Connor Breen—or Crimson, as he was simply called in this place—paused at the stone archway entrance. He reached up with a gloved hand and pulled the crimson mask down from his face as he panted for breath.

You really have to marvel at this place.

The errant thought flashed across his mind as he considered just how bad he felt at that moment. Underneath enchanted leather armor, his body was a mosaic of bruises and lacerations. His throat felt parched, and his lungs burned from the sulphurous smoke that filled the cavern.

Any adventurer in their right mind would have backed out at this point. His Health was dangerously low, and he had already blasted away most of his Mana dealing with Lesser Demons in the gallery upstairs.

But I’m not any other adventurer, am I?

The dark-garbed man gritted his teeth and pulled the red mask back up over his mouth and nose.

“I am Crimson. Most feared Hero in all of BattleWorlds,” he took strength from saying the words out loud as he tightened one hand around his scimitar, spending one Mana Point to feed the enchanted weapon, and sending a line of eldritch blue fire running down its length.

“I defeated the Gorgon at Clarke’s Ridge. I put down the Sethian Uprising!”

He took a breath and steeled his body for what came next.

It all came down to this. All those hours of his life pushing through goblin hordes and kobold scavengers had led him to this point.

How long have I spent playing BattleWorlds to get this point? Connor—Crimson—wondered, truly unsure. He felt as if he had never been anywhere else. Just down there, in the dark, hacking and slaying and bloodletting for what seemed like forever.

The awful thing was that Connor knew that he was good at the killing. He wouldn’t be down here in the Lair if he wasn’t.

In fact, he even enjoyed it.

“Fiend!” Crimson roared as he pushed himself forward, launching into the final cavern with a roar. He thrust his sword defiantly forward, his other hand raising to trace the Sigil of Protection before his boots even hit the cracked marble floor.

A soft, golden glow suffused around the Warrior-Bard as he landed, expanding into a globe that extended just beyond his reach.

From what he saw in the room, it looked like he was going to need it.

The cavern was large, dotted with giant stalactites that reached up from the floor to meet stalagmites hanging from the ceiling to form pillars. The back of the chamber opened up to what appeared to be the very fires of hell themselves, casting the shape that stood before it into a deep silhouette.

The silhouette had horns as long as Crimson’s arms and radiated malevolent intent.

“Lord Crimson,” a deep voice grated, as the giant figure started to move, turning on tree-trunk like limbs almost languidly, as if this were a cocktail party and the giant Demon Lord before him was the genial host.

“I see you have finally decided to take me up on my offer.” the creature, Dar’Thuk the Demon Lord chuckled. Flames lapped out of his mouth over protruding fags as he spoke.

“You will bend your knee to me and give up the people of Westermere?”

“Never, burrito-boy,” Crimson snapped, breaking into a run as he charged, straight toward his nemesis. “Crimson kneels to no one!” He yelled as he took one long stride, kicking forward, landing on the cracked marble and throwing himself into a leap as he drew back his magical blade.

“Especially not to a glorified firelighter!”

Crimson thrust his blade downward as Dar’Thuk roared, raising a giant scaly arm to block. Red light flared across the demon’s frame as its innate magical defenses activated, and the Warrior-Bard’s golden globe hit Dar’thuk’s red glow with a sizzling crackle of opposing energies.

Activate Cheat Code 243 Strength +70% Critical Strike Guaranteed

Even a Level 18 Hero like Lord Crimson was supposed to have a tough time defeating a boss like Dar’Thuk the Demon Lord. It came as a complete surprise, then, when the sabre managed to somehow skip past the giant scaled arm, and embed its blue, flaming steel directly into one of the eyes of the giant beast.

“Rarrrgh!”

The demon bellowed in agony as black ichor spewed from the wound where the blade was still lodged, showering Crimson who still clung onto the handle.

Dar’Thuk’s Bile causes 4 Health Points of Damage.

The Warrior-Bard exhaled forcefully through gritted teeth as the burning, acidic blood-stuff of the creature spattered over his arms and hands and ate through his armor.

He tightened his grip and clung to the sword, refusing to lose this battle—and his life.

“Dung-spit!” the monster cursed, shaking its head from side to side in a desperate attempt to dislodge the attached human. Crimson held on for dear life as he tried to come up with another cheat code.

Where is it! What was that mega-strength one!? He was part way through thinking when Dar’Thuk leapt, and swung its own head against one of the rock pillars.

Crimson let go of his blade just in time and was thrown across the floor of the cavern as the Demon Lord's skull slammed against the stone. There was a giant, resounding crack and an explosion of rock dust and fire, as one of the demon’s horns—and the pillar itself—broke apart.

Dar’Thuk moaned and stumbled backward, with the glowing blade still obscenely sticking out of the front of its face. The demon seemed to not notice and was stamping its cloven hooves, already gearing up to the powerful crescendo spell.

The Warrior-Bard knew what was coming if he didn’t somehow stop it: the monster would unleash a torrent of metal-melting fire from its maw.

Crimson looked around for a way out then spotted Dar’Thuk’s broken horn right there on the ground in front of him, still as sharp as ever.

That’s got to be a magical item, right!? he thought in a panic, flinging himself forward, snatching it up as he rolled.

“If you won’t kneel, you’ll have to DIE!” roared the Demon Lord, stamping the ground once again as it lowered its head and opened its mouth. A burning orange glow intensified from deep inside, ready to explode out and devour anything in its path.

Found it! Crimson exclaimed silently as he threw himself forward in another tight roll, the demon’s own horn clutched in his hand

Activate Cheat Code 111 Mega-Strength +150% for 3 seconds Activate Cheat Code 932 Super Agility +100% for 3 seconds

The Demon Lord unleashed its fireball, and a glowing storm of fire that burned orange and green surged Crimson.

The Warrior-Bard was already twisting and rolling, enhanced by the not-entirely legal cheat codes as he shimmered with electric sparks.

Lord Crimson rolled forward—faster than he should have been able to—and underneath the fireball. He launched himself into the air as he finished the roll, flipping as he did so in a move that would have made Bruce Lee proud. With both hands gripping the broken horn, he used it as a spear and slammed it into the Demon Lord’s red and black scaled belly.

There was an explosion of sparks and lightning as power surged down his arms with his increased strength. The resulting arcane blast sent Crimson and the demon flying away from each other, to opposite ends of the cavern.

Please tell me it’s dead! Connor thought as the Warrior-Bard pushed himself up. He looked up and saw Dar’Thuk swaying unsteadily on the dais where he had first stood, stumbling from side to side with Lord Crimson’s sword sticking out of one eye, and its own horn sticking out of its belly.

“You… How could you…” The Demon Lord started to shake, it’s internal fires now sparking and streaming out of its mouth, eyes, and nose as it could no longer contain the infernal forces trying to escape.

And then, the entire form froze, flames and all.

Huh? Connor thought. Was this some new kind of spell?

A shadow appeared to run over the entire demon’s form, casting it in darkness even at the same time as it should have been burning.

“We’re coming. We’re here!” The creature hissed, but not in the voice that it had used before. Instead, the voice was sibilant, higher. More like a lizardman or snakeperson’s voice than that of a gigantic demon.

Connor wondered if this was an error, or whether the Demon Lord had been possessed by someone else, a lizardman sorcerer perhaps?

But, as strange as the new voice was, it was gone just as quickly as it had arrived, and Connor wondered if he had even heard it at all, or whether his panic and stress had been getting to him.

Weird, Connor shook his head as he watched Dar’Thuk start to shake and move erratically once more. The demon was now engulfed in its own hellfire and burned a fierce, bright light before flickering—and then exploding into smoldering sparks.

“I did it. It’s over,” the hero Lord Crimson staggered back to the nearest pillar, heaving a sigh as he felt tremors run through the entire cavern. Where the Demon Lord had been, there was now a slowly expanding blue glow that raced outward through the chamber, through the Warrior-Bard’s body and beyond.

The dark curse that held this place under its thrall was broken. Every foul creature that had been in this place before would be washed away, freeing the realms of the mortals beyond from the evil that had plagued them.

You defeated the Demon Lord Dar’Thuk and earned 20,000 Experience Points! You have completed your quest and earned 6,000 Experience Points! You have earned a new title: Defender of Westermere! +3 CHA when in the confines of Westermere. Special ability gained: Can use once per day to summon aid when in the confines of Westermere.

Done, Lord Crimson grinned savagely to himself, as he bowed his head, reaching out a hand to draw an arcane sigil in the air. A glowing green rune appeared, and a moment later, Lord Crimson, Hero of the Sethian Uprising, now Defender of Westermere, faded away as if he was made of nothing but smoke.