All the cockroaches attacked me at once. They tore me with their mandibles, pincers and powerful sharp legs, burned me with acid and tried to swallow me, but the show was soon over. I worked my fists along with flashes of Sleeping Vindication and Plague Fury. Both resource reservoirs filled up practically instantly, and not so much from the barakatas’ attacks, but from the growing debuff of the acid rain.
By the end of the battle with the cockroaches, I’d transformed into a skeleton with shattered bones and a hole in the skull, as if one of the barakatas had trepanned me in the fight. The final score was in my favor, though: li-o and two new levels.
Fou leveled up! Current level: 565.
You leveled up! Current level: 566.
10 free attribute points available!
Resilience (rank II) level increased: +6. Current level: 54.
I put the points into endurance. The test fight showed that I could bring the others here—we could definitely farm experience. All I had to do now was make sure my friends would survive.
I returned to the center of the place of power, activated Isis’ Blessing.
With a rising whistle, fresh air began to flow from the artifact in waves. A column of air rose and began to grow wider, breaking through the flint clouds and letting in sunlight. I could smell the sea, pine needles and freshly cut grass.
The debuff disappeared. The acid rain hit an invisible wall at the edge of the artifact’s area of effect and streamed down. Fine weather reined supreme in a fifty-yard radius. The activity beneath my feet stopped—no geysers or beams of light. Ordinary green grass began to grow from the sieve-like holes in the ground.
I was ready to bring in the six Awoken and three Yoruba for grinding, but there was still one question left undecided. The taming of the Montosaurus so impressed the sewer trolls and cultists of Morena that they burned with a desire to stand up in defense of the temple of the Sleeping Gods. Of course, I refused them. I didn’t want to lose them in an uneven battle. But Behemoth intervened. It is sacrilege to deny them the chance to protect what they believe in, he said. I didn’t presume to argue with him. I just hoped I’d be able to decide the outcome of the battle before my allies got involved. Incidentally, I still needed to somehow get them to the desert, but I was relying on the Goblin League to get that done.
Anyway, since the names of Crawler, Infect and Bomber were now known to all, it would be silly to refuse their help too. So just one question remained: how we could survive in battle with the desert’s burning debuff after Tiamat turned us human again.
* * *
It was nighttime in Alaska, but dawn was breaking in the Lakharian Desert. Four sat around a fire of broken barrels at the foot of the temple. Ripta held a small barrel with holes in the bottom and poured wine from it into his mouth. Anf drew on a huge hand-rolled cigarette and smoke billowed from between his armor plates. Flaygray and Nega—the only ones demonstrating an attack of civilized behavior—swigged dwarven ale from bottles with broken necks. Sharkon’s body stood stark against the dawning sky.
“May the Sleepers never wake, boss,” Flaygray croaked, picking himself up. “You’re a little… underdressed. And… chewed-up!”
“Oh, so I am!” I blushed, removed my Legate’s Crown and reequipped the ColdBlooded Punisher set.
“Hey, boss, you shoulda stayed naked. At least that’s some entertainment!” Nega giggled. “This is the second time we’ve seen you in one day. That’s not like you.”
“Actually, we saw each other yesterday when we captured the castle,” I said, although for me, it was still the same day.
“Khaya bo!” Ripta squawked.
“Am I hearing things?” I stared at the raptor in surprise. “Ripta speaks Common now?”
“He tries,” Flaygray coughed. “The bug too, although I swear on Azmodan’s cock, no matter what he tries to say, I just hear nails on a blackboard!”
Anf answered with a loud grinding chitter that I recognized as laughter.
The succubus embraced me with her tail and kissed me on the cheek. A dead woman kissing a dead man—what a great advert for the new faction. Come join us, be a part of the Destroying Plague, see the world and meet beautiful… uhm… sentient women of other races!
“How are you guys doing?”
“Calm before the storm, boss. Nobody’s trying the temple again, but look over there…” The succubus pointed. “See anything?”
“Desert, dunes… and the air is shimmering…? What’s happening over there?”
“The enemy mages have erected a defensive barrier. Crash and Sharkon tried to break through to sow some chaos—it didn’t work. They’re preparing something, boss. And I don’t like it. Don’t worry, I’m not panicking. We won’t raise the alarm until the time comes. But you should keep your guard up.” Nega shook her epic comm amulet, given to her so that she could tell me if an attack began. “And in this world, boss.”
“I will. Our enemies are preparing for an attack that could begin at any moment. So keep your eyes open.”
“Let ’em try!” Nega raised her fist at an imaginary enemy. “Shame we can’t summon a couple of higher demons here. The help wouldn’t hurt…”
Ripta heard her, squawked something and laughed.
“We’ll be the ones hiding from helpers like that,” Flaygray translated, chuckling. “What’s new, Scyth?”
“Nothing much. Been to visit Holdest and Terrastera. And I got a new pet. You’ll like him.”
“Going to introduce us?”
“You’ve already met. I know Nega will say that size matters, but don’t worry, he growls back to his old size in combat.”
I summoned the Montosaurus. Made smaller by Behemoth, the former beast god looked at the guards disapprovingly and uttered a terrible roar.
“He’s meowing! So cute!” The succubus clapped her hands and danced over to stroke the Montosaurus
