Kneeling in front of the corpse, she gently searched the body until she found her Infernus Medallion. She’d heard them talking about taking it from underneath the bed after returning from the Infernal Realm.
“Nice shot,” Gorebark crowed. “Did you hear those sounds she was making? Music to my ears.”
“Shut up,” she whispered harshly. The moment her bow had started speaking, the surviving nun had looked fearfully in her direction. “I don’t want to hear another word out of you.”
“Oh? You don’t want to hear about me reaching level 4?”
“You leveled up? When did that happen?”
“Right after you shot that stupid boat.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” When her bow didn’t respond, she rolled her eyes. “Fine. What new skill did you acquire?”
“Abyssal Splitshot. When you activate it, each arrow you fire splits into multiples and automatically seeks out targets.”
Piper raised her eyebrow. “Would that work with [Demonic Mark]?”
“It sure would.” Gorebark grinned. “Ready to blow up this city? I say we take out those ugly walls first. With your new class and my skills, I bet we could raze this entire crappy place.”
“I’m not going to blow up the city!”
At the mention of her new class, Piper pulled up her character sheet, while keeping a wary eye on the nun. She didn’t want any surprises while she was distracted. But the woman appeared too frightened to do anything at the moment.
Piper Ashcroft
Race: Shadeling, Level 52
Class: Deceiver (Epic), Level 52
Class: Shadowflame Temptress (Legendary), Level 1
Attributes
Strength – 125
Dexterity – 70
Stamina - 60
Vitality – 50
Perception – 40
Swiftness - 70
Magic - 280
Mana - 750
Mana Regeneration – 750
Free Attribute Points - 90
Racial Skills (7/10)
- Demonic Blood, Level 39
- Demonic Fury, Level 2
- Demonic Intellect, Level 8
- Infernal Resistance, Level 8
- Quick Claw, Level 26
- Subjugator, Level 1
- Tail Strike, Level 25
Skills (10/10)
- Ambush Detection, Level 6
- Animal Caretaker, Level 5
- Archery, Level 25
- Cooking, Level 6
- Enduring Casting, Level 12
- Identify, Level 15
- Hunting, Level 10
- Running, Level 27
- Hammer Wielding, Level 5
- Subterfuge, Level 31
Deceiver Spells (6/10)
- False Face, Level 30
- Phantom Flesh, Level 5
- Truth Shroud, Level 33
- Shifting Veil, Level 22
- Umbral Terror, Level 5
- Wraithskin, Level 11
Shadowflame Tempter Spells (3/10)
- Misery Crown, Level 1
- Pit Chains, Level 1
- Void Silence, Level 1
Piper quickly glanced over the information, briefly pausing at her 90 free attribute points. She’d received most of them after defeating the undead cult in the warehouse. But she also must have gained some after obtaining her class—most likely for slaying the dreadhulk demon.
Skimming down the list, she stopped at her new spells. She sorted through her notifications until she found the ones related to her new class. Then she opened one of them at random.
Congratulations! You have learned the spell, Void Silence level 1.
The Shadowflame Temptress can erase all power from a battlefield for a short period, leaving her opponents defenseless. In her presence, skills collapse, spells gutter out, and summoned aspectbeasts are vanquished back to the realms.
Piper’s mouth gaped open as she read the description of the spell. This was incredibly powerful. Almost overpowered in her opinion. Now she understood why the demon in the vision attacking Elaraxa hadn’t been able to fight back—the demoness had cast [Void Silence] and left him powerless.
As she read over the spell descriptions, she searched the room for her gear. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find her meteor hammer, short sword, or armor. Had someone stolen them while she’d been gone?
After giving up on finding her gear, she descended the stairs with the nun in the lead and arrived at the deserted main floor of the inn. Piper pushed aside the woman and approached the front door before opening it a crack. The street outside appeared normal, with throngs of people going about their daily business.
Before she stepped outside, she used [Shifting Veil] to conceal her bow and quiver. In her current situation, she wasn’t dismissing her weapons any time soon. At any second, she might need to fend off an attack from the Dawnward Host.
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As they entered the street, she returned to reading over her new spells. But she kept shooting glances over at the nun to keep an eye on her.
She pulled up the next notification.
Congratulations! You have learned the spell, Pit Chains, Level 1.
The Shadowflame Temptress can call cursed chains from the Infernal Realm itself, binding flesh, soul, and will. The spiked chains prevent all movement, and struggling only makes them constrict. In her presence, escape is impossible.
Another one followed.
Congratulation! You have learned the spell, Misery Crown, Level
A Shadowflame Temptress is heir to great power in the Infernal Realm, and they can curse targets with their dreadful presence. She uses her oppressive aura to reduce all attributes of enemies and make mana reserves evaporate. Anyone foolish enough to fight her will become progressively weaker.
Piper chewed on her lower lip as she considered the implications of the new spell. She had an impressive toolkit to deal with melee and caster classes now. Assuming the spells worked, she doubted many people could challenge her in the city.
Which was a good thing, since she was headed to confront three adventurers who had epic and rare classes. Even with her new class, she wasn’t sure if she could defeat all three of them.
And then there was the problem of their father, Ares. If he were a prominent citizen, he probably had a ridiculously powerful class as well. Never mind all the expensive magical items they must own. The memory of the hulking undead aspirant in armor that cancelled out her bow’s skill still loomed large in her mind.
Piper slowed her steps as she spotted movement on a nearby building's roof. She glanced over to the far side of the street, spying red-robed nuns crouching behind the peak. Yet the crowds showed no signs of dispersing. Were the nuns going to attack in public, while she was surrounded by innocent people?
A lot of people will die if that happens.
Piper hurriedly placed her 90 free attribute points into Mana. That brought her total Mana up to 1200. If there was going to be a battle, she needed to cast as many spells as possible. Still, she’d rather avoid a messy fight in a crowded street. She didn’t want anyone else to die because of her.
She grabbed the captive nun’s arm and veered off to the right down an alleyway. She increased her pace, doing her best to get away from the crowd. At least if the Dawnward Host attacked in the alley, there shouldn’t be much collateral damage.
“You saw them, too?” Gorebark asked. “Are you going to take them out with [Abyssal Splitshot]? Or are you going to play with them a bit? Maybe tear them up with your claws?”
Piper’s mind raced as she tried to think of a way out of her situation. She could launch a preemptive attack with her bow, but more dead bodies would probably just stir up the city. Especially if her bow’s skills started blowing up buildings.
The last thing she needed was a crusade of adventurers led by the nobles hunting her down. She was having a hard enough time dealing with a handful of nuns. If she turned the entire city against her, she was going to lose.
Pressing her lips together, she stopped where the alleyway entered another street. This area was quieter than the previous one, but dozens of people still thronged the thoroughfare.
The sound of footsteps above made Piper spin around, and she caught sight of three nuns loping across the rooftops. Her fingers twitched on her bowstring, something compelling her to shoot them. Was her demonic side growing stronger?
Instead of firing the bow, she raised her hand and cast [Umbral Terror]. She targeted the closest nun and listened as the woman started to shriek. The nun dropped to her knees, clawing at her face and carving deep furrows.
As one of the nuns slowed to help her comrade, Piper changed targets. After two more casts, all the nuns on the rooftop were either screaming or fleeing as if a harroth demon pursued them.
Piper scanned the street, searching for more sisters of the Dawnward Host. She doubted the three on the rooftop were the only ones watching the Dancing Gnome Inn.
When she didn’t spot anyone else, she cast [Shifting Veil] on the nun she was holding captive. She tweaked the woman’s appearance, giving her longer hair, a bigger nose, and a jutting chin. Then she changed her robes into nondescript peasant clothing. None of the other nuns should recognize her now.
Just when she thought they were in the clear, city bells began to peal. The sound was taken up by other bells until they were ringing on all sides. Everyone on the street looked up before bolting away, leaving them standing alone.
Piper grabbed the nun’s hand and dragged her along. “What’s your name?”
“My name?” The nun seemed preoccupied, staring at her new clothes.
“Yes, your name,” Piper exclaimed with exasperation. “You have one, don’t you?”
“It’s Adara.”
“I’m sorry about your friend,” Piper said softly. “I didn’t mean to kill her.”
“Sorry won’t bring her back.
“I know…” Piper exhaled. There was no point in apologizing to a member of the Dawnward Host.
Piper increased her pace as she spotted armored men closing in behind them. Apparently, the alarm bells were calling every available person to their positions. She was going to be in serious trouble soon.
“How did they find us?” Piper asked as they rounded another corner. From every direction, adventurers, wayfarers, and even aspirants were pouring into the street. What the heck did aspirants think they were going to do against her?
Adara winced slightly. “Elissa may have used a tracking scroll on me.”
“That’s a thing?” Piper’s eyes widened. “How does it work?”
“All nuns provide the ingredients required when they take the vows. Most of the time, they’re only used if a sister tries to desert from the order.”
Piper stumbled to a stop as they rounded a corner to find Elissa and a dozen nuns blocking their path. Around them stood at least twenty wayfarers with their weapons drawn. How the heck had they gathered so fast?
She glanced over at Adara, who was trembling with fear. The woman was the only one in the city, aside from Lukas and Ophelia, who knew her secret. Common sense told her to kill the woman. But even though the woman was a sister of the Dawnward Host, she couldn’t murder someone in cold blood.
With a sigh, Piper pushed Adara away. “Run.”
The nun looked like a frightened rabbit in the presence of a coyote. Her gaze travelled from the mass of wayfarers before returning to Piper. She then bolted, dashing as if the hounds of hell were on her heels.
“Please don’t attack!” Adara shouted, waving her arms wildly at the nuns. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with!”
Piper turned to see that the street behind her had been blocked by a row of aspirants holding shields. At their rear stood mages and those with ranged weapons.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she watched more aspirants flood down the alleyways. She even recognized a few of the faces.
Xander and his sister Lydia blocked a nearby alleyway with at least 20 other aspirants. As her gaze swept across the crowd, she spotted Platon with his spiky blond hair, and Hector with his lizard companion Cronos. She even saw Eleni, the woman she’d saved from the undead cult, standing among the wayfarers.
Turning back to the nuns, she allowed her [False Face] to fall away, revealing her true demonic self. As she did, she tweaked her [Truth Shroud] to increase her level to 2000. She didn’t know if anyone would believe such a ridiculously high level, but maybe it would scare off a few of the lower levels.
A cry of dismay went up from the crowd before Elissa stepped forward. “This is merely a cheap trick. She is a foul, infernal illusionist trying to poison your brave hearts. If you walk in the Undying Emperor’s grace, then you have nothing to fear!”
Adara staggered to a stop in front of the nuns. “You aren’t facing a woman; she’s a demon! If you attack her, you’ll all die. I saw it myself. Please, you have to believe me.”
Elissa stepped forward and gently placed a hand on Adara’s shoulder. At her touch, the illusion evaporated, revealing the nun's true face. She gave the young woman a sympathetic look. “The heretic has meddled with your mind. I swear we will restore you when she lies dead in the gutter.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Piper called out, readying her spells. “But I’ll defend myself.”
“Take her!” Elissa shouted to the assembled crowd. Raising her arm, a blaze engulfed her hand. The dancing flames on her palm cast deep pools of shadow around her eyes and mouth, making her face resemble a skull. “Ten gold pieces to the person who brings me her head, and twenty if you take her alive.”
At those words, the assembled crowd surged toward Piper. A great din filled the street, as they beat swords again shields, and stomped in their armored boots.
Piper frowned sadly and raised her hand. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” Then she unleashed her spells upon the crowd.