Chapter 101 - Azoth of the Abyss

Trey looked out over the battlefield from his perch atop a high-lying tunnel, and was astounded by what he saw.

All about and below them, lizard men and weavers were engaged in a fierce battle for control of a temple on a bloodied field of barren rock that had been buried underneath the mountains of spider webs. Upon listening to many of the lizardmen talk while maintaining shadowform to scout the area on numerous but brief occasions now, he’d come to realize that they were actually the ones defending their home. Not the other way around. The weavers had come to take what was rightfully belonging to the green and blue scaled lizardmen… some sort of artifact hidden in their now buried temple. The gargoyles had then joined in on the fray after seeing an opportunity open up as they too wanted the artifact for their own clan. The kicker to all of this: the artifact they all fought for was the pendant that the devil carried on its person.

The temple itself was many hundreds of feet high, but only had a few relatively narrow entrances that were heavily barricaded and defended - choke points that the poorly armored lizard men were successfully holding at the moment with the exception of just 1 on the far-left section of the temple from where Trey now knelt. There - the weavers had broken through, but they were being hindered by hundreds of gargoyles that were exiting the tunnels on the side opposite Trey. Thousands more weavers covered the temple’s roof, stringing up corpses to feed on them or save them for later as their brethren bled and died on the battlefield below.

Even from here, Trey could hear the screams, chittering and roars of the combatants.

“This is a real shit show…” Trey mused, kicking out his feet and shaking his head in dismay. He brushed his brown hair back over his head and sighed. “How the hell are we supposed to get in… during a full out siege?”

Talsh’Noc’Un hovered directly next to him, and the sword whispered out words of advice. “I do not know… but I am certain of it… the one you seek… is inside that temple…”

Well fuck.

Sithis was next to chime in. ‘I do not believe we will be able to take the entire group.’

Trey grimaced and leaned back on his arms, propping himself up with an exasperated groan. “I don’t see how ANY of us can get in, other than Taen’s phantom. It’d be fucking nice right about now to just fly through walls ‘n shit.”

Sithis let out a deep demonic chuckle. ‘True. However, you underestimate our abilities with shadowform. We would certainly be able to slip in, but we’d have to be careful about being found out… if we get attacked, we are unable to control the effects of your subclass very well yet. Being sent into a rage would completely compromise any effort in reaching our destination…’

Trey considered it a moment, then had a flashback to the Teretog slave markets when he’d broken out Telipe and a bunch of other slaves - many of whom were still on Brae’s ship, the prostitutes who’d signed up under his offer.

Weird to think they were literally on another planet than he was at the moment.

Trey scratched his head, and thought about what the best course of action would be. Eventually coming to a conclusion, he really didn’t like the outlook. “You’re right Sithis. Taking in a large group would only get them killed because it’d draw attention. Anyone that can’t sneak in, and fast, needs to be left behind… which pretty much means everyone except myself and Coriana.”

He pointed to the nearest entrance. “I can use Coriana as backup as I search out the temple, and when I find the target I can hopefully summon a couple of my minions to me before the fight. Talshy, you said you can sense this enemy from here right? How strong is this guy, realistically?”

The greatsword let out a low thrum. “It is a devil... Devils are apex predators... of creation... even if it is... a weak one… it will be very hard to kill...”

Trey cleared his throat as an explosion rocked the left side of the temple where a series of magic eruptions quickly followed up the initial explosion, sending tremors through the ground and the webbing he was seated on.

“Jesus. Anyways, all we need to do is take the amulet off the devil… not kill it. If we can, that’d be great, or hell if we can take it as a minion that’d be even better - but based on what you’re telling me that’s likely not going to happen.” Trey frowned in thought, staring at the battling lizard men in the entrance closest him that were hacking and slashing - piling weaver corpses amongst their own all along the front as new fresh bodies came to take the places of the fallen. “I’ll summon Ezdeath first, she’s stronger than the rest of us put together as sad as that is to say. Then I’ll summon the ones who can’t die - Juila and Atharost. Boxamoth can come too after that, and Coriana will be there given Taen’s permission. Along with us, it’s a pretty solid team… I just hope it’s enough.”

‘It has to be.’ Sithis replied sourly. ‘We don’t have a choice, and it is highly likely I’ll have to try and possess the creature… at least as a distraction while you fight it.’

Picking himself up and kicking at the webbing with a backwards glance over his shoulder, Trey began to retreat back into the weaver’s maze of webs. “Alright, well let’s go tell the others what the plan is… and ask Taen if we can borrow his phantom. After seeing her in the battle earlier, she’s definitely strong enough to be of use to us. But I really don’t like the idea of you putting yourself in unnecessary danger, Sithis.”

***

The others had gathered at the spot where Trey’d initially had an overwatch of the battle, and silently gazed down onto the field of death as Trey and Coriana made their way into the temple.

Trey maneuvered as a shadow on the ground - undetected in the midst of the fray with Coriana passing through the stone underneath effortlessly at a small distance away. A giant gargoyle plowed into two of the smaller lizard men and crushed them as it chomped down onto their bodies, killing them as the beast swallowed them both piece by piece.

Trey almost paused his advancement through the lines of battle as he considered what Sithis planned to do. “You WERE positive about this being the only way right?”

“It is… the only way…” stated Talsh’Noc’Un as a matter of fact. “You are not yet ready… to battle one such as this… and if Sithis does not try… a possession… we will almost certainly fail... ”

‘If I am to die today, master, may it be known that I died in your service.’ Sithis hissed into Trey’s mind as Trey finally reached the temple doors, far below the high roof of the weaver webs.

Trey internally grumped at his symbiote. “You are NOT going to die! I will not allow it!”

Sithis and the godsword laughed simultaneously into Trey’s mind.

‘I will do my best not to disappoint you… master.’

“Your best better be damn well good enough,” Trey commanded inwardly with a friendly undertone.

The architecture was unlike any Trey had seen before. A bit of Aztec mixed in with ancient Chinese and you’d be close, but he couldn’t exactly pinpoint an accurate fit as he looked about the interior of the temple. Candle light flickered from hundreds of racks stationed at intervals while hundreds of scantily clad lizardmen lined each large hall as the corridors weaved in and out in different directions.

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “DO NOT LET THE WEAVERS BREACH THE OUTER GATES!” shouted one of the lizard men commanders in deep guttural croaks, wearing a feathered headdress of brilliant colors and brandishing a long decorated spear. “CLOSE THE FAR GATE AND COLLAPSE THE HALL BEHIND IT! IF WE LET THEM IN, YOUR FAMILIES ARE NAUGHT BUT FOOD FOR THEIR YOUNG! REMEMBER THIS!”

He’d passed across the battlefield and into the temple now undetected, but Trey needed to go faster. He was running out of time and he felt his body start to burn from the exhaustion sustaining this shadowform had caused him.

Unfortunately was already going as fast as he could. Along the walls, between tall erected pillars, depictions of lizardmen undergoing great feats of battle were carved into the stone alongside other aspects of what Trey could only assume to be daily life. It looked like many of them were stories wanting to be told, but he couldn’t stare too long as he sped by under the feat of the defenders.

“Follow this path… then turn right upon the third turn…” the greatsword commanded in its wraithspeak tone of voice. “After doing this... you will come to see a statue of a cold-blood… and beneath the feat of the cold-blood… you will find the one you seek…”

The greatsword urged him on as Trey neared his limit.

More and more tall blue-green and scaled lizardmen rushed about the temple in a panic as Trey heard screams of the dying echoing from beyond the doors of the temple.

He had to keep going.

He pushed himself further, harder, faster, and felt his body began to fatigue in this unnatural form of his… until finally: Trey finally made the third turn and nearly tripped as he was forced back into physical form. He was now unable to maintain the shadow any longer.

Here he was, standing in the middle of a hallway, stumbling forward awkwardly as he transitioned out of the darkness… and into full view of his enemies.

Well this wasn’t good.

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “INTRUDER! INTRUDER HEADING FOR AZOTH’S CHAMBER!” A thin tall lizardman had noticed Trey’s appearance from behind and was causing a ruckus as Trey shot forward down the hallway. He quickly turned to look over his shoulder and was compelled to sprint even faster as a horde of angry beasts rushed towards him with weapons drawn - but heard their screams and saw their bodies rend apart as Taen’s phantom tore out of the floor below them and shredded their bodies effortlessly.

Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately for the quickly responding horde of angry reptilians, Trey and the phantom were far faster than they were. He was also able to shadowstep about every ten seconds, and would make full use of it as he shot down the ancient stone hallways lit with torches holstered into carved stone slots.

He shot past other lizard-people who were more of a thinner, weaker civilian class in the hallway - to leave the warriors following him far behind in occasional puffs of shadow while teleporting ahead. His recent upgrade to shadowstep left him consuming zero mana with every time he cast it, leaving his mana bar completely untouched.

Shadowstep^ (Dark) - Level 22

Teleport a short distance instantly Upgrade 1> Cooldown reduced by 50% Upgrade 2> In conjunction with Shadowform, mana cost is reduced to nothing

“We are… almost there…” Talsh’Noc’Un said anxiously as it sent images into his head, guiding him forward. “Hurry…”

At the far end of the hallway, surrounded by smaller females of the lizard people that knelt and prayed at the base, Trey finally saw the large statue Talsh’Noc’Un had mentioned prior to this little adventurous trip of theirs. It stood erect on its legs with the tail sweeping out and around onto the floor, its snout extended proudly up to the heavens. It was five times Trey’s height and looked very much like a dinosaur at that size.

But it was the base of the statue, inbetween the legs, that caught Trey’s attention. For at that spot there was a large hole that led to darkness beneath. Remembering the words of his sword, Trey shadowstepped to appear directly over the large hole - giving the lizard people a middle finger and a grin as he dropped through with a laugh. A second later he was gone, disappearing into the shade below.

That had gone a lot better than he’d expected, and with Coriana flying directly beside him - he was rather please with the progress.

But now he was falling, and continued to fall in the black as wind rushed by his face. His dark vision quickly adjusted though, and soon saw that the circular hole leading down had actually led into an abyss. It was not a cave, not a room, not anything like what Trey had seen in the past. It was something else - a cloud of darkness that enveloped everything. Magic seemed to tingle and electrify his senses as he passed through the black mist, and far above him the hole leading into this strange place grew very small.

With a sudden thud he landed against a hard dark ground as Sithis quickly buffered the landing with a reactionary phasing-out of Trey’s body into shadowform again - becoming a blanket of shadows that splashed against the ground to reform his physical body moments later. He quickly recovered, but the fall had taken a good 8 percent off of his HP bar as he had no prior warning to where solid footing was. If it had been any normal human, they probably would have died immediately upon impact… and he immediately grew irritated with the black mists that obscured his vision and had nearly cost him his life and swore under his breath.

“Your acrobatics… are lacking…” Taen’s phantom Coriana stated with a look of boredom.

Trey just flipped her off too.

He swept his palms over the perfectly smooth ground. It felt cold and moist to the touch. Picking himself up he turned around and couldn’t seem to see through the black mist more than a couple yards away even with his vision perks.

“This is… wierd…” Trey said sourly… looking around and not seeing anything of note. There were no walls, no sources of light, and even the floor was completely flat - though he did note it seemed to be made of dirt. “Is this where he’s supposed to be?”

The greatsword thrummed in his hand, and chaos sparks erupted from the blade. Without having to reply, it’d already given Trey the answer he needed - and a second later, Trey felt the ground shake.

Sithis immediately began summoning Ezdeath back from the nether realm, the red pentagram drawing itself out onto the floor beneath, but it’d be another 30 seconds before she arrived…

And when Trey finally saw it, he wasn’t sure he had 30 seconds left. Out there, obscured in black clouds of mist, was a figure he couldn’t quite make out - but it was obvious that the monstrosity was utterly massive. That, and he could feel the mana pulsing out from this monster in sinister waves of power that sent chills down his spine.

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “Those tricks of yours will not work here, summoner.” The evil voice boomed to shake him to the bone. “I find it hard to believe that those lizards could have captured one such as you. You are not a sacrifice, are you? Why have you come?”

From the darkness... that huge obscured form took a step forward from the mists.

Trey had been educated by Talsh’Noc’Un on what devils were before entering this next set of Xil’s games. According to the greatsword, devils were contenders for the very top of the food chain. Alongside only a very few select other species, devils were almost incomparably strong in terms of both physical strength and magical prowess. Born of absolute evil, these creatures often completely lacked empathy for other living things and fed upon both body and soul of those they met to strengthen themselves. They were often loners - acting as apex predators in the void, the hells, and oblivion as well - and there were a couple different species of them. In ages past it was often rare to ever even see a devil, and the ones who did often didn’t live to tell of their experience.

So all of that being said, he did feel a little less bad about the feeling of insignificance he got about himself after seeing the creature take shape.

WARNING

WARNING

WARNING

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

Azoth of the Abyss’ status page basics:

Name: Azoth of the Abyss Maximums: 7008 HP, 9030 MP, 8096 SP, 63/63 DP Race: Young Abyssal Devil, Archdemon Level 900 Class: Brutask Abyss, Chaos and Dark Attributes Traits: Brutal, Lacks Empathy, Power is Everything, Armored, Predatory, Apex Predator, Natural Disaster, Young and Inexperienced, Malicious

Level 900? Three attributes? What the hell was an Abyss attribute? Was that a thing? And what did it mean by ‘young’ devil… was this not supposed to be a fully grown specimen of its species? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?

The devil Azoth dwarfed the tiny figure of the summoner below him dozens of times over. His skin was glossy black, had a chiseled upper body similar to that of a gargoyle’s but was longer and more muscular, and inverted legs like that of a t-rex that ended in obsidian claws similar to that of the more humanoid hands - and it had four of them. Four enormous clawed hands with huge obsidian muscles to back them up.. Just like Trey’s own claws that he could summon and discard at will, the devil’s claws did not have any beginning or end that was distinguishable from the rest of the creature’s fingers. Great wings stood out and poised to either side of the intimidating brute, far larger than the actual body was despite its body being giant-sized, and the elongated tail whipping about behind it had a serrated edge on the dorsal aspect. Razor rows of teeth curved into a permanent smile with no lips to cover them, and led into a glowing throat of deep-red light. Curved horns similar to Trey’s own hovered over the two crimson eyes of the monster, though they were relatively larger and longer. In fact, the face looked eerily similar to the one Trey had whenever he summoned his mask.

It was a far larger, scarier version of a mammoth-sized gargoyle put on steroids - with an additional set of arms, a meaner looking set of jaws, and a far longer tail. Not to mention the mana let off by this thing was incomparable to anything he’d ever come across before.

Trey saw no pendant though, and that fact vexed him enormously. On top of that, he felt weak in the knees… his breath was taken away by the sheer power before him, and a feeling of dread overcame him as he laid eyes on the creature. He didn’t consider himself a coward, but he wanted to run for his life.