"THUMP, THUMP"
The marks on my body started to heat up as Lavender hurled fire and earth at the emerging monolithic demon dragon. I watched blood leak from the deep cuts in the back and sides of Victoria's dragon form. Tilly rushed forward alone to try and free Victoria.
"THUMP, THUMP"
Iona is screaming for her to stop, and I can see the now emerging other claw. This demon was more massive than they could have ever imagined. My only thoughts were, "Can I save them? Where have I led these women I love? I don't want to lose them all again."
"THUMP, THUMP"
Darkness. Then a voice. Then another.
"Do you want power?"
"You need us!"
"Let us break them, and then drink their eternal ecstasy!"
"If you want to dominate, let me help."
"Take our power, and we will serve you well."
"Reject them. You need me!"
"THUMP, THUMP"
In the darkness of my mind, time stood frozen before me. Demon voices echo promises of power, and I'm faced with mortal problems at hand. The requests became hard to deny—Victoria, the one that is always trying so hard to get back to me, was dying.
I can't hesitate, and I reach into that dark place, grabbing the snake demon and allowing to latch on. Black flame burst from my marks, and they move and change into striking snakes that run down my arms. I gripped DEMON BRINGER in both hands, and the black snake crawled the golden flames and danced along with them.
"NEMICORAMUS!!" I screamed and instantly stepped to the claws pinning down Victoria down, and four out of five-clawed digits fell, cleaved of, and her body finally shrunk back to normal size. The demon's magic must have been preventing the change.
Wasting no time, I was in front of the other claw, but the demon closed his fist, and it collided with DEMON BRINGER. I gave Tilly time to change her path and get back, but I was blown back into the wall. Even with the demons extra power, it wasn't enough. Those were my thoughts as I pulled myself out of the rubble and jumped back to where Victoria was.
"Are you ok?" I tried asking, but Nemicoramus cut in before she could answer.
"Turning you back on me?"
The undamaged fist connected with Tilly and me from out of nowhere, sending us both flying through the air, smashing into the wall. I caught Tilly and took most of the damage, but this was starting to look bad. If we couldn't figure out something quick, we were all going to die, but then Tilly held out her wrist, AVATAR already displayed, and I noticed the flashing bar.
CHAIN REACTION
"Everyone give it you're all! With everything you got!" I yelled as Tilly, and I rushed the dragon.
"CHAIN REACTION!"
Tilly rocketed forwards with her silver hammer, connecting to the dragon's nose. Sets of spike shot up along the dragon's neck and the locked down tight. I leaped up, and somehow Iona was there, halfway through a spin kick. I kicked out, and we connected, send plummeting toward the dragon's neck.
Nemicoramus tried to reach up with a clawed hand, but a bleeding Victoria used a perfectly timed RIPOSTE to defect the attack. DEMON BRINGER sizzled through demon flesh as the demon snakes helped peal the wound open. As the blade passed through the demon neck totally, it burst into black particles.
"Oh no," I groaned, but looked to Victoria quickly, but Iona was back to tending her.
"We have you, Dave. Lay back and,"
Lavender's voice kept getting quieter until I could hear no sound. Suddenly, I was in a blank space, and four demons stood before me. Each looked like shadows of men and women, but I knew better.
"When we are five, we are one."
"What does that mean?"
"With five demons, we all become one with you, and then we change. Lose and let us birth a new demon, or prevail and remove our curse. You will be reborn into Shadeholm. Win and survive!"
I wanted to argue, scream, plead, or something, but I just felt the world slipped away.
WARNING MINI-GAME ACTIVATED
SHADEHOLM THE DEAMON REALM
Save the souls of the demons within or become devoured by their ambitions. The current level and systems are disabled. New character and system download required. ACTIVATING.
This chapter ends the first volume of Poor Man Reborn. Volume 2 will follow Dave through Shadeholm, The Demon Realm, to save his demons' souls.
I hope everyone has enjoyed the book so far, and I hope you continue to read and enjoy the adventure. Thank you to all my readers and supporters! You guys help me write just by reading!
Chapter 37: Pre-Made Party
DOWNLOADING NEW SYSTEM AND WORLD.
SHADEHOLM THE DEAMON REALM.
PREVIOUS SYSTEM AND WORLD PAUSED.
All these screens were flashing in my HUD, but everything else was pitch black.
NEW SYSTEM ACTIVATED.
Magic combination system activated. Random magic activated. EARTH type magic. Work together with your team to combine magic.
What is going on? I was just in the cave with the girls, then why am I in darkness? Did something happen to me?
WARNING MINI-GAME ACTIVATING IN 3, 2, 1
I smelled sour ale and whoever was close to me needed a shower. Pipe smoke and wet cat were close by, along with the musky smell of reptiles. I pulled my head from my hands and opened my eyes.
A dark-skinned and broad-shouldered elf stood in front of me, behind the bar I sat across. He dried a glass while looking at me with a puzzled look on his face. Karman, Right? The name sounds right in my mind, so I turned to the side the cat smell originated.
"Dave, what's wrong with you?"
My eyes fell on the source of the smell and voice. I took every bit of focus I could muster up, not to react to the six-eyed Tiger-Kin woman sitting very close to me. She was beautiful, but I kept seeing flashes of the fight with the demon tiger.
"Hello?" She asked me again but shook me this time.
I really wasn't sure how to react, I knew this person, but I was having trouble trying to piece it all together. More people were gathering around me now, each with different appearances but familiar at the same time.
"What did you do to him, Sasha?" A shapely female with batwings coming from her brown hair accused my feline shaker.
She wore a form-fitting dress that showed off her body but did nothing to hide the large bastard sword on her back. Red hair and eyes locked with mine, and she gave me a gentle smile. Maxine. Our Wind user and group seductress, the party member most likely to stir up trouble among the other girls.
"I didn't do anything," Sasha complained.
Sasha was our Light user that specialized in diversion and light-based attacks. She always stayed close to me when on the field while providing support. Sasha could be a goof at times, but she was the for all of us when we needed it the most.
"I think I'm ok. I must have drunk too much."
"Are you sure? I can use my magic to heal you. Miss Mikato and Sir Kyrin, Please hold Leader Dave down while I check for injuries. Please do not resist Dave."
Oh no, this land-based mermaid was Jill, our Water user and healing excentric. Always there to help anyone who needs it or not. Jill's fault lies in her excessiveness and willingness to force others into her service. Notably, these two knuckleheads, Mikota and Kyrina.
Mind still fogged, the two took me down with a crash, and the wind ejected from my lungs. Kyrina was a sexually confused Fire using dragon with confidence problems. In comparison, Mikota, the Dark user, had a thing for Jill and went along with her plans with a blind faith that became dangerous if you got between them.
Jill's examination on the bar floor left me just short of filling a sexual harassment complaint, and I was finally let up. After a good dusting off from each of my party members, they all give me some room, and we found a table to suit our party size.
According to my short memory, we are here to explore a temple that housed five souls in the depths. According to legend, the souls will help the user tra
nscend this plane, and past mistakes are forgiven. Maybe this place must be where players that break too many rules go. Perhaps they use some part of the spark to power each world's evil creatures—a lot of what if's right now.
"Is the plan just to go start looking around the temple ruins?" Kyrin asked In his knight form.
"No, we need to gather information first!" Sasha argued.
"Why not take on a quest to gain some money?" Maxine suggested.
"Wait, how much money do we have again? Maxine, isn't that your job to keep the money? What does our pocket change look like?"
"Ummm, we have enough to pay for the drinks and the room, and then we will have about two emerald chips left," Maxine relayed after almost climbing into her money bag.
I sighed. Broke once again, I tried to pretend in my mind that I was surprised, but I just shook my head at the girls. Maxine did have a point, though, with six mouths to feed. We were going to need money to explore. I looked at the girls and tried to remember who was best at digging up leads when Sasha spoke up.
"Let's not worry too much about it today. I lined us up a job in the morning that will help us earn more jobs. I about a week, we should be able to enter the Deamon Ruins."
"What kind of job is it?" I asked Sasha with suspicion.
Sasha actually turned away from me and started to whistle. That gave me no faith for tomorrow, and I sighed, putting my face into my hands. The other girls giggled and laughed at me, and I understood why I had put my face down like this when I woke up.
"Don't worry Dave, we all know Sasha is a bit unconventional, but she can see three steps ahead, so we just have to trust her," Maxine smiled, always supporting Sasha venture because they still paid out well. Still, I usually ended up with the worst part of the jobs while the girls watched me.
"Hahaha, you say that every time to make me feel better, Maxy," I laugh.
After receiving and eating our meal, we all headed to our rooms, but I was surprised when we got there. The six places I had assumed we had got turned out to be one. I had been wondering why the bartender kept shooting my smiles and secret thumbs-up gestures.
The room had two beds, and the owner had brought us a blanket roll to sleep between the beds. I ended up beside Jill on the first bed, so we had to put Kyrina and Mikota together in that bed and switching to female, so the other didn't get any morning surprises. Sasha and Maxine took the floor, and within minutes, everyone was asleep.
I woke up to the smell of cat again, far closer than it should have been. I could feel fur that wasn't part of my blanket tucked into me. As I opened my eyes, Sasha's six closed eyes were in front of me and a cute smile below them.
Part of me wondered where Jill had gone, but I noticed one of her legs still partially on the bed. Sasha must have pulled her down and crawled over her. Just how heavily did Jill sleep?
I looked over and seen that Mikota was rolling around in bed alone, and Maxine was already sitting in the rooms single chair while brushing her hair. I tried to move, but then I felt sharp pricks and a warm trickle coming from the same area. I looked over and gulped.
Sasha had draped her arm over me and placed her paw-like hand on my arms. That hand now had extended claws that had cut through blanket and sleeve, and now my flesh. Blood was making a couple of stains on my shirt as I looked at Maxine in despair.
"Don't look at me. You know Sasha does this every time. You seem to have forgotten the chain mail shirt given to you by her father when you bought her," Maxine explained all of this like common knowledge.
Bought her? What? Why don't I have a memory of something like that? I thought these things over and tried to dig into my mind to find the memory. Partially, I knew that this wasn't my real body or memories, but I had the feeling like this should have been significant.
"I bought her?" I was unsure how to broach the topic, so I decided being straight up with them would be the best.
"Well, you paid her father for her, didn't you? I wasn't there then, but that's what Jill told me."
Yes, I think I remember some of it now. My head feels a bit," but I stopped talking because my mind was slipping off to another place.
Chapter 38: Seradashitha
The memories were now coming back to me.
I was walking up to the trees with Jill. We had just left a small town on the outskirts of a jungle-like forest. We headed in on the information that there was an individual light user deep within.
Jill and I had spent three days and nights trying to find the person of interest but ended up found instead.
After we had lost our path, Sasha found us. Both of us had sat down to think over what to do next. That was when a White Tiger-Kin female stepped from behind a tree. She wore a hide skirt and top, but the six eyes were what caught my attention.
"Why do you two keep walking in circles in my forest? You're so loud, and you are scaring our food away, making it harder to find food for my family."
"The thing is, we have been looking for your family," I explained, along with the reasons for wanting to find the Light user.
The tigress gave no outward signs of recognition but decided we didn't seem like a threat and took us to see her family. The girl showed a path that we followed to a large circular but made with bamboo and covered in massive leaves.
"Welcome to Na Funga Tigra, my family home."
"Nice little place you got here," I had tried to comment offhandedly, but I received a six-eyed scowl that made me feel more than uneasy, so I clamped my jaw shut.
Sasha had gone inside, and we heard angry voices, and then a loud connecting slap comes from inside. The sound of a body hitting the floor thudded and then stomping came closer until the door flap was flung open. A large Tiger man stormed out, followed by two boys that looked to be just short of adulthood.
"So you're the idiot that has been scaring off our food! Kill them, boys!" growled the enormous four-eyed orange and black tiger.
Four-eyed and orange with black stripes? Hmm? The boys he had called to kill us were already wrapped and partially strangled by Jill's water magic; they too had only four eyes and the same orange and black striped fur. I was starting to notice a pattern, and the earlier arguing and slap were making sense.
"What are you waiting for? Stop being useless cubs, and, hey, stop that! What do you think you are you doing?" The largest Tiger-kin struggled as mud climbed up his legs and restricted his moment.
"I came here for a reason. I would like to have your daughter join my party. I am willing to give you the compensation to help with her being gone."
I pulled out a large bag filled with clear glass chips as I spoke the last part. Jill had gasped at the time because that was almost all the chips we had, but I couldn't take a chance on him saying no. we didn't know enough about how many more there were inside, and after getting Jill to help with the mud, we would be in a bad spot if more opponents showed up.
I hand the bag to the large Tiger-Kin while letting the mud that held him in place. The bristling tiger looked like he might try to attack me for a brief moment but instead took the l offered bag. The man's eyes bulged in his head as he opened the bag filled with diamond chips.
Momentarily, losing his composure, a question spilled out unbidden from the tiger's slack jaw. "Are you sure this is ok?"
His mind snapped back into place, along with his mouth and hands holding the bag open. The expression he wore now was far more terrifying than the angry one he wore before. Now the tiger-man was smiling, and he turned back to the pair of panting boys.
"Go get Seradashitha, tell her to get all her things together, and to come out here. NOW!" The tiger roared at his sons before turning back to me. "Well, can't say I'll miss her. One less mouth to feed, ya see? Out here, that means somethin'. My name is Grestamorkaka, and you have my gratitude for this gift, but don't ever come back here, ya hear me?"
Grestamorkaka turn and went back inside, but then Jill grabbed my arm, pulling me closer.
"What are
you doing? That's practically all of our chips! What are we going to do after this?" Jill's voice was distraught with worry.
"I know, but who knows how many more are inside or around in the area? We are already lost, and we haven't seen a single soul but these people since we got into this place. It's not like we can just bribe the local wildlife to tell us how to leave."
The pressure on my arm lessened and then fell away as Jill stepped back. She didn't argue because I had explained myself. Suddenly, both of us turned around to the sound of commotion.
Grestamorkaka pushed his daughter out of the flap as he followed her. He was carrying a chainmail shirt slung over his shoulder, and when he stepped off the porch surrounding the hut, he tossed it to me. I caught the pile of metal rings with an "umph" and had to take a step back to prevent me from tipping over.
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