The air vibrated, buzzed, but in Clarity I couldn’t hear the demon’s howls of agony. I kept striking at the slimy demonic flesh beneath my feet until the boss had less than 0.1% health left — around half a million.
Without slowing down, I shot to the gate and made my allies resurrect.
Hellfish was the first to speak:
“Holy shit, Scyth!”
“The boss is all around us!” I shouted. “Less than one percent! Get that bastard!”
The people around me started making noise, talking in surprise — not everyone figured out what was happening.
“Get the boss!” Quetzal shouted, getting his bearings. “Scyth, here!”
A raid invite popped up in my interface. I joined the group and the boss’s health rose proportionally to seven million — a piece of cake!
“What are you waiting for?!” I shouted. “Abaddon isn’t going to kill himself!”
The fighters didn’t waste any time, but the crafters just looked around wide-eyed. Hellfish roared out commands and physically pushed them to action. The crafters started to get the picture, attacked the demonic flesh. Bloomer and his sabers tore toward a growing arm of Abaddon and broke into a battle dance, not forgetting to recite his morale-boosting poems.
“Where’s the boss?” Meister squeaked.
“Everywhere!” Quetzal barked.
Grinning, the jeweler sat down and started hacking away at the demonic flesh beneath his feet. It sprayed out fountains of smoking red-brown blood. Nobu the chef fired his boomerang into the wall, caught it on the return and threw it again. The ranged attackers fired wildly in all directions, dealing noticeable damage to the boss. The meleers worked their blades, sending scraps of slimy flesh flying. Kara’s ice magic crackled in the air. My ears rang to the explosions of Joker’s bombs. With a piercing cry, Anna threw her spears at the living wall. Even the healers Michelle and Alison abandoned their normal responsibilities and did all they could to add to the damage.
I waited a second for everyone to hit at least once, then fired off a full Combo, but the boss survived with three hundred thousand health and even managed to grab Niceguy the ogre in two hands and take away a quarter of his life. Another hand strangled Destiny. Then I swung my arm back and launched a Talon-strengthened Hammerfist with all my might into the swelling, burning flesh. The Tenderhearted Demon Fighter buff canceled out the damage, I struck again and…
Hundreds of demonic mouths emitted a wailing scream, deafening at first, then steadily fading. In the dead silence left behind, the only sound was Meister’s daggers clanking against the floor. Then the boss’s lair erupted with triumphant cries of joy!
Abaddon the Destroyer, level 666 Gate Guardian, is dead.
Victory! You are the champion of Demonic Games XIX!
Contestant Herald Scyth! You and your allied contestants — silver ranger Destiny, destroyer Quetzal, sniper Hellfish, sculptor Anna, singer Michelle, jeweler Meister, poet Bloomer, templar Alison, mage Kara, archer Yen, hunter Koba, alchemist Niceguy, chef Nobu and engineer Joker — have protected Disgardium from a demonic invasion by winning the Demonic Games!
The boss’s flesh collapsed from the walls into ash, liberated souls and spirits shot into the ceiling in multicolored lances of light, and a warming, calming music of the heavens rained down on us. Sinful souls flowed downwards in black veins, seeping into the floor, which then cleared up, transforming into colorful patterned tile.
Dropping to one knee and lowering my head, I felt my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest. I wanted to jump and scream: We did it! It worked! We won! — but I was too exhausted.
All the same, I wasn’t allowed to rest. My allies, realizing that I hadn’t betrayed them, threw their arms around me. Quetzal tried to lift me up, but couldn’t, and then everyone just jumped on me and nearly crushed me. I even thought for a moment that they were trying to get rid of me!
“He’s still a son of a bitch!” Bloomer shouted, grinning and mussing my hair.
“Our son of a bitch!” Meister piped up.
Once they all calmed down, we had time to go through the flood of notifications:
Unlocked legendary achievement First Kill: Abaddon the Destroyer!
You are the first in the world to kill the final boss of the Demonic Games! You faced Abaddon the Destroyer, higher demon and general in the army of Belial, Prince of the Inferno. You destroyed the general’s incarnation in the Cursed Chasm, and Abaddon has been cast back to the Inferno.
Reward: to be determined when you leave the Cursed Chasm and return to your real body.
Unlocked legendary achievement True Champion of the Demonic Games!
You defeated Abaddon, level 666 Gate Guardian and final boss of the Demonic Games.
Reward: to be determined when you leave the Cursed Chasm and return to your real body.
Unlocked legendary achievement First Ever: True Champion of the Demonic Games!
You have earned the True Champion of the Demonic Games achievement for the first time in the history of Disgardium!
Reward: to be determined when you leave the Cursed Chasm and return to your real body.
A burning portal opened in the center of the cage. The stately elf king Eynyon stepped out of it, accompanied by his retinue and children. The monarch smiled:
“Lionhearts! Champions! Truly, on this bright day for all Disgardium, you great heroes are worthy of the entire royal family bringing you home! Please…”
He took Destiny by the arms, the elf queen took me and Quetzal, their many children took the rest, and we walked through the portal…
But instead of the elven kingdom in big Dis, we were thrown out to real life.
“What about the reward?” I shouted, thinking I was being taken for a ride.
But when I
