It was definitely raining by now, the droplets of water pelting down hard as Tarrek jogged through the market square and came upon a quaint, familiar house.
He gave his customary knocking sequence before opening the door, a breath of relief exiting him as he came face-to-face with his wife and daughter. They were safe.
“Tarrek? What’s wrong?” She asked, cradling the young one as she stepped out of the way for Tarrek to close the door.,
“There’s a storm. It’s already raining.” As he gave her the news, her face contorted with worry.
“You’re not thinking about going out there, are you? We’ve talked about this.” She wasn’t angry but just concerned.
Instead of responding, he wrapped them both up in a large, intimate hug.
“I know, I know,” He whispered in her ear. “But I have to do this.” He squeezed a little bit.
His wife sighed as Tarrek let go, knowing there was no talking him out of this.
“Be careful, okay?”
“I will.”
----------------------------------------
People had already gathered at the outskirts of the village–not just patrolmen but men and women of all types. Anyone that could hold a weapon, really. After the depletion from the Chosen recruitment, they were low on man power and everyone wanted to help.
Tarrek pushed and shoved his way through the throng of people to reach the front, spotting a few patrolmen he recognised. They were staring wide-eyed at the field in front of them and when Tarrek looked, he was too.
“Wh-what?” He vocalised his confusion, quickly turning to the man next to him. “What happened? What is that thing?”
“It just fuckin’ opened up! Just now!”
A rumble of commotion stopped more talking as the ground shook beneath their feet once more, the sudden crater off in the distance still expanding before finally stopping its growth.
Tarrek pulled out his bow, thinking of Eda and Adla.
And then, a sight he wouldn’t forget for the rest of his life appeared.
The first demon lunged up and over the edge of the crater like an excitable kitten. Then another. Then another.
In just a matter of seconds, an unstoppable flood of demons were pouring out from the randomly-appearing hole.
Tarrek’s grip grew weak, his arms shaky, as he watched an impossible wave start running towards them.
No one was doing anything. The patrolmen in the village were frozen to the spot, the standard civilians similarly petrified with fear–he couldn’t blame them.
Only a lone man was running towards them, lopsided gait and with a face bearing inscrutable fear. He was the poor sod who was close enough and still survived,
The demons were closing in and even as Tarrek urged his body to move, to lift up the bow and aim, it didn’t.
They’d finally reached him. His death sentences. A demon jumped and pounced on him, massively jaw darting to the ground where his head was and snapping close, narrowly missing his head.
One large, clawed foot was deep into his chest, keeping him there, when a woman and child who looked vaguely familiar rushed up towards the man, managing to spear and throw the demon off him.
Recognition struck; the woman was Meren, one of Riza’s friends.
She turned around with grace and took a steady stance, pointing her sharpened spear at the rest of the demons as the small girl wrapped her arms around the injured soul and struggled to pull him back towards the village.
This action from them ignited something in Tarrek, compelling him to step forth and aim his bow. He notched an arrow and held his breath steady, raising the bow to adjust for elevation and distance.
His aim was true, arrow darting through the air and lodging in a stray demon that was running towards the injured group. His arrow didn’t stop it nor did the lack of response stop him from readying another arrow.
Only, this time, he got distracted by more movement; another figure, pushing past the crowds and running into the grassy field, beelining straight for the group.
That’s Riza, he thought, instantly recognising her. She had lost her bow somewhere as she bounded through the tall grass seemingly without a care for her own safety.
Seeing her here strengthened his resolve. His grip on his bow tightened as he looked for more targets. He had to protect this place.
Another arrow came flying through the air, hitting a different demon. It stumbled for only a second before carrying on in its running, heading straight for them.
With practised motions, his hand darted to his quiver, withdrawing an arrow, notching it, and shooting it again, all within a matter of moments.
His aim was true and his target locked as he shot arrow after arrow at this thing until, finally, the combined penetrative power brought the creature tumbling to the ground until the sound he had been waiting most of his life to hear resounded in his head,
Level up.
You have gained 5 stat points and 1 skill point.
He sniffed as he quelled any surging emotion. He had a job to do.
Except, maybe he didn’t. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the group fend of demons. Meren was struggling as the threat increased while Riza talked with them but then, after not even that much time, the three or so demons Meren had to contend with just dropped dead. One after the other.
Tarrek could hardly believe what he saw–he must’ve missed something–but then it happened again. Demons close by to them were falling like flies. No visible attacks, just sudden and instantaneous death.
Meren, Riza’s sister, and the patrolmen had got to their feet and were running back towards the village while Riza, the very same woman who went hunting with Tarrek, was charging into the flood of demons.
His heart crinkled with worry for only the briefest of moments. The first demon he would’ve expected to pounce on Riza fell to the ground much like the others, barely a few metres from Riza. Such incredible luck.
But then it happened again and again, each demon close by to her and then, they weren’t even close. Demons tens of strides away were dropping dead and they were dying faster than they could run.
Tarrek had barely any time to recognise what was happening when Meren and her group had reached the village, a little ways away from him. The patrolmen stumbled into the crowd while the women were animatedly saying something.
There wasn’t much conversation before Riza’s sister ran back out into the field, the wave of demons noticeably pushed back by now as Rizas surged forwards like an unstoppable vanguard.
Then it hit him; the demons were dying in the vicinity of Riza. It was a large area but still confined to her; all the demons further away were unaffected and some had even made it past her.
His eyes focused on her, wondering how she was doing it.
A demon, barely even noticing her, just died. Like that. No weapon, skill, or anything. All she had to do was look at it and it died.
That realisation sent a burst of fear through him. Was that actually what was happening? Was Riza killing demons with nothing but a look?
He had to focus on something else and, luckily, Meren was going down the line of people and finally arrived at them. He strained his ears to catch what she was saying.
“Remain calm! These two women are from the Dominion and are here to help!” Meren shouted above the roar of the crowd and the fighting outfield.
As if to punctuate her point, Riza’s sister skidded to a stop as a demon closed in on the village, barely a few tens of paces away.
She whipped her arm around, grasped her wrist with her other, and a sudden flash of light exploded from her fingertips.
A snaky, bright white line of energy arced through the air for a split second before harshly impacting the demon, it’s after image burned onto Tarrek’s eyes as the demon was blasted back a few paces onto its side.
It didn’t get up.
His legs felt like jelly as he realised what that meant.
Meren continued to run to the rest of the villagers, giving them the news, while Tarrek was stunned into silence and inaction.
One hit? One hit and it died? Able to kill with just a look? They were from the Dominion?
His gaze searched out further afield, seeing Riza even closer towards the crater and nothing but corpses dotted behind her. There were far too many to count, numbering in the dozens.
All of this in a matter of seconds.
He felt a bit sick at the thought. Lefie was still shooting bolts of lightning at any demon she could see. The ones further away from her required multiple hits not because they were tougher but because the girl struggled to aim accurately.
That was a minor relief, that she was still human.
The same couldn’t be said for Riza. Her aim was unnerving, the only way to avoid it was to just not get close to her.
Wait. Something’s different, he noticed. The demons were taking longer to die. She had cleared more than half of the demons by now, as far as he could tell, the remaining ones were taking multiple seconds to die.
Taking a handful of seconds to kill something with a glance compared to just one wasn’t much of a difference but it was something. Something to quell her monstrous strength.
Most people were just watching the pair clear out what must’ve been over 100 demons. There was no way they would’ve survived such an assault and yet, two people were strong enough by themselves?
It was unimaginable.
But there was no cheering. No whoops of excitement or shouts of encouragement. Tarrek suspected most people felt like he did–an underlying sensation of fear and doom.
They were with the Dominion, yes, and as much as it scared him to admit it, how could he trust them?
He felt his knees tremble as he remembered the past two weeks with Riza, her joining the hunts. It was evident now how she was so successful but what chilled him to the bone was the knowledge that any one of those times, she could’ve killed him with just a glance.
He didn’t survive because he was lucky, or resilient, or strong. He survived because, for whatever reason, Riza chose not to kill him.
She could’ve killed any one of them, right in front of everyone else, and no one would know it was her.
Tarrek felt his breath catch in his throat as his heart began to beat rapidly as he watched.
More and more demons had gotten past Riza and her sister was working even harder, a bolt flying out every second and some even arcing from one demon to another. She’d be able to destroy the whole village with ease if she wanted to.
His gaze shifted back to Riza, finally standing in front of the crater.
Could this day get any worse?
He could feel the ground shake even from here.
The resonant dim of the rain grew silent, the crackling arcs of lightning from the sister quieted as the impossibly large paw reached up from the crater in slow motion.
Claws as long as Riza, it came crashing down with tremendous force, followed by another, similarly sized paw.
Dread subsumed Tarrek.
A snout rose into the air, slender and as long as a house, culminating in an eyeless face that reached for the sky as the demon pushed itself up and over the edge.
Tarrek had heard of greater demons. He had heard of their immutable strength, how they could tear apart buildings with but a swing of their fists.
But they were beatable. Even a village of idiots could eventually take one down, with enough time and resources. And they were nary larger than a house.
As the demon drew to its full height, the sound came rushing back in like a waterfall, sudden screams and shouts of panic erupting from amongst the crowd.
He could feel the pushing and shoving as people struggled to get away–even the patrolman standing next to him absconded as fast as possible.
Tarrek, however, just fell to his knees, digging into the mud and staring at the creature of his doom.
Larger than a house. Larger than multiple houses. It’d be able to cover the village in a matter of seconds, not minutes.
Nothing should be this large, he thought. This was it. There wasn’t even a point to running away; it’d be able to catch them.
Chaos and confusion abound while Tarrek knelt warily, feeling the rain pour down his face and soak him to the bone.
Even Riza shared his sense of dread, turning around and running as soon as she could. This person who could down a beast demon with a mere glance didn’t even think they could win? There was no chance of survival.
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With a sickening realisation, Tarrek watched the large demon reach Riza in just a few steps and smashed her in the side with its snout, shooting her as fast as an arrow through the air. She landed with a crash, earth shooting into the air with the force of her impact.
She was dead, she had to be. No one who is capable of magic has a lot of health. Even he knew that.
The poor girl, her sister, didn’t even know what was happening. She was so engrossed in controlling the tide of demons. With Riza preoccupied, and now taken out of the fight, there was even more to contend with.
She may have been high level but she’d run out of essence eventually. This was a losing battle.
Spectacularly, movement caught his eye. The sad, sorry form of Riza struggled to her feet, recovering from the fierce blow. She looked harried and worse for wear, very clearly injured although he couldn’t say how from this distance.
The large demon wasted no time before jumping on her again, picking her up in its mouth and throwing her once more. Her limp body sailed through the air and landed hard enough to kill even the patrolmen.
Even though she definitely should’ve been dead, something was telling Tarrek this wasn’t the case and, sure enough, she got up again.
Just how high level was she?
Riza continued to run, not even trying to fight back, and again and again, the demon caught her, snapping with it’s jaw, raking with its claws, or shoving with its paws.
Time and time again, Riza sustained enough damage that’d kill anyone.
Time and time again, Riza got back onto her feet, heaving with exertion but still alive.
And, after enough times, Tarrek realised, with much horror, Riza’s curse. Somehow, he didn’t know how, she just didn’t die.
She should’ve lost limbs, punctured heart, broken bones, anything that would’ve killed a normal person, but she kept getting up and running, even as she so clearly felt the pain.
One final death. Riza grunted and groaned and stood up once more on shaky legs and turned to run before stopping and turning to watch the demon.
To watch as the demon’s massive head stabbed into the ground, legs buckling and giving out from under it, its large body collapsing to the ground as the whole thing began to slide into the crater.
She wasn’t running away, Tarrek realised. She was fighting it.
He didn’t get up from his knees. His sense of dread never left him. Able to kill with a mere glance and unable to die while cursed to feel everything.
The demon may have been dead but something far worse wasn’t.
----------------------------------------
“Tarrek?” Eda asked worriedly. After he had come bursting through the door earlier, she couldn’t take her mind off him.
He was breathing heavily, bolting the door shut and sliding in the plank of wood to ensure it didn’t open even in the harshest of winter blizzards.
And he didn’t stop there, going to all the windows and making sure they were locked up tight as well.
“What’s going on?” Eda tried to ask with some imperative.
Tarrek didn’t respond. As soon as he was finished locking them inside, he collapsed onto a wooden chair and breathed heavily.
Eda eyed him carefully, not finding any injuries but clear signs of exhaustion.
“What happened?” She asked quietly.
Silence reigned for a few seconds as Tarrek just breathed regularly before speaking.
“There’s a hole at the edge of the village. It just appeared suddenly.”
Eda’s face was horrified.
“There were demons. I- I got a kill.” He finally looked up and met her eyes. “I levelled up.”
“That’s good,” Eda replied, having to quell her excitement based on his bittersweet expression.
“Yeah, it is.” Rubbing his hands together, he continued. “There were a lot of demons. They came from the hole. Tens, or maybe even hundreds.”
Eda had to stifle a gasp.
“Riza, the girl who hunts with us, was there. She-she’s… I don’t know what she is. She could kill with a glance and couldn’t even die.” Tarrek had a faraway look in his eye.
Eda didn’t know what to say; it was kind of hard to believe and he was clearly rattled.
“Maybe you were just seeing things?” She suggested, but Tarrek gravely shook his head.
“No, no.” He stood up out of the chair and ran his hand through his longish hair, pacing around the room as he thought. “Don’t leave the house. At least, not for a few days.”
Instantly, Eda wanted to argue but seeing the panic-stricken look on Tarrek’s face, she decided against it.
“I’ll go and get some food and we’ll hole up for a few days-”
“What about your hunting?” Eda interrupted, unable to help but feel this was just a little bit hasty.
“It’s fine,” Tarrek waved the concern away. “Safety is more important. As long as Riza is here, you can’t let her see you,” He said with severity, levelling his wife with a severe gaze.
He sat back down again, body itching with energy but unable to do anything about it.
“We’ll get through this. Together.”
----------------------------------------
Reality came rushing back to Riza when she sat up and looked at the devastation around her.
Bodies as far as the eye can see, like patchy carpets of snow had fallen onto the field. Except, instead of snow, it was corpses. Tons and tons of corpses.
The sight did well to quell any excitement or joy at what had just happened.
Riza turned to look at the demon that had shaved ten, twenty, maybe even thirty parasites off of her–she had no idea how many she had left but it couldn’t have been many.
It was humongous. Far larger than anything she had ever fought before. Far larger than something that should exist. The square-cube law essentially set a soft limit to how large a living creature could be but this demon seemed to ignore it.
I suppose magic lets you get away with reality-breaking things, Riza sighed.
“You really killed that king?” Lefie asked from Riza’s side, noticing where she was looking.
“Fucking pain to do so. I lost track of how much health it had. Oh, yeah, my level cap increased.”
“What? No! What is it now?” Lefie asked, instantly excited.
“29.” Saying it out now, Riza realised something. “That’s 14 levels higher than the strongest greater demon we’ve seen, but it appears to be a greater demon that has just lived longer.
“There can’t be a sudden jump from 15 to like 25, so there must be greater demons with levels in between them. There’d be a greater demon that’s the same level as a humanoid demon. So, where are they all? Are they all underneath villages like this one?” Riza mused aloud for the benefit of Lefie.
“Yeah. That’s really weird,” Lefie frowned, shakily getting to her feet and walking over to the thing. She prodded it cautiously with her foot before attempting to climb up its hulking form. Riza stifled a laugh as Lefie landed on her ass with a thud.
“Need some help?”
“No! I… can…” Lefie huffed out as she tried her hardest to climb a metre or two above the ground. With skin tight enough to see the muscles, there wasn’t really any handholds to use to climb.
Lefie eventually gave up and trailed after Riza who was walking towards the elongated head, a disturbingly long walk.
“Wow,” Was all Lefie said as she looked behind them.
“This must be what people felt whenever a whale washed up,” Riza commented, having not experienced that herself.
“Whale?”
“Think of a big fish. House-sized.”
“Scary.”
“Eh. They’re harmless if you leave them alone,” Riza replied, wondering if she should really do what she was thinking.
She looked back towards the village. Only a handful of people were still around, no one even daring to approach them.
What I’ve done is probably already enough to put me on a list somewhere. What’s a little more.
She rubbed her hands together before double-checking the wording on [Reanimate].
[Reanimate] (6/10) -Learned
Raise a corpse into a level 1 zombie
Casting Time: 1 min
Cost: 1 es/sec
Requirements: [Animate Critter] (5/10)
Doesn’t specify a size limit.
Let’s start with level 1.
She placed her palms against the porcelain-white head and felt the essence flow through her, the skill second-nature to her.
And, sure enough, after a solid minute of vitalising energy, she felt the massive head begin to move under hands.
With a hasty step backwards, she watched as the creature squirmed and writhed, pointing its snout towards her, but ultimately not accomplishing much more than that.
Pulling up her stats, she wanted to check something out, quickly realising she had accumulated a few level ups.
25! Very nice. How much regeneration is that?
Name Riza Level 25+ Health 242/242 Stamina 194/437 Essence
5278/11300
Power 5 (12) Constitution 5 (13) Endurance 5 (21) Vim 6 (16) Essence
5 (565) Spirit
180 (2640)
Health Regeneration
277/day Stamina Regeneration
320/day Essence Regeneration
791/minute
Wait. That’s more than I expected… Oh! I got 15 stat points for level 25 rather than 10. Oh yeah.
“Is it alive?” Lefie asked, not hiding from it but wary of getting close. She knew their loyalty but it was still quite intimidating given its size.
Riza threw a look behind her before answering Lefie’s question.
“It is, but I think it’s too weak to move.” Riza looked at its stats to make sure.
Name Unnamed Level 1 Health 20/20 Stamina 20/20 Essence
20/20
Power 1 (1) Constitution 1 (1) Endurance 1 (1) Vim 1 (1) Essence
1 (1) Spirit
1 (1)
Health Regeneration
100/day Stamina Regeneration
100/day Essence Regeneration
100/day
“All its stats are at 1. I’d need to raise it at a higher level and apply those points to power if I wanted it up and moving about.”
Still, for a test, I’ve gotten what I need from this.
With just one last thing to test, Riza healed herself for 1000 points of essence and then kept on healing herself for the remaining of essence she regenerated, leaving her at a constant 1000 essence deficient.
She walked forward and began carving away at the demon, keeping an eye on her stats, as she worked out how hard it’d be to kill.
The initial stabs didn’t get deep enough. What actually killed the thing was Riza climbing onto its head and using her increased power to cave in its skull, the dagger massively helping her with that.
Riza huffed with exertion as she sat back on her haunches, looking off towards the village and realising she made a bit of a display.
No big deal, she thought, taking off her jumper and rolling up her sleeves as she felt herself covered in sweat and overall disgusting.
Conclusions: the body is grossly underdeveloped and under specialised for its size. Without stats, it lacks the physical resistance to endure against a level 1 human and lacks the strength to even move its body.
Riza grabbed her jumper as she slid off the bloody head, landing somewhat awkwardly on the uneven ground.
“Finished taking out your anger on it?” Lefie asked cheekily, drawing a smile from Riza.
“I’m not sure I have. You might want to start running.” Riza grinned. She felt remarkably alright about this situation.
“This demon has got to be rare. I’m half-tempted to keep it.”
“They probably won’t like that,” Lefie replied, facing Litchendorf.
“Yeah. Feels like a shame to just let it go, though. Hey, did you level up at all?”
“Yes! Level 22 same as you-you’re not level 22 anymore, are you?”
“25. I killed enough beast demons to max it before that fucker showed itself.”
“You get a boon!” Lefie jumped in excitement, no longer unhappy with the level disparity. “What’re you gonna take?” She asked.
“Don’t know yet. I’ll have a look when there’s a quiet moment,” Riza replied, the pair nearing the village by now.
She hadn’t quite realised just how many Lefie had killed until she walked among the bodies.
“Had your work cut out for you.”
“Well, someone was a little busy so I had to step up,” Lefie replied casually.
Practically all civilians had left by now, with only a smattering of patrol people hanging around. No one met Riza’s eye, and many turned and hid when she looked in their direction.
A disappointed sigh left her mouth as she recognised the scared looks on their faces.
“It’s okay,” Lefie tried to comfort her.
Riza sat on an unopened crate as she stared down the deserted street. Lefie quietly sat beside her.
The buildings walling in the street, the replacement of green with grey, and the quite din of movement out of sight all contributed to a claustrophobic atmosphere.
She felt sick. Her stomach was turning and her mind tired if she tried to think about it. She knew it was no virus or disease–cleanse took care of that–it was nerves.
A strained chuckled left her mouth at that. Nerves? This scares me and not the demons out there.
She leaned back, resting her back against the cool, stone wall behind her as she felt Lefie intertwined their fingers together.
“I know you said not to use our skills. I’m sorry about what I said in the forest but I’m really happy with what you did today,” Lefie quietly said, squeezing Riza’s hand. “I know you just wanted to keep me safe.”
Riza withdrew her hand but instead, wrapped her arm around Lefie and drew her into a tight embrace, one the teenager happily returned.
It’s okay, Riza. You didn’t do this for gratitude. That didn’t mean the lack of it didn’t hurt almost as much as the demon did.
The pair stayed like that for a few minutes as they listened to the quiet sounds of life pass them by. No one left the buildings or entered the street until the isolated sound of footsteps against cobble drew Riza’s attention.
There, rounding a building, was Meren, with an indescribable look on her face. She held her spear in hand but not pointing it at them. Clad in armour, she looked just like she did out in the field, only less hurried and harried.
“Hello,” Riza greeted calmly, her voice catching Lefie’s attention as well as the girl shifted in her arms to see who it was.
“Hi,” Meren returned the greeting, not moving any closer. She noticed the distance she was subconsciously keeping before sighing and walking closer.
But still, she stayed a good two metres away.
“Hi Meren!” Lefie greeted happily, ignoring the coolness between them.
“What was that? Out there?” Meren jumped straight into it. “Lefie said you’re both from the Dominion but I don’t buy it.” She attempted to cross her arms but the spear made it awkward.
“You said you would be more than happy for more help defending Litchendorf,” Riza said, her mind running at 100 miles an hour, trying to figure out what to say.
Her response caught Meren off-guard, her cold expression breaking for a second.
“That’s-that was before I knew about… this,” She gestured loosely at Riza.
“What? What’s different?”
“What’s different?” Meren asked incredulously? “You killed tens of demons with just looking at them. You killed the largest demon I have ever heard of. You could kill this entire village without lifting a finger! I think I deserve an explanation about who-no, what the fuck you are!”
“You know who we are!” Lefie said quite angrily. “We’re the same people you met two weeks ago. Nothing’s changed.”
Meren scoffed but was unable to come up with a response.
“I told you I just wanted a normal life. Did you expect me to tell you about what I could do? Look at how you’re reacting, and that’s far better than everyone else.” Riza sighed.
“It doesn’t matter. We’re leaving soon and then you’ll never see us again.”
Lefie looked saddened at that but didn’t say anything; she knew it had to happen.
“Wait. You’re leaving? But, why? You could still help us. For future storms.”
“No one can even look at me!” Riza spoke the loudest she had so far, her distress evident in her words. “The Dominion will come, sooner than later. We can’t stick around for them. We’ll probably leave tomorrow. Take time to gather some stuff and then we’re gone.”
Feeling nothing more had to be said, Riza stood up abruptly, looking at Meren one last time.
“Let’s go, Lefie.”