Chapter 72


    If James didn’t survive the raid on the secret government facility, he figured he would still be able to die a happy man. The reason for this revelation, was the range of expressions that crossed SoulDemon’s face, combined with his various statements, many of which would be censored on all but the loosest forms of media, that he made when he left the ballroom and eyed the boss.


    “You look like you could use a drink, good sir.” Elliot said, all manners, as she finished shaking her cocktail mixer. She poured a bright green liquor into one of the glasses and held it towards him. “On the house.”


    SoulDemon glared. “What are you supposed to be?” He eyed her, “the boss?”


    Elliot said nothing, simply holding the offered drink outwards towards him, waiting.


    “Is this some sort of joke?” SoulDemon continued. “There’s no way this is where you should be. What the hell is going on here?”


    Elliot stayed silent. Her lack of a response seemed to further anger SoulDemon.


    “Did they set me up?” He grumbled, his swords still in his hand. He looked at the boss, who sat in the middle of the courtyard, and then back towards the door that would lead to the lobby. There was nothing between them, and no signs of any other mobs. “Cowards. The lot of them. Can’t even have the good grace to stick around when the going gets tough. Rather turn tail and flee like the weaklings they are.”


    He took a step towards the doorway. The movement caused Elliot to tilt her head, and she cleared her throat.


    “You’re drink, good sir.” she said, forcefully.


    “I don’t want your freaking drink,” he said as he glared back at her. “And I’m not going to waste my time with you. Not yet at least. If I kill you, then the floor goes away. I’m going to farm the ever living experience out of all these pathetic mobs first and foremost, then I’ll be back for you.” He smirked at her. “Sit there and enjoy your drink like a good girl, and I’ll be back when I’m damned good and ready.”


    “Such poor manners,” Elliot said with a shake of her head. “A drink really would do you wonders.” Without warning she tossed the offered drink into the air. As the drink flew upwards, she began shaking her cocktail mixer, the sound of ice and liquid sloshing rapidly within. When the glass reached the peak of its upward travel, she opened the cocktail mixer. Liquid and light shot from it, impacting the glass, suspending the previously offered drink in midair.


    The world froze for a moment as colors swirled and flashed. The martini glass shimmered, shattered apart, and then began to reform. The light around it became blinding, and then, after a brief second, it faded. In its wake, something new and unique stood.


    “If you’ll not accept the drink freely given,” Elliot said coolly, “then you’ll pay the full price. Have a drink. I insist.”


    The creature that hit the ground with enough force to rock the courtyard wasn’t one James had seen before. And when he attempted to pull up the information on it, all he got was a name, and level. The mob was one of the special summons from Elliot, the cocktails she could create of unique power, with special buffs and skills and traits.


    Green Demon


    Level 120


    As its name implied, it was indeed, green. From the basic appearance of it, James wasn’t quite sure what all went into the creature. It was a multiheaded… goose? But built like a rhino, thick and muscled and covered in armor that looked…oddly reminiscent of the skin of a lemon or lime. It’s three heads, necks as thick as tree trunks, shifted too and fro, all looking down at SoulDemon. The Green Demon was roughly twenty feet in total, from top of the goose’s… geese’s… was it plural if it only had one body but three heads, or singular? James shook his head, that didn’t matter. From the tip of its head, any of them, to its tail, it had to be twenty feet or more.


    The webbed feet of the Green Demon stomped hard on the ground, causing the earth to shake once more. It honked out a challenge to SoulDemon, who was eying the creature with more than a mild look of surprise.


    “I’ve not the time for this.” He shook his head, “I said be patient.” His form disappeared, but reappeared almost instantly, having traveled only about five feet closer to the door towards the lobby.


    “What…” he trailed off as he looked at the Green Demon, and past it, Elliot.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    “You must finish your drink,” Elliot said as she sat lazily on the fountain. She had a cutting board on her lap and was actively working to prepare a new cocktail as she watched SoulDemon. “Now that you’ve encountered my pop-up bar, there really is no other option for you, until closing time.”


    “What is with this cursed dungeon,” SoulDemon muttered, “none of this makes sense. None of this is logical, or rational, or right.” He was throwing a tantrum like a child. “This isn’t how the game is supposed to work.”


    The Green Demon honked again. The head on the right, which James noticed was wearing a melon as a helmet, opened its mouth. A ray of green and purple light blasted from it, and SoulDemon barely activated a skill in time to avoid the blast. The head honked in confusion, and looked to the middle head. That head honked, and then the head on the far left, opened its mouth. This head shot forth an orange blast of light. On impact, instead of exploding in a violent blast, it caused a shower of orange liquid to begin raining all around. The ground sizzled, and the creature’s heads all honked in approval.


    SoulDemon’s defensive skill flickered off, he reappeared in his spot, and immediately dashed out of the raining, caustic liquid, bitching up a storm the whole way.


    “This cannot be happening to me.” He growled, his eyes blazing. He had switched modes. Like the cornered beast he was, he was going on the offensive. “Why can I not have my way in this dungeon.” He disappeared in a flash, and his teleportation skill worked properly this time, as he wasn’t attempting to flee a boss fight. His form reappeared behind the Green Demon, and his blades crossed in an ‘X’ pattern on the middle head.


    Liquor, James was pretty sure it was liquor, sprayed from the wound. He saw a debuff toggle on SoulDemon, Hangover, as the Green Demon honked its displeasure. All the while, Elliot continued to make another cocktail. James knew until SoulDemon defeated the Green Beast, he wouldn’t even be able to target Elliot. Meaning at the very least, her first actual mob of the fight from an ability, and not her passive, would likely be summoned without interruption. Even if SoulDemon could go toe to toe against the Green Demon, James had to wonder how soon before he fell against an onslaught of additionally summoned mobs.


    “Blast this infernal dungeon,” SoulDemon roared, his voice filled with frustration. He became a blur as he burned through another cooldown and triggered his Devilkin form. The last bit made James wonder, considering SoulDemon had used it once before. Was the cooldown for his racial ability shortened by him hitting level 100? Or did he get an additional use of it? Or perhaps, James figured, it was possible that he could toggle it for a certain amount of time as a whole, before it went onto cooldown properly. Say, one minute of total time in the form, before it would go on cooldown for the ten minutes or so? Considering SoulDemon was the only level 100 player he knew of, no one had been sharing information on such a thing on the forums. And James wasn’t really going to ask SoulDemon.


    Rifts opened all around the Green Demon, it’s large form causing it difficulty as SoulDemon rapidly danced around it. With his ability to fly from his Devilkin form, along with the increased attack speed, life drain, and his other skills and abilities, he was blur. He moved so quickly it seemed there were more than just a single player striking the Green Demon, and James had to admit, he was impressed. The skills SoulDemon was portraying, his ability to control his rapid movements, landing precise strikes, even while suffering from a debuff that decreased his accuracy, was nothing short of legendary. And, as more and more liquor fell from its various wounds, it was clear that for the moment, SoulDemon had the upper hand.


    Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t fighting just the Green Demon. If he was, honestly, James figured the level 105 player could actually bring down the level 120 creature, a feat that would have been the stuff of legends online. But, the sound of ice and liquor shaking told James the end was coming soon for SoulDemon. He was battling against time, and 30 seconds really wasn’t much of a window. With 15 levels, and the Green Demon likely having the stats and health pool of at the very least a Unique monster, if not a Mini-Boss, SoulDemon just couldn’t burn it down fast enough.


    As his flurry of attacks continued, the Green Demon honked loud, and its skin glowed, armor reinforcing itself, the juices flowing from it lessening as it tried, its three heads blasting different colored attacks, to hit, or even at least slow, the pest that stung it nonstop. So focused was SoulDemon on his attacks, while dodging blasts of purple, orange liquid rain, and the occasional white spray from the center head that seemed to create a slippery surface on the floor, that he never saw the next creature coming.


    Elliot opened her cocktail shaker and pointed it directly towards the initially summoned cocktail monster, and SoulDemon. From it, a blur of milky white, looking like some strange, amorphous blob, flew towards SoulDemon. It wrapped around him, and as it did, it glowed brightly. James got a second to read its title, and he knew then and there, that the battle was over.


    Kamikaze Shot


    Level 120


    The drink erupted, and this time, SoulDemon wasn’t able to escape. This time, caught between a Green Demon, and a Kamikaze Shot, all that remained of the haughty, arrogant, terrifying top player from the Candy Dungeon, was a glowing death orb.


    “Well,” Rue said, as the carnage cleared, and the Green Demon fell apart into a puddle of liquor on the ground. “Can’t say he didn’t go out without a bang.”


    James looked at her, groaning slightly, and shook his head. “I think that’s enough for now,” he said, noting that SoulDemon’s death orb had disappeared. Without a party to be a part of, he was going to be removed from the floor, suffering from the death penalty that the dungeon applied to complete party wiping.


    “Same,” Rue looked at her rapidly flashing string of messages from the Dungeon Cores that had been watching. “Glad to see our potential last stream though, was a hit.” She smiled at James, sorrow in her eyes. “I’m going to miss this.”


    James felt a lump in his chest, as he nodded. Their time was quickly coming to an end. “Me too,” he choked out, as the instance, now with no players remaining, the others that had come with SoulDemon having either left, or wiped when they tried to respawn, closing. “Me too, Rue.”