by Scar, Rick
He lost health points every hour. Farris’s mood (if it could even be called that) was changing faster than sand falling through an hourglass. Raven did his best to keep the ‘boy’ away from any inhabited places to avoid tragedies and a crushing blow to his reputation.
Fortunately, there were two extreme upsides as well. Due to the NPC’s strength, the rogue levelled rapidly, reaching Level 65 over the three days that his seal was active.
Raven opened up to the crazy demon, revealing himself as a Messenger of Gods. Otherwise, the psycho might have left, making Will search for him again.
When the rogue had accepted the task of finding the wizard and the box, he, just like any other player, supposed the wizard would probably be found in some old, decrepit castle—or in a dungeon equipped to serve as a dark wizard’s dwelling.
He’d also thought of a tower so tall that climbing to its top would take two or three weeks. Will could even imagine the wizard living in a more conventional type of a castle, small and cozy. But finding him in the woods, rummaging inside a dead monster’s body—totally insane and tremendously powerful as he was—went far beyond Will’s imagination. Although he might have guessed it from those guards on the first floors. Unattached to particular spots, they roamed about this world, apparently pursuing some unknown end.
As they ran across the woods, Farris finally asked the question that had been tormenting him all that time: how the rogue came to know about the dog and where to find him. That was exactly the opportunity Raven had been waiting for. The opportunity to complete the plan he’d made while staying with this violent, mental hospital runaway.
This time, Will didn’t try to tell any of those simple made-up stories he’d used before. Taking a more profound approach, he spoke such nonsense that even the most insane person in this world believed him.
“I want revenge on him just as badly as you do for what he did to me. He tortured me. Then he burned my house with my whole family inside it. My wife was pregnant with twins. It was a month before they were due to be born. Most of all, I want to rip his spine out and use it to drum on his picked skull. I want to hang his head over the gates of hell for any passer-by to kick it or spit on it. I want to feed this dog with his own entrails, hammering them down his throat!” In saying this, he played on whatever the demon had instead of normal emotions—and apparently, he succeeded.
His expressiveness and genuine fury (he was still mad with Cerberus for the challenge) enabled him to show the full gamut of emotions, making his story cohesive. “As my house was still burning, he laughed and boasted of humiliating a demon who’d tried to steal a box from him.” Farris’s face twitched at these words, but the rogue pretended to be oblivious of that, continuing: “He said he didn’t even have to stir a finger before the exhausted demon collapsed at his feet, begging for mercy like puppies beg for food.” The condensed atmosphere of his story was so suffocating that Will was about to choke on it.
He knew his power of influencing any listener. He could intuitively find a way to make almost anyone angry by saying just a few words. For a listener like Farris, even a single word would do. He was a walking fuse.
Find the weak spot and press until the wound opens. Will had acquired this skill in his younger years. When people keep treating you as garbage, you learned to destroy not only their bodies but their will too.
His negotiating skills often helped him in talks with terrorists. He’d saved scores of lives with a timely used word, a pause when needed, or distracting the terrorists and making them so mad at him that they missed the start of storming. Who could ever think he’d need these skills in a game?
“Hey! Ahahaha. You! Did you just say that dog humiliated me?”
BOOM!
An instant blow struck Raven’s chest, sending him flying several feet away and coughing up blood, his body making a furrow in the ground upon landing.
- 310
Er, I should have expected that. Fucking bastard. Did he strike me in full this time?
Coughing badly, the rogue tried to stand, but a feet forced down on the back of his head pressed his face into the earth.
“Hey!” The demon cupped his hand over his ear and, pressing Will down with his foot, bent down to ask: “Hey? Are you here? I didn’t hear you very well. Maybe, dear friend…maybe you could say that again?”
What scum you are. If my plan works, I’ll dance my best crazy dance ever on your dead body. Will tried to lift himself up, using both hands, but he failed again.
“Did your brain rot away in prison? Why kill me? I’m just repeating what that mangy dog said!” the rouge managed to utter, lifting his head with effort before the demon pressed it down again.
“Ha, ha. I beg your pardon? Are you saying I’ve just taken it out of context? Oh… Looks like I really did. But your question? What. The. Fuck. Does. That. Matter? Do I look like a complete idiot? Is that what you’re saying? You think I… I—I… I, a powerful demon and wizard, can pretend I don’t hear that?” With every word he said, he stamped the rogue’s head deeper into the ground. “Say! Say! Say that again!”
- 34
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- 82
“You bastard! What are you doin’? Don’t you … shit! … wanna know … stop! … where to find Cerberus?” Spitting out earth and staring at his life bar shortening fast, Will made one final attempt to stop the madman. “Don’t you…wanna hear…cough, cough…what else he told me?”
Farris’s foot froze in the air. Kicking Will’s rising head one last time, he finally stepped aside, breathing deeply.
“Ooh. Good. I’m as calm and placid as ever now. I’m the flowing ocean of peace washing over the lands. I’m the fire blazing… Ha, ha. I… Hey! I can’t be serious about shit like this. I’m so glad I killed the fool who advised me to practice it. Can you imagine that? Hey! Are you fucking listening to me or not?” He sent another kick to the rogue’s ribs, sending Will flying some six feet away.
- 460!
“Hey! Yes, yes! Listen to what I’m trying to tell you. I’ve told that fool insanity can’t be flowing. It can’t, you fucking piece of shit! It’s exploding to spread chaos all around, engulfing the fabric that the world is made of!” The boy grinned, baring his fangs, and he lifted his hands to show how insanity would consume the world. “Oh. I prove that to him. And I showed him…ahahaha…how insanity works. By shooting a fireball down his throat. Ahahaha! He just burst, hey! Ahahaha. Like a frog blown up with a straw. I laughed to the point of crying.”
As the demon remembered this story, he laughed again. His laughter was a blend of insanity, human agony and suffering, and the darkness of Hell. Many people would have lost their ability to sleep for good after hearing it.
His last kick activated the rogue’s passive skill of Leased Life—otherwise, Will would have already been on his way towards respawning.
“Why don’t you laugh? Why? Is my story boring you? Hey! Laugh, you piece of nature’s gullet!” The demon was working himself up again, but Will had time to say a couple of phrases before another blow came to him.
“Will you hear my story? Or are you no longer interested in finding that dog?” Raven asked angrily as he stood. Containing himself so he could keep enduring this demonic scum was growing unbearably difficult.
“Hey! Did I…did I interrupt you?” Blazing in his eyes were flames that could only be extinguished by his death. “I just asked you to repeat the last part. Please continue. Ahahaha. I’m listening to you. So far I am, at least.”
Although his voice seemed calm, Will knew that was most likely not the case: the demon’s behavior could not be judged similarly to that of normal people. He had to proceed to the climax of his story, anyway. This part would determine if he’d be able to achieve his goal or not.
“He said the box stolen by the demon—who ran like a coward— well, the box was false.”
“Hey! What are you saying, you piece of shit? I—I made sure it is real!” For a moment, Will seemed to be able to
see the true appearance of this creature hiding behind the child’s mask—as though his magic had failed for a split-second through overwhelming emotion.
Farris spoke loudly, addressing himself and completely forgetting the rogue. “I watched him for a long time from a distance. When the box was stolen, his seals weakened. That allowed some of us to break free. The freak looked for it for such a long time until he found it on this floor.”
Listening to the demon very attentively, Will goggled his eyes at realizing just how stupid he had been. Back then in the temple, he’d took no notice at all of the lamia’s words: Cerberus is searching for it, moving across the floors in the guise of a man accompanied by his servants.
So the dog can move across the floors. This demon can too—he couldn’t be following Cerberus otherwise.
In the meantime the boy spoke on, paying no heed to his surroundings. “I’m not really strong in direct fight. But now…I am the demon of insanity, anyway. Too tough even for him to defeat alone. He couldn’t. He just couldn’t replace it. What the fuck is going on here?” Farris roared. Clutching his greasy hair, crusted in blood and mud, he started to repeat what he’d just said, pondering over whether the dog could have really replaced the box. “Why doesn’t he leave then? Stop. Is he looking for me? Ha. Ha, ha! He’s looking for me! FOR ME! He wants Insanity back in prison! Sealed by seven seals for the world never to shake again! No. No. No. I will kill him. I will kill him—whatever it takes! Stop. Hey! Um…”
The kid looked around, tilting his head to the side as he considered something. Using that moment, as Farris got stuck in a loop, Will decided to nudge him in the right direction. “That false box you now have, I can use it to distract him. When we find Cerberus, I’ll show it to him. While he’s distracted, confused about whether I could have also stolen his treasure, you’ll attack him. And then you can cut that puny mongrel into small pieces.”
Raven’s voice, like an effective medication, made it through the demon’s layers of madness, planting an idea in his mind. The idea of killing Cerberus—the dog who’d been his jailer.
Chapter 92. Trailing Behind the Demon
T o ensure everything would run smoothly till the end, Will decided to apply his Liar skill. When dealing with a madman,—particularly one as bad as this demon—you had to make sure they’d do what was required of them and not get carried away by their madness and do something completely different.
He suggested a simple idea: Raven will help me kill Cerberus.
This was a perfect match to his skill, so he had no trouble doing that.
Obtaining the crystal, Will barely managed to explain to Farris that no one could take this stone away, even by killing him. But Farris seemed to forget that instantly, getting carried away by the very joy he took in the process of killing. In two kicks, one punch, and one stab in the belly with the dagger claw, he reduced Will’s health to mere 2%. That activated Raven’s passive skill, restoring his health back to 20%. After that, the boy stopped, laughed, and resumed his walk across the forest as if nothing had happened.
Will started to feel like his ‘ally’ could see his health bar. He knew some NPCs could feel or see the player’s level, but the health bar…it was no good for such an ability to be possessed by this demon.
Two days later, they found another cursed place. Raven’s map already had most of the Taargada Forest opened, and now they were heading towards its northern part.
The cursed place was a small spring welling up to run some sixty feet as a thin, winding stream before vanishing beneath a pile of stones, apparently flowing into some underground body of water.
The ground around the spring source was violet, and the whole length of the stream was affected by the curse and emitted a terrible aura. It was surrounded by flat, stone-like lizards, their bodies about six feet long, and their three-pronged tails were even longer.
Name: Paskeer
Level: 95
Health: 41340
There were just ten of them. They looked lazy, sprawling along the whole stream like sunbathing cats, but this image was misleading. Spotting the jumping and smiling boy, three lizards darted off, brushing the ground like wind. In a flash, their nine tails pierced the spot where Farris was.
When the dust subsided, the boy was still smiling, safe and sound, the paskeers’ tails chopped off. But the monsters regenerated, growing their tails back one after another. The speed was unimaginable: once the tail was restored, it attacked while the others were still growing.
Both sides landed blows with such lightning speed that Raven could only see the tails falling around the kid. They had already formed a small mountain ridge. Will started to think that it would last forever, but then he looked at the paskeers’ health. Every restored tail deducted a fixed amount from it: 1,000 points.
The lizards’ health was below 50% when the demon finally got bored. Jumping, he curled up in a ball, then he straightened abruptly, releasing hundreds of blades that resembled long needles. That was an AoE skill with a great attack range. Hitting all the lizards still sprawling aside, it drove their attention.
Each affected creature lost between 5,000 and 7,000 health points through the attack.
“Hey! Ahahaha! Today we’ll have roast stones. I’ll cook them for you, dear friend, to spare your hunger. You’ll want no other thing. Ahahaha. Not because you’ll be sated, but because your stomach will be filled with stones up to your throat! Ahahah.” Rotating his eyes madly and smiling like a devil, the boy dashed among the paskeers, cutting off their paws, tails, and heads as he swirled in his crazy dance.
***
In ten minutes, it was over. Slashing one monster’s belly open, the kid climbed inside and prepared for sleep, announcing he was not to be disturbed by anyone who wanted to stay alive.
Will cleaned the stream. The crystal glowed brightly, pulling the rogue farther to the north.
You have cleaned 33/50 cursed places in the Taargada Forest. Clean the rest, and the Senior Dryad will reward you.
Cursed Crystal
Rank: Unique Item
Load: 600/600
***
An hour later (Raven had already collected the monsters’ loot, re-played his next steps concerning the demon several times in his head, and was now struggling to find anything else to busy himself with) the demon finally woke. Stretching, he ripped off a piece of cursed flesh and started to chew it. “Yum. I’ve never tasted anything like that. So exotic.”
“I’ve charged the crystal. The next shard can be found there.” Will nodded to the north. “When the crystal is fully charged, it will show you where Cerberus is.”
“Say it again. Yuk.” Spitting the piece of lizard meat out, the boy wiped his mouth and said: “No. I can’t eat a thing like that in the morning. Hey! How do you know your plan will work?”
“As I’ve already told you, I’ve found mention of this crystal in library books. It once belonged to the dog’s mother. If we assemble it, the dog will smell it from any corner of the world—and the crystal will guide us towards him. That’s some very ancient magic.” With no single false note in his voice, Will repeated the exact story he’d told the demon a few days before.
He changed not a single word of the story. The demon was probably looking for any changes to expose a deception.
He would expose it, anyway, when Will took him to Cerberus. Farris could kill this puny mortal anytime, if he tried to trick him. Realizing that, Farris grinned and got out of the lizard’s body, laughing loudly. “Take me to my goal then, human. Ahahaha.”
Chapter 93. On the Way to Unrestrained Fun
R eaching the shard involved a five-day walk across the area where the mobs were tough to fight, even for the demon. Will applied his skills without intervening with the boy, leveling both of them up and receiving messages:
The Shock skill has leveled up
SHOCK
Active skill: Journeyman
Stuns the enemy.
Duration: 3.2 sec
Activation: Strike with a weapon
Energy required: 45
Cooldown: 1 min
Class requirements: Berserk, Warrior, Thief, Hunter, Rogue
The Dirty Dodge skill has leveled up
DIRTY DODGE
Active skill: Journeyman
Throws sand into the enemy’s eyes, temporarily blinding them.
Duration: 2.3 sec
Energy required: 30
Cooldown: 30 sec
Special conditions: You must have one hand empty. Can’t be used when standing in water.
Requirements: None
The Cut skill has leveled up
CUT
Active skill: Journeyman
Inflicts a wound making the enemy bleed. Damage: -50 health per second
Duration: 23 sec
Energy required: 80
Cooldown: 47 sec
Class requirements: Berserk, Warrior, Thief, Hunter, Rogue
Sure Will didn’t get all these at once, but he leveled them up gradually, one by one. However, the order of achievement was exactly that.
***
The strange duo stopped by a small cave belching a thin, violet smoke.
“Here we are.” Focused, Will approached the cave and attached his respawn to that exact spot in case he died. Who knows? Even the demon may fail this time. Or he’ll finally kill me.
“Sniff. Sniff. Yum. Do you smell it? Do you? That’s the smell of fucking danger and unrestrained fun! Ahahaha. Hey! Psst.” The kid beckoned the rogue. Flaring up in his eyes was the spark of an insanity that was eager to destroy worlds once set free. “If you…Yes, fucking you! If you spoil my fun in this splendid place and prevent me from having all of it, I…swear on the eternity, I will kill you!”