Reborn: Demon Core

by D. W. Jackson

“It is fine with me, what about you three?” Ash said, turning to look at the other members of the party.

  “Another fighter is always welcomed,” Halon replied quickly. The other two just nodded their head in agreement and soon their party of four was now a party of five.

  As they walked toward the labyrinth, Lillanis walked on Ash’s right side holding his arm while Shina walked on his left. To the people watching it might seem like an enviable position, but for Ash it was pure torture. No matter how he looked at the two they seemed to act just like Yuki and Allice did at home. Before, the labyrinth was his only place to really relax, but it looked like that peace was slowly disappearing.

  Since they had killed off enough ogres during their last time in the labyrinth, as soon as they entered, they went through the doors to the boss’s room. When the darkness cleared, a large ogre with silver skin and smaller tusks awaited them. It was a steel mountain ogre that was known for the toughness of their skin. The steel ogre looked at them with a completely dumbfounded look on its face. From the abilities he had received, he believed that the steel ogre was just one that had completely exhausted its intelligence to gain strength.

  Even though Shina had been added to the group, not much had changed in the way they fought. Ash and Halon would still be the vanguards while Jacob and Shina attacked at the monsters blind spots and all the while Lillanis would make sure that none of them died.

  Since it was a boss monster, Ash didn’t hold anything back and for the first time in months invoked gambler’s gambit.

  “Tring.”

  [Due to gambler’s gambit all stats have been raised by 94 points.]

  Ash wanted to shout. Ninety-four points on each stat. There were no other words for it other than simply outrageous. Knowing that the boost wouldn’t last long, Ash quickly jumped forward striking at the ogre’s knee with his sword. When the ogre’s skin and the blade of the sword met sparks flew into the air, but Ash was still able to cut a deep wound into the ogre’s knee. While Ash was attacking the right knee, Halon was going after the left knee, but his attacks were doing far less damage.

  As soon as Ash and Halon attacked, the ogre didn’t stay still. When Ash’s sword connected, the ogre howled and slammed his club down, but only hit dirt. Before the ogre could make a second strike, Shina threw one of her small daggers hitting it in the eyes while Jacob jumped behind it, though even with his boost damage skill his dagger barely broke through the ogre’s skin.

  As soon as he landed the first strike, Ash jumped to the side to dodge the incoming attack. Not a second after his foot settled Ash struck again this time hitting the back of the knee, then he jumped back when another attacked came at his head. As soon as the ogre lifted the club back up, Ash invoked pounce and drove his sword deep into the ogre’s leg.

  As the ogre toppled to the side, Ash tried to pull his sword free but it was trapped tightly in the ogre’s leg so he was forced to jump back otherwise he would have been buried under the monster’s weight. Ash had a number of copper swords back at the manor, but he had never thought of bring a spare with him. Cursing his own stupidity, Ash used shadow whip to try and keep the ogre’s attention but even with his boost it did little damage.

  Without Ash drawing the ogre’s attention, it was shifted to Halon who was still attacking the left leg. Ash let out a warning just in time for Halon to dance backward as a strike from the ogre’s club narrowly missed him. Thankfully the ogre could no longer walk, though as if not understanding why, it was still trying to stand in-between its attacks.

  Just as Ash was starting to go in to try for his sword again, his gambler’s gambit expired. Though it hadn’t been long, Ash felt weakened as the strength that had been flowing through his body left him but he didn’t slow. Grabbing the hilt of his sword, Ash put both of his feet on the ogre’s leg and pulled with all his might but the blade only moved a half an inch.

  Roaring out in pain, the ogre swung its right arm clipping Ash on the side and sending him tumbling to the other end of the room. As he came to a stop, Ash shook his head to clear it from spinning. Though it wasn’t accompanied by a weapon, the strike had still done a good deal of damage and sent him across the room. Looking down, Ash noticed that his arm was hanging loosely at his side. He tried to move it but he was only greeted with pain.

  As he was sitting on the ground, Jacob hit the same spot in the neck he had been attacking and finally broke through the ogre’s defense severing the spinal cord. Ash stumbled over and absorbed the ogre then retrieved his sword.

  “Master your arm,” Shina gasped as she noticed it hanging down at his side.

  Lillanis pushed past Shina and pulled off Ash’s armor to inspect the wound. When she saw the large purplish bruise on his shoulder she let out a sigh of relief. “It has just been dislocated. Halon come here and give me a hand.”

  For the first time in two days, Ash saw a smile spread across Halon’s face as he took hold of Ash’s wrist and upper arm. When Halon pulled on his arm while lifting up, a spasm of pain surged through Ask, nearly causing him to black out. After a few seconds, his vision cleared and he could once again move his arm though not without pain.

  As soon as his arm was back in place, Lillanis started to heal his shoulder. The feel of her soft hands on his Skin brought a slight red tinge to Ash’s face but he endured it. When she was finished, Lillanis let her fingers linger on his skin as she traced the outline of his exposed collarbone.

  “Does it feel better master?” Shina asked, steeping between Lillanis and Ash.

  “As good as new,” Ash said trying not to smile.

  “Then if you are feeling better, should we get moving?” Halon said, walking toward the door to the next floor. “I thought you wanted to fight some special monster on the lower floors.”

  Just as Ash had figured, the next floor was bussing with plants and trees. The whole forest was brimming with magical energy, making it hard for him to see well with his Dragon Eyes. Due to the intense glare caused by the eyes, he was forced to inactivate the ability like he had done when training with Zelan.

  Even without his Dragon Eyes, Ash focused on his Spider Sense but that seemed useless as well. The whole area felt as if it was an enemy, as if the forest itself was one large monster. Zelan had told him no matter how strong the ability, there would be times that it was useless or a hindrance so it was best to learn not to rely on them, but see them only as tools to be used when and only when they are useful.

  Thanks to his training, Ash wasn’t bothered by the fact that he had lost the use of a few of his abilities. He was slightly more on guard and only hoped that it wasn’t another monster like the clematis that’s main body was hidden.

  Ash got his first glimpse of their new foes shortly after entering the floor. A small green man seemed to rise out of the ground. It turned its small head and its body morphed until it looked like Halon, though with a green body. “Gross,” Shina said as she watched the green monster.

  “It doesn’t look anything like magnificent me,” Halon said as he drew his sword.

  “It looks just like you…That’s what makes it look so gross,” Shina said with a disgusted look on her face. “Why couldn’t it take master’s appearance, Then it would have been cute.”

  Jacob laughed at Shina’s response, and when Halon protested, even Lillanis gives a light chuckle. Halon’s shoulders dropped slightly as he muttered to himself.

  Before Halon could think of a retort, the green version of himself attacked. The hand of the creature formed into a sword just like the one Halon used. Just as Ash was starting to move to help Halon, he felt something behind him and dodged to the side and found himself facing a green version of himself. Looking at himself Ash, remembered fighting something similar in the past though not one nearly as strong. “Everyone watch out,” Ash yelled. “There are more than one.”

  In all of their fights so far, they had worked as a team fighting against a known number of opponents. This time though, the enemies appear
ed out of the ground without warning. Ash and the others quickly gathered together with Lillanis at the center since she had the lowest HP and weakest defense.

  Within moments, the group of five was surrounded by more than twenty plant creatures, each one wearing one of their faces. The monsters were strong and seemed to mimic not only the appearance, but the skills of their opponents. The only real difference that Ash could see was that the strength of the monsters was based on their level, not on who they mimicked.

  Oddly enough, it was Ash’s clones that were the easiest to fight. Other than his luck shield, Ash didn’t have a lot of fighting skills and the cones could not mimic abilities it seemed so they were easy to deal with when compared to the others. Ash felt slightly sad that even Lillanis’s clone was harder to deal with than his. While neither had any combat related skills, the Lillanis’s clone could heal the others and itself.

  With a tight formation, Ash and the others fought hard keeping the monsters away from Lillanis. With nearly every strike, Ash killed one of the clones, but more and more seemed to appear. If he was fighting alone it wouldn’t be much trouble, but the others were having a harder time dealing with the large numbers of enemies than he was.

  Shina and Jacob who had speed, but less HP and defense were trapped and forced to fight while limiting their movements. Ash and Halon tried to move around when they could to help out, but there was little they could do without opening up their formation and putting Lillanis at risk.

  When the last clone fell, Shina and the others collapsed on the ground breathing hard. Ash pulled out some water from his inventory and passed it around. While the others rested, Ash absorbed the clones and his MP quickly began to drain.

  “Tring.”

  [You have reached the max absorption rate for Spore Mimic. Abilities available: Copy (cannot be learned).]

  “Tring.’

  [No abilities from target can be learned. You will be granted a +1 stat point.]

  “What did you get this time?” Lillanis asked looking up at Ash’s face.

  “Nothing,” Ash replied. A +1 stat wasn’t even enough to get surprised about anymore. Since the others were resting, Ash picked up the monster drops. The item looked like a large seed about the size of Ash’s thumb.

  [Spoor Seed (low quality).]

  There was a total of 37 spoor seeds and one monster core. It had a total of nine points in stat increase meaning it was worth ninety gold. Ash showed the orb to the others and their eyes widened. It was not the first time they had found an orb, but each time they showed the same expression. “It is worth ninety gold. I will buy it and you can split the gold,” Ash said hopefully.

  “You are going to use it for the country right?” Lillanis asked.

  “Yes,” Ash replied honestly. “I will give it to Emelia so that she can use it to have a small reduction in taxes and use the saved coin on the fort.”

  “Then how does ten gold each sound,” Halon suggested.

  “It is worth a lot more than ten gold,” Ash said shaking his head.

  “There are five of us fighting,” Halon said. “That means it would be…” Halon puts on a concentrated look as he thinks. “Eighteen gold a piece normally. If we count the fact that you are the only reason that an orb would drop, I don’t think the slight reduction in price really matters. I mean if you pay us what it is worth, then you will never get the coin you are trying to get. In fact, instead of paying us for the monster orbs, why don’t we just change the normal drop split.”

  “That is a good idea,” Lillanis replied quickly.

  “Right now we are spitting it 2 for us and one for Ash. We could increase it to four to one and let Ash have any orbs that drop.”

  “Are you sure?” Ash asked, feeling as if he was taking advantage of his friends.

  “I think it would work out fine,” Jacob interjected. “Orbs don’t drop that often, so as long as it is good with you, I think we will come out ahead.”

  “Thank you,” Ash said bowing deeply to the three.

  With the new terms of their partnership defined, Ash handed out the spore seeds that the monsters dropped. Out of the thirty-seven seeds Ash received seven. Out of the seven, he gave three to Shina. She tried to refuse, but Ash insisted that she had fought and deserved a portion of the rewards from the fight as well.

  Even though Ash couldn’t gain anything more from the monsters on this level, they were still forced to fight three more times before they reached the boss room. The number of monsters they had to fight each time was outrageous and reminded Ash of the zombies on the earlier floor.

  Even with the potions, everyone, including Ash was exhausted when they reached the boss room and didn’t feel like fighting. Even though there were four more floors until he reached the gnomes he wanted to fight, Ash was forced to head back.

  Even though they had fought a lot of battles, it was still only slightly passed noon. With time to spare, Ash headed outside the gate. When he reached the area that was planned to be used for the fort, he found a number of people carrying axes and dragging downed trees to stack in large piles near the edge of the forest.

  After removing his outer armor, Ash put it in his inventory as he pulled an axe out. Ash picked a place near where the others were working and started to cut down a tree. While he worked, Ash watched the other workers. They worked in teams of three. Two of the people would use ropes to guide how the tree fell while the third cut it down. Sometimes Ash would see the workers switch places but all around him they were all doing the same thing. Once the tree was down, the three would pull it over to the edge while a group of ten men used a set of pulleys to lift the logs up and stack them.

  Thanks to his strength, it only took three strikes from his axe to nearly cut through the tree. When the tree started to sway Ash pushed in a clear area. After the tree settled on the ground, Ash heard a voice call out from behind him.

  “Need a hand?” An older man looking to be in his mid-forties asked.

  “Sure,” Ash replied as he sat the axe aside.

  “I can help too master,” Shina said as she grabbed a small hand axe and started to cut off the limbs of the tree.

  “Master eh,” the man said looking at Ash again.

  “Yea…I ended up with her somehow or another,” Ash said laughing. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t feel like drawing too much attention.

  “Ah lad, don’t worry too much about it,” the older man said with a knowing grin. “A lot of young men think of getting a slave, then end up having to work off the cost.”

  After they carted the fallen tree away, they returned and continued clearing a small area. After they had cut down five trees in quick succession, the old man who was named Huck called for a break. “For such a young man with your strength, I am surprised that you are out here working instead of fighting in the labyrinth or working as an adventurer.”

  “Is it that odd?” Ash asked as Shina handed him a small sandwich that she had brought with her.

  “Well even if they are scrubs, the youngins always dream of being adventurers. Most don’t know that even people with grade sS abilities have a hard time making it as adventurers. They just look at the few who sit at the top and wish to be like them.”

  “I don’t think I have heard of a scrub before,” Ash said as finished his food.

  “Really…well they do have plenty of names for it. A scrub is someone who has a useless inborn ability. It is true that once you reach level ten you can get a job class, but even then you have levels. People with low level abilities have it hard finding a good master, though it does happen but it is rare.”

  “But why are they called scrubs?” Ash asked.

  “Oh, that. It is because of an old story. Would you like to hear it?” Huck asked with a withered smile.

  “Is it a long story?” Ash asked as he sat down his canteen. “We should get back to work.”

  “Lad, no need to push yourself so hard,” Huck said laughing. “We have already done as much
in the past hour than most will get done in half a day. It is not like you get paid more for working harder. As long as you don’t seem to be slacking, the taskmasters won’t say a word,” Huck said in a lecturing tone. “Long ago there were two brothers. The older brother had three inborn abilities. One was a sword skill while the other two helped strengthen his body. The younger brother only had one inborn ability called scrub that allowed him to clean anything.”

  As Huck told the story, Ash sat and listened patiently while Shina seemed to be completely absorbed in the story.

  “Growing up, the parents of the children spent every dime they had to help the older brother train his abilities. On the other hand, the younger brother was sent out to work using his ability to earn money for his family. It wasn’t long before the older brother was noticed by the knights and brought into their order. With his new found fame, the older brother helped his family, but he had contempt in his heart for his brother who toiled every day. Thinking that his brother would bring shame to him, he brought his family to the capital while banishing his brother from the household. Without family or money, the young brother continued to work. He did not look for fame, instead he got a job at a large inn that quickly became known as the cleanest inn within the kingdom. One day the king who was passing through the town stopped at the famed inn and noticed the young man and hired him to work in the palace. Over the years the boy continued to work and one of the young princesses took to him and soon they were married. On the day of his wedding, his brother attended the ceremony, not knowing that it was for his younger brother. Upon seeing his younger brother sitting beside the princess, the older brother grew angry. ‘How dare his lowly brother try to rise above him?’ The older brother challenged his brother to a duel. The younger brother knew that he couldn’t win in a duel, but he had no way to retreat.”

  As the story built up Shina’s eyes widened. Ash had heard plenty of stories like this before, but he kept quiet and continued to listen.

  “As he faced off against his brother, the younger brother was filled with despair. When the older brother moved forward, he slipped on the floor that the younger brother had spent days polishing for his wedding. As the sword skittered across the ground the young brother picked it up, ending the duel while the guests laughed. The younger brother spared his brother’s life and instead sent him away to the far end of the country.”