Demonic Devourer ch. 6

The shadows hide me as I lurk, slowly inching my way back to the lab. My memory is perfect, as far as I can tell. Every time I see a corridor, I record it. I remember every door Iā€™ve passed, every dead-end storage room full of research I canā€™t read and dead subjects I canā€™t Devour.

Itā€™s almost nostalgic, really, even if itā€™s only been two days since Iā€™ve come here.

I find the lab all too soon, and itā€™s not just my memory that guides me.

Pressure weighs down on me. Itā€™s not overwhelming, but I get the sensation that the air itself is pressing down on my not-quite-human shoulders.

I think that might be a skill. It might have detected me, but given the even way itā€™s increasing as I approach the lab, I donā€™t think itā€™s seen me.

Either way, I draw further into Stealth, taking to the shadows like they can veil me from the world itself. I donā€™t think my skill is yet capable of blocking skills from finding me, but it doesnā€™t hurt to try.

I arrive at the lab without a hitch. Itā€™s surprisingly easy, enough that Iā€™m worried Iā€™ll be walking into a trap. With any of the others, I could believe that theyā€™ve just been sitting there, unsure of what to do. EV11, however, demonstrated intelligence. If it can plan the scheme that got it to level up so much, it can plan a basic trap.

Sure enough, when I peek around, itā€™s not in plain sight. It doesnā€™t help that the already-dim lights are even darker now, some of them shattered like the tubes.

The tubes are in shambles. EV11 evidently hasnā€™t bothered to clean up after itself, because crimson-tinted shards of glass are scattered across the floor. Of the eleven tubes that we started with, there are none left intact. The ones with desiccated corpses in them havenā€™t been touched, which makes sense.

The pressure in the air is heavier now. Less like somethingā€™s pressing on my shoulders and more like invisible hands are squeezing my entire body.

It has to be nearby. EV11 has a much higher level than I do, but given what Iā€™ve seen, thereā€™s no way it has something that can remotely create this effect, right?

Thankfully, I have a way to sense it. I donā€™t know how itā€™ll interface with any stealth skills it has, but Iā€™m fairly sure it should work.

I use Appraise. My mana sweeps out across my field of view, looking for the target I have in mind.

I find nothing.

Thatā€™s fine. I highly doubt the skill does a full field of view sweep, anyway. I use it again.

This time, it clicks.

Name: EV11

Age: 0

Race: ???

Class: Bleedling

Level: 6

Last Used Skill: Threatening Aura

Well, that explains the increasing pressure.

I think I also understand why that quest changed. Itā€™s not a baby anymore, and itā€™s not just because of its size. Bloodspawn became Bleedling, whichā€¦ I donā€™t have a reference point for what that class indicates. I just know that it definitely has more tools than me.

But I do have something it doesnā€™t. I can see EV11, and it hasnā€™t spotted me yet. Itā€™s hiding in the shadow of one of the useless old-corpse tubes, down on all six limbs like an oversized ant. It doesnā€™t even resemble a human anymore. It had a vaguely humanoid form before, but now? Now, it looks fully monstrous.

I canā€™t even call it a baby anymore.

Oh well. Itā€™s still 0 years old, just like me.

I creep closer, and it still doesnā€™t see me. Stealth is active as far as I can push it, and soon Iā€™ll explode out with my other skills. I wield a single combat knife in each hand, full-sized now that I have full arms.

A hundred feet between us becomes seventy feet. The lights flicker off for a slightly longer period of time, and that becomes fifty feet. Tube to tube to shadow to counter, and Iā€™m within throwing distance.

Not that Iā€™m going to try throwing this knife. Iā€™ve got no skills for it.

Soon enough, Iā€™m almost within armā€™s reach of it. Stealth wonā€™t take me any further, thoughā€”its nose is already sniffing at the air like it detects something is wrong, and itā€™s on the other side of the corpse-tube that I have my back to.

I donā€™t need to take a deep breath to center myself, so I donā€™t. Instead, I close my eyes, readying myself, and I strike.

EV11 doenā€™t see me coming, even if its guard is a little raised thanks to its presumably enhanced senses. I have Knifefighting at level 7 and the Kinslayer trait, which both drive my attack forward with increased furor.

With my blade skill, the strike is as natural as breathing. In the last second, EV11 notices me, and it raises a bladed red limb in an attempt to stop me. I deftly dodge it and plunge my twin knives into its back.

Blood sprays from the stab wound, geysering upwards, and I take control of it with Shape Blood.

And then my control freezes, an exterior will crushing mine.

I fight it. I try. Iā€™ve come this far, my plan has worked so well, I wonā€™t let myself lose simply because its raw power is greater than mine.

Shape Blood advanced to level 3!

You can now control 3 gallons of blood, and your time increases to eighteen minutes per hour.

Suddenly, the struggle eases just a bit, my will pushing back against EV11ā€™s, but even the level-up isnā€™t enough. Blood freezes in the air mid-geyser, a dark red fractal pattern held still only by our competing will. I hold on for precious seconds longer, but I can tell that itā€™s going to turn it against me soon.

And thatā€™s not the only blood it controls. I withdraw the knives and stab it again, but the spurting geysers have stemmed away to nothing. It mustā€™ve taken Lessened Bleed, which isnā€™t terribly powerful but is really, really not what I want to see right now.

My will fails, and the levitating mass of blood sharpens itself into an array of spears.

I slash at EV11, targeting important points in the body. Joints, the neck, the center of the abdomen. Each time, I manage one or two spurts of blood before it clamps down on it with Lessened Bleed.

It does, however, split its focus. EV11 hisses in pain, no amount of its skill able to take all of that useless sensation away, and it loses control over the blood-spears. Not enough to the extent that I can take it over, but itā€™s no longer an immediate threat to me.

Iā€™m making progress.

And then two of its limbs flash bright, reshaping themselves with the assistance of its own Shape Blood, and they slam into me like the hands of a god, sending me flying straight off the ground, spinning as I fly. Iā€™m in the air for almost an entire second before I make solid impact face-first with a corpse-tube. The glass cracks as I smash into it, but it doesnā€™t shatter.

Convenient. I donā€™t know if I could handle my own blood being turned against me.

More importantly, my bag is intact. I have my tools.

I wince, the overwhelming stabbing pain of a dozen broken bones bypassing even my ability to not careā€”

Pain Resistance advanced to level 15!

You now suffer 50% less pain at all times.

The skill lessens the blow, reducing it just enough that I can shove the pain aside.

My Demonic Heritage trait might be able to heal me, but I doubt itā€™s going to work in time. My limbs donā€™t work properly right now. One of my arms is useless and broken even with the demon musculature and skeleton underneath, and every step is stunted by the snaps in my spine.

I advance nonetheless. As it turns out, the trait does actually heal me a little bit now that Iā€™m not engaging in direct combat. Not enough to fix my arm, but I can walk a little easier by the time Iā€™m back within thirty feet of EV11.

It stands up on two limbs, its other four bladed arms spread, and it screeches. The pressure that never went away redoubles, but I refuse to let it drown me. Part of my mind screams at me to run, to get away, but I donā€™t have to listen to it.

Two of its arms grow crimson with new liquid blood, and I tense.

Time slows down for me as I think of my options.

Thereā€™s a reason I came into this with unspent points and an empty skill slot. I needed to be ready to adapt. Now, I need to make good on that.

Bloody spears are forming from its limbs, and if my last encounter with it said anything, itā€™s that itā€™s going to throw those at me. I need to be able to dodge those. I can see them coming, but I donā€™t think Iā€™m fast enough. I advance my Body (Speed) stat to 8, spending 2 of my 3 points on it.

I shove myself out of the way just as it throws the spears, my quickened body screaming at me as I abuse it.

Better to hurt some broken bones than to get impaled by that thingā€™s skill.

It prepares itself for another attack, though I donā€™t know what itā€™ll be. I have some more time to think.

What else? Itā€™s stopping the bleeding, which means Iā€™m not going to be able to kill it through raw force.

That means my alternative plan is going to have to work, and that means relying on a level 1 skill. I know for a fact that the poison-slime can expand venom through bloody wounds, but EV11 can counter that.

But I can counter its counter.

I put the last point in Magic (Power). At the same time, I fill in my final skill slot from the level-up.

Enhance Bleed (Common)

Tier: Bronze

Level: 1

You can increase an attackā€™s efficacy by 50% once per hour if you draw blood.

Perfect. Now all I can do is hope this works.

With my enhanced speed stat, I dash forward, one knife readied in my bad arm. Just as I expect, EV11ā€™s attention is drawn to that hand, and it thrusts its own bladed limbs forth to meet it.

I let it. If I survive this, Iā€™ll level up, which will fix my injuries. If I donā€™t, then injuring an arm doesnā€™t matter.

It takes my arm off off wholesale even as I dodge a blow that wouldā€™ve been lethal, the dangerously-sharp limb sawing straight through flesh and bone. The follow-up attack tries to take my head, but I duck under it and leap upwards.

At a range this close, EV11 is actually less dangerous. Itā€™s something like eight feet long, and it uses its elongated limbs to crawl and attack. That means that when a being half its size is clinging onto it, it canā€™t smack it off easily.

This next part is going to be a touch tricky.

My backpack is still strapped to me through some miracle, but I only have one arm and Iā€™m using it to cling onto EV11ā€™s bony back.

But thatā€™s not the only tool I have.

I sink my brutally sharp teeth into its chest, savoring the metallic taste of blood and flesh. It tries to stop its blood from flowing out, but I activate Enhance Bleed for the first time and blood gushes forth.

I let go of its back, and it starts thrashing, trying to shake me off.

My bite is strong. Iā€™ve suffered through something like this before, albeit to a lesser extent. Iā€™ll be fine.

Thatā€™s what I tell myself, at least, as my world spins around and around as it rolls around. My jaw screams with pain even through the resistance, but that is less important than winning.

With my now-free hand, I unhook my backpack from my shoulders and open it.

Some of the jars have already shattered. I shouldnā€™t be surprised, honestlyā€”Iā€™ve been tossed around quite a bit already. I am surprised that very little of the neon-green slime has actually escaped, but that works quite well for my purposes.

I trigger Venomous Bite, feeling the rush of liquid death from my teeth into my enemyā€™s body, and at the same time I throw the opened contents of the backpack at the still-thrashing EV11.

Not all of it hits. Very little of it does, actually, but enough does. One of the jars lands almost in its entirety, and I drop from EV11, watching it sink in. Even though the Bleedling keeps trying to shake everything on it off, I watch as the slime moves, worming its way into the fresh wound Iā€™ve made.

And then I fuck right off, because Iā€™m not stupid. Two of my teeth are damaged, Iā€™m missing an arm, and Iā€™m beat up all over.

Itā€™s a wonder Iā€™m not bleeding moreā€”thankfully, the venom coursing through EV11ā€™s veins is distracting it enough to keep it from controlling the blood spurting out of my arm. Instead, I Shape Blood my lifeblood, forming a makeshift bandage to prevent too much from flying out.

I watch EV11. If I thought it was thrashing before, it was nothing compared to what itā€™s like now. It rolls its entire body over, slamming itself into tube after tube, table after table. It goes fast, and itā€™s all I can do to avoid it.

But itā€™s not escaping. In fact, it even rolls over some of the venom-enhancing goop, sucking up more of it into its body. It smashes into the tube that I made impact with, and the glass shatters. The skeleton of something that vaguely resembles one of the insectoid EVs falls on EV11. Itā€™s not very effective, but my opponent is too busy writhing in pain to react.

It screams, again and again and again, and then one of its screams sticks longer than the others, pitches higher, warbles differently.

And it cuts off.

I wait another two minutes, ensuring that itā€™s not playing dead, and I drag myself forward to it on bruised and battered legs.

I eat the final baby.

Devour granted +127 XP!

Devour advanced to level 4!

Now grants 32.5% of XP consumed, rounded down.

Objective: Second, slay your adversary [COMPLETE]

You have devoured all of your enemies.

250 XP rewarded!

Trait earned: Kinslayer II

Requirements: Kill 7 creatures related to you.

Your attacks are 25% more effective against members of your own species.

You have advanced to level 3!

You have gained 3 stat points.

Due to Enhanced Blood Affinity and your actions, you may select 2 Bronze-tier skills to gain from the following list:

Lessened Bleed

Lesser Vampirism

Venomous Blood

Temporary Shape Self

Woundshape

The energy of the level-up swirls into me, magic settling into my body, and my wounds heal. My arm grows once more, assisted by my Demonic Heritage.

Alright. I survived. Somehow, that doesnā€™t fill me with the elation I should. Then again, I donā€™t feel pain the same way that others do either. Emotional deadness is to be expected, I suppose.

I analyze my situation.

Iā€™ve killed the enemies. I have skills and stats to consider.

From here, Iā€™ll explore the lab, see if I canā€™t figure out what else I can do. Pick up any new skills I need to survive.

Then Iā€™m getting out of here. Iā€™m going to see the outside world.