“Incoming!”

  The gout of freezing brine blasted down the tunnel, flooding the narrow corridor in a killing chill. The group of Chosens scattered, tossing fire bombs as they retreated to counteract the frost.

  “We need to push into the chamber! Julie, Alvine, force it back!” Joarris commanded.

  The two Chosens yelled their affirmatives before firing a barrage of killing projectiles down the frozen corridor. The air rippled with supersonic arrows and javelins, shattering the ice clinging to the walls and shredding flesh. The tunnel echoed with high-pitched, monstrous screams.

  “Path is clear! Move in!” Joarris led the charge.

  The party followed behind, their breaths misting in the cold. When they entered the vast cave chamber, the temperature dropped even lower.

  The entire space was flooded with frozen brine and freezing waters. A wet mass of demonic flesh slithered within the ice-filled cavern.

  “I can barely see!” Bori complained.

  “Stand back, Eri gave me something for this,” Julie muttered. She pulled something from a pack — a red cylindrical tube the size of her forearm. “How did this work again? He said to aim for the ceiling, then twist the bottom— Ah!”

  The tube hissed under Julie’s fumbling, then roared as a scarlet light burst forth from its opening. The blazing light streaked high against the cavern ceiling. The icy walls glistened like ruby glass as they reflected the miniature red sun. The light fell, and across the black waters, something stirred.

  Tentacled flesh and black, oily skin. The beast glistening with frost as it rose fully from the depths, its limbs punctured with wounds from Julie’s and Alvine’s earlier barrage. Frosting liquids hissed where they dripped, freezing the water solid in jagged sheets. Its maw opened — a pit of writhing flesh and teeth — and from it poured a torrent of bitter, freezing brine, cascading from a vomit into a roar.

  Its Core shone Gold.

  Raharim tsked. “Brinefather Demon confirmed. Eri was right, as always.”

  “You know, the sight of a Gold Core would make me shit my pants two years back,” Julie mused.

  “I mean, this thing is still pretty scary, isn’t it?” Bori said uncertainly. “Are we really going to kill it? Just the five of us?”

  “It won’t just be the five of us. House Elathion’s knights are on their way from the other side of the cavern. We have the gear Eri gave us. We just need to pin the beast down first,” Joarris assured them. “Get ready!”

  Alvine huffed as she pulled out the heavy javelins Eri had prepared for her beforehand, strapped with powerful and paralysing payloads. “I bet the Hellspawn boy is having a better time than us…”

  Julie barked a laugh. “You already know that’s not true. He always goes wherever the fighting is worst.”

  ~~~

  Contrary to Julie’s belief, Eri was having a relatively relaxed time. He and his group were in another cavern altogether, hunting a vastly larger breed of demons.

  Rather than charging in with bombs and knives blazing, he opted to take a more laid-back approach this time.

  “Should we… not help him?” Dulcina asked hesitantly.

  “No, Captain Lauren has this,” Eri said. He shouted from his cover. “You’re doing great, by the way!”

  “I’m doing everything!” Lauren yelled back, his shortsword hacking away at the tentacle limb holding him above the ground. “Is anyone going to help?!”

  “Surely you are not asking me, a poor little Silver-Core Chosen, to engage in a fight with a Ruby-Core demon?” Eri shouted back. The loud screeching echoing across the cavern drowned out his voice a little. “I’m sure the captain of House Elathion should have no trouble putting a beast like this calibre down on his own, without needing the help of his House scions.”

  “Young Master, with all due respect, I—!”

  Lauren couldn’t finish as the beast — a writhing mass of black flesh with slithering limbs the size of tree trunks — screamed as it slammed the knight captain against the cave ceiling.

  Dulcina looked uncertain, but remained in cover behind the rocks. Eri observed the giant demon as it continued to flail around the poor knight captain caught in its grasp.

  \-\

  The Frostbrine Horror

  Lvl 102 Ancient Brinefather

  A regular Brinefather that has grown large and powerful due to its age. This particular Brinefather was already old even before the Violet Maw’s Hellgate opened. It rules the salt-flooded depths of the watery mines close to the corrupted lake, saturating the nest with corruption and spawning its lesser kin from the fleshy brine. It is the last obstacle that stands in your way before House Elathion’s mines can be reclaimed.

  \-\

  As far as Ruby-Core demons went, it was not the strongest nor the most troublesome to deal with. Certainly, it was still dangerous — only a fool would underestimate a Jewelled-Ranked opponent when they themselves were still in the Metal Tiers— but compared to the likes of the Demon Noble Marchosias, this beast was far less deadly. It held none of the deep intellect gifted to Archons, and the raw power it brought could not hold up to that of a Demon Noble empowered by the hellish hand of the Black Damnation.

  It was still giving Lauren a tough time, however. Eri turned his [Observation] Skill to the knight captain.

  \-\

  Lauren Vermilion

  Lvl 108 Disgraced Spartan

  Once a rising young Spartan of the Red Islands, Lauren fell hard from glory when he returned alive from a mission that saw the slaughter of his entire cadre. In the fading years of his youth, he worked as a bloodthirsty mercenary, selling his blade to any who could afford it within the Slaver Isles. A tragic accident involving his use of the Blood Rage Artes saw the death of those he cared for. In his darkest hour, he was saved by the Lord of House Elathion and henceforth swore eternal service to him.

  \-\

  Lauren’s history had come as a surprise. Previously, the knight captain’s description provided by the System UI had not been so complex or thorough, but after Eri had officially ascended as a noble of House Elathion, the contents of the knight captain’s description had been updated.

  It illuminated a few things, particularly the knight captain’s lacklustre combat skills but startlingly robust endurance. The man had been holding himself back by restraining from using the famed berserker magic taught to the legendary Spartans trained upon the Red Islands — the Blood Rage Arts.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Without it, Lauren had been using subpar Sword Artes as his primary offensive moveset. While not weak in the hands of a Ruby Core Chosen, against opponents of the same weight class, Captain Lauren proved woefully inept.

  He was remarkably rugged, however. The Frostbrine Horror had repeatedly smashed Lauren against the ceiling and the rocks, but so far, the captain only looked mildly irritated.

  It was most likely that if left alone, Lauren would eventually win the fight. However, it would take at least a few hours, with the poor captain slowly killing the demon with a thousand tiny bites.

  Eri sighed. He had arranged this battle to gauge Lauren’s combat capability. He had seen enough. “Big Sis, cover your ears.”

  Dulcina wisely ducked low behind their cover. Eri pulled forth a new weapon from his inventory.

  A giant wagon rolled forth from the black maw of his spatial pouch. The entire device was mounted on two large wheels and was at least as tall as Eri’s (somewhat diminutive) height. Nine tubes, each the length of his forearm, were attached to a rotating barrel. The scent of fresh oil and gunpowder filled the air.

  There was a seat behind the device. Eri mounted it and pulled a set of levers. The device hissed and churned as steam-powered cylinders moved the rotating barrel in the direction of Eri’s choosing.

  Aiming the contraption straight at the demon’s enormous centre of mass, Eri made sure that Captain Lauren was well out of the line of fire before he pulled the ignition cord.

  Nine iron mouths spat fire, smoke, and death in a thunderous volley that tore the air apart. The salvo shredded the demon’s writhing tentacles — severed limbs spasming against the icy ground as the rune-tipped alchemical shells kept going and slammed hard into its central torso before erupting in purple flames. A storm of hissing demonic ichor sprayed across the frosted walls, melting the brine-ice instantly.

  The monster staggered, screeching in hate as its flesh rippled like torn banners. Though badly wounded, it was still very much alive. It turned its hateful attention to Eri, who was sitting on his device overlooking the cavern below.

  Eri calmly pulled another lever. The turret rotated fully, spent ammo tubes ejecting as the complex mechanism loaded fresh magazines.

  The process barely took a second. He pulled the firing cord again.

  The creature tried to charge, but the second volley of explosive rounds hammered it backwards, slamming it against the wall. A third drove it down, demonic skin rupturing beneath the iron storm.

  A fourth volley, then a fifth, and then a sixth. At the seventh volley, the demon collapsed in a ruin of charred flesh and shattered bone, clawing feebly at the walls as the last barrels fell silent.

  Eri exhaled shakily. “That took more bullets than I thought it would.”

  “I’m more impressed that you have created firearms that could fell a Ruby-Core Demon,” Dulcina said in amazement. “Could anyone operate your device? If we had a dozen of these spread across Castle Elathion’s walls…”

  “The rune-etched alchemical ammunition I just fired cost approximately twelve gold coins to build,” Eri said with a grimace.

  Dulcina flinched. “W-well, if it’s only used occasionally, then maybe—”

  “Per volley,” Eri finished. “Seven volleys just now total up to nearly a hundred gold coins to fire. Not to mention building this thing costs nearly half of that, and the maintenance alone after each operation would be—”

  “Alright, I understand,” Dulcina sighed. “House Elathion would make do without its battery of Jewelled-Ranked killing artillery.”

  Eri chuckled. “Maybe I can find a way to make it cheaper once I upgrade my Crafting and Alchemy Skills. Still, a hundred gold spent to put down a Ruby-Core demon isn’t too bad.”

  “It’s on the pricer side of things, but considering you killed it almost instantly, at range, without suffering any casualties, and with a weapon that anyone could use…” Dulcina hummed consideringly. “I believe the Imperial Army will be very interested in your design.”

  “They likely already have something like this in their arsenal, if I’m being honest,” Eri admitted. “This design is dwarven-inspired, so it’s not exactly new. The army likely holds greater artillery pieces in its armoury — surplus from an era when Dwarven weaponry was abundant.”

  The issue with present-day weaponry was not one of design or innovation. It was in logistics — supply, manufacturing, and maintenance. The lack of dwarven factories and engineers was a problem with no solution.

  Unless, perhaps, if Eri could use his ‘Dwarven Enigma Breaker’ perk to somehow jumpstart a new technological golden age for the human race.

  Eri snorted. Wishful thinking; Far too ambitious, even for him. But he was allowed to dream, at least.

  From the smouldering, twitching corpse of the Frostbrine Horror, Captain Lauren sliced his way out from beneath the freezing flesh, shivering as he did so.

  Wet, miserable, and covered in frost-brine blood, the man walked over to Eri and bowed. “Thank you, Young Master. I apologise for that unsightly performance.”

  “It was a bad match-up. Do not be so despondent, Captain,” Dulcina assured him. “In any case, with this, and assuming the other assault teams clear their respective nests, the mines should be cleared once more.”

  “My knights and I will be conducting a final sweep for the leftover demons, but mining operations should commence soon,” Lauren nodded. “Once Peythra finalises House Deravine’s contracts, the experienced workers from the mining guilds will arrive. I have no doubt we shall see the revenue trickle in before the year's end.”

  Unlike her lazy elven twin, Peythra had taken up work and now served as House Elathion’s seneschal. Hardworking, kind, and meticulous to a fault, Peythra had taken to the role with startling competence.

  It was highly unusual for a random outsider to seize complete control of a noble family’s administrative matters and finances. Still, Lord Draevan had approved of the matter after overseeing Peythra’s excellent work for the first few months. Not even the knights or the household staff held complaints after experiencing her firm but fair approach to governing their day-to-day tasks.

  Eri suspected that it was more likely due to Lord Draevan’s subpar skills at addressing his House’s clerical affairs that Peythra forced herself to step in before the poor man collapsed from bureaucratic stress. By that point, the Lord was probably happy to pass off the paperwork to anyone with an ounce of competence.

  It helped that the two had established a cordial sort of relationship by that point — Eri doubted it was anything romantic; Peythra just seemed to be the gentle sort of person who likes taking care of others, while Draevan likely succumbed to the stress of his work and finally accepted assistance in his duties.

  “And so at long last, House Elathion is stabilised,” Dulcina sighed, smiling. “The gold from selling the Ruby Core will easily last our House's finances until the profits from the mines are returned to pre-Collapse levels. After that, House Elathion can begin its ascension into a noble family equal to the other major parties of Kaldreach.”

  “A proud day,” Lauren agreed. “Our Lord shall return to see his ancestral home reborn into a far finer state than when he left.”

  “And it’s all thanks to you, Eri.” Dulcina turned to him. “None of this would have happened without you. When I think about what might have happened had you not been there to save me that night…”

  “Don’t dwell on such things. Like the captain said, it’s a proud day.” Eri reached over and patted her shoulder. “You accomplished this as well. This is your achievement too.”

  Dulcina smiled, though it was one more out of politeness than agreement. She reached up and squeezed his hand. “I promise you, I will repay you for this. House Elathion is forever in your debt. No matter what the future holds, so long as our name stands, you will always be family.”

  [Side Quest Complete! ‘Demons Shafted!’]

  [Reclaim House Elathion’s mountain mines!]

  [+15000 XP]

  [+2500 Heroism Points]

  [+10000 Reputation with Peasantry]

  [Chosen Reputation Ascended! You are now ‘Well-Known’ among the Common Folk!]

  [Congratulations! You have cleared all of House Elathion’s Recovery Side Quests!]

  [New Perk unlocked: ‘The Eternal Blessing of Saint Elathion’!]

  The notifications came in as Eri and his group returned to the surface. Though great rewards flooded in, the boy only felt trepidation.

  This is only the first step. I need to make more preparations. Building more weapons, testing them, strengthening my allies, hoarding gold and heroism points…

  I want to be wrong, he thought to himself. I want to believe the Kaldreach Coalition’s expedition will go well, that all my preparation is unnecessary. But if the worst comes to pass, I have to be ready.

  If the Duskcrowns force me to go to the Slaver Isles, I won’t be going in blind. I will hit them with everything I have, and by eradicating them, I will prove my worth.

  My worth… That is how a hero would do things, wouldn't they? This is how those grand Chosen Ones must have meticulously prepared before they assaulted my castle when I was a Demon King.

  Except… Most of them still failed in the end. What if I fail, too? What if I’m not strong enough?

  … I wish Elen were here.