Underworld - Book 7 - The Succubi - Chapter 9

From high overhead, Shamash, Aeris, and me were taking in the landscape. The beginnings of our pyramid were below. We’d been silent for the last few minutes. The lich had made it clear. This was no city building simulation. There was no system to give us step by step directions. We couldn’t click on a building then have it show up on a screen only to reject its location placement until it was in the right spot. The truth was that we’d been luckier finding Sanctuary than we knew. Many of the basics were already in place. There had been plumbing and flowing water.

Sanctuary’s future would rely on far more than the bare essentials. It needed roads, power, plumbing, emergency services… Who exactly were we going to get to police the city? Should we hire someone as mayor? Was a fire department even necessary since so many people used magic? How was an Underworld hospital supposed to work?

Then there was zoning. Shamash insisted that we limit the district around the pyramid to manufacturing. We didn’t want tourists and shoppers exploring by our only entrance to the Dungeon Level and home. Keeping visitors to a business distract away from the lake and forest would be wise. It would also make defending guests easier if they weren’t wandering around dangerous areas like bait to draw the attention of predators.

“So we’ll keep manufacturing to this area,” I said, motioning to the treeline to the edge of the lake and the surrounding area. “Then the business district will be next to it in order to make transporting goods easier. It will be the center of the city. On the other side, furthest from the lake and forest, will be the residential district. Finally the entertainment district will flank the business one.”

“Does the Underworld have amusement parks?” Aeris asked aloofly.

The lich turned to face her but didn’t answer for a long moment. “The closest race would be the dark elves or the orcs. The dark elves have been known to do semi-psychotic things for fun like jumping into a catapult and having their friends launch them into the air. They rather enjoy getting injured as long as it isn’t life threatening. The orcs, on the other hand, often raise beasts and race them. They’re the closest to adrenaline junkies in the Underworld. Normal people stick to life and death battles to get their kicks.”

“Do you think a roller coaster would go over well?”

“The difficulty would be keeping your guests from using their abilities during the ride. It would just take one mistress level monster to lose their composure and break your coaster.”

She deflated.

I gave her hand a squeeze. “Maybe we could make it for just children. Or what about a water park? Do the peoples of the Underworld like to swim?”

“Are you ready to discriminate?” Shamash replied pointedly. “How do you think a succubus would respond to seeing a water park full of men in bathing suits? And what about vampires? Instead of building a park for amusement, you’ll be creating an extravagant display case for tempting such monsters. There’s a reason vampire society is so well dressed besides it being an outlet for them to express their arrogance. It’s so they aren’t constantly tempted to feed on each other.”

“So we’d have to make full-body bathing suits a thing.”

Aeris made a disappointed yuck face. “So no amusement parks.”

“We could always build a theater.”

She feigned a grin. “I really don’t think most races would go for movies from the surface. And how would we get ahold of them? By sending an imp to steal them?”

“I was thinking plays and live music, but movies might work.”

“That might be a real possibility,” the lich said.

We both looked at him.

“Which part,” I replied.

“All of it. Live music is respected by all races. Plays are often limited to high culture and art enthusiasts. However, sitcoms and comedy acts attract people from all walks of life. Creating a theater capable of playing movies from the surface might be a unique enough experience to make the effort worth it.”

“I’m assuming the main draw will still remain the dungeon’s aura?”

“Yes. And it will be unnecessary to turn it on in the immediate future.”

“Why’s that?”

Shamash extended his arm and pointed with his boney index finger. “The boldest of beasts don’t need an aura to attract them.”

I shook my head as a winged monster ascended from the forest more than a mile away. I knew the lich had noticed it long ago and was just now mentioning it. My time with him had given me much insight into his personality. He wasn’t laughing on the outside, but I was sure he found this hilarious.

“It’s a giant chicken,” Skyler shouted from below.

Looking from Aeris, back to the dragon-sized beast flying toward us, I identified the creature. It looked more like a feathered wyvern, or maybe a dragon. I saw what caused Skyler’s reaction, though. The top of its head had a crown of feathers. These feathers were black with a dull shine and covered the rest of it as well. Its body was also round and flying looked strained.

Jungle Fowl

Level: 38,473

Health Points: 21,494,000

Mana Points: 110,700

Attributes

Strength: 56,011

Dexterity: 106,841

Constitution: 42,988

Intelligence: 1,107

Wisdom: 1,222

I snorted. “It is a chicken.” I then shared what Creature Observation had informed me with everyone.

Looking down, I saw Travis with a forceful hand on Skyler’s chest, holding him back. Russ and Olivia were already heading toward the tunnel to retreat. We were all partied already. I made use of Richard’s communication skill to reach out to them since they couldn’t yet use mind speak.

“Stay near the top of the tunnel to be sure you get experience.”

“It will land when it gets close,” Master Khaba insisted. “I’ve kept such monsters before. They’re much slower in the air and can’t make use of their strengths.”

“I’ll take the frontline,” Jeremiah Whitfield said as his wife helped him remove his suit jacket and buttoned-up shirt. The seemingly unimpressive man’s physique was finally revealed. He still looked human. His musculature was even achievable for the average person as far as I could tell at a glance. His only unique feature was his chest hair, which was dark and thick, but it wasn’t exactly abnormal either. That was until he released his aura and his chest hair glowed in milky light.

“Don’t you say it,” I warned Aeris.

She flew over and took my arm, patting it. “There’s only one Sun Daddy.”

I cringed, but I could tell her heart wasn’t in the joke.

“Level 38,000—and that’s a lot of HP,” She said. “Can we beat this thing? Maybe it would be easier to scare it away?”

“No,” Shamash replied. “You must kill it now. There are much more dangerous ambush predators watching you as we speak. It’s important not to overestimate what you are capable of, but underestimating yourself can be equally dangerous. It can be a crutch that will cause you to limit what you might try.

“Every creature after reaching 100,000 in a stat is dangerous. You, Wind Sprite, are more so than most. You haven’t been forced to fight for your experience as Elorion has. Because of that, you respect this monster far more than you should. They are aggressive and use their size to their advantage. Yes, they are dangerous, but only if you hold yourself back.”

I watched the lich for a long moment as if I might be able to somehow discern his meaning is the prismatic flow of magic in his face. “Everything?” I asked.

“Yes,” he confirmed.

Aeris was giving me a questioning look.

“It was one of the first lessons Shamash taught me,” I explained. “I was holding myself back. What he’s saying is that you should be able to kill this thing on your own without our help.”

She became super fidgety as she did when she was nervous.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t be helping.” I motioned below. Mr. Glowy Chest Hair and been joined by Master Khaba in his purple goblin form. They stood side by side as the midnight-feathered monstrosity in the shape of a two-story chicken descended. Debra Whitfield stood comfortably in her dress a few dozen feet behind them.

“We got your back.”

She nodded firmly as if she understood, then again as if trying to convince herself.

The Jungle Fowl landed with an immense thwack. Chicken or not, its raptor-like beak was large enough to impale a person, if not snap them in half. And those piercing, beady eyes showed no fear as they gleamed down at the Pastor and lead goblin like barbecued mice.

Time slowed as I flooded mana into my eyes. Despite that, it struck like a viper.

A blinding light strobed in response. I had to change to Light Vision to be able to see what was going on. Debra had a palm extended and a large beam of light aspect blasted the Fowl in the face.

My mind swam. I knew she had to be talented in Light Magic, but her brother, the Bishop, was the only one that was supposed to be a Grand Master Light Mage. I was able to filter between light and life aspects of Light Magic because of my advanced forms, but if she was able to do it without, she was a Master, at least, and further along than I was.

I remembered the Light Javelin’s Amilia who was also from the Illuminated Cathedral had used in our fight. Her’s had more life aspect than light, but they hadn’t been so pure. Debra’s spell was as pure of light aspect as I’d ever seen.

With a change in my vision, so did time speed back to normal. The fowl was true to its 100,000 Dexterity. It struck like a blur.

Jeremiah was its target, but he’d bounded to the side and watched the monster patiently. It seemed he and his wife weren’t new to fighting together. In his hand appeared a morningstar-type weapon that was as long as he was tall and beside the spikes on its metal ball, there was a hammer on one side, a wedge-shaped axe head on the opposite, and a giant spike on its top. A morningstar halberd?

He watched it peck randomly near the area he’d been three or four times before heaving the weapon like an axe and chopping down. The swing was a vicious one, and fast, but not nearly as fast as the fowl was. Somehow, he’d still timed it just right. As it retracted itself to attack again, the cruel weapon tore at the side of its face.

It drew back as blood started to run down its cheek right below the eye. It cocked its head to the side to get a better angle to see what had just attacked it, when Debra threw another beam of hyper-bright light in its face.

It was seemingly what Master Khaba was waiting for. The goblin avatar exploded toward its neck. He grabbed a handful of feathers and swung himself to its back. With his feet bracing him, he started yanking out feathers like a dog digging for its favorite bone.

The gigantic creature didn’t sit there and let them tear at it for long. With chicken legs as thick as young trees and claws the size of reverse katanas, it charged in Jeremiah’s direction, leading with its body.

Khaba leaped from its back in the opposite direction. As he arched away, he turned his head back toward the fight without taking his eyes off the monster. He landed fifty feet away in a sideways skid. He barely cradled himself with a dip in his posture.

The fowl flapped its wings as it chased its prey to rise up a few feet to get a better view of what it was after before striking downward. Thanks to Debra, it was too often blinded to target her husband. He’d rounded away and wasn’t even in the same direction the creature was chasing.

Despite the damage done, it amounted to a percentage of the fowl’s massive HP pool. It didn’t stop attacking.

Jeremiah and Khaba wisely attacked it from the flank, one after the other, before retreating. It was a sure strategy but would take a long time. The fowl would likely leave from boredom before sustaining any serious injuries.

The monster wasn’t stupid despite its nature. It only took so many blows before coming up with a strategy of its own. It went for Debra.

I was about to intercept it when the Pastor’s wife responded to the charging chicken. Another beam of light flashed from one palm and a Light Javelin formed in the other. As soon as it formed, it launched forward.

The javelin caught it in the chest, but it didn’t slow.

The charging beast was too much, so she flew back with the cloud of light forming at her feet.

I began channeling mana as I glanced at Aeris. She was staring past everything that was going on. Something was wrong and it had nothing to do with the fight.

Maybe it was too soon to put her on the spot.

I descended with every intention of seeing what it thought of a Primordial Cat riding on its back, when there was a concussion of power and I found Jeremiah had exploded from where he’d been. Not only would his leap be enough, it seemed he had overdone it. It looked like he would fly over the fowl’s head.

Jeremiah spun in the air without ever taking his eyes off the beast. Then I saw what he had planned. He was flying backwards when he lifted his morningstar back behind his head, arching his back with great flexibility.

The fowl’s speed was something to behold. It noticed the Pastor’s advance and twisted its head back, even preparing its wings to help it bound up to snatch him out of the sky.

As soon as he was directly above the fowl, Jeremiah swung downward with every muscle in his body. He went from arching backward to the fullest extent, to snapping forward at the waist like a man-sized mouse trap.

His veins ran rich with life aspect mana as he moved. Inhuman power moved his weapon, but also moved out of his body into it. At the end of his swing, his morningstar gleamed white like a meteor.

I expected a crescent of compressed energy to fly from his weapon, but that isn’t what happened at all. The morningstar flew from his grip and crashed square on the chicken’s back.

The Jungle Fowl’s legs gave out and the downward momentum drove its body to the ground. The morningstar’s light only started dissipating after it tumbled off the creature’s now bloody back.

Debra safely escaped to the air on a cloud of light, while Jeremiah landed on all fours a hundred feet away.

Master Khaba took that opportunity to run at its head that was now lying on the ground and leveled a glowing fist to its wounded cheek.

Instead of harming it further, he seemingly woke it up.

All the while, I’d been watching its health. Even with Jeremiah’s killer blow, it had only lost 2 million of its 23 million HP.

I shook my head. Not even the orc Gansuk from the Hallow Amphitheater had unleashed a physical attack so devastating. I thought back to all the creatures I had faced. It would’ve one hit kill any of them except for maybe the strongest vampires. Even the Adolescent Metal Dragon would’ve been crippled if the weapon wouldn’t have torn right through its body.

As it came to its feet with ease, I knew it was time to intervene. Seeing that it ignored Jeremiah and instead looked to Debra, there was no time to waist.

Aeris appeared at my side. She glanced at me from the corner of her eye as if she were having trouble meeting my gaze. “I’ll go,” she said reluctantly.

As she flew toward the now charging Jungle Fowl, she changed from her sprite to wisp form. She sought to intercept the monster as Debra fled higher into the air.

As Aeris darted toward it, the air around her became turbulent. She wasn’t just striving for the best position to attack but set a collision course.

The fowl’s wings were outstretched as it flapped its wings to increase its speed as it ran. It had no fear as it let its desire for a tasty snack drive it after the small shiny creature.

Aeris arrived with a wall of wind.

The fowl collided with it, stopping midflight. It then fell back, before scrambling to get up. Seeing the ethereal wisp, it went right for her.

My bride didn’t move. The air around her churned.

As the monster attacked, it found movement more difficult. That didn’t stop it from attacking. Pecking at the wisp’s chest, it slowed even further only to find a hand placed on its beak.

“Stay back,” Shamash’s voice sounded in my head.

When the monster slowed its attack and Aeris hovered before it, I couldn’t help but to think back to her visit to Xaphan the Primordial Cat. She had petted the monster of monsters and even played with him.

The air began to move in a singular direction—the Jungle Fowl.

I had seen her use something similar against the humans that had attacked Sanctuary. She’d commanded the air surrounding her to a single point. But there was more to this. It looked to be driving to the fowl. Into its nostrils?

It was only a moment before its mouth opened, but it didn’t snap at Aeris. When it got the idea to retreat, the siphon of air followed it. Its mouth remained wide as it spun its head as if searching for osmething

Then Aeris floated downward and placed her hand low on its neck.

The fowl stopped entirely only to move its head around frantically. Then it stopped, standing as still and tall as possible. It remained that way for a long few seconds. Its head exploded.

My perceptions stole into its form as I observed what she had done. Air had so filled its lungs they ruptured. With not place left to go, it exited wherever it could.

Jungle Fowl Form

Level: 1

Cost: 20,000 Mana Per Minute (2,000 with buffs)

Strength: +5%

Dexterity: +10%

Special Abilities: Mass, Plumes, Raptor’s Domain

Mass: Your size increases with your Constitution. 1 lbs. for every 1 point.

Plumes: Your feathers aren’t just for show. They protect you from water and the elements. They insulate you, helping to keep you warm or cool by adapting to the environment. They provide decent protection against physical and magical attacks.

Raptor’s Domain: Anything smaller than you becomes your food. Gain hyper focus when a possible food source is located.

Next Level:

Cost: 19,750 Mana Per Minute (1,975 with buffs)

+.5% Strength

+1% Dexterity

There was a cheer that came from the tunnel as our friends exited and ran in our direction. I saw the pleased look on Jeremiah and Debra’s faces. Master Khaba returned to his blue form, folded his arms behind his back, and stood nodding at the dead monster. But my attention wasn’t on any of them, but the lady wisp that had retreated to the air to hover there alone.

I flew down and placed myself beside her without saying anything. I think I was starting to understand her hesitation. When she first saw me after I’d returned from the Vampire Realm, she said something I’d assumed was because she’d executed prisoners to level. “I’m not worthy of being missed. If you knew what I’ve done—” That wasn’t entirely wrong, but there was something else.

Of course, I had to approach my new bride carefully, so I took what I considered the ultimate approach. “What’s with you and monster heads?”

Changing back into her spite form, she glared at me.

“I mean, you started out in the Underworld popping off skeleton heads for fun, then riding on my skeleton helm. I thought it was because you had a thing for the undead, but after seeing what you just did to that chicken…”

She chuckled, turning away. Her countenance fell.

I gave her some time before speaking again.

She broke the silence after a short moment. “Do you think there’s something wrong with me?”

“Nope,” I said, nonchalantly.

“I’m being serious, El.”

I gave her an earnest glare. “So am I. I can turn into literal monsters—now that includes a giant chicken—and you’re asking me if I think something wrong with you because you can turn into a wind fairy?”

“Shamash said to give it everything,” she objected, then pointed at the dead fowl. “That wasn’t everything.”

“I was wondering why it took you so long.”

She threw her arms up in exasperation.

I took that as a chance to fly forward and grab her around the waist. She struggled to turn her face as I tried to nuzzle her with my nose. “Stop,” she demanded, but a laugh slipped out.

I pulled back a little, but didn’t let her go.

I used my best lecturer’s voice. “The worst thing about me being gone for so long is that you somehow talked yourself into believing that what makes you unique is wrong. You stop it.”

She grew still. Her eyes darted back and forth, avoiding mine. It wasn’t long before I realized she was being playful.

“So how many levels did you receive?” I asked.

She checked and a quaint grin took her face, which she tried to hide.

I cleared my throat, and she looked up at me with her smile wide. “1,056.”

“Very nice. It’s like you leveled once.”

She raised her brow as if expecting clarification.

“Shamash said 1,000 levels is comparable to 1 since 100,000 is close to the highest someone can reach.”

“Eh. Killjoy.”

“If you look at it this way, you only have 66 more levels to go instead of 66,000.”

She thought about it, then shrugged. “I guess you’re forgiven.”

Now that Aeris’s tension was gone, we flew down to find everyone standing around the Jungle Fowl.

“How are we going to cook something so big?” Skyler asked suddenly.

“Should I send Audrey?” Richard announced to the group.

“Elorion, drain it of blood,” Shamash called as he floated down to join us. “It will help it last longer.”

I wasn’t going to complain about being asked to drain a creature’s blood for the stats, but one look at Jeremiah and Debra left me awkwardly rubbing the back of my head.

When the shirtless Pastor glanced at me expectantly, I shrugged. Changing to my Vampire Form, I cast Vampire’s Might. An orb of blood larger than I was took shape, then rushed at me with the same savagery as the giant chicken when it was trying to eat us.

Once it was over, I’d gained an unimpressive 74 levels from being group with Aeris and the following stats.

+114 Str

+451 Dex

+201 Con