The Demonic Games (Disgardium Book #7): LitRPG Series, Dan Sugralinov [the read aloud family TXT] 📗

the face twice only a day ago? That bitch was aiming at your eye,” Bloomer rumbled. “It wasn’t enough for her to kill you, she wanted you to suffer!” The poet was so angry that his had speech lost its usual singsong quality and his face twisted. “The bitch deserves zeroing! And torture!”

This was all I needed — a mutiny on the ship! Nether! I told Destiny to stay in the damn tavern! Why did she come out?

“Explain yourself, kid,” Quetzal said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I met his eyes, nodded. I had to be tough. The fate of an enemy of yesterday was now more important than my moral obligations to my allies. I went all-in — I left the raid and declared calmly:

“Here’s how it is. I can’t explain my decision yet. Yet! I don’t have the right to reveal the details, and neither does Destiny. That’s all I can say right now. So anyone who doesn’t want Destiny to accompany us can stay here. My allies, including her, will go with me.”

I walked out of the village holding the elf girl’s hand — not looking back and hoping desperately that rationality would win out, that Destiny wasn’t attacked.

We walked thirty yards to the sound of angry cries, then silence fell and I began to hear shuffling footsteps behind me. Looking back, I saw that they were all following in a line. Breathing a sigh of relief, I realized that I’d been more worried then than during my morning drop into the Pitfall. Destiny was a critical part of what I had in mind, and getting her toward the top of the leaderboard was now just as necessary as getting the Concentrated Life Essence…

The previous night, when she woke me by ringing the bell to my room, I just swore at her. I was embarrassed to remember some of what she’d offered me for my help, but I refused it all. And then it hit me; I realized what she could do for me. We locked ourselves away in the bathroom and had a long conversation…

“That boy never ceases to amaze me!” Meister declared behind me. “Didn’t even explain himself! Who does he think he is?”

“He doesn’t have to explain his decisions,” Anna argued. Miss Commonwealth 2074 had survived, which put her in a good mood. “You could have chosen not to go with him, Mr. Rosenthal…”

“I beg to differ, Miss Kovalenko!” Roman bristled.

The curser and the jeweler went on and on about how I couldn’t trust Destiny, how she would betray us, and how one generally shouldn’t take up with bad people. The discontented muttering of an old man came through in the gnome’s crisp voice. The troll’s bass always sounded displeased, but now his tone took on a fanatic note.

I sped my pace to get escape their complaints, making them run the rest of the way to the Pitfall. Along the way Destiny asked where my pet was and I told her about how Despot was trapped down below.

As we got closer, I took off into the air to check for nearby enemies. Seeing nobody and certain that we weren’t about to be attacked, we gathered around the head of the staircase.

Quetzal and Hellfish approached me and Destiny. Hellfish had chosen his beast form to run faster, a huge wolf standing on its hind legs.

“It didn’t go exactly to plan, but the first stage of last night’s scheme is done,” the werewolf said. “What next?”

“We need to get Scyth’s pet out,” Quetzal said. “Everyone else should hide for now.”

“The seal has around 50% left,” I said. “I need three more volunteers to get it open without anyone dying. But I can only take two with Flight. With three, we’ll just fall all the way to Abaddon. I could make two runs, but we’ll lose time…”

“I know how to get there faster,” Destiny mumbled. “Is there a mage in the raid? We can use Feather, then Scyth will easily be able to carry the three of us down and back up again.”

Hellfish applauded ironically:

“Genius!”

“Yeah, we would never have thought of that,” Quetzal rolled his eyes. “And there’s no ‘us.’ We’ll get by without you down there, Des.”

“I’m not staying here!” the elf girl said, and I understood her.

“She flies with us,” I nodded. Then I turned to the ice mage: “Do you have Feather, Kara? Great, put it on Quetzal, Destiny and Hellfish. As for the rest… Youlang and Inchito might be around here somewhere. Head down to floor 22 and go inside. If they find you, try to survive until we get back!”

Taking off above the Pitfall, I waited until my three helpers had Feather.

Destiny, Hellfish and huge Quetzal linked arms and stepped off the edge, but instead of falling, they began to float down gently. I flew closer to Destiny, found and held her wrist, pulling us down to floor 531, where Despot languished in confinement. The demon thirsted for the blood of the dead, and I’d give him plenty. Marcus had died his last death, but there were still almost a hundred of his people in the game.

Floors flashed by, the gleaming numbers on the doors melding into a dotted orange line, the wind whistling in my ears. Someone said something, but the wind carried the voice away. Then I saw an invitation — Quetzal brought me back into the raid and invited Destiny too.

Soon we were standing by the gates. Our arms still linked, we walked towards them. The seal didn’t look whole, but even half-melted, crimson, filled with blood, it still held the gates closed. From behind the gates came the crashing of bones and huge footfalls — the demon sensed me and came closer to the entrance.

I touched the seal.

Removing seal: 54.99%… 55.265%… 55.54%…

 

It went four times faster than