“Did you collect the Lamia form?” Char asks. “I’ve always wanted a pet snake.”

“I did, they’re a Lesser Golem, not a Greater Golem or Companion though, so they might be smaller and much weaker than the one Vala faced. They should still be Scourge Casters through, so magic damage and medium range.”

“Well, bring them out and let’s see.” Char smiles happily. Cain frowns, knowing he’s not going to get away without calling forth a lot of snake girls.

He was right, these ones are smaller, their torso even smaller than the group’s diminutive Elven mage, but their body is over 6 meters long. Other than the size, they’re pretty similar to the one Vala faced. Only with blades tipping their tails instead of a flail and in a variety of color combinations.

They’re intensely fond of headpats too, and Char is soon swarmed in Golems looking for attention. They’re actually rather adorable. But still snakes.

“It’s a good thing she likes snakes, I can see from here how nervous Mythryll is.” Vala whispers in Cain’s ear. Yes, the Elf definitely likes snakes even less than he does, but once one comes up for headpats she begins to relax.

“Should we finish our run then? Or are we taking a cuddle break inside the dungeon?” Misha laughs.

“Dungeon first, pats later.” Char agrees and Cain orders the Golems forward, keeping the Lamia for now to see how their damage compares to the Dark Nymphs.

They don’t get the added damage granted only to Fae by a few of the group’s abilities, but they do deal magic damage, so they don’t lose out on too much. The ability to attack from a distance is a great benefit though. Twenty Nymphs surrounding one target makes it hard for them to do anything, but the Scourge Casters can send their blade attacks from 5 meters away, giving the Trolls lots of room to fight.

Cain decides to just keep fighting in this area until someone wants to go home or they gain another level, so they keep pulling packs, looking for new demons.

“There’s more Lamia over there. Different looking ones too.” Vala points out another group with two of the snake bodied demons in it.

[New Form Gained: Lesser Golem Lamia Warrior]

[New Form Gained: Lesser Golem Lamia Flame Caster]

“Another Caster. This one Flame.” Cain tells the group and they launch their attack. The flame Caster ends up being much like the Scourge Caster, throwing fireballs from its blade. But it also gets off a single flame pillar before its untimely death at the hands of a Troll club.

[Level Up]

Cain checks his skills quickly, as he hasn’t assigned points in a while

System Novel

[Name] Cain

[Level] 64

[Class] Puppet Master

[Race] Human

[Stats] +50->0

[STR] 100->125

[DEX] 45->70

[CON] 100

[INT] 50

[HP] 800

[MP] 250

There, that’s better. More Dexterity will help his targeting and chance for critical hits, a fact he’s been neglecting, and extra construct damage from the strength is always welcome.

Increasing DEX also increases run speed, a trivial matter most of the time, but now that his is at 70, the only one who might actually keep up with him at a run is Elmira. Pixies are very fast in flight.

“Is anyone else close to a level? We can stay a bit longer if you are, if not I think it’s dinner time.” Cain says.

Misha gives him a thumbs up that she’s got her level, Char shakes her head, so he looks at Mythryll.

“I got one just before Vala upgraded.” She says.

“Me too!” Elmira cheers.

“If you manage to find another 146 types of demons I can upgrade again. But I’m not sure that many actually exist.” Vala shrugs.

“The system counts Lesser, Greater and Elite all separately, so as we level up it might be possible to find that many more.” Cain says after thinking a while.

“I’ll look forward to it then. Being called an Epic Demon would be too cool.”

Tanya and Dimnys are waiting at the door to welcome them home tonight, both with excited looks on their faces.

“O M G! You guys match! Does that mean Vala got an upgrade? The new outfit looks awesome by the way.” Dimnys gushes as they walk up the steps.

“Yep, I’m a Greater Demonic Companion now. All new wardrobe, plus all the fog from my mind is gone. It’s like I can do anything I want, except maybe disobey orders. It’s a good day to be Demon.” Vala laughs at the Dwarfs enthusiasm.

“We were in there a lot longer than usual today, but it was so worth it.” Mythryll agrees.

“If only this streak of useless, random items dropping would end.” Misha sighs.

“I got some more recipes, but unless we all want to look like Cain and Vala, that doesn’t help much. I’ve got to get to the point I can customize drop items with Tailoring like Dimnys does with armor.”

Char laughs “I’ll be fine, my armor gets personalized so much it’s hard to recognize for anyone else inspecting my gear.”

“Speaking of which, do you need a hand selling off the items that didn’t turn out how you’d like?” Cain asks Dimnys.

“That would be great. With the Guild reputation you should get a good price for all the extras, and I might have some upgrades for you, Char and Vala.

“Fashion Show! Mythryll cheers and Elmira darts over to her shoulder with a piece of pecan brittle in her hands.

“Let’s get this show rolling!” Elmira encourages them.

“Is this a thing in the Guild?” Dimnys asks quietly, making Cain laugh.

“Very much so. Nobody knows what new armor items will look like when equipped, so we all share in the excitement. It started with an embarrassing armor swap after visiting the Demon Dungeon the first time. I’ll go first, what have you got?” Cain explains to her.

“Pants with mana Regen on hit and extra construct stamina? They’re from the Ogre attack.” She says tentatively, handing them over. They’re acid wash denim jeans with a chain lining and artful rips.

“Not a bad look. I’m next..” Char says.