Chapter 18 #2
Arcturus smiled. “Then I believe we have an accord. In what city should I direct my people to meet you?”
“Zaglis.”
“Excellent. They will deliver your payment as well.”
“If I have other business opportunities, should I call on you?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Excellent. Good speaking with you.”
I reappeared in the rectory with the biggest grin on my face. I had my source for liquid sunlight, and just in time.
And I had more work for Drae.
Talking with Arcturus connected the dots on a few of my recent experiences, and the result was another dozen notes to share with my construct expert.
She had only just begun closing in on completing the last round of revisions I provided, so she would surely attempt to extort at least one more round of spanking from me, but I could live with that as well as the delay these pivots would cause.
This design was the one. This construct was how I brought the celestials to heel, and their surrender to me would give me even more resources in my war against Abaddon.
But first, Drae had to finish the final build.
-4 to Progress to Your Fall.
Progress to Your Fall: 61 / 100 (Abaddon, King of the Abyss)
For my plan with the constructs to succeed, I needed a way to get them to the celestial plane. The only path I knew was through a tower, so again we climbed.
The next ten floors seemed to be themed around sins. Even if they weren't particularly challenging, they were interesting.
The floor for the sin of slothfulness had sticky floors, waist-high mud, and several sorts of monsters who could apply the Slow debuff, from poisonous flowers to giant leeches.
Envy was trickier, and we needed two encounters to catch on. Every monster on that floor wielded duplicates of our weapons, but their weapons were 50% more powerful.
+5 to Progress to Your Fall.
Progress to Your Fall: 66 / 100 (Abaddon, King of the Abyss)
We were preparing to move up to the next floor but had stopped to rest when that update came through. What bullshit. I only just reduced that by 4–and felt pretty good about it–and Abaddon recovered and then some. Was he waiting for me to make progress just so he could immediately demoralize me?
“Your spirit is easily demoralized.”
She wasn’t real. The voice was my imagination.
“You need me, viceroy. Every day, you see it more and more. If you admit it now, I can still help you. I can keep you alive.”
I would rather die than risk you taking over my mind again.
“Is that so? We both know the truth of that as well.”
While I argued with the voices in my head, Purity used the break as an opportunity to check in on the Silk, so she hung a noose and blinked away.
She was back almost immediately.
“The Water Temple is under attack,” she said. “The wards are keeping them out, but Abby looks really tired. I've never seen her tired before.”
I had never seen the liluti tired before either. Any force strong enough to exhaust Abby had to be serious. We jumped through the teleporter right away, appearing in Sanctuary South for the brief seconds we needed to cross the garden and teleport to Zaglis.
We found 130 of my followers armed and ready for battle. Kierka, Lala, and Lili had stepped up to lead the defense in my absence. I needed to remember to reward them for taking the initiative.
The missing members were on dungeon runs or in towns, and that wouldn't do. We were safest if everyone was home.
I used Ruler’s Voice to speak to all of my followers at once. “Return to Sanctuary South immediately and prepare for battle. The Water Temple is under attack. We may need your help to defend it.”
Lala or Lili updated me on what had transpired thus far. Yes, or. I couldn't tell them apart when they were in full gear.
“Abby described the demon force as being like the whole Grubiit dungeon organized into an army twice over,” one of the fuckable twins said.
“She meant that both in terms of quantity and difficulty of mobs. We have one dungeon’s worth coming at the Temple and another dungeon’s worth attacking the city. ”
Comparing the army to a dungeon was a clever way to communicate the nature of the enemy we faced. I understood immediately what we were up against.
And it wasn't that bad.
“One moment,” I told everyone and popped back to the rectory to grab a few items.
When I returned, I asked where Cici was. “She is outside with Abby, Drae, and Stacey,” said a twin whose breasts I had–and wanted to again–put my dick between.
My demons and my grigori were indeed waiting outside, and I was pleased to see they were armed with spears, ready to defend my domain.
Not armored, though. They were all still naked.
A dozen feet away, a mass of twisted demonic horrors pounded at the barrier. If the dungeon comparison was as literal as it sounded, 10,020 demons of varying strength were out there.
“All abyssal, I take it?” I asked the sisters.
“Yes, Master,” Drae replied. “When the battle concludes, I will lick you clean.”
Drae didn't care much for segues.
“Everyone but Cici and I are waiting behind the barrier,” I said. “Penny, keep me informed on how things are looking here. We will thin these ones out, but there’s a chance another group comes knocking before we’re done.
“Ithaca, Solara, Podni, if I need you to help with boss monsters, I'll let Penny know. I may also ask you to help protect Zaglis. From there, make a judgment call on who and how many of our people to send. Do not put the Temple in danger under any circumstances, so make sure we are well defended first.”
I turned to Cici and tossed her a gray robe with flaps of extra fabric hanging and dangling from its edges. I didn’t need a disguise for this battle, but my grigori did.
As Cici dressed, I asked, “Are you ready to show us what that boss fight training was for?
“Yes, Master,” Cici replied giddily, her voice muffled by fabric.
I had to help her get the robe all the way over the stumps of her broken wings. When the fabric was situated properly, Cici looked as though she had an unusually sharp hunchback.
“Listen carefully,” I said. “If Penny tells you to return to the Temple, listen right away. She might need your help. Otherwise, if it isn't human and it's outside the walls, kill it.”
Cici shook her head excitedly, wearing a big grin. The liquid gold of her eyes seemed to shimmer more brightly.
“Okay, Cici, activate Wraith+5 and get to work.”
Cici was through the barrier in a flash, pulverizing dozens of demons each second, her spear sweeping the battlefield one moment and skewering a slew of demons the next. She was a beautiful fury of violence, and using Corpse Builder to give her Wraith+5 was clearly a wise choice on my part.
I triggered Wraith+5 and joined her.
We shredded through the demon army, turning them into a spray of abyssal blood and guts. As I ripped back and forth across the battlefield, I realized I had never fought like this before. Never before did I have so many foes to slay, not all in one place like this.
And I didn't need any abilities. I mutilated the army with the power of stats alone. The effort took time simply by virtue of my enemy’s number.
I killed so many that moving my sword began to feel unconscious, like I had taken my hands off the reins and let the horse run as hard and as fast as it could, except the beast was myself.
The boss-level demons were colossal humanoids with cloven hooves, wings larger than ship sails, and claws like great swords.
An abyssal black fog wafted off their bodies at all times, and when they spoke to one another, those small movements revealed crack-like lines in their neck skin, through which the light of flames glew.
Every other inch of the monsters was covered in onyx-black armor platemail.
Their defenses were noticeably better than every other monster, but that didn't help them. Cici beheaded both of them while their attention was on me.
Perfect quiet descended on the fields outside of Zaglis.
Except for Cici. She bounced and giggled next to me.
“Did Master see a Cici?”
I smiled. “You were excellent. It's obvious how hard you worked.”
She beamed.
-7 to Progress to Your Fall.
Progress to Your Fall: 59 / 100 (Abaddon, King of the Abyss)
These notifications weren’t helpful, I decided, and I wished I had a way to disable them.
What I thought was a system-driven advantage over my enemy was actually a vehicle for stress and self-doubt.
The numbers were abstract and always would be, so every advance Abaddon made, I imagined hundreds of explanations for what new edge he had gained.
When I made positive progress, I felt like I had only delayed the inevitable rather than improved my situation.
The system was trying to drive me mad.
“You are already mad.”
At least the sorceress bitch didn’t bother me during the battle, I thought.
“Is it over?” Purity asked through telepathy.
“Yes.”
“The whole city will be watching you. Let them bask in your power.”
“How?” I asked.
“Walk slowly toward the city and let Abyssal Gaze work.”
So that's what I did.
I marched toward Zaglis like a proud conqueror. The moment I came into view, cheers went up from the walls, the gratitude of an entire city blowing across the plains to wash over me. They knew the city’s defenses couldn't hold out forever, and I saved them before a true calamity struck.
They might have felt differently if they knew the demons came for me.
“Lord Oliverry declines to meet with you,” the guard at Samson's door said.
“What do you mean? He's the one who set this meeting.”
“I have no other information to share.”
“Is it possible you're confused?”
“You are Byron of Zaglis, correct?”
“Yes.”
“No confusion,” the guard said.
I realized what this was, and it pissed me off.
“Move,” I told the guard.
He shook. “No, sir.”
“Let him in,” a voice shouted from inside, and the guard opened the door as quickly as he could, happy to end the conversation.
Samson was just inside. He had never met me at the door before. Such behavior was beneath him.