[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 173 – The Black Sheep

Raiko was getting worse by the day. In some ways, she was a bit like Komachi.

Raiko hid her injuries. Her pain.

Whereas Komachi would confide in Sam, Raiko buried herself in her Profession, working longer hours than even Matt—who was undead and barely needed sleep.

Though she couldn’t do that any longer when the Alchemist dropped to the ground, instantly unconscious. The potion she was in the middle of crafting exploded, forcing everybody to clear out of the ramshackle workshop.

It put Matt down for the count. If it was anything but a [Health Tincture], it might’ve dealt a little bit less damage. But he was exceptionally vulnerable to health restoratives.

Worse, when Alchemy recipes failed, they failed catastrophically. Or at least with whatever Raiko was habitually putting into hers.

Panic going into overdrive, Sam bailed on his ingot and charged towards Raiko, despite the fact that his ingot was still in the process of being forged. The dullahan took over, which surprised him that it wasn’t concerned about the queen.

By the time he got to her, she was already awake. Matt sure wasn’t.

Holding Raiko in his arms, Sam looked her over to make sure she was okay. Everything seemed in its proper place, but he took her to Kai, just in case.

The Shaman looked her over and confirmed that, physically, she was all right. He went in to drag Matt out before the healing vapors—which only smelled pungent to living creatures but were giving Matt slight burns all over his exposed skin—caused any further damage.

Sam took Raiko, protesting all the way that she was fine, to her room in the dome. They hadn’t done much to improve the comfort of the place aside from adding doors with bronze handles.

There just wasn’t any time to do anything more, not with the Black City a constant threat that would pounce on any weakness and their single-mindedness about their Professions.

This would be the last time Sam could get a bunch of easy levels. Kai, Lenal, Matt and Komachi still needed their Paths, so they had another avenue of easier levels coming up.

Setting Raiko down in her bed, Sam couldn’t help but notice just how strong he’d become. He was so used to hammering and quenching metals now that he hardly took notice of what he was doing as something superhuman.

But carrying a person in his arms was something he’d done back on Earth and even though he was fairly strong there, it had been hard to do.

Now? He hardly noticed the weight on his arms. She was armored, too.

“I’m fine!” Raiko shouted at him, but she hardly protested as he tucked her into the moss bed. As rustic as it looked, it was surprisingly comfortable.

Evidenced by the fact that she was out like a light the moment he pulled the blanket over her.

Sam tasked one of the mandys to watch over her and to stand guard at her door. If she woke up, the mandy was to come get him.

Komachi scampered up to him, “She good?” his cat asked her as she climbed onto his shoulder.

“She’ll be fine,” Sam told her. “I think she’s been overdoing it, among other things.” He had thought to return to his smithing, but an idea hit him as he came out of the dome and saw the tip of the demon scholar’s tower peeking over the edge of one of the walls. “You want to come with me to see that anti-social demon?”

“Heck yeah! Need me some Machi and Sam time.”

Together, the pair of them made the journey out to Bal’daz’s tower. They hadn’t been here since Sam came offering pizza and the demon—to Sam’s knowledge—had never come out since.

There had been so much going on that nobody really noticed, which was a bit of a bad look in retrospect. The guy was the last of his race that the rest of them had slaughtered.

Sam didn’t feel bad about that, but he did feel like he should have made more of an effort to include the man—demon, whatever.

Nothing was ever said outright, but Sam suspected that Raiko committed the equivalent to war crimes against the oni in the past, so maybe that had played a factor too. As far as he understood, there had been fighting between Islegardians and oni for some time.

Knocking on the tower’s door, Sam noticed that the door opened of its own accord. He peeked a head inside and announced his arrival, “Hi, Bal’daz, remember me? Sam? I’m coming in. Don’t be alarmed.”

Komachi looked around and wrinkled her nose. “Monsters man.”

Sam’s [Vulcan Blade] was out in a flash. “What do you mean?” He looked around the room, which was indeed larger on the inside than the outside, but couldn’t see any.

“Komachi smell monster stank.”

Sam nodded and kept his sword close, keeping an eye on everything.

Bal’daz’s tower was everything a booklover could dream of. There were books shoved into nearly every available space. There was a roaring fire in the far curved wall, but the place looked like it had been abandoned.

Sam couldn’t have put his finger on exactly why he thought that, but it had the feeling of pervasive emptiness. Like a school after hours when everybody had gone home.

Each of the first few floors was the same. They were living and lounging rooms. Big and circular, with a curving staircase corkscrewing around the outer edge of the wall up to the next floor.

Once Sam reached the fifth floor, this changed into a series of landings and doors that had a foreboding look to them. Sam continued to climb, glad that the stairs were widening out a bit here, when he heard the sound of clawing and snarling and a distant muffled scream.

Sam picked up the pace. Komachi was about to sing a song when Sam put a hand on her paw. “No,” he whispered to her. “I don’t want anything in here knowing they’re about to get got. After, okay?”

Komachi nodded and tucked into his armor. Or at least she tried to. Komachi had grown quite a bit in the last few weeks, and she wasn’t as small and slim as she once was.

She looked quite unhappy about not being able to fit into the cuirass. He made a mental note to do something about that later.

The cat dropped to the stairs behind Sam and trotted up behind him as Sam came around the curving bend and found a pair of demons and one hellhound snarling and clawing at the door.

“We know you’re in there Bal’daz. Better open up, yer morties ain’t going to help ya!”

“Hi,” Sam said as his blade was already arcing over his head in a vertical slash that carved the first demon and its horrific dog-like creature in half.

You defeat the [Hellsent Oni Pirate (Level 24)].

You gain Experience for slaying an easy match monster!

You defeat the [Hellsent Hellhound (Level 26- Copper)].

You gain additional Experience for slaying a decent challenge monster!

Yes, I get the Hellhound is from some kind of hell, Sam thought with an internal roll of his eyes.

The second demon only had time to raise its weapon before Sam barreled into it. There wasn’t enough room in here to bring his sword to bear again, and this was one of the few times that Sam lamented not having a side sword or something shorter for situations like these.

Of course, his Strength and Vigor alone made his body a weapon. He tackled the demon through the stout and clearly magically protected door, judging by the sparks of mana buzzing around the place and into the room beyond.

Sam placed an elbow on the creature’s neck to hold him down and looked up into the worried frown of Bal’daz. “Sorry to drop in,” Sam told him. He dropped his sword and gave the demon a punch in the side. “You’re being very rude,” he told the creature. Back up at Bal’daz, he said, “Friends of yours?”

Bal’daz backed away nervously. “Absolutely not. They used one of my spells to piggyback into this dimension, and I only just managed to lock myself in here. I’ve been trapped for days.”

There was no accusatory look in his eyes. The demon understood that he hadn’t been the most social person, and there was no reason to expect Sam and the others to come check on him. Especially since the tower itself seemed fine from the outside.

Sam shifted his weight and only then realized that the demon below him had stopped moving. “Sonnuva—” He rolled off and dragged the demon to its feet. “I was hoping to talk to this one.”

When Sam let go, the demon flopped to the ground and began to burn and stink and sizzle into a pile of ash.

You defeat the [Hellsent Oni Pirate (Level 24)].

You gain Experience for slaying an easy match monster!

Komachi kicked at the pile of ash. “Dang, the oni sure haven’t caught up in strength. Not even Copper Rank!”

“Oh, well.” Sam scooped up his sword and sheathed it, looking around the small and cozy room. It had a very lived-in look to it. “Glad to see you didn’t think to eat the books.”

Bal’daz looked horrified at the very thought. He cleared his throat however and said, “I would never, but… I appreciate your aid. I do not know if they could have broken down the door, but they were… troublesome.”

“What exactly happened?” Sam asked, making some room on one of the emerald-green armchairs and sitting down. He tried not to sigh in relief. They didn’t have anything nearly this comfortable in the rest of the settlement.

In fact, a lot of Bal’daz’s tower was comfortable. There were cushions and rugs aplenty. He could have emptied out one floor and furnished the whole settlement.

Not that Sam would ask him to, but there was plenty to go around all the same. He wondered how he came upon so many creature comforts.

Komachi appeared visibly torn between snuggling up to Sam or any of the choice pillows. “Er, that one! No, that one!”

Bal’daz cleared his throat. “I was trying to erect some new floors by using a transdimensional spatial tether.” He looked at Komachi, then Sam again.

“Wut?” Komachi asked, then flung herself into a high up pillow. She sank beneath its downy surface.

“That is to say, I was trying to take some materials from home without my, er, relatives finding out. It seems somebody was watching for me, however. I managed to shut the gate. I will not be foolish enough to make the same mistake twice.”

“What were you getting?” Sam asked. He felt the thread in his grasp and couldn’t resist pulling on it.

“Just things.” Bal’daz said vaguely. He gestured to a pot. “Would you like some tea?”

“Yes, one for Komachi too, please.”

“Tea?” Komachi whispered. The yearning hope in her voice made his heart ache. There were so many new things for Komachi to experience, and Sam was hardly able to get his hands on any of it.

The demon busied himself making a pot of tea. He disappeared into the only other door. There was the sound of running water, then he came out with a full kettle and set it over a hook on the fire.

“So what were you getting?” Sam asked, as single-minded as ever.

“I needed some infernal materials to fashion some building materials because the tower had taken quite a beating during the battle.” Bal’daz looked nervously at Sam. “You know, the battle that all the other demons were killed in.”

“The ones that you were trying to kill you,” Sam specified.

“Yes, those.”

“Hold up, you’re a Builder Wizard?” Komachi asked. “Cool!”

The demon looked frightened. His eyes widened sharply and his fingers twitched as if he was prepared to cast a spell.

“Are you okay, Mister Demon?” his cat asked, confused with ears flat.

Sam leaned forward and laced his fingers together. “I would think very carefully about what you’re going to do next. I’m not here to hurt you, Bal’daz. In fact, I wanted to check if you would like to come into the safety of the settlement.”

Confusion replaced fear in an instant. “You’re… not going to kill me?”

Sam shrugged. “Not right now. Why would I?”

“…because I’m a disgusting Builder!” Bal’daz wailed and dropped into a chair, hiding his face in his hands between sobs of despair.