As she flew through the air, arcing toward where the battle was now taking place, Ashtoreth couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.
If they’d engaged at a distance, they could have picked a few off, then gotten them to focus on Ashtoreth, who had more survivability than anyone because she had higher stats, higher resistances, a higher level, was more skilled, and could regenerat...
2025-02-24 21:17:49 +0000 UTC
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Dazel wheezed with laughter. “No you’re not,” he managed to say. “There’s no way that’s a real name.”
“That’s my familiar,” said Ashtoreth. “He’s sort of a jerk.”
“That’s not a real name,” said Dazel. “There’s no way. Hunter Wolfhard? It’s like if JK Rowling had to make a character for a CW show about a teen werewolf hunted his own kind...
2025-02-24 06:27:21 +0000 UTC
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They heard another cry as they ran toward the source of the noise, then another a few moments later. Each of them quickened their pace, crashing through the light underbrush of the forest in an effort to get to the potential human faster… but soon the demon’s cries ceased.
Fearing the worst, Ashtoreth pressed on, cutting out ahead of Frost and emerging a minute later into a small clea...
2025-02-24 06:26:05 +0000 UTC
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“Oh no,” Dazel said. “Oh no. Nope.”
“There’s just so much negativity.”
“Well did you think I would be happy to learn that your father is the King of Hell?!”
Ashtoreth looked through the treetops, admiring the moon. “Happy for me, maybe.”
“No!” said Dazel. “Oh no—listen, Your Highness, I had a good thi...
2025-02-24 06:25:00 +0000 UTC
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{Reaching level 6 has granted advancement. Choose one of your progression paths other than [Hellfire].}
“Armament, please!” she said, bringing up the armament advancement.
{Choose an upgrade to gain, then choose to retain or replace all other options}
Upgrade [Conjure Luftschloss] with [Luftschloss: Mighty Wielder]<...
2025-02-24 06:25:00 +0000 UTC
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“Four aspects is good, then?” Frost asked, keeping pace with her. “Strong? And the invasion—it’s happening because the ruler of Hell is afraid?”
“Hold on,” said Dazel, weaving his way through the underbrush. “What did you mean by afraid, Ashtoreth?”
“I meant afraid,” she said. “I mean, he’s got to have some reason for putting so much into th...
2025-02-24 06:24:00 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth looked down at a delicately crafted silver locket that was set with a ruby and hung upon a thin chain:
{Ashtoreth’s Heart-Shaped Locket}
This locket can store up to 3 hearts that you’ve torn from slain enemies in an extradimensional space.
Hearts contained within the locket don’t lose freshness.
Y...
2025-02-24 06:23:04 +0000 UTC
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“Dazel!” she called. “Did you die, or just get lost somewhere?”
“Oh, me?” she heard him call, voice dripping with indignity. “I’m just over here cowering beneath some of these charred, stinking dog corpses. You know; just Ashtoreth’s familiar things.”
“Boss is dead,” Ashtoreth announced. “You can come out.”
She saw one of the burning hound ...
2025-02-24 06:22:02 +0000 UTC
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The huntsman spurred his horse forward and brought his massive axe down in a sweeping arc. Ashtoreth leapt back to avoid the greataxe. Then, as he came forward to unleash another hail of blows, she dropped her weapon, dove forward, then leapt into the air and pushed against it, pressing the sword into the dirt and simultaneously catapulting herself through the air and toward the heap of dead do...
2025-02-24 06:20:36 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth cried out in joy as the warm outdoor air rushed by her face.
Dazel clung to her arms, his claws digging into them. “I hate you!” he cried.
She flared her wings and released Dazel as they passed the treeline of the forest, letting him leap from her arms before she rolled to a halt in the underbrush.
“Hey—wait!” Dazel said, immediately leaping to up onto her ...
2025-02-24 06:19:50 +0000 UTC
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The hellhound squealed as its flesh sizzled, the smell of it filling the hallway.
{You gain and absorb 1 [Hellhound Core]; Tier 1}
“How come you didn’t shoot it?” Ashtoreth asked Frost, moving forward toward the corpse. It was the first demon they’d fought together, though she’d done all the fighting: they’d turned a corner, it had charged, and she’d r...
2025-02-24 06:17:43 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth careened into the next corridor, momentarily surprised that the area beyond the boss looked much the same as the one before it.
Corpses littered the floor. They were all hellhounds and carnage demons, just like the ones she’d been fighting. Most of them were missing huge chunks of their heads and had bloody wounds on their bodies as well.
She reached a fork in the path, ...
2025-02-24 06:16:15 +0000 UTC
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[Bloodfire Annihilator]
C-Rank Class
Stats on Level: +4 DEX | +4 STR | +7 VIT | +7 MAG | +1 PSY | +1 DEF
This class grants the following benefits:
Ashtoreth called out toward the upper platform. “You okay, Dazel?”
Distantly, she heard a squeak.
“Good.”
She turned her attention toward the demon corpse in front of her—surely she could eat its heart? She could feel it with her [Consume Heart] ability, but getting it out might be a problem.
A dark form glided down to land on the hilt of ...
2025-02-24 06:10:50 +0000 UTC
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“Sorry—you’re not really thinking of fighting that thing now, are you?”
Ashtoreth ran through the halls, backtracking to where they’d seen the giant carnage demon. Luftschloss was a little too heavy to comfortably shoulder at her current stats, so she was holding it with both hands, dragging across on the ground behind her.
“We...
2025-02-24 06:09:24 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth yanked her spear out of the twitching corpse of the second carnage demon.
{You gain and absorb 1 [Carnage Demon Core]; Tier 1}
{You are 75% of the way toward advancement}
“I still don’t get why you hate the hierarchy so much,” she said, tearing out their hearts. “I mean, I suppose I understand being unhappy that...
2025-02-24 06:08:19 +0000 UTC
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The hellhound bounded down the hallway toward her, snarling with ravenous fury.
“Freeze,” Ashtoreth commanded.
For a moment, the hound couldn’t help but obey, its muscles relaxing as it slid to a halt in front her.
She drove her new spear through its neck, then worked the point around, severing its vitals as it struggled.
{You gain and abso...
2025-02-24 06:06:28 +0000 UTC
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“I am!” she protested. “I’m a good archfiend!”
But the cat wouldn’t stop laughing, beating his little paw on the bloody ground before him. “Oh, sure!” he said. “Look: I believe that you believe you’re a good archfiend. Honestly, the Arbiter never gets things wrong, and they said I was coming in on humanity’s half of things.”
...
2025-02-24 06:05:32 +0000 UTC
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{Racial Advancement}
{Choose an upgrade to gain, then choose to retain or replace all other options}
{Retained upgrades will be offered again next time you advance your racial progression path. Replaced upgrades will be replaced with new options.}
Upgrade [Devour Flesh] and [Consume Heart] with [Connoisseur]:
2025-02-24 06:04:32 +0000 UTC
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“Don’t fear!” she cried as she rounded the corner. “Though I may look like an evil fiend, I’m actually here to—oh.”
The person who had screamed was a corpse now—one that had been ripped into two pieces at the midsection.
Two demons sat crouched over each half of the human, both of them eating. Each of them was vaguely humanoid, hulks with long ...
2025-02-24 06:03:31 +0000 UTC
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{Choose an Aspect}
{Once made, this choice cannot be undone. Your aspect will either grant you a new ability, or significantly upgrade one of your existing abilities.}
{When you’ve chosen 3 aspects, you will be given a class and gain the power to level up. Your 3 aspects will become your main progression paths.}
[Dar...
2025-02-24 06:02:43 +0000 UTC
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Almost a minute later, her [Blood] was full. She’d swallowed a lot of air, and once she sat up she let out a loud, boisterous burp.
“Okay,” Ashtoreth said, wiping her mouth from where she knelt over the corpse of the hellhound. “That took longer than I liked.”
The trick was probably to drink from still-living creatures, ones with pumping hearts. Then ...
2025-02-24 06:01:33 +0000 UTC
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The woman whimpering on the ground beside her was perhaps in the early stages of middle age. She had chestnut brown hair and was wearing the same plain white robe that Ashtoreth had been equipped with when they’d been warped in.
But the most distinct thing about her were her animal features—she had round, furry brown ears and a matching tail.
Ashtoreth judged that she needed som...
2025-02-24 05:45:37 +0000 UTC
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Darkness.
And then:
{You were initialized into the system in a state between life and death. To resolve this uncertain state, the system will spawn you into the tutorial as an undead.}
“I did it!” she said. Or she would have, if she had a body to speak with. Instead she only thought the words—which still felt pretty loud, given the absolute darkness and ...
2025-02-24 05:39:47 +0000 UTC
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Ashtoreth sat in the back of the police car, nose almost pressed to the glass of the window. Outside, she saw something incredible: shop after shop of a roadside strip mall rolling past them. Quick Stop Mart. Pet Palace. Kal’s Tattoo Parlour. Fries and Shine. The glories of humanity flashed past her in moments. She wanted to stop and explore it all… but she knew there was no t...
2025-02-24 05:36:19 +0000 UTC
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As soon as she arrived on Earth, Ashtoreth's first goal was to try and warn everyone that Hell was coming to destroy everything they held dear.
She knew they wouldn’t listen to her, of course. But if they remembered some of what she told them when the portals started opening, she knew it might help save their lives.
In a flash of violet light and smoke, she’d warped in and lande...
2025-02-24 05:33:30 +0000 UTC
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Test Text Coast to Coast
2025-02-24 04:51:48 +0000 UTC
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