CH6: Demonic Pursuit

Spirit sense could act like echo location. A small amount of grace pulsed around my body feeding me information on my surroundings. I didn't use it often but after watching the sphinx break down in terror she wouldn't get to go back to napping I gave it a try. Sometimes it's the lack of a gut feeling that spurred my actions on. Murphy had a habit of rearing his head when I felt like everything was going well.

"What did you just do?" The sphinx asked.

"Oh you felt that so the stories of sphinxes are true." I said.

"No you don't get to, so the stories are true and butter me up like a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven. What did you just do? Humans aren't supposed to know how to, what are you?" The sphinx asked.

"You've already used up your quota of riddles to ask us as I recall." I said.

I gave Siegfried a look that the man caught onto quickly.

Siegfried took out his map. "Where are now?"

"You said the stairs had collapsed." The Sphinx said.

"They did, the demons dug them out in record time."

"How effective are the traps against them?" Lirael asked.

"The venom in Jinxara's mouth is deadlier than any poison in this dungeon. It comes with living in hell." I said.

"We didn't see any skeletons on the way here," Siegfried said.

The sphinx pointed at me. "This guy killed them all. If not for you I might have had another 15 minutes of sleep before I had to do anything."

Fucking with people was so much fun. "I'm sorry I ruined your beauty sleep, that was wrong of me."

"John, focus, are demons coming our way?" Seigfried asked.

I felt something enter the catacombs that we couldn't deal with. A demon commander was on the field a legit fiend a step above the warrior demons. Like the sphinx it might be able to dodge my chains. Unlike the sphinx it might also be able to get my grace signature to the Jabberwock to track me. I couldn't use my greatest information gathering tool meaning I couldn't wipe the demons out by using their shadows from the sphinx's chamber.

"Jinxara do you think the sphinx can out fly a lesser demon? Like if we managed to ride her to the surface could she fly us away from the dragon." I snorted. "I'm just kidding you don't have to tell me."

"Have no fear, I have grown much stronger since we last fought the demons."

An imp dipped its head in the room and a chain impaled him from the shadow its body cast before vanishing. For the others it may have looked like a green flash. That was intentional.

A massive warrior demon wielding two axes stepped through the door to the sphinx's room. It batted aside three strikes with its weapons as it charged. The hellspawn's horns ripped through the door frame as the demon snorted hellfire. The air became sweltering as Siegfried stepped forward.

"It seems even you have your limits former arch demon." Siegfried said.

I had two other abilities I hadn't used but sure my limit was reached. That being said I was a bit too squishy to use my other techniques.

Siegfried attacked with his war mace, parrying blow after blow. Jinxara shouted a spell and the head of Siegfried's weapon became wreathed in soul flame.

"I didn't know demons could buff others." Lirael said.

"Of course we can most of us are too selfish to take a class with the option." She stretched out her tongue until nearly a foot of the muscle dripped venom on the ground. "I can give as well as receive in case you're interested."

A deep blush spread across Lirael's face. "Stick your tongue back in your mouth its rude." The elf said.

The princess spoke up in her accented speech. "I can also buff its all I'm good for but I can only enhance riders or those who use projectiles. I can make their attacks never miss or increase firing speed. For a melee fighter like Siegfried I'm useless."

"You hear that Sphinx, that's two votes to let me ride you into battle."

Siegfried's mace clashed with the axes sending sparks across the room as demon steel battled demon steel. Despite the warrior demon's impressive side and ferocity Siegfried's skill bridged the gap letting him stand toe to hoof with the warrior demon.

"I am not so desperate to allow anyone to ride me, least of all you."

"Harsh, but I understand you're a bit cranky from your interrupted nap. I tell you what, go back to sleep, we'll leave, and you can wake up to a clutch of demon imps eating their way out of you. How does that sound? I glanced over to Charlotte. "Those awesome projectile buffs you were talking about sound great doll, lay them on me." I turned my attention to the VIE (Very Important Elf) and raised an eyebrow. She looked at me in utter confusion. "How goes your elf mana reserves?"

"Low because I had to deal with the poison gas ritual, how are your human mana reserves?" Lirael said.

"I don't use mana. The imp gave me some demonic power." I said and struck an imp through the skull who ran into the room. His horns clattered to the ground as life left him. His demonic power drained from his corpse and filled my black halo.

The more demonic power I had the higher my grace growth rate seemed to be. Ideally I would get a lot more demonic power but I didn't like our odds of fighting a fiend. Our tank was at most mid hellspawn level.

Siegfried began to slow in his fight against the warrior demon. I tossed the corpse of an imp in front of a strike he would have missed and slapped the back of the demon's knees with a chain. The warrior demon stumbled and Siegfried roared as he smashed the warrior demon's skull in with his war mace.

The black halo grew a little more until I was forced to add a second ring. I had as much demonic power as a new hellspawn. With that much power I could power my wrath technique for a few seconds before it drained the second ring dry. My pride technique was completely out of the question.

"We need to get to move to warn the lich." I said.

The sphinx looked away.

"Would you like to answer a fourth riddle?"

"Mother fucker, you can't be serious."

"Are riddles really the best use of our time right now?"

"That isn't the point." I said.

"Your elf brain should have put the pieces together and jumped to the conclusion."

"Excuse me for being more interested in ritual summoning and magic than stupid riddles."

Jinxara tapped her pointy chin. "I would call it a deduction really."

"Jinxara, sweetie, I wasn't talking to you." Lirael said.

"The lich isn't here." I said.

"So what would we find if we made it past the Dullahan?" Siegfried asked.

The sphinx sighed. "A ritual trap to turn the intruder into a lich. A false collection of memories would then be installed to convince the intruder they are the lich. The ritual begins upon the destruction of the former lich intruder."

I didn't see that coming.

Siegfried was the first to ask a question. "What happens when a party defeats the lich?"

"All of you become a copy of the lich and believe that the others are fake. You would then kill each other until only one remains."

I decided then there really wasn't much left to gain in the catacombs.

"There is a false wall leading to an old mining tunnel that should take us out of here." Lirael said.

The sphinx looked pensive. "I won't be able to fit through the mining shaft, there are tight places even my feline body can't squeeze through."

"Maybe you should take the stairs," I said.

"That isn't fair." Siegfried turned to the sphinx. "Could you fall back to the Dullahan or even the false lich?"

"This place was never meant to be seriously attacked, it was always a tool to convince the world the lich was sealed."

An imp stuck its nose in and its head was pierced for its trouble. A rumble filled the catacombs. Jinxara looked through the door quickly closed it before retreating behind Seigfried.

"Big guy there are four hellspawn coming our way wearing plate armor like you only thicker," Jinxara said.

The princess spoke in her accented voice. "Are we taking a stand here?"

"No there are two other doors to this room. If we try and hold out here they will flank us." Siegfried said.

Lirael was out of mana and Jean wasn't far behind her. Siegfried was covered in sweat and exhausted from fighting a hellspawn. The armored units wouldn't be vulnerable to my chains like the unarmored had been. Jinxara could pierce their armor with soul fire but one hit would be her end. It wasn't worth it to send her out against four enemies in a cramped space.

Grace could do anything with enough power and understanding. I didn't have the power or knowledge to do anything positive with it. My best use of it was gathering demonic power for the use of my techniques.

Taking a job wasn't an option I refused, I would rather die and go back to hell than willingly fall into an Archon's trap. A job would make things easier.

I glanced around for anything we could use. There were a number of pillars holding the ceiling up. I gave them a hard look before making a decision.

"What are you doing?" The Spinx asked.

I yanked a pillar down and watched the ceiling for a second for anything to happen.

"You're going to use it to block their way, good thinking." Siegfried said.

"Jinxara, hold the door open for me."

When the demons saw me instead of retreating they marched faster with imps dressed in similar heavy plate armor following them.

From the shadows lines of chains emerged making it easier to hold the pillar. I looked my missile over. It was a marble thing heavy and sturdy the kind of monument that could hold up the ceiling of a catacomb for hundreds of years.

The demons picked up speed again each with manic looks in their eyes as they saw the pillar aim at them.

From chain to chain I threw the pillar as the hellspawn charged. The demon in the lead had his war hammer held high like he was going to bash the pillar before it reached them.

The others threw themselves against the wall stopping their charge as the acceleration reached it zenith. Their armor proved a detriment their bodies were too large to hide from the pillar turned missile. 25ft of pillar struck the first demon before he could swing his hammer.

Armor screeched as it tore through flesh as the marble pillars accelerated mass tore them apart.

Sweat beaded down my face. My body shook as the second ring of my black halo expanded.

"Do you think we've angered the demon lord yet?" Lirael asked.

I laughed at that. The sweet elf thought taking out a few minions that he probably didn't have to pay for affected the demon lord's bottom line. What did she think they did take out a Jabberwock?

There was no time to laugh at the cute elf. Jinxara opened the way and cut her fellow imps down as they funneled through the back door.

My chains covered her, delivering death at her flanks.

Siegfried joined the fray swinging his war mace killing enemies that would have fought him on equal footing before. Jinxara gained another level in imp and needed a secure place to rank up to a kind of hellspawn. The sphinx joined in as the demons hit their flank.

Lirael froze as two imps threw her to the ground. The armor gave them extra weight to throw around. I felt my chains clang against their armored chests and fail to penetrate. Another set tied around their necks before ripping them off their feet.

When their necks snapped Lirael flinched and covered her face.

If I couldn't pierce their armor then I would crush and strangle instead. A chain wrapped around the leg of an imp and flung it into others. The armor that added weight and protection didn't stop an imp's neck from snapping when it hit a pillar. An imp slammed hard against the wall its arm dangled from my chain while its body fell on the ground.

Both of my hands were raised and it took precious moments to plan out each attack. Once an attack was planned I moved on to the next letting the chains fly and hope that they land.

Red bodies piled up as we fought in the sphinx's room. Lirael stopped flinching as the sounds of bodies breaking became normal.

The sphinx used her claws to cut through gaps in armor or her paws to crush the demons. Hellspawn were no match for her when she picked up two axes with her human hands.

"Can you do something to stem the tide?" Siegfried asked.

"I'm on it," I said.

I piled the bodies with my chains, blocking two entrances and leaving only one leading to the mine shaft. Everyone was tired, including me; we didn't know how long we could fight.

The next five chapters are on my patreon. Go ahead and check the collection out. Link