Chapter 11

Chapter 11

THE NEXT DAY, our “elite team” stood alone in the middle of a valley filled with charred daemon remains. From there, we were to make our way up the valley and in search of the nest.

“We don’t know when we might be ambushed by daemons. Everyone, be on your guard,” said Sedam.

“Understood.”

Sedam and Gunnar proceeded to consult one another over what might be the best formation to take as we trekked up the valley. Meanwhile, I selected what spells I thought might be useful, and cast them.

“As a consequence of this spell, all allies within a three-meter radius of me will be transported to the outer plane. Move Outer Plane.”

By the power of the spell, all six of us were moved into a space dimensionally removed from—but parallel to—normal space.

From our new perspective, our surroundings were gently warped, bluish and swaying, as if we were looking from within an aquarium to the outside. From anyone else’s perspective, we would have appeared to vanish into thin air.

In the outer plane, we would be safe from daemons or anything else that meant to cause us harm. In fact, we were undetectable by any conventional means. The only major downside was that while within the outer plane, we could not affect or influence anything in the material realm. However, this worked both ways. For example, by moving to the outer plane, we could walk right through any physical barrier. That was one of the biggest advantages the spell had to offer. Furthermore, as long as the spell remained active, we could freely move back and forth between the outer plane and normal space.

However, as suggested by the warping and discoloration, what we could sense of the real world from the outer plane was limited. Sounds and smells were particularly hard to perceive.

“Anything goes with you, huh?” muttered Sedam, sardonically.

Clara said nothing, but looked angry as she examined the outer plane.

“Whoa…” Gillion stood in naked amazement.

“L-Lord Magician…” Gunnar’s face grew pale. “Are you a god?”

Leoria turned her eyes up toward me. “My lord, are you not an angel of the winter protector, Ashginea?”

Leoria, please don’t get down on your knees like that. “Wh-what are you talking about? I-I am certainly not a god.”

Being treated like a god was definitely more than I’d asked for. While, strictly speaking, Geo’s level was high enough to attempt the kind of quests in D&B that led to your character becoming a god, you must remember, on the inside, I was still just an ordinary human being.

“My dealings with the immortals are few and far between. If my magic looks like the power of a god to you…perhaps your faith is a little too strong,” I said, in a flustered panic. I hardly knew what I was saying. It was a saving grace that behind the other three stricken with awe, Sedam and Clara were rolling their eyes at me.

To reiterate, my powers were far from the omnipotence of the divine. While my spells were powerful, as a magic user, I had tons of weaknesses. One was the upper limit on the number of spells I could charge each day. For example, here is a breakdown of the Rank 9 spells I had charged that day.

RANK 9 SPELLS
Spell Name - Remaining Uses / Total Charged

Meteor - 2 / 2
Complete Recovery - 1 / 1
Time Stop - 1 / 1
Create Monster: Any - 1 / 1
Word of Death - 1 / 1
Chaotic Wall - 1 / 1
Move Outer Plane - 0 / 1
Invincibility - 0 / 1

The maximum number of spells a magic user can have charged per rank increases as a magic user levels up. In my case, I had nine charges per rank. The spells that had zero remaining charges for the day could no longer be used. (I cast Invincibility on myself before we set out.) Of course, I had nine spells charged for all of the other ranks, one to eight, but I’ll hold off on listing them out in exhaustive detail.

If I had extra charge slots available, I would have charged another Complete Recovery, and also Shapeshift, a spell that has many uses, but as I have said many times before, a restricted arsenal is one of the many limits of a D&B magic user.

“Well then. Shall we?” I said, urging the group on.

After all, Move Outer Plane did not have an infinite duration.

***

Sedam took the lead as we continued up the valley.

The valley was unexpectedly complex, winding its way deep into a maze of many passages. Every time we came to a fork, Sedam investigated the surroundings; he was soon able to find traces left by the legion as they’d marched through the valley. Despite the dulling of all our senses in the outer plane, Sedam was still able to quickly pick out footprints and hairs left behind. I couldn’t help but be impressed by his tracking skills.

Thanks to Sedam, we found the daemons’ base only two hours after we set out.

“There’s a gigant…”

We stood at the deepest part of the valley, an area about the size of a baseball field, surrounded by cliffs. Nearby loomed an elephant-sized gigant, about four meters tall and five meters long, surrounded by dozens of imps.

It looked like the imps were feeding the gigant. Some of them held up what looked like a boar. Fortunately, as we were safely within the outer plane, none of the daemons noticed our presence.

The gigant sloppily grabbed the boar from the imps and bit into its head. Behind it was a giant stone door, which looked almost like a lid set upon the deepest part of the valley. The space sealed by that door was so large even the gigant could have easily fit through it.

“The nest has got to be behind that door,” said Sedam.

“Almost certainly,” replied Gunnar.

The door itself was simple, but it was covered with unsettling symbols that looked like the work of some avant-garde abstract artist.

“So, I take it the plan is to kill the gigant and then charge through the door?” said Gillion.

“That’s the plan, but I think you should let me handle it,” I replied.

“You’re right.”

Oh? I’d thought Gillion would want to charge right in, but it seemed he had already started to show some growth.

“Before we do anything else, let’s first investigate what’s behind that door,” I said, taking a scroll out of my bag. Clara gazed intently at it and then turned to me with a puzzled look on her face.

“It’s…blank, isn’t it?”

“Well, it is right now, but… Well, just watch.”

I placed the blank scroll on the ground and spread it out.

“Oh? I see something!” said Gillion.

“Is this…a map?” asked Gunnar.

Gunnar was right. The scroll was a magic item, a Mapping Scroll. Normally it remains blank, but when spread out, it automatically creates a map of any dungeon in the vicinity. If we were playing a TTRPG, it would be enough to just map out the dungeon on graph paper as we explored it, but this wasn’t the time for the traditional method.

“As I suspected,” said Sedam. “There’s a path behind that door leading underground.” He stood analyzing the map as its details slowly, automatically revealed themselves.

“This nest is producing gigants, so as long as we follow whatever path is wide enough for a gigant to pass through, we should be able to find the nest…here,” he said, pointing to a corner of the map. It depicted a large chamber located deep underground. As he predicted, a wide path led from it all the way to the door.

“It looks like there are other branching paths and smaller rooms,” said Clara. “I wonder if there are any other paths leading out…”

“All of them are narrow, it seems. So narrow, even a fiend would have trouble getting through, let alone a gigant,” remarked Sedam.

So, we’re lucky, I thought. If there were many large branching paths, we would have to make sure all of them were blocked.

“I suggest we enter here,” I said.

Even though we could use the outer plane to slip through physical barriers, that didn’t mean we could just ignore the layout of the dungeon. Deep in the earth without a clear line of sight, it would be very easy for us to lose track of each other, or our place on the map. There was no point walking through walls if we weren’t able to get to our destination.

“In order for me to cast another spell, we must first exit the outer plane,” I said. “While we are back outside, I’ll need you to protect me.”

“All right! Leave it to me, Lord Margilus!”

“I’ll protect you!”

The Calbanera siblings excitedly moved in front of me, while Sedam and the others took defensive positions behind.

“I have a defensive incantation, Ludora Ward, which should at least temporarily be able to fend off an attack from that gigant,” said Clara, holding her staff ready. Her blue eyes sparkled; I could feel her excitement.

Not for the first time, I thought about how both Clara and Leoria were capable of so much energy at such grim and dangerous times. These two women are so bright and brimming with life it’s almost too much for an older guy like me to handle…

“Well then, let us return to the material plane.”

We weren’t in the middle of the clearing, but in the shadow of a boulder near the entrance. As soon as we left the outer plane, the terrible stench of the daemons, which the spell had shut out, assaulted our noses.

“Open, Gate of Magic!”

While my physical self endured the awful smell, my imagined self descended to the sixth level.

“As a consequence of this spell, I shall bring death upon the living in my sights, within an area of eighty-one square meters, up to a cumulative level of thirty-two. Death Gaze!”

All was silent.

Even after I had finished casting the spell, no immediate change in the gigant or the surrounding imps could be seen. It still had its hands around the boar shoved in its mouth. I could feel the nervous tension of the knights, but I could also perceive the chaotic energy unleashed upon the world, the power of death itself, wrapping the gigant and imps in a cold embrace.

One second passed.

Then things began to change.

“Gi…?”

The body of the gigant went limp. It dropped the boar, and with its tongue still hanging out, the gigant fell to the ground. It seemed as if it all was happening in slow motion. If you looked closely, you could see that several of the imps had fallen as well.

“Gweh?!”

“Gyaahh!”

“Grrr! Gyu!”

The gigant, lying face down on the ground, did not move or twitch at all. Death Gaze is a spell that can kill any number of monsters in a given area up to a cumulative level. According to the rules of the D&B game system, all targets have a chance to make a saving throw—if they roll successfully, the spell has absolutely no effect on them at all. I’d worried about that technicality maybe posing a problem, but it looked as though the spell worked just fine.

“Did… Did it die?”

“All you did was stare at it…”

That wasn’t exactly what had happened, but now was not the time to correct anyone. The remaining imps, very much still alive, had noticed our position.

“Gigyah! Gaah!”

“Gyaar!!!”

“Open, Gate of Magic!”

The imps brandished their primitive axes and spears—and charged. Their cold hatred sent a shiver down my spine. Their hate-filled eyes glimmered with gruesome malice. As I began casting my next spell, I heard Sedam loose an arrow from behind me.

“Gyah?!”

The imp in the front of the charge took an arrow to the chest and flipped backward.

“Falbolza Chain!”

Clara shot ten fiery arrows from her staff, engulfing imps in flame, one after another. As I watched them burn, I was reminded of the first time I saw Jargle use his ice arrows on me. Sorcery’s strength is that its incantations take very little time to complete. If a magic user had to fight a sorcerer without any preparation, there is no way they could win.

“All right,” Gillion bellowed, “Come at me!”

“I won’t let you lay one finger on Lord Margilus!” yelled Leoria.

The Calbanera siblings and Gunnar took up their shields and formed a defensive line in front of me, but before the imps could reach them, I finished casting my spell.

“As a consequence of this spell, I will bring under my control the dead in my presence as zombies, up to a cumulative level of thirty-six. Control Undead.”

I think you get the picture: Control Undead was classic necromancy.

A false life blew into the gigant and several dead imps, raising them from the ground as zombies.

“Grooo…”

As Death Gaze leaves no visible wounds on the target, the undead gigant and imps looked no different from before. However, as the gigant swung its giant arms and legs, it targeted the living imps, not us.

“Gyah! Gu-gyah!”

“Groooo!”

The zombified gigant and imps fought the living imp survivors in a scene right out of hell.

Apparently, the desire to kill humans took precedence over any concern for themselves or the crazed zombies. The living imps ignored the assault of my risen undead. They kept right on charging at us. However, the gigant sent most of them flying, and Sedam sniped those few that slipped past our gigant guard with his arrows.

“This is crazy. It’s like a nightmare.”

I shared Gillion’s sentiment.

In only a few short minutes, all of the sane daemons (if indeed any daemons were sane) had died. All of the zombie imps had fallen in the process, but the gigant zombie still stood strong. Now that the guards are gone, let’s charge right in.

“As a consequence of this spell, one target will be obliterated. Destruction!”

“What now?!”

“The gate!”

The giant stone door crumbled to dust.

Destruction works on organic and inorganic objects alike, breaking them down at the molecular level. Once the dust had settled, the mouth of a cave lay exposed. The darkness of its lower reaches awaited us beyond.

With Move Outer Plane, getting inside wouldn’t pose a problem, but now that we had a gigant zombie, I wanted to put it to good use.

“Go. Kill all the daemons inside,” I ordered.

“Guuu.”

On my orders, the gigant zombie headed down into the cave, sluggishly stomping over the destroyed gate. The knights looked on, their mouths hanging open.

Wait a minute.

Couldn’t I have just had our zombie open the gate instead of destroying it?

“Errm… Eherm,” I cleared my throat. I could feel Sedam and Clara staring at me, and it stung.

“Well then, shall we?” I hoped I sounded at least ten times more confident than I was.

“Wait a min—Margilus!”

So, my sorry excuse for an act can’t fool seasoned adventurers, I thought, as Clara grabbed my robe as I moved to leave.

“I thought it better if we left the door as it was,” said Sedam, with the hint of a sarcastic smile. “Couldn’t we have just slipped through the door using the outer plane? Or am I missing something?”

No…you’re right on point…

We could already hear the gigant zombie wreaking havoc down below. However, with the door gone, it was much more likely that a fiend or another gigant would get out.

“I’m sorry,” I said, turning to apologize. “I wasn’t thinking. I got carried away,”

“Sedam, what are you doing?” Gillion hissed before eyeing me nervously.

“L-Lord Margilus…” Leoria looked nervous as well.

Are they worried I’m angry? I thought. Sedam’s point was more than valid. I had genuinely made a mistake. Why should I be mad?

“You didn’t do anything you need to apologize for,” said Sedam.

“More importantly, what are we going to do about that hole?” said Clara. “I could collapse the ceiling with my sorcery to seal it off, but…”

Sedam and Clara quickly moved on and went about finding a solution. While Clara could make do with her sorcery, it would end up costing her a significant amount of her mana reserves.

“I’ll seal it,” I said.

With a rumble, the earth shook, and a gray wall rose from the ground to block the entrance. This stone wall, created by the aptly-named Wall of Stone, made a near-perfect seal over the entrance to the cave. While it wasn’t airtight, or even water-tight, the wall was certainly good enough to keep any daemons from breaking free, as long as it held. And naturally, we would have no problem passing through it with Move Outer Plane.

“You really can do anything with magic,” said Sedam. “However, that’s not without concern…”

“He’s right, Margilus,” said Clara. “We’re relying on you to destroy the daemons’ nest. It doesn’t make sense for you to waste your mana reserves when we have other options.”

While I appreciated Sedam and Clara’s concern, the system of magic I used didn’t rely on mana reserves or anything like that. “I still have many spells I can use. Using a few like this won’t pose a problem when it’s time to destroy the nest,” I said.

“If you say so, I won’t doubt you,” said Sedam.

“It’s hard for me to believe, personally…” said Clara. “However, even if that is the case, please don’t waste your magic unnecessarily.”

***

With the problem of the open cave solved, we returned to the outer plane, walked through the stone wall, and continued down the path leading underground.

Normally, it would be pitch black and impossible to see, but as we were in the outer plane, the inside of the cave seemed lit as if by a dim blue light. However, to make our surroundings even easier to see, I cast Light on my Staff of Wizardry.

“The gigant’s still fighting!” Gillion exclaimed.

Underground, the zombie gigant and several other daemons were still locked in the heat of deadly battle. Several fiends had leaped onto the gigant’s back, plunging their swords into its unliving flesh. Countless imps swarmed around its feet.

“Grooo!”

“Gyaaw!”

The gigant zombie reached up and grabbed at a fiend clinging to the back of its neck. With a mighty fling, it slammed the fiend into the wall, where it nearly exploded, its death announced by a gruesome splat. New fiends leaped upon the gigant to take the other’s place; they continued to rain blows upon it with their swords and clubs.

“Grrrooo…”

Gigants are not especially agile to begin with, and its zombification made it even less so. While the imps were no match for it, the repeated attacks from the fiends were clearly beginning to wear it down. It would have been nice if the gigant was able to exterminate all the daemons for us, but the world does not make things so easy.

The very creature they had planned to use as the core of their next assault now came barreling down upon them. The gate to their cave had been destroyed and replaced by a stone wall. Even the daemons, no matter how single-minded they seemed to be, were thrown into a panic, fiends and imps alike. We saw them up close as we passed, but out of their reach in the outer plane.

“So…the daemons seem to have some culture after all,” Clara whispered.

As we trekked through the daemons’ base, we came across strange paintings on the walls. They looked like little more than colorful swirls to me, but it could pass as art, I suppose. There were also some objects on the ground that looked like board games.

“Well…if you could call it that,” replied Sedam, pointing to a spot where it seemed the game pieces were made…right beside a pile of human remains.

Someone gagged. Gillion cursed, and Gunnar invoked the name of the creator-god Rimeydal in a prayer for the deceased.

That was not the last we saw of the daemons’ artwork or toys. Among all of the “source material” for these things, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I recognized something, until I realized that this is what had become of the bandits under Jargle’s command.

One reason the bandits suddenly began to demand more from people passing through their territory may have been because they realized daemons were gathering… Perhaps they planned to take all they could and then flee.

Now it was my turn to gag. I could feel the cold hatred of the daemons as a palpable knot within my stomach, and I had to fight the urge to vomit. Even if my body’s inherited the Strength and Constitution of my D&B character, none of that has helped to strengthen my soul. Any mental and spiritual toughness I might have been born with almost certainly atrophied over the long course of a comfortable life…

“You damned daemons,” I heard Gillion mutter under his breath. “I’ll make sure you regret ever underestimating us humans. I’ll make sure you pay.”

I could feel the burning fire of anger in his voice, and the heat of it helped thaw my frozen soul. I couldn’t let my spirits shatter, not here.

“We take a right here,” said Sedam, suddenly.

“Thank you,” I nearly exhaled. “I almost missed that.”

Although we were taking the widest path from the entrance to the depths of the daemon’s base, just like the Mapping Scroll had shown, the journey took us through several turns and down several flights of stairs.

Even though we knew exactly which way to go, plus the general structure of the base and our destination, the base itself was dimly lit. Little more than a stray torch or two at junctions drove off the gloom. On top of the ominous paintings and human remains, the air was thick with the sense of daemons and their malice. If it weren’t for Sedam reminding me to stay on the path, I would have easily lost my way.

I remembered I’d considered coming here alone, ostensibly to minimize casualties. But now I wondered: Would I have even been able to make it this far?

“Our destination lies ahead,” said Sedam, stopping ahead of the path’s end, where we could see the daemons’ lair open up into a vast chamber with a domed roof.

I soon realized that the room took the shape of a flat-bottomed sphere. The entrance was not level with its floor, but rather the center of the sphere, and stairs of giant stone led from the floor up to the opening in the wall.

“So, we finally made it,” I said. “Wait, is that…?!”

Although I knew we were safe inside the outer plane, I was stunned silent when I saw the daemon’s nest.

“How horrifying…”

“What is that thing?”

The nest itself was a series of jet-black, spherical masses—or at least that’s the best way I can describe it. There were five clumps, each one the size of a gigant, about five meters in diameter. Their shapes stretched past and overlapped each other. Based on the explanations I had heard thus far, I imagined the nest was more of a living, breathing thing, but seeing it with my own eyes, it looked surprisingly inorganic.

Around it, I could see the shadows of dozens of daemons.

“Is that…something coming out of it?” I asked.

Down where it touched the ground, part of the mass swelled up—and then a piece of it jutted out. At first, I thought it was a pole of some sort, but then the end of it split into five fingers, and I knew I was looking at a hand. The shoulder, twisted head, and thick torso were next to emerge. It was like looking at a sadistic take on a cheap game show routine, a contestant trying to break through a thin rubber sheet. Finally, the fingers tore through, and with a slimy, oily glooping sound, a gigant tumbled out of the nest. The ruptured film was swiftly absorbed back into the mass.

Even Sedam’s voice was shaking. “So, this…is a daemon’s nest…”