Blood Magus Chapter 81

As Zeth backed away from the fleshtaker still gulping down the rest of its victim, the Inquisitors standing at the mine entrance were bombarded with monsters.

Those Sixth Realm dog things with the gigantic eyes that opened up into tooth-covered mouths came in droves, but the Inquisitors were able to take them out, apparently unaffected by their strange pain-causing spores. The soldiers wielded their swords with a surprising lack of fear, considering one of their comrades was in the process of being digested just a few dozen feet behind them, and swung with deadly accuracy the moment one of the monsters came out of the cave, severing their heads from their bodies before they could attack.

The dogs’ attacks didn't relent, though, and as they came charging out in an attempt to bite into their juicy prey, getting cut down before they could reach the Inquisitors, another fleshtaker came charging out. The soldiers swung their swords, cutting into it but not doing enough damage to kill it instantly like the dog beasts had been, and it continued in its charge to grab at one of the Inquisitors, mouth opening to consume them whole like the one before it.

But the soldiers were prepared this time, and before the fleshtaker could sink its sharp clawed fingers into the flesh of its chosen meal, another lunged forward, swinging their sword down to sever the beast’s head from its neck, and it keeled over and died. They certainly liked beheading things.

Zeth almost thought they may have had it handled more than he originally assumed, but then came another fleshtaker. And another. All while the dog beasts were pouring out of the mineshaft. The soldiers were occupied trying to keep their own lives protected from the predatory beasts, pushed back by them as they killed the ones they could, but the sheer numbers were clearly overwhelming. They didn’t lose any more soldiers, but as they continued getting pushed backward by the outpour of monsters, several slipped through the cracks.

The dog beasts seemed to figure that the fleeing citizens were much juicier targets than the fighting Inquisitors, and yet another fleshtaker, after taking a few swipes unsuccessfully at an armored Inquisitor who deflected each of its attacks and swung back with their sword in kind, evidently deemed them to be too strong of prey, backing away and lunging by a soldier right when they swung at another monster and an opening was created.

As more time passed, more monsters got through. And there seemed to be no end to them.

Watching the situation collapse in real time, Zeth wanted nothing else than to rush in to help, but he understood that he had little ability to do so in his current state. Not against this many monsters. He needed the full breadth of his power; he needed Astrys.

So, as fast as his legs could carry him, Zeth turned and ran. He needed to get back here before the situation devolved any further—before any more lives were lost.

As he dashed through the streets, heading for the forest’s edge as he weaved between buildings in an attempt to find the shortest path, Zeth heard the patter of footsteps behind him. He glanced back as he ran, seeing one of the eye dogs chasing after him, pupil expanding as it focused its sight on what it thought to be nothing but a helpless snack.

Okay, fuck it, Zeth thought, I guess it’s time for a field test.

Sprinting away from the monster, he brought his finger up to his mouth and bit down hard, feeling the familiar sting of pain as he opened a small wound in his skin. Then he focused, using the practice he’d gained to draw out a stream of blood as he continued focusing the majority of his focus on putting one foot in front of the other. He quickly realized that he had to keep the blood moving along with him—something he hadn’t realized when he was just stuck sitting in one place practicing Ephemeral Bloodforge in the past. So he applied constant force to the stream of blood to propel it forward alongside him, keeping it from being left behind in his mad dash.

So as he pulled his blood along, he quickly shaped it into the form he desired—the thing he’d gotten quite a bit of practice with. He separated the long stream into three distinct needles, forming all three of them at the same time in the way he’d learned to during his many exercises and experiments while he was stuck underground. He paid extra attention to ensuring these things were as sharp as physically possible, pushing hard on the points to squeeze the blood into a point so thin that no blacksmith in the world could imitate it with steel.

The moment the three of them were in proper shape, he solidified them, watching the blood harden into that smooth material he was familiar with before they dropped down and he snatched them out of the air. Once they were in his hands, Zeth instantly spun around, skidding to a stop on the rough cobblestones, and flung a hand out to throw one of the needles at the monster. It sped through the air straight toward its eye, razor-sharp point aimed to stab through its massive pupil, but just before it met its target, the needle spun just barely too wide, and instead of sticking into the monster’s eye, its flat end simply smacked into it, causing the beast to flinch at the sudden impact, but little else.

Zeth took a breath, holding one needle in each of his hands. Unfortunate that he missed, but that was why he made three of them. With a Dexterity Stat of eighty, he was far more capable of controlling his throws with minute accuracy—something he’d noticed while he was trying out different methods of attack with the needles these past couple days—but unfortunately, the little bit of practice he’d gotten hadn’t quite been enough, despite the boost he’d gotten. Still, he’d at least stunned the monster, and he planned to take advantage of that.

As it shook its singular head-sized eye at the irritation Zeth had caused, he charged forward to meet it, both hands ready to stab their weapons into its body. The hound saw him coming, clearly surprised at the sudden change of attitude from its prey, and took a defensive stance, opening its eye in the way Zeth had seen them do all those days ago in the cave. Like a flower whose petals were lined with teeth, it revealed its mouth, readying itself to bite into Zeth’s flesh.

Just before he came within striking distance of the monster, Zeth felt a distinct rotting smell enter his nostrils, and he received a notification—’Poise check passed.’ He remembered the last time he’d fought these things, they used some sort of scent-based attack to cause extreme pain to anyone who came close, but only if they failed the check. Seemed like his Stats allowed him to overcome that problem now.

As the beast lunged forward and snapped at him with its peeled-open mouth, Zeth leapt to the side to avoid getting torn open and instantly turned to slam one of the needles into the monster’s neck. Despite coming from a deeper realm and certainly having highly resistant skin, the beast gave almost no resistance to the ridiculously sharp needle as Zeth easily pushed it all the way through its neck. The monster gave a gargled howl and darted away from him, tearing the handle of the needle from his hand as it fled. Zeth was certain it must’ve been feeling quite an agonizing amount of pain; after all, he knew how the beast felt, having been stabbed through the throat once before as well.

He sprinted after the monster, not wanting to give it even a moment to recover from the injury. With only one needle left in his hand, he watched as the hound turned to face him once again, preparing to charge at him, but clearly hadn’t been expecting him to already be on it, standing right over its head as he drove his final needle straight down into its head. Zeth felt flesh give away before his weapon, and the monster’s body was pushed down beneath the weight of his attack, slamming into the ground, where it lay, motionless.

With the fight over, he took a breath, nodding to himself. He made a couple mistakes here and there, but that was overall a rather successful test of his newfound abilities. Those needles were even sharper than he’d first thought, it seemed like—getting better at throwing them would almost certainly be a worthwhile investment of time.

But he needed to keep moving, so he took no break before he ran off, continuing to make his way back to base.

Even now, the sounds of chaos flooded the town as monsters poured out of the mineshaft. Zeth may have been able to hold his own against those eye monsters, and maybe he could even fight off a fleshtaker, with the help of a Hellfire Ritual and some generous healing on the part of Sanguine Renewal. But he certainly wouldn’t be able to clean them all out of this town on his own. Hell, even Astrys would probably have trouble killing everything, given the sheer numbers of them. Zeth would need as much help as he could get. And he had an idea on how to get it.

It took what felt like forever, but eventually the hidden trapdoor came into sight and Zeth threw it open, diving into the lair and rushing down the stairs.

“Astrys!” he shouted.

“Y-yes?” she called back, clearly sensing the urgency in his voice.

“Emergency!” he said. “I need your help.”

After a few moments, he made his way down the stairs and through the entryway, into the main room where he found her standing at the ready, breathing a little heavily and with a flushed face. Had she been training down here while he was gone or something? No matter; that wasn’t important right now. 

“Come with me,” he said, beckoning her to follow as he ran to the hallway leading to the other rooms in the base. He was looking for one in particular.

“Where are we going?” she asked, jogging to catch up to him. “Are there enemies nearby?”

“Not nearby, but in town,” he said. “Monster outbreak. Way too many for me to deal with, and probably for you, too—at least, if we want to get this handled quickly.”

“You intend to head into danger to defeat the monsters?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Why? Do you intend to acquire their blood?”

“No. Well, it certainly helps, but I’m the one who caused the Inquisitors to break open the mineshaft and let the monsters into town, so I’m the one responsible for this. Gods, why does it feel like everything I do puts people in danger? It’s my fault, at least partially, so I’m the one who will deal with it.”

“I see.”

“Besides, my family and friends are stuck in a prison on the outskirts of town. I’m hoping the monsters don’t get all the way out there before we can get back, but if they do…All the people in those prison cells are stuck—they can’t leave, and they can’t defend themselves. If the monsters break through the walls, it’ll be a massacre. More than it already is.”

“So you are putting yourself in harm’s way to defend the ones you love, then?”

“I guess, if that’s the way you wanna put it. Why do you even care?”

“I would like to understand you better.”

“Alright, sure,” he said, pushing down the slight flutter of his heart, responding to her words. Not right now. He continued, “And to answer your other question, we’re going to get the prisoners.”

“The prisoners? You mean those two humans you keep in the back room?”

“Yeah,” he said. He hadn’t personally seen them in forever since he normally just had Astrys bring food to them and keep them alive for him, but he still had two individuals remaining from back when he broke the Wicked thralls out of jail. Most of them he’d given as bartering chips to demons, but he still had two left. He wouldn’t for long, though.

“Do you plan to force them to fight for you? Apologies, but I have only kept up with their basic physical needs like food and water. I did not know you wanted me to keep them in shape.”

“Not at all,” he said. “I have a couple ritual circles set up from when we were stuck down here, prepared to summon demons. I need a decent amount of blood for each one in order to complete the rituals, and I need human sacrifices to buy favors from the demons themselves. That’s what the prisoners are for.”

“Ah, of course.”

Soon enough, they got to the room that held the future sacrifices. Zeth looked to Astrys “Go in and grab them for me, then come back to the room with the summoning circles.”

She ducked in and came out moments later, two chained up individuals, both more husks of people than actual human beings at this point, slung over either of her shoulders. Once he saw her return, Zeth nodded and started heading back to the ritual room, with her walking alongside him.

“There’s one issue with my plan—one I hope you might be able to help with,” he said. “In the past, demons have been very difficult to conscript when I’m in desperate situations like these. They know I have no other option, and so they make exorbitant demands. From my experience, it should be reasonable for a single human life to translate to a few hours of them working for me, but I doubt they’d accept a price like that when I need their help so urgently.”

“Yes, I would imagine so. Returning from being summoned often leaves a demon feeling weak and sickly. They would naturally wish to get the most benefit out of it as possible.”

“Right. Thing is, I don’t wanna pay extra. So, you’re a demon—is there anything I can say to them to make them just accept a decent price? Or is there a specific place you know of where I’d be likely to get demons that’d be more reasonable, like you?”

She frowned. “I do not know. It would be difficult to find more people in my specific situation, as most prisons in my realm fit their prisoners with magical restraints to prevent them from taking on summonings—I was only able to be summoned because I was captured on the battlefield and they did not have such restraints on hand at the time. However, I do know that whenever my kind have spoken of their past summons around me, they frequently comment on how poor of negotiators their summoners were, and how they have never met a human who could stand on the same conversational ground as them. I do not mean to sound insulting, but do you feel that you may be getting taken advantage of because of your poor negotiation skills?”

“What? Do you think I’m that bad at it?”

“I have not done proper negotiations with you, so I would not know for sure. If you would like, I can stand with you while you do negotiations, and if it seems that you are struggling, then I will offer advice. Or I could step in and take over for you entirely.”

“You’d probably be better than I am, at least,” he said. “Sure. Are there any places I could at least get demons you’d best be able to negotiate with, then?”

“Hm. Likely the low noble district of my country. I would be most familiar with those people, and understand their conversational style best.”

“Perfect,” he said as they arrived at the room that housed the two Demonic Covenant ritual circles. He hurriedly knelt down at the first one. “Put the prisoners down so I can extract their blood. Hopefully negotiations don’t take so long that these two bleed out before the demons can actually kill them. I’m gonna be opening them up pretty wide.”

Astrys gave him a strange look, but didn’t say anything. Maybe he was being a bit brutal for her tastes. But he didn’t have time to find a way to word his statements in a more palatable manner.

“Go ahead and start describing that district you were talking about. I need to be able to picture it as accurately and vividly as possible to summon from there.”

“Of course,” she said, and began explaining exactly how it looked and felt as he knelt over the first prisoner, pulling out a knife.

He hadn’t ever had even two demons under his command at one time, but now he was about to get three, and take them all into town with him. The town was being threatened by its greatest disaster yet, so he would have to respond with his greatest force yet. It would only be three of them, but considering how powerful even a single demon was, Zeth was effectively going to bring an entire demon army into town.

There would be monsters, Inquisitors, and likely cabal members crawling through there, and he’d be operating in an extremely visible way in front of all of them. But it was simply necessary. This would be his debut as a public figure to the people of his  town, and he planned to make quite the impression.