Demonic Devourer ch. 98 [START OF BOOK 3]

Name: Evelyn Carnelian

Age: 19

Race: ???

Class: Divine Demon/Proto-Titan

Level: 119/29

Kill Count: 2015

Available Stat Points: 0

Traits:

Demonic Heritage

Enhanced Blood Affinity

Kinslayer II

Killer VI

Free Bird

Relentless

Soulless

Merciless

Voidtouched

Godsmarked

Heretic

Anomalous

Bonded (Proto-Titan)

Endling

Magic Affinities:

General - 3

Blood - 4

Divine - 4

Demonic - 4

Titan - 2

Special Skills:

Soulpyre (Diamond)

Carnelian Domain (Silver)

Last One Standing (Silver)

Equalize (Tourmaline)

Skills:

Appraise (Gold) - lvl 9

Devour (Diamond) - lvl 31

Blood Magic (Gold) - lvl 4

> Hemokinesis (Gold) - lvl 6

> Hemorrhage (Gold) - lvl 6

> Blood Clone (Gold) - lvl 6

> Bloodpath (Gold) - lvl 19

> Shapeshift (Gold) - lvl 3

> Blood Sense (Silver) - lvl 12

Knifefighting (Gold) - lvl 15

Stealth (Gold) - lvl 7

Acting (Gold) - lvl 16

Imitation (Gold) - lvl 14

Siphon (Diamond) - lvl 24

Ethereal Tempest (Gold) - lvl 5

Phantom Shape (Gold) - lvl 4

Locate (Gold) - lvl 12

Soulblade (Gold) - lvl 4

Restore Self (Gold) - lvl 1

Smite (Diamond) - lvl 3

Soulrend (Diamond) - lvl 7

Radiant Aura (Gold) - lvl 10

Firearms (Silver) - lvl 25

Antimemetic Cloak (Gold) - lvl 10

Abyssal Echo (Diamond) - lvl 11

Wraithfire (Gold) - lvl 6

Corrupt (Gold) - lvl 1

Descent unto the Void (Irrelevant) - lvl 4

Manifest (Irrelevant) - lvl 2

Resistances:

Enhanced Pain Resistance (Gold) - lvl 46

Poison Resistance (Bronze) - lvl 11

Enhanced Blade Resistance (Silver) - lvl 25

Enhanced Demonic Resistance (Silver) - lvl 25

Enhanced Fire Resistance (Gold) - lvl 49

Enhanced Wraithfire Resistance (Diamond) - lvl 51

Enhanced Divine Resistance (Gold) - lvl 48

Enhanced Antimemetic Resistance (Gold) - lvl 11

Attributes:

Magic (Power) - 163

Magic (Regen) - 135

Magic (Meta) - 169

Body (Speed) - 125

Body (Strength) - 137

Body (Durability) - 118

Mind (Speed) - 140

Mind (Resistance) - 118

If there’s one nice thing I can say about the hells, it’s that the one we’re in is offering me effortless victories.

I inhale the demon whole, Devouring him alongside the rest of the gore we tracked into this throne room. Savil, I think. That’s what the system said he was, though it wasn’t particularly clear on it. It feels different down here, like my relationship with my magic has shifted just by virtue of being in the hells.

Whether that’s because of our location or because of us, I’m not sure. Neither Sierra nor the amalgam have any answers for me, which I suppose is fair. It’s not every day that two not-quite-demonic girls die and enter the hells still mostly intact.

Even though it’s been a handful of hours since we entered, relief still courses through my body every time Sierra reminds me that she’s here with me, whether that’s through the warmth of her skin, a squeeze of a hand, or her soft whisper at my shoulder.

There was a moment, ever so brief, where I was falling and falling and falling and for a moment, I thought I was alone, that it hadn’t worked, that I was going to arrive in the hells and realize I killed the first and maybe only person who’s cared for me.

But she’s here. I’m here. We’re here, and even though the air burns our skin, even though our protective outfits didn’t survive the transition here, even though I’m fairly sure the sharp sand beneath our feet is made of corpses and is a malicious being in its own right, we’re here, and we’re together.

And that’s enough.

For now, at least.

“You’d think killing this many demons would grant more than one level,” I complain, sucking up the last of the gore. “At least that meal was good for my soul.”

Sierra snickers, but sobers quickly. “We do not need to find another demon to torture the information out of, actually. This one was a lord of some kind. I can take a divination spell from his domain.”

“Oh, oops,” I say. “Should I not have eaten him?”

She waves a hand, dismissing my concern. “So long as the keep is intact. That matters more than its owner. I would’ve told you beforehand.”

“Fantastic. How much time do you need?”

Sierra thinks for a bit, humming aloud. “Five, maybe ten minutes. I should be able to Locate the keystone quick enough.”

“Alright,” I say. “Let me know when you’re done. I’m going to scout the rest of the keep.”

She gives me a quick thumbs-up, and I expand my awareness, stepping away.

As much as I hate to admit it, even a few minutes away from Sierra has me on edge. Despite rationally knowing that she’s still there in the throne room, kneeling and siphoning magic from a particular stone, I find myself casting Locate every few seconds, confirming she’s there.

The rest of the keep is, predictably, largely empty. We did, to be fair, create quite a ruckus coming in.

A few demons do show themselves. They’re all weak, and I only even realize they’re there when I quite literally stumble upon them hiding in the reddish-brown brick-adjacent material of the walls and floor. Every single demon tries to flee when they realize who I am; without fail, every last one dies. I train up Smite, which is devastatingly effective on them. Even the softest touch can impart the skill, and they melt away instantly in the divine light.

Idly, I continue using Locate on Sierra, remaining aware that she’s still there. It’s strangely reassuring.

It’s against my design. I’m supposed to be stronger than this. More independent than this.

In this moment, I find that I don’t really care.

This really is a low-level area. I don’t feel any restrictions on my power—there might not be any, since this is clearly one of the hells—but the demons around here are weak. The bulk of the army that we just annihilated were so weak that I barely got XP from them. Savil, the lord, actually might’ve posed a threat, but I Siphoned his special skill before it could even fully form.

From what Sierra told me before we dove into the hells, that must mean we’re in a fairly low one, which is both a blessing and a curse. It gives the two of us more time to come into our own as we climb through the hells, but that also means we’re going to have to crawl through more of them to get back to the material plane, where our goals are.

That’s far easier said than done. Both of us are proto-Titans, and my conceptual weight is quadrupled because of my Endling trait. What little we know about the hells tells me that we’re likely going to have to make it to the top few hells before we can break out.

I finish my search of the keep, finding the tough, gritty stone structure largely empty otherwise. There’s more to find, I’m sure, but Sierra’s started moving and I’m not particularly interested in the rest of this place. I’m even less keen on going back outdoors; though it’s not life-threatening, I find that the scorching sands and the burning air that kicks them up are enjoyable.

“Welcome back,” Sierra says, sitting cross-legged on the throne. In her hand, she holds a small, softly glowing femur. “You know I’m not made of sand, right? I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Oh. Right. Sierra has a significantly stronger sense for magic than I do.

“Can’t hurt to keep track,” I say with a shrug. “Helps with training the skill up for finding other shit anyway. Did you get what you needed?”

“Yes,” she says, stepping up off the bone-and-steel throne. She waves the femur, which now has a slight blue tint to it. “I have my suspicions as to where we are, but a sufficiently powerful item from an area of significance should confirm it. I think I should be in sync with it now. Give it a look?”

I do.

Keystone - The Varnian Keep

Category: 1

Current Owner: Sierra Jade

Previous Owner: Savil

On the Ninth Circle, the Shifting Sands burn and drown and kill. With this keystone, however, you can bend the sands to your will. For a certain price, of course, and only in a certain place.

While you possess this keystone, you gain access to the special skill Flaying Sandstorm at Gold tier once per 9 hours, and the sands in the area of the Varnian Keep will not harm you.

Sierra curses quietly. “The good news is, it could be a lot worse.”

“This place doesn’t seem too strong to me,” I say. “If it’s the ninth hell, then we should be alright.”

“The hells aren’t necessarily ‘weaker’ or ‘stronger,’”” Sierra says. “My demonology isn’t very good, but I remember some. Marie made us learn. Every single hell has demons with power equivalent to any of Category between 0 and 5. It just so happens that the stronger ones usually try to burst upwards. That’s not always the case. We’re lucky that the first demons we saw were so weak.”

“I suppose we’re not going to be able to tell,” I say. “Appraise doesn’t work great on these demons.”

I got Savil’s name, but not much else. The skill’s not just straight-up failing on demons like it used to, but it’s clear that demons do not possess the same relationship with the system that other living beings do.

“It doesn’t,” Sierra agrees. “We can estimate the amount of power our enemies will face; ideally, this won’t be a problem. By defeating Callen, we have proven that we can defeat up to Category 3 foes with some effort. Ideally, that means we can breeze through the lower circles relatively easily.”

“Lower circles,” I say. “The ninth is low, then?”

“Relatively, I believe,” Sierra replies. “The hells are not a well-studied region, since entering from the material plane usually entails creating a breach into the first floor, which is not very survivable. That’s my understanding of it, at least—I never thought it would be relevant, so I lack knowledge. I’m fairly certain that the progression from circle to circle is not always linear, but we can burn that bridge when we get to it. For now, I’d like to understand what this hell’s rules are.”

“The description on the item mentions the Shifting Sands,” I say, frowning. “That’s Sersui’s Path, isn’t it?”

“It is often referred to as the Titan of the Shifting Sands, that is correct,” Sierra agrees. She tilts her head, as if listening for something. “I… cannot say whether the Titan itself is affecting the hell, if the relationship goes the other way around, or if it is something else entirely. We haven’t explored enough. This is groundbreaking territory, I’ll have you know. The only literature that discusses the hells in any depth is in the realm of eight centuries old. No helldivers have even gone past the Fourth Circle in decades! If I wasn’t so sure the UCC has kill-on-sight protocols for us, I’d be terribly excited to delve this.”

Her monologue has a childish wonder to it, and it makes me smile to hear it. There’s another emotion I’ve yet to feel. Haven’t learned to feel. Maybe I will, one day. Maybe she’ll show me how.

“Then there’s nothing to do but start clearing this hell out, right?” I ask.

“Suppose so. My Personal Space still works, thank the gods.” Sierra closes her fist around the keystone. “I have food, water, and the best of our armor and items. Enough to outfit a small army.”

“Armor would be nice,” I say pointedly. Our souls were given the bodies we had in life, but none of our equipment outside of her space transferred.

“Right, then,” she says. “Armor, then we go?”

“Sure thing.”

As it turns out, the keystone creates a bubble around Sierra where the windblown sand simply stops, keeping her and any close allies from taking injuries from the environment.

Staying with her is more necessary than I first realize, which we discover about an hour into our stroll through the arid, empty desert. Not only do the crimson sands make it nearly impossible to see more than a dozen feet around us, they also suppress healing. I learn this when a fist-sized rock, thrown by the wind, grazes me hard enough to draw blood, and the cut doesn’t even start to seal until I get closer to Sierra.

Not something we noticed earlier, but then we were too focused on the fact that we’re alive and together.

“We’re approaching the boundary of this keystone’s protection,” Sierra says after a while. “It’s giving me a warning. Oh, hey! It’s telling me what the next region over is.”

“And?”

“Not much detail.” Sierra sighs, disappointed. “Just a name.”

I raise an eyebrow. “It’s more than we had for this place. What is it?”

I’m rather excited to find another area to conquer. This first keep was pathetically easy to get through, though it was a nice opportunity to flex some of the skills I haven’t used as much.

This time, I’m going to let loose. I have plenty of magic in reserve thanks to Devour, which means I can sustain a nullspace. I don’t know how it’ll go in the hells, which are apparently more closely related to the Titans—that’ll include us, one day—than I thought. I would rather like to try.

Whoever we face next is not going to die well.

“Lysero,” Sierra says, reading off her system. “The Transient Temple.”

“Let’s go take a temple, then,” I say.

We’ve barely made it two steps within the new territory when the world around us shifts, long-ruined temples rising out of the sand, and a message slams into my mind so harshly I drop to my knees.

One fell; two rose, Sersui says. We meet again, Carnelian. Soon, there will be three of us fallen. A shame.

I’m still reeling from the weight of its voice when the first angel’s attack lands, smiting me into the ground.

“Six!” Sierra shouts, then cries out in pain.

I react completely on instinct, facedown in burning, angry sand, my very existence threatening to rip itself apart.

Six enemies.

I won’t let a single one of them walk away.

“You chose the wrong person to ambush,” I snarl.

Consequences be damned, I Manifest my nullspace.

Moments later, Sierra’s follows.

And everything goes wrong.

Angelic Tower — Root

The sixteenth floor is lonely. Adrian refuses to believe that he’s the only person who’s made it this far, but it sure feels that way. Logically, he knows that the floor is expansive enough to take a team of climbers weeks to clear, and he knows that there definitely are teams that make it up this far—after all, there’s a base camp on the fifteenth floor, and there are Category 2 teams aplenty. More than that, he’s sure, since there are no Category restrictions within the tower. There’s sure to be higher Category climbers traveling in from higher-power regions.

Still, logically knowing that he’s not the only person on this floor doesn’t make him feel any less alone.

He thought it was going to be okay at first, but now, he’s not so sure. One thing he never accounted for was the silence. It’s only been a few hours, but the air feels so empty. Sierra isn’t there to comment on various flora and fauna that she’s only seen in books before, Evelyn isn’t there to sardonically comment on Adrian’s inability to kill half a city before he can blink, and none of his short-lived team is there with their easygoing humor.

Adrian does not like being alone, but he knows that it’s better than the literal hell that Sierra and Evelyn are wading through, so he tries to be grateful.

Keyword: tries.

As he wades through yet another waist-deep bog that apparently doesn’t count as water for the purposes of his skills, using the Channeling Blade to clear mud and massive, human-sized mosquitoes alike, he sighs.

He hasn’t seen anyone in hours. Hopefully this doesn’t kill anyone.

Domain: The Unforgiving Sea.

Adrian’s still not completely sure about the details of his domain, having only truly activated it once, but he knows he has to practice with it to have a chance at advancing. Even with his absurdly fast advancement, he’s only level 206 in his main class. Warrior is almost level 50, so it’s ripe for a class evolution, but he needs to go faster.

The thought makes him laugh even as he directs the sea around him into a tight, hundred-foot radius. The pressure is so great that it turns trees into pulp in a matter of seconds. The bog disappears, washed away in an instant, and the mosquitoes implode.

It won’t be nearly as effective as this against the bosses, he knows. He thinks back to Inome, the proto-Titan. How his domain killed every offshoot but barely even affected the city-sized monster.

Your Hydrokinetic class has advanced to level 207!

You have gained 1 stat point.

You have gained 5 skill points.

Adrian sighs, sequestering the skill points into the appropriate places as his domain fades away. It’s incredibly taxing to use, still—he’s sure it’ll get easier if it’s a life or death situation, but that this is not.

He starts swimming through the falling sea, propelling himself towards the bodies he’s created so he can charge Evelyn’s Soulshard Rifle. Adrian has more magical items than he knows what to do with, now, and learning those has helped him through this floor.

I’ll have to lessen my reliance on them, he thinks. At least, if I want to get as powerful as they are.

Though then again, maybe magic weapons are his path to power. Adrian’s not sure yet. There’s a chance that his Warrior class evolves into something that offers him increased benefits with them.

So many unknowns. How in the name of the dead gods does Sierra manage it?

He’s up to 64 charges in the Soulshard Rifle—a new high for him, probably enough to put down someone on Adrian’s tier with a single shot—when another one of the items Sierra and Evelyn gave to him before they died chimes within the pack he carries.

At around level 30 in his Warrior class, he unlocked the skill to Attune to his equipment, which very fortunately applies retroactively.

That means that when the Communication Stone in his bag starts ringing with sound, he instantly knows what it is.

And he knows that the second half of the pair is gone.

A spike of panic surges through Adrian’s heart. Who could’ve taken the second half? Sierra gave him both halves, knowing they didn’t work across dimensional lines, which means that someone has to have taken it. Or maybe it fell out when he was using his domain?

Adrian grips Evelyn’s energy rifle—his rifle, now—tighter with one hand as he Equips his Attuned item, summoning it into his hand.

The moment he activates it, a voice rings straight into his ear, so loud he physically jumps. It’s a good thing his control over the rifle is strong; a lesser man might’ve shot it.

“—IS ANYONE THERE, HELLO, JADE, CARNELIAN, STAHR, IS ANYONE—“

Silently, Adrian congratulates himself on not reflexively killing something. Or pissing his pants. Doing neither of those is good.

Moments later, his eyes widen as the voice on the other end realizes that the second Communication Stone is active.

He recognizes this voice. Barely, but he recognizes it. His memory isn’t great, but it’s hard to forget this one.

“Kirin?” he asks gingerly.

“Holy shit, thank the gods,” the voice—Kirin’s voice—crackles through. “Stahr. Adrian. You need to help me. The Coalition can’t be trusted anymore. Sapphire Clearwater is going to kill us all.”

“What?” Adrian is too dumbfounded to provide an answer.

“I’ll find you,” Kirin says. “But you need to help us—“

The item goes silent.

___

Author's note: A bit slower and less intense than the last few chapters; in fairness, I don't think it's quite possible to top that with a chapter 1. Hope you enjoy, and good luck figuring out what the hells are :)