Chapter 27

At first, power leveling seemed like a great idea. After all, Henry had the app, he could see when rifts were going to show up, and after a bit of time, was able to see what was going to come through. If it was of a level he could deal with, he would prepare for battle. If not, well, that was what the strike teams were for right? Whoever was on duty for that day, was supposed to come and take care of it.

To be fair, there were a few points wrong with that level of thinking. First, from what he could see on the app, the strike teams on duty didn’t have more than a dozen or so members per strike team? Meaning they couldn’t be everywhere at once. On top of that, because of his resonance level, if he wasn’t careful, he could naturally create a situation where a rift could appear. And from his experiences ever since he’d downloaded the app, those situations created stronger rifts than normal.

And then of course, to add on to that fact, he knew immediately he couldn’t turn a blind eye to any D.E.D. that did come through a rift. After all, doing so would mean the entity, if not stopped by a nearby exorcist, would potentially cause havoc and endanger someone, until it was dealt with. As much as Henry wanted to take a callous approach to that, he couldn’t have it on his conscious. In this regard…he was the lawful stupid paladin.

Luckily for him, the first few rifts he did come across, had worked out splendidly. Not only had they been D.E.D. that were within his level to deal with, but they’d been quite easy to dispatch. In fact, the first three rifts he’d come across, had all been common, weak D.E.D, one an imp, one another Evil Eye, and one, amusingly, a basic slime.

He’d had concerns about killing them, but when they’d gotten weak enough to even try to speak with, they’d quite quickly turned down his offer. His first three D.E.D. it appeared, were anomalous in the fac they’d pacted with him. That, and it seemed something had the D.E.D. spooked to the degree they did not want to work with him. They preferred death, over whatever it was that was coming. Which just made Henry even more anxious to finish his quest, and get his Evil Eye and Bladed Drakeling to the same level as his Storm Crow. The sooner he did, the sooner the Storm Crow would tell him whatever it was that it knew.

The fourth rift of the morning though, was where this situation turned south. Where it no longer seemed like a good idea, and where it turned for, not the worst per say, but to an awkward degree. Because the fourth rift that he came across, or more appropriately, he probably instigated into creating, was much larger than the others. And as he watched it fluctuate rapidly, the energy vibrating between the massive stone artwork that littered the America The Beautiful Park, near downtown Colorado Springs, he knew he was in trouble.

Hell Hound

Fire Type

Level 9

Henry looked at the information again, his eyes scanning the app rapidly. Was he reading that right? He read over it once more. He definitely was. It was a level 9 D.E.D. Sure, his Evil Eye and Bladed Drakeling had both leveled up through the night and morning of their grinding, but killing 3 D.E.D. level 2 and under, and passive experience gain for his Evil Eye, was not enough to put them anywhere near the range of a level 9. Close to level 4, yes, close to level 9, not at all.

I do not believe we can win this, Awakened One. His Evil Eye said simply by his side. Henry looked around. Ever since the app had released, the amount of people coming to the park had skyrocketed, as there were rifts for the game itself in the area. Of course, those were fake, and not what Henry was dealing with. However, he was hoping one of the people in the area, was an actual exorcist like himself. Unfortunately for him, there was-

“There you are man.” A voice he recognized caught his attention, and he turned quickly. JJ was walking towards him, a smile on his face as he lazily ate what appeared to be ice cream. There was an amazing ice cream shop in downtown that had homemade ice cream, and waffle cones. Had the situation not been so dire, Henry may have gotten one himself.

“Oh, uh,” Henry glance between JJ, and the rift that was growing. His best friend seemed completely uncaring. Which made sense. As much as JJ loved the game. He was just playing the game, meaning he couldn’t see the real rift fluctuating near them, nor did he realize that an actual D.E.D. was about to break through the portal. “What’s up?”

“Not much man,” JJ took another bite of his treat, not a care in the world. “You feeling better yeah? Haven’t heard from you since the other night.”

“Yeah,” the intensity with which the portal was fluctuating told Henry they didn’t have much time. The Hell Hound was about to break free, and there was nothing he could do about it. And now, if he didn’t at least try to stall it, it could very well endanger all the people in the park, including his best friend. “I think it was just food poisoning or something. All better now.”

JJ grinned and pulled out his phone, looking around the area. “So now what, you ghost me for a day, and I find you in a prime D.E.D. hunting spot?” His buddy’s app flashed on the phone. “I told you to get the game so we could both play man, don’t leave me out.” JJ looked up at him, “besides, I promised I would trade you some good D.E.D. to start with, so you wouldn’t feel left out.”

Henry really didn’t have time for this. His eyes flicked from JJ, back to the rift. Essence was pouring out, and already a crimson form was beginning to materialize. The form of a Hell Hound.

“You’re right,” Henry said, his mind racing. “I was just trying to you know, catch up without needing your help. Didn’t want to feel like a charity case, ya know?” That wasn’t a lie. Henry hated accepting handouts in games. But it also wasn’t the truth. Obviously, he wasn’t about to-

“Word of advice buddy,” JJ said, his eyes sparkling. A moment later, a gust of wind rushed past Henry, seeming to emerge from JJ. The blade of wind cut the forming Hell Hound in two, and it dissipated quickly, the essence from it flowing into JJ. “Don’t fight D.E.D. stronger than you, unless you’ve got back up.” This time, JJ’s eyes turned from Henry, to look at his Evil Eye. The Evil Eye that should have been invisible to JJ. The Evil Eye that should only be visible to Exorcists. “Your Evil Eye would have been one shot by that thing.”