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

I hadn’t visited the second yet. It was closer, so half a minute later I was in a spacious corridor with a round ceiling and walls gleaming with moisture. I flew back and forth, counting four exits, then froze at the center, not far from a small side corridor where the demon would only be able to crawl.

Crash-crash, crash-crash, — either my heart was beating hard, or it was the echo of Despot’s approaching steps. Closer, closer… The corridor shook with the giant footfalls.

First the demon’s head appeared from behind the turn, then his arm. Pulling against the wall, Despot forced himself out into the spacious corridor, drew himself up.

If Mogwai’s strength was in his Resilience and stubbornness, and Destiny’s in money and status, then mine was in seeing a way to get negotiate with any sentient creature. Recalling my adventures in the Treasury, where my communication skills had gotten me loyal allies and guardians, I spoke to the demon as it tramped toward me:

“Hey, Despot, aren’t you sick of chasing me by now?”

Nothing. Just the dull target fixation of a terminator battle droid.

“There’ll be plenty of time to kill me later. Why don’t we just talk first? Must be boring for you, all alone down here.”

Either he didn’t hear me, didn’t understand common or just didn’t want to talk to his meals. Or maybe my slowed speech was the problem.

Realizing that I couldn’t talk to him, I went into Clarity…

Despot slowed, his arm already pulling back to strike, then stopped with fire pulsating in his chest, his clawed fingers spread in the air.

For a fraction of a second I hesitated, choosing where to strike. Right in the head, between the eyes! Ready to fire off a Combo, I rushed straight toward the boss…

But intuition kicked in just in time, and instead of a series of strikes I hit with one single Hammerfist… And then jumped back, guided by instinct alone. It was like I was hit by a flamethrower. My eyes darkened from the pain and my health fell down to the red zone.

Retreating, I only barely made out the combat log through the tears:

Despot dealt you damage (Hellflame Aura): 1,763.

 

Resilience level increased: +3. Current level: 45.

 

Nice to level up my ability, but the rest… I was lucky that I only took one tick, and not the strongest, from the boss’s aura while sped up in Clarity. If I’d flown a little closer or waited for a second tick, then I’d already be climbing out of my capsule and saying goodbye to the Games.

There was no way I could melee the boss, but that wasn’t the worst part. The logs showed that I’d only dealt a fraction of a point of damage to Despot!

You have damaged Despot (Crushing Hammerfist of Justice): 0 (96,229 absorbed).

 

Even Abaddon didn’t have that much defense, so the issue wasn’t Despot specifically. But then what..? Maybe he was immune to physical damage? I had something for that.

Using spirit generously, I flew back and fired off a ranged Hammerfist.

You dealt critical damage to Despot (Spirit-Crushing Hammerfist of Justice): 0 (138,446 absorbed)!

 

At the sight of my logs, Bomber would have put it short and sweet: “Fuck!” And he’d be right — Despot was invulnerable.

Everything I felt — upset, rage, the feeling of injustice, — must be what my opponents felt when I had Destroying Plague Immortality. Life had taken a turn and thrown back the feelings of those I killed like a boomerang.

The Nether with philosophy. Time to get out of there before the monster took the rest of my health!

Darting into a stone side corridor, I flew away to a safe distance, left Clarity, then started thinking harder about how to go on living.

My game experience told me that creatures like this didn’t go down easy. It would take more than just Hammerfist. The chance of a whole raid wiping on their first encounter with a boss like this was a little over a hundred percent, no matter how strong the raid. There was some trick to this; the game designers couldn’t have made an unkillable boss!

I even fleetingly thought that Despot might be a special boss variant, an exclusive specimen created specially for Scyth. Watching as the nightmarish beast approached, I spoke:

“Thanks for using Meister’s Trinkets, the best teleportation company in town! Hot tours to the Inferno! A 531-star hotel and welcoming staff. Hotel owner Mr. Despot will make your stay in the Inferno unforgettable! Ha-ha!” Great. Now I was laughing at my own jokes. I hoped the viewers enjoyed it. My speech was still stretched out, I sounded like a broken robot, but consoled myself with the thought that a patient fan would hear me out and understand. “Come on, Despot must have some Achilles’ heel. Maybe he can only be killed by a weapon hidden in this maze.”

I kept thinking aloud, explaining my reasoning. I really didn’t want to be the worst player of the day again.

“Whatever weapon works against the boss, it has to be here, or else it makes no sense,” I said, frowning and rubbing my chin. “It’s not likely to be a reward for a quest chain in some other place. If that’s how it works, viewers, then Snowstorm can go to hell! Either way, I don’t have a choice. I have to start looking and find it before the day is out. If I don’t find it, then tomorrow, Despot will squash me.”

Having stated the obvious, I flew off to explore more of the map.

Corridor, corridor, corridor. Despot’s footsteps behind me. Stealth, detection, escape. The dance with death turned into a routine that began to bear fruit:

Cartography skill increased: +1. Current level: 10.

 

Now you can create even more detailed maps of unexplored lands. You move faster in previously mapped areas.