Reborn: Demon Core

by D. W. Jackson

  “An interesting story,” Ash said once it was finished.

  “Yes, we tell it to our children for two reasons. One so that those with talent don’t look down on those without it. We also tell it so those without talent don’t try to reach for something outside their reach and instead try to find happiness with what the gods gave them,” Huck explained. “Still, most kids these days want to be adventures. I guess there are worse ways to spend your youth though.”

  After the story was done, Ash went back to cutting down trees. As he worked with the axe, Shina and Huck would pull the tree to land in a clear spot then the three would pull it over and start again. After every four trees they felled the group would take a small break. During these small breaks Shina would ask for Huck to tell a story and Huck never disappointed.

  At the end of the day, Huck turned in the small widen plaques they had gotten each time they had brought over a fallen tree to the foreman so that he could receive their pay. “I was wrong,” Huck said with a large smile on his face. “We got three extra silver coins for getting so much done.”

  As they parted, Ash promised that he would work with the man anytime he was free to come work. With the sun now setting, everyone started to head back and Ash made sure to take the long way back to his own residence.

  As soon as arrived at home Yuki and Allice were waiting on him. Like they did every day, the two jumped to welcome him home then ushered him off to the bath.

  After cleaning himself, Ash walked down to the dining room where everyone was gathered. “Master,” Allice said in a slightly nervous manner after Ash had taken his seat at the head of the table.

  “Humm,” Ash said turning his head to look at the young blonde girl.

  “I made this for master,” Allice said holding out a small bundle wrapped in brown paper.

  Ash took the offered gift and pulled on the small string wrapped around it. As the brown paper opened it exposed a small dark green handkerchief with Ash’s name embroidered on it along with a slightly lopsided sword. “Thank you it is very nice,” Ash said, holding it up so that everyone could see it.

  After carefully folding the handkerchief Ash put it away and gave Allice a warm smile. Yuki protested by grabbing his arm and pulling in close but Allice didn’t seem to mind as she had a confident look on her face.

  After the meal, Ash retired to his room but found that it was quickly overrun. In the past only Yuki and Allice would come to his room at night. Allice would clean while Yuki worked on the gear but now with Lillanis accompanied them. With Lillanis in the room Shina quickly invaded crying that it wasn’t fair and quickly behind her came Milly.

  Ash seemed to be mascot of the small manner. Whenever she saw Ash, she would hide behind one of the other maids so the only time Ash had seen her was when she was being held by either Lillanis or Shina.

  Ash’s room had changed a lot over the past weeks. There was now a large desk in the corner for his work for Emelia and today a few new letters had arrived for him to overlook. As he worked, Lillanis sat on the ground at his side while helping Allice work on her sewing. Yuki sat on the bed, oiling Ash’s armor and Shina sat on the floor playing with Milly.

  After he was finished with his work, Ash turned and looked around the room. “What is this?” Ash asked with a slightly confused look on his face.

  Milly let out a small squeak when Ash spoke and quickly skittered around to hide behind Shina only peeking her head out to look at him. “We only want to spend time with our beloved master,” Shina said, pulling Milly into her lap. “During the day you are out of the house and the small amount of time you are home, you stay cooped up in your room. So how else are we going to spend time with master if we don’t come in here?”

  Shina whispered something to Milly and the little girl shook her head vigorously but after a few seconds she got to her feet and approached Ash with a determined look on her face. Standing right in front of Ash she held up her hands. Without thinking Ash picked up the young girl and she quickly settled in his lap.

  “Are you comfortable?” Ash asked sarcastically as he looked at the small girl curled in his lap. Milly didn’t say anything, she just looked up at him with her large black eyes. Ash wanted to say more, but every second she laid there the less he could think to say.

  It didn’t take long for Milly to fall asleep. Once she did, Shina lifted Milly from Ash’s lap. With Shina and Milly gone, Yuki and Allice yawning quickly followed. All that was left in now seemingly overly large room was Ash and Lillanis. Ash fought with himself on what to say to Lillanis, but before he could say a word Lillanis started to take off her clothing.

  Just like before, Lillanis just nuzzled up to Ash after he crawled into the bed. It still felt odd to Ash, but in some small way it felt good to have someone beside him. Ash didn’t know why, but ever since he had spent the first night beside Emelia he felt slightly lost when he slept alone in his own bed.

  At first, Ash was a little nervous the first time he slept in the same bed with Lillanis. She was completely unabashed when she was alone around him. Ash had now seen Lillanis’s nude body a number of times and he found her beautiful on many levels. She had milky white skin that almost seemed to shine in the candlelight. Her chest was not merger nor was it lacking, but seemed to fit her frame perfectly. If Ash was forced to say who was more beautiful between Lillanis and Emelia there was no part where Lillanis was lacking.

  Those thoughts in his mind made it harder rather than easier. A part of him felt like he was being untrue to his wife. Even if it was common in this world, it still felt odd and wrong for him.

  6-8

  The next morning, Ash woke to find Lillanis’s arms wrapped tightly around him. He tried to wiggle out of her grasp, but her arms tightened around him even more. After pulling his head out of Lillanis’s chest, Ash noticed a twitch of a smile on Lillanis’s face.

  “You’re awake aren’t you?” Ash asked pointedly.

  “No,” Lillanis replied keeping her eyes shut tightly.

  Lillanis lightly chuckled as Ash pulled away from her. The whole time Ash dressed, she watched him with unmoving eyes. “Why did you cling to me?” Ash asked slightly flustered at her penetrating stare.

  “You are just so innocent that it was cute,” Lillanis said as she stood from the bed and approached Ash. When he turned his back, Lillanis pounced and hugged him tightly from behind. “I already waited two nights for you to do something. You know it hurts a woman’s pride a little when the man next to her just falls asleep without even touching her.”

  “I’m married,” Ash said, trying to pull away but Lillanis clung even tighter to him.

  “That excuse won’t work,” Lillanis said wiggling around to place herself in front of Ash. “We already settled that with your wife and she didn’t seem to mind at all.”

  Suddenly Ash’s lips were covered by Lillanis’s. For the first few seconds, Ash tried to pull back from Lillanis, but his head grew light and he found himself enjoying the kiss. When Lillanis pulled back and let go of Ash’s lips, he was left speechless.

  After slipping on her dress, Lillanis left with Ash still standing motionlessly in the center of the room. No matter how he looked at it, things were moving too fast for him. A year before, he had been nothing but an unwanted orphan that was barely noticed by women. He had put all his efforts so that when he came of age, he could have a fresh start but instead he had been transported to a new world.

  Ever since he had been brought here, Ash had met a number of people, but most of them had been women. Thinking about it though it made sense, seeing that women vastly outnumbered men here. Ash had never considered himself handsome, but for some reason the women around him didn’t seem to mind. In fact they easily became attached to him. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t make sense of it.

  When Ash made his way to the dining room, he found everyone sitting waiting on him. Lillanis gave him a warm smile but other than that, it felt the same as any other morning yet still
something inside him felt different. As soon as he took his seat, everyone began to fill their plates and eat. Before Ash was halfway done with his food, he felt something crawling up his leg and looked down to find the young Milly climbing up in his lap with a smile. Once she was seated, Milly looked up at him and opened her mouth wide. Laughing, Ash fed her a small amount of ham and was charmed as her small mouth chewed the food with a contented look on her face.

  “Master,” Milly said in a soft chime like voice as she hugged Ash around the waist.

  It was the first time had really heard Milly say something clearly to him. Looking down, Ash couldn’t help but smile as he softly patted Milly’s head.

  After his meal was finished, Gilda took Milly from his lap. When she was lifted up Milly tried to hold on, but her small hands quickly lost out. Ash saw Milly’s slightly puffed out cheeks as she was carried away by Gilda. Ash hadn’t given the small panther child much, but something about a small child being a slave still bothered him.

  Though Ash was still bothered by his thoughts about Milly, there were plenty of other things that he had to do. Pushing his worries aside for later, Ash headed out with the others to the labyrinth.

  As they walked through the streets, Lillanis stuck closely to Ash’s right side while Shina took his left. Only the day before, Ash would feel awkward about this situation but now it didn’t seem to bother him as much. Even when Shina pulled his arm in tight to her chest it Ash didn’t resist like he normally would. Ash himself didn’t notice this slight change in his behavior but Shina did.

  Sensing the slight change in behavior, Shina pushed her luck and rested her head on Ash’s shoulder as they walked but still he didn’t protest. When Shina lightly nibbled on Ash’s earlobe he looked at her with a slightly annoyed look, but didn’t rebuke her like he normally would. Pulling back, Shina gave a light sigh and looked slightly disappointed but it didn’t last long before a wicked smile spread across her face.

  As soon as the five entered the labyrinth, they headed through the door to fight the boss. As the darkness cleared, Ash and the others found themselves facing what looked to be a large tree. Ash had read the plaque before and knew that the monster was called “old growth,” but it didn’t appear as he had envisioned it.

  Before anyone could make a move, the tree shook and a puff of green mist filled the air. Ash and the others covered their mouths, but nothing happened until the ground below them began to shake as the green cloud began to disappear. Suddenly dozens and dozens of green creatures burst from the ground.

  The monsters looked much like the ones outside, but instead of cloning their appearance, they took the appearance of the monsters the group had fought on previous floors. Ash spotted everything from the slimes on the first floor to the ice sprites on the nineteenth floor among the large number of assembled enemies.

  Since there was a large number of enemies, the group changed tactics. Unlike before where they were forced to fight in a wide open area this time it was still in a large room, but they were surrounded by walls. Lillanis took up a position in the corner while Shina and Jacob stood in front of her. Ash and Halon stood at the top of the small diamond, distracting anything that came near the four. While the other four distracted the monsters, Ash who had the highest stats moved among them, killing them at will.

  Ash darted among the creatures as he dodged their attacks. The monsters themselves seemed to be only slightly stronger as they were on the previous levels, but the large number of them mixed with their abilities made it a much harder fight then many would assume.

  Dancing to the side to dodge a Shadow Whip, Ash struck out with a Cone of Frost to the front while slicing a green kobold in half. Rushing forward, Ash killed all the frozen monsters that got in his path. For those that were out of his reach, Ash used his shadow whip to stick them. For the monsters below the fifteenth level, it was an instant kill, those above were still dealt tremendous amounts of damage.

  Right about the time it took to kill two thirds of the clones, the tree started to shake again. Ash felt his heart shake as the air was once again filled with green smoke. As the green smoke settled, Ash hoped that there would be less monsters than last time, but his prayers were not answered when dozens of monsters rose from the ground.

  Ash pulled back to join the others. “Any ideas?” Ash asked as he struck down a monster that had come too close.

  “We have to take out that tree before it releases another batch of spores,” Halon said. “The longer the fight drags on, the harder it will get with it relentlessly putting pressure on us.”

  “Can you hold out here while I try to take down the tree?” Ash asked as he downed a stamina recovery potion to recovery the little he had already used.

  “Don’t worry master, we can hold them off,” Shina said twirling the daggers in her hands.

  “Be careful,” Lillanis added with a slightly worried look on her face.

  Ash gave a tight smile then planted his feet firmly in the ground and used Cone of Frost on the incoming enemies. Even though they were not his main concern, Ash took down every monster that crossed his path on his way to the old growth that was located at the far end of the room. As he moved past the large group of monsters, Ash was tempted to look back to see how the others were doing but he resisted and pushed forward.

  When Ash was less that fifty yards from the old growth, it started to shake again and Ash came to a stop and readied himself. Instead of a green cloud this time, a light red colored fog fell from its branches and sunk into the ground. Just as before the ground shook but instead of shaking the whole room, the ground beneath Ash’s feet only slightly shook as three large green humanoid monsters rose from the ground.

  The monsters stood eight feet and had long thin arms and legs. As soon as they pulled themselves to stand fully erect, all three of the creatures turned in Ash’s direction and shambled toward him. Due to their large size, the monsters moved slowly, but it was easy to see the strength behind their attacks as the ground shook each time the monster’s fist struck the ground. Thankfully with their lumbering movements, it was not hard for Ash to dodge the attacks.

  Sliding to the side, Ash chopped down hard on one of the monster’s legs, cutting clean through its mossy flesh. Ash quickly jumped back, expecting the brute to topple to the ground but as it leaned back, vines shot from its severed leg reattaching itself.

  Jumping in, Ash attacked again, this time severing one of the creature’s arms. Unlike last time as he struck Ash watched closely and noticed that though he severed the arm, no numbers appeared to show that he had done any damage to the creature. When he noticed this, Ash took a step back and let his eyes shift to the large tree that was still about sixty yards away.

  Without knowing a quick way to deal with the moss golems, Ash moved past them and decided instead to attack the old growth head on. Easily slipping past the moss golems, Ash struck the old growth hard, but his thin bladed sword seemed to do little damage.

  Slipping his sword in its sheath, Ash pulled the axe he had been using the day before out of his inventory. Using the axe, Ash hit the tree again and this time small flecks of bark peppered his face. After two more strikes a small wedge of wood fell from the tree followed by a thick blood red sap. Even though his axe was doing much more damage than his sword, the moss golems were not going to wait around while he cut through the massive tree and Ash was forced to circle around its large truck as he dodged the monster’s attacks.

  As he moved to the back of the tree, Ash took a quick look in the corner where he had left his friends to find it empty. Instead what he saw was a large number of green creatures headed in his direction. A sense of worry hit him until he saw Shina jump into the air landing on one of the creature’s back skewering it with her twin daggers. After Shina came, Halon who was cutting down anything that got in his way. It looked like as soon as Ash struck the old growth that the monsters turned their attention away from the four and moved to attack Ash instead. Knowing that his t
ime was limited, Ash continued to chop away as he moved around.

  Soon Ash was not only dodging the attacks of the moss golems, but those of the clone monsters as well. The only saving grace was that their numbers had been greatly reduced and the old growth had yet to release another batch of green spores into the air.

  Ash struck the trunk of the tree again as a green spear flashed past his side from a dragon kin clone. Before he could turn around and kill it, Jacob appeared cutting its head off. Unlike normal monsters, when the clones died they simply burst into green dust.

  Ash kept his attention on the old growth, leaving the other monsters to his companions. His strikes didn’t do a lot of damage, but with his single-mindedness it only seemed like moments before he had cut far enough into the old growth that it started to pop and sway. With a large cracking sound, the top of the tree crashed to the ground.

  As soon as the old growth died, the moss clones burst into dust. Coughing and gaging on the green dust, Ash absorbed the old growth and then picked up a small red vial of liquid that lay on the ground and handed it to Lillanis.

  “That was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Halon said rubbing a small bruise on his upper arm.

  “Don’t tell me you are ready to head back already,” Lillanis said with a furrowed brow. “We haven’t even been in here an hour yet.”

  Ash handed out recovery potions for stamina and MP while drinking a few himself. “Halon might be right, it isn’t good to push ourselves too hard. We should test out the next floor and see if we can make it to the boss room then warp out sometime around noon. No reason to force ourselves yet.”

  Hearing this, Halon and Jacob smiled while Lillanis narrowed her eyes at Ash. A shiver ran down Ash’s back at the coldness of her look, but he tried to brush it aside.