Pressure was the only thing that stopped 1800lbs of horse demon from shattering his ribs and pulping his organs. That and his contract with Ziri. Hellhounds were tough, and her every level made his frail human body a little tougher.
Bicorn lvl20
Oh, it was strong, but it wasn't much stronger than black sages yet. A red haze expanded from its body, and it felt a little stronger. Did it self-buff? The bicorn returned to its hooves and shot forward faster than before. There were no signs of slowing down anymore.
"Contract with me, or I'm going to put a bullet in the back of your head," Zack said.
The horse picked up speed. Zack threw two hooves off course with his pressure strings.
The horse tripped, and they rammed the wall, but the horse got worse.
"Go ahead and try again. I have the time." Zack said.
It shook its head and stood back to its hooves. The bicorn twisted its body to dislodge him.
"Come on, we can run over tons of demons together. Think of the carnage." The bicorn turned its head as if contemplating it. "I can get you mares," Zack said.
It snorted. "Oh, you're a mare, my bad. I didn't look at the plumbing. I can get the best saddles and shod your hooves with demon steel. Think of the skulls you can crush with demon steel-shod hooves. Oh, and the nice bloody raw meat, as much as you can eat." Zack let his bribes set in.
She snorted and looked at him with her big orange eyes. The other demon horses stared on. "Well, boss mare, can I count on you?" Zack asked.
A golden light passed between them, and suddenly, he felt one more contract. Part one of his plan was complete.
"You poor thing, let me nurse you back to health," the teen said. The sickly-looking horse took one look at her, and golden light erupted between them.
"Pestilence, my name is Katie. We're going to be best friends." The bicorn turned to her, and I saw its very obvious giant horse balls. Purple miasma flowed from the bicorn's nostrils as it let Katie mount it.
Zack tried not to feel jealous. After all, contracting wasn't his main power; it was a survival tactic to get through the early and mid-game. It was hard for a contractor to compete in the mid-game without thousands of demons in the territory wars. It was almost impossible in the late-game years from the start.
More demons couldn't hurt. "Do you find steeds want to contract with me until you find worthy humans?" They glowed with golden light, and Zack had two more demons under his power.
He wasn't ignorant of what they appeared to be. They were metaphors for the evils of war, death, pestilence, and famine.
After the contract, Zack was aware of what they had to offer, and he claimed the parts he needed. From Famine, the ability to consume without end and death gave his attacks a minuscule chance to cause instant death. Those were their abilities that grew with them, and he, as their contractor, would share in that growth.
"I will name you War." Zack decided.
War whinnied in approval. "Store Werzelith and Ziri in your shadow. We have a fire department siege to break." Zack said.
He let her handle the shadows and shared in her strength scaling. It was something on par with instant death and limitless consumption. When he took the power, his muscles tightened slightly because it was early in the game. Once War reached level 99999, the stomp of her hooves would shake mountains.
His demons neared the big girl horse, and they sunk into its shadow willingly. Katie mounted up with the saddle already added. Zack concluded that some demons were preparing to ride them, and they escaped.
"You know these breeds aren't exactly rare. They aren't allowed to reach their full potential for a reason." Ziri said.
Demons couldn't contract demons. Human souls were required to form contracts. Contracting with humans allowed demons to grow far beyond their natural potential.
All contracts ended when the demon reached level 999. That left them out of the late game unless the contract was renegotiated, but then the human soul would have to be incredibly powerful.
He made his plan known to both Ziri and Werzelith.
The sound of gunshots rang out as they approached the fire department. Squad cars and two fire engines formed a barricade as bullets held the demons back. A few contractors were mixed in using imps and a minotaur with police batons wielded like Tonfa.
Two thousand pounds of Bullman punched holes in demons as blue light covered the weapons in spider web fields.
The numbers weren't on the defender's side, and more demons gathered. In the distance, the Abyss Ogre slowly trudged in their direction.
Zack kicked war as a green aura appeared around them before a pink storm of lightning formed. War crossed the distance to a fire department besieged by imps, trolls, and fishermen. Her form paused within their midst as the lust storm swept through the line before she kicked off and rammed more.
Demons exploded under powerful hooves.
Pink bolts of lightning blasted demons away from the fire station.
The surprise gave the demons no time to react.
War circled through the line while the other demons joined in the pounding of hooves. The few stragglers that remained were quickly taken down by Ziri and Werzelith, who emerged from the shadows.
Zack dismounted and felt his boots squish into a sea of charred remains.
Density: 11
Pressure: 11.6
Zack spat out a mouthful of blood. His body wasn't taking the power of his soul well. That was fine. He would get more demons and fix up his problems with growth.
War's scaling was impressive; gaining that didn't give him her strength growth from leveling. That would have to come from another demon with more direct strength growth. A bicorn was mostly agility and vitality-based. But War happened to have excellent strength scaling. The trick would be to find two demons with significant strength gains, not just strength scaling, and transfer the gain to War.
Contracts didn't take something from a demon; they used the infinite immutability of the human soul to create a copy of a demon's characteristics. To make a copy of a demon's characteristic and give it to another demon was stupid. What human would do such a thing? It was the humans enslaved by demons and used in that way that would the human souls extracted for that purpose.
Zack dismounted and approached the barricade.
"This is Officer Bradly; identify yourself."
"Zack Sin of Earth Defense, I'm going to need the lot of you to make your way to PHS Elementary and prepare to evacuate the children there. Anyone good with cars and can ride a horse should come with me. In a few hours, we're leaving the city with as many survivors as we can."
"Let's say you aren't a demon in disguise, and you aren't full of shit. Where are we evacuating to?"
"There is a cabin in the woods with supplies outside the city limits of a dirt road. Demons will expand slowly from the arcs but shouldn't be as active in low-population zones. There is a SEAL team coming for extraction. They are coming for me, but I plan to force their hand and take a few more survivors." Zack said.
"What makes you so important?" Officer Bradly asked.
"Classified," Zack said.
No, he didn't know it was true, but it sounded like an official statement: "I'm trying to save as many people as I can. Saving you saves others. We have some demons restrained that some of your guys can contract with. Do so and add to your strength. People are the most important asset we have."
More demon contractors equaled more stability in the safe zones that would eventually be established. By saving more people, there would be more safe zones. The more people saved in the early stages of the apocalypse, the better. Helping others survive helped him and created communities and powerful individuals indebted to him. Really, it was all for himself.
Of course, that was an excuse. Zack tried hard to save people in the early days. He tried again when he was kicked out of Earth Defense.
"Bradly, my son was at PHS. Sarkar, let's go." The giant minotaur nodded as a man built like a brick shithouse pushed his way around the defenses.
"I didn't want to believe. Were you nearby when it happened? Is that how you managed to save them?" The man blinked and held out his hand. "John Baker, it's good to hear from the outside."
Zack pointed to the Abyss Ogre in the distance. "You see that thing, John."
"We try not to look at it," John said.
"It's heading this way. We need to be gone before it gets here." Zack said.
"Do any of you have a CDL?"
Officer Bradly slowly raised his hand along with a few others. Zack nodded. His plan was coming together.
"Alright, we're going to break into two teams. Team 1 will be Officer Bradly and you." Zack pointed at one of the men who raised their hands. You'll ride with us and locate two trucks. We're dumping any supply that isn't food because we'll load them with children."
"How are we going to clear the way?" Officer Bradly asked.
"I'm going to get a demon that can do the job. Contracting her won't be easy, but she can clear the path alone."
A practically newborn fiend was here on one of the upper floors of one of the more excellent buildings. She liked to play house with humans.
Before that, I needed to go to the haunted factory and save the 50 survivors. They were alive because the demonic spirits liked to play with their food. It was a game to them, making them go one after the other.
Zack made a snap decision: "Ziri, go with team 2 and use your presence concealment to make sure they arrive."