Chapter 281: Chapter 279

Chapter 279

Riven had been abnormally silent since the encounter with his mother’s vision, to the point where others had started to notice. Still, he’d done a good job at keeping his emotions under wraps even despite this - and was quick to reel in any outward signs of his internal turmoil.

Feeding in the shadow of a towering skyscraper, his heart pounded in his chest - and Gluttony’s instinctual desire to feed slowly began to fade. His fangs were sunk into the injured gargoyle, and draining the blood out of the half-dead Greed affiliate - he continued to let his mind wander over the happenings of the last day.

Then he heard the familiar beat of wings overhead, and a soft landing beside him. Looking up with blood running down his mouth, he saw the beautiful blue-skinned succubus he’d contracted nearly a year ago begin to walk over to his position.

“Is everything okay?” Fay asked, reaching out to put her slender fingers around his - giving him a warm squeeze. “Riven? You look…”

She paused upon seeing the victim on the ground. The wounded gargoyle was bleeding out and going into shock, gasping with wide eyes on the floor, and she grimaced. “Are your impulsions better now? Or will you need more?”

[Gluttonous (Trait): You are required to eat at least 1 enlightened being every week, or will suffer a 1% debuff that stacks on all stats. Feeding on more than 10 enlightened beings in a day gives temporary bonus stats that decay over time, the amount of bonus stats depends on the power and number of consumed victims. Feeding on more than 5000 enlightened beings in a day temporarily doubles your stats and all the stats of your gear.]

He licked his lips and smiled, snapping out of his musings in front of the abyssal portal to the second level. “Yes, it’s better now. And I’ll be fine, I just…”

He glanced Allie’s way, where he could only barely make her out near the portal’s edge two blocks down. He’d tell his sister eventually, just not now. Not while they were needing to finish this event as fast as possible. “I just have some things to think about. Don’t worry about me, let’s just focus on getting the most out of this event as we can before returning to Chalgathi’s trials.”

Fay hesitated, looking like she wanted to say more while sweeping back her long white hair to stare harder at him - but eventually she smiled warmly back. Wiping off his face with one of her sleeves, she got up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Fine. Let me know if you want to talk. I love you, you know.”

Absentmindedly flinging a blood lance into the dying gargoyle’s skull, Riven put a hand on Fay’s cheek and kissed her back. “I know. I love you too, now let’s go meet the others. Secluding myself right now probably isn’t wise.”

Fay beamed and simultaneously raised an eyebrow at the remark, but didn’t press and let her hand stay intertwined with his as the two of them began to walk through the battle-torn streets filled with rubble - as residents of the abyssal city stirred like a kicked hornet’s nest.

The cleanup of the city was still underway, though there’d been new pockets of random fighting breaking out when other factions who’d been observers on the periphery started plundering the kills in full. But it was time to go, and Riven had already stayed in The Abyssal Descent far too long as it was.

“Ready?” Nora asked, hoisting her two bone daggers out to either side with a wide smile. “This has been quite the run, but we should probably finish up and get back!”

“Agreed.” Riven muttered. “And yes, I’m ready as soon as Lillith is done talking to them.”

Lillith was speaking to Retesh and Allie off to the side while their hundreds of newly raised undead loomed around the group with blank stares, and Azmoth was cleaning off his Shengari Shields by burning off the blood with fire breath. Watching his burning antlers attached to the new dark-gray plate armor wrapping his already naturally armored body up in another layer of metal, the eel-like maws continuing to belch fire as well, and the glistening black spikes protruding from holes in his outer layer - Riven realized Azmoth was starting to get physically bigger.

Azmoth was growing up.

The large, armored demon glanced Riven’s way, grinned, and began to walk over as Athela appeared next to him in a puff of red. “Azmoth kill many! Training pay off well!”

Riven chuckled and gave Azmoth a fistbump when the young hellscape brutalisk came over and reached out. “Yes I could tell. You’re doing very well. All of you did.”

“Same goes to you.” Athela replied, leaning in and shoving Fay off of him as the succubus fell backwards with a squeal. Grinning and ignoring Fay’s protests, she teasingly knocked Fay back again with an arachnid limb and wrapped her arms around Riven’s waist. “You were very, very impressive back there… Makes me want to OW!”

SMACK

Fay swatted Athela on the back of her head for a second time and harumphed before injecting herself between the two, wriggling grumpily into the crevice from underneath and poking her head up in the middle of their chests. “This is my spot!”

Both Riven and Athela began to laugh, and that laughter was joined in on by Fay a second later until Azmoth came over and bear-hugged the three of them - lifting them up to the screams and protests of the two women.

“Azmoth hugs too!” He roared, getting a sidelong glance from the others who weren’t involved.

Riven for his part merely raised an eyebrow from underneath his cloak while letting his feet dangle as the brutalisk swung the three of them back and forth. “Azmoth, when do brutalisks start dating?”

“What is dating?”

“It’s what Athela, Fay and I do. We’re dating.”

“You mean mating.”

“Well, yeah I suppose that too.”

Azmoth put the three of them down and patted Athela on the head while she glared daggers up at him, but the brutalisk seemed oblivious to her irritation. “I not know. I not interested. Females gross.”

Riven stifled a laugh, leaning on his staff and giving Azmoth another reassessing look as the black water-like substance of the huge portal at the center of the city glistened in the background. “You don’t say. Do you like men then?”

“No. I not interested in that kind of stuff. I only interested in kill and smash and claw-rip.”

“Color me surprised he’s not wanting to find a partner.” Athela muttered, rolling her eyes and leaning into Fay. “He’s an ape. A big, scary looking, metal clad ape!”

“There’s nothing wrong with not being interested in other brutalisks that way.” Riven commented defensively. “And Azmoth is really young, he has a lot of growing up to do. You never know.”

Azmoth snorted in agreement, quickly swatting at her - but only had his claw deflected by a blur of an arachnid limb. Then he turned his head to look at Riven. “Have Riven seen what female brutalisk look like?”

There was a pause.

“Eh… No?” Riven replied hesitantly, as a keen sense of amusement echoed out from Gluttony inside his soul. A flash of an image played across his mind, and Riven staggered in disbelief.

“Oh dear god.” Riven said, disbelieving. “That’s awful! How do you even… How!?”

Athela and Fay give him confused looks, but they were cut off from asking anything when Allie steps over to give him a nudge. “Are you guys done being ridiculous? We’re ready to go.”

***

[You have entered the staircase of The Abyssal Descent for floors 1 and 2. Traverse the staircase to reach the 2nd floor below.]

The portal into the second layer of The Abyssal Descent was cool to the touch, and far different than many of the other portals that Riven had passed through during his time since integration. It was as if he was being swallowed by a lake, and the black liquid of the abyss gently caressed his skin until he was suddenly sucked underneath in a whiplash of momentum. It was also his first time doing this, unlike his minions who’d all already traveled here and below to power-level into level 200 over the past months.

Coming out the other side was also something of a surprise, as he stood staring directly at a beholder demon. He’d completely forgotten, but this is where he was supposed to meet his new minion - albeit a temporary one - that Lillith had picked out for him after he’d not come to any conclusion about who or what he wanted to fill his last slot.

[Narg, Level 200 Seeker, Beholder Demon. ELITE.]

The beholder demon was colored a swamp-green, with orange colored, bulbous eyes along each of its many tentacles. Two larger ones were set over a toothy smile, with slits for nostrils, and two larger tentacles underneath the main body were obviously used for interacting with the environment by the way it gestured at them when the seeker “Narg” saw them enter.

“I humbly present myself to The Great Maw!” The demon said with a very smooth voice just as Riven got his footing. “Please, let me introduce myself! My name is Narg, and I have been chosen by the Lady of Black Skies to temporarily assist you as your fourth minion throughout this descent!”

Riven was about to reply, but his words suddenly caught in his throat when he took in the surroundings. It was unlike any realm he’d ever been in before, as they were standing on the precipice of an enormous, miles-wide spiral staircase. Right over the central ledge was a massive drop down, and in the far distance the opposite edge was facing outwards.

Signs of where Gluttony’s forces had been camped on this side of the portal in wait for ambush were still evident due to the odds and ends left behind, or the upturned metal or fires still lit around what’d been gathering circles. The sky was completely black leading into a vortex above and the deep spiral staircase leading downwards through the darkness was speckled with deep-purple runes in the expanse of a never ending abyss stretching out forever. A shimmering cylindrical barrier kept massive figures only barely discernible in the distance from entering, and if not for Riven’s dark-attuned vision he’d probably not have seen them at all.

“My name is Riven.” He eventually replied, realizing everyone was waiting for him to address the demon ahead of him who still hadn’t moved from its bowed position in the air. “I am the reincarnation of Gluttony. We greet you, Narg. Thanks for being here.”

“Of course! My parents will be so proud of me!” Narg immediately said with an upbeat, excited swing of his head. His many eyes focused intently on Riven’s position, then keeled around to look at the others - which were being followed by swarms of very high quality undead that’d once been demons in the battle in the city. “Quite the entourage! I should expect nothing less from one such as you.”

Lillith walked forward and put a hand on Narg’s scaly green skin. “Thank you for being here, friend. As we all know, the lower levels of the descent past the 3rd floor do not allow groups of over 5 to traverse together. This excludes minions though, so you’re going to be a valuable asset by using the last slot.”

She turned to Riven with a head-nod Narg’s way. “We had to choose someone that would fit within your current Willpower limit of 1054. The minions you have had since early on cost a lot less than new minions contracted later at the same level, an example of this would be if you dismissed Athela. Right now she costs you 209 Willpower and slowly accumulates cost over time, but if you dismissed her and tried to recontract her - she’d likely cost you somewhere around 500 Willpower given her status as an archdemon and her unique abilities. So we couldn’t choose someone relative to her league.”

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“Seriously?” Riven asked in surprise. “That's over double the cost!”

Lillith nodded and ignored the smug look of satisfaction on Athela’s face. “She’s a very good find, but you grew with her to get her here - and Elysium taxes your Willpower stat less for it. This in turn is why we had to choose someone who wasn’t registered as a legendary tier, because they wouldn’t be able to contract with you given your lack of points. Narg is an elite-tiered demon, and is younger than most. Just as old as you actually, and may not be of legendary status yet, but he has risen through the ranks very fast. His potential is very high, and I thought that taking him with us would benefit him more than any other. He also has quite a unique class.”

“Your words humble me, Lady of Black Skies!” Narg beamed - literally lighting up with orange light for a brief moment in the process. “I do not deserve such praise! Fallen gods, I wish my mother was here to hear this!”

Allie stifled a laugh at the demon’s offhand comment.

Riven shifted to analyze the status information Messenger could grant him, then let go of Fay’s hand to tap curiously at his status page. All of his own demons were now maxed out to level 200, even Genua who wasn’t present due to her pregnancy, and it was probably about time he went over his own status page since it’d been so long… Nowadays he really only opened it to assign stat points, but with a new minion on the way - even if temporary…

“What can you do and how much Willpower will you take up?” Riven asked curiously, red-black eyes shifting back to the demon in question. “Mind showing me your status page and explaining your abilities to me?”

The demon was quick to oblige.

[Narg’s Status Page:

Level 200

Pillar Orientations:] Unholy Foundation, Infernal

Traits:] Race: Beholder Demon, Class: Seeker, Observant (+200% to detect stealthed enemies or traps), Long Ranged Tactician (Scaling damage bonus that increases the farther away an enemy is struck, up to 5 miles), Innate Flying, Born of Smog and Flame (decreased damage taken from any Unholy or fire-based attacks), Scoped Vision, ELITE RELATIVE RANK DISPARITY.

Abilities:] Seek Object (Unholy), Seek Danger (Unholy), Seek Safety (Unholy), Identify (Elysium-Based), Nightmare Bombardment (Tier 3 Unholy / Infernal), Nightmare Barriers (Tier 2 Unholy / Infernal), Globspitter (Unholy), Hellspitter (Infernal)

Stats:] 40 Strength, 338 Sturdiness, 1020 Intelligence, 809 Agility, 10 Luck, -201 Charisma, 1832 Perception, 87 Willpower, 0 Faith

Equipped Items:] None]

“Until I offer you the contract, I am uncertain how much willpower I will take. Likely less than 200 points though, since we are guessing. Just like most of my race, I deviate towards long range combat and have a naturally high perception.” Narg began eagerly while Riven looked over his stats. “My magical prowess is nowhere close to yours, I’m sure, but I’ve also been neglecting my intelligence in favor of enhancing my specialty class. It is a rare one just as Lillith claims, and allows me access to ‘Seeker’ spells. These spells aren’t to be confused with scrying, which can be more easily interfered with or blocked, but rather the seeker spells are able to pull on creation, giving me insight on how to reach the desired target.”

“Explain.” Riven replied, now curious.

Nargle nodded. “Let’s say I wish to find a specific fruit. I can utilize ‘Seek Object’, and as long as I channel the spell it allows me to see the path that takes me to my desired object as fast as possible.”

Riven’s eyebrows rose up high. “Seriously? And the same goes for your other two spells?”

“Seek Danger and Seek Safety work slightly differently. They each give me multitudes of paths to choose from, with the strength and size of the path I see correlating to how much danger or safety there is. Proximity also influences the size and strength of the path. Seek Object on the other hand only ever gives one path. Even if I were to ask it to seek out a rock or pebble, it would lock onto the first rock or pebble that comes into my proximity. It can also be blocked out by barriers or wards, but it trades off with being able to seek out very specific objects as well. Unfortunately it cannot seek out specific people, but it can seek out a type of living creature such as ‘human’, ‘vampire’, or ‘succubus’ - with the same proximity rule.”

“That’s incredibly useful.” Athela said promptly, her own curiosity obviously peaked.

“Agreed.” Allie muttered while sitting in a chair made of bones and looking down into the abyssal drop. She gestured towards the downwards spiral. “Can’t we just fly down the middle?”

“I would highly recommend that you not try.” Lillith replied with a shake of her head, long black hair flowing out behind her. “Unless you want to get swarmed by the creatures nesting on the underside. It would likely slow us down far more than if we just took the staircase, where hives are less common.”

“And what about your other abilities?” Riven pressed, more enthusiastic about the beholder demon’s seeker abilities than he was outwardly letting on. He could now very much see why Lillith had picked this particular demon as his fill-in for the trek down. “Mind explaining them as well?”

“Certainly. First I would like to point out that my Observant trait, combined with my Scoped Vision trait, allows me to pick out things at high resolution for many miles out. Even stealthed enemies have a problem hiding from my sight, though the closer they are the easier they are to spot. This helps me adjust my long ranged attacks, and concerning those - I only have long ranged attacks. Nightmare Bombardment is a tier 3 attack that drains most of my mana and has a long cooldown, but is a great long range area of effect explosive attack using both unholy and infernal energies. Unfortunately it also takes up a lot of space on my pillars, and until I get to E-grade I will probably be unable to learn more abilities due to the size requirement of the mana channels. Globspitter is a high speed precision attack using unholy mana that slows enemies, while Hellspitter is the same - only using flame instead, and it can apply damage-over-time burns. Nightmare Barriers are solid objects I can create with fire and unholy power, which can also be conjured at long range, and I have a basic Identify ability as well that comes with my Seeker class. I intend to upgrade it when I reach E-grade at the end of this descent, though I’m not sure what Elysium will give me for options when that happens. Did you have any specific questions, my lord?”

“Call me Riven, and no, not yet anyways.” Riven walked forward and extended a hand, but when the beholder demon gave him a confused, hesitant look - Riven explained. “Back in my old world, we shook hands to seal a deal. I’d be honored to have you on my team for a while, Narg.”

“Oh!” Narg exclaimed with a widening grin. “Of course! Forgive me! I will certainly shake your hand, great one! Here is my contract, please feel free to let me know if it is not up to standards!”

Narg latched onto Riven’s outstretched, bone and blood-silk covered hand with a tentacle a second later - just as a new notification appeared in front of Riven’s eyes.

==================================================

System Notification - Congratulations! Narg has chosen to offer you his services. You have received a demonic minion contract that you may choose to accept or decline:

Narg’s Offers:

· Acquire Narg as a familiar.

· Acquire ‘Scoped Vision’ as a trait, allowing you to see much farther and in detail when wanting to do so.

Narg’s Demands:

· No demands have been set.

· 158 Willpower requirement for initial contract

Do you accept this contract? Yes? No?

WARNING: If you choose to accept this contract, as this will

be your fourth demonic familiar. Your current class only

allows 4.

==================================================

Scratching his chin and pulling up his own status page, Riven went over whether or not he had the required Willpower to accept the contract. And indeed, he certainly did.

[Riven Thane’s Status Page:)

Level 200 (Path to E-grade underway, Soul Lattice Under Construction)

Pillar Orientations:] Unholy Foundation, Blood Specialty: Profane Cyclone (Tier 1 of The Path of Red and Black), Infernal, Death, Shadow (Subserviently linked to Blood Specialty Pillar), Sin (Gluttony)

Traits:] Race: Pureblooded Vampire (Extreme Darkness Regeneration)(Sunlight Decay)(Extreme Weakness to Silver weapons, Sun pillar, and Light pillar attacks), Primary Class: Warlock Devastator, Devastator Class Trait (physical strikes are imbued with unholy damage equal to 1% of damage being done at full mana capacity). Secondary Class slot is now open after conversion of the previous class (Harbinger of Gluttony) into a trait. Trait: Reincarnation of Gluttony, Soul Clone has taken form as Gluttony’s Maw, +20% of your status are applied as a bonus to all of your contracted minions, more will be revealed upon reaching SSS grade). Adrenaline Junky (Blood)(+15% to Agility), Gluttonous (must feed on 1 enlightened being per week to avoid stacking debuffs), Malignant Sapling (Second Realm of Malignant Prophecy is under construction), Accomplishment Title: Bloodthirsty 2 (+8% increased blood mana from corpses, +2% dmg for blood magic), Mark of the Sinner Tattoo (Passively draws in ambient energy to build up your soul at a quicker than normal pace, expedites growth and XP acquisition, increases your ability to cultivate Sin energy). MYTHIC RELATIVE RANK DISPARITY. PANU WORLD BOSS.

Abilities:] Profane Blessing of the Crow (Unholy / Blood / Shadow), Wretched Snare (Unholy), Silvertongue (Unholy), Bloody Razors → Storm Balls / Storm Razors (Blood / Shadow), Crimson Ice (Blood), Blood Lance → Sniping Profane Blood Lance (Blood / Shadow)(Tier 2), Voodoo Doll (Blood)(Tier 2), Blood Nova (Blood)(Tier 3), Hell’s Armor (Infernal), Blaze of Profane Glory (Infernal)(Tier 3), Riftwalk (Shadow), Gluttonous Sacrifice (Sin)(4999 years until cooldown is complete), Black Lightning (Shadow), Legionaries of the Blood God (Tier 2 Death / Blood), Ravenous Beetle Swarm (Sin), Farsight Banishment (Sin), Soul Clone Projections (Sin), Gluttony’s Aspect of Demonic Heritage (Tier 3 Sin), Devour (Sin)

Stats:] 1167 Strength, 1387 Sturdiness, 3183 Intelligence, 1228 Agility, 10 Luck, -51,058 Charisma, 414 Vampiric Perception, 1054 Willpower, 9 Faith

Free Stat Points: 0.

STATS PER LEVEL concerning Race, Primary Class, Secondary Class (slot currently empty), and Reincarnation of Gluttony trait distribution: +5 Strength, +8 Sturdiness, +6 intelligence, +4 Willpower, +7 Agility, +2 Perception, -6 Charisma, +46 Free Stat Points.

Minions:] Athela, Level 200 Archdemon (Unique, 3 forms, Cute Wittle Blood Weaver / Gluttonous Arshakai / Gluttonous Fae Drider)(Classless) [209 Willpower Requirement]. Azmoth, Level 200 Hellscape Brutalisk (Infernal Crusader Adept) [165 Willpower Requirement]. Fay, Level 200 Succubus (Curse Witch)[171 willpower Requirement]. Hive Totems of Bloodforged Rift Sparks [x4 totems](Lesser Artifact, Elite Tier, Level 35 Totem Swarm)[119 Willpower Requirement]. Genua, Level 200 High Elf Vampiric-Thrall (Priestess of the Blood God)[134 Willpower Requirement].

One open demonic slot is available, 3 of 4 used. 798 of 1054 Willpower used. Current amount of offered contracts: 190,457,998,252

Equipped Items:] Riven’s Happy Birthday Cloak (410 magical / miracle def, 190 physical def, Gluttony’s Guisee / Passively hide status information, Walk in the Dark / Passively increase success rate for stealth attempts), Jackal (1795 dmg, 600% mana regen, Sin / Unholy / Shadow / Death / Blood / Infernal magics +20% dmg and effectiveness, Spellcasting Range +100%, Gluttony’s AScent, Furious Storm, Portal Master, Abyssal Beastform), Messenger (1650 Def / 1010 bloodsilk def, Gluttony’s Ascent, Devour, Identifier’s Clause, Ripping Claws, Quickening Flight, +20% all base stats, +300 Strength, +600 Sturdiness, +300 Agility, +50% mana regeneration, Natural Sunlight does not affect you while wearing this suit, Liquid Breathing is bestowed upon you while wearing this suit), Witch’s Ring of Grand Casting (+26 Intelligence), Negrada’s Modified Bag of Holding]

His eyes glazed over while going over his status page in detail for the first time in a very long time. A lot had changed since he’d appeared at the base of Chalgathi’s pyramid at the beginning of integration. A lot had certainly changed… and he was certainly very proud of his own minions’ efforts to reach level 200 in the time spent here over the past few months. He doubted they’d have been able to do it so quickly without power-leveling help from others in the Church of Gluttony, and was without doubt going to somehow thank or reward the people who’d helped his minions get to where they were today.

Shifting his attention to the 158 Willpower requirement of Narg the beholder demon, and noting he had 1054 current Willpower available to him with only 798 used - obtaining Narg would put him at 956 out of 1054. It was close, but he’d be able to do it without problem. Plus, it was highly likely that Narg would only be a temporary fit - unless he proved to be invaluable in upcoming days during the descent down into the abyss.

[Congratulations! You have accepted Narg’s offer to acquire him as a new demonic servant. Narg’s information has been added to your status page.]

A flash of lightning connected Riven and Narg a split second later, and he felt the bond form. Mentally commanding Messenger to peel itself back off of his chest, the gluttonous maw there opened to reveal another, fourth pentagram on Riven’s sternum just beneath the pentagrams of a spider, teeth, and wings that symbolized the three other demons he had. Now, in the center of the fourth pentagram, was the sigil of an eyeball surrounded by seven other smaller eyeballs.

“Thank you my lord, for giving me a chance!” Narg squealed excitedly, bobbing up and down and causing Riven to laugh a little guiltily.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He knew Narg knew this was a temporary thing, but he was certain the beholder demon had high hopes that Riven would change his mind.

Riven doubted that would come to pass even despite the unique class Narg had, but that was still up in the air and to be determined.

[You have collected 4 demons and have reached level 200 as a Warlock Devastator. You now qualify for-]

Just as the new notification’s script was writing itself out in the hologram, it vanished with a blip of purple energy - and Gluttony’s maw appeared beside Riven to open vertically in the air.

“Elysium’s temptations can wait until we have ascended.” Gluttony said, as the area around them went dead silent in reverence. The bantering between Fay and Athela fell off, Narg’s excited celebrations abruptly halted, the talks about techniques in necromancy between Allie and Retesh silenced, and Nora’s questions concerning Azmoth’s horns slowed to a quick halt when the original sin made its appearance.

There was a distinct air of relaxation with the others whenever it was just Riven, he realized, but when Gluttony’s soul clone visage appeared - even his two lovers became nervous in the presence of the maw.

Only Lillith was not affected by Gluttony’s presence.

“Master.” Lillith said, bowing politely and smiling Gluttony’s way. “It is not often that you poke out of your reincarnation’s vessel. Usually when wanting to speak to Riven or I, you do so by way of thought. To what do we owe the honor?”

Gluttony gnashed its teeth twice, then chomped on another notification that tried to repeat itself-

[You have collected 4 demons and have reached level 200 as a Warlock Devastator. You-]

The hologram shattered when Gluttony’s teeth snapped onto it.

“I want to make clear that Elysium is trying to goad us into taking a deal now, concerning our class evolutions. And possibly, concerning our secondary class.” Gluttony replied without turning from Riven. “Do not take the deals Elysium offers us until we have ascended into the E-grade. Otherwise we will be hamstringing our potential growth, and I have high hopes for cultivating both separate warlock and melee classes whenever we finally arrive at the lowest level of the descent.”

“Both, eh?” Riven commented, unsurprised.

Gluttony nodded. “Both. You would hold sway over the path of the caster and warlock, while I take charge of our secondary class.”