Piper watched as Lukas advanced on the imps, a portal tearing open at his side. From within, a slimy brown humanoid plodded out before taking up a position in front of the caster. The summoned being stood there, with gooey chunks sliding off its body before plopping to the floor. It looked disgusting.

  “Is that poop?” Ophelia whispered. “I think that’s a poop monster.”

  “It’s not a poop monster,” Piper muttered before pausing. Who was to say that a poop monster didn’t exist in this world? Though she imagined anyone who summoned such a creature wouldn’t be very popular. Unless it was used to fertilize farmers' fields.

  Just to be certain, she used [Identify] on the creature.

  Summoned: Mud Elemental, Level 41

  This was followed by a notification.

  Ding! Your skill, Identify has reached Level 6.

  Piper exhaled with relief at reading that it was a mud elemental. She’d seen the creature in battle earlier but hadn’t thought to ask what it was. Any further thoughts on the subject were interrupted as the imps spread out to attack. They were going to strike the elemental from both sides at once.

  She pulled her nocked arrow back slightly as Lukas moved to intercept one of the infernal creatures. He clutched a staff with both hands, which seemed like a woefully inadequate weapon against a demon.

  The battle began in the blink of an eye, with the elemental sending a geyser of mud at the closest imp. The force sent the diminutive creature tumbling back, but it quickly found its footing, and the ground almost seemed to tremble around its feet. Then it launched itself forward.

  Piper immediately recognized the imp’s skill from her time in the infernal realm. It moved impossibly fast and shot right through the elemental, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. The summoned creature splattered across the floor before disintegrating.

  Her brow rose at how easily the imp had defeated the elemental. Based on their levels, she’d expected it to be a somewhat fair fight. Did all demons receive 10 attribute points like her? For some reason, she thought the imps would be far weaker than herself.

  If that was true, then Lukas was facing two demons who were vastly more powerful than him. She didn’t have time to do the math, but they must have at least four times his attribute points—if not more. She had to help.

  Without hesitating, she lifted her bow and launched at arrow at the imp advancing on Lukas. The demon swatted it aside, sending the arrow clattering along the floor. Then it turned its attention back to Lukas.

  “I thought I told you to stay out of this!” Lukas shouted.

  “Did I forget to mention that I don’t listen very well?” She ignored her mounting worry that the imp had so easily deflected her shot. What would she do if she couldn’t use her bow?

  Drawing back again, she loosed another arrow; this one soared forward and landed with a meaty thud in the imp’s leg. The demon let out a screech as it plucked the arrow out. Almost immediately, its leg glowed white-hot as the flesh repaired itself.

  Oh great, she thought to herself. This one has the skill [Demonic Blood].

  The fight had just gotten a lot harder. Now, she’d have to wound the imps enough to drain all their mana. She could also inflict a brain injury or decapitate them and hope that would work. Her own skill had stated it couldn’t heal those types of injuries.

  As she nocked another arrow, Lukas and the imp came together to exchange blows. The young man swung his staff, but it just sailed over the imp’s head. Then the demon replied with a series of precise slashes, forcing the young man to retreat.

  Any one of the demon’s attacks could have dealt a fatal blow. However, it was easy to see that it was enjoying itself. The creature smirked as it toyed with Lukas, feinting attacks, and cackling as he leaped back. It was like watching a cat with a doomed mouse.

  Piper decided to throw away any attempt at trying to disguise herself as a farm girl. If they were going to get past the imps, she would need everything in her arsenal. She hurriedly cast [Veil of Lies] to hide Lukas.

  The young man jerked to a stop as a shimmering wall appeared in front of him, but then quickly seemed to clue in. He stood completely still as the demon raised its bulbous nose to sniff the air. Then he began to fall back toward Piper.

  As Lukas retreated, she kept casting [Veil of Lies] to conceal his new position. Based on the demon’s growls and their frantic bounding motions back and forth, it appeared they couldn’t see through her illusions. Hopefully, she could use her spells to get them through the rest of the structure.

  Then a bright light appeared behind her, shining like a beacon. The illumination grew until it was blinding, forcing the imps to shield their eyes and stagger back. Piper turned to see the source of the light and witnessed Ophelia holding up the angel’s sword. The blade burned with righteous fire in her hands.

  The vast structure reacted immediately to the blade's presence, and the surrounding room quaked. From deep within the pyramid, came the sound of deafening gongs, and the grinding of giant infernal engines. Portals appeared on both sides of the room. From within, a trickle of demons began to spill out.

  “I don’t think it likes your sword,” Piper called out. “Maybe you should put it away before we all get killed?”

  “Less talking,” Lukas shouted, gesturing at the retreating imps. “More running!”

  Piper realized that the imps were fleeing from the sword. Though the harroths, shadelings, and other massive demons pouring into the room didn’t seem to share their terror. Had they been summoned to deal with the angel blade?

  Now wasn’t the time for questions, and she sprinted across the room. With her long strides, she quickly ate up the distance between her and Lukas before blowing past him. But then she slowed to allow Ophelia to catch up.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Oh boy,” Gorebark cried out. “You’re in trouble.”

  “Tell me something that I don’t know.”

  “Do you know that there’s a demonic noble approaching? He’s going to be here any moment.”

  “Oh crap.” She keenly remembered her quest from the Infernal Realm; the one that had warned that if she failed, she would be dragged down into the Abyss by the 13 demonic nobles. Why was one of them here?

  As they raced across the room, she couldn’t help but wonder if it would have been safer to face the vampires outside. So far, the arriving demons were milling around aimlessly. But it wouldn’t be long until they locked onto them as their target.

  “I knew you weren’t really a peasant!” Lukas shouted as he ran, his breathing ragged. “And what was that weapon?”

  Ophelia tapped the short sword at her hip. “I sort of borrowed it from an angel.”

  It almost looked like Lukas’s eyes would bulge out of his head. “Angels are real?”

  Piper nodded.

  The young man looked thunderstruck, but any further questions were cut off as a harroth demon stomped toward them. Piper pushed Lukas forward and released a barrage of arrows at the lumbering creature.

  The third arrow struck it in the face, making [Demonic Mark] detonate. The explosion sent the harroth reeling back, its four arms waving wildly. But the burned skin quickly reformed over its exposed skull. The creature charged forward, swinging its scythe-like claws at her.

  Piper ducked low, barely avoiding being sliced in half. She backpedaled away, watching as the other two raced toward the far door. She would fight a rearguard action until they had escaped. Then she’d have to find a way to join them.

  She released a steady stream of arrows, nocking and loosing as quickly as she could. As she did, [Demonic Marks] continued to explode against the harroths in the forefront, sending them crashing into each other. But she didn’t receive any kill notifications. For the first time, she realized how frustrating it must be to fight against her. No matter what she threw at them, they just kept healing.

  A wave of imps charged forward, crying out unintelligible war cries. Her arrows peppered their ranks before exploding and sending their broken bodies flying.

  Congratulations! You have slain a Wasteland Imp, Level 37.

  A significant bonus to experience has been granted for slaying a higher-level creature.

  More notifications rapidly followed as bloody chunks of the imps rained down on her. She ignored most of the messages except for her rapidly rising levels.

  Ding! Your race, Shadeling has reached Level 34.

  …

  Ding! Your race, Shadeling has reached Level 36.

  Ding! Your class, Deceiver has reached level 30.

  …

  Ding! Your class, Deceiver has reached level 32.

  Spinning around, she released an arrow at a shadeling charging at her. It struck the demon's throat, making it reel to the side. In case it had the [Demonic Blood] skill, Piper followed her first shot with a second arrow through the eye socket. The demon dropped limply to the ground.

  Congratulations! You have slain a Shadeling, Level 25.

  With another rapid shot at an approaching harroth, she turned and bolted for the exit. Thankfully, she was able to keep ahead of the demons, as many of them were slow, lumbering creatures. She reached the far door and slipped through it before any of her pursuers caught up.

  Once she was on the far side, she was reunited with Lukas and Ophelia. Together, the three of them heaved against the black stone door until it began to swing on its massive hinges. A moment later, the great door boomed shut, cutting off the roars and screams of the demons on the other side.

  “Can the demons open the doors?” Piper panted. Even with her improved attributes, she was exhausted.

  “How should I know? I’ve only been here once.” Lukas waved in the direction of the room they’d just crossed. “And that didn’t happen last time.”

  Piper pushed herself off the door and examined the new chamber. The floor, walls and ceiling all looked like they had been constructed of clear glass. And beyond was a spectacular galaxy filled with sparkling stars.

  She took a half step forward, but then froze as what looked like a Viking warrior appeared behind the glass. He had one missing eye, a golden helmet, and wore primitive furs while holding a steel axe. The warrior regarded them for a moment before fading back into the darkness.

  Then, a massive squid jetted by the glass, and fixed its glowing eyeball on them. Its tentacles were wreathed in flames, and it had burning runes carved deep into its flesh. The many wounds wept dark blood, which dripped down its body before evaporating. As the warrior before it, the squid disappeared into the galaxies beyond.

  “What the heck was that?” Ophelia exclaimed. “I don’t want that thing eating me.”

  “Many scholars believe that the first gods are chained here,” Lukas intoned. “Some believe their essences powers this place.”

  “Chained gods?” Ophelia continued. “Demons? Whose idea was it to come in here again?”

  “We need to keep moving,” Piper said quietly, ignoring her friend’s question. With every passing second, she was questioning her decision to enter the Black Pyramid. Fighting the vampires would have been far preferable to what she’d encountered so far.

  She took off at a steady pace, running across the room. As she moved, more and more strange creatures appeared to watch them. One was sinuous like a snake, with crystal teeth and a transparent body. Within its stomach, a dozen suns burned.

  Another was almost humanoid, but its chest had split open to reveal a burning furnace within, its head concealed by black smoke.

  Each one was more bizarre than the last, and they were watched by a crown of worms, a harpist with a thousand arms, and a tree with fruit shaped like eyeballs. Hundreds more of the strange creatures crowded in until the galaxy beyond had become blotted out by their twisted bodies.

  “Why have they all come?” Lukas whispered. “Only one appeared to watch my group while we crossed this room.”

  Once again, Piper didn’t answer. Either they didn’t like her presence, or they were reacting to the angel blade. Regardless of which was true, they needed to leave this place as fast as possible. Who knew what would happen if one of the creatures broke through the glass?

  As they reached the far side of the room, the door they’d entered through burst open. The portals had continued to disgorge demons, and now hundreds of creatures crammed the chamber. With a roar, they spilled out in a wave of gnashing teeth and flashing claws.

  Piper hastily used [Identify] to see what they were facing. But all her skill received were question marks. The new demons were all at least 200 levels above her.

  Ding! Your skill, Identify has reached Level 7.

  ….

  Ding! Your skill, Identify has reached Level 10.

  Normally, it was never a good sign when a skill went up that quickly. But this time, she knew exactly how screwed she was. She didn’t need a rapid bump in levels to tell her that.

  They reached another obsidian door with a demonic face in the center. Using all her strength, she barely managed to open it a crack for them to slip through.

  Once they were on the far side, she tried to shut it, only for the face to begin to shriek. Then it slowly continued to swing open.

  “We have to stop it!” Lukas shouted. “Help me push it closed!”

  Even with the three of them struggling against it, they couldn’t even slow the opening door. Piper glanced back, seeing a virtually empty room behind with nothing but a stone throne at the center of it. There was nowhere for them to hide. And she doubted her illusions would work against high-level demons.

  “Go,” she shouted, pushing Ophelia. Then she turned to Lukas. “Get her out of here. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”

  “I’m not leaving you!” Ophelia cried out. “I can’t…”

  She took her friend’s hand. “Please don’t make this for nothing.”

  Tears streamed down Ophelia’s face as she drew Piper into a fierce hug. “I won’t lose you. I’m staying right by your side.”

  Piper pointed at Lukas and shouted, “Take her!”

  Without argument, Lukas grabbed Ophelia and dragged her across the room. Though the young woman flailed against him, there was nothing she could do against someone who so vastly out leveled her.

  Piper watched her friend disappear through the far door and rubbed her eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered before turning back to the oncoming horde of demons. She knew this was the end for her. But if she could buy the others just a bit of time to escape, then it would be worth it.