1.12: Rewards
As we were searching the room for any valuables, Aeryn returned my armor to me and I reequipped it so that I could help the others wearing armor retrieve all the holy blades, while everyone else gathered whatever useful pieces of gear they could find. We all huddled around Jade as she called us over to a large tomb. We shoved the massive stone lid off and looked inside of it.
“It’s a staff and a gleaming suit of armor!”
Jade reached out and grabbed the staff, only to recoil and shake her hand in pain.
“It’s a fucking holy weapon and blessed armor. Shit… it’s fucking worthless.”
“Hold up… I can fix that.”
I removed my gauntlet and placed my entire hand on the chestpiece of the armor. It burned like molten lava and I heard my skin start to sizzle, but a black mark spread out from my hand and started covering the armor. After a moment, the entire thing gleamed like a jet-black gem, and I pulled my hand off. Jade cast a healing spell and my HP went back up, but it had no effect on the burned skin. Judas stepped forward and grabbed my hand gently.
“Your magic is powered by dark energies, Lady Jade, so it is unable to affect the burn. Fear not, Lady Allexus, your demon body will heal itself after a few hours.”
I used the burned hand to corrupt the staff and moved it and the armor out of the coffin. Beneath it was a pair of rings and an amulet. I tested the pieces of jewelry to see if they would burn me, and handed them to Emelia for inspection when I was convinced they were safe. I grabbed the staff and tossed it to Bray, before hefting the massive suit of armor out of the coffin and carrying it to our clan quartermaster.
“I think that’s everything worth grabbing… unless you have a use for an angel skeleton, Jade.”
She ran over, drew a small curved knife from her belt, and opened a pouch filled with various jars and flasks. She scooped some of the dirt inside the coffin into one jar, before scraping several shards of bone into another with the edge of the knife. She stood up and moved to walk away from the stone coffin, when she turned back and reached back into it. Her hands wrapped around the large skull, and gave it a firm tug. The entire skeleton shifted, but the skull remained attached.
“Need a hand, Jade?”
She sighed and nodded. I walked back over and stood next to her. She placed her hands on the skeleton and indicated with her head she was ready. I reached in with one hand, focused my demonic strength, and pulled. The spine snapped a little, but still remained intact.
“Shit. This is harder than I thought.”
I moved my body to get better leverage and Jade shifted to do the same. I felt her push her body into me and her large round ass pressed into my groin. She turned slightly and gave me a smirk, and held the skeleton in place. I did my best to ignore the gorgeous woman who was obviously flirting with me, and grabbed the skull with both hands. I pulled as hard as I could, and the skull broke free. I fell backwards from the sudden momentum, and Jade fell back into my lap. Nothing beyond my pride was hurt, and I was about to lift Jade off of me when a large column of ice smacked into her and sent her flying. I looked back for the source of the attack, and saw Emelia standing with her hand outstretched; a scowl painted on her face.
“She’s mine! Back off, bitch!”
I heard Jade laugh weakly and manage to get to her feet.
“Jesus, Em… it was a joke! I knew it was a bad idea… but I was just playing around. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again!”
Emelia walked over to me slowly, waving her hand in front of her face. I watched the frost quickly dissipate from her skin, and she jumped into my arms. I clasped my arms around her and pulled her into a gentle kiss. She pulled her lips away from mine, and smirked at me.
“Too much?”
I smirked back at her and shook my head. I pulled her in for another kiss, then set her down. I looked around the area and sighed.
“That fight was intense. If we hadn’t wiped ‘em out like that, I don’t think we could have held out much longer. That move with freezing the boss was badass. You made it look effortless, and my final blow felt good, but if you hadn’t done that, he would have probably impaled me. So… thanks.”
She smiled at me and gave me a wink.
We sold the loot from our last fight and got a total of 5,500 gold. I put my portion into the clan bank and joined the others in the tavern. Bray took the items we had pulled from the coffin to the Arcane Trader, and a huge smile was on his face as he returned to the group.
“Guys, this armor… it’s… it’s fucking badass. Like… epic level badass.”
Bray held up the stat screen of the armor, and we all went wide-eyed. Not only did it massively boost the wearers stats; every time the wearer killed something, they would recover a small portion of their HP. The only downside to it was that it could only be equipped by Demonkin, not Demonspawn. That meant Judas and I were the only ones in our clan who could use it, and it was far too heavy for him to use effectively. Bray took it from the clan vault and handed it to me in an inventory bag.
“Take it, Allie, the rest of us can’t use it.”
I took the item reluctantly and equipped it. Despite being much bulkier in appearance; it was made of a lighter, sturdier material, so it felt like I could move around much easier. I stared down at the black armor and admired the crimson outlines along the edges of the ornate armor. Each piece of armor was a deadly weapon in its own right, as there were sharp points coming from most of the joints. It was just as seductive as it was protective, with the plates allowing for a bountiful amount of cleavage to show in a deep V neck. The gap was filled in with a lightweight chainmail, allowing to show off as much skin as possible without losing out on the protection.
I turned around and moved in various poses for the rest of my clan; modeling the new set of armor for them as they cheered and catcalled. After a few moments, I switched to the dress that Judas had made me, and they cheered even louder.
“Allie, you look fucking stunning in that dress!”
I curtsied and motioned for Aeryn to come over to me. I placed my old armor set into an inventory bag, and handed it to him.
“I don’t need this anymore… and I think you’ll get more use out of it than the others.”
His eyes went wide and he pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back and smiled down at him. We pulled away from each other, and he equipped it. Thanks to the game makers the set of armor matched whatever gender the character was, and it adjusted to his masculine body. He held up the gauntlet with a large crack in it and looked back at me.
“I’m so sorry! I forgot all about that! If you want, I can have Judas fix that for you. He’s amazing with crafting skills.”
“I… I um… I can ask him. Thank you so much, Allie. I know I can never repay you… but I’m going to do my best to find a way to try and pay you back anyhow.”
He ran over to Judas and I watched for a moment as he blushed while speaking with my demonic retainer. I walked over to Emelia and pulled her aside.
“Hey Em. I can’t be sure, but it seems like your brother is flirting with Judas.”
She smirked at me and shrugged.
“Judas may not be a real live player, but there’s something different about him. Aeryn seemed drawn to him from the moment he saw him. That’s not a problem, is it?”
I adamantly shook my head and smiled.
“No, not in the slightest- What are they cheering about now?”
I looked over at the rest of our clan, and they were all looking at the staff and pieces of jewelry that were currently in the clan vault.
“Apparently it’s all amazing stuff for a necromancer… so… Jade’s pretty excited.”
Emily stood up and stretched. I smiled at her as she sat back down in my lap and we watched as Jade tested out her new equipment.
“Hey, I’m gonna log out in a few… Care to join me?”
She winked at me, and I smirked back at her before nodding. I picked her up and set her down next to me, before standing up.
“Hey guys, I’m going to log out for a bit. I might be on later. Depends on how much trouble Emily and I get into. I’ll see you guys later tonight, though.”
They each ran over and hugged me, and I kissed Emelia quickly before heading for the town exit with Judas. I flew us back up to the castle and stood outside the entrance.
“What are the odds I can make it to my room before he… she… whatever… notices me?”
“Not terribly great, m’lady. Your master has a pretty high awareness inside his castle. But I’m game for attempting to make it if you are.”
I nodded to him, and he smiled. We burst through the opening and sprinted as fast as our demonic bodies would carry us. As we rounded the corner closest to my room, I thought for sure I was going to be summoned any second to the throne room. I let out a tremendous sigh of relief as I made it to the safety of my room, and slammed the door closed. I leveled up quickly, going all the way up to level 31. I chose a new Command spell called [Summon Demon Assassin], bade Judas farewell, and logged out.