CH12: Demon

Silas gasped awake and felt his eyes sting, and the formerly dark cave brightened. Snapping sounds filled his ears. A man with glowing red eyes stared at him from the caver lake. Arms twisted until they broke like wet branches slowly returned to their proper shape. The eyes glowed brighter until he saw the smile on the stranger's face. Lucifer claimed Silas wasn't quite human anymore, and by the black halo hovering above his head, Silas didn't doubt it. For the devil, Lucifer only ever told the truth and withheld details and context.

He stretched, feeling his joints pop. Then, a strange wiggling sensation in his chest was followed by a crossbow bolt falling between his legs. Silas listened for a heartbeat, and after 10 seconds, he heard a slow, almost imperceptible beat.

The second tier of apocalypse demon body refinement wasn't like the first one. One targeted the body, while the other targeted the soul. Something fundamental had changed, but he couldn't grasp it.

He stood up in his battered blood-soaked rags and moved faster than before. Silas targeted the dark elf and took her from behind in a chokehold.

Dark elves had great hearing, but she seemed to lack self-awareness. Silas's sleeper hold didn't take long to cut off oxygen to her brain. Once he was sure she was knocked out, he let her drop.

He equipped his arousal ray and blasted the dark lord. Then he swapped his weapon out for a rapier. A red glow encompassed the weapon. An energy he stored covered it, but he had a finite amount he could use at any given time.

It was a discovery of something intuitive. That helped; he needed a lucky break.

Hansel turned and raised his hand, but his will had weakened. Men lose IQ points when they're horny. It seemed to take a certain level of planning ahead to use will. Silas doubted Hansle could keep his defense up at maximum and attack with all his might. There had to be a balance, or dark lords would be invincible.

Silas hadn't planned his defense or offense well. The wall had relied solely on the goblins' resources, and his offense had been to draw out his enemies. He intended to break the siege and put the enemies on the defensive. Both of his objectives had been successful but so what. After he gained their attention and broke their siege, Silas didn't have the units to follow through.

"I don't care if the two of you combine your strength; I won't lose." Silas dashed to the side, and Hansel was slow to react. Blasts of will ripped open the ground but failed to catch Silas. "You will pay for Shenzi," Hansel said.

Hansel should retreat; that was the only viable solution. Fortunately, the power of Hansel's spell was wearing off, and the paladin had caught her second wind.

The white knight launched herself and slashed with her scythe. Hansel raised his will-protected hand, and sparks lit the cave. Hansel's hand shook with every slash of the scythe. The arousal ray had done its job distracting the dark lord.

Silas moved closer while the white knight distracted the dark lord. Ground that Silas never should have been allowed to take was given.

He stabbed the dark lord in the back and felt his rapier bypass the barrier with barely any strain. It wasn't just his demonic power strengthing and sharpening his weapon; Hansel was distracted.

Lifeblood spilled but never touched the ground as Silas held Hansel upright. The rapier stabbed through the dark lord's body to the hilt and sucked the blood of its victim.

"Do you still think it was a good idea to attack me?" Silas pulled his blade free, letting the body fall. The paladin screamed and tore off her helmet. The girl cradled Hansel as the dark lord's lifeblood spilled on the ground. "You lucky bastard," Silas said.

He shook his head as the girl cried over the man she was fated to kill. Silas grabbed the lord stone and mummified hand hanging from Hansel's neck. A pulse rippled from the lord stone; the phantasm wrapped around his soul consumed the stone. He felt a slight increase, much more than what he would get from the blood of a few dozen bodies.

"The witches killed my sister; you must get revenge for me." Hansel was dying fast; his eyes were already glazed over, and his heart slowed. It was a weird feeling to kill another human. Silas was told he wasn't human anymore, but he felt the impact like when he killed his first deer. Even if it was muffled, a voice in his head said he would regret it. Hansel wanted to kill him, but Silas stabbed the dark lord in the back instead. Silas wouldn't even contemplate fighting fairly. "The witches save my sister."

"That is interesting," Silas said.

The white armored woman swung her sword, and Silas blocked it with his own. Did she weaken after her dark lord was destroyed? Surely she didn't have any use left for her organization. That was what he was led to believe.

He wasn't sure when their blades clashed, and his arm shook from the force of her blow. Either they weakened over days, or there was more to it.

"I'll kill you." She said.

She swung her blade and charged, covered by a white aura. Her armor lit the ground around her as he danced away from her wild swings. Light danced across the edge of her black, and he felt his chest split open. Blood dripped down his while he adjusted for her increased range.

He couldn't decide if she was holding back before or a slow starter. Either way, he didn't have time to play with her. Silas had captured a dark elf, defeated a dark lord, and awakened to the second tier of apocalypse demon body refinement. Killing a paladin of one of the churches would only bring him trouble.

"How resistant is your armor," Silas asked.

He raised his arousal ray and blasted her six times. The girl fell to her knees and gripped her head. Silas heard a roar of agony from the girl as she endured her new state.

"Cocks," The girl said.

Silas watched her turn to a paladin stumbling out of the rubble. The girl charged after him like a running zombie. The paladin used her sword to pry her target out of his armor. Silas chose to hang back and watch the action before tossing the dark elf over his shoulder and leaving the scene. It was never a good idea to witness a crime.

He changed the name of his gun from arousal to rape.

Goblins crawled out of the craters left behind by Hansel's assault. They stepped in line behind him and fell into synchronization with his footsteps. With his new eyes, the hill of parasite-filled gnolls the goblins stacked was easy to see. But, despite his improved night vision, his foot caught on the edge of a broken brick on the road. Grisha grabbed his hand, followed by the other goblins pitching in to stop him. Silas helped stop his fall and thanked his girls.

"That elf has a fat ass," Grisha said.

"And I will beat it if she doesn't tell us the gnoll tribe's location." Silas handed Grisha a purgatory mithril ingot. "Go ahead and see if any goblin smiths can work it," Silas said.

While his rapier was ok, mithril was a magic metal. It was extremely light and durable compared to normal metals. So he could have armor, weapons, and even vehicles made out of the stuff. Getting a vein of the material or something like it in his current world needed to be put on the to-do list. He only had a million and a half tons of the stuff.

Since it was light, it would be perfect to arm his goblin in full plate. In addition, he could have an emblem made and emblazoned on their armor. That would put Silas head and shoulders above the other dark lords and may attract other monstergirls. It was advertisement.

…

Silas returned to Grisha's room and unlocked Zigga's chains before getting into bed. Grisha changed out of her makeshift armor and jumped into bed with him. Most goblins went about burning the corpses and tending to the wounded. But, unfortunately, his demonic revival had run his stamina reserves dry. So while there were things he had to do, they could wait.

…

After waking up refreshed, he immediately dug into his skill discs. Prehensile extending tongue was selected first, followed by burst palm. Silas played with his first skill extending his tongue and waving it around before withdrawing it. There were so many plans for the skill.

Before that, he had trouble that needed attention. The dark elf he captured, Liara, refused to talk. Time wasn't on their side; if she didn't tell them where the gnoll village was located, soon someone else would absorb it. The gnolls themselves weren't his main concern. It was the dwarves within the village that mattered.

Goblins were clever and were already looking for ways to implement the ingot he gave them into fortifying the next wall. A tower was already being constructed with plans for mithril support beams. He had the metal for a tower or two. Goblins made trails up the cliffs and installed wooden pulley cranes to move lumber into the cave system.

The village needed to expand; half the goblins, Misha included, were pregnant and expected to have their offspring in less than a month. Goblin pregnancies were fast, and goblins grew to adulthood within a year. Goblins had litters of five or more, meaning the coming goblin baby boom would be huge.

In a year, his forces would number in the hundreds and, in two years, the thousands. That wasn't counting the gnolls, who often had litters of 2 or 3. Even elves had twins, more likely than not.

With that in mind, he needed to get his house in order, or he could expect chaos in the future.

Silas entered the small shed where Liara was kept. The dark elf glared at him and didn't say a word. Instead, he calmly pulled his rape ray and fired it. Her dark eyes nearly rolled into her skull when the first pink blast hit. The dark elf opened her mouth and moaned upon the second shot.

"What are you doing to me?" Liara asked.

"Where are the gnolls?" Silas hit her with the ray a third time. "You will only have relief when my scout returns with their location," Silas said.

"I won't tell. Zigga won't get credit for my work. Hansel was a better man than you. I wish you would have died when I shot you." Liara said.

"You're breaking my heart," Silas said.

"Bastard, why don't you fuck me and get it over with. Defile my body so Father can't give me to anyone else. Or are you going to hand me over?" Liara said.

"Your father rules through a queen; he isn't a real dark lord," Silas said.

"He's more a dark lord than you. What are you, and how did you win?" Liara said.

Silas shook his head and returned his rape ray to his inventory. The dark elf's eyes were glazed over already with need, and Silas saw a dark patch appear between her legs. Give her some time, and he was sure she would tell them anything they wanted.

"Fuck me already. I'm ready for you. Show me that you deserved to live when Hansel didn't." Liara said.

Silas stood up and turned around. "What are you doing?" Liara asked.

"You aren't willing to tell me where the gnoll tribe is, so I will give you time to become compliant. Don't worry. We still have time left." Silas said.

Liara's breathing turned into gasps. Her dark chocolate breasts heaved and bounced as she thrashed in her bed like a berserker. The dampness between her legs increased under Silas's thoughtful gaze.