Chapter 243. Through the Dark Glass (2)

As for why it would stoop as low as helping a Lord of Hell, hoping for it to reciprocate in the future, Michael could venture some guesses.

The bottom line was that the situation should be much worse than he initially anticipated. That's why the Sanctuary was trying even the most unlikely scenarios, hoping to pull a miracle off its ass.

Hearing the human roars and clashing weapons in the distance, he looked at the wolf, which calmly closed its eyes as if waiting for the peon to finish the labor and report back.

Rolling his eyes, he tried summoning his minions, only to find out he couldn't. Raising an eyebrow, he re-equipped his Legendary sword and shield and advanced after carefully inspecting the overall situation.

Both he and the wolf were on a path surrounded by steep cliffs, leading into rivers of molten lava, similar to what he saw during his 'vacation' in Tristram. 

About half a kilometer ahead was a tunnel of sorts, blocked by wooden barricades.

As he approached it, the sounds of whatever fight was happening on the other side became much louder.

[Bul-Kathos, lend me your strength!](?)

A terrifying impact followed the loud shout, making the Necromancer want to turn back. Judging by the commotion, it was similar to a small bomb exploding on Earth.

He wasn't sure if his Life Points pool was enough to tank such hits.

Mentally prepared for a veritable trashing, Michael slashed the barricades and kicked them aside. Realizing that a portion of his thoughts were still affected by Baal and Diablo, he couldn't help but curse inwardly.

It was akin to having two more split personalities. One was yelling madly to find what was on the other side of the tunnel and fuck it up, while the other was whimpering about how he should return and hide.

Face-palming in annoyance, he boldly stepped forward to meet the challenge. He could vent some more through this fight and get his head straight.

Three tall warriors waited for him on the other side. Judging by the ferocious looks on their faces, they weren't the welcoming committee.

[We will never fall to the Prime Evils!](?)

[[Thol! Thol! Thol! Thol! Thol!]]

Using the system's assistance with identifying the boss and the two cheerleaders, he realized that the bulkier one was an Elite, while the other two were Minion-level enemies.

[ Barbarian (Minion) - Level 59 ]

[ Thol, Barbarian Champion (Elite) - Level 60 ]

His disdain was quickly wiped away once the trio attacked together. Cursing at the shameless Barbarian ganging up on him, he deflected the axes of the Minions, only to barely parry the long sword of the Elite.

With every hit, he was pushed further back. Thinking rapidly, he aborted the idea of directly using Blood Mist since these enemies were much more 'aware' than normal dumb monsters.

If he was to use his invulnerability skill right away and they pulled some big combination move out of their asses, he might just die in this shitty demonic realm.

Left with no choice, he could only create an opening for himself. Gritting his teeth, he blocked another swing from the Elite with his shield and allowed himself to be cut by the axes of the Minions as he retreated a couple of steps.

The feeling of an axe biting into your flesh was indescribable, and the Necromancer had to experience that twice.

Roaring in pain, he swung his Flammard of Reanimation in a wide arc at one of the Minion's necks, also casting Reap in the process.

To his dismay, the Barbarian immediately blocked and retreated to put some distance between them while the second one prepared for another attack to support.

Hearing the booming footsteps from his right, Thol should be responsible for cleaning him up.

Snorting, Michael immediately used Corpse Tendrils on the Corpse created after Reap was successfully used and followed up with a Decrepify on the two Minions.

Then, without hesitation, he used Corpse Explosion while wildly hacking left and right. Unfortunately for him, the Barbarians easily deflected most of the hits, barely getting cut a couple of times.

Thol also rejoined the fight, putting the Necromancer back into defense mode. However, the field was now advantageous to him, with the dark miasma slowly corroding the Barbarians' Life Points.

After successfully defending a hit from the Elite with his shield or sword, he would cast Reap on the Minions to create more Corpses and explode them again.

In doing so, the tempo slowly changed after getting used to the routine, with Michael being able to fight equally with Thol after the two other mobs were dealt with.

Finally, ten minutes later, he collapsed weakly on the ground. Victory has been achieved.

Looking at the dark and inexistent sky above, he gasped for air while replaying the previous fight in his head.

"I'm still too much of a newbie regarding sword-wielding. I have many bad habits when fighting, mostly caused by my lack of consistent fighting experience with a single weapon. Also, fighting against a humanoid opponent is much more difficult than fighting against monsters. Especially since we're similar sizes, and his agility is much higher."

Decisively adding more training to his 'to-do list,' the Necromancer stood up and continued walking the road ahead.

The sound of fighting never stopped, meaning he would soon meet more opponents.

Sliding down a slope, a group of five people angrily charged at him, one shouting loud enough to rupture the eardrums of anyone nearby.

[The forces of Hell approach, my brothers! Do not falter!](?)

[ Barbarian (Minion) - Level 59 ]

[ Wulfgar, Barbarian Champion (Elite) - Level 60 ]

With four Minions and an Elite, Michael didn't hesitate and directly used Reap on the closest enemy. After doing so, he blocked Wulfgar's twin axes and, unfortunately, underestimated their strength.

He was thrown off-balance immediately, allowing the other four to hack at him from all directions. 

Without hesitation, Michael used Blood Mist to become immune and quickly cast Corpse Tendrils on the first Corpse before he inadvertently exploded it.

Once the five were wrapped up like dumplings, he immediately used Decrepify and Corpse Explosion in quick succession, luckily creating two more Corpses.

One was caused by his passive skill, Hewed Flesh, which had a slight chance of creating a Corpse after an enemy was hit, and the second formed after the first Minion he focused on died.

With six Corpse Explosions stacked, he soon faced Wulfgar one-on-one and took this opportunity to train his close combat skills some more.

Unfortunately, less than five minutes later, Wulfgar also returned to a more peaceful slumber after the continuous dark miasma had taken its toll on his Life Points.

"I have higher mobility compared to the Elites, probably due to my high Dexterity. I should focus my close combat style on hit-and-run tactics rather than fighting like a tank. Also, I've severely underestimated the use of Thorns..."

He was a newbie through and through. Even if he had fought a lot in the past three months, he was, at best, a Level 2 newbie instead of a Level 1 when it came to true fighting capabilities.

He could still not fully utilize his attributes, items, and skills in a proper fight against a capable enemy, primarily due to the quality of the monsters he had faced so far.

So now that he was faced with a much more capable enemy whose fighting experience was decades above his own, he would get hit more than he would hit the enemy, which resulted in the enemy taking damage from his Thorns every time that happened.

"It was only 200+ damage every time, but it still stacked up. If I had the Thorn attribute on every item in my 'configuration,' I wonder if I could just sneer at the enemies while they hit me and watch them die..."

Imagining the strangely tempting posturing fighting sequence where he would sigh while looking at the dead demon, he would follow up with a 'Why are you hitting yourself? Look what you did!' and walk away calmly.

Shaking his head to forcefully wipe away the death-courting behavior, he grabbed a bottle of fresh juice from his inventory and downed it to recover some stamina. 

Well... it wouldn't, but it did help him recover mentally.

Seeing the Quest update with only the second objective left unfinished, he immediately set out to find this Gorm.

And he immediately regretted once he did.

[Hold them back, my warriors! We shall not fall today!](Gorm)

[ Barbarian (Minion) - Level 59 ]

[ Gorm, Barbarian Chieftain (Elite) - Level 60 ]

Nine Minion-level Barbarians and one Elite twice the size of the other two he fought previously smashed into the Necromancer like the ocean tide onto the beach. 

Meaning that they didn't do any damage. Michael immediately used Blood Mist to slip out of their encirclement, and once he 'reconfigured' his physical form, he used Reap + Corpse Tendrils + Decrepify + Corpse Explosion combo.

With some damage done, he immediately used his ultimate Bone Storm and pounced on the Barbarians with fewer Life Points left, quickly finishing them with shield strikes, chops from his sword, and even random kicks now and then.

He didn't escape unscathed either, as he was dealing with a superior number of opponents. Ultimately, his Life Points dropped to 620/2,571 when he finally cleaned up the mobs and quickly downed a Healing Potion before engaging with the Chieftain in a duel.

After the Chieftain Gorm fell, the Necromancer could hold his head high and say he lost the duel!

That's right! Lost!

"Motherfucker! Who fights like that!? Also, who the fuck wields two large hammers!? Are you Thor's big brother!?"

He had a new understanding of 'tenderizing meat' now. There were no less than seven bone fractures he could recognize due to the intense pain, including ribs, left forearm, the entire right shoulder, and his right hip.

Looking at the dead Barbarian Chieftain, he gulped nervously, feeling that he just escaped death.

"*Sigh* He wasn't as overpoweringly strong as the Butcher, but his combat experience was light years away from mine. His strength was absolutely preposterous as well. I feel that I didn't have even half of his attributes. Whenever a hammer hit the shield, I felt like a car ran me over. Fuck! If not for the damned Corpses eating away his Life Points through the miasma, I would've died..."

Most embarrassing of all, all this could've been avoided if he had fought the Chieftain with all he had instead of treating it like another training session.

So this was a beating he excitedly asked for, and Gorm was happy to indulge this foolish child. 

Groaning through the pain of bones being mended and flesh repaired, he unsteadily stood up and prepared to get out of this place.

[ Main Quest update - Through the Dark Glass

Objective: Speak with the Herald of Mephisto. ]

Finding a room where the walls were decorated with squirming corpses that appeared to be in agonizing pain, Michael rolled his eyes and looked at the Bloodied Wolf.

This deranged bastard sure had weird tastes when it came to interior design.

[Well done. You suffered a bit but successfully pulled through. You were born for this.](Mephisto)

"Yes, yes. Less talking, more blessing, please. I've wasted enough time as it is."

[Why in such a hurry? You mortals cannot appreciate time properly at all. Not that I would expect you to.](Mephisto)

"*Snort* I didn't expect a Prime Evil would need a mortal's help either, but here we are."

Hearing this, the wolf's expression finally changed slightly and paused as if contemplating something.

[Yes, I have had some bad luck in recent years. Trapped in those soulstones trinkets. Cast back to Hell. My essence is reforming, and so my power has limits. We all have our ups and downs, don't we?](Mephisto)

"What can I say? I'm pretty sure you deserve far worse."

[All I have done is offer help, yet you repay me with Hatred. It's not like I mind, but why not focus that anger on Lilith for the time being?](Mephisto)

"Lilith? Why her?"

The dog-face... *Cough* the wolf-face grinned and remained quiet on this subject, prompting a raised eyebrow from the Necromancer.

It could be understood in many ways, but what if Mephisto was implying that the reason why Lilith was planning to return to Hell was for him?

After all, she did find that damned Astaroth, who was the Charred Duke under this Lord of Hatred and secured her passing through him. Could a Duke serving under Mephisto grant her safe passage in all Burning Hells?

Certainly not! But if it was Mephisto's domain... it seemed possible.

[Enough. You can ponder that later. Take my blessing and be on your way. Destroy her and her plans. Only then can you save your world, even if temporarily.](Mephisto)

An even more intense pain followed, messing up Michael's train of thought. His emotions were also out of control, with Hatred being prevalent.

Taking deep breaths to calm himself down, he looked at the wolf avatar of Mephisto, prepared to milk this bastard for more information!