Chapter 38: Demons Listen to Human Bodies

An hour into the grind and Liam realised he was happy. Once his initial anxiety at battling the dangerous-looking giants had passed, he could relax and enjoy the sight of his EXP bar filling up steadily. His quests complete score was rising steadily too, currently on 11 from the 30 needed for his dark green rank. A full day here killing griffons, wyverns and storm giants would see him not only achieve a new ranking, but he’d probably hit level 20 too. Together, those achievements would boost his skills to level 5.

Level 20. It was a very pleasant feeling to think he was closing in on his dream. When he won a place in Trinity College, Liam had resolved to work hard and be at least Level 20 on graduation. The unexpected turn that his life had taken thanks to buying a packet of crisps from the back of a vending machine had already brought him close to that goal. And, without wanting to tempt fate, the assistance of the demon meant Kate, Aengus and Liam could all keep going, keep levelling. He honestly had no idea where to pitch his dreams now, Level 40? Level 50? That would be in the top five per cent of adventurers and he’d be able to work for any of the big companies. Could he even dream of being 100? But no, best push that thought aside, it was too far. Like dreaming of being a black belt in a martial art after getting just one lesson.

It helped Liam’s high spirits that the sun was bright and the views were spectacular. To stand on the walls of the castle in the clouds, like Jack the Giant Killer from his first children’s books was a memorable experience. Far below them, like the view from an aeroplane, was the realm of Pommerstein. Unlike viewing Ireland from above, only a small area of land was marked out with the green, yellow, and brown rectangles of farmed fields. These formed an uneven circle around the walls of the town. Whereas in Ireland, farms covered the land almost completely, here most of the terrain below was wild: forests, rivers, hills. There were adventures to be had down there too. Liam could see towers, groves in the forests, ruined mansions, and on one of the largest hills was ancient stone circle bigger than Stonehenge.

Perhaps in a break to replenish mana he would get out the Telescope of Revelation and have a good look around.

Ahead of him, Aengus had pulled a giant and its griffon companion. Intoxicating Scent from Lord Azanth halted them both, with Liam’s Thunderclap skill reinforcing the effect. Kate broke the stun on the griffon – they always left the giants to last in case of having pulled a rare caster-type – with a Magic Missile and Aengus brought the winged monster closer while the giant remained rooted to the ground, his body swaying.

Freeze at about twenty metres worked to hold up the griffon for a barrage of two more Magic Missiles and Ki Shock Wave, after which it sprang forward again, only to be engulfed in Lord Azanth’s Intoxicating Scent and held up for another round of damaging spells. One more cycle of Freeze followed by two Magic Missiles and a Ki Shock Wave killed the griffon. Because the take-down of the griffon had been under seven seconds, the giant stunned by Intoxicating Scent was only now coming around. It had a bewildered expression.

So far, not one of the mobs had been able to land a blow on anyone and Liam had no regrets about the camp they had chosen. True, it took a bit of effort to get to the castle in the sky and set up, but once you were here and in a safe spot for pulls, you could progress as fast as your mana held up.

The only difficulty in their otherwise consistent progress along the castle wall was sometimes they encountered a cloud giant who stayed still and summoned lightning strikes. These mobs could inflict damage from range and if they were allowed to do so, would possibly even force the group to give up on the grind and run for their lives. The threat wasn’t as dangerous as it might have been though. For a start, if Liam timed Thunderclap correctly and Lord Azanth used his stun in rotation, they could interrupt the enemy in the process of summoning the lightning while Aengus and Kate burned through their mana on offensive skills (including Kate’s new Fireball). It was more mana efficient though, that the Chief of Spies stepped out of the shadows and cut down the giant with two or three swift strikes of her dual-wielded katana.

Every time she did this, Liam’s heart beat faster and he almost welcomed the moments when a giant paused to begin summoning lightning, because he knew he’d see her again. It was strange that her demonic appearance, not to mention a pair of horns, did not detract from how lithe and attractive was the Chief of Spies. In fact, those inhuman purple eyes were definitely part of her appeal.

After the next appearance of the Chief of Spies, once the assassinated storm giant toppled over to bring her fully into view, Liam gave the demon a wave and was heartened when for a moment she looked over at him. Seconds later she was gone, effectively invisible, so high-level was her hiding skill. Unfortunately, Aengus also saw the wave and his younger brother grinned and shook his head.

‘Out of your league. And she’s only interested in humans for all the wrong reasons.’

Kate chuckled, having missed nothing. And Liam suffered a pang of regret. Why did he behave like a fool around the Chief of Spies?

When speaks a human, then that person does not think. We demons learn to listen to the bodies of the human, the different parts of which clamour to be heard and which do the real thinking behind the shuffling of words.

Are you trying to comfort me or mock me? Either way, I wish you wouldn’t.

Do not feel that you are a fool. You are no more so than any other human.

It took a dozen more monster battles and the completion of the five-wyvern quest before Liam’s equilibrium was restored and he felt cheerful again by the time they took a break for food. The farmers of Pommerstein had a meal for eating while in the fields, which was a pastry like an apple slice but with cheese inside. They had purchased a dozen before setting out for the castle in the clouds and what with the fresh air and constant fighting, Liam found it hard to limit himself to just two. There were hours of grinding ahead though, so he resisted taking a third.

‘How’s the experience?’ he asked Kate.

‘Good. Half way to eighteen.’

‘Same here. I’m nearly nineteen. I think I’ll be twenty before sunset.

‘It is excellent progress.’ The Chief of Spies was squatting on her haunches nearby. ‘Yet my lord must strike far sooner than the years it would take for you to reach Level Hundred. We must plan to use the information you have obtained.’

‘You mean about Earl Clarence releasing the titans?’ Aengus looked up from his pastry.

‘I mean this. And Lady Liseth.’

‘You have a plan already?’ asked Liam.

The demon smiled a wicked smile. She had the kind of gloating expression that stripped away all of Liam’s giddy feelings for her. That was the kind of expression you would see on a demon above you, while you were being lowered towards a pool of lava. 'Entrapment.'

‘Go on?’ said Kate.

‘Neither of them are as smart as they think they are. They will underestimate those who they see as merely children. Low level children. You must lure them into confessing their actions and the confession must be heard by someone whose word is never in doubt.’

‘Sounds like a plan all right,’ Aengus wrapped up the half of his pastry he hadn’t finished and handed it to Liam, who had the satchel of food. ‘But even if we somehow got those two to blurt out their guilt, who do we know that would be believed when they deny saying anything of the sort?’

‘Mithelasin.’

O, admirable cunning from my most ingenious of followers.

‘Lord Azanth approves,’ said Liam, ‘but I don’t know. I’ve learned not to believe in anyone. How do you know Mithelasin isn’t just the same as Earl Clarence? Another person who claims to be moral but is only good insofar as it serves him to be good.

There was a touch of scorn in the demon’s eyes when she looked back at Liam. ‘Earl Clarence is human. Mithelasin is an angel.’

‘That’s a good point,’ said Aengus. ‘But it is also the very reason that Earl Clarence and Lady Liseth will never say anything incriminating in front of him.’

‘Agreed. They must not know he is present and listening.’

Kate shook her head. ‘So your plan is that we set up the angel Mithelasin behind a door or something, and then get Earl Clarence and Lady Liseth to meet us and confess to releasing the titans?’

‘There is no need for your voice to resound with sarcasm. That is exactly my plan.’

‘Mordor meme,’ muttered Aengus.

‘What do you mean?’ asked the demon with a frown.

‘One does not simply get the world’s most powerful angel to wait behind a door while the leaders of light and darkness incriminate themselves.’

‘It will not be simple. But it is possible. We have something with which we can lure them!’

Liam wondered about this. ‘The Wand of Syceus?’

The Chief of Spies laughed mockingly. ‘Earl Clarence would not even use that toy as a backscratcher.’

As he felt a blush rise, Liam saw Aengus looking at him. No, not at him, at his chest.

‘You mean Lord Azanth?’

‘I do. Every day that Lord Azanth lives; every level he gains; every rank and star; every title; is a slap in the face to the paladin. A very public one. It is unbearable for Earl Clarence to be thought stupid. And those who discuss the matter now think that far from having been clever in forcing my lord into the body of a crisp, it was a terrible decision.’

‘You think we should pretend to be willing to hand over Lord Azanth?’ asked Kate.

‘I do.’

‘They will suspect a trap.’

‘Not if you ask a high price for him. Every human believes in the cupidity of everyone else.’

‘All right,’ Aegnus stood up, brushing crumbs from his tunic. ‘I can accept that we could possibly get a meeting with them to hand over our crisp. I can just about believe we can manage to get Mithelasin to be nearby and unnoticed. But I really can’t see them admitting anything. What’s your plan for that?’

The demon licked her dark lips. ‘One I have yet to refine.’

This brought a laugh from Aengus and Kate was grinning too. But as Liam picked up his staff and got ready to resume the grind, he found himself thinking about how he would relish tricking Earl Clarence into giving himself away. As the Chief of Spies had said, these top-level adventures really did overlook young humans of much lower level. How could Liam use that weakness to expose them to the judgement of the world? To show the world that every assumption they had about the moral and admirable qualities of the paladin was all lies?