84: Archfiend in the Big City
With no valid destination circle, Ashtoreth’s [Runic Warp] had a large margin of inaccuracy. This meant that they had to aim for the air high above the city lest she be dump...
2025-03-29 22:27:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Illiriel posts
83: The Apocalypse is a Go
Nearly an hour later, Ashtoreth and Frost warped back to Earth and landed exactly where they’d first been taken from, right next to the very same police car that she’d kicked a door off of.
... 2025-03-29 22:24:35 +0000 UTC View Post82: The Best Magic Items are the ones that Grant Even Bigger Explosions
“One last gear check!” Ashtoreth said as she rose the morning of their departure.
Dazel moved into the warm spot that she’d left on the bed, curling up to fall back to sleep. “You don...
2025-03-28 21:01:59 +0000 UTC View Post81: Keeping Humanity Safe Through Machine-Gun Assassinations
“All right, troops! Listen up!”
Ashtoreth looked over where Frost, Kylie, and Hunter were lounging on the couch that they’d dragged outside. She wore a military uniform, complete with a...
2025-03-27 22:45:14 +0000 UTC View Post80: At Long Last, the Peanut Butter is Mine
Christmas Eve began with an excursion to the Deadlight Shard, where they’d fought against the armies of a dracolich that inhabited a broken tower. They’d been in good spirits, reaving down armi...
2025-03-26 21:14:19 +0000 UTC View PostSmall Announcement
I'll probably be doing tier updates a little earlier than usual for the next few days. My sleep schedule is way off after getting sick and doing a bunch of oversleeping, so I'm going to update befo...
2025-03-25 21:47:14 +0000 UTC View Post79: The Real Magic is Friendship!
After an hour or so of the most spectacular fighting between a vending machine and a Jack O’lantern that the cosmos had ever seen, they settled in to do what Ashtoreth had been begging them all t...
2025-03-25 21:40:26 +0000 UTC View Post78: It’s Not Everyday You’re Murdered by A Jack O’Lantern and the Tin Man
The sound the pipe organ grew louder and louder as Ashtoreth finished climbing the outer steps of the cathedral and reached the double doors. She spared a single glance over her shoulder at the str...
2025-03-25 05:08:00 +0000 UTC View Post77: Of Gustatory Pleasures and Murdered Worlds
{Ding! You level up! You are now level 100.}
{You gain 12 DEX, 12 STR, 18 VIT, 14 MAG, 7 PSY, 7 DEF}
{Reaching level 100 has granted you advanc...
2025-03-24 05:08:01 +0000 UTC View Post76: Powering Up to Kill Some Dinosaurs With the Team
“First things first,” Ashtoreth said the next morning as they sat in the cramped living area of her tiny house. “I’m level 62. Is anybody else level 60?”
“Hunter’s highest,” s...
2025-03-23 05:08:00 +0000 UTC View Post75: Nothing Builds Teams Like… Shame, Apparently
“Gotta hand it to Hunter,” Dazel said. “In a million years, you never would have thought of shaming them into cooperation.”
“True,” she said. “But I don’t think it would have ...
2025-03-22 04:25:51 +0000 UTC View Post74: Like a Montage, but Time Passes Normally and with no Music. Okay it’s Training. We’re Training.
“Okay,” said Ashtoreth. “That was all a bit too much to deal with right away. So I’m thinking, why not spend a day or so in here and everyone can find their bearings?”
They were sta...
2025-03-21 04:17:51 +0000 UTC View Post73: With Friends Like These, I’m Completely Alone
The tall, robed figures with bundles of tentacles instead of heads each had four arms that sprouted from their shoulders at right angles to one another. The nearest of the enemies raised one of the...
2025-03-20 04:46:26 +0000 UTC View Post72: Gaze Long Enough Into the Abyss… and Maybe You’ll Find a Boss to Kill for Loot and XP
Ashtoreth sped through the air toward the fleeing army of alien beings, conscious that she had only a few moments before she had to turn her attention to one of the fast approaching, island-shaped ...
2025-03-19 04:55:14 +0000 UTC View Post71: The Abyssal Rift was… Not Our First Choice, Unsurprisingly
It was immediately clear to Ashtoreth that they’d spawned in the Abyssal Rift, even if she’d never see it before.
She stood in the middle of a vast, circular cavern filled with a diffuse ...
2025-03-18 04:21:10 +0000 UTC View Post70: Think of it as a Free Training Arc Whose Only Cost Will be to Our Mental Wellbeing!
The next morning, they sat in the common room with less than an hour before they were ejected into their first scenario.
“We should be able to make level 300 relatively quickly,” said Ash...
2025-03-17 04:34:36 +0000 UTC View Post69: It Turns Out Soloing Seven Bosses Earns You a Big Reward
{You absorb [Tutorial Boon Core]; Tier 1}
{You absorb [Archfiend Pluto Core]; Tier 1}
{Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! You gain 4 levels. You are now l...
2025-03-16 04:37:23 +0000 UTC View Post68: That Archfiend's Got Class
Dazel repaired the shard in a moment, turning it from a dysfunctional collection of fragments of chaos into a functional one with little more than a touch.
It sort of frustrated Ashtoreth, ho...
2025-03-15 05:08:01 +0000 UTC View Post67: Think of Yourselves Less as 'Prisoners' and More as 'Helpless Coattail Passengers'
After more than fifteen hours of searching, Ashtoreth landed to join the humans where they had gathered on the cliffside above the lava lake.
Her fights with the dragon and her sister had lef...
2025-03-14 05:08:01 +0000 UTC View Post66: The Silver Lining Here is that I Get to BE A Police Car!
{The tutorial boss has been slain by the following creatures:}
{Vampiric Archfiend Ashtoreth — Level 48}
{The tutorial is now finished. An in...
2025-03-13 05:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post65: The Grand Finale
Pluto clapped her gloved hands together in front of her. “Bravo!” she said. “Is Ashtoreth ready to fight at last? Because all you’ve done so far is run from me—dancing from trick to trick...
2025-03-12 10:26:20 +0000 UTC View Post64: Ashtoreth’s Inferno
Pluto jerked her gaze toward the distant citadel as it broke away from the stone bridge connecting it to the cliffside and began to fall out of sight.
Ashtoreth’s sword finished conjuring a...
2025-03-12 10:10:00 +0000 UTC View Post63: A Screaming Sibling Deathmatch of Ice and Fire
Ashtoreth immediately absorbed every core that she had, sure that the boss had to grant at least two levels by itself.
{Ding! Ding! Ding! You gain 3 levels. You are now level 38.} 2025-03-12 10:05:00 +0000 UTC View Post
62: With Enemies Like These, I Have Infinite Resources
The citadel floated in the air at the center of the lake, a cluster of narrow spires and high ramparts that were clad in matte black steel.
Anticipating a trap, Ashtoreth rose high into the a...
2025-03-12 10:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post61: The REAL Loot is the Gigantic Dragon Corpse! But Also the Boss Chest.
{Reaching level 30 has granted you advancement. Choose one of your progression paths other than [Armament].}
{Reaching level 30 has altered your advancement progressi...
2025-03-12 05:15:16 +0000 UTC View Post60: With Friends Like These, I’m Burning in Agony
All Ashtoreth could think as the flames came toward her was: would Dazel lie to her?
While the answer to that question was an emphatic yes, it was also the case that Dazel wouldn’t...
2025-03-11 04:58:27 +0000 UTC View Post59: [Energy Drain] Gives Whole New Meaning to the Words “Bad Touch”
Crucifect dove toward her, enraged by some combination of being maimed and being insulted.
Seeing that the distance between them was great enough for her to regenerate, she leveled her sword ...
2025-03-10 04:17:53 +0000 UTC View Post58: When it Comes to the Fullest Extent of Your Powers, Size Matters
In every corner of the cosmos, it was generally acknowledged that dragons were to be feared.
Across all worlds, they were known as annihilators, plunderers, and tyrants. Such was their power ...
2025-03-09 05:27:57 +0000 UTC View Post57: Nothing Hurts Quite Like the Truth, Even if Sacred Damage Comes Pretty Close
Ashtoreth bounded through the forest, slipping between the trees and searching for new enemies. Her stats were higher now, and to test her strength she leapt up and bounded off of a tree, beating h...
2025-03-08 06:12:01 +0000 UTC View Post56: Infernal Literacy Skills Can Get You Real Far in Life
She didn’t bother asking why Dazel knew how to write an infernal contract. So far, it seemed that he used to be some kind of spellcaster, and his knowledge of the antithesis shard m...
2025-03-08 06:11:02 +0000 UTC View Post