28. Not Enough for Demons

Isaac stepped outside the station and was once again greeted by what was becoming an all too familiar wave of heat. The weird demon from earlier hadn’t been on the train car; Isaac had honestly been a bit surprised. He’d half expected to learn that the demon actually lived on the subway or something. He vaguely wondered where exactly the man had gone, but he quickly pushed the thoughts away as he pulled out the live map of the Inferno. There were more important things to worry about.

Isaac casually scanned the tablet screen, and he soon found the name he’d been searching for. Another reason he appreciated Sharil was that she had the decency to move to a normal, not too hard to get to location whenever she requested stat updates. She was only two levels up and flying near the cavern walls, no questionable bridge crossing or excessive stair climbing necessary.

He reached the location in a few minutes. Sharil was easy to spot, given her towering stature. She was hovering by the edge of the stairs, wings carefully angled to avoid accidentally blasting him with wind. Her snake tail, too, was coiled in on itself, otherwise Isaac was fairly sure it would have hit the bridge below her.

“Isaac, it’s good to see you,” she said. “Olzu told me you came by earlier. If I’d known, I would’ve requested the update sooner so you wouldn’t have to travel as much.”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.” He pulled up the demon’s stat sheet. “Which stat today?”

“Skill.”

Out of all the stats that were tested, skill was probably Isaac’s favorite. Instinct was also fun, but it often involved more nerves and potential danger than he would like. Skill tests, meanwhile, meant he got to sit down, watch some cool stuff, and generally not have to do anything while the tablet did all the complicated calculations for him.

He looked around the area. There weren’t too many other demons around; most of them preferred to fly up in the higher levels of the cavern or stayed in the tunnels. The bridges were also situated so that, at least for now until they decided to randomly move again, there was probably enough space to not cause too many issues. Satisfied, Isaac hit the button to initiate the skill test and held it up as a beam of golden light spread out, cloaking the surrounding area in a faint glow. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Sharil nodded and flew back so that she was a safe distance away. Raising a hand, her already long claws extended even further in length until they were nearly as long as she was tall. There was a brief pause, then the demon’s six wings flapped once, strong enough that Isaac could feel the breeze from where he stood, and the demon brought her claws around in a wide arc.

She moved with an ease that made her wings and snake tail look weightless. Each spin and slash of her claws felt elegant and easy, as though she were simply dancing in the air. Isaac was constantly impressed at her ability to avoid hitting herself with those swings. While Sharil wasn’t the fastest or most powerful creature in her level, every movement held a polished, assured crispness and control.

Once the demon was finished and began to fly back over, Isaac clapped as well as he could with the tablet still in his hands. Sharil smiled, rows of sharp, crooked teeth revealed with the motion. “Thank you,” she said.

A minute later, the results popped up on the screen.

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NAME: SHARIL

SPECIES: DEMON

LOCATION: THE INFERNO, RED LINE

[CLICK TO EXPAND DETAILS]

ATTACK: 15

SPEED: 11

SKILL: 21↑ [UP FROM 20]

DEFENSE: 22

INSTINCT: 18

INTELLIGENCE: 19

STAMINA: 23

CALCULATED LEVEL: 32

Sharil frowned as she examined the results. “No change in level, I see.”

“It’s harder to increase your level the higher you are,” Isaac said. Honestly even raising a stat by 1 was plenty impressive, and it was certainly more than most others in the Underside could say. He stared at the tablet for a little longer, hesitating as he glanced up at the demon. “You know,” he began slowly, “I’ve never asked, but why’re you so interested in leveling? I’ve never seen you get in a fight.”

The demon laughed, the sound low and raspy. It reminded Isaac a bit of a crackling fire. “I guess it is a bit strange, isn’t it? Though I’m curious why you’re wondering about it now.”

He shrugged. “Eh, I just thought I should try and know a bit more about the Underside, that’s all.”

Sharil looked at him curiously, but nodded in acceptance. “To tell you the truth, I never cared much for improvement until the system was added.”

Isaac raised an eyebrow. “Usually it’s the opposite.” In the early days, back when the system was first implemented, there’d been many complaints. Lilith had dealt with most of them, and by the time things had stabilized enough for him to start working, many of the creatures he encountered told him they’d lost interest in fighting entirely. Which, to be fair, was probably what Lilith had intended.

Sharil just smiled. “Well, a long time ago, demon society was purely based on fighting skill. The strongest had the most status while those of us at the bottom either died or became pawns. I was always weak for a demon, but since I was under Lord Lucius’s protection, no one ever bothered me.” She retracted her claws, and they returned to their usual, slightly less long and sharp state. “I thought I was fine with my status and told myself I didn’t care about power, but, well, after the system was added and I saw my stats, I felt a bit ashamed.” She chuckled and shook her head. “I suppose deep down it bothered me more than I thought.”

Isaac frowned as he digested the information. He’d noticed that demons were the most common names on his update request list, which made sense if strength had once been so important to the Inferno. He paused.

“So it’s not like that anymore? Based on just fighting, I mean.”

“Oh no. It’s one of the first things Lord Lucius got rid of when he took power. The system has only made the old ways even more obsolete.”

“Comparing stats not satisfying enough for demons?” Isaac joked.

Sharil’s eyes sparkled in the glowing red of the cavern walls. “Of course not,” she said. The demon continued speaking before Isaac had a chance to respond. “I forgot to ask, but why were you in the Inferno earlier today?”

He blinked, and the temporary moment of ease was thoroughly shattered as he was reminded of the looming, ever present threat of his latest work project. He must have scowled, because Sharil looked amused. Despite having neither eyes nor pupils, she was impressively emotive. “Work,” he finally said.

Sharil looked like she wanted to ask for details, but was too polite to do so. Instead she just nodded, which Isaac was thoroughly grateful for. He cleared his throat.

“Well, I should get going. Good luck with the leveling.”

The demon nodded, which he’d come to learn was the demonic equivalent of a wave. With one sharp flap of her six wings, still angled away to avoid hitting him with the wind, she rose upwards into the upper levels of the Inferno, rising until she was nothing more than a dark silhouette vanishing into the burning red ceiling above.