“No, like I said, only works if you kill them yourself. Or… Or if you kill the one who killed them, and absorb his chao! I got lucky; I brought down an enemy demon on a dragon who killed my two strongest fighters, a big demon kinda like Hung and a mischievous succubus.”
“There are dragons in the Inferno?” Tissa-chan asked in surprise.
“Yeah, but they’re… Hellish! Horrible four-winged fiery things, corrupted by Chaos.”
“So what’s the deal with the demon and succubus?”
“I absorbed their chao, which meant I could resurrect them, so I’ve saved at least two of my platoon. And tomorrow, the three of us are headed for the Ruby city!”
“Tomorrow? So you have plenty of time!” Edward-san said excitedly. “That clown musician is gonna arrive soon, along with someone else, and then we’ll launch fireworks on the roof!”
“Have you been listening, Ed? Time runs ten times faster there! I have to go back in an hour at the latest!”
“When are you planning to sleep?” Rita-chan asked in concern.
“As soon as I get the Coals. What’s new with you guys?”
Rita-chan told him the most important news, and the others added their own details. Strangely, Tobias-san didn’t say a word about his plans. Or about Nergal!
Tomoshi took a step toward Alex-san, to draw him off to one side and share that he suspected his clanmates of a conspiracy, but he stopped – what would he say? No, first he had to find out more information about the traitors’ plans! Except…
“Alex-san!” Tomoshi said urgently, bowing to him. “May we speak alone?”
Alex-san exchanged glances with the others, nodded and rose from the table. He wiped his hands on a napkin and nodded toward Hung-san’s bedroom:
“Let’s talk there.”
As soon as they were in the room and Tomoshi was sure that nobody was listening, he whispered furiously:
“Tobias-san is planning to go somewhere along with Edward-san. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn where exactly.” Feeling guilty for not knowing the details, Tomoshi bowed in shame. “They said something about Venus, Alex-san. Something there was supposed to dissolve Edward-san! Tobias-san had the nerve to say that it was an assignment from you! And he said something else about a new instance and a quest from Nergal!”
The leader thought for a moment, then his face brightened and he smiled:
“Everything’s fine, Tomoshi. They were talking about Terrastera, and Toby’s business there is laying us a path to an instance that I learned about in the Nether. He’ll place a beacon and then we’ll be able to jump there. Don’t worry, you’re coming with us. As for Nergal, he’s Crag’s patron, that’s fine. Well, fine for now anyway. We’re going to have to take care of the Radiant One eventually…”
Tomoshi mentally slapped himself. Of course! How did he not see it? Realizing his error, he got upset, but still felt it necessary to share his other fears about the conspirators’ potentially unsanctioned plans. But Alex-san dispelled all those too, not hiding his amusement, which embarrassed Tomoshi even further.
Hiros squirmed inside him: You fool, human Tomoshi! Inventing conspiracies instead of having fun with those fine people! Move over. There’s no point in you even being at the party!
Tomoshi hid, and Hiros rose before Alex-san. He bowed reservedly:
“Hiros offers his apologies for Tomoshi’s ignorance and foolishness, Alex-san. There is no excuse! Did you hear that a clown musician is flying in, and someone else too? And then we’re going to have a firework display!”
“Not just someone else, but a stripper, Tommy,” the leader of the Awoken answered, smiling. Seeing the confusion in Hiros’s eyes, Alex-san explained: “A naked girl is going to dance to some music. That any clearer?”
And Hiros’s eyes lit up.
Chapter 19. Bad News
I WAS THE FIRST TO LEAVE the party. Didn’t wait for the fireworks. Firework displays are a dumb waste of money in my book, but Ed seemed so happy about his childhood dream coming true that I didn’t say anything.
I reached my apartment accompanied by Roj, and there he handed me over to Maria Saar. I was so full of food, I was barely lifting up my feet. They felt heavy and weren’t obeying me properly. My eyelids were drooping.
The accelerated time in the Inferno burned more fat than the hardest training session with Hairo. My head felt stuffed with wool and every movement sent a dull pain through my temples, but I couldn’t relax – too much depended on those Coals of Hellflame: my own fate, the fate of the gang, and of everyone else who trusted me, even the Sleepers themselves!
While speaking to my friends, I had been watching Malik out of the corner of my eye. He wasn’t hiding his doubts that we could withstand the undead onslaught. I don’t know how, but I sensed his true feelings. Sure, he was afraid we’d lose, but now he was less concerned for himself and more for the whole clan. I was sure it wasn’t fake. I started to feel like a heel for getting angry at him and wanting to kick him from the Awoken.
I started to catch a little of the bard’s alarm. Like never before, I felt the need to give it my all for the final push. Sleeping now meant losing an opportunity to get to Ruby City. Like Uncle Nick used to say, I could sleep on the other side… um… Actually, I wasn’t getting any sleep there either. The Coals weren’t going to find themselves…
Maria walked over to me, looked me up and down, took my chin in her hands and looked into my eyes:
“You’re looking thin, Alex. Your eyes are red… Did you at least eat something at the party? Want me to cook you something?”
I listened to my gut, shook my head:
“No thanks, I’m full. I ate so much I can’t fit any more in. And it’s time to log back into Dis anyway.”
“At least tell me how the party went.” Maria asked, blocking my path to the capsule. “Doesn’t look like you had a blast. Shame! It would have done you good.”
Did she really care? Her eyes gleamed. Was she just worried about me?
“The party was dumb.” I yawned tiredly. “Some clown musician came, old and balding. He danced around a little, played some songs I didn’t recognize on his guitar. His jokes are dumb, grade-three tier, and the games were… interesting. Whoever ordered him needs a therapist. A stripper flew in with him…”
“Didn’t like her?” Maria smiled.
She must have read the disappointment on my face. I had to explain:
“From what I heard, nobody wanted to fly to Cali Bottom. The only one we could get wasn’t exactly in great shape, if you know what I mean.”
Grinning, Maria motioned the shape of buxom curves.
“Like this?”
“Three times bigger. But Toby and Tommy were thrilled. At least, when I left, they were arguing about who was going to have a private dance first. There’s enough of that dancer for both of them, even if Hung joins in… Um… Sorry, my brain isn’t working, I’m talking shit. I didn’t hang around to watch, anyway, I left before the fireworks. Are you going to watch them?”
“Oh, that reminds me! All of Cali Bottom already knows about your firework show. They’re all up on the roofs, waiting. But my place is with you, Alex, even when you aren’t in this world.”
Nodding in gratitude, I headed for the capsule. I kept thinking about the strange change in Tomoshi. After he shared his suspicions and intel on our clanmates ‘unworthy behavior,’ and I dispelled his doubts, it was like he transformed, became a completely different person! It wasn’t just his speech that changed – he puffed out his chest, stood taller. Even his voice and sentence structure was different! After our conversation he became strangely self-confident, more socially active – he tried to joke, kept hovering around Eniko and giving her clumsy compliments, and all without a drop of alcohol.
Hell, with the mess in Tommy’s head, who knows what alcohol would do to him? He said ‘Hiros apologizes…’ Did that mean that there really were two people living in Tomoshi Kurokawa’s consciousness? He always talke
d about Tomoshi and Hiros as separate people. Maybe it wasn’t just a strange way of talking, but the truth. It smacked of schizophrenia, but the last thing I wanted was to delve into our new recruit’s mental problems. I’d share the news with Hairo; the security officer could keep an eye on him.
My thoughts dissolved as soon as the intragel filled the capsule. The world flashed. I found myself in the Inferno, on a cot in the cohort’s barracks. The demons wheezed, snored, grunted and growled in a hundred voices in their sleep.
“Well, well, well…” said a woman’s voice.
Turning my head, I saw Lerra – she sat on a stuffed sack right next to me. The succubus, who I reincarnated just before I logged out of Dis, made me regret my misstep – nothing stopped me from reviving her and Abducius now, after I came back. And now I had to explain where I went and how.
Rising, I looked around: the cohort still slept, some troops groaning, some tossing and turning. Lerra’s eyes gleamed mysteriously in the gloom.
I pointed to the exit and walked towards it. Rising silently, the succubus followed me. I felt the tip of her tail tickling my back.
The whole camp was asleep. The shutters of the barracks were closed, creating an illusion of night, but there were no watchmen or sentries in the Inferno – there was no war here as we understand the word, and battles only occurred at an appointed time and place.
An unfriendly sky awaited us outside, looming like a tombstone. A sleeping three-headed rhino snorted and the succubus’s hooves clicked on the stone. Somewhere out in the Void, far away from the camp, I heard a bonechilling howl, as if some unknown beast was using an ability like Ghastly Howl, inflicting something like Fear over a long distance. I shivered.
“A kerraug,” the succubus said, listening and drawing in air through her nostrils. “Judging by the power, at least one orange star. What did you want to talk about, Decanus?”
“Let’s take a walk, Recruit Lerra,” I suggested. “The soldiers of the cohort need to sleep before they go on leave.”
“But, Decanus..! Did you not promote me to your deputy yesterday? Did I not survive the battle?” Her tone seemed friendly, but something in it put my back up.
“No, you didn’t survive it, actually,” I answered directly.
“And I’m grateful that you spared your chao for me, Decanus Hakkar!” Lerra said in ringing tones. “But…” She stopped.
Prefect of the Thirteenth Legion Nisrok had split the prize chao – six hundred and sixty-six million – equally between all the survivors yesterday. It didn’t go far – each got a little over two hundred thousand. That meant I had to spend some of my own supplies to resurrect Abducius and Lerra, trading in a yellow star. Any sentient of Disgardium would have been willing to serve me to the end of their days for that kind of price, but here such an act was seen as weakness unworthy of a demon. It seemed the Tenderhearted Demon Fighter title was one I deserved.
“But what?” I asked carefully.
“Sorry, Decanus Hakkar, but I’ve started to doubt that you’re worthy of your position. And whether you even are who you say you are…”
“What makes you think these things?”
By then we were far enough away from the barracks for me to easily take the succubus down, and she wouldn’t let out so much as a whimper. But I really didn’t want to. It seemed better to see how she behaved, what she said – I needed to know what exactly I’d done wrong, how I raised suspicion. All the same, if she went too far, I’d have to end her life – there was too much at stake.
“Permission to speak freely, Decanus Hakkar…” Lerra said, nervously twitching her tail.
“Granted,” I nodded, and prepared myself for whatever might come.
“Thanks.” She looked around, sighed heavily, stared at me hard, her inhuman eyes as if burning right through me. As if she was mentally feeling me out, picking me up, shaking me, testing my durability. And through it all she kept stroking my cheek with the tip of her tail. “Last night, you disappeared too, and didn’t come back till morning! That needs more than a simple explanation.”
Now I got really worried, but I asked as coolly as I could:
“What was your simple explanation?”
“Glory to the Dominion, there you are!” I heard from the direction of the barracks. Abducius was running towards us. “I thought Lerra had disappeared along with Hakkar!”
Things were getting complicated. That meant Abducius knew about my mysterious disappearing act too.
“You got a ton of stars in battle, so you could easily have gained a new talent,” Lerra explained. “Like creating rifts in the Void, for example. But you disappeared yesterday too, before the battle, so that means you already had the talent then?”
Was that it? I hadn’t been exposed, I wasn’t about to be accused of being from another world, being an enemy of the Inferno? That meant the demons had their surprises. They might not be able to use magic, but they could gain extra talents. I’d have to find out which. Thank the Sleepers that I didn’t have to kill my new allies! Now all I had to do was keep up the disguise, keep a straight face so they didn’t see my relief. And remember that when I logged out of Dis, I disappeared from the Inferno.
“You got me, Lerra. I do have the talent of appearing and disappearing. Didn’t you notice that in battle?”
“I did, but thought it was just your agility,” she said, licking her lips again and glancing sidelong at Abdu standing next to her. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but I cut her off:
“I won’t tell you any more, don’t ask.”
“I noticed even earlier,” the demon boasted. “Anyway, thanks for bringing us back. I really didn’t expect that. I was sure I was a goner.”
“I understand, Hakkar…” Lerra said thoughtfully. “We all have our secrets, and chao works in mysterious ways. None know how it will manifest itself until it does. But you do have a talent, then?”
“Yeah, like I said! And more than one. How do you think an ordinary one-star tiefling could kill three enemy instigas and a protodemon Emissary of Chaos?”
Finally calm, I sat down on a stone. Abducius stayed standing, his hands at his hips. Lerra sat down next to me, crossing her legs and touching my knee. Now that I was relaxed, just the sight of her breasts rising and falling raised my heartbeat. I looked away. As soon as we got to the city, I’d have to buy something to help me resist the succubus’s charms! Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to think!
“Truth be told, the whole legion is whispering about your… talents,” Lerra purred, first pulling away and then pulling closer to me. “But they don’t ask questions. It isn’t done. Soldiers aren’t obliged to report their abilities, since that could give the enemy an advantage in battle.”
“Then what’s the problem, Lerra?”
“Problem?” The succubus turned her head, whipped up a cloud of dust from the ground with her tail. “What do you mean, Hakkar? What problem? When I said you’re unworthy of the position of decanus, I meant that the entire legion owes yesterday’s victory to you! Your place is far above a mere decanus!”
“Hear hear,” Abdu said. “It’s great that you’re with us… Or that we’re with you.”
Lerra continued:
“And now that my suspicions have proved correct, now that you’ve admitted to your special talents… After we come back from leave, three cohorts of fresh meat will join the legion. And a few more in the following days, until the legion is at full strength. Prefect Sargatanas died, so Tribune Urfi, his successor, has resorted to the help of other recruiters from the capital.”
“I know, Nisrok announced it yesterday,” I said, moving slightly away from Lerra in resistance to the succubus’s natural magnetism.
“Then you should know that we’re going to need a new centurion,” she said, spreading her hands. “To replace Citri.”
“And a legatus and prefect for the legion,” I added, noting that Lerra moved closer to me by precisely the distance I had moved away. I wondered, wa
s she deliberately seducing me, or was it all just instinct for them? “Are they sending us someone, or promoting within the ranks?”
“Glory to the Dominion, they say the new legatus will be Abaddon, the army’s old general,” the succubus whispered conspiratorially, and the rest I heard through a ringing in my ears, struck dumb by the news. “He’s a confidant of Prince Belial himself, but he had to depart for the recent Games against the mortals, and in that time his replacement General Xavius got so settled into his position that he didn’t want to hand it back, and tried to convince the prince that he should keep it.”
“And what did Belial do?” I asked, more concerned with whether my acquaintance from the Games might sense something was wrong and somehow recognize me.
“They say the prince thought long and hard.”
Enemy of the Inferno (Disgardium Book #8): LitRPG Series Page 37