Congratulations! You have killed twenty-six Basic Warrior Golems and have gained 5590 EXP. You now have 16,641/70,215 until level 16. Congratulations! You have killed one Fighter Golem and have gained 630 EXP. You now have 17,271/70,215 until level 16. Your Summoning Magic skill is now level 2. The available options for free and directed summons have increased. Your Summon Familiar Skill is now level 2. The capabilities of your familiar have increased by a small margin. Your Infernal Magic Manipulation is now level 4. Your Infernal Aura(Massacre) subskill is now level 4. The percentage increases to your Attributes has increased by a small margin. Your Channel Effigy Skill is now Level 4. A new power has been granted to you, 'A Gift to Scylla.'

After following Rielle and her trail of survivors into the Hotel, Colin was pleased by the skill increases. What made him more excited was the next prompt.

Your Living Mythic Xiphos has increased to level 10 and reached its current level capacity. In addition to the minimum and maximum potential damage increasing, three benefits are bestowed upon you and the weapon. This weapon gains a new ability, gains a trait-based on something sacrificed, and information on this weapon's growth. Which would you like first?

"Information," Colin quietly told the prompt as he stayed back and a little away from the Krimson Spire Party. Keeping an eye on the party that had apparently hid when the fighting broke out. It was the only explanation of why they were in a building like that compared to a Safe Zone.

A Mythic Weapons progression and uniqueness is dependant on the items used in its crafting and the user wielding it. For a Mythic Weapon to grow, sacrifices need to be given to the weapon to gain unique forms, abilities, and powers. These sacrifices may take the form of items, souls, magic, monsters, materials, or anything else in this world. Your Living Mythic Xiphos is alive, in a sense, and can express some manner of will to aid you in growing it.

For all Mythic Weapons, the first thing you sacrifice defines the weapon's growth and can be almost anything you desire. For your weapon specifically, a personal skill or Ability must be offered to determine the weapon's nature and continue its progress at its tenth level. For the weapon to progress past any level cap (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60), something must be sacrificed. Your weapon specifically dictates that anything offered to it must be at least epic in nature. Legendary or Mythic preferred.

"Hmmm," Colin hummed, watching the Krimson Spire people as they attempted to get a room large enough for six people on the cheap. Colin knew how expensive the rooms here could be, so he had a little sympathy for the group. But was glad that the Hotel was slowing them down.

So, when he sacrificed the Crystal of Learning weapon augmentation, that defined its growth as something that could learn. It made sense that it would make the Mythic Weapon one that could learn. He could understand that. Curious, Colin opened the second option on his list of things to do for his weapon, the trait based on something sacrificed.

This weapon can remove an ability or skill from your Character Sheet and grant a trait to the Mythic Weapon based on the Sacrifice. For your weapon to gain any further experience, you must make the Sacrifice. You shall not know what the weapon's trait will be, but you can know what skills you can offer to the weapon.

Skills that can be sacrificed: Assassination, Kinetic Magic Manipulation, Kinetic Vigor, Shadow magic Manipulation, Shadow Cowling, Aligned Strike, Water Magic Manipulation Fire Magic Manipulation, Ignition, Mental Magic Manipulation, Memory Lapse, Infernal Magic Manipulation, Infernal Aura(Massacre), Style in Action, Perception, Short Blades, Consume.

Abilities that can be sacrificed: Empowering Mana, Psychic Resonance, Massacre Channeling.

"Fuuuuck," Colin moaned as he looked at the list and hated these choices. He immediately discounted all of his magic skills since he didn't want to risk losing them. He had no idea if a skill was sacrificed, whether or not it could not be learned again. This wasn't just him having his skills removed or discarded due to some weird ritual. This was a sacrifice, and he wasn't sure what would happen. Not to mention that this was his most used weapon and potentially more powerful than any spell he would use for some time.

It was for that same reason that he threw out Perception, Short Blades, and Assassination. Out of his Abilities, he hadn't had a reason to use Psychic Resonance yet. Still, Empowering Mana and Massacre Channeling had come in handy, especially lately. Sadly, he already knew what he was going to sacrifice. It was a Skill that synergized with the weapon given its unique connection to his Antagonist Class and that it wasn't a skill he used often.

Consume was also a lesser form of a Skill belonging to a previous Demon Lord, Krvavý Hlad. If he wasn't going to bring out its full power, maybe his sword would better employ its power. Hopefully, in a passive way, so he wouldn't have to trigger anything.

Making his choice, Colin directed the thought 'Consume' at the prompt and waited a moment for the next prompt.

Congratulations! You have made an optimal choice, given the skills connection to you and your sword. The Level Capacity has increased to Level 20, and your sword can continue gaining experience. Your weapon has absorbed the Consume Skill and has converted it into the weapon trait, 'Gluttonous 1'. This weapon trait embodies the Sin Path Skill of Gluttony that was gifted to it and grants it the power to eat at the bodies of your foes to replenish your Health and Mana. If a creature that is at least five levels stronger than the wielder is consumed, both weapon and wielder will gain bonus experience. This trait will evolve to 'Gluttonous 2' if one hundred entities are eaten to fuel your exploits. Your Living Mythic Xiphos has changed in both form and name. It shall now be known as 'Ravenous Mythic Xiphos.'

He was immediately happy at the growth of his weapon. He drew it slowly to avoid anyone thinking he was suddenly going to attack someone.

The handle remained the same crystalline as the Crystal of Learning that he first sacrificed to the weapon all those weeks ago, but now the blade was different. The previously leaf-shaped blade made of deep gray metal now had a seam going from the guard to the sword's tip. Lining the seam, raised and formed of the metal were mismatched but sharp and sometimes jagged teeth that looked almost real enough to open up and snap at his hand. The shortsword's weight had been altered but not enough to slow him down, maybe throw off his balance a little as he got used to it. Now, THIS looked the part of an evil-looking sword.

As he slid it back into place as his belt, he noted that the sheath had altered as well to accommodate the modified shape of the weapon. It made some amount of sense that the scabbard would change, given that he'd gotten it at the same time.

Colin was about to open up the new Channel Effigy power that he'd gotten when the group moved on upstairs. All of them wore angry expressions and swore loudly for the delay and for the current predicament.

"So, what're you thinking about, Master?" Larry asked, moving up next to him from where he leaned moments ago, watching the Hotel's female staff members as they hurried around. His attention was drawn to Colin when he drew his sword and was admittedly intrigued by the weapon himself. "Are you going after those guys? I'll be more than happy to help you gut them."

He shook his head, "Maybe, I'm not sure yet. You stay here and watch Rielle. Make sure she stays here and safe. And don't do any sex demon stuff for the moment, understood?" Colin asked, glaring at his Familiar, not in the mood to deal with him with a lead on Volkiere's location moving away.

The Demon groaned, "Oh, come on, Master. That fight a few minutes ago was good and all, but I barely stretched my muscles. I can take them on by myself if you let me," he whined. "Why can't I come with you?" he pushed.

"Because I said so," Colin stated bluntly. He looked at the small group of five players as they turned up the stairs and vanished from his sight. "Now do as I say and stay here."

With a sigh, he answered, "I understand, Master. Feel free to resummon me if it looks like trouble. I'll be there right away."

Turning away from his Familiar, took a hurried walking pace after the group. Trying to not look too conspicuous as he went after them. The staff would not think too hard about his going up the stairs, he'd had a room here for over a month, but the other NPCs and Players might take notice if he ran. As it was, Colin was sure someone took note of his gait, but he tried to ignore it. There was so much going on outside the building that he was sure most would discount him.

Hopefully.

Once he started climbing the stairs, he slowed down a step to make sure he wouldn't rush into their backs. For now, all he wanted to do was make sure he knew what room they went into and find out if he could take them on without issue. He looked around the corner that he'd lost them and continued on after not seeing them. Repeating around the next bend, he found them as they climbed past the second story and reached the third. They left the stairs and started looking at the room numbers.

Both men had to be warriors of some kind given the heavy plate armor they wore, though they wore different styles. One of the three women was most likely a brawler type given the lack of armor and heavy gauntlets she wore. The other two were most likely mages or Priests, given the robes they wore. The Brawler woman was the only one flaunting her weapon; the rest must have them in some kind of spatial storage-like device.

One on one, Colin figured he could take them all. Calculating levels was something of an art form that was hard to gauge. Nobody got the same equipment, few stayed on a prescribed path, and classes and skills only denoted what the system gave you as powers, not your actual skill.

Most of these gamers have never picked up a gun and fired it while aiming at a live person or ever swung a sword to decapitate a sentient being. This was his most significant advantage here, their inexperience in the art of killing and realizing that nowhere is truly safe. Colin had no idea if the Safe Area also affected PVP fights within it, but he hoped it was the loophole.

He stayed behind them, crouching and stealthing as he walked a short ways behind them. None seemed to be aware of his presence as they reached a room near the end of the hallmarked '332'.

"Finally," one of the armored men proclaimed as he stepped inside the now open room, his voice a little metallic due to the helmet he wore. "I was wondering if we would ever get a respite from those mechanical hordes."

"They aren't Orcs from Universe of BattleCraft; these are Golems. Say it with me, Gol-ems," one of the spellcasters said, enunciating the word slowly.

"Guys, we need to get out of here and get back to the Guild Hall," Brawler said, walking inside. "They will want all hands on deck for their counter to this. Trundle always has a plan; he's probably getting people ready now," she said, assured in her words.

The other Warrior stepped in next with only an agreeing grunt, closing the door behind them and locking it as Colin approached the door.

As he suspected, he could hear nothing beyond the door. The Hotel was famous for its privacy wards protecting the rooms. They must not have gone down when the initial wards came down a little bit ago. Unfortunate, but not unexpected or unplanned for in the short trip up here.

Sighing, Colin used Summon Familiar to bring Larry up here. He waited the few seconds it took for the Incubus to fade into the hall. He was still in his humanoid shape, which was good considering it saved Colin some time.

The Demon smirked a little, "So. You needed me after. Who do you need me to cut and into how many pieces?" the Demon grinned. A HellRime Machete appeared in his hand, and he started examining the edge.

Glaring at the Demon, Colin waited until he stopped looking at the weapon and looked at him. "I called you up here because you are the one who can probably get that door open without smashing it. I need you to get the door open. We need as many of them alive as possible, do you have a skill or Ability for that?" Colin asked the Demon. He looked at the door and hoped the rest of the rooms wards were still up. The soundproofing wards also kept them from hearing outside as well as the opposite.

"Well, yeah, I do. Are there any women in there?" he asked, grinning smugly at his Master. "How many people are in there total?"

"Two men and three women," Colin answered.

Before Colin could talk further, the Demon turned to the room and walked up to it. He knocked three times and waited. His Master hurried out of sight to make sure he didn't ruin whatever Larry had in mind. After seeing him in action, Colin had little doubt that the Demon could hold his own and was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until he proved that planning was beyond him.

Moments later, the door opened, and Larry found the Woman Brawler standing in front of him with an annoyed expression on her face. It lasted but a moment before recognition dawned, and her expression softened. "You're one of the people that helped get us out of there. If you're looking for a reward for helping us, then you are a bunch of assholes. That NPC girl told us that payment was not necessary."

Larry's hand went to the center of his bare chest as if she'd struck him, "I'm hurt, really. You think that I'm here to coerce payment from you? Never, I just wanted to come up and see how you're doing after that ordeal. See if there was anything you Ladies and Gentlemen needed." He said, his voice as smooth as silk on steel as he let his Racial Passive abilities, Alluring Words, go to work.

Before continuing, he activated a Racial Skill called Infernal Subtlety. Alluring Words allowed his Charisma Attribute to get a bonus from his Wisdom Attribute when dealing with people attracted to him. Combined with Infernal Subtlety, which made any deed done involving the Charisma Attribute more challenging to notice, would make most straight mortal women unable to resist at least talking with him.

"So, tell me, Miss… Is there anything you need?" he asked, his words slow and intentionally alluring.

"Y-yeah," she stammered a little. "We need to get back to our Guild Hall."

Larry smiled and took one small step closer, "well, maybe I can help with that. My team and I did help get you and a few dozen other people here safely. Maybe we can help you get back to your Guild Hall."

At his little movement, she found herself looking straight at his smooth chest and unable to look away. "Can y-you?"

"Of course, my team and I just want to help people, and you left the front lobby in such a rush we didn't get the chance to ask," he smiled reassuringly.

"Come on!" one of the men inside the room yelled. "Tell whoever it is to go away, Veene! We need to get back!"

"Oh!" the woman, now identified as Veene, called back happily. "One of the people that got us out of that house earlier is here; he says that they want to help us get back to our Guild Hall." Her call into the room was met with silence for a moment. "Uh, guys?"

"We don't need help," one of the women inside the room yelled. Footsteps preceded her as she stepped into Larry's view. Her hooded green robe covered all her features except for her face, which was pale, freckled, and lined with chestnut brown hair. "And how did you know which room we were in did-"

She paused, looking up at his face. It looked like she was conflicted with her want to yell at this man who'd probably followed them or stare and appreciate him like a marble statue. The Demon didn't mind, he was beautiful, after all, but he had a job to do and a new Master to impress.

Larry took this opportunity to nod and sigh, "well, it was just an offer. I'm sure we won't be busy doing something else very soon and won't be able to get you where you need to be. I hear dying in this city now isn't a very good thing right now, but I'm sure you're fine with that," Larry said, bowing low enough to let the two ladies see the muscles on his shoulders move. "I wish you luck."

The Demon turned to leave, and Colin watched from the corner as he moved towards him. Larry turned the corner, met up with his Master, and just leaned against the wall, waiting a moment, holding both hands up with fingers splayed. He started counting down fingers as he mouthed, ten, nine, eight…

Admittedly, Colin was curious to see if the Demon was that good and was ready when Larry's fingers ticked down to zero. Colin waited a few more seconds before eyeing his Familiar and frowning. Larry himself was a little put-off, thinking that his little charade would word on the group. While it had been a while since he'd practiced these talents of his Demonic Species alongside his siblings and cousins, he thought he-

"Wait!" Veene called, hurrying down the hall towards where Colin waited with Larry.

Activating Shadow Cowling, Colin nodded at the Demon, who nodded in return. He knew what Colin's goal was here and readied himself by conjuring a three-foot HellRime pole and tucking it behind him as he waited. His mast drew his altered Mythic Xiphos and gripped it tightly in anticipation.

A few seconds passed, and Veene turns the corner, sees Larry, and slows to a halt. Having missed Colin due to his location and her distraction by the demonically handsome Larry, the Antagonist took the opportunity. Striking the girl with the pommel of his weapon just behind her ear.

The strike to the nerve cluster there caused her senses to overload and her consciousness to blackout. She fell to the floor, face first, and the Demon only whistled in appreciation of the strike's precision. In the real world, this attack probably would only have her passed out for a minute or five while she recovered, so Colin acted fast.

He grabbed her arms and pulled them in behind her back, ordering Larry to bind them with his HellRime. The Demon did so, and Colin told him to pull her out of sight nearby and to find something to gag her mouth. Colin wished he had duct tape but, oh well.

Larry shrugged and placed his left hand over her mouth, applying a thin layer of his demonic ice before pulling it away. Nodding at his Familiar, Colin told him to remove the girl out of sight before her party starts looking for her and risk them being quickly outnumbered.

He complied and quickly pulled the girl over his shoulder and hurried off at a jog down a hallway.

With one down and knowledge that knockout techniques still worked, Colin looked up at the magical hanging lamps that lit up the hall. Staring for a moment, he started using Quenching Dark on each, eliminating the lights in the hallway one at a time. Since these lights were magical in nature, Colin's spell was costing him in mana that might come useful very quickly, but the dark was his friend here. He was just glad the Hotel didn't space the lights very closely; it wasn't necessary given their lamps' magical nature.

Just over two hundred and fifty mana spent and cast of his Darkvision spell, Colin had a fair portion of the halls nearby the party's room put out. The darkened hallway would be a perfect cover if he got the time to let his mana recover. Shadow Cowling would boost his Stealth Skill in darkness, giving him a decisive advantage. He had a few cheap mana potions but didn't want to waste them unless necessary but put one in his palm to be ready.

It was less than a minute later when one of the party members, the heavy plate mail warrior, stepped out of the room and paused at the dark and probably creepy hallway.

Seconds passed as Colin drunk the potion and watched the Mana Regen Rate increase and his pool refilling at a much-improved pace. As he watched, he was mouthing, 'don't call for help. Be stupid, be stupid, and walk into the dark hallway. Come on.'

"Guys, somethings up! We need to find Veene, come on!" he called into the room.

"Shit," Colin muttered. Watching from around the corner as the four remaining party members stepped into the hall from their room, light streaming into the hall.

Glad he built most of his spells ahead of time for just such an occasion, Colin cast his Mental Magic area of effect spell, Paranoia.

Spell name: Paranoia

Mana Cost: 50

Casting time: 3 seconds

Range: 10 meters and within sight

Duration: 15 - 60 seconds (depending on resistance)

Effect: The caster aims an effort of will to an area within sight, and a burst of psychic power will amplify the part of the brain that controls fear. Specifically, it causes an effect of short term irrationality that could make one skittish or nervous. In the right conditions, this spell could make creatures distrust others and even flee. This spell can be blocked entirely if a mental resistance is high enough.

"What's going on, William?" the man in the heavier plate mail asked, his voice hard and determined.

"How the fuck should I know? You know how many people hate our Guild for being one of the best in the game. Maybe some of them tried for payback. Or maybe it's that Cult that the city has been tolerating or…"

"Or maybe it's just that large handsome man, and he kidnapped her right from under our noses. Come on, assholes, we need to find her before they kill her, and we have to go figure out where she'll respawn," the green-robed woman told them, walking forward, hands raised as she started casting a spell.

A second later, an orb of light appeared above her palm and hovered there as she walked forward, illuminating the hallway around twenty-feet around them.

Not having any of that, Colin activated Quenching Dark and removed the light spell. The magic's mana cost was a negligible seven points compared to the more permanent lights that were initially lighting the halls.

"What the-" she muttered, casting her light a second time only to have the spell put out again a second later. After a third and fourth time, she cried out, "Fuck! Either the area around us is in an area of effect, or someone is nearby."

"Who? Who could want to hurt us?" the other mage woman asked, her tone a little panicked. "What did we do?"

As they started, Colin used another Shadow Magic Spell, this one an AoE, Choking Darkness.

Spell name: Choking darkness

Mana Cost: 84

Casting time: 1 second

Range: 15 meters

Duration: 30 seconds

Effect: The darkness in the designated 5-meter area turns into a cloying mist that cannot be breathed in, or it shall be choked upon. This can cause a small amount of damage over time, 1 - 3 darkness damage per second, but it also makes acting in the area of effect more difficult given the lack of oxygen. The higher the Shadow Magic Manipulation level of the caster, the stronger the incapacitation effect but this effect is reduced by the Build Attribute.

Creatures of the Light Element take more damage from this spell and suffer under Dark Asphyxiation. This spell must be cast in areas of low light or darker to activate. It can be reactivated in the same place to reset the timer up to two additional times.

It was a spell that could have easily been really, really overpowered if it could be recast an unlimited amount of times to just choke everyone out. But he was satisfied with this version of the spell for the moment. It only took a moment for the group to notice their change in their atmosphere and start breathing harder and louder.

"We need-" the green-clothed mage coughed violently. "to ...run," she said, falling to the floor, clutching her throat with one hand and starting to crawl with the other. Most of the party did something similar, trying to get out of the spell's area of effect before it killed them. None moving far before a coughing fit wracked their body, and they stopped.

A few more seconds passed, and their difficulty breathing turned into gasps, then to actual heavy choking. Colin knew this spell was borderline cruel given that it wouldn't kill them or make them pass out, given that he'd tested it after creating it. But that was also how he was sure he could walk up to them with all the current conditions, and they wouldn't notice. It was kind of hard to notice things when you were choking on air.

He recast the spell to keep them choking and walked into the area of effect, the spell not working on its caster. The group was trying to work their way out of the area but was immobilized by the air shortage. They waited too long to get out of the area before it got difficult to move with the cloying air.

The Antagonist struck down on the four people behind their ears, much like what he did to Veene, knocking them unconscious before letting the spell duration elapse and resummoning his Familiar.

"Shackle and gag them," Colin ordered quickly before continuing. "Where is Veene?"

"On the roof, it's still in the Safe Area, and no one will be able to hear her without also being up there," Larry explained as he applied thick cuffs to the armored men first. Moving on to the women, he said, "nicely done here, efficient and clean, no fun at all, Master."

Colin shrugged, "I wouldn't care if it was dirty and violent if I was trying to kill them. We will probably get to kill them later; for now, I need them alive to get information."

"Eh, why does that matter? Why don't we just kill them and be done with it," Larry asked, impatience showing through. This detail of the Demon's personality became more and more evident as the instances appeared. He didn't wait before seducing and almost feeding on Rielle, he was ready to jump into battle moments after being told instead of waiting, and now this.

"You came from Hell, yes?" Colin questioned. After making sure the party was still unconscious, he continued, "did they not say who the Antagonist is?"

The Demon froze mid gag on the second armored man, "wait. You're THAT DevilWalker?" the pause lasted only a few seconds before he finished gagging the group. "I'll admit, I'm a little disappointed so far. What's the point of this information you need from them?"

Done with explaining, Colin pointed to the group and glared at the Incubus. "These Outworlders are part of the same Guild as a group of Assholes that I met on my first day in this world. I was ignorant of how things worked here, and they walked me through some of the basics until I refused to give them something I got as an award. They fought me, killed me, and tried to take it off my corpse. Now I am going to kill them, and one of them is here in the city. One of these people will either know where he is or can point me to someone who does."

"Either way, these people are going to die because I can gain experience points for killing Outworlders," Colin told him sharply. "So, are you going to continue bitching, or are you going to help me?"

Larry nodded, grinned, and picked up both men with reasonable ease. Colin was glad that this floor was mostly empty right now. The front desk lady had the good graces of putting the rowdy Players away from everyone else.

"Now, what can I do with five hostages that are going to die?" Colin mused under his breath as he threw both women over his shoulders. He hurried after Larry, needing to get them set up to stew for a bit before getting to their interrogation. After all, they would talk eventually.