Zack threw an imp down the staircase as more poured out of his apartment. Werzelith planted her feet for a last stand.
He yanked on her tail and shot an imp in the face.
Banging rang through the stairwell as demons ripped through the doors.
A minotaur with part of someone's leg punctured through with his horn turned to us.
Zack raised his gum and pulled the trigger. A click ran through the stairwell, and an imp started chuckling.
"Shit," Zack said.
He wrapped an arm around his succubus and jumped over the side.
They landed hard on top of the imp, killing it instantly.
Artemis remained firmly in hand as he dragged himself toward the door.
A hellhound entered through the entrance with wet blood covering its spotted fur.
"It's a gnoll." Werzelith said.
My gun suddenly felt slightly heavier. The demon laughed, and Zack joined it.
"What are you laughing about?"
The prophet pointed his gun at her. "You're going to contract with me."
It tried to move, but a pressure string closed the heavy door behind it.
Zack met the muscular hellhound or gnoll's deep brown eyes with determination. She cackled before looking up at the demons rushing down the stairs.
The demon killer cocked back the hammer of his gun.
"Fine, my name is Ziri. Contracting is better than dying like a loser."
When their hands clapped, he felt that he had reached his demon limit.
He felt the contract fall into place and pointed his gun at the minotaur. It blinked and grinned before a bullet passed through its skull.
The big fucker fell on some imps crushing them beneath its bulk. It was a good thing only the goat men were armed.
He felt it when the essence of the minotaur fell. The Prophet's Soul mass had reached 10. Agony swept through his body, and he shivered. His density went from 1 to 2.
Pressure: 1.5
It was nothing.
He pulled open the door and saw chaos.
…
Cars were in flames, and an ogre towered over buildings and shoved humans in its maw-like chips. Steel birds tore apart cars atop buildings for nesting materials. A living carpet of flesh and pain slowly crept over the streets, oozing into buildings and claiming souls.
Zack felt his hands shake. "My time isn't now."
He turned to the streets full of raging undead. It wasn't an apocalypse without them.
"That's my van."
Ziri and Zack turned their states on her. She clicked her keypad, and the van beeped. A leg was stabbed through its hood.
Upon white, pale legs, a spider demon turned its eight eyes upon them.
Zack's gun was empty, so he holstered it.
"Werzelith, use that hammer and target the joints; Ziri, flank it and snap its neck," I said.
The dreamer charged and jumped to the side to avoid an arm that ended in a lance. Zack closed his eyes when the demon's eyes flashed and shot forward.
A fanged mow attached to a long, wringable neck shot after him. The others were stunned.
He dodged by the razor's edge and stabbed out with his thumbs. It shrieked and yanked its head out of his hands. Eyes closed, it lunged and stabbed as he fell on the hard ground.
Broken glass cut up his hands and shoulders as he rolled for his life. Zack moved back to his feet under the beast. It jerked, and Zack followed it under the beast. Then, his gun felt heavier. One round wouldn't cut it. The spiders took 3 to put down.
Vacuous Spider lvl35
He had to wait. It charged Werzelith, and she dove to the side at superhuman speeds. Zack was left behind as the spider screeched as a war hammer blow slammed into a leg joint. The crack was glorious.
Ziri dove on the demon's back. She grabbed the sides of its head and twisted. A snapping sound was music to Zack's ears. The creature flopped limp as its spider body charged into a nearby truck.
"How did you know that would work?" Ziri asked
"Without their brains to send signals, their bodies run for it." Zack pointed his finger at the spider, repeatedly ramming the truck like a Roomba. Kill it."
Werzelith hefted her hammer and charged.
She hit the spider's back.
The creature collapsed.
Werzelith hit it again.
Werzelith Slutwalker lvl19
Ziri lvl25
Both of them grew stronger, and so did he.
The spider was worth 6 hours.
Abyss Ogre lvl350
The beast in the distance had a displayed level. And it was a whole lot of nope.
Zack made his way with his demons to his friend Dave's old four-wheel drive pickup. The key was in the gas cap. He crawled in and opened the door for his demons. He flipped the truck into drive and drove to the end of the parking lot, over the ditch, and onto the sidewalk.
…
He made it out of the apartment thanks to one part of his dream ringing true in many different iterations. Dave always died to an imp on the upper floor. Demons were immune to small arms fire; even if killed, they came back to life soon after. The workaround for that was Werzelith.
Contracts were the only way to ensure enemies stayed down. A succubus was especially useful for that.
A woman ran in front of him, and he reflexively slammed on the brakes. A goat man appeared beside the truck and swung. The windshield shattered around the hammer. Ziri grabbed the weapon's handle when it stuck to the frame. She pushed open the door, hurrying the truck a foot away from the curve.
The goat demon turned to run until she chunked the hammer. Zack watched it spin before embedding itself in the goatman's skull. That was worth half an hour. A few more, and he could increase his density again.
"Please, you have to save my daughter. You control them somehow."
Never in his dreams had he managed to save her, and never had he had two demons so early. Once, he tried it with the minotaur but failed.
"Are there black sages inside?"
They were in the city outskirts. Red mist gathered as demons teleported into random locations across the state. The only way to stop the invasion was to enter each ring and kill a continent of demons.
"Do you feel the mana in the air? Zack asked.
The hellhound snorted.
"What are we going to do, boss?" Ziri asked.
He stared at the school and fought with himself. The greedy demon and his righteousness against cold logic. This was the run killer. He had no early starter friends to come bail him out if things got over his head.
Fuck it, he was doing it live. This wasn't a run. It was life and death.
His gun had six rounds, and he had two demons. This was also for the best. He needed more power.
Zack pointed, and Ziri moved, slamming her war hammer into the back of a goat demon's head. She bit into its throat and tossed it over a wall. Then she fell on her paws and ran for it. Three goat demons climbed the wall, two with white fur and one with black.
The prophet held the hammer down and squeezed the trigger, hitting the black goat first, then the other two.
The black one was worth 2 hours.
Zack and his demons retreated to the pickup, which the woman put in drive. They drove around to another side of the school. Zack's heart trembled in his chest. The dreamer knew there were 20 black sages in the school.
The woman put the truck in park, and he recovered one round.
He had stored 13 ½ hours' worth of mass and only needed six ½ more, which would put his density at 3. No, he was wrong. An hour had passed since this began, and he only needed 6.
Zack checked the time on his dying phone and pointed Werzilith and Ziri forward. Harsh blows and bleating later, they returned with more war hammers and four dead goat demons.
"There wasn't a black sage among them."
His heart clenched in his chest. It was a worst-case scenario. On the bright side, the children were most likely still alive.
"We need to move swiftly." He knew what he had to do. "Ziri attacked the group in the east, Werzelith hit the group in the south, and I'll hit the group in the west," Zack said.
"We are better armed, but are you sure about this?" Ziri asked.
"I want to be on the road and driving away from this mess. There is a cabin in the woods that won't see much demon attention for two weeks. From there, we could, but there is no time. If we drove away from this, we would die. Trust me, I'm a prophet." Zack said.
"Right…" Ziri said.
"Just listen to him. He is smart, and I'm glad we contracted." Werzelith said.
Zack stared at her. Then, he shook his head. "Go," Zack ordered.
She was unlike the woman he remembered, which was concerning. The prophet pushed that aside and focused on his task. He found the goat demons on the West end and fired four times.
His pressure bullets smoked and boiled their blood. Zack shifted to the side as a bolt of twisting shadow flew past him. A black sage with a golden staff shouted something in his foul language.
"Your soul will feed Mother."
Zack felt his time cross the threshold.
Pain wracked his body as his soul condensed.
Density: 3
Pressure: 1.93
Bullets formed a little faster than they had moments ago. In Zack's moment of distraction, the black sage vanished and raised its staff behind him. A string of pressure formed and touched the forming darkness.
Magic in the early stages was fragile.
The staff exploded, and the spell discharged. The black sage clutched at its arm, and a bullet finished forming.
Zack aimed and fired. The black sage's head exploded.
Those teleporting goats had killed him too many times.
Being underpowered was a miserable experience.
Zack returned to the pickup in the north as he felt his soul mass grow. One black goat each and four goat demons made 8 hours, plus the one he killed made 10. The goat demons on the way hardly counted. Just 20 goat demons or five black sages, and Zack would have a 4 in his density stat.
Well, there was something else he could do to increase his odds. Atom held up Artemis and channeled pressure to it.
"Feast," Zack said.
A silver mist emerged and devoured the hearts of the goat demons.
Artemis lvl2
A small ax blade appeared on the handle of his pistol. Zack smiled at the blade like an old friend. After the level-up, his gun was also fully reloaded.