1.21: Bow before me, Angelspawn!
I waited until they were out of sight before turning and following the spider. It moved quickly and led me through a dizzying number of different caverns before we arrived at the lifeless body of the giant spider Mellic had killed. I overheard the sounds of the Angelspawn ahead and started casting my summoning spells. After summoning 15 demon warriors, 6 mages, and 3 dark priestesses, I summoned my demon assassin that I had yet to try. A lithe demoness dressed like a ninja straight out of feudal Japan appeared and bowed on the ground before me.
“Who would you like me to kill for you, my lady. My blade is yours to command.”
“Tell me about your abilities, assassin.”
“Yes, my lady. I am most effective in close range, where I can use my katana or wakizashi. For range, I have several throwing stars and a few kunai, but I can also use a bow if I am given access to one. I can dodge most melee attacks, and am able to disappear into the shadows if I remain out of combat for a short period of time. Do you require a more in depth explanation of anything, my lady?”
I shook my head and she bowed hers in acknowledgment.
“For now, stay behind the group and stick to the cover. If you get an opening to attack one of the mages or archers, do so only as long as you can get in and get out.”
She bowed her head again and moved behind the large group of demons.
“Warriors: stay a couple steps in front of me as we attack so I can prepare a spell. Mages: focus on offensive magic. Once they start attacking the healers, switch to defense and do your best to keep them alive as long as possible. Our goal is not to wipe out the enemy, but hold their attention long enough for the others to move around and flank them. Everyone ready?”
They all saluted me at once and I nodded my head back at them. We moved swiftly and heavily, the sounds of our armored boots echoing loudly through the tunnels. I heard voices ahead, and as we rounded a corner, a fireball soared overhead. I held up my shield as we rushed forward, and started casting my charm enemy spell. I hadn’t used this spell much, as it wasn’t terribly effective against higher level enemies, but against these weaker Angelspawn, it would be perfect. As we drew closer, I noticed that each of the Angelspawn was wearing matching colors of red and orange. One of the archers took a single step forward and yelled loudly while he drew back an arrow.
“Back off, Demonspawn! We’re not here to fight you! We’re here to take out the spider queen, but if you get in our way, we’ll take you out too!”
I channeled my inner Demon Lord and shouted back at them to try and provoke them.
“Pathetic Angelfilth! Bow before me or I will crush you beneath my heel!”
For a brief second when they didn't immediately reply I thought that maybe they were actually going to do as I commanded, when the archer scoffed loudly.
“Yeah... No. Take the bitch out.”
I nodded to one of my warriors nearby, and we charged ahead. Arrows and magic spells rained down on us, and I felt the impact as several attacks struck my shield. One arrow managed to make it through and it hit my shoulder hard. I felt the armor crack, but it hadn’t been strong enough to hurt me.
“Cast your spells at the same time I cast mine. If they block it instead of dodging it like I suspect they will, my [Charm Enemy] spell will still take effect.”
The warriors did their best to keep incoming attacks off of us as we cast a series of spells. One of the enemy mages stepped forward and threw up his hands. A blue orb appeared around the group, and my demon mage’s attacks bounced off harmlessly. My own spell, however, hit the mage in the chest and he staggered and fell back. His teammates moved to check on him and a large shockwave of energy pushed them away.
“Get the fuck off me, demons! What the hell did you do with my friends?!”
The mage stood up and backpedaled towards me and my demon army.
“What the fuck is going on?!”
As his clan moved to try and stop him from heading towards us, he cast several spells and hurled them at his former allies.
“Cal, what the hell, man?! Same team, moron.”
The mage, Cal apparently, turned around and started sprinting at top speed towards us. I held my hand up for my warriors to refrain from attacking him, and they allowed him to stumble past. He fell at my feet and grabbed onto my hand with a look of desperation on his face.
“P-Please, you’ve got to help me! My friends have all been replaced with demons!”
“Sure, I can help you. Let me just call a healer over and she’s going to look at you.”
I motioned to my assassin and she emerged from the nearby shadowy area and knelt down next to the mage. She pulled his head to her chest and gently stroked his cheek.
“Relax, child. You have nothing to fear. Soon you will be free from worry and pain.”
He calmed against her touch as she reached behind her and pulled out a small dagger. With a swift motion she yanked his head backwards and sliced open his exposed throat. Blood fountained from the gaping wound and coated the assassin’s lower body and the cave floor as the lifeless mage collapsed at my feet. She wiped the blade clean and sheathed it in one smooth action before standing up and slinking back into the shadows. For a moment I considered just leaving the body where it lay, but a devious idea popped into my head. I reached down and yanked the mage’s corpse up with one hand. I drew my arm back and hurled the body as hard as I could at his clan mates. It landed with a sickening thud and I heard screams of rage from the other Angelspawn.
“You killed him, you stupid bitch! What the hell?! Take ‘em out, cut the rest of them to pieces, but keep the bitch alive. I’m gonna show her what happens when you mess with Templar’s Justice.”
If they had been attacking relentlessly before, now they were in an all out frenzy. Two of my demon warriors were instantly incinerated, and I felt several arrows pierce my armor. I turned to the little spider on my shoulder and spoke softly.
“Please tell me you guys are close… We can’t hold out for long.”
The spider did the oddest thing and nodded its head, and I had to restrain myself to keep from laughing. I smiled and focused on the enemy bombarding me and my demons.
“Everyone attack! Mages, push them back with everything you have! Priestesses, forget healing and use whatever offensive magic you have. CHARGE!”
If I didn’t know that this was all for the sake of a distraction, I would think that rushing headlong into the enemy like I was currently doing was pure suicide. I realized we weren’t even going to make it within melee range as the last of my demons was mowed down. I activated my [Stoneskin] ability, but the constant damage still made my HP drop into double digits. I collapsed to my feet as my HP reached critical levels, and the attacks stopped. The archer from earlier walked slowly towards me and lifted my chin up to look at his face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the small spider that had been on my shoulder jump off and out of my field of vision. The archer was about to say something when one of his clan screamed in agony. He released my head and I saw a black carapace covered fist sticking through the chest of one of the mages; the Angelspawn’s heart clutched tightly in its grasp. At the same moment, my assassin leapt from her hiding spot and drove her blade straight through the archer’s spine. I was too weak to do much beyond watch as my clan mates battled the remaining Angelspawn.
One of the warriors ran over and lifted his axe high in preparation for removing my head, and I growled at my inability to do anything beyond watching it happen. I felt a huge rush of cold air and thought for a moment the blade had struck me, until I saw Emelia in her ice form standing over me with her arm stretched upwards. The end of her wrist had been turned into a jagged spear of ice that was currently impaled through the bottom of the warrior’s chin, and his body twitched a few times before she pushed him over.
“Jade! She’s over here!”
Jade ran over to me and held out her arm. Deep lines of red appeared on her skin, and blood seeped from the runic symbols. The feeling of weakness passed and I watched my HP rise quickly back up to full. I stood up and helped Jade to her feet. She staggered for a moment before finding her balance and nodding to me.
“What was-”
“I’ll explain later. For now... kill these assholes.”
I recovered my sword and cast my [Demonfire] spell. I ignited my blade and moved to attack the nearest enemy who was currently fighting my assassin. With his back turned to me, I extended my wings and lifted myself a few feet off the ground. I held the flaming sword in both hands and folded my wings, using the momentum of me falling to add force to the blow. My assassin leapt out of the way as I cleaved the Angelspawn from the top of his skull down through his lower body. The two bloody pieces collapsed and I smirked at my nimble demon. I looked around and saw that only one Angelspawn remained. She was backpedaling away from Bray who swung the giant axe in broad strokes inches from her face. The look of terror painted on her face was replaced with one of stunned agony. As she had backed away from Bray’s attacks, she failed to see the giant spider behind her; the huge creature extended its fangs and grabbed her with its two front legs. It sank the wicked looked fangs deep into her body and held her in place until she stopped squirming. It wrapped her body in silk, turned and dragged the corpse down one of the nearby tunnels. Bray’s eyes were wide and he looked like he was about to faint.
“Well that was disgusting and somewhat horrifying.”
I laughed and placed my hand on Bray’s shoulder. He flinched and then relaxed as he realized it was me. He shuddered and we walked back towards the group.
“Fucking hate spiders…”
After we collected anything worth salvaging from the Angelspawn’s corpses, we moved into a different chamber to let the spiders feast on the remains. I spent a full 15 minutes corrupting each item, and my hand trembled in agony. Aeryn used his web making ability and wrapped my hand in a few layers of thick silk, and I sighed in relief.
“That was too close, guys. I thought for sure you weren’t going to make it in time. But… Aeryn… I have to say… that was an epic entrance.”
He laughed and mimicked his earlier action of thrusting his arm through someone’s body.
“To be honest… I had no idea what I was going to do until I saw you on your knees. I focused all my efforts on attacking the closest guy and wound up punching through him.”
“It was fucking awesome! I only wish I had been able to hold out longer to help you guys take them out.”
Jade glared at me and placed her hand on my arm.
“Allie, hon… shut up. You go above and beyond every mission we’ve been in, and you always put yourself in danger. If you weren’t as badass as you are, we wouldn’t have made it this far in such a short amount of time. I’m just glad there was still enough of you left for me to heal. And before you ask… I decided to specialize in blood magic. I sacrifice a portion of my health to supercharge any spell I cast. You took a shitload of damage… so it took a lot of my own health to heal you.”
“Well… thanks for doing that. I honestly thought I was done for.”
The ebony necromancer curtsied and everyone turned to Bray as he spoke.
“Anyone opposed to getting the hell out of here? No offense Aeryn, but… I’m still totally creeped out by your spiders.”
We all laughed at the massive warrior and nodded in agreement. After the mage duel, the perilous trek through the spider caverns, and the fight with the Angelspawn, we were all completely exhausted. As we moved to collect our things, Aeryn seemed to be the only one not getting ready to depart. I had a feeling I knew what was coming as he spoke softly.
“I’m not going with you guys. I’m uh… I’m gonna stay here and log out. One of the other chambers has been set as my new sanctuary. I’ll still travel with you guys like normal, but… I have to return here from now on.”
Before anyone could say anything, Judas stepped forward.
“I’m going to stay here with you, Ser Aeryn. I’ll use my crafting abilities to help you fortify the caves and make it far easier to defend. I simply won’t take no for an answer. After all this clan has done for me, it is just my way of showing my appreciation.”
“In that case, I accept. Thank you so much Judas. It uh… It means a lot to have you with us.”
We all hugged the two of them and said our goodbyes before we ascended out of the caves. There wasn’t much idle chatter as we slogged our way back to the Hell Gate. It was my turn to say goodbye to the others, and they gave me the same loving farewell. Emelia remained behind for a moment while the others went through the massive orange portal. She sauntered over to me and pressed her body into mine. She reached up and pulled my head down. I thought for a moment she was going to kiss me, but she whispered quietly.
“You scared the hell out of me, babe. Sometimes it’s easy to forget this is a game… Seeing you down on your knees like that with that huge axe about to hit you… I just reacted. I didn’t even know if I’d be able to stop it from hitting me… I just didn’t want it to kill you. When you log out.. I am gonna cuddle the shit out of you.”
I was about to speak and she cut me off with a kiss. I moaned in her mouth as she yanked my hair a little bit and pulled me off of her. She grinned mischievously and ran through the Hell Gate. I grinned like an idiot for a moment, then realized I would have to face my master when I returned to the castle. After the defeat in the caverns, I was confident he’d be in a rage; especially considering the revelations from his sister regarding his abilities. I reluctantly spread my wings and flew back towards the castle.