章節 157: The aspiring diplomat
Walking forward a bit on the rough stone floor and admiring the stalagmites sticking out of the ground, Harley stopped suddenly and whirled her head around vigorously.
"Something's not right here."
"Yeah, we haven't been followed for ten minutes, which means there's an ambush ahead," I activated my true vision once again and immediately felt a pain shoot through my temples.
My body was telling me that it was time to stop using my eyes so often. I couldn't see anything useful anyway, because three meters away, the world around me was drowning in a dark red fog of demonic energy.
"I feel something wrong too, but I don't understand what it is..." Simon said, continuing to walk slowly forward and looking around carefully.
Suddenly, my intuition screamed, and I did the most logical thing: I picked up the squealing blonde in my arms and activated the glyph under my feet, jumping up a few meters and noting that even these spells began to consume an obscene amount of mana.
"From below! - came the detective's belated shout as the cave floor was covered with many cracks.
A moment later, a seething black mass burst forth, a multitude of toothy mouths and flexible tentacles flickering about. They pounced joyously on the unhidden prey, seeking to tear it apart.
"Helped..." the man's voice was drowned out by the deafening growl of the infernal creature.
While I was still in the main hall of the mansion, I began to prepare myself for the possibility that I would have to use the spell on the square again, so I replaced the shield spells in my aura with something more relevant. Of course, it would have been worth restoring the proven effective Purifying Light, but that spell was too voracious. I could not help the local energy that was trying to burn out all mana except demonic mana, and now only my own aura and the remnants of Delirum's energy were preventing that process.
"Cover your eyes! Ignis sanctus, a Tenebris protege!"
The spell snapped from his hand, discharging five large diamonds, and a bright flash of blinding light flooded the cave. The shapeless creature let go of its victims with a shriek, trying to hide back underground. I took the chance to throw a napalm grenade after it, and then fire my revolver.
After a dozen seconds, it became clear that such tactics were doomed to failure. The bullets loaded with light were tearing out huge chunks of smoking black flesh, but it regenerated too quickly, and ordinary fire did little damage. It wouldn't be long before the dark creature would be completely healed, and then our couple would have a lot of fun, because we couldn't stay in the air all the time. Luckily, the recovering Simon came to the rescue, who was also a bit rattled by the flare because of his half-demon nature. The chimera's throat growled, and it began to tear the shapeless mass apart with its hands, while the translucent tentacles in the air hinted that someone was once again a conduit for another creature from the infernal dimension.
"Ugh, damn, that was close..." the detective said, leaning tiredly against one of the stalagmites. His suit was in rags, and his skin bore the marks of multiple bites. - What the hell was that thing?
"A hundred Hungry Mouths," I said, my erudition shining through. - An inferior demon that feeds on everything, including its own kin, but it's especially fond of magic. Like most unintelligent creatures, it inhabits the hell wastelands. Virtually invulnerable, and of the obvious weaknesses only sunlight and light spells. Oh, and this thing is poisonous.
"Tom? - I could hear the serious concern in Simon's voice.
"I'm fine, you're not the only one who's been subjected to horrible experiments," Kirk waved away, showing the slowly healing wounds, from which a purple haze was oozing. - Give me a few minutes to recover and we'll be on our way.
But no one was going to give our company a break. After the battle, we stepped aside to avoid breathing the burning demon flesh as the floor shook and cracked again, but this time I didn't have time to react. A huge yellow paw clamped down on my leg, and if it weren't for my stone skin, I'd be a one-legged pirate, and that wouldn't exactly fit my heroic image.
"Mr. J! - Harley immediately started firing her Glock, but the bullets just couldn't penetrate the too tough skin of her new foe.
The trusty cane came to the rescue, still managing to reach the alien flesh through the semblance of flexible chitin.
"Electrica Scutum, bitch! - Surprisingly, the spell worked, and it worked just as well as it should, instantly creating a small area of great resistance around me. Now it was time to use the main feature of the gift.
~Tresk~
"Grow-roar!"
The monster got an electric shock, but he didn't even think about throwing me away. Instead, his grip only grew stronger, but Harley came up and smacked the monster in the head with a reinforced baseball bat. It didn't really do much damage, but it was a nice distraction from one humble hero.
"Scutum Maxima! - minus three diamonds spent on the expanding cocoon, and I was finally free.
"What kind of pokémon are these?"
The creatures that attacked us, unlike the usual fanatics and black shapeless masses, looked really colorful. The detective was pursued by a big one-eyed brown potato on legs and a huge toothy mouth in the center of his body, a green meatball with white-green flexible long outgrowths was obviously trying to do something unnatural to Simon, and the highlight: a three-meter yellow humanoid mutant with a long proboscis instead of a nose was looking very unkindly at our awesome duo, scratching his head, which was hit by my faithful companion.
"The yellow one looks like Drowzee or Hypno, but with an overly long trunk. The brown one looks like Dasclops, with very, very troubled skin... Maybe Dasclops looks like that under bandages, but this one," the blonde pointed to the monster with tentacles, "looks like a rotten meatball that's been in the fridge for a month and has gained self-awareness.
The last demon clearly didn't like the comparison, or else it was hard to explain why he suddenly threw Simon in our direction with a loud hiss of indignation.
"The flight was beautiful, but the landing was disgusting. Six out of ten," I said as the body of a psychopathic maniac landed at my feet. - Hey, you okay?
Judging by the glowing blue eyes and complete lack of response, the caller is not a caller.
"Let's go! - Harley and I shouted almost in unison and, picking up our comrade, rushed after the fleeing Kirk, who by this time had already managed to shoot a clip of his pistol and to get a decent distance, despite the not fully healed wounds.
There was no way to break away. As funny as the yellow Pokémon looked, unlike its kin, it had a decent speed. My favorite flashes of light mana were slowing it down just a bit, as were the gun shots. I was about to fire the main caliber, thinking about how to get an RPG on the move, because we still had a slight advantage, when a guy woke up on my back.
"Stop. They're not our enemies."
"Yeah, yeah, as soon as I do. That demon bitch almost took my leg off."
"They are controlled, but I can destroy the leash."
Shrugging, I set Simon on the ground and stepped a little to the side.
Just a second later, the three-meter carcass flew at full speed into the guy who stood in the middle of the tunnel and drove him into the stone floor. Even from where I was standing, I could hear the crunch of bones. I hoped my companion had been fed enough demon meat to regenerate such injuries quickly.
"Grow-grr-horr. Gaiur Rurmrs," the grounded boy suddenly shouted loudly, clutching at the demon's neck, his yellow fist frozen in midair.
"Row-ur grahm rallash? - Baffled, the creepy pokémon interjected. Then the trunk on its muzzle twitched, and it jumped up, frantically groping its neck, where it could barely make out a rapidly fading black tattoo of what looked like barbed wire.
"Ur gromm an nacht," Simon replied, rising slowly. If it weren't for the ghastly mask, those around him could see the grimace of pain, for the carcass that had flown into him had broken several ribs and cracked his bones. And even an excess of demonic energy in the surrounding space could not immediately heal such injuries, much less get rid of the "pleasant" accompanying sensations when the shards fall into place under the influence of the embedded charms. - Hvarg-t r conr?
"Harm," the Drowzee nodded affirmatively and turned toward the abandoned tunnel, ready to fight. The other monsters were less fast, especially the rotten meatball, and the potato on legs wasn't far behind, so for now we could only hear their loud stomping, which echoed off the walls.
"I don't want to interrupt anyone, but could someone explain what the hell is going on here? - I asked politely, holding the wobbly detective.
Despite the fact that the man ran the entire distance quite briskly, such a feat was possible only due to the external feeding from demonic energy, and in a normal situation, he would have long been lying flat. But here he seemed to be regenerating slowly. It seems that Gustav has been dabbling with dark forces for a long time, but not for the purpose of enslaving mankind, which is the dream of almost all blacksmiths and cultists, but for the purpose of fighting against this contagion. Even the minimum configuration of the chimera is quite successful against weak demons and without problems can be near the action of the altar, receiving pleasant bonuses, and if you pull up the offensive power, then here even infernal creatures up to the third level will be sad.
"I think Simon somehow found out Drowzee's true name and helped him off the leash. Now Drowzee wants to help with the rest of the demons... I guess..." Harley was surprisingly the first to answer.
"Do you understand the demonic language? - I could hear the genuine surprise in the boy's voice.
"Nah," the blonde waved it off, "I'm just very observant and analytical."
"That's right. His name is Gaius Publius... Oh, now I'm going to try something! - He stretched out his arms, intending to touch the head of his closest ally, who was suddenly me, but was immediately poked with his cane.
"Whoa, easy. Simon, I trust you, but I really don't like that thing between your hands."
True Vision displayed a formless dark cloud in which ornate red symbols floated, slightly similar to those used by the school of the mind.
"I'm sorry, I wanted to impart to you the knowledge of the demonic language."
"The offer is very tempting, but the normal human body," I ignore Harley's foxy smile, "is poorly adapted to demonic energy. You can try it on Tom, it might even be good for him. I guess," the last word was drowned in the approaching stomp of monsters.
"Exactly! - The overjoyed guy immediately clutched his hands to the detective's head, who didn't even have time to be indignant, being not in the most adequate state.
A couple of seconds of exposure and the man collapsed, unconscious. His exhausted mind couldn't handle the voluminous packet of information. However, due to his unusual semi-demonic nature and the surrounding background, he was definitely not in danger of having a stroke.
"Oh..." the young man backed away fearfully.
"Ouch," the pain shot through my temples again, but I could still see the mist soaking into the detective, healing a few small cuts on his face. His breathing became calmer. - He's fine, just overstressed. Better focus on the demons," I nodded toward the potato monster with disproportionately short limbs that appeared around the corner. If it weren't for the huge maw full of sharp teeth and the bloodshot single eye, it would look kind of funny.
In any case, with Gaius' support, the fight with the first opponent was short-lived. The yellow Pokémon quickly knocked his kin to the ground, flying into him in the best wrestling tradition, and Simon, who ran up, destroyed the controlling spells. The tentacle meatball that followed was much more difficult to deal with. Though its long-range speed was a bit slow, its many flexible, strong tentacles helped it hold off three invading foes at once. At one point, my companion even had to intervene when Simon was bound. A couple of accurate shots literally tore off a flexible limb, which began to regenerate rapidly. Until that moment the guy seemed to be afraid of hurting our future ally, but after what he saw he stopped holding back and pulled out his favorite string. After cutting off a dozen of constantly regenerating tentacles, our comrade still managed to get to the main body, destroying the spell.
I was a little stressed that we were giving freedom to not the weakest of demons. If I didn't have a few tricks up my sleeve, we wouldn't have been able to escape, let alone win, but after the motley crew calmed down and organized a sort of rest, Simon assured me that our new companions didn't want to hurt people. It was a stretch to call them full-fledged demons. No, there was plenty of demonic energy in them, but they'd all been human once.
For example, Meatball used to be named Susie Lamar, and fifty years ago she was an ordinary Atlanta housewife until her husband joined the Geo Populus. As a show of loyalty, he sacrificed the woman and his own son to the Order. Admittedly, he didn't live long after that, as the Magister used his flesh and soul to perform a transformation ritual. And yes, Susie understood English perfectly well and really took offense at the comparison with a rotten cutlet, so Harley had to apologize. The second member of the gang, reminiscent of "Dusklops with troubled skin", was Lamar Jr. named Anthony, and he was, let's just say, a little naive and stupid, corresponding to the level of a child of seven or eight years old.
The most interesting character, of course, was Gaius Publius, who lived during the reign of Caligula and "worked" as a gladiator slave. During one of the fights he refused to kill his defeated opponent, and as punishment he was handed over to a court magician blacksmith named Marcellus. After many gruesome experiments, he turned him into a demon and then banished him "into the darkness", from whence he periodically summoned him to perform various errands. In this strange dimension, Gaius's powers gradually grew, and he finally lost his human form, but not his mind, because in the other world for him did not pass a couple of seconds. At one point, he had the strength to break the restraining shackles and brutalize his master. With his new appearance, he had no place in the human world, so he simply went back, falling into a kind of sleep. Apparently, Marcellus kept records of his experiments or had followers, as Gaius was summoned more than once and more than twice by various mages, hungry for power and strength, but all of them were met with death, as our new ally had a very negative attitude towards attempts to enslave himself. But about a couple years ago, he was summoned by a really strong witch doctor. At least, he had enough brains to attract about twenty adepts and create a powerful suppressive circle to hold back the first impulses of the yellow monster to finish off everyone present. And then it came to persuasion and torture, and although the former gladiator would have had the strength to break free, he decided to take the path of least resistance and signed a one-year contract. Only Gaius did not take into account that the master is quite a cunning scum and, having obtained power over the demon, simply ordered to serve himself for eternity, backing this case slave seal.
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