Chapter 92 - Ezdeath (Part 1)

Minor Sapping Poison

Item Tier: (3) Crude

Bonuses: none

Requirements: none

Durability: 20/20

Special: Apply to weapons or food to deal 2 HP per second over 30 seconds as

poison damage. Additional attacks or intaking more food resets this effect.

Jason passed the bottles of green liquid around, handing out the last of his stash to Reiklin - who was taking time to dip each of his arrowheads into the vial with careful intent.

Trey’d already applied Talsh’Noc’Un with the liquid, but he honestly wasn’t sure if it would do much good when the sword lit up with mana. Would the magic simply burn the poison away? He didn’t know, because he hadn’t tested it out on anyone other than the trail of dead enemies left behind him.

He applied it anyway just in case.

“We all good?” Trey called out, glancing over his shoulder as the others began to stand up one by one. They’d taken time to catch their breath and heal any wounds they might have, and they were anxious to get this over with.

This was it. The last trial, and they were supposed to be facing down the dungeon’s final boss. Nerves were high, but they were still confident. They’d come this far with no casualties, in large part due to Rivia’s insane casting times with her miracles - or Juila’s aura, both of which kept everyone rejuvenating HP regularly.

Ashe checked her crossbows, set the safeties, and nodded to jog past him. “Better now than never…”

The others quickly followed.

Passing through the stone doors and out into the next passageway, it wound around to spiral downwards into the deep. Coming to the 6th door in their tour of this sadistic circus, they awaited Xil’s voice to break the silence.

“Well aren’t you the eager lot?!” exclaimed Xil as they stood next to another identical set of giant stone doors. “And you have yet to lose even one of your members! How exciting! For this next round you will be have to traverse a labyrinth to find an exit point. Throughout the labyrinth you will find many traps and encounter a variety of enemies. There are even hidden treasures to be found as well! But there’s a catch: If you don’t find the exit point within a three hour time limit - you will be disqualified! If you are disqualified, you will be immediately killed… by me. Fear not though! I have faith in your abilities. Good luck!”

The giant slabs serving as doors in front of them opened with a grating sound just as the prior ones had, and soon the group was staring into a set of five different pathways lit by mounted torches that wound out into five different directions.

The tunnels were really, really big… each extending out for hundreds of feet before turning at various angles up, down, and side to side. There were no lights, no clues, just… the long, empty tunnels.

Everyone exchanged looks, uncertain of what to do next… and an eerie silence set in. Only the breathing of one another was heard, and there were no signs of movement anywhere ahead.

“Three hours…” Atharost repeated with a skeptical glance around him. “Perhaps we should get moving. Napoleon, do you have any ideas?”

The primal imp sat further out than the rest of them by a good five yards on the stone floor, tapping the ground curiously with his fingers while deep in thought. His ears perked up and he swiveled his head at the call of his name, but he shook his head no. “Me no know. We mark paths paths as go. We must go fast fast, but I no not what do.”

Ashe’s scowl was set deep. She didn’t like this one bit. For all they knew, each one of the tunnels was trapped… and it was likely many of them led them to dead ends or around on wild goose chases. If they had three hours to pull this off… These pathways were vast. How were they supposed to navigate a maze safely? Were there ambushes lying ahead?

She reluctantly growled, coughed, and folded her arms. “You’re the leader Trey. What’s your decision?”

She got no response, so she glanced back - and found Trey staring off into space.

***

The visions Trey usually got were rather… gruesome. They often displayed various forms of torture, violence, and other disgusting acts that made Trey a little uncomfortable at times. However, as he stared at the mirror image of himself - he was rather certain there was a message to this one.

Was Eleknar trying to tell him something? Or was he just going mad?

He watch himself, or a vision of himself, taking Talsh’Noc’Un and hammering it into the floor. Illusionary rock and dirt exploded from the ground as his replica repeated the action over and over again, digging into the ground beneath him. Then the visionary version of himself would glance over, give a wicked grin, and point downwards.

This vision was repeated again, and again, and again - and it got faster and faster every time.

“Stop.” commanded Trey as the others started to make their way forward. Atharost was at the forefront of the group and had been peering down each of the tunnels, but turned back to look questioningly at his master. Trey pointed down to the ground. “I think the exit point is directly beneath us.”

Jason cocked his head to one side. “How do you know?”

“Doesn’t matter.” replied Trey as he began to draw a circle in the stone with his sword. He really didn’t feel like taking the time to explain.

Upon completing the circle he motioned for everyone to step back. Lifting the demonic greatsword up above his head, he brought it down hard to slam against the stone. The stone floor shuddered against the impact, and he did it again. Debris shot into the air and others stepped back as they watched him go with puzzled expressions. Trey repeated the action three more times... before a piece of the floor had fallen to reveal a small hole. Lo and behold Trey and the others were able to see a second set of stone doors with an enormous drop to the bottom… and Trey couldn’t help but grin.

Eleknar had been pretty helpful that go around.

“BOSS!” exclaimed Izumi as she gave Trey a quick hug. “Atharost, you’re going to have to fly Jason and I down if that’s ok.”

Jason on the other hand, was a little more skeptical and a little less accepting of what happened. “How did you know?”

“And fly me down too,” interrupted Ashe. “If you would be so kind! Trey, you can unsummon and resummon the larger minions you have.”

Atharost shrugged with a nod as Trey continued to slam at the spot in the floor where the hole had opened up. The others moved back to the far wall and waited for him to open up the hole so they’d be able to fit. A minute later Trey motioned them forward again: nervously closing his eyes, slipping through the hole in the ground and letting himself drop down hundreds of feet to the bottom - where a ring of torches lined the room and cast shadows as he went.

He landed gracefully as his shadowform absorbed the impact, billows of black splashing into the floor when he made contact. His body reformed a second later from the black mist, with Sithis doing most of the work in manipulating his body upon touchdown. Trey seriously doubted he’d have been able to do it himself, but trusted Sithis enough when the symbiote had informed him that he could do it. When he finally opened his eyes again, a wave of relief washed over him and he gave Sithis an inward salute for the impressive work.

Standing to his full height he looked around and made a ridiculous self-righteous pose. “Very nice.”

It took a couple of minutes for the others to join him, specifically to unsummon Toady and the minotaurs above and then taking the time out to resummon each of them again down below; but soon they stood by his side. In front of them stood the large double doors signaling the end to the labyrinth, just as the other trials had shown, and behind them a series of tunnels led back out into the maze.

Seconds later after the last minion was summoned, Trey walked up to the door and put a hand on it.

An otherworldly chuckle sounded low as Xil’s voice grew into a frenzied and insane cackle. “I must say! I’m very conflicted!” There was a long pause. “Well, you didn’t participate in the labyrinth… but there were no rules stating that you couldn’t do what you did. I will allow it.”

Those ever-familiar large stone doors again grated open, and the companions walked through victoriously with enormous grins along their features.

But just as they began heading down the next passageway, Xil’s voice rang out again.

“You will begin the seventh and final trial immediately, due to the circumstances of the last trial.”

With surprise yelps, gasps, and a blur of motion - magic surrounded their part. Without warning they were zapped from reality and relocated to stand in a dimly lit circular room.

Ashe quickly vomited, wrenching twice more after that as Rivia joined her. A couple of the others felt a little queasy, but thankfully Trey wasn’t one of them. While his companions regained their composure, he immediately took in the surroundings with a wary palm on his sword’s handle.

Fires glowed a neon blue all along the walls. There were no doors in this room, no exit points, no means for escape. The stone walls soared high above them with few noticeable features to detect aside from a platform in the center of the room and random scattered pillars showing signs of the ages gone past. Upon the standalone platform was a throne - carved from dark granite while surrounded by skeletons, and upon that throne... sat a woman.

She was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in his entire life. Not even from a sexual standpoint, but rather… She radiated beauty. Like a painting, created by the world's most renowned sculptors.

Dressed in nothing but old rags showing signs of extreme wear and decay, it left little to the imagination. Her skin was smooth, porcelain in color, and completely devoid of any flaws. Her facial features were perfect and symmetrical in every way. She was leaning over to one side of the large metal chair with one knee drawn up against her chest, and in her hands she clutched a long extravagant halberd of heavy black metal. The weapon sported orange-red lines of power along the blade and shaft to create demonic runes, and its wicked curves were only emphasized by the most dorsal-aspect of the shaft where a spike was protruding from a horned skull. Long snow-white hair trailed across her shoulders and down to her breasts in perfectly smooth, straight locks where a small jeweled teardrop pendant hung around on a chain. She had the body of an athlete, very much like Rivia did, only with slightly more definition to her arms, abdomen and legs.

There were four defining factors that stood above all the rest though.

The first was the sleek-black set of demon wings protruding from her back. They were folded in now, but as her gaze trailed lazily up to where they stood… they unfolded outwards to encompass a wingspan of sixteen feet across.

The second unique feature was the black horns protruding from her head out from under her bright white hair. They were similar in color, but different from Trey’s by both shape and size. These were slightly larger and thicker, and protruded from the sides of her forehead to curve inwards and then back up above her head instead of curving out and up straight from the front like Trey’s did.

The third unique feature was the tail. It was exactly the same as Trey’s own tail – black, long, sleek and extendable… as it flexed its length and lifted up into the air tentatively.

Then the last unique feature was her eyes – the pupils were a brilliant gold color, with flecks of silver that stared out at Trey’s party with mild amounts of interest.

Trey stood there, gaping with an open mouth at the living embodiment of beauty until Atharost slammed a hand down onto his shoulder to wake him from his trance.

“Get ahold of yourself!” Atharost hissed with a firm grip.

All around them others were having similar reactions that Trey’d had, completely lost in a trance upon seeing this absolutely stunning woman. “She’s a pureblood succubus! You can’t look her in the eyes and you can’t let her hold a conversation with you! You’ll lose yourself to her will!”

Pureblood? Not look at her or talk to her? Trey tried not to scoff at this last comment. He didn’t need to be under any spell to want to stare.

He heard Ashe mumble over to his right, lost in a lovesick gawking as she dropped one of her crossbows absentmindedly. “She’s so… pretty…”

Rivia had a similar expression and slowly nodded in agreement to Trey’s left.

“TREY!”

Atharost shook him again and Trey brought himself back to reality for the second time within the past minute. He shook his head and smacked himself a couple times to try and regain a semblance of clear thought, focusing on the insane visions of swimming donkeys parading around the ceiling to his left. He took in a deep breath, and gave his minions a mental command to stop directly looking at the demoness in front of them.

Cow-Daddy snorted and puffed out his chest as the others came to, and brandished his warhammer while stamping the ground with his hooves. “We kill puny succubus. Smash her to pieces.”

Fat-Daddy roared his approval and swung his axe around while beating his chest with a free hand. “WE SMASH!”

God those two minotaurs were idiots. They likely had muscles where their brains were supposed to be.

Still… It intrigued Trey that this demoness was just sitting there watching them and not engaging. She was supposed to be the final boss of this dungeon, wasn’t she? Why had she not attacked?

He tried to identify her, three times, and he utterly failed in every category.

Trey scratched his head. The other succubi he’d seen on sale at the cult’s underground auctions weeks ago were similar to this woman, but at the same time - oh so different. They’d all been attractive females with wings, tails and horns… sure… but none of them had put him into a trance like this. Even now, Trey was looking around and his two minotaurs were settling back into a dull stare…

The crowd control abilities of this new enemy were absurd. Was she even trying to do this to them? She hadn’t spoken or moved yet. Had she already begun an assault on their mental facilities? He knew other succubi could do something like this, but they had to actively engage their targets with their words, thoughts, and gaze - and they affected only one target at a time.

Trey nudged Atharost and tried to continue avoiding eye contact with the woman on the throne, using his peripheral vision to keep track of her. “Tell me about these purebloods… I haven’t ever heard of such a thing.”

Atharost was doing the same with his own gaze, actively avoiding looking directly at the demoness watching them. As he spoke, flames erupted from his body for the fight to come. “Pureblood succubi and incubi are a dying breed. Their bloodlines are almost entirely tainted with the other species of demon who mated with them over the course of the eons, giving way to what most people think of now as regular succubi and incubi. A normal one can use their voice and pheromones to influence others, but purebloods can do this on a wider scale to many people or even creatures at once and at a much more potent level. Purebloods are fast, strong, and are gifted with more aptitude for magic. Unlike the lesser versions of their species that are classified just as ‘demon’ by the All Spirit, you can see for yourself that the purebloods are categorized the same way that I am. As a greater demon breed. Lastly… note that their wings act the same way my own flight abilities do. Their wings burn mana for sustained flight... Or are able to glide on air currents using stamina… So she’ll be able to move around the room in ways you wouldn’t expect with a normal winged creature when we engage.”

“But the primary power they have is based around crowd control?”

“Yes. Do not look at her directly, and if she begins to speak you must not listen…”

Easier said that done. He glanced her way just to study her expression – only for a moment he thought… but found himself drawn into her half-hearted smile. His will to fight evaporated completely, and his grip on Talsh’Noc’Un lessened.

[Ancient Demon] “You’ve come to kill me… haven’t you.”

Everyone froze. Her voice… was almost as enticing as the way she looked. Soothing, yet confident and a pretty melody to the ears. The sound of it made his heart skip a beat.

“Kill her now! Before she-” Atharost was stopped in his tracks with a mental command from Trey to stand down. The ifrit let out a low growl, still blazing with flames and two large orbs of fire produced from either palm ready to fling. “Master, what are you doing? If you let her speak she’ll have a hold over us…”

Trey wasn’t so sure about that. The last words she’d spoken had no influence over him, and they didn’t seem to have any influence over the others either. If anything, they’d all become more aware and alert concerning their surroundings. Something didn’t fit…

Trey glanced the way of the succubus again, chancing it, and found that although he did find her extremely attractive… he was not under the same kind of trance he’d been in when he first set eyes on her. He cocked his head in thought and took a step forward to address the demoness. [Ancient Demon Dialect] “You’re not… trying to influence us anymore. Why?”

She was instantly taken aback and her eyebrows lifted in surprise, golden eyes widening as they honed in on him. [Ancient Demon Dialect] “You… you speak my language?”

Trey nodded hesitantly, still keeping a firm grip on his sword. [Human Dialect] “I would prefer it if we speak for everyone to understand though. If you know it, speak the human tongue.”

Toady was skulking off to the left and the succubus gave the demonic toad a look of disgust and revulsion, before turning her attention back to Trey. [Human Dialect] “Summoner… I wish to have a normal conversation with you. Charming you would not satisfy my need for… interaction.”

Trey saw a rush of chaos mana rush from her body in black and red sparks as she stood from her throne. The heat was tremendous and the power overwhelming, far beyond what he could muster with his own mana. He paled as the stunning woman took two steps and stretched her arms and wings out to either side with a feminine groan.

God, she was amazingly pretty.

“Must we really fight one another? Can we not speak first? It has been so long… since I’ve had a conversation…” The succubus asked, planting her halberd into the ground base-first and leaning into it. Her eyes narrowed as they focused in on Trey’s face. “You… There is something strange about you. I cannot place it though…” She paused, staring at him for a time. “What is your name?”

Trey uncomfortably shifted and took a step back.

“May we speak to one another?” she stated again, the long bright white locks of hair falling over the left side of her face and eye. “Please… it’s been so long. I’ve been alone… for so long… I just wish to speak...”

Her lips began to quiver, and soon tears began to silently trickle down her face as she closed her eyes. Her body shook with silent sobs, she slumped to the ground with her head pressing against the black halberd in her hands and everyone else present exchanged confused looks.

Was this really the creature they were supposed to kill to beat this dungeon? Really?

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “We… are not going to smash?” Cow-Daddy asked hesitantly, looking to Trey for confirmation. The large, muscular, bipedal bull let out a few snorts of hot air and stomped his hooves again. “What shall we do… master?”

[Ancient Demon Dialect]“SMAAAASSSHHHH!!!!” Fat-Daddy screamed while waving his axes above his head and bellowing in preparation for a charge, only waiting on Trey’s command.

Juila waited too, not caring which his command was - but merely wanting an order. Her grip on her maul was firm, and the red-skinned demoness stood neck to neck with the two minotaurs - ready to charge in for a front-line assault.

Atharost was not convinced of the succubus’ act and made that abundantly clear by the way he stood blazing, ready at any moment to fling fire her way. Trey glanced over to Rivia who just shrugged, clinging to her skulled crucifix staff warily while the light of her infernal halo blanketed her head…

Meanwhile Ashe, Izumi and Jason held similar expressions.

Trey felt a tug at his boot, and looked down to see Napoleon.

[Human Dialect] “I… want talk.” The imp pointed to the succubus who’d finally calmed down and sat watching, not bothering to wipe the trails that the tears had left. She looked like she was being genuine.

Napoleon cleared his throat and tugged at Trey’s boot again. “I go to talk talk. You stay.”

Trey snatched the little demon up off the floor and shook his head. Hugging Napoleon to his chest, he let out a light sigh. “No Napoleon. We can talk to her from here…”

He noted the succubus perking up immediately as the words left his lips, and lifted his face to examine her again. She… ugh. He couldn’t shake it. It wasn’t that he wanted to do naughty things to this woman, he just wanted… to touch her. To be around her. Perhaps it was the effect her kind had on others, but she wasn’t just hot… She was next-level stunning, and yet she looked lethal at the same time.

Trey glanced around the room again, not seeing anything out of the ordinary but noting that Reiklin had positioned himself off to the left-hand side and had an arrow ready to let loose.

Still staring at the group, the woman repeated her question. “Have you come to kill me?” She stood up and took one step forward, reaching a hand out in front of her as if she wanted to come closer before hesitating. “Please, may we talk before we fight? It has been a long time since I’ve had any visitors… and it gets lonely. At least allow me to have a moment of happiness before returning to my usual activities of… nothing.”

There was a long pause.

“... Sure. We can talk.” replied Trey with a nod as he stepped forward despite Atharost’s groan.

The succubus, on the other hand, smiled widely and clapped her hands together.

“Wow! I haven’t talked to someone else in so long! What is your name?

“I… my name is Trey! What’s yours?”

“Ezdeath!” replied the girl. She hopped down off of the platform and took a step forward before withdrawing again, still holding the halberd in her hands but lowering it non-threateningly. “Do you mind if I touch you? Is that ok?”

[Ancient Demon Dialect] "Master, this woman is dangerous…” warned Atharost as he drew his flaming greatsword to point it at her. “Succubi are known to easily manipulate others, and this is no normal succubi. Please stand back.”

Trey snapped out of the trance and took a step back just as Atharost suggested - bringing his greatsword to light.

Ezdeath’s face dropped. She frowned and looked like she was about to cry, her hands shaking and tears welling up under her eyes. “I am begging you… please… Can we talk first…? I cannot express to you… how loneliness has impacted my mind. I am… broken now… since being brought to this place… everyone I loved, everything I was… is now nothing but a distant memory. I… I am losing my mind. I converse with… myself now. I speak to myself. For there is no one else to speak to...”

Awkward silence ensued.

He was torn on what to do. A stinging guilt ran through the man as Trey eyed the seemingly innocent girl. “Xil, what’s the deal here? Is this some sort of trick?”

But there was no reply from Xil. Instead, there was only silence.

However, at Xil’s name… A look of rage overcame Ezdeath. She bared her perfect white teeth, and her grip along her halberd became firm. “Xil…”

Trey exchanged glances with Jason who just shrugged and kept an arrow notched, ready to fire.

The succubus let out a low groaning growl, and chaos mana flickered along her fingertips before her golden eyes shot open wide with crazed hysteria behind them. “FINE. If you will not talk with me, we have no more reason to remain peaceful. I will now make you my next meal. Prepare yourself for death, worm.”

The woman’s perfect teeth gave way to rows of fangs, and her mouth widened out far beyond that of what should be humanly possible to extend behind her jaws. Her tail snapped back and extended out behind her, and her wings followed suit as they extended in length.

WARNING

WARNING

WARNING

BOSS FIGHT HAS BEEN INITIATED. EZDEATH, LAST VESTIGE OF THE CRIMSON LEGION, HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED AS A BOSS RATED ENEMY RELATIVE TO YOUR PARTY’S SKILL LEVEL. KILLING EZDEATH WILL RESULT IN A HEROIC TRAIT FOR ALL SURVIVORS. PREPARE YOURSELF.

Ezdeath’s status page basics:

- Name: Ezdeath, Warden of Necranoc

- Maximums: 2700 HP, 1432 MP, 3744 SP, 1/1 DP

- Race: Pureblood Succubus, Greater Demon

- Level 705

- Class: Champion

- Chaos and Blood Attributes

- Traits: Flying, Elitist, Inspirational, Royal Blood, Potent Pheromones, Temptation’s Voice, Paragon Warrior, Many Faces