Reborn to Devour: A Demonic LitRPG

The artificial sunlight that filled the bloodied chamber was swallowed by the staircase as the steps ahead disappeared from view. Though there were large windows in the stone, chiseled long ago by hand or magic, only impenetrable darkness could be seen outside.

Yoshitsune led the way; a lack of vision not posing a major problem for one who hadn’t seen in centuries. Her steps were uneven and labored as though the next step would send her tumbling forward. The dampened regeneration and rationed potions prevented her from returning to peak condition. I placed a hand onto her good shoulder to match her pace and pull her back in case she actually lost her footing.

Behind me, a fuzzy hand held my tail like an unruly toddler. Herzblatt trailed in the rear; their numerous phrases of faith and destiny seemed to quiet down after seeing the violent results of abandoning us. I wanted to lash him with my tail a few times so that the weeping wounds would make up for the action that they missed. Yet, against grating teeth, I held back. There was better use in the future for Herzblatt, especially if Yoshitsune was to recover before our next encounter with fellow demons.

I heard the sound of rocks clattering and Yoshitsune’s body quickly slipped from my hand. I swiftly moved my hand down and grabbed her before she fell through whatever pitfall lay in front of us.

“Stairs end,” she announced weakly as she dangled in my grasp. “It feels like it’s about eighteen shaku to the floor.”

“What?” I asked.

“It’s a bit far, but we won’t die,” Yoshitsune answered.

I pulled Yoshitsune up and held her against my chest like a squirming cat. Taking Yoshitsune for her word, I jumped through the hole, fell for a handful of seconds, and impacted the stones beneath me. My ankles and knees popped under the weight of the fall but I was not affected beyond that.

“Are you in good health?” I heard Herzblatt’s meek voice ask from above me. I could hear the soft sounds of sniffing as they tried to detect the odor of blood.

“It’s not a pleasant fall, but it isn’t bad,” I responded as I released Yoshitsune. The demon took a couple steps away and seemed to be holding a displeased distance away from me. “What, did you want me to catch you when you leapt?”

Condemning silence came from above as Herzblatt leapt down. His descent was far less jarring than mine, but that did not prevent an involuntary groan of pain to leave their lips.

An awkward pause enveloped us. We had transported ourselves from a dark staircase to a dark room. Now that things had opened up considerably, relying on Yoshitsune’s vision was no longer a tactic that we could rely on. And, with her focus strained by pain, I worried that a competent ambush would find us all within an inch of our lives.

“Do you have anything that can help us see?” I asked in the direction of the landing.

Without answer, the fire of a lantern appeared to bathe the room in uneven light. It swiped back and forth across the room to uncover all the secrets within and caused my eyes to water when it passed by my face.

There was little of interest within the room itself; another ruined chamber within a ruined tower. However, the obliterated wall that led to the next area seemed to be of more interest.

We reached a balcony without a railing that hung over a massive hole nearly the entire width of the tower. The balcony formed a ring that was originally a solid slab of rock. Time had scythed out large chunks of stone to ensure that being an Olympic long jumper was the only way to navigate around. When peering over, the light could not penetrate the darkness. We could not even see if there were other platforms below.

“Do you know how far down this goes?” I asked Herzblatt, hoping that the priest had managed to memorize the crucial details.

“For a long way,” Herzblatt replied. “A deadly way. Even if we had wings, magic forces would rip them apart and send us straight to the bottom. And, we will have to hurry. While no water will reach here, those that reach the bottom first will receive a boon.”

“Then how do we get down?” Yoshitsune wondered.

“In the brief, the only way down is by leaping down one of these gaps and hoping that you hit the next platform,” Herzblatt answered. As he explained, a new look of joy covered his face. “There is no way to find out which is correct. Light will not reach it and the stone will not reflect sound. I dare say that the only way to reach the bottom is to jump with the full belief that it is God’s will that you reach the bottom. It is a leap of faith.”

This was the first instance I had heard of a Dungeon relying on luck as opposed to skill. Worse still, like a pair of jumper cables to a rusted pick-up, Herzblatt’s zealotry was reignited by talks of will and predetermination.

“Does that mean our path is anywhere as long as we trust that it is?” Yoshitsune questioned with a fair bit of judgment.

“Of course it does,” Herzblatt affirmed cheerily. “The holes to either side of us are equal in all ways except for the result. And, while both may lead us to safety for this leap, one may doom us eventually, cutting us off from the safe path as soon as we start. As God’s children, we are all equal and should have equal opportunities.”

As though on cue from a demonic director, a shrill scream of an ill-fated leap shook the walls and told us all the realities of Herzblatt’s words. It was a lottery, plain and simple. If there was no skill to the game, then trying to figure out what lies beneath it was pointless. So, the only thing that I could do was take the first leap and deny the dog the satisfaction of leading us by his own interpretation of faith.

And so I chose one.

“Wait!” Herzblatt shouted, giving me great joy that I did not choose according to their own preferences.

That smile then faded as the wind whipped by my ears and I was filled with a feeling of déjà vu. It felt like so very long ago that I tumbled through the darkness between life and death to find myself within Hell. And, as the seconds dragged on and I was increasingly convinced that I immediately blundered in my decision, I expected that my vision would see that same realm I witnessed as my body burned.

A bone creaking thud bounced me off the stone below and sent sprawling. Though the landing hurt like getting kicked by a horse, my health had not reduced and new symbols did not appear.

A correct decision, for now.

Yoshitsune and Herzblatt arrived together after about a minute and in curious darkness. They also landed with a loud squishing sound like someone shooting fruit out of a cannon at a brick wall. After a second or so, Herzblatt’s lantern turned back on.

“I must pay compliments where compliments are due,” Herzblatt stated with a smirk. “I did not realize that your faith was so strong. While it wasn’t the choice that I would have made, this too will turn out to have been my destiny all along. I thank God for this trial.”

I sighed, defeated in the same way as trying to build an immortal sandcastle. The wave of faith was always going to arrive to destroy my handiwork. With my fun ruined, I went to check on Yoshitsune, however, she continued to be a bit evasive.

“Are you alright?” I asked as I tried to look for any injuries.

“I’m fine,” she asserted and hopped away into the darkness. It was impressive how acutely aware she was of what was visible and invisible to my eyes.

Then, without warning, the light disappeared and Herzblatt took the initiative by jumping into the gap behind us. Left in the dark and not keen on making the exact step into a freefall a surprise, I reached my hand out towards the direction I believed Yoshitsune to be.

“Will you help me get down?” I asked.

With reluctant touch as though she were a child trying to move a spider, Yoshitsune took my hand and we walked together. I felt a squeeze and we both stopped, what I assumed to be, just short of the drop.

“Ready?” She asked.

“Yes,” I replied as we both took the step off the edge and into oblivion.

For some reason, the fall feels longer when you are with someone else. Or maybe it is only when there is a strange vibe. It was like riding home in the truck with your girlfriend right after you had a heated argument over forgetting to get reservations for Valentine’s dinner so you had to go with your second option but an old classmate is a server there and your girlfriend is self-conscious because she hasn’t gotten back in shape yet after having your son so she couldn’t order the entrée that she wanted and instead got a salad. Not that I would know from experience.

While I was still thinking about what had gone wrong, we landed on the stone to be greeted by Herzblatt’s light.

“Next time, how about we all jump together?” I suggested with a hiss.

“I think that would be smart,” Herzblatt admitted with a bit of shame that he had not considered offering warning.

As I rose to my feet, I could feel the temperature around me drop as my fingers grew numb from the cold. Rising…lowering? Coming from below us, four specters hovered into view. White robes were draped over their thin, blue-tinged bodies as they whispered in a long dead language at the intruders that intended to plunder their resting place.

“Alright, priest, kill them,” I ordered as I stepped back and out of the way for Herzblatt.

Without sparing me ever a courtesy glance, Herzblatt tossed me the lantern. I had to juggle it like a wide receiver to keep it from shattering on the rocks. With a grumble, I acted as the light operator in a school play and allowed our protagonist priest to heroically face down the enemies.

A crossbow appeared in Herzblatt’s hand as bolts of golden light pierced the bodies of the floating specters. It took two bolts to each spirit to turn them into dust that crumbled skywards. Two died in this manner before one closed in while the other shot a tiny blizzard in our direction.

While Herzblatt slashed at one with their sword, a flash of lightning briefly blinded me. In that split second, I could barely see the opposite side of the tower to truly appreciate just how large around it truly was. When I opened my eyes, the remaining specters were gone and Herzblatt was staring at Yoshitsune with a confused expression.

“I’m cold,” she explained, feeling that I was looking right at her.

“You’re allowed to help if you want,” I answered as I felt oddly pressured by her tone. “Just don’t waste too much of your power since we will not be helped in kind.”

“Still, I appreciate it,” Herzblatt said thankfully. “I don’t think we should waste time on these things. Keep a hold of that light, I’m not sure how many more there will be the rest of the way.”