The further that Jason ran down the hallway, the greater a deep ominous feeling grew within him. It felt like a great weight was slowly being pressed upon his chest, and cold chills ran continuously down his spine.
The oppression of a demon was an otherworldly phenomenon that could bring the uninitiated to their knees. In his previous life it had taken him an enormous amount of time to overcome the oppression that the presence of demons brought with them. On the interface it would show up as a 10% debuff to their stats if they weren't able to successfully able to ignore the oppressive atmosphere. Most Users were able to overcome this suppression, but not all.
As Jason had plenty of experience overcoming this oppression, there was no affect to him. What bothered him though was that he didn't knw what to expect as the pressure he was feeling wasn't the pressure that one would normally feel from a Greater Demon; it felt weaker and less firm than it normally would.
He continued pressing down the hallway, no longer receiving any resistance from any undead or wretches. Jason assumed that this lack of resistance was due to either all the minions having fallen under his blade, or because they no longer felt pressure from him now that their goal had succeeded.
The hallway began to widen, and a large open doorway appeared before Jason who slid to a halt several meters from the doorway. He slowly approached the opening, sword and shield at the ready. Taking precautions to silently walk forward, he approached the doorway to see a large black circle with flames around it's edges suspended in the air in the middle of the room.
In front of this doorway lay a man on the floor fully bowing on his knees and face with his arms spread wide to the being in front of him. The being stood at nine feet tall and was shrouded in shadows. The shadows seemed to be alive as they moved across its body, avoiding areas where flames seemed to flow out like molten lava. It's head was a blend of flame and shadow, a maroon dyed canine skull. From the distance Jason could hear a deep ominous voice speaking with the man on the floor.
"You have opened the portal far too soon, insect!"
"I apologize m'lord. There are intruders who were about to ruin all of the hard work we've put into summoning you!"
Jason recognized this demon; it was a lower ranked captain in Driblarks horde that had gained notoriety amongst the Users in his past life. Its name was Shrarzok the Shadow, and had led the demons in the first large scale battle that the Users had participated in his past life. There had been multiple large scale battles around all of the starting villages about two weeks after the game had started. Shrarzok the Shadow was particularly memorable because of its unique battle strategies that had cost the lives of thousands of different Users to defeat him.
The average level at the time was level 10, and due to this particular demon thousands of Users lost their progress they had obtained over those first two weeks and had to create new accounts. It wasn't until the methodology of how this Demon battled and killed his enemies was figured out that he was able to be sent back to hell. When Demons died, their essence would be sent back to the Hell they came from, and depending on how strong they were they would reform and wait to be summoned back to the mortal realms. This was the greatest difficulty to overcome when fighting demons, and Shrarzok was a particularly difficult Demon to deal with.
"Incompetent fool, your summoning was incomplete! You shall pay dearly for your mistake." Shrarzok the Shadow then extended his hand towards the man with the blue demon mask on the floor. Shrarzoks shadow seemed to extend from his feet towards the man, slowly sliding across the floor illuminated by the flames of the demon.
Looking up, the blue masked man screamed. "Wait! No! Please! I can still be of aid!"
The shadow continued to slither towards the man as he continued to beg and plead. "I know of many secrets! I know everything there is to know of the people here! I can help bend them to your will!"
As the shadow reached the man, the canine skull of Shrarzok seemed to grin at him. The ominous deep voice range out once more, "No one cares about what you know."
Shrarzok clenched his fist and a large ethereal spike shot out of the shadow and impaled the man into the air. The man visibly began to decay in the air as his screams echoed throughout the chamber.
After the mans screams died out, Shrarzok retracted the spike back into his shadow and turned towards Jason who was standing valiantly in the doorway.
"Come out, come out little man. I know you've been there this whole time." Shrarzok crossed his arms as he stared over at Jason, the flames on his body intensifying in anticipation.
Jason calmly strode forward, his shield at the ready and his sword at his side. "Shrarzok the Shadow. It's not a surprise to see you mingling with such low life. Scum such as yourself probably feels right at home with fools like these." Jason smiled, taunting the hulking demon before him.
Flames surged within the skull of the demon. "A bug who knows who my name. Very impressive! Have we met before?" His curiosity piqued, Shrarzok leaned forward slightly.
Continuing to walk forward, Jason did his best to buy more time. Shrarzok's strength lay in fighting at a distance, and could perform all sorts of sneak attacks with his shadows. Jason was prepared to react at a moments notice, but he knew his only chance was to take the Demon on in close quarters combat.
"Everyone knows of you, oh Shrarzok the Timid!" Jason intended to goad the Demon into a rage, at least that way Jason would have a higher chance of getting closer. Demons had huge egos and tended to overreact in anger when insulted, often attempting to crush the insects who had insulted them with their bare hands. "Tales of you fleeing the battlefield time and again have spread like a wildfire across the mortal plain!"
Shrarzok watched Jason as he continued walking forward. "You're not going to run with your tail between your legs again like a frightened puppy are you?"
Shrarzok placed his hands on his hips, and an enormous guffaw escaped his pearly canines.
"Insect you amuse me! Come, pledge allegiance to me! I will share my power with you and make you my disciple! Through endless misery I will teach you the path to true power!" Shrarzok looked upon Jason, opening his arms wide as if preparing for an embrace.
[System Message – Demonic Discipleship – Quest
Difficulty – S
Description – Shrarzok the Shadow has offered to make you his disciple. Pledge your fealty and offer your soul to Sharzok the Shadow.
Reward: Unique Class – Shadow Legate and Race Change to Shadow Demon
Do you accept?]