The survivors didn't leave the safety of their fortifications because Zack sweet-talked them out. They left because he gave them hope and purpose. Children needed to be rescued, and every man wanted to be a hero. It existed so profoundly in the mythos of every story that it was hardwired. If a man must die, he wants it to mean something. Saving children from demons, they were out of the barricade, tallying supplies and moving before I knew it. The minotaur Sarkar led the charge as every survivor became a contractor with the captured demons formerly barricading them.
Giving them a goal would ensure they got moving, and not telling them where the cabin was kept them from leaving without Zack and getting themselves killed.
He raised his gun.
"Feast," Zack said.
Blood erupted from the chests of the demons slain by War.
Artemis lvl5
Rifle Scope
+2 rounds
+1 Ability Slot
Every demon slain by Artemis could be used for its abilities, which is why soul weapons were so valuable. They gained ability slots every five levels.
Abilities Open
Black Sage: +5% dmg as Rot
Demon Goat: Inflict Bleeding.
Minotaur: 20% of DMG added as stopping power.
Metal Crow: Piercing power increased
Imp: Shots ricochet.
Troll: stop regeneration.
Wendigo: There is a 5% chance of a wound manifesting a fireball.
The abilities were built to counter the monsters slain.
Zack equipped Demon Goat. Causing his foes to bleed out was the best.
He swapped out his pistol for a lever-action rifle and aimed at the nearest demon on the rooftop. The blaze crow fell from the first round, bleeding profusely even as it fell. Zack needed more density, and all the demons around him would facilitate his growth.
Zack pulled the lever and shot again, killing more of the flock. Eight kills later, he crushed his soul mass and felt his density increase.
Density: 12
Pressure: 14.5
He raised his hand, and a stone rose from the ground and hovered before him. There wasn't a wiggle to it at all. The pressure user added multiple strings and pulled on one of the squad cars. The car rocked, much to the shock of the watching officers.
Zack held his hand out and focused.
Strings rose around him 8 in all the maximum based on mass, not pressure. It was what he had left from the last compression. He wrapped four each until there were two long ropes. Together, they were much stronger than before. Each had a pressure upper limit of 58, and he could mentally control them much better than 8.
He pulled, and the car moved an inch.
Zack's face beaded with sweat, but he saw some of the potential he would have later. At level 100, there was no more compression his soul would be able to withstand, so he would collect mass to further increase the reach of his might. 100 mass each would be 500 billion pressure each. The sheer difference between his early and end-stage was mind-boggling.
"Enough of my ego trip. Let's save those survivors at the haunted factory."
"Do you mean the old steel mill?" Officer Bradly asked.
"Yes, but it has been changed." Zack mounted War and waited for the other to do the same with Famine and Death.
"What are we going to do with our demons?" Officer Bradly asked.
Zack nodded to the demons, and they vanished in the shadows of the bicorns.
"Let's move. We are running out of time." Zack said.
He needed at least to be level 25 to take down the abyss ogre.
If he could get a demon with high-will scaling and gains, he could power up his pressure more.
These attributes weren't part of his system. Demons worked, for the most part, using a classical JRPG system.
"Do you know why this is happening? The demons say that it's to bring freedom to our world."
"Don't trust anything a demon tells you. Watch their actions. Their words don't matter." Zack said.
Through shadows, they traveled to the haunted steel mill. It had several stories, a forest in front of it, and a crayon with a bridge separating it from the street. A pale-skinned girl dangled her legs from the nearby rooftop.
Zack looked through his scope, and she was gone. "War guard the entrance. We'll be in and out."
Werzelith bumped his side. Her soft skin brushed against him, and he shuddered. He looked into her deep purple eyes and felt his gaze soften as she smiled.
"Do you think this place will get you level 50?" Zack asked.
"At level 35, my tail will gain the special ability to drain levels or shoot a concentrated laser. Which one should I get?"
"Level Drain," Zack said.
The others stared at him in shock. He shrugged; it wasn't like she would use it on him. No, he wasn't charmed. It was simple. His power wasn't based on gains from contracts that succubi classically drained from would-be heroes. Soul levels weren't levels. They were marks of his progress.
"Sorry guys, Zack is the one master I would never use it on. He's so lucky to have me. I can't wait to have a moment alone with him." Werzelith said.
Officer Bradly swallowed.
"What about lvl40?" Zack asked.
Officer Bradly flicked his safety off. His Imp duel wielded knives made of blackened steel. The winged creature flapped behind them, looking nervous.
Imp lvl20
It was strong but not overly so.
"Have you been here before? Werzelith asked.
"The majority of food soldiers are lvl50 chaos spirits, a Black Alice, numerous Dream Eaters, and a Wraith near the top who they serve," Zack said.
"Why are we here? There is nothing we can do against these enemies?"
Zack gave her a look with a raised eyebrow.
He took a step onto the bridge, and a spirit rushed out of the forest and screamed. Other spirits rose with ghostly tails and skulls for faces. They were chaos spirits, level 50 creatures that possessed their prey and slowly hollowed them out.
Zack squeezed the trigger and pulled the hammer with his other hand.
Each shot made the lvl50s explode.
"Werzelith, lust storm in front while I reload." The succubus rushed forward and created a wall of spinning pink lightning. The ghost bounced off in the precious seconds Zack needed to reload. Small silver bolts of lightning blasted off the Artemis when fully reloaded.
He stepped out of cover and unloaded. Eight more fell.
Werzelith lvl38
Density: 13
Pressure: 18.18
Blood seeped from his nose at the latest compression. It was faster than before.
Zack unloaded his gun, and the spirits topped at 40 deaths.
They crossed the bridge into the forest.
"Zack, I'm level 44, and I chose Lust Storm affinity instead of dream walking. Is that okay?" Zack shrugged. Neither of those abilities mattered much in the grand scheme of things. "At 45, I have the choice between corruption mastery or chains of lust."
"Chains, I can give you every ability you can't have now from other succubi. I won't give you them," Zack said.
"What is your pressure now?"
"18," Zack said.
Her eyes widened at the number. Zack currently had five demons and could have 13 more. That was 13 different gains that he could also transfer between his demons. The problem was he could only copy one thing from a demon. He could have only taken one back if he had given Werzelith all his gains to power her up.
At night, the forest looked like any other forest, but under an orange haze, the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Bone dogs charged in, and Zack shot them one after the other as they moved through the woods. A bone monkey leaped from a tree, only to be splattered by two pressure tendrils.
Zack let his soul mass increase a little at a time.
He had eight strings or 8 points of mass equal to his current density. By killing more, he slowly let that number rise. Instead of compressing at 10, Zack let the number continue rising.
Famine's power helped let his soul bulk up and get fat without exploding. And he had another option when his mass hit 40. He allowed the end of his tendrils to fray into 20 tails. Pressure whips that struck 20 times had a good chance of causing instant death. Unfortunately, death-attuned demons had resistance.
Zack killed with two tendrils as they made their way through the forest until they reached the steel mill. Up above was the girl, most likely a high-ranking demon in the mill. He held up his rifle, but she vanished before he could get her in his crosshairs.
That was a shame.
"Ok, I understand we are here to get more survivors. But why do you need us?"
Zack blinked at the two of them. "There are trucks here."
"How are we going to get them across the bridge?" Officer Bradly asked.
"When I kill the demon in charge, this place will return to normal. Then, we only need to load the trucks up and find a demon capable of clearing the way.
Zack stretched a tendril and felt tired after it reached 30 feet. There were limits, and it wasn't the power; it was his very mortal body.
"Let's hurry. We don't have much time."
He needed to find a powerful mind demon. That could be here; death-attuned demons often had powerful telekinesis. There was also the Scilla to consider.
Zack thought he remembered something like that in the past.
Of course, the abyss of ogre must be destroyed.
"Zack, are you on your way out?" Aoi asked through his pocket.
"You have a signal."
Zack shook his head. "She's my contact with the outside."
"Aoi is Ally in the city yet."
"You have to leave. Satellite tracking puts him on the other side of the city. He's looking for the artifact, the black key."
Zack knew the black keys were doors to secret realms filled with unique demons, knowledge, and treasure. Zack used one to get Artemis. How could there be one in his city without him knowing about it?
"Isn't it early for one of those?" Zack asked.
"Tell the demons we only discovered it a few hours after it was brought to earth. We think someone from our side is feeding Ally information. He knows you're there, Zack."
"it's already too late to run," Zack said.
It was a lie because Zack wanted to kill him. There was no better opportunity than when Ally came after him.