The Eternal Assassin

At this point, Asher was pretty sure of two different things. The stairwell was cramped enough that if he didn't find a more open space to fight the demon he wouldn't last two seconds, and that the demon was far more interested in him than his companions. He hadn't really followed much of what the demon had been mumbling to itself, but he got the sense that the Eternity element he'd picked up was something special, and that the wizard that had kidnapped him had some sort of method for taking it from him. His only saving grace was the fact that it sounded as though he needed to be alive for the ritual to work.

If the demon isn't allowed to kill me, I might actually stand a shot against fighting this thing.

Before the demon could take more than a single step toward him, Asher turned and bolted down the staircase, earning an ear splitting roar from the demon behind him as it pounded after him. As he ran, he grit his teeth at the realization that he was leading the demon closer to Samantha and Brian, but there was only one wide open space he could think of to fight the demon in.

Reaching the entrance to the library, Asher turned and made sure it was obvious to the demon that he was angled toward the door before slipping into the astral realm and running through it. Unlike the upper floors he knew this door was unlocked, but the demon was close enough on his heels that if he slowed for even a second it would be all over.

Sure enough, the monster must have realized his intention as Asher heard the door explode inward, the demon running directly through the solid wood without bothering to stop and open it either. Apparently catching him was now more important to the demon than ensuring the master's tower remained unscathed.

Asher had planned to fight the demon in the center of the library where he'd found the Knowledge element, but the muscular demon proved to be far quicker than him outside of the stairwell, closing the distance between them with a single leap.

Eyes widening, Asher barely managed to slip into the astral realm in time to dodge the demon's grasping hand, the monster's sausage-like fingers swiping through where his chest had been moments ago. He wasn't sure if the demon had already forgotten that it wanted him alive, or if it just thought humans were far sturdier than they actually were, but Asher was pretty certain that attack would have shattered half his ribs if it had landed.

Stumbling forward, the demon stared at its empty hand in surprise. Taking advantage of its confusion, Asher slipped back into the normal world behind the demon and lashed out with his two daggers, barely able to reach high enough on the monster's back where he suspected the heart was located. Harnessing all his strength, he slammed his two daggers point first into the monster's flesh.

And staggered back as both his blades bounced harmlessly off the demon.

Asher was so shocked at his failed attack that didn't even see the blind backhand headed his way before it clipped him in the side. Something snapped in his arm and Asher was sent tumbling head over heels into a nearby bookshelf, everything going black for a moment as his head smashed into the solid wood.

Gasping in pain, Asher's vision swam as he cradled his left arm. The demon hadn't even been looking at him when it swung its arm back; it could have connected with his head just as easily as his arm. The fact that he was still alive was nothing more than a fluke.

"That's a strange ability you got there," the demon said, walking over to him with a grin that showed far too many jagged teeth. "Strange, but not very powerful." Stopping in front of him, the demon paused, looking at him as if trying to work through a problem it just discovered. "Not powerful, but annoying. Locking you up won't work… guess I'll just have to rip off your limbs," it said with a shrug, bending down and reaching for Asher's legs.

Trying to ignore the pain in his arm, Asher slipped into the astral realm as the demon bent down. While the demon scowled, waiting for him to reappear, Asher forced his bruised body to its feet and grabbed another one of his daggers strapped to his chest. Doing his best to time things correctly, Asher stabbed upwards with his new dagger, ending his skill and returning to the normal world at the very last moment.

Driving his dagger directly into the demon's eye.

Howling in pain, the demon recoiled, stumbling backwards and crashing through a few bookshelves as it tried to rip the dagger from its eye. Asher had hoped to drive the dagger into the monster's brain and kill it, but it seemed while the demon's eyes were weak enough for him to harm, the thin bone behind them was still too tough for steel to break through.

Guess we should try something other than steel then, he thought, yanking the cold iron dagger from its sheath. Before the demon could fully recover from having its eye impaled, Asher ran at it, desperate to end this fight before the demon could end him. With its hands covering its face and its back pressed against a broken shelf, Asher grimaced at the lack of options before settling for trying to drive the dagger into its knee.

Unlike the steel daggers, the cold iron dagger did find a slight purchase, but it was barely able to stab more than half an inch into the demon's tough flesh even with Asher's entire weight behind the thrust. Curiously, however, where the cold iron touched the demon's skin, the flesh began to almost bubble, releasing a bit of smoke as if the metal was burning through the demon's very flesh. The demon let out an entirely fresh screech of pain at this latest attack, lashing out with its leg in an attempt to kick him away. Asher barely managed to slip into the astral realm in time to dodge the attack, but in his surprise he'd let the dagger slip from his grasp, and the demon's powerful kick sent it flying deep into the stacks of books.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Cursing himself for letting go of the dagger, Asher grabbed his next one, yanking the mithral dagger from his bandolier and brandishing it at the demon. He knew silver was supposed to be effective on werewolves but had no idea of its effectiveness on demons, so the mithral one seemed like the better choice. Despite knowing that while he fought his life could get snuffed out at any moment, Asher couldn't help but feel strangely alive as he struggled to take down his giant foe.

"Stop. Vanishing!" The demon roared, finally yanking the dagger from its eye and spotting Asher as he returned to the normal world. All thought of capturing him alive must have fled from the demon by now, as the monster brought down its fist with enough force to shatter the stone floor of the library, sending shards of stone splintering in all directions and barely missing Asher as he vanished once more.

Panting at his repeated use of Astral Dip and what felt like his fourth brush with death in a row, Asher darted to the side, slamming the mithral dagger into the back of the demon's knee with all the force he could muster.

While there was still notable resistance, Asher breathed a quick sigh of relief as he felt the blade finally penetrate the demon's flesh and elicit a fresh roar of pain from the monster as it collapsed to one knee. If the demon's physiology was the same as a human's, Asher had just severed its hamstring, meaning the monster's leg could no longer support its immense weight.

"I will kill you!" The demon roared, black blood dripping down its face from its destroyed eye as it searched for him. Asher managed to dart a few feet back out of the demon's reach before his skill ended again, but the demon must have finally gotten the timing down. The moment Asher reappeared, the demon hurled a handful of books toward him that Asher hadn't seen the monster pick up. Asher could do nothing but blink at the flying projectiles before they smashed into him, breaking a few of his ribs and knocking the wind out of him as he stumbled backwards.

Retching, Asher stared at the mouthful of blood he'd just spat out onto the stone floor.

Severe internal bleeding. Without intensive care I'd be a dead man in just a few minutes at this rate. Hoping his Eternal Regeneration was up to the task, Asher wiped the blood from his mouth with his good arm and stared down the demon barely two dozen feet away from him. Grinning at the realization that he hadn't dropped his dagger this time even after taking such a hit, he decided it was time to end this once and for all.

Not wanting to give the monster another chance to throw something at him, Asher ignored the protests of his body and darted forward, careful not to take his still functioning eye off the demon's hands this time. Roaring in fury, the demon grabbed the destroyed bookshelf leaning against its back, brandishing it like a massive club as it swung it toward him. Using Astral Dip just long enough for the bookshelf to pass through him, Asher reappeared directly in front of the demon, using the momentum of his run to plunge his mithral dagger upwards, directly into the demon's throat.

Not wanting to risk one final attack from the dying demon, Asher immediately slipped into the astral realm again after his attack landed, stumbling straight through the demon's massive body before crashing to the ground a few feet behind it. It seemed like he needn't have worried however, as he returned to the normal world just in time to feel the floor shake from the demon's bulky form crashing to the ground.

Panting, Asher let himself lie there on the ground for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of just being alive after such a fight. Sure, his entire body hurt and he felt like he'd just been dragged along behind a truck for ten miles, but he'd actually done it. He'd never even been in a real fight back on Earth, and now he'd gone toe to toe with a literal monster that would have smashed him into pulp in an instant had he made any mistakes.

Laughing weakly and then wincing at the pain that caused him, Asher carefully pushed himself to his feet, coughing up a bit more blood into his hand. Realizing he had a few notifications, he willed them to come up.

Astral Dip – lvl 3

Astral Dip – lvl 4

Eternal Regeneration – lvl 3

New Class Available!

New class available? That's a new one. Asher tried thinking about his class or summoning a list of options, but nothing showed up. Shrugging, he winced at the pain that shot through his chest before limping over to the demon.

A quick glance was all it took to confirm that the demon was in fact dead, and Asher wasted no time in yanking his mithral dagger from its throat and wiping the blood off on the demon's body. After using it to cut through the chain around the demon's thick neck and snagging the hanging key, Asher carefully secured his new favorite dagger back in his bandolier before slowly making his way around the library and retrieving his other daggers. It took him a couple of minutes to find the cold iron one that had been sent flying, but thankfully there weren't all that many books that shone quite as brightly as the gleaming metal. By the time he had all his daggers back on his person, he wasn't limping anymore, and he was even able to move his broken arm without too much discomfort.

So broken bones heal relatively quickly, while completely destroyed organs take the longest. Checking under his bandage to confirm his eye still hadn't healed yet, he nodded. I'd bet that injuries a normal human body could heal with time are the fastest to regenerate, while wounds that would be fatal or irreversible take far longer.

Returning to the demon's corpse, he stared down at the fallen goliath, once more in awe of what he'd accomplished. A part of him wanted to bask in his incredible feat a little longer, but he had people waiting for him downstairs, and he would be more than a little screwed if his guide left without him.

Not to mention the fact that even if the wizard couldn't sense its imps being destroyed, it very well might have a special link with the seeming guardian of its tower.

Gulping at the thought of the undead wizard returning and blasting him with some sort of magical death ray, Asher turned and headed back to the stairwell, leaving the fallen demon behind him.

Time to finally get out of this demon-infested tower.