Lazarus The Demon
My prey had escaped into the White Wastes. While my injuries had been severe, I had a trace of their Mana. It was one skill I had gained from the beastkin. I had never considered it important before. I would either kill my target if they were weaker, or run away.
This was the first time that a weaker creature had defeated me. I didn't like it.
Now I was tracking them down. I looked up at the overcast sky. At least the sun hadn't broken through. That would have been unpleasant. I paused at a large section of ice and snow.
The Mana concentration was slightly higher here, and the trail disappeared. I brought my hand up and struck the ice below me. It shattered. I struck two more times, revealing an entrance into the depths.
A normal entrance. I didn't want to enter. The depths would try to sink its metaphorical claws back into me, with its sweet promise of Mana. A demon like me was above such things.
I had been carefully managing the amount of prey I took from the Fox Clan settlement. But with the other demons wiping the place out, our territory and prey shrank. They knew this but couldn't resist the hunt. Taking out creatures that didn't have the Mana of the depths.
Killing them and consuming them was best avoided. That was why I was hesitating. Tracking my prey through the depths would be much more difficult and I would struggle against the call of Mana from its depths.
I circled the entrance, debating. Once we wiped out all the beastkin, nothing would be left. We would go back into the depths or into the cursed water. There were powerful and dangerous things there that even older demons were careful of.
While I didn't need to breathe, I felt my heart rate speed up. I entered the dungeon. Slowly shifting my head, I focused on my prey, releasing tiny bursts of Mana. The depths pushed back with its Mana. I ignored the outside Mana while I turned around slowly at the base of the passage.
The trail had fragmented, but it was there. It hadn't decayed, and I had the taste of the Mana of my prey. I moved through the chambers; with the monsters ignoring me, and I ignored them.
The depths had reclaimed some chambers, but that didn't matter. I kept making my way to my prey. They would feel more uncomfortable the closer I came. A warning of impending doom reached me as I got closer.
When the depths twisted, I paused, hesitating. Each demon claimed an open passage as its own territory, and a demon had claimed the passage ahead. I could feel it in the Mana that permeated the air.
But it was stale. My fellow demons were waging their last fights with the beastkin. Trying to claim the last of them still left alive. But the prey was unique. The Mana in the air was old. I kept advancing. I was hunting, which would hopefully be an excuse the others of my kind would buy.
The depths shook. Mana was being rapidly pulled towards the passage. What was happening?
Supreme Warlady Elena Burnstock
I stared at the demon across from me as we took another break from trying to kill each other. I had tried to leave, but it had been waiting at the passage to the layer above. It was clearly intent on killing me, like I was intent on killing it. Both of our reserves were low. I needed to make sure I wasn't wiped out, even though I didn't want to give the monster a break.
There was a slight tremor in the ground and a small surge of Mana that washed over the battlefield. In a single moment, the thought of my son came to mind. I smiled. He was probably off killing monsters as well and teaching this cursed dungeon a lesson.
I could sense the fear in the demon's soul. I was not afraid of death. Death and I were old companions, lovers one could say. I turned my blade, Sarah slightly to the side, looking at the inhuman monster looming over me with its horns, red skin, and fiery gaze.
" Even the dungeon fears me, demon. Slice."
It dodged and said nothing. I wasn't a fan of social skills, but they were growing on me. I had earned the Tier 1 skill, Taunt. Leveling it up off a thinking monster gave me great joy. Now it was Empowered Taunt, a tier 3 skill.
The demon dodged. It was employing a kiting strategy, trying to wear me down.
"I see you fear my blade, Sarah." Slice. Slice.
I could swing my sword for all eternity and never get tired. Well, I suppose I would run out of food eventually.
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But that day was not today.
The demon swung its clawed hand. "Hellfire Slice!"
Our attacks collided and exploded in a wave of cursed fire, but I was already moving. The demon kept pace with me as we continued our dance. It moved in closer and unleashed a flurry of attacks. I blocked and dodged them. The attacks slightly singed my plain robe. I needed to improve.
I should never allow a monster to touch me. The demon fell back as I landed a single cut on its body, drawing a few drops of blood.
"I am going to take your skull and make it a drinking cup!" I shouted as I unleashed more skills.
The demon didn't respond, but I could tell that taunt landed by the slight tightening of muscles around its eyes. The mannerisms, which it had picked up from humans, betrayed it. If I couldn't kill the demon physically, I was going to make it kill itself emotionally.
It was trying to draw me to some other monsters on this layer. I broke off and moved through the passage up to the next layer. The demon had to follow me and maintain pressure, or I would escape.
The demon understood that if I escaped this layer, I would only come back more prepared, while it languished down here. If I escaped, it would have to run and hide. For I would be back.
Or perhaps it just wanted to eat me. One could never tell what these depraved monsters thought in full.
"Hellfire Dance."
Pillars of cursed flame formed around the demon as it rushed forward. It thought it was clever linking Mana to its physical presence and Mana in the air. Like a child with a new skill, thinking they were so smart. Foolishness.
"Mana Lock." I used a highly niche tier 5 skill that I had just to counter this kind of nonsense. Skills that weren't aura skills but area of effect. The link went both ways. A tool for every situation, and my spells and sword were the hammers necessary.
I targeted one of the flaming pillars. The demon wouldn't have the skill to resist something targeting a skill effect like this. Even if it did, I needed only a single moment. The demon froze in place.
Darting between the cursed flaming pillars, I stabbed forward at its skull. "Pierce!"
My blade sank into its skull, right between its eyes. Time to use a skill I had picked from an elven legend that liked the cold.
"Everwinter Blade!" I pushed Mana into the skill as cold damage exploded into the demon's skull.
Leaping backwards, I pulled Sarah free as Hellfire flames burst out of the demon's body. I really disliked those curse skills, but they were also predictable. The demon staggered backwards as I kicked off the air and darted to the side.
"Slice! Slice!"
The demon staggered under my barrage of blows, blood and chunks of flesh flying off it. A lesser adventurer would think that they were winning and try to move in for the kill. That was idiotic.
The demon and I were old friends. It had no physical body. Its body contained its core deep inside. I suspected it could move it about, but the only way to win was to chop the demon up into tiny pieces literally and then reach its core.
"Hellfire Spear!"
It retreated while blocking my attacks. It was faster than me, unfortunately. Even with the constant fighting, my stats still lagged. The demon merely circled while it recovered.
I estimated that the last attack tilted things slightly in my favor. Instead of a 2% chance of eventually winning, I now had a 3% chance. The simple fact was that the demon was far beyond me. Even brutal attacks on what should have been a critical body part only slowed it down.
"How did you like the taste of my blade? Ready for a second course?!"
I noticed food-based insults hit home harder. That was why I saved this one for a minor victory.
But the demon was learning. It now knew I had Mana Lock. Eventually it would learn all my skills and improve its skills as well. While monsters shouldn't be able to learn skills, it appeared this demon was the exception.
An abnormal demon, the ultimate enemy to fight and slay from the dungeon. The demon didn't respond as I continued to harass it, trying to make it spend even more Mana.
Unfortunately, its regeneration rate was far higher than mine. Even though I was winning the fight, I was losing the war. I just had to keep coming ahead in our clashes, and eventually my skills would keep improving until I could out damage its regeneration of its reserves.
But the demon was improving and learning as well. Even as we continued to exchange blows across the 29th layer, I was doing math. While I didn't like math skills, since combat was about emotion, I needed to leverage everything. Even skills I normally didn't use.
That meant nothing was off the table to defeat this impossible opponent.
"You look upset. Do you need some encouragement?"
That one landed, dealing some more emotional damage.
I let out a piercing scream using Empowered Shout.
The demon staggered. I had been training that skill while mocking the demon. Now I used the sonic-based attack to disorient it. Instead of going for the head, I went for the groin. While its full demon form didn't have human anatomy, it thought like a human.
"Slice!"
I unleashed a series of attacks as I rushed through its feet. The demon had braced itself for an attack on the head. But it wasn't ready for such a daring maneuver. I darted around its spiked tail while unleashing more ranged attacks with my favorite skill.
The demon roared in pain as I unleashed another flurry of attacks. Good, I wanted it to suffer before I finally killed it. My chances went up from 3% to 5%.
"Perhaps you should retire. You clearly aren't any good at fighting," I said, dealing more emotional damage. There was a certain joy in leveling up skills.
Slice had gone up to level 102. I could feel it. Something that should be impossible, but I was going to make it possible. I would not reduce my attempts to kill the demon in the slightest, but I was glad it was proving to be such a formidable opponent.
This was the kind of challenge that pushed one to new heights. Battling and struggling to survive for years. While I wasn't gaining main level experience, I was gaining skill experience. And when the demon finally died, the leveling experience would be immense. Of that, I had no doubt.
But that wasn't what was really important. Killing the monster was the most important thing. That was why I had confidence in winning, despite the numerical odds being completely against me.
I refused to lose. The demon tried not to lose.