Chapter 657 Contracted Debt
Merida blinked, looking into the stall with her food in front of her, "Something moved," She said, noticing that the piece of chicken that was supposed to be in the skewer in her hand was on the plate.
[A devil came, I kicked him out] Fungus replied inside her head.
^You didn't need to do that?^
[Devils are notorious for hitting painful strings with lies and deception to get their goals. It would've been an emotional rainfall if you met him. That's why I kicked him out.]
^My family had enough deals with demons for me to know how dealing with devils could end.^ Merida smiled, finishing her food, ^Thanks for taking care of him,^
[No need to thank me. I said that you'll have my full power behind you once I become the new demon Lord of Fungus, and now that I got there. I'll do my best to keep that end of the promise.]
*****
In the forest, a massive horned tiger was running from adventurers, making its way deeper and deeper into the woods when it suddenly stopped, staring at the mountain. Its fur stood out, and it grunted, taking a step back.
"It stopped! Kill it!" The adventurers screamed as they saw the monster stop.
The tiger looked back at them and then started running in another direction, changing his path after sensing something ahead.
On the mountain Eris sat on a stone with ten small balls of plasma floating around, sweating as she kept her eyes closed with a sword piercing her heart.
"You're leaking a lot of magic," Isdis said with a smile, sitting at the side and watching her.
"I'm trying to keep control," Eris growled, feeling her entire body aching to pull the sword out and heal like she's been holding her breath for a long time. "As a vampire, I should be able to survive without a heart,"
"Aren't you born with that ability?" Isdis stared at her.
"Don't joke, we aren't," Eris replied, "A novice vampire can be killed like any human. The high-ranked vampires survive heart stabs because they use their blood control to move the blood through their veins manually. It's by no means easy to do or something that you get naturally by being a vampire. Do it now,"
Isdis stood, pulling her sword and approaching Eris, "I'm going to do it," She swung her sword, chopping Eris's head with one swing.
Eris's head fell in her hands, fixed in a tense expression.
The balls of plasma around them pulsed but quickly calmed down as Eris tried her best to keep calm and control her magic.
Eris's headless body twitched and stood up as her head floated in the sky, controlling the body with threads of blood. The blood thread quickly disappeared and was replaced by sparks of holy magic which disappeared soon after.
"This is better than last time," Isdis smiled, "You can do it!"
Eris opened her eyes, glaring at her body.
The body quickly started twitching, and Eris's head flew in and reattached, and as quickly, she pulled the sword out of her heart and healed herself, falling to her knees and gasping for air.
"I can't hold it for longer," She panted, falling on her face, "Holy magic and my vampiric blood magic could assist each other in keeping my body alive and moving, but they quickly start fighting and spiral out of control. I can keep my head alive and well easily, but the body is a problem,"
"You surviving that long with a stab through the heart by a silver sword, and then having your head chopped by vampire slayer sword and still being alive, I would say that's impressive enough," Isdis approached her with a towel, "Rest for a bit,"
"Thanks," Eris took the towel to wipe the sweat from her forehead. "But it isn't enough. I have the leisure to focus here, but in a real battle, I won't be able to do it," She sat and looked at the sky, "Still need to work more on it,"
"I can imagine a paladin or a vampire slayer cutting your head off with pride, only for you to laugh and put it back on," Isdis giggled.
"The more of those things you layer on top of another the harder it becomes to fight you. If I started the fight normally with a regular spear, then started flinging plasma left and right, actively avoiding the sun just to mislead the enemy. And when they finally manage to drag me into the sun, they discover that it doesn't hurt me and that I was only messing with them," Eris stared at Isdis with a grin, "The battle grows desperate, and they pull all of their tricks to cut my head off, just for my body to keep fighting. All of this, and they still didn't know I could use holy magic or elemental expansions."
"Always keep a plan B around." As Isdis said that, Zephyr flew out from the mountain edge, her wings flapping, barely lifting her body. The two stared at her massive stomach, "You were eating again? You can do that slowly, can't you?"
"Don't know when Vlad would attack, so I'm stuffing myself as much as I can," Zephyr replied, sitting on Isdis's head, "AH! My stomach hurt,"
"If you came then it means something happened," Eris looked at her, and a smile crossed her face, "Don't tell me Arad woke up!"
"No, he didn't. We have a problem. It's with Roberta," Zephyr looked at them.
"Did more bandits target her shop? I'll call a royal guard squad to guard her," Isdis said with a smile.
"She's stuck in a contract with a devil," Zephyr said, "It's stickier than old slime. With Arad asleep, we might need your help," Zephyr pointed at Eris.
"My help with what?" Eris looked at her.
"And expedition to hell. We need someone sturdy to place spy items and spells. We're playing a game against that devil," Zephyr smiled, "We'll make him fail his end of the contract before we fail ours,"
The two stared at her, "And what's the contract about?"
"Our side is simple. We have to kill Roberta's father, and you..." Zephyr pointed at Isdis, "It's rather simple, but his description makes it so that the contract isn't finished until you and her father rot in the abyss,"
"And what is his part of the deal?" Eris looked at Zephyr, and Isdis gasped in the back, "Wait? Kill me?"
"The devil's side of the bargain was making Roberta the wealthiest woman in the kingdom with no strings attached or legal problems, pure riches," Zephyr smiled with her eyes glowing green, "He knows we can't kill Geralt or you. That's why all he needs to do to win is make Roberta the richest, and she'll be considered to fail her contract."
"Won't that make her riches only last a moment?" Eris looked at Zephyr, "How is that right?"
"This is why making deals with the devil is a bad thing. They always play on words, and make it harder to understand and get what you want." Zephyr put one leg on another, "It's been a long time since I played a tug of war with a devil. What was it called in the past?" She started thinking, trying to remember.
"AH!" She opened her eyes with a grin, "Contracted Debt, a game when the winner is whoever makes the other one drowns in debt first,"
"And you need me to help set spying items so you know the devil's moves and make the first attack," Eris smiled, "I'm ready,"
"No, that devil already won the first round by killing Roberta's mother before she could kill her husband and Isdis. If she succeded, she would've still died but would left Roberta with unlimited riches," Zephyr started thinking, "No matter how I think about it, the mother's goal is still vague. From the outside, she seems to have wanted to make her daughter rich no matter what, but that still seems off, as if she was trying to make the devil fail his end of the bargain just as much as he wanted her to fail,"
"I don't understand," Isdis said, trying to look at Zephyr who sat on her head, but only managed to see her legs, "You're playing a game with the devil? And you're sending Eris to hell as a spy? Can you even send people to hell?"
"Not by conventional means. I would've sent Arad if he was awake, but now Eris is the best option," Zephyr stared at her, "Sorry, but he's far stronger and durable than you,"
"It doesn't bother me to be his second plan. In fact, I find it stunning that there isn't anyone else besides me you can send," Eris giggled, "Could I even survive there?"
"We only need you to go to the first layer, nothing deeper." Zephyr smiled, "It'll be painful, like swimming in a pool of acid or getting roasted alive, but you're quite heat resistant. The second part won't bother you."
"And about the acid?" Eris glared at her.
"We'll give you the best items Merlin has, but I'm almost certain they'll fail sooner or later. Mortal magic items aren't designed to withstand hell," She waved her hand.
"So the question is if I'll swim in acid and regenerate through my flesh and bones melting for Roberta's sake," Eris giggled, "I'll play!" She laughed, "I bet my plasma and holy magic combined could burn the hell's acid away."
"Just don't die. If you died there your soul would get bound to hell, forever," Zephyr stared at her.
"Then let's gather up to prepare," Zephyr nodded, "Time to beat the devil at his own game,"
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺