by Neven Iliev
“Dark Infusion ~♪!”
A black mist enveloped Kora in an instant. It seeped into her skin, turning it several shades darker. Her already well-defined muscles bulged out even more as her entire body became one size wider, straining the thin fabric of her white top and hotpants. The already skin-tight clothing dug into her flesh, conforming perfectly to her form. It was at a stage where she might as well have been nude for all the good it did.
“Ohh, yeaaaah!” she growled, rubbing her hands all over her body. “This stuff makes me feel amazing! Like I can beat the shit out of a steel golem with three arms tied behind my back!”
She then went back to squeezing the blood out of yet another dead troll with great gusto. The syrupy red liquid and other miscellaneous bits that poured out of it was collected inside the wooden barrel at significantly greater speeds. The disgusting soup was actually going to fill the former jam container to the brim at this rate, which suited Boxxy just fine. After all, it needed that blood to get started on performing demonic rituals and increasing the Proficiency Level of its Demonology Skill. Getting that all the way to Level 8 seemed like it would take a long time, but it would be well worth the investment. Having an extra familiar was going to be a huge boon, considering both of its current minions were quite excellent.
The animate chest even became a tiny bit jealous whenever it took a glance at Arms’s status.
[General Information]
Koralenteprix Khusuuszun Caonthioxxaa
Fiend (Pit), Female, 321 years old
Level 17.61 Fiend
Level 12.45 Berserker
1230/1282 HP (+1.9/sec)
144/178 MP (+0.3/sec)
[Attributes]
STR 254, DEX 105, AGI 148, END 198, INT 42, WIS 33, MNT 165
That STR Attribute was especially enviable, as it was pretty much double what the Mimic had. Admittedly, she had Dark Infusion boosting her abilities, but she still had just under 200 STR even without it. Looking at that Attribute score and then considering the muscle-bound behemoth it was empowering left little doubt that Kora’s attacks would be far more devastating than Boxxy’s. The only way the Mimic could keep up with her was if Assassination or Ruin magic came into play, but even then those would only provide a burst of destructive power compared to the fiend’s ceaseless barrage of fists.
The shapeshifter would reach an equivalent conclusion if it compared itself with Xera, who was arguably already a more dangerous Spell-slinger than Boxxy was.
“Ah … Master! It ran out – more please!”
“Dark Infusion~♪!”
Boxxy was steadily starting to feel the downside of splitting its Level and Attributes between martial combat and the mystic arts. Using both at the same time was pretty much impossible, after all. Crystallize Magic helped, but that was a temporary solution that lasted only as long as it had Spell Crystals. It was theoretically possible to prepare more of those while in combat, but the Mimic might as well just cast its Spells directly at the enemy to preserve MP. Assassination was the opposite in that regard; the Mimic wanted to use it repeatedly in combat, but the nature of the Skill made that an impossibility.
In short, Boxxy’s combat effectiveness would deteriorate rapidly as a battle went on. A lot of its damage was front-loaded, after all. While it was true such things weren’t much of a problem right now, that would change rapidly if it came face-to-face with another worthy opponent like that steel grate or the Fleshmaiden. The Mimic was starting to understand it would need to rely on its familiars a lot more than initially anticipated, so it was honestly quite pleased with how they had turned out.
“Master? More?” Kora asked expectantly.
“Dark Infusion~♪!”
Both demons could keep fighting for a long time, thereby covering one of its weaknesses. They could also be used as expendable sacrifices to cover the Mimic’s retreat should the need arise. It was the least they could do, considering how much work Boxxy put into training its demon-related Skills. Strengthening them was the only reason it bothered with this troll blood business to begin with.
“Master, I found some more trolls,” reported Snack through the thought-link. “There’s roughly six of them, about two kilometres south of where you are.”
The succubus was currently under orders to seek out other potential prey from the sky, although that was mostly an excuse to get her away from the troll den. If she were to use her fire magic, the only thing left of those trolls would be ash and cinders. Even a three-month-old box knew it couldn’t get blood from those, though Boxxy began to question if it really needed any more of the stuff.
“Arms, are you done yet?”
“Pretty much, this is the last one,” answered the fiend.
Admittedly her brutish method of extracting the monsters’ bodily fluids was by no means ideal, but it seemed to be effective.
“How much blood?” asked Boxxy.
“Barrel’s kinda full, actually.”
In other words, sixty litres of troll blood. Admittedly it wasn’t ‘pure’ since there were some miscellaneous bits floating inside, but that was surely more than enough.
“Snack, forget the monsters and come back. I need you for the ritual.”
“Yes, Master.”
The first ritual on the list was a ceremony called ‘An Offering to Nagnamor.’ It was fairly straightforward, requiring only some troll blood, a sharp knife and a pure maiden to be used as a sacrifice. Boxxy now had ample amounts of the first two things, but the third had proven to be a problem since it wasn’t quite sure where it would get a suitable victim. At least until it realised that Snack was rather overqualified for the job. Not only was she effectively immortal and therefore ‘reusable,’ but she was also a woman who was neither poisoned nor diseased.
Which was definitely what the ritual called for when it referred to a ‘pure maiden.’
Okay, maybe not ‘definitely,’ but that was probably sort of what it meant.
There was a chance she was close enough, at the very least.
Part Two
“Uhm, Master?” said Xera with more than a hint of worry in her voice. “Are you sure you want to be –”
“Be quiet! I’m busy!”
Boxxy really did not have the luxury to converse with Snack right now. This was its first time making occult sigils and it needed to focus. Even if the Demonology Skill provided the knowledge of how these symbols should look, actually drawing them turned out to be a surprisingly difficult task. Especially when using thick, sticky troll blood as the paint and the uneven, grassy ground of the forest as the canvas. At least it had a decent brush, courtesy of the ransacked caravan from a few days ago.
First it made a four-and-a-half-metre-wide circle of blood, which was pretty straightforward. Then it stuck a wooden stake right in the middle, tied Xera to it and smeared her face with yet more blood. Then it had to draw four large symbols on the ground. They were quite squiggly and complicated and messing up even once meant that it would have to create the ritual site from scratch.
Kora was doing her best to simply watch the Mimic work without uttering a peep, which was easier said than done. Laughter welled up within her every time she glanced at the ‘pure maiden’ tied to the stake and she tried her best to keep quiet, lest her master tie her up instead. She wasn’t quite sure what this ritual was supposed to do, but at the very least it was bound to be interesting. Especially considering how messed up the preparation was.
Xera was thinking much the same, although she wasn’t looking forward to the ceremony as much. Mostly because she had a feeling something profoundly stupid was about to take place, with her as the centre.
Boxxy kept preparing for the ritual for about ten more minutes before it was done. The patterns it drew on the ground matched perfectly with those depicted by the Demonology Skill, so it concluded that this part of the preparation was done. All that was left was to speak out the incantation and kill the sacrifice. The incantation itself was long and had a bun
ch of difficult words, which presented a problem. The Mimic was worried it would flub the incantation and ruin it, but at least it was confident that it could stab someone through the heart without missing.
“ … Huck!”
That was when Boxxy remembered demons didn’t actually have hearts. It understandably felt a bit cheated; all that hard work for naught. Stupid demons, they should’ve told it sooner they didn’t have hearts. Of course, it completely ignored the fact that it never even asked them and just one-sidedly decided it was their fault. Ah, but there might be a way around this.
“Snack, can you grow a heart inside your body?”
Xera was technically a shapeshifter herself, so her master assumed she should have been capable of such a basic task.
“No, Master. My shapeshifting only affects my outside appearance.”
Okay, maybe it wouldn’t be that easy.
“ … Then can you grow one on the outside?”
“Umm … Maybe? I’ve never tried … ”
“Then try it now!”
The succubus, who had her hands and feet tied behind her back against the wooden pole, looked down at her breasts. Well, she was trying to look at her stomach, but that was kind of impossible considering the sheer size of her cleavage. A small red pimple sprouted out of her tummy and grew rapidly in size until it became a sort of messy lump. It seemed that the succubus was struggling to replicate the organ in question.
“No, no, that’s wrong,” said Boxxy after a while.
One of its tongue tentacles extended out until the moist tip was right in front of Xera’s face. It then grew out slowly and steadily to form a perfect replica of a standard human heart.
“Make one like this.”
“Err … can you do that again?”
Xera spent the next half hour carefully mimicking the Mimic until she was able to copy the vital organ to a satisfying degree. It was even beating, though it only pumped air. Honestly though, the succubus was a little irked that her master was better than her at this stuff, but it couldn’t be helped. That murderous box was rapidly becoming something akin to a virtuoso of the flesh, so her superficial skills had no way of matching its natural-born talents. Moreover it was intimately familiar with hearts in particular. They were one of its favourite snacks, while Xera had never really seen one. Well, not intact and unblemished at least.
“Good,” said Boxxy after confirming her external heart was in order. “Okay, now be quiet and stand still.”
Next came the verbal part. It would be difficult to pronounce these words under normal circumstances, so the Mimic’s giant lipless mouth was bound to mess it up. Thankfully, it already had just the solution to that problem. The pseudo-Xera made her appearance yet again, forcing the succubus to stare ‘herself’ right in the eye with no option of turning away or objecting. As for Kora, she simply continued to watch the bizarre scene.
Once Boxxy felt confident enough to start, it coughed a few times to clear its newly made throat and started speaking with a clear, crisp voice.
“Praesent gravida at ipsum in cursus. Phasellus urna ipsum, maximus et velit vel, sodales pharetra purus.”
A cold gust of air swept through the ritual site.
“Maecenas varius dui vel enim finibus consequat. Morbi id cursus libero.”
The wind started twisting and spinning around, just outside the circle of blood. The dust and sand it kicked up made it seem like there was a miniature tornado with Xera in the centre.
“Donec scelerisque ligula non odio vulputate blandit. Cras lacinia elit at massa bibendum feugiat.”
Boxxy’s voice grew louder and deeper with each spoken word and seemed to echo unnaturally throughout the area. It was almost as if a second being was speaking alongside the Mimic in an unholy chorus.
“Sed congue vulputate faucibus. Fusce tincidunt commodo nibh quis elementum.”
The four bloody sigils on the ground started boiling and hissing, releasing a thin red vapour that was swept up in the bizarre air current.
“Maecenas at ante ut dui semper varius. Cras condimentum euismod lorem id egestas.”
Boxxy raised an iron dagger above its head, gripping it with both arms. The red smog started flowing towards it, seeping into the unblemished metal and tainting it with a bright crimson sheen.
“Aliquam mollis, sem quis viverra egestas, mauris nulla porta odio, in euismod nisl sapien sit amet justo.”
The dagger started vigorously draining the Mimic’s MP. It glowed brighter and brighter, absorbing every last drop of Boxxy’s mystical energy within the span of a few seconds. Once it had absorbed it all, it began vibrating and shaking within its grasp as if it wanted to escape.
“Sed ornare dolor erat! Quis placerat augue dignissim et!”
Boxxy slowly lowered the mana-imbued weapon and pointed it at the external heart of its familiar.
“Praesent ultricies Nagnamor!”
Uttering the final three words, it thrust the dagger forward, piercing the succubus’s heart completely.
“Wait!” screamed Kora in a panic. “Did you just say Nagnamor!”
But it was too late. Whatever the fiend was trying to say was lost in Xera’s wailing and screaming. A bright red light poured out of her wound, as well as her eyes and mouth as she gave voice to her suffering. Her bound body rose gradually in the air, uprooting the wooden stake she was tied to and lifting it along with the rest of her. She reached an altitude of about four metres as the light pouring out of her grew in intensity until it rivalled that of the sun.
The earth shook, the winds blew, the trees caught fire, and the clouds ran away. It all ended abruptly when Xera’s body exploded with a white flash and a huge bang. The shockwave was more powerful than any magic the Mimic could muster and covered a stupidly wide area. Both Boxxy and Kora were thrown back and tumbled along the ground for several metres. When the spider-chest regained its footing, it immediately turned its attention to the source of the explosion.
Snack was gone. In her place was a seven-metre-tall humanoid creature. It had massive black goat hooves for feet, with thick, grey fur covering its legs up to its knees. Its thighs were enclosed with chalk-black metal greaves adorned with what appeared to be countless skulls. Its gauntlets, bracers, shoulder pads, and chest plate all had the same macabre design. A long, relatively thin tail protruded from its rear and ended in a tuft of grey hair, much like a lion’s. A pair of gigantic wings similar to Xera’s sprouted from its back.
Its head was a wide, flaming skull with a protruding snout and jaws filled with sharp teeth. The head looked more like a dragon than a human. One thick, short horn adorned the tip of its snout while two more protruded outwards from the back of its head, curving in towards each other as if to form a giant circle of pitch-black bone. The unquenchable flames pouring out of its nostrils, eyes, mouth, and the back of its head threatened to burn this world to ashes.
And most terrifying of all was the gigantic glaive it held in one hand. A single swing from that weapon was enough to cut down dozens of men. Four blood-red sigils – exactly the same as the ones the Mimic had drawn earlier – adorned the length of the blade, emitting an ominous-looking crimson fog.
“WHO DARES CALL UPON ME!” it roared, spewing lava-like drool from its mouth.
The creature – no, the demon – looked around for the one who had performed the ritual, but the only things around were a bewildered pit fiend, a barrel of blood, and a plain wooden chest.
Boxxy was befuddled. The knowledge from Demonology stated this ritual would temporarily bring forth an unbound demon from the Beyond, but it said nothing about it being so outrageously terrifying. Which was precisely why it was currently trying its best to chest like it had never chested before!
“WAS IT YOU, INSECT!”
However, it was all for naught. The giant demon completely disregarded the flabbergasted Kora and pointed its massive weapon directly at the Mimic. With hiding clearly off the table, Boxxy began to weigh its options. Fighting
this thing? Bad idea. Running away? Nope, not gonna happen considering the difference in size. Sitting and hoping the big fiery scary thing went away? That was just denying reality. Ultimately, the flabbergasted Mimic did the only thing it could think of. The same thing many of its victims had done, just before it had finished them off.
“Yes, it was me. Please don’t kill me.”
It would shamelessly beg and grovel for its life.
“HAH! HAHAHAHAHA! IT IS GOOD THAT YOU KNOW YOUR PLACE! TELL ME, LITTLE BUG, WHAT DID YOU HOPE TO GAIN FROM THIS COMMUNION?”
“Um, get stronger?”
“AH! SO YOU’RE AFTER POWER, HUUUH?”
“ … Yes.”
“I SEE! YOU SOUGHT TO MAKE MY STRENGTH INTO YOUR OWN, DID YOU!”
“Well no, I just –”
“SILENCE!” the demon screamed with a voice that seemed to extend to the far reaches of both heaven and earth. “YOU FACE NAGNAMOR! OVERLORD OF THE FLAMING LEGION!”
“Is that so?”
The Mimic replied with a casual tone that was completely ill-fitting with the situation. It had realised something that completely calmed it down.
“THAT IS RIGHT, PUNY MORTAL! THE ONE THAT STANDS BEFORE YOU IS OBLIVION INCARNATE! NONE WHO HAVE STOOD BEFORE NAGNAMOR HAVE BEEN SPARED!”
“Oh, that’s neat,” Boxxy said matter-of-factly. “Same here.”
Needless to say, its attitude did not do much to stifle the Overlord’s mounting ire.
“YOU DARE MOCK ME! TRIFLING BOX! YOUR ARROGANCE WILL BE YOUR UNDOING!”
Nagnamor raised his glaive with both arms and prepared to strike down the upstart chest. The Mimic had no hope of survival if that house-sized weapon hit it head-on. It was dead meat however one looked at it.
“RRRRAAAAR!”
*WHOOSH*
The mass of Fiend Steel moved so fast it seemed to vanish from its position and appear just centimetres away from the Mimic’s faux-wood shell. The wind pressure of the strike alone was powerful enough to knock over and uproot several trees in the surrounding area. It also sent Kora flying into the woods, as she hadn’t been able to clear the area as quickly and silently as she had hoped.