Enemy of the Inferno (Disgardium Book #8): LitRPG Series

by Dan Sugralinov

  Quetzal asked me to meet him to discuss the Excos entering our alliance, but I decided to put that off for now. First the Inferno, then my new allies. Another fellow fighter of the Cursed Chasm, Meister the jeweler, carefully asked me whether I was going to fulfill my promise soon. I scratched my head. How could I do that with the least possible effort? Without risking my Threat status? Pfft, easily! I had priests in Kinema! And I owed Kusalarix three priest spots in exchange for that jewelworking artifact for Meister.

  I took out my Faded Coin and contacted Kusalarix. The goblin woman surprised me – there was no smoke in her office, and no cigarette in her fingers. Apparently, I was distracting Kusalarix from important business; the glance she shot my way was far from friendly, but when she realized who I was, her eyes warmed.

  “Lady Kusalarix!”

  “Woah, get a load of you! Decided to say thanks after all, huh?”

  What did she mean? Fortunately, I figured it out quickly:

  “Thanks for Mano’Hano and Lil’ Star. I don’t know if Navalik the goblin was one of yours too, but he really helped me out. Thanks to all of you, and the whole Green League!”

  “Alright, alright. I know that you know.”

  “Know what?”

  “That we were helping ourselves out as much as you. So forget it. Those guys volunteered to help. The League will take care of their friends and family. The High Council’s been talking about nothing else but your victory in the Demonic Games, but nobody knows the details. They say you took down the head honcho demon?”

  “I wasn’t alone, which is what I wanted to talk to you about, Mrs. Kusalarix!”

  “Come in then, do tell!” the goblin woman said, perking up. The small window of the portal grew to my height and I stepped through it. “Woah, you’ve gotten stronger! So have I. Thanks to the Sleepers, I got no end of suitors now!”

  Kusalarix’s charisma had skyrocketed thanks to Unity. She looked younger and had turned into a real beauty. At least by goblin standards.

  I got straight down to business:

  “Mrs. Kusalarix! I’m heading into the Inferno to get Coals of Hellflame. They’ll help us withstand the frost on Holdest and reach the Nucleus of the Destroying Plague. If you have any ideas on how to survive there, I’d be very grateful for them.”

  “Ideas? The only way to get there is by leaving this world for good, if you know what I mean. Sorry, but the League won’t help you in your suicidal campaign. What did you want to talk about?”

  I reminded her of the jewelworking artifact for Meister and my promise of three extra priest slots for the Green League, plus the hundred sentients that would have to be made followers of the Sleepers. The interface helpfully highlighted the names of my allies from Meister’s raid in the tab for unfulfilled contracts. The prime notary had somehow transferred my obligations from real life into Dis.

  “I’ll take care of them,” the goblin woman answered. “I’ll give the artifact to Meister personally. It’s a pretty well-known trinket in the League. As for the priests… Wait here.”

  She left her office and came back a couple of minutes later with three goblins – a middle-aged woman and two old men who shuffled along very slowly. Their profiles told me that they were members of the League’s High Council. I rose, shook their hands.

  “Lady Govarla, Master Vonprutich and His Grace Steltodak, High Priest of the greedy and heartless Maglubiyet,” Kusalarix introduced them.

  “So the greedy and heartless one won’t mind?”

  All four goblins laughed, and His Grace Steltodak wiped away tears:

  “Everything good for the League is good for Maglubiyet, young man.”

  A minute later, the Sleepers had three new priests. After the trio left, Kusalarix lit up a cigarette, narrowed her eyes:

  “Something else, Scyth?”

  “Yeah. I need to see Grokuszuid. Can I use your internal portal network?”

  “As soon as you tell me what you saw at the Games, young man,” Kusalarix said, drumming her nails on the table. “Just kidding. I see you’re in a hurry.”

  Chuckling, she opened a portal to the ASS. I said goodbye, walked through it and found myself in Grokuszuid’s office. The old goblin had been sipping something from a porcelain cup, and choked in surprise.

  “I’m ready to participate in the closed auction, Mr. Grokuszuid,” I said. “Here and now, ideally.”

  “As for here, that is not possible!” the goblin cut me off. “Our god, greedy and heartless Maglubiyet, suffers no violation of the rules of trading! As for now… One moment.”

  He called in Zamozik the helper, who reported that there was one small auction room available. We headed there and I bought all the essences from the champions of the Games as one lot. Almost all, because Destiny hadn’t promised me hers, and I hadn’t asked her for it. What I had would be enough.

  Having spent an amount in excess of what I’d gotten for the Portal Key to Holdest on the world’s fastest auction, I followed Grokuszuid, who led me to his office to ‘have a whisper.’

  “Concerning your deal with Eileen…” the goblin grumbled, leaning over the table on his hands. “There were problems. The League has been forced to close all portal and aerial routes with Bakabba. Kinema is closed to all but friends of the League for the foreseeable future.”

  “She made threats?”

  “Worse. She was very calm in the tone of her reply to us. The Supreme Legate of the Destroying Plague politely indicated that she has no need of the League’s services. She said she will pick up the items herself. At no cost. If she does not find her property in the ASS building, then there will be no ASS left standing. Or Kinema, for that matter. Mr. Scyth, don’t take this the wrong way, but… we must return her items! The League will compensate you for the value, of course. That is… Unless…” Grokuszuid lowered his eyes and faltered.

  “That is what? Unless what?”

  “Unless Scyth promises to protect us.”

  * * *

  After our successful farming on Terrastera, our five-man team was supposed to assemble in the officer’s mess. I had time to go see Wendel the blacksmith and pick up Cold-Blooded Punisher, now good as new.

  The mess hall seemed much livelier. The half-orc Ranakotz and troll Dekotra immediately caught my eye, although the leaders of Morena’s cultists were sitting at the table furthest away from the entrance. The half-orc, sat facing the door, saw me and elbowed the troll, who turned around. I waved to them, smiling. Manny and Gyula with their workers noticed the gesture and greeted me. ‘Great Wielder of the Watering Can’ Trixie smiled and jumped off his chair to greet me, but Manny leaned down and whispered something in his ear, and the dwarf pouted. Although twice my age, he had a child’s mind and didn’t hold grudges.

  Patrick and Stephanie, on the other hand, were so focused on each other that they didn’t notice me come in even though they were sitting closest to me.

  Most of all, it was the trio in the center of the dining hall that surprised me: Irita on one side of a table, Tissa and Infect on the other. Tissa was animatedly telling some story while Irita listened raptly, nodding. Infect kept looking from one girl to another and back again. Strange. They’d only just been at each other’s throats, and now here they were, talking peacefully…

  “Oh, Scyth’s here!” I heard Crag say behind my back, making me jump.

  I turned around. All four of the boys were there: Crag, Bomber, Crawler and Hiros.

  “Well, is everything ready?” Crag asked. “We need to hurry and finish up. I gotta fly to the base soon. All we have to do is take out one guy and that’s it, right?”

  “Theoretically, yeah,” I answered.

  We walked across the dining hall, answering greetings from excited patrons, and sat down by the wall in the farthest corner.

  “Party!” Bomber said, drumming on the table and smiling. “You with us, Hiros?”

  “Ask Timoshi the human,” Crag answered for the ninja. “Hiros doesn’t know, he has
two people living in his brain.”

  I shook my head.

  “Hold on. I told you, Nettle isn’t that simple. Let’s grab our new class skills and moves now that we’re higher-level.”

  “Scyth is right. We need to be ready for anything in Tuaf,” Crawler agreed. “It’ll take a couple of hours, but we’ll be stronger for it.”

  “Right,” I nodded. “Let’s split up, we’ll meet back here.”

  Using transformation potions, Crag, Bomber and Hiros set off for the class tutors in Darant. Crawler didn’t have to go far – he’d managed to convince a great mage to settle in our castle. He lured him in with tales of how Kharinza would soon be home to the tallest Magic Tower in the world, and started studying under him. The spellcaster’s name was long and hard to remember, so Crawler called him by the first four letters – Vert.

  Meanwhile, I jumped to the village of Jiri to see the legendary Grand Master Oyama and properly spend my seventy free training points. I hoped he wasn’t asleep. Nether, if he wasn’t asleep, then I’d better take my equipment off right away! I knew how the master felt about weapons and armor. Strongly.

  I appeared in the middle of the village, next to the well. Chickens clucked all around me and a frightened pig oinked and ran away, piglets scurrying behind. A daring sheep aggressed on me, its bleating drawing the attention of the locals. They dropped what they were doing and started to move toward me. They must have had titans in their lineage: all of them were six and a half feet tall, some even seven, with broad shoulders, straight backs and high cheekbones.

  “Who’rya? Where d’ya come from?”

  “He’s here for me,” a commanding voice boomed out over the settlement, and the locals lost interest in me.

  Oyama, thank the Sleepers, was awake. He emerged from a hut in the distance and beckoned me over. I found him sitting behind a wooden table in his backyard, thoughtfully drinking tea and scratching his beard. Occasionally, he fired off what I took to be Spirit Flicks, knocking a buzzing fly out of the air from a distance.

  “Stunning progress,” he muttered, looking me up and down. “I see you’ve not only gotten stronger, you’ve also trained your ability to fight without weapons! Oh, and that’s interesting too… Can you demonstrate it?”

  “What do you mean, master?”

  “Rindzin the Ruler of Dragons has marked you, that’s clear enough, but with what?”

  “Oh, that.” I fired a Hammerfist into the air. The Ghostly Talon appeared at the point of the strike. “The talon doesn’t count as a weapon, right?”

  “We’ll leave that question to the Darant Philosophy Club, student. I take it you are ready for new knowledge? Well then, let’s not waste time. Come with me!”

  Oyama jumped up and soared over the village. His ability to jump so far and so high was amazing, but I didn’t envy him – I could fly, after all. The trainer headed straight for the tree where we had our first training session. I flew after him.

  Freed from the Caressing Creeper, the tree was unrecognizable. Its trunk had straightened and the little branches that had looked dry before now gleamed with shiny green leaves. A gust of wind raised dust and the tree’s canopy rustled as if greeting me.

  The ten-year-old boy Bakhiro from last time was working on his strikes in the shade, somersaulting around and blinking and reappearing as if from thin air, his arms a blur. He was concentrating so hard that he didn’t notice us. Oyama shouted his name and sent him home. The boy bowed and ran off for the village, one moment jumping ten feet, then somersaulting, then spinning like a little whirlwind.

  The master left a copy of himself before me, then sat beneath a tree and closed his eyes. The copy bowed to me and I bowed back.

  “Fight!” Oyama ordered.

  This time, the fight didn’t take long. The tutor’s copy began to attack me without any surprises. I sped up, but it was faster than me even in Clarity. Beating me down easily, the copy disappeared. I managed to launch only the beginning of a Combo, but it was blocked and interrupted.

  “Not as terrible as last time,” Oyama said happily, rising and opening his eyes. “In fact, student, if you hadn’t chosen the Path of Spirit, I would have given you the title of Great Grand Master already. You’re easily at rank five. However, in our Path the demands are far greater, so I confirm your title as…” He smiled slyly, clearly plotting something, and proudly declared: “From now on, student Scyth, you are a Grand Master of Unarmed Combat!”

  Just ‘Grand Master’? Hmm… Remembering that Oyama would seize any reason to use his staff, I bowed silently and didn’t argue. Did it really matter what my title was? It had no effect on my damage or combat abilities.

  Oyama waited to see whether I would dare object, then crisply told me it was time to expand my arsenal of combat techniques. But that first I should level up Combo and Storm Fists as high as I could, which I agreed to. That took fifteen points.

  The final Combo upgrade didn’t multiply the slots in the sequence, but it made them land faster!

  Spirit Hurricane Combo, level 350

  A combat technique that combines striking abilities into an uninterrupted sequence of attacks. Perfecting the technique has increased its speed to 30%.

  Slots in sequence: 114.

  Cost to use: 100 spirit to activate and an additional 25 spirit for each yard of distance to the target.

  Improving Storm Fists – first to Heavy, then to Crushing – made the technique more effective than just Hammerfist.

  Crushing Storm Fists, level 350

  Passive ability of the air element.

  Your standard strikes gain power, transforming into Hammerfists at current grade of progress and increasing their damage by 30%.

  This move costs no spirit, but cannot be used at range.

  Instead of spending my points on twenty different moves, I decided it was best to take only four, but level them up to the max. I shared the idea with Oyama. My tutor was unoriginal and laconic:

  “A wise choice, apprentice.”

  In the end, my ‘wise choice’ settled on Spirit Shock, Lashing Wind, Maiming Wave and Hurricane Ferocity. All the techniques belonged to the air element, which meant they dealt double damage in Clarity.

  The first I chose on the basis of ‘two birds, one stone.’ Or a lot more than one – I’d seen Oyama use that move to take down the preventers, an undead army and Deznafar all at once…

  Spirit Shock, level 1

  Active ability of the air element.

  This deadly two-handed strike is an invention of the legendary Grand Master Yojimbo. The technique consumes all your spirit reserves and fires a stream of deadly energy in the direction of the strike.

  Deals base damage multiplied by 0.5% of spirit spent, but loses 1.5% of total damage for every yard of distance to the target. Fully ignores the target’s armor, defense and resistances.

  Cost to use: all available spirit.

  Cost: 4 training points.

  The learned technique took on some levels and, once twice upgraded, started to look far more attractive.

  Crushing Spirit Shock, level 350

  Active ability of the air element.

  Legendary Grand Master Yojimbo invented this deadly two-handed strike, which fires all your spirit reserves in the direction of the strike.

  Deals base damage multiplied by 35.9% of spirit spent, but loses 0.651% of total damage for every yard of distance to the target. Fully ignores the target’s armor, defense and resistances.

  Cost to use: all available spirit.

  Well, that was that. Good game, guys! Almost two hundred million damage that went through all defenses as long as the target was close and my spirit bar full! And I could level up my total spirit endlessly, and Spirit Shock itself!

  I took the next techniques to expand my combat capabilities. Lashing Wind gave temporary invulnerability and explosive damage:

  Lashing Wind, level 1

  Active ability of the air element.

  Your patron ele
ment of air transforms you into a whirlwind that destroys everything in its path, and you take no damage. The damage of strikes dealt in this state is increased by 200%.

  Cost to use: 5,000 spirit to activate and an additional 500 spirit per second.

  Cost: 4 training points.

  Maiming Wave allowed me to fight several enemies at once:

  Maiming Wave, level 1

  Passive ability of the air element.