I retreated with painful slowness, knowing that I wouldn’t make it either. A scream of pain pulled at my heartstrings with recognition. Turning, I saw Tissa and Infect dying; they were being mobbed along with Yen the archer standing nearby and Olaf the spellcaster from T-Modus.
Hellfish the werewolf was given no chance at all — Marcus himself attacked him after taking out Quetzal with the help of allies. He used one of the latter to put down the rider hobbit Dave, throwing him from his horse. The hobbit had time to shout something spiteful, but then choked on blood and broken teeth.
The ring around me closed, but they didn’t attack me even after the paladin’s defensive bubble fell. The barbarian Geyserix and dark knight Caville ran up, grabbed me by the arms and stunned me with Stupefaction.
The rest finished off the wounded and just stared at me with hate in their eyes, stunning casts at the ready so that I couldn’t escape with Flight if I suddenly broke free. There was still too much time left on Overburdened, and no matter how hard I looked daggers at the debuff timer, the numbers didn’t change any faster.
Marcus whispered something to Destiny behind the players’ backs, then they both walked through the crowd and stood before me. The woman from the Children of Kratos was clearly enjoying the moment, that was plain even by the way she walked — as if to a podium. Destiny knew that all the viewers now had their eyes pinned on her, and the execution of the top Threat would be shown on repeat on all the channels later that night. She bathed in the attention.
“Hurry it up, Des,” Marcus growled.
The brown-skinned orc stroked the elf girl’s lower back and chuckled. So that was what she’d promised for the right to be the one to put me down? Money I could understand, but that…
“Hurry up,” he said more gently. “Finish the kid off before Quetzal and Hellfish get back from the graveyard.”
He punctuated his words with a lazy wave of his club at my knee. My bones crunched, my leg bent. I got a five-minute Limping debuff. My health fell into the red.
“Oops,” the orc grinned and spread his arms.
“Marcus!” Destiny screeched like an angry cat.
Marcus’s attack removed Stupefaction! Catching my breath, I waited. I had no doubt they would kill me, but as to how and who…
At level 63 Path of Spirit, the resource restored quickly out of combat, and I had enough for a few seconds of Clarity. I just needed Destiny to get closer! Otherwise I might not have enough spirit to pay the range cost, and I didn’t have the strength to pull away and rush my enemy — the pair holding me by the arms were two strong.
The elf girl walked right up to me, raised her bow, sharply drew the string tight… She aimed right into my eye…
Clarity! Destiny’s beautiful, but rage-twisted face froze, turning into a mask.
Activating Storm Fists, I tore my arms from Caville and Geyserix’s grip! And fired a blow at that mask! The double-damage air ability transformed my regular hits into Hammerfists, sweeping away the silver ranger’s health in fractions of a second. I kept hitting her vengefully, wherever I could, breaking her bow, crushing the armor at her breast and crumpling her open-faced helmet into her skull.
After the sixth or seventh strike, I stopped hitting her — the next attack pulled the elf girl’s legs from the ground and sent her flying. I couldn’t reach her any more, so I switched to Marcus, whose eyes slowly were widening in shock. The orc had just begun to raise his club when he started to shake beneath my fists. His plate collapsed beneath my strikes like tinfoil, ribs crunching. Another Hammerfist took off his jaw, but… I ran out of time.
The bruiser survived, jumping back to a safe distance after I fell back to normal speed. I roared and rushed at him, but he hit me with a stun.
Marcus raised a hand and shouted:
“Don’t fire! Wait! Resurrect Des!”
The players begrudgingly stopped themselves from rushing toward me to tear me to pieces. A shaman healer started crooning dolefully in the crowd. Everyone was looking at the corpse of the silver ranger from Children of Kratos, so they didn’t notice right away when the earth beneath my feet flashed…
Escape Pentagram
Sends you to a random place in the Cursed Chasm. While preparing to travel, the object is invulnerable.
Spitting out curses, Destiny jumped up and started shooting arrow after arrow at me. Feeling a defensive flame enshroud me, I looked through the fire at Destiny’s enraged visage and the broken face of Marcus, who shouted:
“Don’t let him get away! Focus Scyth!”
Then, above the cries and the sound of attacks bouncing harmlessly off the demonic magic, Meister’s triumphant laughter rang out:
“I did all I could, young man! And let the pentagram’s victim be… Destiny!”
He pointed a finger at the silver ranger, who began to glow, then flared up with fire and instantly burned to ashes! Meister laughed even louder, like a madman.
Marcus spotted the jeweler in a tree and pointed at him. I had time to watch the little gray gnome’s breathless body fall out of the tree, crackling with energy and peppered with arrows and spears.
Then the world disappeared and I fell into darkness, Meister’s piercing cackle echoing in my head…
And I found myself in a dimly lit cave. Just as I was about to celebrate, I cast a glance at the minimap and saw there was no point: Despot’s Labyrinth, Floor 531.
A demon grumbled in the darkness, waking up. The stone beneath my feet shook with its steps.
I still had Stun, Limping and Overburdened, and Sloth’s Blessing and Enemy of the Inferno hadn’t gone anywhere either. Right now, nobody would bet a quarter phoenix that I was going to last out the day.
Chapter 20. Despot’s Labyrinth
APART FROM THE FOOTFALLS of something huge, I heard a measured pulsing like the beating of a gigantic heart throughout the dungeon, the walls and floor vibrating in step with it. Thud-thud! Thud-thud! The sound was deep, resonant, like a heartbeat underwater, when you hear your own pulse in the rush of blood to your ears. It boded nothing good. Especially since I was still stunned. I couldn’t even grit my teeth, let alone move. The first weedy mob that came by would put me down.
For the first time, I think, since my last meeting with the Nucleus of the Destroying Plague, I missed Immortality. It was so awesome to not even pay attention to the enemy’s level and damage, just rush headlong into battle waving my arms around and firing off Plague Fury every now and again!
As I stood in the center of the spacious cave, I caught the scent of rot, but when I focused on the smell I realized it wasn’t dead flesh, it was the stench of rotten eggs, sulfur and char. Particles of soot floated through the air instead of dust. A barely noticeable light emanated from the flickering red walls. I would have struggled without Night Vision, but even with the skill I could just barely see the space along the walls; most of the cave was immersed in darkness.
No fewer than twenty heartbeats fit into the nine seconds before my Stun ended. There were no mobs nearby — thank the Sleepers! — but the one heavily crashing its way toward me, shaking the floor as it went, was one I definitely wanted to avoid. And I couldn’t use Ghastly Howl…
The thought suddenly hit me that I’d failed to take something important into account, and my mistake had cost us a lot! Nether, Spirit Shackles! What stopped me from casting it in the center of the glade, preventing the Desters and Markers from reviving? My conscience tore at my soul and I wanted to howl, but then my stun came to an end.
I was still alive, and the last thing I needed to do was blame myself for my mistakes. It was time to act, and first of all — to look around and find out where I was and what I was up against.
The ceiling was around twenty feet up. Strangely enough, the cave was perfectly rectangular, with even walls. It seemed more likely to be man-made than a work of nature. Four corridors led off in various directions. Looking closer, I saw that the floor was perfectly smooth too, as if cast from volcanic gl
ass. Along the walls ran little insects that looked like woodlice, but burned with fire like hot coals.
The footfalls were getting closer. Now that I knew there were no other sounds, I backed off. Primordial instincts told me not to turn my back on the danger.
I was retreating now at a little faster than a snail’s pace. I still had Limping, I still had Overburdened and that damn Sloth’s Blessing would be with me until the day ended, but at least I was up to a turtle’s pace.
I was just a few steps from a corridor leading into the unknown when the monster appeared.
Despot, Demon, level 531 Gate Guardian
Dungeon Boss.
First a long, low droning joined the crashing footsteps, like the splutter and crackle of flames coupled with the sound of gusty winds beating against the roof of a highrise slum in Cali Bottom, and then…
It took me a moment to realize what had happened. Fiery flickers gleamed up near the ceiling. Two burning eyes flashed out in the darkness, filled not with flame, but with lava, and within the lava floated the twin black holes of his pupils. The demon opened his mouth as if flinging open the fanged doors of a furnace. His arms were covered in chitinous spines as long as my forearm. They scraped along the floor along with his claws as the creature walked. Two horns shaped like halberds stuck out from Despot’s skull, their blades meeting in the middle of his face.
The demon had emerged from a cramped corridor, doubled over. Now he began to straighten himself, his joints cracking, signaling the full power of his mighty limbs.
Sharp spines atop his skull scraped against the top of the cave. The demon loudly inhaled, then again, and I realized why he wasn’t moving — he was pumping the bellows. With each in-breath, a flame in his gut burned brighter and brighter, flashing out between splayed-out ribs, the fire licking out of that furnace mouth.
Despot stood immobile as if gaining strength, head cocked to one side. A lick of flame flashed out from between his jaws like a forked tongue.
I prepared myself to die in the fire, but still ran away… mentally, at least. Actually, I crawled away from the boss about as fast as a caterpillar. But crawl I did, and Dungeon Hero sure came in handy with its bonus of 25% to attack and movement speed in instances! Maybe that was what saved me, winning me those final few inches.
The wave of heat was weak by the time it hit me, dealing no damage — the demon had failed to burn me away, but all the same, he didn’t pick up his pace. The rhythm of his footfalls remained the same, boom! boom! boom! Only his eyes burned brighter — naturally; he saw in me an Enemy of the Inferno!
The vibration of the monster’s footfalls shivered through my body, calling forth panicked thoughts. How could I defeat this awe-inspiring hellspawn? I chased the thought away, focused on moving. The distance was closing slowly, but inexorably — by the time I reached the entrance to the corridor, the boss had already crossed half the cave.
I needed to buy time, restore my spirit, then try to kill Despot in Clarity. But I went into combat when the boss first showed up, and now the bar was filling up painfully slowly. One step, another. Nether, I was so slow! Angry at myself, I seemed to speed up a little, reached the end, turned and slowly drifted into the corridor. It glowed weakly with dead silver light that seemed to be coming from lichen on the walls.
Right away, I braced myself to fight mobs — ghosts, devils, demons, nightmarish creatures of the Inferno, whoever happened to abide here. But nothing attacked; the corridor was empty.
Continuing my retreat, I turned my head in search of enemies, listening, but saw nothing further down the corridor or in its side caverns. No rustle, no scrape, no demonic laughter, just the steady approach of the boss, like a sledgehammer striking an anvil, and that strange thud, more like a cracking noise, that came from everywhere at once.
I had reached the middle of the corridor when Despot reappeared, still approaching at the same unhurried pace. The boss knew no fatigue, knew that sooner or later he would catch up to his prey.
Straining myself to the utmost, covered in sweat, I rushed for a fork at the end of the corridor, but the air was as sticky as before, as if my body was stuck in slowly hardening amber… And then, finally, my kneecap cracked back into place — I had recovered from the wound from Marcus’s club! Minus one Limping, plus one to confidence!
The miserly boost to my speed inspired me and I picked up my pace. The air had turned from amber to jelly. Faster! One more step! Another! I drove myself on, listening to the heavy footfalls of Despot approaching. The chitinous spines on his skull left deep gouges in the ceiling, emitting a high-pitched screech like the wail of a banshee.
My biggest fear was that the corridor was a dead end, but no! Turning to the right a couple of moments before the boss appeared, I saw I was in luck: there was a turn, and the ceiling was far lower — the boss would have to get on all fours, which I hoped would slow him down.
The twenty paces to the end were hell. Despot’s fiery breath burned the back of my neck, my spine baked under his hateful gaze. Unable to resist, I slowly turned in place and saw that Despot had been forced to crouch down. The chitinous spines on his arms scraped against the walls, but he approached me with the same speed as before. Stone hissed and melted into acrid smoke where his body rubbed against it.
Anything but a dead end! Please let it not be a dead end… Phew, lucky again — a right turn. I dove into it a second before the demon’s clawed hand covered the spot where I had just been standing, melting the surface of the stone, leaving behind a rapidly cooling crust of glass. I needed to get out of there fast. If I got backed into a corner, I wouldn’t be able to escape even with Clarity — Despot’s colossal figure blocked out the entire passageway.
Ten steps and another fork. Left? Straight ahead? Right? I surged to the right, away from a hand trying to squash me like a bug.
Cartography skill increased: +1. Current level: 2.
Thank the Sleepers, just what I need! The sarcastic thought set the gears of my mind in motion. Why was I panicking when I could be trying to use even this situation to get some advantage, level something up? But what?
Quickly going through my skills in my head, I went into Stealth, but the boss was too close. He reached out an arm that blurred the air around it with heat, felt around on the floor, and I was knocked out of stealth right away:
Stealth check failed! Despot detected you!
I needed to get out of there, and fast. If the boss didn’t catch up to me in that corridor, then he would in the next one. I wasn’t going to give up! I stood up and started staggering away again.
Three steps later, something popped in my inventory and I felt a lightness. Overburdened had ended! I could fly again!
Taking off from the ground, I turned to the demon crawling through the narrow corridor. I couldn’t resist giving him the finger.
I was sure Despot was full of surprises. The damn demon might, for example, spit fire when he realized that his helpless victim was slipping away, so I hurried to get as far away from him as I could. I grinned as I flew — even slowed, the ability let me move faster than the boss. Yes! I felt better than an astronaut overcoming the power of gravity!
Flying was so much better than limping! Even with Sloth’s Blessing, I moved at the pace of a run. Please, no dead end!
Reaching the end of the corridor, I found myself before another choice, right or left. I turned right; the corridor that way was narrower and the demon might not get through.
But I was immediately disappointed: the stone tunnel got narrower and narrower, then finished in a dead end. I rushed back before Despot could block me in. I flew out just before the monster was about to stick its head into the corridor, enabled Clarity for an instant and shot into the left branch. That saved me — the demon’s arm passed dangerously close and I felt a burning heat. With time at normal speed, I wouldn’t have been able to react and dodge. I only just made it.
As soon as I turned into the next unexplored corridor, I switched off C
larity to save spirit.
Then a notification came:
Cartography skill increased: +3. Current level: 5.
Now you can create more detailed maps of unexplored lands, automatically entering information on flora and fauna you discover.
Unlocked event achievement: Pioneer of Despot’s Labyrinth!
You are the first to have explored over 1% of Despot’s Labyrinth.
Attention! This achievement is an event achievement, and is active only for the duration of the Demonic Games.
Reward: +1 to perception.
Woah! In my time in the Cursed Chasm so far, I’d forgotten the taste of achievements, and today, with the day going so wrong from the very beginning, even this miserly reward was a nice surprise. And that brought me back to the thought that I should level up everything I could.
The Demonic Games (Disgardium Book #7): LitRPG Series Page 30