Chương 88: 151- Dealing With A Demon.

Vraxious- The Abyss Vrax touched Crixus's shoulder to let him know he was ready to proceed forward. Jonathan nodded and dashed back to the outside of the fort wall to guard their exit. Crixus grunted and stepped slowly past the edge of the building, giving them their first good look at the inside of the fort. Three trees with wide, thick branches that led into bush-like bundles of leaves rose equidistant from each other, forming a triangle that dominated most of the mostly open ground.

A stunning but seemingly nonsensically spiraling mosaic of bone chips and multicolored stone was spread across the ground between the three trees. Forming symbols that defied mortal understanding. All around the edges of the tree's humanoid beings stood nearly perfectly still. Twisted things that looked like warped flensed humans with uneven features and clawed hands. They gazed listlessly up into the boughs of the trees as if waiting for another to command them.

And sitting at the center of the triangular spread of bone and stone next to a perfectly smooth stone orb that had to be what the ritual had anchored the portal onto was an armored figure. He had a small pavilion-style tent set up next to the anchor and was inside next to a pair of flickering candles reading a book at a table, seemingly unbothered by the utter chaos happening outside the fort. Vrax felt chills run down his spine as they slowly crept forwards.

He used his predatory gaze on the listless creatures ringing the trees. [Lumurian Thrall Tier-1](lvl55) [Threat: Moderate]. He glanced at a few others; they were all between levels 45 and 65, but there were nearly twenty of them. If they all came at Vrax and his companions at once, it would be a bitter fight, and that wasn't counting the armored figure now looking straight at them curiously as they approached.

Vrax couldn't see his face; his entire form was clad in a thick suit of armor that shone like polished obsidian. It was nearly organic in its irregularities save for the vertical slits across his visor exposing simmering yellow eyes. Eyes that narrowed as they approached, and he leaned forward on the table, closing his book and resting his elbows.

The predator's gaze stuttered momentarily, obviously fighting some kind of magical obfuscation before failing to pierce fully; he did at least get a name [Vassic Humrix Tier-?]. Well, fuck, this guy could be dangerous as shit, but I'm not getting crazy third-tier vibes or anything from him. I'm going to hope high first, low second tier… The armored figure gestured towards a pair of empty chairs opposite him at the table, and Crixus audibly groaned, "Oh goddammit, it's a chatty one."

"Just keep him occupied; we are close enough." Cor whispered back almost imperceptibly. Vrax motioned for the other two to stop outside the tent and stepped in, trying to cast an aura of "don't fuck with me" and hoping the demon would be equally unsure of how much danger he presented. Honestly, the Stigmata's blocking of identify skills has been a hell of a lot more useful than I thought it would be.

Not to stay incognito—I'm fucking terrible at that—but just to make it so I can bluff like I'm actually an existential threat… Well, I kind of am, but only with the menagerie, and I'm pretty sure if I summon any of those guys here, the odds of me not getting them back are pretty damn high. After we sever those tethers we need to fucking run, and I'm not going to chase a devourer across this hellscape while my portal home slowly closes, thank you very much. I'd like to avoid the Crixus experience.

Their obscured visages briefly met before Vassic gestured to the chair again. Vrax nodded and sat, spear still in hand if he needed it. Vassic was much the same, a strangely curved blade stabbed into the ground next to him. An awkward silence passed for far longer than Vrax would have expected, but he wasn't going to be the one to break it; his job was to stall, and stall he would.

Vassic finally spoke in an unexpectedly smooth voice, though it did carry a slight gurgle at the end of some words, like he was struggling to speak an unfamiliar tongue.

"You are not who I was expecting to meet with. Though considering the obvious disruption in the ritual. Changes weren't unexpected. The distraction outside is unnecessary…but it will give my thralls and beasts some much needed exercise." Uhh, what the hell? This isn't how I expected this to play out, though there would be a lot more stabbing and things trying to steal my skin. Vassic picked up on his obvious confusion.

"We lords of the abyss are used to change… we thrive on it. I care not which mortal comes to parley, only what they offer. And you seem like one who could offer much… blessed by a god tinged with hunger and hate and bold enough to stride into a realm that would consume your soul." Vrax noticed how his armor flickered with green flames near this figure, so he certainly was an undead or immortal of some kind. No wonder he's so unbothered; he probably isn't even worried about if I am able to slay him.

I bet it's like the demon Crixus talked about, where it wouldn't be much more than an inconvenience.

"You know… I've had an awful lot of things try and eat my soul lately; none of them have had much luck." For the sake of keeping him talking, Vrax kept on.

"What do you have to offer, and what would you want in return?" Vassic shifted back in his seat, leaning more casually against the back of it, his fingers still dancing lightly across the top of his blade's hilt.

"What do I want? Everything I can get. What do I want that you can offer? That's the real question. Lives and souls offer real power here; this land is nearly bereft of truly born intelligent life. Most are snuffed out to fuel war moments after being born… So souls, the more powerful the better, is always a currency I will accept. If that isn't on the table because of your… Morals..." He waved a hand dismissively, like the concept was a regular annoyance. Yeah, that's a bit of a dealbreaker there, Mr. Baby Eater…

"Well, there are other things your world has to offer that are eminently useful here. Mana crystals, while not nearly as good as proper souls, can still serve. Or beyond that any kind of real purchase within your world is worth a great deal. Your…predecessor's?" he mused unsure.

"The ones who opened this portal were the zealots working for the god of conquest and control. They had bargained for quite a bit in exchange for completing their half of the ritual." Vrax held up his hand to stop him.

"Great, you need souls and magic for what I'm gathering is unending war…but you still haven't said once what exactly you could really offer me." Vrax glanced back at Cor; his face was still knotted in concentration as he worked on the spell needed to close the portal. Vassic noticed Vrax's glance.

"No need to try and be sly about it. The portal is useless to me where it is; that mountain doesn't belong to me, and its owner would not allow me to move my forces across it. The only reason my camp is still here is out of curiosity of who would come."

"Ahh, well, shit." Vrax looked back at Cor, who shrugged and walked right up to the stone orb, his features easing notably as he stopped hiding his casting. Crixus had stood surprisingly quiet the whole time this unfolded, though his weapons were still at hand, ready for anything. He constantly glanced around like he expected the looming enemies to spring into action at any moment. Hell's, that's what Vrax was expecting too, the second this guy realized that he wasn't going to be angling for any dark deals.

Vassic slowly stood up, his hand still trailing along the haft of his weapon. Vrax matched the movement, circling so the opening of the tent was right behind him and letting the slightest tinges of his cistern free. Ragged red grass slowly grew around his feet, spreading outwards. Vasic smiled at the display.

"As for what I can offer you. Warbeasts, blessings from gods that don't dwell within your realm, immortality itself is an option." Vrax's armor simmered slightly brighter.

"Ahh shit, you see that really isn't an option. I'm guessing you don't actually know who Vurune is even if you can read my title." Vassic hissed out a laugh.

"No, of course not. There are so many gods in so many realms; no one can keep track of them all. But yours seems warlike and hateful; those are always good starting points." Cor finished his spellcasting with an audible snap. Four tethers of light unwound in the air, creating a brilliant crimson trail of fire that burned through the sky all the way back towards the mountain. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Vrax eyed Vassic and nodded slightly.

"You going to let us go if we don't reach some kind of arraignment?"

"Of course not, I have three shining souls all within easy reach…well, two and a half." He glanced at Cor. Yeah, I was worried that was going to be the case." Vrax slowly started pulling a near handful of smelter moss vials from their spot across his armor. Vassic leaned in curiously, obviously able to sense the life and magic within. Vrax handed him one.

"What would this buy me?" Crixus shifted subtly, realizing the shitstorm that was about to happen. Cautiously he took it in one hand, his other pulling his sword from the ground because he wasn't incautious; even if death might not mean much to him, if this was a trick, he would rather not lose the souls in front of him. He spun it in his hand, obviously still confused by the thick glass vial and the heat it put off.

Vrax stepped back slightly as the vial started melting; he smelled moss more than a bit, excited to have prey so close. Vassic scoffed and threw it on the ground away from himself before it could finish melting. That didn't help as much as he thought it would because the second it hit the ground, what he had assumed was alchemical fire lunged back into the tent after him.

His sword burned with a hellish fire as he slashed through the moss, not accomplishing anything other than shaving a corner off before it splattered onto his armor and crawled straight for his visor. Vrax looked at Crixus as all the Thralls in the courtyard shuddered to life.

"Do we stay and fight?" Crixus's only answer was to swat the rest of the smelter vials out of Vrax's hands towards the demon and yank him out of the way of a Thrall that had lunged nearly ten strides from a tree going straight for Vrax's throat.

"Ahh, yup, run!" Vrax yelled, kicking into motion as the creatures swarmed towards them. He took the lead while Crixus swung his simmering red chains behind them, tripping and tangling thralls. Even ripping some arms off when they got too close to him. They were disconcertingly fast creatures but paradoxically extremely uncoordinated and unskilled combatants. Vassic was spinning in a maelstrom of mana, his blade humming through the air around him as a half dozen smelter mosses beset him.

The tent he had been peacefully sitting in was now an inferno that was melting the stone below. He looked more mad than panicked, so Vrax wasn't going to bet that the smelter moss was going to do much other than slow him. Vrax angled back towards the hole in the wall he had created and prayed it hadn't fully healed back over. He ripped the life from the grass he had grown near the tent to summon a mangler tree as a diversionary sacrifice. He didn't think it would win, but it might buy them a few more seconds.

He ducked as a trio of thralls dashed past him, claws whipping over his head and shaving off hunks of wooden armor. He took advantage of their piss-poor recovery, sprinting straight into the back of the first. He didn't try anything fancy; he was in a hurry. He pushed with his legs and simultaneously poured a third of his mana into a wall of miasma that washed out in front of him like a short wave.

He burst out the other side of the thralls in a shower of liquefying meat and just kept running, whipping the gore from his visor as he went. Cor was running full tilt just behind Vrax, being saved from any close combat by Crixus's unbridled savagery. His chains were a blur of whirling motion only broken by savage kicks or slashes of his sword when an unfortunate foe got too close.

By the time they piled back around the corner of the building, funneling the thralls into a narrow path, there was only a handful of them even left whole enough to pursue. Crixus grabbed the first to come around the corner by the skull, smashing it against the wall before pinning it there with his greatsword, making a head-height hazard. He pulled his dagger and wrapped a fist in chains.

"I will hold them; hurry, the demon won't be far behind." Vrax didn't need to be told twice; he focused purely on melting the wall beside him, ignoring the wet thudding sounds and flashes of blue mana as Cor and Crixus fought off the slavering creatures zipping around the corner. The damn wall had totally healed over because of course it had. Vrax spent precious seconds pouring smite into it, liquefying layer after layer, almost like a flame eating into ice.

The moment he saw through a gap, he burst forward with a stronger pulse of his smite, tumbling through the gap in a shower of bleeding wood. He rolled up and sprinted for the next wall while his companions clambered their way through the hole. The outer wall had only partially healed itself, so it was quick for Vrax to reopen it and clamber out, his friends hot on his heels. The sounds of Torvald's booming war cries and falling meteors had fallen silent.

Jonathan was standing in the open on the edge of the woods surrounded by dismembered creatures. Jonathan Jr. danced beside him as they took on a seemingly endless stream of Thralls that had been called towards the fort. Damn, I am glad we left someone on guard for the retreat duty. It would have really sucked to pop out of the wall into thirty enemies.

"Hurry your ass up! My mana is getting low!" Jonathan shouted before easily sidestepping the wild mana-empowered lunge of a thrall and removing its legs with a sweeping flourish of his halberd. Jonathan Jr. stepped over and planted its blade in the downed beast. At the same time, the vine whips on Jonathan's back snapped out imperceptibly fast in an endless series of snaps, staggering and throwing thralls to the ground mid-lunge.

Vrax didn't ask any question; he just rushed straight for the forest, letting everyone catch up with him so his talent would ease their passage somewhat as well. They fled as fast as they could manage through the forest, the thick branches serving to drastically slow the growing tide of uncoordinated monsters behind them. Vrax slowed when they lost sight of the fort, and it became clear that the Thralls wouldn't be pursuing them onto the mountain. It was only a few more minutes before they met with the others.

Humphrey was leaning against a tree wheezing something fierce and dripping sweat.

"Well, that was really, really fun." He said with a pained chuckle. Torvald scowled at him. He was covered head to toe in blood and viscera, and layered all across it was a thick, almost mudlike layer of ash.

"Yeah, fun for you…for me it was like flying through a volcano half the time."

"Bah! You lived," Humphrey said dismissively, pulling himself together to continue on. While they walked onward, Vrax caught them up on what had transpired. Arthur interrupted suddenly.

"How long do we actually have before the portal closes? And are you sure the demons will not pursue?" Cor answered the first question.

"We should have a few hours still at least, but now that there is nothing holding it open, I can close it in the chapel." Vrax looked towards the mountain they were climbing up nervously.

"And no, he won't follow; he seemed to be solidly shit scared of whatever lays claim to this mountain."

"That's not great. Did he, uhh, mention what the demon with an actual small army was scared of?" Jonathan asked nervously, looking at every shadow on the trail now as they trekked upwards.

"He did not. If we are lucky, we won't find out." They continued in uncomfortable silence upwards; everyone tensely had their eyes peeled. It didn't help that no one even knew what they were supposed to be looking for. Even Crixus wasn't sure. He had only suggested they hurry. After a tense walk that turned into a jog by the end as everyone's nerves started fraying a bit too much, the glimmer of the portal came into sight ahead. Vrax let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright, I'm going to grab the weird mini dragon, then let's get the hell out of here." No one even bothered objecting, knowing it would be a waste of time. Everyone started collecting in front of the portal, weapons still at the ready, while Vrax went off to the side of the runes, Jonathan begrudgingly following behind him, mumbling something about being a bodyguard for a suicidal idiot.

Vrax quickly spotted the large wings of the creature and chuckled as its eyes blinked open one after the other in a dizzying display across it.

"Alright, you come here real quick. Also, how the hell did I not use predator's gaze on you earlier? I guess it was obvious you really weren't that dangerous. But I do need something to call you. Vrax settled his will across the creature as he scooped it up awkwardly like one might pick up a particularly unruly cat. [Memento Tier-1](lvl30) [Threat: Moderate].

Vrax struggled with it for a moment as it flapped in his face; eventually he managed to squoosh the wings down and just stuffed it under his arm like a chicken.

"Alright now I'm read…." He started saying to a very impatiently looking Jonathan before slowly looking past Jonathan and up at the mountain past him. He had just picked up a very not okay sound. A clawed hand that oozed a poisonous pus reached over the peak of a not distant enough mountain. Pulling up what looked like a two-armed dragoon that had died a millennium ago and not gotten the memo.

Its house-sized head swiveled to stare straight at him, a putrid river of green fluid running from between its horse-sized fangs, creating a waterfall that eroded the side of the mountain in real time. Vrax still had a predator's gaze up, and he choked slightly [Unbound Rotbringer tier-5](lvl50) [Threat: Realm].

"Time to go! Time to fucking go!" Vrax shouted a bit more shrilly than he meant to, rushing past Jonathan and straight towards the portal. There was a bit of commotion as people looked around in confusion until one by one people caught sight of it and immediately joined him in flinging themselves through the portal. The shift in surroundings was jarring, with the trip through the unmoored portal being rough at best. People tumbled through. Arthur ungracefully popped out fully upside down in a clamor.

The second everyone was through Cor started chanting a spell. Strings of blue light extended from his fingers, latching onto the edges of the portal, pulling it slowly closed. With his other hand a searing light streamed out, seeming to stitch the portal closed as soon as any of the edges touched. It took a solid few minutes, but by the time he was done, he whiped away the last shimmering distortion in the air with a wave of his hand.

Crixus stared at him the whole time like he was watching the savior of the world at work. Vrax understood why if they had a way to close portals now, even the big ones opened by ritual and blood, then the battle for Hellmaw could potentially be won instead of ground out for the next hundred years just trying not to lose ground. Vrax let out a fake cheer.

"Whoo, we did it!"

"Let's never do it again…" Jonathan mumbled, pulling chunks of thralls from his beard. Torvald nodded.

"Yeah, for once I'm agreeing with him." He pointed at where the portal was.

"That was not fun! And more corpse nest bullshit I have to add to the nightmare list." Crixus was still staring at Cor like he was a god.

"We, we have to get you back to Hellmaw…" Vrax headed him off with a wave of his hand. Let's talk about all that back in town. We all need to rest and..." He looked at the desecrated archway of bone and flesh.

"We need to let people know what happened to the townsfolk." He finished the joy of surviving, fading quickly.