hold than something like a Magelight, made the flashlight worth every gold coin.

Flicking the lever on the flashlight didn’t do anything, so with a grumble I hit it against the edge of the hatch until it flickered and finally lit up the shop, then I jumped down after making sure it was safe. I saw rodents, shards of glass, strange substances and a whole bunch of dust. My sliver of hope burned out, until I saw crimson footprints alongside a trail of crimson. It wasn’t a hard guess that this was blood, what confused me was the fact the door leading outside was bolted shut and this trail of blood was new. I’ll investigate that later, first let's find Eclipse, Following the trail of blood led me to the back of the shop where the trail suddenly stopped.

I put the flashlight into my mouth and rummaged around the floor looking for a secret door of some sort. This didn’t take too long as I found a loose floorboard which opened after a bit of struggling. The secret hatch, that opened, led to a ladder and a set of stairs at the bottom.

I put away my flashlight as I noticed a light at the bottom. Then I started making my slow descent.

Curse that mage, if only he didn’t destroy my arm, I wouldn’t be having these problems.

Reaching the bottom after a large amount of cursing, I noticed the stairway lead down even further which made me question how Wiliam didn’t hit the sewers. I pulled out my bastard sword and made my way down the staircase.

Just as I was about to open the door at the bottom, the door exploded into a shower of splinters, and I felt myself getting pulled through the now destroyed door.

“I was wondering what piece of shit was causing so much ruckus, I have to thank you for coming to me instead of running away, Silven.”

W-Wiliam?

A smell of rot and iron assaulted once I was pulled through, but I couldn’t focus on that. I didn’t know Wiliam well enough, but I’m quite sure he didn’t sound this disgusting. I couldn’t tell what Wiliam looked like due to the light behind him casting shadows on his features, but what the little that I did see, was horrifying to say the least.

“Ohh? Silven you sure grew big! In many aspects-”

I kneeled Wiliam in-between the legs, prompting him to let go with a yelp. I followed by kicking him in the abdomen, causing him to stumble backwards into the light.

“W-what are you!?”

I managed to say out as I looked at what stood before me. It was not a human, but a monster, whatever human characteristic that was left, was being melted away, quite literally, revealing the crimson flesh with pulsating purple veins. The melted flesh would just fall to the ground with a wet slap every now and then. The thing had black, with a hint of purple, claws. It was lean and tall, even though it was bent over in pain, it was still taller than me.

The next second it slowly straightened itself and stood around 2.5 meters, I noticed its face was gone completely, replaced by a black skull with the same pulsating purple veins that led to two purple soul flames.

“Here I was going to play with you a little before slaughtering you, but I think we’ll have to skip straight to slaughtering!”

I watched in horror as the crimson skin around its neck moved on its own and formed an oval shaped head.

Before anything dire happens, I used [Appraisal] on the creature.

Name – Wiliam Illma

Species – Demonized Human

Class – [Undefined]

Level – 40

Stats:

Strength – 210

Endurance – 284

Dexterity – 234

Wisdom – 37

Intelligence – 56

Skills:

[Rapid Regen] [Command] [Cursed Touch] [Morph]

Titles:

Demonized Human:

You have accepted power from a demon, selling your soul. Once you remove your disguise, you will lose all [Stats], [Skills] and [Titles] and will be made anew. You have become the enemy of all that is good. Your demonic energy leaks into the world to corrupt all.

Shit shit shit, firstly this is Wiliam... or what used to be him. Secondary, how the fuck am I supposed to beat him!? He’s only level 40 but his [Stats]! I need to get Jack-

“Do you think you can leave after what you did to me?”

Suddenly something pierced my leg, and I went soaring the next second. I yelled in pain as I landed on my left arm. But I bit my tongue, and quickly stood back up having my sword raised and waiting for what would happen next. I couldn’t help but take a step back as I watched the demon in front of me change, its left arm was split in two and what looked like a pitch-black harpoon was coming back into the arm on what looked like a string of crimson flesh.

“Yes... YESS! THATS THE FACE I WAS LOOKING FOR! Unlike that creature, YOU ARE GIVING ME MORE ENJOYMENT!”

I couldn’t help but flinch as he said this. I felt anger boil in me, but I didn’t let it take control. I quickly activated [Ironwill] and kept looking in disgust as the demon kept morphing, its legs morphed with a snap and a pop. I could’ve attacked, but with my new injury and my significantly lower [Dexterity], I couldn’t move fast enough to damage it. After a few seconds of waiting, the legs resembled the legs of a Snatcher, something I had quite a lot of experience with. I knew exactly what the demon was going to do, it disappeared and was immediately in front of me, already swinging its right arm.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Thankfully with [Ironwill] I was able to block the slash and was able to even bash the demon with my hilt. I would not be able to do such a thing if the demon wasn’t overly confident with its [Stats].

I took a step back and swung my sword vertically, hoping to take advantage of the demon’s confusion. Sadly, that failed as the demon dodged, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t add in a stab. I quickly pulled back my sword and stabbed it into the abdomen, scoring a hit and drawing purple blood.

I had to step back as the demon swiped its claws.

“Hmm since this isn’t working, let's try this!”

The demon suddenly said while its right hand started melting together and forming a long spike. It then raised its left arm and fired the harpoon at me; this was something I couldn’t dodge, so I raised my left arm, letting the harpoon hit my cast. I didn’t go unscathed as I felt it puncture my skin.

I sliced down on the fleshy string the harpoon was connected to, and fully severed it. I couldn’t catch my breath though as the demon once again appeared in front of me. I diverted his stab to my side, but it didn’t go far enough allowing it to puncture the side of my chest, cracking a rib in the process.

I felt my breathing grow unsteady and I coughed out blood, but I ignored that for now, right now I had to gain some distance since it seemed the demon wanted to go further than the ribs. I did an awkward slice at the demon’s head, forcing the demon to move back, and allowing me to start wobbling backwards with [Ironwill] deactivating. The harpoon thankfully didn’t find purchase in my cast and fell off.

I didn’t have to worry about the harpoon anymore, and since the demon didn’t have any experience fighting, I could dodge and divert most of his attacks. I scored a hit or two, but I couldn’t push for multiple reasons, all I could really do was stall until one of the three arrived here as I’m fairly sure Steph could feel the demonic energy this thing was producing.

Sadly, that seemed to only be a dream as the huge room ended, and my back hit a wooden door.

“It seems the hunt is over now.”

The demon just laughed, I thought I pissed him off considering the amount of damage I did to him, but no on a closer inspection, the demon looked pristine. I dodged to the side as the demon lunged at me, breaking the door which led to a room filled with undead.

I don’t think I’m surviving this.

I chuckled, probably the blood loss affecting my rational thinking. I scanned the room but didn’t bother with [Appraisal] since everything here was definitely higher level than me. I momentarily stopped as I saw a familiar black and white creature, something that didn’t fit with all the undead. It seemed Eclipse was still alive which calmed my heart, but a Greater Litch seemed to be holding the juvenile moth.

Nobody moved a muscle until the demon yelled out.

“Why are all of you standing around doing jack shit!? ATTACK HER!”

Still, nobody moved, but I did hear a wispy voice sound out from one of the three Greater Litches, the one with pink soul flames.

“It seems the fool didn’t figure it out yet.”

“What do you mean!? FOLLOW MY COMMAND YOU DAMNED-”

Whatever the demon was about to say was interrupted by a pitch-black long sword going through his throat. The sword belonged to a heavily armored undead with a crimson crest on its helmet and a crimson cape flowing freely. The undead wasn’t as tall as the demon, but it was still tall compared to me.

“You lost your class; we don’t have to follow you anymore.”

The armored undead spoke smugly, I’m not sure the demon was alive after that seeing how he slumped over the second the sword exited. I felt a shiver go down my spine as the room filled with undead turned their eyes towards me.

“Ignore the human, we have a duel to finish.”

The armored undead suddenly yelled out getting everyone’s attention.

A duel...?

And that’s when I noticed the other armored undead missing its head and arm, while holding onto another longsword.

I'm... I'm alive?

I surely thought I would die in a second, but it seems like that won’t happen.

“U-um excuse me...”

I definitely lost too much blood as I spoke loudly, gaining the attention of the undead once again. Well seeing how I’m in the thick of it now I might as well go all out.

“C-can I just grab E-Eclipse and leave?”

The room was silent, and for some odd reason, I felt embarrassed.

“Eclipse? Is there an Eclipse here?”

The Greater Litch with green soul flames spoke out, which was followed by most of the undead giving some sort of negative.

I had to speak up once again due to this.

“T-the one you’re holding is n-named Eclipse.”

I barely let out, which was either due to the broken ribs or the fact that I’m not good with crowds.

“Huh? Why does an heir have relations with a human?”

The green eyed Greater Litch asked confused.

“Heir? E-Eclipse doesn’t c-come from royalty I t-think.”

This time the armored undead with a head spoke up.

“Do you not understand what an heir is human? It’s a creature born from the remnants of a pure elemental and is next in line to becoming the ruler of that element.”

I couldn’t help but get more confused.

“But Eclipse’s p-parent is still a-alive? A-and E-Eclipse has two elements?”

The room went silent again.

“So, you’re saying this creature is not an heir, but rather a creature with two opposing elements?”

The green eyed Greater Litch asked quietly. I nodded my head before adding.

“I don’t know if t-this is helpful, b-but it doesn’t have a title that s-says anything about being an heir. Its d-does have a title that says that both elements e-exist in harmony.”

I wheezed out with the room going silent for a couple of seconds before the pink eyed Greater Litch let out a laugh. And a sigh escaped from the green eyed Greater Litch.

“This duel was useless... here human...”

I don’t know why, but the green eyed Greater Litch sounded tired. I started limping towards the Greater Litch, and almost fell over immediately. Another sigh sounded from the green one, and the pink one doubled in laughter.

I felt embarrassed in front of the undead again and looked down in shame. I did hear armored steps come towards me. I couldn’t look fast enough as I suddenly was picked up by the armored undead with a head and was thrown over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I was embarrassed, but at least it wasn’t a princess carry.

“Seeing the fact that you are weaker than the fool, you are worthy of being called a strong warrior for fighting the fool with this number of injuries. Be grateful human that I am willing to assist you.”

The armored undead spoke up as it walked to the Greater Litch and dropped me off. I smiled awkwardly.

“Thanks...?”

I spoke weakly, the initial shock disappeared and the amount of pain I felt was unreal, even breathing was painful. Too painful in fact, I had to sit down for this.

“You are worthy to know my name, I am called Arrogance, but you don’t need to thank me verbally.”

And with those words, Arrogance went back to the center of the room. I felt a light mass impact my chest, and I looked down at Eclipse with a pained smile.

“You are going to die; you would have been saved if you had something to heal yourself with.”

The green eyed Greater Litch looked down at me, its robes flowed as there was wind in the room.

“Would you like to be resurrected as an undead with your soul attached?”

I shook my head.

“Very well, I shall respect your wishes human.”

“I h-have one question Litch... Why a-are is the undead here nice?”

Even though breathing was painful, I had to ask the question, after all weren’t they going to summon in an Overlord which would be calamitic.

“Ah it seems you have mistaken something human, most of the undead with sentience don’t kill with no reason. There’s also the fact that the Overlord that we will serve is a benevolent ruler who will be angry with us If we slaughter the helpless.”

It was a strange thing to hear after how worried Steph was. I would have liked to ask more questions, but the pink eyed Greater Litch interrupted my thoughts.

“I can see you have more questions, but you should stay silent, you will live a little longer if you do that. You should also take care of that.”

The pink eyed one pointed down at Eclipse who was currently looking at me with a slight tilt to its head. I felt tears well in my eyes as I hugged the juvenile moth.

I don’t want to die.

Pov Eclipse

Silven? What’s going on?

Something weird was going on with Silven, it was making ugly noises again, but there was something strange about them. I also didn’t expect the sudden enveloping Silven gave me, but it’s probably because it missed me, as I did something similar before. There was also a large number of blue rectangles that appeared after I used [Appraisal] on Wiliam and it slumped over.

[Demonized Human Wiliam Illma] has been subjected with your aid.

Level up!

There was ten of those

You have reached the max level for your current sub-species; would you like to evolve? Y / N

Title Received

“Do you feel that? The mana is getting agitated...”

I heard Green say out before a loud rumble sounded out followed by a howl. Silven heard it as well and looked to its side, which I did as well. I saw a crack of some sort in the middle of the air, it opened every moment and out came 3 humans, one was Jack, the other 2 I didn’t know. One of the unknown humans had a cloak, and the other had golden fur flowing from the top of its head.

Jack suddenly disappeared before appearing right in front of us with its huge sword being thrusted towards Green, the same green square appeared but this time it cracked and shattered, but 2 others appeared and stopped the thrust.

“w-wait!”

I heard Silven yell out weakly which prompted Jack to stop.

“That was an awful greeting human, where are your manners?”

Green said smugly.

“Shut it bonehead, I’ll crush you and sell you to an alchemist.”

Jack said darkly.

“There is no time for this, let’s make a deal human. The human right here will die unless you do something about the curse and the blood loss. And I don’t think your mage will have enough mana to do that if you fight all of us first.”

I heard Jack tch, while the human not wearing a cloak started walking towards us.

“So, what’s the deal then?”

The human said.

“Oh, its quite simple really...”