Chapter 19

  [You have defeated Flamescythe, level 18. You receive EXP.]

  [You have defeated Screaming Horror of the Dark Abyss, level 17. You receive EXP.]

  [You have defeated Creeping Immolator, level 19. You receive EXP.]

  ‘We really are attracting the strong ones now,’ I complained, panting after fighting for three hours straight with nothing but a talking sword with the attitude of a drill sergeant — any other weapon forbidden to use.

  Oh, how I missed shooting things! And the wildlife was getting not only stronger but stranger and even scarier as we slowly made our way ahead in this cursed forest of the Wilds. If I ever got back to Allied Systems space, no one was going to believe me, that was for sure. But we were getting closer to Tarashak’s small demon army — or rather my small demon army, since the fellow was my general as of yesterday — and hopefully it would mean a break from having to fight through the monsters, because damn, Tarashak had been absolutely right; stronger demons — and a stronger human — would attract stronger monsters eventually; apparently power had a scent, and they could smell it and would come for the delicious EXP we represented.

  ‘Yes, but look at the result!’ Burning Darkness bellowed with excitement

  [New skill available: Master of the Hellfire Blade. Would you like to receive this skill?]

  The message popped up. The Genius must have been having a good day: another skill that sounded like a title. Hellfire Blade? And what was this? Not a unique skill? I was … relieved.

  ‘Good stuff,’ I said. ‘Does this mean you’re the Hellfire Blade and I am your master?’

  ‘That is exactly what it does not mean,’ the sword shot me down quickly, then continued speaking. ‘I mean, I am the Hellfire Blade, originally, before an unfortunate string of renamings by a number of my previous owners, but that’s not important. You, my man, are not my master. You are … my bonded owner. And when I say owner, I mean more like a partner. Until you die. Which I won’t, I’m a sword.’

  ‘So … why does the skill say “master” then?’ I argued.

  ‘Because while “Hellfire Blade” refers to me, the weapon, it also refers to the sword fighting style by the same name. Which I’ve been teaching you for more than a day now, and would you look at that, the skill for it is finally here!’

  ‘Alright, quick question,’ I said wearily, a suspicion in my mind forming quickly. ‘Is the skill Hellfire Blade pointless to have if I don’t have the sword Hellfire Blade? Which is you.’

  ‘Yes, absolutely. Being my bonded partner is a pre-requisite,’ he stated, sounding smug and happy. ‘But don’t worry: until death do us part, partner.’

  ‘Ahhhhkaaay.’ I sighed. ‘Did that Ugrathar fellow have the skill, too?’

  ‘Yes, unfortunately. He never levelled it much, he just kept me around because I looked dangerous.’

  ‘I see.’

  I took the skill, of course, then focused my mind on it as the damned sword had told me I should do once I had it. I could tell it contained information on how to fight with Burning Darknes, as well as some power to aid me in performing those actions. Having that knowledge was strange; it wasn’t my own knowledge per se, but at the same time it was. Maybe this sort of thing was normal for demons to experience — and looking at Flamey happily fiddling with her dagger behind me certainly gave me that image — but for me it was new.

  ‘Flamey, just so you know, I got myself a skill, too.’ I boasted to my daughter.

  ‘Go Daddy!’ she cheered for me with her usual, bright smile on display. ‘Can I fight now?’

  ‘Sorry sweetheart, it’s too dangerous for you now. These critters are getting stronger and stronger.’

  ‘Aw,’ she grumbled. Cutely.

  ‘We are not far now. My soldiers are also moving, they’ll meet us in a matter of hours.’ Tarashak butted into our conversation.

  I had learned that as a general, he had bonds with his captains, which meant a rudimentary communication system between them, the ability to impart some benefits to his soldiers in the form of aura effect such as heightened awareness on the battlefield, or making them slightly faster or stronger, or increased efficiency in other ways. The help a general could provide to his demons varied from general to general, depending on the particular focus they had in terms of skills, be it physical or magical combat. Generals, however, could not form the bonds with each other: they needed to be bonded to a ruling demon lord, and only through him they could communicate with each other, and receive similar benefits themselves from their lord.

  I saw clearly why Tarashak had agreed to be bonded to me without too much resistance; firstly, I was a bag of candy he could dip his hands into via that bond. Secondly, a demon lord with a bonded general had access to a lot of options via the Campaigns menu in the Ring Management System. Which I would have to explore soon. Lastly, I was sure he saw it as a means to an end, and a temporary one at that. He wanted to rid his home of the invaders, for which I could be useful, and then probably do away with me after. And most likely Flamey as well. Hm. I had to start levelling The Will of the Infernal Tyrant dynastic trait as soon and as fast as possible and get these blood red demons to accept that I was in charge. And to get that dungeon I needed. Well, unfortunately I had to take a number of steps before that, and the next one was levelling my magic skills.

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  ‘Alright, let’s keep going, then,’ I said, and put Burning Darkness back into his sheath.

  ‘Time for your magic skills?’ the sword asked.

  ‘Yeah. Time for my magic skills.’ I nodded.

  ***

  My skills to cast spells were … frightening. Deadly against the monsters of the Wilds, mostly, but every once in a while, one or two popped up with levels in their twenties, and those could withstand the Hell Lances and Infernal Storms that would kill lower-level monsters in one blow. Other than that, the spells worked well. The skills provided me with the knowledge and techniques to form a spell using Hell Mana, and to cast it by saying the name of the spell out loud. Burning Darkness seemed to have some experience with spells, and he had also given me some pointers. The result was that I had been casting spells until my soul ran out of HMP, then fought with the sword until it filled up again, then fought with spells again. For hours. Long, unending hours, filled with an inexhaustible supply of monsters, all the while Tarashak and Flamey had been trudging behind me — the general bored and impatient, my daughter frustrated that I hadn’t been letting her fight. She would have really wanted to impress me; something she had admitted freely. I had told her several times that I was plenty impressed with her already, but she would just pout and keep on being frustrated. Even with all that, the results were good.

  [Skill: Infernal Storm has reached level 3.]

  [Skill: Hell Lance has reached level 3]

  [Skill: Touch of Hell has reached level 2]

  [Skill: Master of the Hellfire Blade reached level 1]

  I could feel and see the difference with each skill level increase; more nuanced knowledge, more assistance from the skill to cast the spells — or perform movements in the case of the sword skill — thus making everything faster and easier to do. Not to mention the increase in destructive output.

  Tarashak informed us we were less than an hour away from his demons now, and I felt I had done enough training for the time being. I glanced back at Flamey, and my heart was in pain for having to hold her back from her fun and her levels. What kind of a father would do that? A good and responsible father would find a way to let her daughter slaughter hellish horrors while keeping her safe, so that is what I would do. And I had an idea.

  Since only higher-level wildlife had been showing up for quite some time now, Flamey had to fight and kill one or two of those to level. How? My level was still a lot higher than any of the demonic beasts so far encountered, so I was sure I could catch the next monster, disable it, and present it to my daughter to deal the killing blow. Yes, a responsible father would do just that.

  As luck would have it, a Flamescythe came clambering out from behind a thicket of black branches with glowing orange veins. The nightmarish creature was tall and skinny as ever, and its long, bladed arms burned violently. Based on my experiences so far, as well as the feel I was getting from it, I estimated it to be between level 18 and 20. I liked these scrawny, skeletal looking horrors; no blood, no guts, no cleaning required after killing them. It felt wrong to think of it as an animal — the humanoid horror didn’t have a single pinch of anything remotely resembling a traditional animal — but that’s what it was: wildlife. I put Burning Darkness away and took a deep breath; grappling this thing bare-handed was going to be interesting, but my SAC could take it.

  ‘What are you doing, my man, if I may ask?’ the sword inquired.

  ‘This one’s for Flamey,’ I growled, readying myself for the charge.

  ‘Fine. I guess the runt needs to level a bit, too,’ he said, then kept quiet, no doubt interested to see how well I’d be able to manage this.

  I managed it well and fast, although with not nearly as much grace and skill as I had pictured myself doing it. I rushed forward, charging the monster, then I jumped. Jumping had been tricky business with a heavy SAC pre-magic, but now with the power of levels it was more than just possible. I sailed through the hot air, at least four metres, landed on the surprised creature, my weight crushing it into the ground. I pinned both its arms down with all I had. The thing’s blackened, fleshless, skeletal face roared and tried to bite at me, but I was stronger and heavier, and it couldn’t get out from under me. My SAC was taking damage from the fire enveloping its scythe-like arms, but nothing major, only 40 odd points from its durability.

  ‘Flamey! Get in here and chop its head off!’ I yelled to my daughter. ‘Actually, use some spells and other skills on it before you do that!’ I yelled again, thinking this was a good opportunity to get some of her skills closer to their next levels.

  She moved instantly, reaching us in seconds, grinning as if she was rushing into a toy shop the size of an orbital platform, her Saerkhan dagger glinting dangerously in her hand. She slammed her small fist into the face of the creature. Its skull began glowing a hot red as she used her Touch of Hell skill, one we both had, and at the same time I felt her psychic aura activating, probably with both her Lost in the Fog and Princess Charm skills. The Flamescythe shrieked, growled and roared, but it was still kicking instead of dying; the low-level skills of a low-level demon couldn’t wreak much havoc on a monster at least 14 levels higher. But Flamey seemed happy, and that was all that mattered. After a few seconds, when she was satisfied with the work her skills had done, she got to hacking at the monster’s neck, and some effort and another fifteen seconds later, it stopped moving and went limp, its head finally separated from its body. Flamey grinned at me, her head only a few inches from the closed visor of my helmet.

  ‘I did it, Daddy, I did it!’ she squeaked excitedly.

  ‘Of course you did it,’ I said, clambering to my feet. ‘I had no doubt you could. What level was it?’

  ‘It was … level 19,’ she said, her eyes flicking around reading or listening to a notification only she could see or hear.

  ‘And?’

  She stood up as well, straightened herself, and presented the result like a human kid would present a school report to her adoring parents.

  ‘I have reached level 5, and I think I’m halfway to level 6 already. And the skills I used all levelled up once.’

  It wasn’t a surprise; a level 4 demon killing a level 19 wild animal meant almost more EXP than she could take. The same amount of raw Ring Energy that had pushed Flamey up a level and a half, was a few drops in a huge bucket for me, making my levelling a lot slower.

  ‘Hm. I admit this was interesting. And very undemonic. However, my soldiers are nearly here,’ Tarashak interrupted our father-daughter moment. ‘May I suggest we keep going? Hellfire Lord, do not forget what I had told you about revealing yourself as a human to my troops. And … start acting like a demon lord!’

  ‘No, of course I haven’t forgotten,’ I sighed.

  ‘Good.’ He nodded.

  I wasn’t looking forward to this. I was curious what a demon army looked like, but Tarashak had assured me they wouldn’t take kindly to a human boss, and he had made some suggestions how to be more … demonic. Ah. As long as I was getting a dungeon in the end, I supposed I could be a proper demon lord for the time being.