World of Karik: A Game of Villains 90 Gods and Demons

"My eyes are just playing tricks on me. Let's move on." I was glad to hear that there were no more questions; especially considering that no one believed in my awkward excuse. I would've known if they did.

The corridor got wider the deeper into it we went. The ceiling appeared to be much higher and became semicircular. The walls were covered with pale tiles, the color of which was impossible to determine because everything around us, even our faces, had become bright red.

"That's not good," Lena's whisper was too loud.

I looked at her strictly and was about to shush her, but she beat me to it. She stood there motionless, eyes wide, with her hand covering her mouth. The light was flickering, casting shadows onto the girl's face, making her look gloomy and slightly mysterious. Shaking my head to get rid of the sudden numbness, I turned around and walked down the corridor. My leg had almost stopped hurting. For a second I foolishly thought that the pain was about to subside. But I was mistaken. As soon as I hastened my pace, the pain returned and become much more severe.

"Wow!" Cyril exclaimed when the corridor led us into a round, wide grotto.

The walls were covered with the same tiles as the hallway, and the domed ceiling loomed high above us. The lighting was poor and I was pretty far away, but it looked like there were a lot of illustrations on it. A red sphere lay on a small, rocky ledge in the center of the grotto. It was the source of the glow that we had noticed. The sphere was about the size of a soccer ball, but it looked like to be made of glass.

"What's that?" Lena asked in awe.

"I wish I knew," I muttered in reply. "It's better not to touch it."

All I knew about it was that it scared off the Shadows. Judging by their vulnerabilities, I would assume that it was somehow connected with the Order mentioned in the monsters' description.

"Cat!" Cyril called me in fear.

I turned around and immediately realized what had frightened him so much. A strange creature, a naked woman-like, slender body, was watching us. Her shiny black hair was falling over her shoulders in waves. She had red skin, yellow eyes, and disproportionately long and thin fingers, as well as short, black horns. How vulgar, flashed a strange thought.

Dorea

Level: 100
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Special skill: Hypnosis

Additional skill: Dissection

Vulnerability: none

As I expected, the description was much shorter than those of the Shadows. On the other hand, if you compared Dorea with Osipov, there was a great difference. When I looked at the old man, I could see only his name. Did that mean that he was stronger than this... This demon? Or was it because he was a man and not a local monster?

"It's been a long time since anyone's been here," the creature said in a pleasant, deep voice. Feminine voice. "Are you here for the power of the Sphere?"

"Perhaps," I answered evasively. What else could I do?

"Strange answer." Maybe I had imagined it, but Dorea sounded genuinely surprised. I wondered how this demoness was connected with the Abyss and Order.

"We know nothing about the power of the Sphere," I added, "so we aren't sure if we should mess with you."

What the hell did I say? We knew neither what dangers awaited us, nor how to avoid them. I was improvising and making decisions on the go.

Our mysterious companion grinned slyly, revealing her snow-white teeth and sharp fangs.

"You aren't like anyone who has ever been here before," she said, still smiling. "I don't even want to kill you."

"Don't," Lena joined in on our conversation, voice trembling. "Please, don't kill us."

Dorea, is that even her name? She gave Lena a withering gaze and turned back to me.

"The Sphere gives strength," she explained, carnivorously smiling, devouring me with her eyes. Seems that she managed to get into my head somehow. I felt like someone was touching my brain. This feeling was gone very soon though. "It decides to whom and how much to give."

"What do we have to do?" I swallowed hard, trying to make it unnoticeable.

Dorea noticed my confusion. She smiled yet again, straightening up and stretching her arms.

"Excuse me, would you mind getting dressed?" It just slipped out. We're dead now. "You're making us uncomfortable."

The demoness laughed out loud. At the same moment, a suit of armor, black as anthracite, appeared on her body.

"You amuse me. That is a rarity these days!" she said, and immediately became serious. "You have two options: either you fight me or... Answer a question."

"Can we just leave?" I asked. Since she was being so chatty and was in no hurry to kill us, it was worth trying to get her to talk.

"You can't," Dorea said with a smile. Well, I tried…

It seemed that we had no choice. There was no way that the three of us could kill her. Level 100 wasn't a joke! Fine, I'll play your game.

"The question then," I made my choice.

"Good," Dorea nodded. "Listen carefully, I won't repeat myself."

It doesn't distinguish beggars from kings

Unexpectedly, on each door it rings,

Dark creatures, birds, and animals it stings,

You and I cannot avoid what it brings

Listening to someone read poetry in this world was strange. If there was no catch, the answer was obvious.

"Death," Cyril answered first.

Thin and fragile-looking female fingers crumpled his skull as if it was made of paper. I didn't even manage to figure out what exactly had happened. Did she teleport to us or did she stretch out her arm and crossed the distance between us?

"Wrong answer." Dorea cleansed her hand from the blood with a sharp wave. A moment later, she was a pretty girl instead of a bloody demon.

Chapter end