The hatchery was a solo quest, it wasn’t possible to take a team. This suited Corwin fine as he wanted his guild members to do guild quests anyways. Corwin travelled the 30 minutes it took to find the demon spawn location.

The beautiful green grasslands were tainted by a sickly gray blight. Stepping onto the blight made Corwin’s stomach feel a bit sick and every step felt like the ground was rolling. In truth, it did sink a little but it was the mental unease that demon territory created that provided the rest of the effects. Corwin was glad for his high stats and resistances, he could imagine what it would feel like if he were weaker.

Upon entering the blight Corwin was approached by a small pack of demon spawn. The tiny beast-like creatures had curved horns and walked on all fours. They stood on hind legs to claw at their enemies. They were among the fastest moving things that Corwin had ever fought. Corwin chose to tank their light hits and fight directly, knowing that dodging would only slow him down against the wild pack. His health fell to 90% before he had killed half the spawn. He stabilized at 85% and took a breather. The demon spawn had no useful drops.

Corwin continued to roam the area, and packs of demon spawn continued to attack. He dispatched them with relative ease as he headed towards a dark red structure in the centre of the blight. The structure oozed green slime and sprayed a dark green gas into the air. The smoke almost made Corwin wonder if it was a factory of some sort.

As Corwin approached the packs became more frequent and he even had to fight two large packs at once. He took a breather after that fight as his health had fallen to 40%. Corwin couldn’t imagine how perilous this quest would be if he had only gold equipment. Main quests clearly weren’t easy.

Nonetheless, his quest pushed him onwards and after he rested to full health he headed into the seemingly alive building. Inside was a hatchery of some sort. Corwin wanted to destroy it, but before he could move to do so he felt an alluring presence tugging on his heart. Corwin turned and saw the most beautiful succubus one could ever imagine.

The hornless demon had flowing blonde hair and blood red eyes. Her smooth soft facial features showed a gentleness that contradicted her demonic nature. Like the other succubus Corwin had fought she wore sexy as armor; in this case, a chainmail bikini that left little to the imagination. Corwin’s eyes followed the sexy slender arm and down her hand to her fingertips, which curled in a beckoning motion.

Corwin knew the emotions he was feeling was the manipulation of the succubus but he still found it hard to resist. He found himself slowly, mostly against his will, stepping towards the succubus. He steeled himself and tried to resist.

The succubus started to flicker and seemed to become incorporeal. Finally, she spoke.

“The spell has failed. I am not long for this world. But I am here long enough to deal with you, foolish mortal.”

Corwin found himself unable to speak and instead blankly stared. The succubus began to cast some sort of magic. Corwin finally remembered to check her status and found that she was a level 100, inferior god. Inferior gods were an existence far beyond superior lords and level 100 was something unimaginable at this stage of the game. Her presence here was only brief but even that brief presence was terrifying. Corwin was powerless to resist as a dark black energy flowed from the succubus into his body. Finally, the dark energy stream ended. The succubus vanished and Corwin received a notification.

You have been cursed with the double-edged curse, Bloodlust Malediction. In 2 days, you will be permanently weakened reducing all base attributes to 5. The curse will end if the caster dies. You can extend the time until the curse hits by 2 days by defeating a demonic presence in the world. There may be other magics that can remove or alter this curse. As this curse is double-edged, you have gained additional damage against demons. Your passive Demon Slayer is upgraded to Demon Bane. You now have +50% base damage against demons.

The good news was the benefit from the curse was permanent. The bad news was this curse was potentially crippling, undoing all the advantage Corwin had gained from his levels and stat potions. Corwin had to find a solution and fast. He knew he needed more time, killing a level 100 inferior god was a wild fantasy at this point. If this was Corwin’s past life he’d need over a year to even consider becoming that strong.

Fortunately, Corwin had other options. The temple might have some magic that could help. If nothing else, they could probably keep sending him to demonic presences, letting him gain time. Regardless, this was going to be a huge uphill battle.

Corwin focused on the beginning, extending the curse to 4 days. He slaughtered all the eggs in the hatchery and continued through the living building. Eventually, he found a level 15, superior lord demon, in a room with a red gemstone. Corwin knew this red gemstone was an anchor stone, destroying it would banish this blight from the world. Unfortunately, destroying it would take time that Corwin didn’t have in combat. He needed to defeat the superior lord first. Corwin checked its status and cursed when he saw what he expected.

Asmodean

Superior Lord

Hit Points200,000/200,000

Mana Pool100,000/100,000

Asmodeans were demon followers of the demon of lust. This demon wasn’t even a lesser demon. The low HP and Mana Pool meant that the demon was not an endurance or intelligence type. All of this meant it would have powerful strength, agility, and skills.

Corwin tested the waters, using his Qi Blade at distance. The demon countered with a burst of lustfire. This powerful skill put Corwin at the disadvantage in a ranged fight so he closed the distance and activated Sword light. He didn’t want to fight at that distance either so shortly after sword light came a wind charge.

The Asmodean quickly proved it was no slouch in hand-to-hand as it blocked Corwin’s charge with its staff. Corwin was quick to respond, firing off pierce, slash and double slash all of which connected. Corwin dodged a rather powerful skill as the staff became coated in lustfire and swung towards him. The aura surrounding the attack did some damage despite the blow not connecting as the lustfire burned Corwin at distance. Corwin had a slight edge in the fight however and their HP fell roughly in tandem. When Corwin’s HP had reached 82%, the demon reached 80% and triggered a special ability.

The demon summoned a lord level existence, a lesser succubus. Corwin knew the ability was likely to repeat at 60% and didn’t want to fight multiple lords if he could avoid it so he focused his offense on the succubus. Her HP rapidly fell, but much to Corwin’s dismay when it hit 80% she triggered a skill as well. A surge of lustfire exited the succubus’s heart and went into Corwin. It didn’t do damage however a status was triggered.

You have been berserked. You have penalties to dodge and cannot use magic. If you attack someone other than the target that berserked you, you will take 50% of your attack as damage. This effect ends when the target the berserked you is dead or when 5 minutes have passed.

Berserk was one of the few statuses that Corwin did not have extra resistance to. Fortunately, it forced him to attack the one he wanted to anyways. Corwin started to take more damage from the Asmodean as he fought, his dodges proving ineffective. He saved his parry for powerful skills and mostly used his skills to fight off other skills. Corwin constantly used Rapid Blow on the succubus, getting her down quickly. The triggers at 60%,40%, and 20% health merely extended the duration. At 5% health she started to trigger her ultimate skill. Succubus’s often had terrifying ultimate abilities. One of the most feared was seduction, a soul draining attack that could permanently reduce that attribute. Corwin wasn’t about to find out if she had it and bursted her health down to zero.

Corwin used an intermediate health potion to try and take back the initiative against the Asmodean. It was somewhat successful. His health reached 55% when the Asmodean fell to 60%. Corwin was prepared for the succubus and its berserk this time. He saved his skills to counter the Asmodean while relying on rapid blow to finish the succubus. When it reached 5% health Corwin switched his skills to bursting down the succubus, taking damage from Asmodean. During this time Corwin was able to renew his intermediate health potion, which offset the gains from the damage.

His HP reached 38% when the Asmodean’s reached 40%, but was back up to 62% after defeating the succubus. Health potions continued to vanish from Corwin’s inventory throughout the fight, but he managed to stabilize. Soon the Asmodean reached 20% summoning the last Succubus. Corwin was relieved to see this one wasn’t any stronger than the others. He healed as he fought, resisting all the Asmodean’s powerful blows. His stamina had reached roughly the halfway point; Corwin was ecstatic with how much energy he had due to the ring of hidden attributes.

The fight from 20% to 5% was anti-climactic, Corwin choose to save his skills for a final burst. Unfortunately, the demon’s ultimate skill had a short timer. It went off and Corwin was very disappointed to receive another curse.

You have received the double-edged curse of the lust demon. Whenever you encounter a humanoid female enemy you will enter a berserk state against that enemy. You will deal 25% extra damage against humanoid females. This curse will last 30 days, it can be removed by slaying a Greater Asmodean.

This curse was annoying to Corwin but fortunately it didn’t have permanent effects. Berserk was very bad for him as it reduced the effectiveness of his primary mode of fighting. Corwin supposed he would have to manage the consequences.

Corwin looted the lust demon and found another piece of the succubus set. This piece was some knee-high boots with heels. Corwin wondered if the set was even practical for fighting but it had very good stats for secret-silver equipment. Corwin also found 8 magic crystals, and added those to his supply. The last item was a rather entertaining dagger. Touching someone with it would cause them to become sexually excited. It wasn’t practical in combat but seemed like it could have a few amusing uses.

Corwin then destroyed the anchor stone and watched as the building and blight around him transformed to familiar grassland. He smiled at the notification his curse now had 4 days until triggering. He headed back to the priestess, hoping for good quest rewards for the first part of his chain quest.

Corwin Swordborn

Spoiler : Level 15: 68% of level 16

Str: 2895 (base:25)

Agi: 2990 (base:100)

Con:2895 (base:25)

Int: 889 (base:25)

Cha: 889 (base:25)

Lck: 313 (base:25)

Cnc: 313 (base:25)

Sta: 313 (base: 25)

Qi: 313 (base: 20)

Soul: 313 (base:20)

Air Affinity: 313 (base:20)

Fire Affinity: 313 (base:20)

Water Affinity: 313 (base: 20)

Def: 9347

MDef: 7203

HP:54910/54910 (base: 1000)

MP:18802/18802(base: 1000)

Gear:

MW: Epic Tier Level 18 Longsword, +288Str +288Agi +288Con

Base Damage: 360-432, Def 432 MDef 360 Durability 569/576, Requirements: 576 Str

OW: Epic Tier Level 18 Shortsword +288Str, +288Agi, +288 Con

Base Damage 294-360, Def 360 MDef 294, Durability 570/576, Requirements: 576 Str

MA: Epic Tier Level 18 Plate, +288 Str, +288 Agi, +288 Con

1152Def,1152MDef, Durability 574/576, Requirements:576 Str

LA: Epic Tier Level 18 Plate Cuisse, +288Str, +288Agi, +288Con

1152Def, 1152MDef Durability: 575/576 Requirements: 576 Str

G: Epic Tier Level 18 Plate Gauntlets +288Str, +288 Agi, +288 Con

1152Def, 1152MDef, Durability 574/576 Requirements: 576 Str

B:Epic Tier Level 18 Plate Boots +288Str +298Agi(10 Gemstone) +288Con

1152 Def, 1152MDef Durability 574/576 Requirements: 576Str

H: Epic Tier Level 18 Helm, +288 Str, +298(10 Gemstone) Agi, +288 Con

1152 Def, 1152MDef Durability 575/576, Requirements: 576Str

RR: Epic Tier, Level 18 Ring of Hidden Attributes (+288 All base attributes, +288 All Hidden Attributes)

LR: Epic Tier, Level 18 Ring of Elements (+288 All base attributes,

Ignore 3.6 Levels, Ignore 3.6 Equip Levels

AM: Epic Tier, Level 18 Amulet (+288 All base attributes)

Skills:

Spatial Slash, Legacy, Tier 0 Level 0

Haste of the Warrior, Legacy, Tier 0 Level 0

Time Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9

Space Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9

Air Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9

Earth Manipulation, Special, Tier 0 Level 9

Fire Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 8

Water Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 8

Dragon Fist, Martial, Tier 0 Level 0

Qi Blade, Martial, Tier 0 Level 0

Demon Slayer, Rare, Tier 0 Level 0

Thunder Slash, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Wave Chop, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Wind Charge, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Disrupting Blow, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Double Slash, Uncommon, Tier 0, Level 2

Slash, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Pierce, Common, Tier 0, Level 3

Parry, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Techniques:

Rapid Blow

Vanishing Steps

Sword Light

Mana Drain

Health Drain

Stamina Drain

Strength Drain

Agility Drain

Endurance Drain

Flicker

Precision Dodge

Curses:

Curse of the Lust Demon, Days Remaining: 30

Bloodlust Malediction, Countdown: 4 days