NOVEL SIMPLE Volume 3 – Chapter 30
Time slowed...
I looked at Jakub. He was not a man prone to anger or violence, despite his circumstances and history. I could tell he was a gentle man at heart. A man who had seen too much suffering. He was an elf of compassion. He cared deeply about his friends and his family and loved his people and his tribe. But when the time called for it, he could be ruthless.
When he saw his people slaughtered, he felt anger. Not only anger, but hatred. He wanted to kill.
To avenge his dearest dead, he beheaded Fumi, and with one clean sweep of his blade, he took the head of the abomination that had pretended to be a friend and a sister to him. The same creature that lured him and his men to their deaths and then laughed and joked about it with her mother.
The mother was a Demon Lord, and my companion, Elisa.
As I watched her pump away on her cock in slow motion, I could feel nothing but pity.
The images of her monstrous, indecent body filled my mind. Her slimy latex skin, her long legs, her slender fingers and her cold ruby eyes. The figure of a young girl, warped by perversion and evil, being crushed by her very own stunted mind. A mind that I thought was beautiful when I first peered into it. I still thought it was beautiful, but it was a mind that was too fragile and too weak. She couldn’t bear the weight of her power. She couldn’t understand her own strength. She was a broken thing. She was a broken vessel. And I had to fix her.
Or kill her.
I had six title skills at my disposal. I focused and reviewed their descriptions:
(Abyssal)Champion: Inspires an abyssal creature. Target will gain a boost to STR, DEX, CON, INT, AGI, CHA, LUK matching that of the user. If the user’s stat is lower than the target, a boost of two levels will be applied. Can be applied to only one target at a time.
(Domain)Control: Creates a meta-conceptual bubble around the user. Size and available parameters of space depend on the MP used.
(Eye)Convert: Converts any being below user’s level into an abyssal creature. Target’s alignment remains unchanged. Target’s permission required.
(Re)Construct: Regenerates the user’s body and HP at the cost of MP.
(Re)Coalesce (passive): Passively recharges the user’s MP over time. Amount regained depends on the user’s level.
(Mind)Channel: Telepathically communicate with any being within a certain range.
The Champion skill was active.
This was how Jakub was able to move that fast and kill the Succubus.
I had to use the Convert skill to save him and Myshka before Elisa could truly kill them. I sensed that she, indeed, could do that. Tomiko was already in dire straits.
I also had the Mind Channel skill to coordinate our actions and to communicate my intent.
But first... to buy some time:
(Domain)Control
Mid-stroke, with her eyes already burning with the rage of a nuclear explosion, Elisa was replaced with an obsidian sphere. I only encased her inside. I could feel her power pushing away at any attempts to manipulate her form, so I settled on that.
“Hero, what... What are you doing?!” Jakub asked in confusion as he looked at the orb momentarily floating, before crashing and rolling on the remains of the flooring.
“She can’t die here,” I explained. “I desire for her to live.“
“So it’s true! You were in league with this Demon Lord! You used us!”
“I’m not in league with Elisa,” I said flatly “Now all of you, shut up and listen.”
(Mind)Channel (Jakub + Myshka)
Yakub, I need you to calm down. You are alive because I have given you life, and that means your life is now mine to take away. Do you understand? Now, I will give you an opportunity to achieve your goals. I will take on Demon Lord Elisa. Grab the Shadow. Her name is Tomiko, by the way, and get as far as you can, as fast as your feet will carry you, well away from this place.
Understood.
Well, well, you’re being surprisingly compliant, Jakub, are you alright?
Hero, your words resound to the depths of my soul and I understand your intentions perfectly. My heart feels light and free of doubt for the first time in a long time.
Ah, that’s good. I’m glad you’re not too angry with me.
Angry? Hero, I’m not angry with you at all. I’m just grateful.
What? Why? You just learned your entire village was consumed... wiped out by Elisa and your men slaughtered. You should be at least upset with me.
It wasn’t your fault.
Excuse me... Hero?
Myshka, what is it?
I’m not upset with you either.
I could tell that much from the fact that you haven’t left my side.
I don’t blame you for anything, Hero.
You should. This is all because of me.
Hero...
To more pressing matters. We have little time. Perhaps you can feel it, but in the sliver of a moment our conversation has progressed, so has Elisa’s escape. You can feel the heat from the orb can you not?
Yes...
I’ve never felt fear like this, even though I’ve accepted my fate and death once before...
So you understand. There’s no escape for you both. So I need you to become something which can escape, and take Tomiko with you. I promise you she bought no harm to your people.
Hero, we’re both already transformed by your powers. You will do with as you wish, anyway...
That is true Jakub. I guess I was merely thinking out loud in your heads. But I will not lie. I need your consent.
I see. So that is why I feel no fear. I’m ready to obey.
I’m ready too, Hero.
Good, now brace yourselves.
I can feel Elisa’s power pushing against the surface of her solid prison, her tentacles and limbs writhing and coiling inside. We have little time, questions and answers shall come later.
(Eye)Convert
(Eye)Convert
[Targets Jake and Myshka have consented. Commencing conversion to abyssal creatures. Type to be determined upon completion.]
A white light enveloped the two elves for the briefest of moments, and then the changes began. The white light transformed into a black aura, warping and dissipating like mist.
Thousands of whispers emanated from both their forms as their silhouettes dropped to their knees, their hands grasping at their heads in agony. A synchronised “Ahhhh!!!” echoed across the room as they fell on their sides and convulsed violently. Their bones snapped and cracked as they were twisted and reshaped. Their skin rippled and morphed like a liquid and their blood spewed from every pore.
Myshka’s long hair unraveled. Her body was becoming more and more slender, without gaining in height or age, parts of her became more... mature. Atop her rippling ribs rested a tremendous pair of breasts. Her black skin was like that of a snake, cursed crossed with indented patterns resembling floral lace. From her wrists and ankles a fabric grew to cover her petite body and disproportionate bosom in a gothic-style outfit, a matching bonnet sprouting from her hair. She resembled Tomiko in some ways now. A “shadow”.
Jakub on the other hand, was undergoing a more dramatic metamorphosis. As his body transformed into something else entirely, his hair was the first to fall away in clumps, then chunks of his flesh. His bones melted like plastic, his joints twisted and bent backwards, his fingernails turned into sharp, black claws. His ears, elongating and fanning outward, his teeth sharpened and elongated. In the opening conveniently created by Elisa, his entire frame inflated like a cancerous growth, looming above us.
A pair of iridescent black wings erupted from his back and he grew a long spiked tail tipped with a stinger. He was a “shadow” as well now. A shadow of what he was before. A grotesque imitation of an angel. An angel that fell from heaven. A blue-eyed dragon. Not a very large one, only as tall as five men... with an agility build. Every twitch of his muscles told me he was FAST.
The two were still screaming in pain and agony as their bodies completed their violent and grotesque transformation, their voices morphing along into the rumbling roars of a dragon, and the moans of a...
[Conversion completed.]
[New world class unlocked: Abyssal Venom Dragon]
[New world class unlocked: Abyssal Doom Ent]
Hmm... Myshka turned into a tree? She doesn’t look like one to me. Quite curious, but not inappropriate for someone so connected to the forested.
(Mind)Channel (Jakub)
Apologies for the pain. The predecessor of this ability wasn’t as... dramatic.
Pay no mind. I don’t feel anything anymore. This new body of mine is quite something. I’m going to enjoy this. I will crush this Demon Lord and take revenge for our people!
Jakub, no. You will do as I say. I need you to take Myshka and Tomiko and flee.
But I must avenge my fallen comrades and family! To bring justice into this foul world! To tear it down and rebuild it!
I thought we had an understanding...
That was when I was just a man! But now that I have this powerful form, I have no choice but to fight! I can’t run away from this battle! You have to let me fight!!
Jakub’s mind was burning with the fires of righteous anger. His thoughts were like a raging storm. It was a wonder he could communicate at all.
You will obey me. You are still too weak to take on a Demon Lord. If you can’t get over yourself, I’ll have to destroy you here and now.
I am not afraid of you! I have nothing to fear! I have been granted a new life! And this is what I shall do with it!
This was a pointless back-and-forth. He was too stubborn to see reason. Talk about flip-flopping. Talk about annoying.
(Mind)Channel (Myshka)
Grab Tomiko and take control of Jakub. You’re taking off now.
Y-yes Hero...
“M-Myshka?! What are you d-doing?! When did you get so strong? Unhand me! I need to fight this monster! I need to kill her!“ roared Jakub.
The floral patterns on Myshka’s skin and dress turned into vines that coiled around the dragon and Tomiko. Her outrageous breasts shrunk as more and more sleek, snake-skin covered vines enveloped her cargo.
Jakub probably could have gotten away with his newfound speed, but he clearly had not adjusted to his new form... unlike Myshka.
She pulled Jake’s massive frame and the limp Tomiko towards her—inside.
“I won’t let you go! I’m too strong! You can’t stop... me?—“
Myshka’s vines rapidly formed into layers around the group and turned into something resembling those balls of rubber bands I was always curious in my previous life, but didn’t want to touch, for some reason.
“I-I’ll be going now Hero, p-please take care!!” a girlish voice called out from within the ball.
I waved as the ball rolled away, shattering through whatever pathetic remains of the building that still retained any concept of “upright”.
She picked up speed and reached the horizon in a few seconds, leaving a trail of devastated and broken trees behind. I guess Myshka had no qualms about harming her “own kind”?
So many questions, so little-
“Time,” I said to myself.
“HEROOOOOOOO!!!” Elisa’s piercing scream echoed across the evening sky as the orb shattered, shooting shrapnel in every direction.