by A P Gore
Am I too late?
No, he couldn’t lose. Not after Roderich sacrificed himself for little Thia. There was still time. Four hours, Mathial had said—unless they’d killed Thia even sooner.
“A leech is a leech. Fock the goblins!” Mathial’s voice echoed in the sacrificial grounds as he stepped into view. He wore the plate mail he had prepared for himself. A shiny silver hammer decorated his new leather belt. It must have added to the already huge defensive stats of the blacksmith. Mathial had come prepared for battle.
So had Noah.
Noah called upon his spirit zombie curse, and for just 50 spirit a demon wearing light gray pants appeared in front of Mathial.
Noah quickly checked the zombie’s stats. He was level 9, with 250 life and 130 damage. A gray message below the zombie icon told him the zombie was downscaled to his current level. That was a bummer, but 250 life wasn’t bad.
At Noah’s will, the zombie attacked Mathial. With the 20% speed bonus, the zombie moved faster than Noah expected.
Mathial laughed. He swung his shiny new hammer horizontally, leaving a trail of silver flickering in its wake. The hammer hit the zombie in the chest and took 100 points from its life pool. “Did you really think this would kill me?” Mathial swung his hammer one more time, and the zombie died.
Noah conjured five more. “Is this enough for you?” he said coldly, willing his zombies to attack Mathial at once.
Mathial’s confident grin faltered, but he swiftly regained his composure. “I’ll kill these too, and then I’ll kill you and send ten demons to the temple.”
Noah conjured the evilest smile he could and raised five more demon zombies. The 50 spirit cost let him raise 10 zombies back-to-back due to his 520 spirit pool.
Mathial stepped back, looking at the gate of the sacrificial grounds. Fear was visible in his eyes.
Noah ordered his zombies to surround Mathial.
Mathial sprang into action, swinging his hammer horizontally, hitting two zombies at once. But two other zombies were already on him, slashing their claws across his chest.
Mathial crouched, dodging the next attack. He called upon his black buff and swung his hammer in a vertical motion to tear the nearest zombie in two. By the time his hammer emerged through the zombie’s head, four zombie tails pierced his body, doing 50 damage each.
Mathial spun and hit two zombies with a single attack, taking 50 life from each one. He would have won the fight if he was fighting only 4 or 5 zombies. But more zombies had joined the battle, and then it was a zombie fest. 9-10 hands swung their claws at Mathial. Various tails pierced his body. Blood sprayed out like water from a hose.
Mathial’s life dropped faster than the stock exchange on a doomsday. When he was down to his last 20 life, Noah commanded his zombies to stop. He stepped forward, getting close to Mathial.
Noah bent, staring into Mathial’s bloody eyes. “That’s what you get for betraying a friend and putting a four-year-old in danger.”
Mathial coughed blood. “This was for the greater good.”
“Did you forget about your own daughter? She was five, right?”
Mathial’s eyes closed for a moment. Noah feared he lost him, but Mathial opened them again. They were misty with unshed tears. “Yes, she was five.”
“Thia was like your daughter. She trusted you blindly. Roamed around you for hours. Played on your shoulder. And yet you put her in danger?”
“It was...” Mathial coughed up more blood. He pushed his hand in his bag and pulled out a golden key. “Thia is in the council hall. Please—” he coughed up more blood. “—take this.”
“I don’t want anything from your filthy hands.” Noah conjured a fire orb and pushed it on Mathial’s heart.
Mathial face twisted and his life left him. The fire burned his body, disintegrating it slowly. After ten minutes, only the golden key remained.
Noah kicked it. The key flew through the air and clanged against the pole, landing on the blood-soaked soil. Noah refused to accept anything from Mathial. He’d trusted this man and was betrayed. Any other time, he would have tortured the blacksmith, but now wasn’t the time.
A notification popped up.
You have killed a demon blacksmith. Reputation with black faction of demons decreased by 5000 points. New reputation level: Irritated.
So, these bastards have a name as well.
You have gained 2100 experience for killing a level 12 demon blacksmith. As the sole owner of the smithy, you may choose to inhabit it. Do you want to bring it under your command? Yes/No?
Noah didn’t understand what that meant, so he chose yes.
New profession gained, Blacksmith. Do you want to replace Enhancer or Herbalism? Yes/No?
Noah chose no.
*ERROR* You can’t own a smithy without being a blacksmith. But still you do. You have unlocked a system quest. Find a blacksmith to work for you in one month or face the consequences. Do you accept the quest? Yes/Yes.
“What the heck. Where is no?” There was no other choice, so he accepted it.
Noah left the sacrificial grounds. Mathial had told him where he would find the bastard priest. His zombies followed him, but the first batch soon died when their timers expired. His plan was clear: overwhelm the priest with zombies and wipe that smug face from the surface of BlackFlame.
With spirit run, he reached the council hall in less than ten minutes. He slowed as the ruined dark hole of the council hall came into view. From there onward, he would have to take cautious steps. The bastard high priest would be waiting for him somewhere, and he didn’t want to trigger an alarm.
First, he would check on Thia and then take care of the priest. If Thia had lost even an ounce of blood, the priest would suffer pain worse than death. He would reduce the priest’s life to 10 points, heal him, and then repeat it until eternity!
Noah slowed considerably as he inched closer to the hole. His heart stopped as he stumbled across a dead body. Somehow, he managed to keep his balance. It was a pitch-dark path, and he couldn’t guess who the heck the person was. He cast Raise Zombie; by the faint light of his spell, he recognized the corpse. It was Xithala, the blue pants demon who had helped him in the council hall.
A wave of helplessness washed over him. Another life had been wasted, helping him. This had to stop somewhere. The high priest had to be stopped.
“You’ll pay for this,” he whispered, looking at the zombie. When he was alive, the demon had killed Noah many times, but a single helpful act had redeemed the demon in Noah’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, friend. I’ll avenge your death.” Noah bit his upper lip until blood oozed out of it. The pain and blood reminded him that this was all real for him. The high priest was going to pay the price.
He felt like the zombie moved his head in a nod, but that wasn’t possible. The soul of the demon was lost to the gods.
A red notification of -5 health appeared. Ignoring it, Noah pressed onward. He didn’t have to go far to find the high priest, as he was sitting on the throne talking with another demon.
Noah coughed, making his presence known. Maybe it was a foolish move, giving up the element of surprise, but he was going to kill the demon. The bastard should know what was coming for him.
The high priest clapped his hands, staring at Noah. “You’re late, human. The filthy child is already dead, and the curse will be lifted by noon tomorrow. Soon, everything will be back to normal.” He beamed an evil smile.
Everything went dark. Noah’s heart declined to beat, and his knees gave out. Every single emotion drained from him like water from a bucket. Time froze around him. He wanted to cry, shout, kill the priest, but there was nothing left in his heart anymore. Memories of Thia rolled in front of his eyes like a movie. The way she talked, the way she licked his face, the way she slept with her tail wrapped around his arm. Everything was lost. He had lost the battle once again; his daughter was dead, and he’d failed to save her.
It was the biggest failure of
his life.
30. Revenge
Something sharp pierced Noah’s chest. “I can’t believe how many times this trick works. It’s so easy to kill the weaklings.” The high priest’s words echoed in Noah’s ears as his health dropped by one quarter. “You just tell them a lie, and they drop on their knees, crying. They just don’t understand the deception.”
Noah’s eyes lifted with hope. Was it all a deception? He wrapped his hand around the demon tail stabbed inside his heart and pulled it out. The pain was there, but it was barely noticeable. He stood with the tail still clutched in his hand.
“Did you say Thia is alive?”
The priest was caught off guard, mouth open wide. But he snapped back in an instant. “No, I didn’t say that.” His voice flickered a little, and Noah knew the reason. His girl was safe.
“Thank you, High Priest.” He pulled the high priest closer by his tail and hugged him tightly.
“What are you doing, human?” The high priest hit Noah with a black tendril.
The tendril spread across Noah’s arm, but Noah didn’t care. He willed his zombie to attack while conjuring spirit zombies. Ten zombies surrounded them in a fraction of a second.
The high priest pushed Noah away, but Xithala’s zombie corpse held fast, hugging the high priest tightly like the metal chain that had bound Noah when he woke from his twenty-year coma. Noah commanded the other zombies to pierce both of them with their tails. Ten tails moved as one, piercing the high priest and Xithala.
The high priest’s life dropped by half. He chanted something, and black tendrils shot out of his hands, wiping out three of Noah’s spirit zombies.
Noah brought them back with the help of his newly enhanced gloves, giving the new zombies the enraged effect. The new zombies created from his blood had extra sharp claws. They dashed forward and performed an autopsy on the high priest’s living body. The priest cried in pain, cursing Noah with new words.
Noah stood there until every bit of the priest’s body was torn apart, until every ounce of his blood painted the ground red. As the high priest’s body was shredded by the new zombies, Noah’s painful memories and anger vanished too. He was enjoying a death today, and he wanted to see it again. Only then would the hatred he carried in his heart vanish. He dropped on the ground when nothing of the high priest remained to be seen. His eyes scanned the council hall, but no one was there. The demon talking with the high priest was gone. Better for him. Noah would have killed him too.
31. Head Man
A gray notification popped up, alerting Noah to a 3200 experience gain. There were a bunch of others as well, even an ornate one. Noah ignored all of them and got to his feet. His health was waning, but before he died, he needed to see his child. He went behind the throne where he had spotted a door the last time he was hiding behind it. The door led to a stairway, and the stairway led to a hallway. There were six doors on each side. Noah opened the first door and fell on his face; his health was down to the last 100 points. But he couldn’t die, not before he saw Thia with his own eyes.
Noah used all his willpower to stand. His health was dropping by 5 points every couple seconds. He opened the next door; that room was empty too. Then he opened the third door. Thia was lying on a bed, foam coming out of her mouth. Noah tore open the last health potion and poured it inside her mouth. He watched her life go up until his own ran out.
♦ ♦ ♦
“Why do you keep dying?” Sumara sat on the chair across the white table in Noah’s respawn room. She wore the same metal plate armor he had always seen on her, but there was a subtle change today. One of the eight plates on her armor shone with a silver color, and her face was lit up with a bright smile.
He ordered five cups of Starbugs. The aroma of the coffee aroused his senses, but right now he was worried about something else. “Can you please tell me if Thia is okay?”
“She is. Your health potion saved her life. But not for long. Not unless you earn a blessing from me.”
Noah dropped to his knees. “How much time does she have?”
“Maybe a couple of days if you don’t get her an antidote. Or a blessing from me,” Sumara replied with a cunning smile.
Antidote. Roderich was dead, and Noah didn’t know how to make them. “Goddess, please. Please tell me how to save her. I’ve found an herb that will turn into coffee soon. But that soon is not two days soon. Can you please, please, please tell me the way to save her?”
“I guess I can. You’ve earned my blessing by destroying the plot against me. And I know you can’t make the coffee out of the teccino until you get your hands on one of the required components, blue grass herb.”
Noah stared at Sumara’s face with his life on the line.
“Okay, it’s very simple. Make her your soul companion. That should put her off my curse partially.”
“Partially? And what is a soul companion?”
“It’s a blessing in disguise for you. When you take a soul companion, you bind that person’s life to yours. So, the curse would be shared by you both. You are immortal. So, unless she dies physically in a battle, she should be safe.”
Noah’s heart filled with pure joy. It was so easy to save Thia. Why didn’t Roderich knew this? “Wow! That’s great. It’ll buy me time to find the cure. Thanks a lot, Goddess. You are a real life saver.”
“But there is a catch to this. Actually, two fucking catches to this.”
The smile on Noah’s face disappeared.
Sumara continued, “First, you can’t leave her behind for more than three days at max. If you do, she will lose the companion bond and die from the curse. Second, you’ll have to die instead of her once every month.”
“Okay.” Those were bad conditions, but it could be worse. He was immortal, so he wouldn’t worry about it.
“Don’t forget, after level 10 you lose all level progression every time you die.”
“Holy moly.” Noah hadn’t thought about that. He was on the verge of reaching level 10, and that would mean no free dying anymore.
“That’s it. And thanks for the coffee.” Sumara winked and vanished from the respawn room.
Noah looked at his notifications. He opened the ornate one first.
Congratulations! You have become the new ruler of the town of Sumara. You inherit the fifty remaining demons and the throne of the town. Build it into an empire to earn blessings from the Goddess.
Epic Quest Alert: Flourish the town of Sumara into an Empire.
Town of Sumara is going through a rough patch and needs tender care and major rebuilding efforts. Would you do that for your goddess? Reward: Goddess Blessing. Failure to complete: Variable.
Accept: Yes/No?
“What the ….”
Sumara chuckled from heaven, or whatever place she lived in. “You killed the last high-level person in town, so the town ownership automatically transferred to you.”
“That doesn’t make sense. I’m not a demon.”
“Who said only a demon can rule a demon town? Have you seen how humans are living among the elves, dwarves, and many other races?”
“No. Damn! I have to get to the human side and meet my daughter. Why do I even care for this shit anymore?” But no, this shit was real for him now. He loved Thia as his daughter, and he was going to find a way to cure her from the curse first. He liked Rihala too, and he had promised her that he would save her. He couldn’t go back on his promises.
“Will you? Leaving Thia and Rihala behind?”
She was right. “No, I can’t, and I won’t. But being the head of a town? I know nothing about that.”
“Keep giving me coffee and I might help you with it.”
Noah stared at the ceiling, thinking she would be somewhere in the sky. “Why would you help me?”
“I have my own motives. Now shut up. I have my own work, too.” Her voice vanished after that.
Noah rubbed his forehead. He didn’t understand what he would do with the whole town. But he accepted the qu
est.
The respawn timer ended 24 hours later, and he left the respawn room with a heavy and confused heart.
32. First Pillar
Sumara
It was the hundredth time, if not hundred and one, Sumara had watched the shining pillar of blue light in her only existent temple on the earth—or rather, BlackFlame Online, as they called it these days.
She glanced at the shiny blue metal plate on her armor one more time and stepped inside the hall of greater gods. Her love, Lucifer, was waiting for her. The sun and moon shined in the sky, providing ample light to illuminate her walkway. The untamed, shrieking wind outside of the hall flew like a horse along the pathway. Even the wind wouldn’t dare to evoke one of the golden god’s rage upon it.
She licked her lips, absorbing the sweet taste of coffee one last time before stepping in front of her love.
She stopped in front of the ruby eyes that were fixed on some distant horizon. Not anymore. She pulled out the shining metal piece of her armor and stabbed it in her love’s right ruby eye, shattering it into pieces of glass.
His eyes opened for the first time in BlackFlame. The devil himself opened his eyes.
“What is this? Is that you my love?” he asked, in her mind.
“Yes, my love. My lord. It is me, Sumara.”
“But…”
“My plan is working. The first divine plate has been lit up when the old Drakonia had the new owner.”
“What? But, how could he? How did he manage it in so little time?”
“When you have a lower god of the game as your friend, many things are possible.”
“Still, owning a town is nothing. I don’t believe he crossed one condition of your puzzle just by inheriting the town.”