Chapter 161 - Hellscape

At some point, the tower had added a few things to its aura. Most notably, instead of simply warding off less powerful beasts by draining their power, it also came with an air of vitality that made any allies regenerate mana and life energy much more quickly. When Abby used her [Makeshift Camp] skill in conjunction with the tower, it became a veritable cascade of vitality and mana that could speed recovery times by at least half. At times, it was easy to take it for granted, but in the hellscape that was Mal’araxis, it was even more valuable than normal. Without it, Zeke wasn’t certain that his friends would have recovered at all, much less as quickly as they had. However, with his allies augmented by his tower’s aura, Zeke could set out to gather ingredients with some degree of certainty that they would be okay when he returned.

Certainly, a powerful creature might push past the aura’s restrictions, but to date, Zeke had only seen that from the raptors they’d encountered in the Red Wastes. It stood to reason that he would notice if it was going to happen again.

“Or maybe I’m just trying to stay optimistic,” Zeke muttered as he stepped out of the tower. Striding forward, he kept his eyes peeled for likely alchemical ingredients as well as potential enemies. After being reborn in the troll caves, Zeke had been forced to adopt a heightened sense of awareness. Otherwise, he’d never have made it out alive. Since then, he’d relaxed a little, depending on his incredible durability as well as his allies. However, as he left the tower’s protective aura behind, Zeke sank back into the old habits he’d learned so long ago. His eyes darted around, alert for any hint of movement, but the demon realm reflected the Red Wastes in many ways, not least of which was its seeming dearth of life. He wasn’t fooled, though. Plenty of creatures made their home in the deserts of the Red Wastes, and he suspected that this new place was no different. So, as he climbed black dunes, he never relaxed his instincts, even after he’d been climbing up and down dunes for more than an hour with no respite or results.

Even though he was on high alert, Zeke couldn’t help but note the demon realm’s alien beauty. With its lava geysers, lightning-filled sky, and black sands, it was an aggressively threatening landscape, but there was still beauty to it, and it brought to mind a primordial land where everything struggled to survive. Never was that more apparent than when, as Zeke reached the bottom of a particularly steep dune, the black sands erupted beneath him. Before Zeke even knew what was going on, he found himself within a gaping, circular maw filled with razor sharp teeth.

It only took him a moment for his mind to catch up to the situation, but even that was almost too much. The monster’s mouth slammed shut, and Zeke was pierced by a number of the spear-like teeth. He let out a grunt, but for some reason, something that should have been agonizing was only mildly uncomfortable. It was so surprising that, when Zeke looked down, he expected to see that the attack had been thwarted by his endurance. However, that lasted only a couple of seconds until he felt the teeth sawing through his flesh.

Unable to take the time to figure out what was going, Zeke pushed past the strangeness of his situation and acted. Already coated by slimy saliva, Zeke gripped one of the teeth. With a roar, he yanked, breaking the thing off at the base. The monster went crazy, undulating wildly and slamming against the ground. The sudden, jerky movements threw Zeke around, and the teeth continued to rip his torso apart. He could only grit his teeth and bear the strangely muted pain as he reached for another tooth. A moment later, he’d broken that as well. Over and over, he repeated the action, and each time, his wounds worsened. The teeth were innumerable, so he didn’t think he could break them all, but that didn’t mean he didn’t give a good, solid try. Around the thirtieth fang, the monster had had enough, and it spat Zeke out.

Zeke shot out like a cannon and collided with one of the dunes. With dozens of teeth still in his torso, Zeke pushed himself to his feet. He was bloody, injured, and, more importantly than anything else, furious. He glared at his attacker with unbridled menace.

In a lot of ways, the monster resembled a worm, but it was unlike anything Zeke had ever seen. Approaching forty yards long and about ten feet thick, it was enormous. Its green-and-yellow body was covered in short fuzz, reminding Zeke of a caterpillar. However, in place of a collection of insectile legs, it sported hundreds of human-like hands that clenched at the black sands. Zeke shivered at the disturbing sight, but he didn’t let it distract him.

Then, to his surprise, the monster turned around and began to burrow back beneath the sands. For a long second, Zeke gaped in shock; he’d never seen a monster run away before. Usually, they kept coming, regardless of whether or not it was futile. This creature, though, seemed to have a better sense of self-preservation. Regardless, Zeke wasn’t going to let the thing go. Part of it was that it was dangerous, and he didn’t want to be ambushed again, but mostly, he was just angry. Some of that anger was directed at the monster, but that wasn’t where it ended. He was furious at the situation, at himself for leading his friends into disaster. He'd been so convinced of their invincibility that he’d almost gotten everyone killed. He couldn’t change that, but he could take his frustrations out on the fleeing monster.

Activating [Life Scythe], Zeke leapt forward. He’d dropped his mace when the monster attacked, so the familiar red mist enveloped his bare hands. But interspersed with that red mist were arcing tendrils of black power. Zeke pushed his surprise to the side, focusing on his attack. When he reached the caterpillar-like creature, he swung his fist in a mighty right hook. His knuckles slammed into the monster’s fuzzy hide with a satisfying thud that was soon followed by the scythe mode of his skill. A red-and-black blade of energy swept through the monster, returning a sizable portion of vitality. Even as Zeke’s wounds knit themselves back together, pushing a few stubborn teeth out in the process, the monster let out a curiously human-like scream of pure agony.

By this point, though, Zeke was inured to such things. He was used to pummeling things to death, and that wasn’t usually the quickest – or quietest – way to go. As a result, most of his enemies had plenty of time to drown in the pain of their own shattered bones. Usually, though, that only meant that the monsters fought back all the harder, likely because their pain superseded even rudimentary rational thoughts. But with the caterpillar creature, things were obviously different. It didn’t turn on him and fight with renewed ferocity. Nor did it redouble its efforts to escape. Instead, it locked up, its body going rigid with trembling seizures. It only lasted a few seconds, but that was all Zeke needed. Harnessing his martial path and latching onto the insights he’d gotten during his fight with the demons, Zeke pummeled the monster. One punch after another thundered into the monster until its hide gave way. Zeke didn’t stop there, though. Indeed, he tore into the monster’s innards with unmatched furor.

Anger and frustration drove him forward as he slowly made his way up the monster’s length. It was helpless, because each punch sent it back into seizures, but Zeke didn’t care about a fair fight. This monster had attacked him, and it needed to pay the price for its transgression.

In the end, he didn’t stop until its body was a ruin of pummeled flesh and blood. He finished the fight when he tore through the thing’s skull and slammed his fists into its small brain, over and over, until it had been mashed to paste. Only then did Zeke start to regain his composure. Even so, it took him a few minutes before his heartbeat slowed down to normal and the rage completely faded.

He stood there, knee deep in demon caterpillar brains, with his breath coming in ragged gasps. He muttered, “What the hell?”

Zeke was no stranger to anger or frustration. No true fighter really was. However, he’d never felt so overwhelmed by his fury before. He couldn’t help but be reminded him of Oberon’s prediction that he’d changed. So, after looting the monster – and getting some materials he suspected might fit Tucker’s criteria – he finally broke down and inspected his status.

There was a lot to unwrap on his status screen. The least important thing was that his resistances had once again increased. However, he was a little alarmed to see that his fire resistance was classified as not applicable. He had no idea what was going on there, but he moved on to the next huge change. He’d gained two levels, likely from killing the warlock, who was a much higher level than him. In fact, his level hadn’t even been visible, probably because of the discrepancy. That his soul had survived didn’t seem to have affected the amount of energy he’d gained from the kill. And given how difficult it was for him to level, it must have been a truly massive amount of energy to drive him to level twenty-two.

He quickly allocated his free points into strength and focused on his stats.

They were much higher than the last time he’d looked, and it didn’t take him long to realize why. First, he’d picked up a new achievement:

Flayed: You have endured having your soul flayed by an arch demon. +25 End, Wis.

The origin of that title wasn’t difficult to figure out. As he thought back to the agony he’d endured at the hands of the demoness, he couldn’t suppress a shudder at the memory. Saying that he’d had his soul flayed seemed entirely appropriate, given that the pain had been equal parts physical, mental, and spiritual. He appreciated the achievement, but it wouldn’t have been an equal trade, even if the stats had been quadrupled.

As he’d expected, he’d also improved the stage of his secondary martial path, which, like his mastery of blunt weapons, resulted in a doubling of the stats awarded. His shield path now gave him thirty total points in endurance and vitality as well as an additional 5% increase to the overall total of endurance. As a result, those stats had skyrocketed; not that long ago, he’d been happy just to reach two-hundred points in those categories, but now, he’d blown right past that. It was a testament to compounding bonuses.

But even with the new achievement, the additional levels, and the advancement of his martial path, the math didn’t add up. That’s when he noticed a change in the last place he might have expected – his race.

Cambion (G) – A rare creature that blends a mundane sentient race with the demonic. Because of the circumstances of their birth, demons possess near immunity to fire, are greatly resistant to physical pain, and have a bloodline ability to augment any skill with invasive energy that attacks the soul. However, they are also susceptible to uncontrollable rage as well as attacks which harness the divine. Less evolved demons are also weaker against soul attacks. Cambions are the best of both worlds and have many of the strengths with vastly reduced weaknesses.

Zeke read the description over and over, stunned by the implications. So, he was a half-demon, now? Did that mean he was immune to fire? It certainly explained why he’d been so unaffected when he’d been impaled by the caterpillar monster’s teeth. In addition, it was a good explanation for why his [Life Scythe] skill had been infected with that dark power that had sent the monster into agony-induced seizures.

Was his becoming a cambion the reason he was unaffected by the realm’s toxic atmosphere as well? It stood to reason, but he didn’t know enough to be sure. However, one thing he did know was that he had no idea what to think about his transformation. So, he focused on the sub-menus that told him the more concrete benefits of his new race.

Body (G): Determines physical limitations. +6 Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Endurance, and Vitality Per Level. Upgradeable.

Soul(G): Determines spiritual limitations. +6 Intelligence, Wisdom Per Level. Upgradeable.

Given that the raw attribute benefits had doubled for both his soul and his body, that explained the additional stats that had been unaccounted for.

But beyond that, what did it mean for him? He’d certainly felt something different when he’d started attacking the caterpillar monster, but it wasn’t overwhelming. He could have stopped at any time. Perhaps it was controllable. Or maybe he’d turn into some sort of rage monster. Either way, there wasn’t much he could do about it right now. So, he shoved all his questions and issues to the back of his mind and climbed out of the rapidly decaying corpse. He had other things, like gathering the ingredients Tucker could use to help with the atmosphere’s toxicity. That was problem number one, but it certainly wasn’t the last, and if he was honest, his transformation into some kind of half-demon wasn’t even close to the top of his priorities.

So, he did his best to clear his mind as he set back out to accomplish his task. As he did, he regretted the loss of his armor, which at some point during the battle with the demon-possessed warlock, had finally fallen completely apart. It wasn’t a surprise, given what the armor had been through, but it was certainly disappointing. His shield, as well, had been punctured or dented in a half-dozen places, with bits and pieces having been sliced off, rendering it wholly ineffective as a bulwark. That left only his mace, which seemed to have been entirely unaffected by the abuse. It was comforting, after a fashion, knowing that his weapon was only a thought away.

Worry suffused Zeke’s mind as he continued to trudge up and down the black sand dunes. Along the way, he was attacked by a few different creatures. Some were humanoid in appearance, with all the requisite limbs, but they had faces like bats. He also encountered a couple of other caterpillars, though neither of them were even close to the same size as the one he’d already killed. They all fell before him after brief but furious battles, and he was once again reminded of how effective the additional soul-attacking component of his attacks was. Zeke did notice that it increased the mana necessary to activate the skills, but he didn’t mind that much. Both his intelligence and wisdom had ascended to unprecedented levels, and he could bear the brunt of more expensive skills.

Gradually, Zeke began to amass a wide variety of beast parts, and he even found a couple of scraggly plants around one of the magma geysers. Before, he wouldn’t have dared approach, but with his newfound fire immunity, he didn’t fear the heat. Finally, as the sky began to darken – he’d never seen a sun; instead, the whole realm seemed suffused with ambient light – he began to make his way back to the tower. He could only hope that he had found something useful. If not, he had no idea what they were going to do.