Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A second later and Athela was there, flashing by and rapid-firing hardened Bloody Strings from her abdomen that pierced the shadowlings like needle-shaped red missiles. The tiny shadow beasts shrieked and withered into puffs of black flame before the Blood Weaver demon turned around to reengage the undead wolf that’d followed her, nimbly dodging the snaps of the zombie and burying her silver fangs into the wolf’s neck bones.

The wolf furiously roared and blasted a green toxin cloud around its position to shake the demonic spider off. Meanwhile, necrotic venom from Athela’s fangs was injected into its spine in a counterattack. The venom from her silver fangs was black, creeping along the joints of the zombie’s exposed vertebrae and causing pieces of bone to rot off, while the cloud of toxic gas seemed unable to affect the demon at all. The larger zombie managed to roll Athela off and leaped back to try and buy itself some space—but it found itself entangled time and time again with strands of sticky red webbing that latched onto its feet, neck, and thorax.

Meanwhile, Riven snarled despite his mangled shoulder and dodged yet another miasmic blast of neon mana that rocketed by his left ear—only saving himself due to his enhanced body under the power of the crow’s blessing.

*WHOOSH*

The bald man was snarling in disbelief at yet another blur of motion on Riven’s end, rage filling the sorcerer’s features while blood seeped from the burned-off portion of his pants where Riven’s snare had entangled his bloodied legs. “YOU LITTLE BASTARD!”

Two more shadowling summons began to form amid dark mana that spilled out of the sorcerer’s staff, coming to life and giving shape to animated quadrupeds yet again. The shadows molded, folded in on themselves, and then solidified to glare out at Riven before shooting ahead with a fervor.

This time, though, Riven was ready.

His mutilated feet ached under the strain, but he shot forward anyways and unleashed two razor discs of crimson. The spinning blades of blood mana rocketed ahead to meet the charging shadowlings, which were both too close and too slow to dodge. One almost escaped the attack, but when the small creature went left, the spinning blood magic went left with it. This particular spell had minor lock-on abilities, and the blood magic adjusted to the direction its target was moving in and cleaved the summoned creature cleanly through. The sleek blade of magic caused the small monster to burst into another puff of black fire. It never even stood a chance.

“INSOLENCE!” the bald man screeched, and he raised his staff to cast yet another miasmic bolt but paled when nothing happened.

Simultaneously, Riven grinned. He must either be out of mana or the man had finally triggered a cooldown. Riven’s muscles flexed, and he dived forward to take advantage of the situation, ignoring the pain of his wounds. Blood seeped through his boots and along his shins, over the torn musculature of his right shoulder, but the blessing kept him going and red electricity pulsed along his skin to drive him toward greater speeds.

Then he conjured a Wretched Snare, and a black ball erupted from his left hand where he held the scythe. The magic surged and spread out, evolving and expanding into another net that slammed full force into Riven’s enemy. This time there was simply no room to dodge even part of it now that the combatants were so much closer to one another, and the spell caught the sorcerer’s entire body within the rooting black magic.

As for the demon? Athela’s next words were filled with excitement and a thrill for the kill. “C’M’ERE, BITCH!”

Riven’s breathing became shallow and time began to slow down, or at least it seemed that way to him when his mental faculties started to shut off. He watched in silence, his vision slowly fading while the other man’s helpless screams of terror and pain reached new heights. He watched as Athela tore into the man’s stomach and began ripping out his intestines. Watched as she loudly mocked the sorcerer amid his begging pleas. Watched as she sprayed webbing all over the man’s face to keep him quiet while she ate him alive, and watched as she did another ridiculous happy dance atop his corpse when the man finally fell silent in death.

This spider was a goddamn kill-happy psychopath.

[Part three of three in the Chalgathi’s Lineage Quest has been completed by slaying your opponent in a one-on-one battle to the death.]

[You have gained one combat level. Please visit your status page to assign stat points.]

[You have become one of Chalgathi’s chosen few. You hold no allegiance to anyone but yourself, and Chalgathi in turn is interested to see where you will take this path and how far you progress in your new life within Elysium. Perhaps if you tread carefully enough, you may even find further favor...and further power.

That...that is to be determined through your own actions.

Good luck, young Novice Warlock. May your kills be many and your dominion be swift.]

A flash of light surged across his body. Suddenly Riven could breathe normally again, and he took in a long gasp of crisp, fresh air. Riven’s expression of eager happiness increased in magnitude when he felt the wounds along his body clear up and saw his clothes visibly repair, but the expression faltered and turned into yet another frown when he read the texts. His situation sounded rather ominous, and he found it hard to believe Chalgathi didn’t expect anything of him after this. He didn’t know who or what Chalgathi was, but every action had a reason behind it.

The stars overhead gently twinkled down onto his sprawled-out form, and he took a moment to get a grip on what he’d just gone through. It didn’t last long, however, not with all the distracting noise his victorious demon was making. Pushing himself up with a strained groan, he looked at the still-dancing spider while she chittered and clicked her mandibles atop his enemy’s corpse—waving the man’s intestines around in the air like pom-poms or batons... Riven studied the bound demon for a few seconds with a blank stare, and then he couldn’t help but laugh. It was a sour, cold laugh, because he’d nearly died and the sight was rather gruesome. But he was alive...and that damnable little spider had without a doubt saved his life.

“Good job, Athela. I think I owe you one.”