“Oh Shit,” Colin breathed out as a sign. He lamented not knowing this sort of thing considering McKenna’s constant jabber about everything nerdy that she liked. Though, it did make an excellent sleep aid sometimes.

Turning from Nox to the Demon now standing over the blushing Rielle, Colin pointed at him and said, “No, bad Demon! Larry, Sit!”

Immediately, Larrimortias fell ass first to the floor with a loud thump and sat there stunned for a long moment. He then crossed as if the impromptu action wasn’t entirely unintentional and simply waited for a moment before turning around to look at his first Contracted Master.

“Master, what was that- Hey! What the fuck-!” the Demon cried out as Colin whacked him over the side of his head with a small stack of rolled-up papers. “What are you doing?!” he cried out, unable to decipher the human’s actions against him. It was dealing no damage, but if there was a statistic for embarrassment, then he would be losing a lot of it for this treatment.

For his part though, Colin thought this treatment was fitting for the Demon with no courtesy to ask before doing. Much like a dog who hadn’t learned to not jump on the table to eat his owner’s food. He wished he had a magazine or newspaper or something else compared to his enchanting notes. Still, this action just felt right as he whacked him again for the third and final time.

Leaning down to look a little more evenly with Larrimortias, Colin spoke. “Who’s in charge here?”

“You are,” the Demon responded almost instantly.

“Good, glad you know that. She-!” Colin pointed at Rielle, who had stepped beside Nox. “Is a member of my team and not a snack. Is that understood?”

The Demon’s upper lip twitched in annoyance as he answered, “yes.”

“Excellent, I’m glad we got that out of the way,” Colin said, still eyeing the Demon who’d affected Rielle with his mere presence. “Alright, we are a little pressed for time, Larry. So I will talk to you more later. Rielle, What did you find?”

“I, uh, I found a few groups of people in a couple of the nearby buildings. Despite the size of the buildings, I only found a few people in each that didn’t seem to run when the Golems first started attacking.” She answered him, nerves, or something else affecting her speech. Most of them are younger families and kids, but a few were a little older, hiding in stores and storage rooms.”

“Any sign of that stronger Golem?” Colin asked.

“No, but I did find a different one roaming around,” she answered. “It looked like a giant floating head with a lot of eye tipped tentacles sprouting from its skull,” she described shivering.

“A Heavens damned Evil Eye Golem,” Nox grumbled. “Let’s hope we don’t run into that. You aren’t prepared to fight an Evil Eye, even a Golem Version,” Nox told him. “Did you see where it went?”

“Or get a read on its capabilities?” Colin added on.

Rielle shook her head, “no, I didn’t. It entered a building, and I didn’t follow it inside. Honestly, It was kind of creepy, and I needed to find the trapped people around here,” she explained.

“Then let’s just hope we won’t have to deal with it,” Colin nodded. “Moving on to the business at hand. What can you do, Larry? What special powers do you have?” Colin asked, quirking an eyebrow quizzically at the sitting Demon.

“Larry?” the Demon asked, disgust tinging its voice. “I am over a millennia and a half years old and have trained for most of those years with a Legendary Knight Legion, perfecting my strength and power. I am also an Incubus, a seducer of mortality, and a beguiler of souls. I am not some backwoods hick with a nickname as disturbingly simplified as, blech, Larry.”

“No,” Colin told him. “I did not call you Larry because it was simple or folksy. I called you Larry because you appear in my quarters and immediately start to go after the food of choice for your kind, you know, like a Dog. Are we going to have a problem on the first day, before we get to the fun part?”

Larry raised his eyebrows, “Depends on what this fun is.”

The Antagonist grinned at the Demon who was still sitting cross-legged on the floor and looking up skeptically at his new Master. “Oh, we are going to go smash up an army of Golems while Rielle gets some people here to safety. How does that sound?”

The sharp-toothed smile the Hollow Incubus displayed at those words was more than Colin could have expected. “Lord DevilWalker, You summon me and have a party-ready for me to participate in. You just knew the thing I wanted most, didn’t you?”

Shrugging, Colin extended a hand to Larry, “Come on, we leave in a minute.” He said, pulling the Demon to his feet. “Rielle,” Colin turned to face her, “ready to go?”

“Almost!” she called, digging under her bed, trying to find some of her back-up gear. “Annnnnd, got it!” she proclaimed, pulling a small palm-sized satchel from under the bed. It was made of stiff brown leather and had a large black button that held it closed.

It was not an item that Colin had seen before, so he asked, “What is that?”

“Oh, I forgot that we didn’t tell you. Nox suggested that I get these,” she said, opening the case and pulling out the contents. A wire-framed set of glasses with a pair of blue gemstone on the ends of the lens. “They are magical glasses that increase ranged attack accuracy and increase the chance to pierce illusions.”

Nodding in understanding, Colin said, “That’s good; it sounds like it was a good idea. Why haven’t you been using it?”

The Goblin stepped forward, “That would be my doing. I told her that it is better when training to focus on general skills than using an item to help. Personally, I have found that using pure skills increases the skill experience gain.”

“But why get the glasses at all?” Colin asked.

“Tools are useful, but real skills are more so. Combined both when needed and the tool becomes a real weapon,” Nox stated. “This will be a potent item until her normal skills surpass the bonuses it gives.”

Nodding, Colin turned to Rielle. “Now, are we ready?”

She nodded enthusiastically, “yes, let’s hurry.”

Colin left the room with Rielle a step behind him and Larry immediately to his left. Pausing, Colin gestured to the Demon, one of your notable skills was shapeshifting, right? Can you not look, you know, Demonic, in public?”

Larry sighed, “yes, yes, of course.” he said, flesh starting to writhe and compress. The Demon shrunk to just barely above Colin’s height but with a little less muscle than in his previous form. Not that it was anything to scoff at in his current state, he still looked like a professional runner that spent a lot of time defining his muscles at the gym. His skin color drained from Scarlet to a deep sandy tan that complemented his still midnight black hair. As the horns sunk into his skull, Colin knew that the Demon would never be mistaken as a Demon unless someone could see that sort of thing. He simply looked like a handsome, well-built human.

“Better?” he asked, rolling his shoulders as if he was uncomfortable with his current form.

“Much,” Colin stated. “Rielle, go find your Sumo Paladin friend. Ask him, quietly, if he wants to help. Seemed like the sort who might.”

After Rielle hurried ahead of them, he dove into his next little project. Colin checked his spellbook space and added another, larger spellbook on his list of things to do. He had room for three new spells and already had an idea of what he wanted one of them to be.

Before he got to work, Colin opened the description of his recently leveled to five Spellcraft skill to make sure he understood it before proceeding.

SpellCraft Level 5. You have gotten better at creating spells that create effects that you intended and make sure the spell cost isn’t too high. At level 5, you have gained enough proficiency in creating spells to create new ones using up to two Magical Manipulation Skills. Any spell made will follow the skill levels of all skills involved in its creation for their combined strength.

Thanks to his increase in the SpellCraft skill, Colin could combine Magical Manipulation Skills to create spells that took advantage of two elements at once.

Opening the appropriate menus, Colin started creating the new spell. He talked to Larry while crafting his magic, “So what is a HellRime Knight?”

“The HellRime Knights are an elite force of Demons in the Ninth Circle of Hell; we train at the banks of the frozen lake called Cocytus. We are Hells, main defenders against the foes that would attempt to raise people from perdition or conquer the Inferno itself. The Knights-” The Demon recited from memory without explaining a whole lot. “Wield the power of the frozen lake itself, the eternal source of HellRime or the more commonly used name, Abyssal Frost.”

“What’s the difference between HellRime and normal ice?” Colin asked as they reached the ground floor and walked through the front lobby towards the front doors. There was no sign of Rielle, so Colin figured that he had another minute or two.

“Mainly, HellRime counts as both Infernal and Frost magic. It deals more damage to beings with high enough good alignment. It is naturally much denser than normal ice, and in Hell, it is almost indestructible.” Larry explained. “So, where are we?” he asked, looking outside a nearby window.

Colin chatted with the Demon for a moment about where they were and the current situation. The Demon questioned Colin about almost every detail, and Colin found it rather tiring after a minute. But six minutes had passed when Rielle, with a bare-chested Sumo next to her, started walking towards them.

The Antagonist gave the Demon an order not to tell the Sumo that he was a Demon and to keep his hands to himself. There would be fighting very quickly, he assured the Demon, and he complied quickly.

“Hey there, Brother. Rielle told me what you want to do, and I have to say that you are a brave one,” Paladin stated with a cheery smile. “Why did you want to include me in this? Are you starting to like me here? Are you finally gonna start calling me ‘Pal?’”

“You don’t have to come, Paladin,” Colin said, emphasizing the name. “I just thought you might be interested in giving us a hand, am I wrong?”

Paladin let out a hearty laugh, “Not in the least. I want to help the NPC’s, and I agree with Rielle that it’s terrible that these others will ignore them. I’d be happy to come with you. Would you like to be the party leader?”

Colin nodded once, then spoke plainly, “Okay, give me a moment.” Colin created a party, sent the invite to Rielle and Paladin then promptly got their replies. He also sent one to Larry but found that he didn’t need to. Familiars and Summons are automatically part of any Party their Master belongs to and don’t count towards the Group limit of five people.

“Great! It’s almost like we’re friends now?” Paladin stated jokingly. When Colin glared, the mirth in the Sumo only died down a little. There was no need to take any of this seriously. This was all just a game, after all. “So, shall we?” he gestured to the outside.

“In a moment. Here’s the basic plan. Rielle, you and Paladin, will focus on getting the trapped people out of the buildings and outside. After that, we all will escort them back here before we go back for more people. Larry and I will be focusing on keeping the Golems off of you two and destroying as many as we can. If we get too overwhelmed, we all fall back here. Agreed?” Colin checked, making sure they all understood.

When everyone nodded, including Larry, Colin said, “Alright, Larry. You go first, followed by Paladin and me, then Rielle. Then you lead the way to the nearest one, okay?”

She nodded, and Larry smiled.

He stepped outside and rushed towards the edge of the safe area, not hesitating before passing through and waiting for something to happen. Colin hurried next to him, and Paladin was only a moment behind. Rielle was out a moment later and heading towards the group, the glasses now firmly placed onto her face.

There were shouts from the inside of the Hotel as they left, the many NPCs inside trying to tell them to come back. It took a moment to tune them out, given that they might as well have been yelling for the Golems to come and attack them. That was inevitable, given the state of things anyway.

A patrol of those Basic Warrior Golems that had been circling the building stopped mid-stride and turned to see them. Colin drew his Mythic Xiphos and Infernal Trench Knife while Rielle readied her bow. The Sumo clapped his hands to his thighs as he crouched low to ready himself for the coming skirmish.

Larry, on the other hand, just lazily started to approach the Golems. No weapons were drawn, and he seemed impossibly calm as the group of four Golems started towards them. Stopping a dozen or so feet in front of the Party, he asked, “May I?”

“Go for it,” Colin said, curious as to what the so-called HellRime Knight had planned. “Rielle, where are we going?”

She pointed to a building across the street from the Hotel. It was a six-story tall apartment complex that looked like it had fallen on hard times within the last few years. Even this close to the city’s Dungeon, the building looked like a mess. “That one,” she told them, moving towards the building and trying to focus on the goal at hand instead of the Demon that stood between them and the small group of Golems.

She entered the building through its front door, and Paladin stood in front of the door, arms crossed over his enormous chest. Colin hurried to distance himself from Paladin and Larry, to not draw too much attention from the coming Golems. Instead, planning to draw his own little crowd of magic robots when they appeared.

Larry was all too thrilled at the small group coming towards him. Though his Summoner’s skill was weak, meaning this conjured body was weak as well, that didn’t mean it negated all his years of training and expertise. It just limited the number of his powers he could use. So, he intended to take this slow to not try and fail to use powers that he did not have access to.

The lead Golem wielded a heavy-looking pole with stud capped tips. It swung the weapon at Larry within a second of getting himself within striking range; the swing came horizontally towards his head. Larry ducked and triggered the Signature Skill of the HellRime Knights, Armament of Cocytus.

A set of sabatons and greaves appeared on his feet and shins, the armor pieces glassy blue with a hint of red along the inside. HellRime Knights were notorious for their skill in most weapons and armor that were made. They showed it with their ability to adapt to their situation and no little amount of whimsy. From his ducked position, Larry leaned back and pushed off the ground, his feet lifting off the ground in a tightly controlled Back Handspring. At the same moment, his entire body was arched, he felt the bridge of his feet connect with the Golem as he continued the technique. Landing on his hands, Larry pushed off and landed flat on his feet before adding gauntlets and vambraces to his armor.

Now Larry stepped forward and threw a wicked left hook that collided with the Golem’s head, then catching a sword blade swung by another Golem with his other hand. Glee filled him as he pushed at the sword with his hand and focused back on his first target for a few seconds. Fists clenched, he punched the Golem three times and crushed it under his fists. The sword Golem suffered a similar fate a few moments later. The Demon jabbed many times before ending it with a savage sounding uppercut.

Switching it up, Larry added HellRime claws to his gauntlets’ fingertips and slashed at the third Golem in line. The fourth circled around him and aimed a crude-looking sickle at the Demons neck. The Demon slipped around the downward stroke and threw his open arm low to slash at the Golems legs. The Golem fell to the floor with the blow’s force and attempted to stand but died under the rending claws.

While impressed by Larry’s skills, Colin wasn’t paying as much attention as he would have liked, given that two of the Basic Warrior Golem’s had decided to come after him. One of them swung around a hooked polearm with a spike at the end that Colin didn’t recognize and was forced to jump back to avoid. Deciding now was a good time for his first dual-element spell.

“Shadow Strike!” Colin announced, swinging his drawn sword and watching the effect. A 3-D silhouette flowed out of Colin’s body, its movements mimicking his own. The Shadow moved towards the hook and spike polearm; the Kinetic and Shadow powered spell strike knocked the pole away, exposing the Golem to a second casting of the spell. The attack cleaved through one of its arms, causing it to drop the weapon. Colin then closed the distance and wrecked the Basic Golem in a few moments.

His second Golem, however, was waiting for just that moment to attack. It fired a crossbow bolt that impacted Colin’s left pectoral and embedded itself between his ribs.

You have taken 41 points of damage and now have 374/415 health remaining.

“Fuck!” Colin cursed, pulling the projectile out of his body and holding the bloody bolt in his hand. His new spell cost 70 MP to cast, and he used it twice, meaning he had more than enough for his next spell.

He aimed the bolt at the one who fired it and snarled, “Launch Projectile!”

The sharp bolt launched towards his target at speeds comparable to a standard crossbow. The bolt missed the head, where Colin hoped it would hit, but struck lower, hitting the Golem in the joint of its right arm. The arm went limp as the mechanical parts within it stopped functioning, and it dropped the Crossbow. Colin slashed through its other shoulder joint with rage driving his blows, then stabbed down into its neck with the Trench Knife.

Five more started to come his way, and Colin groaned; he could handle them, he was sure, but the damage would accumulate quickly enough that it might be fatal. Opening his Dimensional Bag, Colin withdrew a pouch containing several three-inches by three-inch scale patches. He took one out and quickly pocketed the rest, not having the time to throw it back into his bag. He then placed the patch against his chest and activated one of his Channel Effigy powers, Scylla’s Scales.

Magic from his chest filled the scales as the seconds passed. He was mentally counting as the Golems approached, and the effect started to take hold on his body. Three, two, one, and done, Colin said, pulling his hand away from his chest, knowing that he’d absorbed the scales patch. The effect caused his skin to change into a pattern of scales reminiscent of a fish’s, covering him entirely in tough natural armor for the next few minutes.

“Walker, I got the group!” Rielle called as she moved a small band of people from the building. They were mostly children, with the oldest not looking older than 13 years old; the youngest was held in its caretaker’s arms.

“Go!” Colin yelled, looking back at the coming group. He dove in, sprinting towards them with his Xiphos held ready. He hacked and slashed through the first two with relative ease since he aimed for their weaker joints. The next one thrust a spear as he tried to approach but was a step too slow for a real hit and only skid off the scales of his neck.

You have taken two points of damage and now have 372/415 health remaining.

That one Colin whirled around, creating more momentum with his indestructible sword, and decapitated it with a single hit. Keeping himself moving was the order of the day, as Colin dodged, ducked, swerved, and blocked as he attacked them back. Moments later, the group was destroyed. He watched as Rielle was running into the next building. Paladin easily defeated two Golems with his sheer mass and Ki powered palm strikes.

The next few minutes moved by in a blur; Rielle managed to clear two more buildings while Paladin defended her and their charges. Colin and Larry kept a reasonable distance away from each other to keep each other’s groups separate. Larry kept evolving and changing his style of attack. He switched to a barbed trident after using the gauntlets and fighting with fists and kicks for the first few groups. Attacking them with a high, spinning attack stance that cut metal as much as it punctured it.

On the other hand, Colin kept fighting with his stead style of dodge, attack, then dodge again. His damage was low from each hit, but it grew with each two to four damage hit. This battle was the sort of situation that he’d envisioned when he chose his Priest Ability Massacre Channeling. The Ability proved its worth by giving him a little more stamina every time he killed one: that and the increases to damage, attack speed, and magical attack damage.

Rielle had decided to go for another building that she had managed to map earlier and ran inside while Paladin joined in on the fighting. He used his massive body to absorb blunt damage from clubs or maces. Still, He actively pushed and attacked anything else that got within range.

Collectively, they had rescued around thirty to forty people. Rielle stated that this next group was the last one that she had managed to scan before coming back.

Entering into Colin’s line of sight, a ten-foot-tall Golem with a much more intricate build than any other Colin had seen up to this point. Its joints were protected. Its sword and shield appeared to be much higher in quality. Its armor seemed to be built more like protection than simple coverings. Colin wasn’t sure that this Golem was a more advanced Golem than the Basic ones he’d been facing or if it was something unique like the Despair Golem from earlier. Either way, this wasn’t good.

Until now, Colin had been watching his mana use if something big showed up that he couldn’t handle. Well, that moment had arrived, and Colin activated Kinetic Vigor and Empowering Mana(fire). Before his bonuses from Massacre Channeling faded, Colin charged.

The Golem moved with speed and grace that belied its size and swung the edge of his shield towards his oncoming opponent. Ducking into a forward roll, Colin managed to avoid the attack and swiped at the Golem’s leg. The attack connected and dug into its armored leg, but not before the Golem’s large sword swung and sunk painfully into his shoulder.

You have taken 113 points of damage and now have 240/415 health remaining.

In real-life, an attack like that probably would have removed the limb completely, but due to his large health, it didn’t. It was weird; it was like the larger his health, the more his flesh could take without breaking. It was an odd thought to have, but his mind was trying to figure out what to do.

With his buffs still running, Colin moved in again, grabbing his Mythic Xiphos and stepping to the side of its next sword stroke. He jumped into the flat of the sword, then up at its chest, getting closer to his chest, jamming both blades in his hands into the Golems chest.

“Hellish Frost Burst!” Larry called, just as a javelin of reddish-blue HellRime flew into the bicep of the Golems sword arm. A moment later, the javelin detonated in a burst of freezing light, covering most of the appendage in a thick layer of ice. Then as Colin withdrew his Infernal Trench Knife and used Double Stab to deal a little more damage just as Large ran up and punched the side of the Golems hip, knocking it off balance.

Before he ran out of mana, Colin activated Aligned Strike and Sheared through the Golems head and jaw with the swing.

“Fuck,” Colin wheezed, holding his shoulder that was knitting back together at a prolonged rate. He watched his health for a moment and figured that he was still in combat. Which would explain why he hadn’t gotten any experience since they started fighting.

When Rielle exited the building, a group of people in tow, Colin froze in place at the sight of the group. This group looked like a group of merchants, artisans, a few teenagers dressed like apprentices, and a small assembly of players. These Players had no real similarities between them except a group symbol that they all wore on their right shoulders. This symbol was one he knew well and had been avoiding for this reason.

The symbol was a single blood-red tower in a circular field of black, the Krimson Spire Guild symbol. He couldn’t see the Aeromancer, Volkiere, among them, and logically he knew he had no beef with these people. But anger has no place in a logical mind. He was going to do something terrible, but not now. These people would know where Volkiere was, and in this chaos, there was no way he’d find him. But oh, they’d talk.