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

out for his own skin,” Hellfish muttered. “Right, half-pint?”

“Don’t argue,” I said, heading back into battle.

After that, it all blurred into an endless stream of battles and breaks behind Despot’s back while the crafters filled me with elixirs, buffed me and sent me back into battle to level up the raid.

It reminded me of farming the Lakharian Desert, but it was far superior to that experience. There were so many demons that they filled the cave outside the tunnel to the ceiling, unable to resist the call of our mortal souls.

I turned into a machine of mayhem, striking every second into the shifting mass of flesh, scales, claws, fangs, horns, bones and rough goat’s fur. I backed off only to avoid dying. I didn’t bother entering Clarity except to get out of combat in time…

We didn’t just survive the demons’ Freedom Day; in six hours, we gained enough levels to be ready to face Abaddon himself.

The raid was around two hundred levels below me. I was at 636. Now I was higher-level than my character in big Dis, but not stronger, because the levels here gave only one free point for main stats instead of five. And the same for class stats — charisma and luck. Unity didn’t apply here either, of course.

Scyth, level 636 Summoned Herald

 

Main characteristics:

 

Strength: 270.

 

Perception: 146.

 

Endurance: 166.

 

Charisma: 649.

 

Intellect: 16.

 

Agility: 117.

 

Luck: 696.

 

Secondary characteristics:

 

Health: 2,744,976.

 

Mana: 132,288.

 

Spirit: 26,530.

 

Defense: 85,860.

 

Health restoration rate: 105,576 per minute.

 

Mana restoration rate: 10,176 per minute.

 

Spirit restoration rate: 498 per second.

 

Base damage: 34,344.

 

Spell strength bonus: 16%.

 

Movement speed bonus: 50%.

 

Dodge bonus: 50%.

 

Carrying capacity: 2,700 kg.

 

Merchant discount: 50%.

 

Critical hit chance: 50%.

 

With the increase in levels, I reached the cap on movement speed, dodge and critical hit chance. In spending points on my main stats, I focused on strength, knowing the importance of base damage.

Along with the bonuses from Unarmed Combat, Hammerfist and Rindzin’s Ghostly Talon, each of my strikes now dealt around ten million damage, although some was reduced by the defense and armor of the bosses, and some from their innate abilities.

All my key skills had shot up:

Unarmed Combat (rank II): 249.

 

Ghastly Howl: 84.

 

Imitation: 13.

 

Cartography (rank I): 57.

 

Lethargy: 6.

 

Meditation: 16.

 

Night Vision (rank II): 78.

 

Liberation: 8.

 

Stealth (rank II): 81.

 

Resilience (rank III): 32.

I could now spend over four minutes in Clarity. Every new level of Path of Spirit added a hundred extra spirit to my reservoir.

Night Vision didn’t offer any development paths, but at rank two it took on an additional property, apparently raising damage in the dark, in which I now could see clear as day.

The mechanics of Resilience’s Path of Justice in the Cursed Chasm differed from those in greater Dis. There were no penalties for level differences here, so the Path just cut away half the damage from enemies of a higher level before any other damage-reduction mechanics kicked in.

As for Ghastly Howl, it had a strange effect on demons. Firstly, it didn’t scare the bosses at all. Secondly, instead of running around in Fear, normal demons started howling. Good thing they did at least that instead of just continuing to fight…

As soon as the Freedom Day event ended, the surviving demons instantly teleported to their dungeons. Only in the descending silence did I realize how nightmarish was the sound the roaring brotherhood made in its thirst for mortal souls and flesh. I sighed in relief.

Despot crawled into our dead-end corridor, groaning and swearing. The demons had almost pushed him all the way back, so he didn’t have far to go. Deep gouges and holes from the demon’s horns, arms and bony armor yawned all along the tunnel.

“Holy shit…” Quetzal chuckled.

“What?” Michelle asked. “Is it all over?”

The titan exchanged glances with the werewolf. Both smiled, and Hellfish shouted:

“Go Scyth! We! Survived!”

Joyful shouts and girlish giggles of celebration bounced off the walls in an echo of many voices. When they started lifting me up on their shoulders, I made out Destiny’s grubby face among the others, saw her smiling.

Then, ten minutes before the game day ended, Eynyon’s Gong rang.

* * *

“Good evening, contestants!” Octius pronounced grandly. “The seventh day of the Demonic Games is over, and I can confidently say that tomorrow will be the last! Eynyon’s Gong has already sounded!”

The gamesmaster descended to the stage, looked at our faces, shook his head:

“Scyth’s fifteen contestants and Youlang… Almost twenty times fewer than the number that came here, but still more than necessary to declare a winner without victory over Abaddon! I remind our viewers that in the Demonic Games, when the final boss remains undefeated, the victor can only be the final survivor when the portal closes!”

We hadn’t foreseen this at all. After going through so much together, now we were expected to fight each other on the last day? No way. Better to try our luck with the boss!

Guy Barron Octius shot me a strange look, then continued in his booming announcer’s voice:

“Considering the circumstances, we will not limit ourselves to the highlights of today, but will instead show you all the key moments of the nineteenth Demonic Games! Let our viewers take stock of the path to the final that all of the surviving contestants have walked!”

The show began with opening day, when almost four hundred contestants glowed with anticipation while I was declared the worst player of the day and rewarded with Cursed Cripple.

On day one, everything could have ended for me before it began. Octius reminded us of when Hellfish’s strong group, which, apart from Modus