by K R Zax
Demon Lord
New World – Book 1
by
K. R. Zax
Copyright © 2020 by K. R. Zax
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are all product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real individuals are purely coincidental.
No part of this work may be redistributed in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher, except in brief quotations, reviews, and other non commercial uses permuted by copyright law.
Table of Contents
Map
Chapter 1.
Chapter 2.
Chapter 3.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 5.
Chapter 6.
Chapter 7.
Chapter 8.
Chapter 9.
Chapter 10.
Chapter 11.
Chapter 12.
Chapter 13.
Chapter 14.
Chapter 15.
Chapter 16.
Chapter 17.
Chapter 18.
Chapter 19.
Chapter 20.
Chapter 1.
I opened my eyes and thought that I may be dreaming because what I saw didn’t make sense. There was a metal ceiling above me and an old neon panel, which wasn’t working. Instead, the light came from a few flying orbs? Not kidding, there were light orbs, levitating over my head and as much as I looked, I was unable to find any kind of wire attached to them.
“Good morning, Mr. Miller.” A raspy voice said and laughed in joy, though it did sound kind of evil.
I sat upright and tried to look at the source of that peculiar voice. It was strange, not like the voice of a living thing. Was it coming from an intercom? Am I in some kind of show?
Looking around the half-lit room I could see some strange mix of equipment resembling a hybrid of science and fantasy.
“What is the last thing you remember, Mr. Miller?” This time, it felt like I was hearing the voice filled with excitement, reaching not only my ears but my mind as well.
“I was driving to college,” I said stressing myself to remember.
Yes, it was my first year in college, a couple of months away from the summer vacation. So far so good, if I keep this up I’ll come across some kind of clue that will tell me where I am and what is going on. “Then... There was some earthquake? And then. That truck... Did I have a car accident?”
“Correct! Seems like your memory is intact after all this time, as expected from a high-grade soul stone!”
“Soul stone?” What is he talking about? And what is this thing I am sitting on? It is not the floor like I initially thought, it looked like some kind of altar. Was it made from a chunk of marble? It was black and it had a smooth surface, except for the parts where some sort of symbols were carved.
“What do you want with me?” I hope he doesn’t plan to kill me. But all this setup indicates that he might. Shit! I just woke up. I don’t want to die now.
“But you technically died once, Mr. Miller.”
“Bloody hell?!” I stood up, shocked at what I saw. From a cluster of darkness, a human skeleton emerged. A freaking, real skeleton with green light, blazing in his eye sockets and the place where its heart used to be.
Maybe it’s a hologram, or, or… Shit. It just looks so real!
“Oh, but I am real, Mr. Miller. Let me introduce myself, I am Sam Harrington – your doctor.” He took a few steps in my direction and the darkness wrapped around him like a robe. He had some resemblance to an Elder Lich I saw once in a game.
“Doctor? What kind of doctor? This doesn’t look like a hospital.”
That was true, there were several fluorescent tubes, containing something that looked like aliens, or deformed humans. There were also old office tables with computers and big monitors on the walls, but none of them seemed to be working anymore.
I could see books and cauldrons and jars, vials, bones, and other stuff...
“I’ll explain. That day, when you had the accident, a phenomenon occurred. One that shook the whole world.”
While I listened to the Lich’s narration, my mood became calmer with each word he said. It felt so much like listening to a game intro, not just because of the way it sounded but because of the plot as well.
“Tremors, floods, quakes… The geography of the world changed a bit at a time. Where there was land, a lake or sea would appear, and vice versa. Satellite recordings stated that the world grew bigger, roughly twice the size it used to be.”
“How?” I interrupted him. This was so crazy.
Twice the size? What about gravity? Shouldn’t I be feeling heavier then? Everything seems normal to me.
“Gravity means nothing in a world with magic,” the Lich said.
“Magic? Wait, can you read minds or something?”
“Precisely, I am a powerful Lich after all,” he laughed again. Well, at least one of us is having a good time.
“Do you remember the Hadron Collider? CERN? Does any of that ring a bell?”
I nodded. I remember seeing a documentary on TV. Something about a twenty-something kilometers big underground ring, super magnets, accelerating structures. Two beams of high-energy traveling at the speed of light and are made to collide.
“Right!” The Lich spread his skeletal hands wide. “And it is where we are now. Well, we are in one of the few facilities that were left more or less undamaged.”
“We’re in Switzerland?” That can’t be right. I was in the UK. Though, I think that a lot of good doctors could be found in Switzerland, or so I read somewhere on the Internet. But my parents aren’t wealthy enough to pay for all of that.
“They didn’t send you to Switzerland. Even if they did, it wouldn’t help much. Let’s continue, as I said, the scientists at CERN were searching for the God particle. No one knows why or how it happened, but one day a large explosion occurred. It destroyed 80% of the facility and a shockwave engulfed the Earth. Millions of people died in the first month as the world changed.
But the most unbelievable thing was Magic. Individuals able to use it started appearing all over the world.
I was a relatively new doctor at that time, and my interests were in healing magic. It could do miracles!”
“So, I was healed with magic?” No wonder I felt great.
“No,” Dr. Sam said evenly, his eyes blazing in his sockets. “People who can use magic have one element they are efficient with and can use one or two additionally, to some extent, depending on the individual’s talent.”
The Lich looked at his bonny hands. “I held great hopes. I thought I could learn healing magic and treat my patients. But my attribute was Darkness, and I could use a bit of fire magic. Healers were rare at that time, and there were literally millions of people around the world who needed some kind of treatment that normal doctors couldn’t provide.
Soon other things appeared. Monsters, and all sorts of creatures. As well as dungeons.”
“Like in the games and manga?” Ah, he probably doesn’t know about manga. A lot of people were more familiar with western style comics.
“Of course I know about manga.” Dr. Sam seemed offended by my thoughts. Would he stop that? I’d like to have some privacy here.
“Just so you know, that was the reason you’re alive today.”
Manga?
“When your mother came to visit you in the hospital one day, she put a little figurine beside your bed.”
“Oh, right! My Megumin figurine from KonoSuba. Do you have it? Is it here somewhere?” Yes, I know that this is not the time to be thinking about a plastic figurine of an Anime character. But man, I wa
s so excited! I wanted to add her to my collection so badly. Wait, is my collection still safe? Mom didn’t throw it away, did she?
“Your collection was lost.”
“No!” My legs gave out, and I hit the stone surface with my fists. “Shit! My collection! How could that happen?”
“You were in a coma, had a concussion, fractured ribs, your legs were amputated below the knees and your spine was severely damaged.”
Is he for real? I stood up and checked my limbs – they were all there. Huh, something's off. My skin looks way better. Flawless. And why am I wearing strange clothes? You know, the kind you would see people wearing in a role-play event.
“Such a lively spirit, I’m glad I didn’t devour you.”
What?
“So, you were in a bad state and there wasn’t any mage coming to heal you. A couple of years went by as people tried to adapt to the new world. People with skills and magic dived into the dungeons, it was a hit on the Internet and TV. Anyone could take a camera with them and go into a dungeon. The masses loved to see them fight monsters, conquering floor by floor. There were always rare finds in the lower floors. Things like magic items, rare materials… And the soul stone.”
“You mentioned that before, but what is a soul stone?”
“This,” out of nowhere, between his bone fingers, a red gem appeared. “This one has no power now, but when it did, anyone with magic could use it on a dying person. You place the stone on the individual's chest and when he dies, the stone sucks his soul and keeps it stored for later use.”
“Was it expensive?” I hope I won’t have to work a lifetime to repay him.
“No, I stole it,” the Lich said so nonchalantly. “One day, monsters rushed from the dungeons. It happened globally, people died, cities were destroyed. I used the confusion to steal this soul stone from London's Guild Store. After that, I went back to the hospital, put the stone on your chest, and then I sliced your neck.”
“You killed me?!”
“Yes, and you’d be dead anyway. There were monsters everywhere, the military and the adventurers fought with them on the streets, electricity was out.
The machines in the hospital were about to shut down. I had no choice. And… just as I walked out of the hospital, a goblin pierced my kidney with a knife. I used fire magic to roast his eyes and then escape. Unable to go far, I hid in a van. And died.”
There was an awkward silence for some time before Dr. Sam continued:
“Remember, I was a Dark magic user. The odd for a magic user to become a Lich is roughly one in a thousand, but for Dark magic users is almost 50/50.
When I stepped out of the van, nearly half of the UK was lost to the monsters, there were dead people everywhere. I spent the next few hundreds of years roaming the world, looking for a way to bring you back to life. That was the only thing I had that kept my mind as human as possible. I was a doctor after all, so I could fight against the urge to kill the living. Well, I did kill a lot of monsters and people that came after me.”
I listened to his story, trying to digest everything he said. Magic, goblins, dungeons, hundreds of years. What does the world look like right now? He said that it merged with another world and became bigger. Should I explore it or go back to England?
“What about my parents? What happened to them?”
“Sorry, I couldn’t find a clue about them. Most likely they died when the monsters rushed out of the dungeons.”
“Oh,” I felt pain in my chest. Mom and Dad were the only family I had, and now I am alone. “You said hundreds of years, just how long has it been since I died?”
“3892 years, 10 months and 27 days.”
“What?!” I was dead for almost 4000 years? Bloody hell!
“Stop those thoughts,” the Lich raised his hand while staring at me intently. “The future as you’re imagining does not exist. There are no flying cars, spaceships and the like. On the contrary, during all this time, humanity had countless ups and downs, but it stayed like in the medieval fantasy stories that we read when we were alive.”
I really wanted to go out and see this world, it sounded like the kind of world I always wanted to see. Like in the games I played.
“You will go,” Dr. Sam interrupted my thoughts as usual. “But you have to know a few things. Firstly, that body you own now was made artificially through the means of alchemy, and since I made it using the blood of a Demon, you have high compatibility with Dark magic.”
Yes! Magic! I wanted to try… Demon?
“Don’t worry, you do not look like a Demon. But I needed good materials, and this was a chance to see how Demon blood would work. Let’s put that aside for now, hold your hand in front of you and summon a ball of Darkness.”
I did as the Lich commanded, feeling the power surge through my body, concentrating on the palm of my hand. Soon enough, o ball of darkness was floating in front of me. Weird, this shouldn’t be that easy. And how do I know how to control the power that accurately?
“I implanted some knowledge in that body when I made it. You will have an easy time learning magic, and when I say that, I mean all magic. not just the Dark Element. Inside your body there is a special magic seed. It not only enables you to use more elements, but can also increase you mana pool.”
“Cool.” I tried to summon a water ball but it failed, the feeling I got was like something was missing.
“Like I said, it only enables you to use other elements, not that you can use them right now. You will have to defeat monsters and Absorb their life force to acquire their skills and magic affinity. Here, take this.” Dr Sam summoned a plate out of thin air and handed it to me. “A ‘Status Plate’. you’ll find it useful to have an insight at your growth.”
I looked at the strange piece of bluish metal.
Name
Alex Miller
Mana
S
Strength
A
Speed
B
Dark Magic
C
Fire Magic
G
“It doesn’t display my age, or a lot of other information like the characters in a game would have, but it’s not bad.”
“Regarding your age, I made you look like a 18 year old,” the Lich said apologetically. “And since you have an artificial body made with Demon blood and a few other things, you’re kind of immortal. As long as you don’t die that is. For example, if you live in seclusion in a safe space you won’t age, you’ll retain the appearance of an eighteen-year-old even after 10000 years. But if someone kills you – you’re dead.”
“Well, I am not OP, but it doesn't sound that bad. It may even be fun trying to become stronger.” Like in the games, you start with Level 1 and make your way up.
“You are not as week as a normal human, in terms of their rankings you’d be a fresh A rank. Anyway, I couldn’t make you weaker, even if I wanted to. The Demon blood is too powerful to be suppressed.”
Well. It would be boring if I was as powerful as Super Saiyan right off the bat. In a medieval setting of all places. Still, wasn’t A rank a bit too much? Or maybe it wasn’t. What is the average strength level in this world?
“Why worry about that? You won’t be too weak to die when facing an ordinary monster, and there is more room for growth. Even the S rank people have a huge power difference between them. Strive for greatness and stand on the top of the world!” The Lich clapped his hands excitedly. What a weird fellow, I kind of liked him. “You can Absorb a part of your victim’s life force to raise your Attributes, acquire a skill and increase your mana. Right now, you have the Absorb skill, you can use only one attack skill from the Dark Element, you have the Shadow Storage – an inter-dimensional sub-space where you can store things. The amount you can store is restricted by your Mana pool.”
That does sound convenient.
“It is. After all, it would be bad if you died on your first day in the new world.”
“Wait, am I going to some dang
erous place? Like, now?”
Chapter 2.
“Yes! you are living in a few minutes! Aren’t you excited?”
“Uh, no?” I woke up (revived) after almost 4000 years and now I have to go? Isn’t he supposed to teach me magic and stuff? I sure read something like that in a book once or twice.
“Listen, kid.” The Lich said reprovingly. “I have my own research I have to deal with. The only reason I helped you out was because you’re a fellow Otaku, who helped me retain my humanity.” He extended his hand, and a figurine materialized in his palm.
“That is...!” I reached out, taking my Megumin figurine. It looked brand new, not like something 4000 years old.
“Time doesn’t flow in the Shadow Storage,” he said and handed me a book. “This is a book I wrote. It contains the depictions and descriptions of the most common monsters, it will be useful since there is no Internet here.”
I put the items he handed me in my own Shadow Storage, it was a weird sensation. Like there was a space as big as a football field that only I was aware of. No wonder, since my mana was S.
“And this is your weapon.” A beautiful black staff appeared in his hands. It was an inch thick, 5.5 feet long. It had a blue crystal on top, held between two protrusions that looked like blades. Really cool.
“Imbued it with your magic.”
I took the staff in my hands, it didn’t feel like metal, but it had considerable weight. Closing my eyes, I concentrated and let the mana flow through the staff. There was something akin to a pulse coming from it, and for a second it vibrated in my hands.
“Wow,” I exclaimed when I saw the staff. I was engulfed in Darkness and the two slim blades expanded, giving it the look of a battle axe, while the crystal emitted a strong, bluish light. It was brimming with power.
“Good. It has recognized you as it’s owner.” Dr. Sam said gleefully. “As you can see, it can be used as a battle axe, a spear, or just as a staff. It doesn’t simply amplify your magic, but it helps you have better control when casting spells. The body is made from a special material that can be found in the deepest floors of some older dungeons, and its form can be manipulated to some extent.”