Old Amsterdam

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent laughed as she ended her beam, a gleeful yet childish sound, before she spun around excitedly. She had done it! It had been awkward, very much so, but she had done it!

"Thanks, Ash! That really was all it needed, with a little bit of push behind it too! I couldn't have done it without you."

As Digbie set himself down to evolve, she cocked her head thoughtfully. Ash had gone into cover and she had been able to stand guard outside, but this would be a little harder to just stand outside an entrance when he was sitting in the open.

Moving closer, she sat with her right side to the stream and worked on drawing in the sunlight for mana again. She would do less intensive experimentation this time so that she could help focus on Digbie.

When she got the notifications that she was full on mana, she'd make sure she had enough distance from Digbie before she focused back onto her experimentation with the Void. Pushing away the mana, the power, the air, everything from a point in the center of her mouth, she repeated her previous attempts that had ended in failure. This time, however, when it got to that point where she couldn't breath and it threatened to burst inside her own mouth, she quickly tried to form a small layer of mana around the Void, forming and shaping it and holding it, and she attempted to push the Void out towards the stream.

Using Magic Analysis on the result, if there was one she could analyze anyways, she returned to drawing in sunlight as she pondered how to utilize the void.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Not enough. Even adding in the fire, while it helped, wasn't enough to make the skill. The analysis made it sound like it needed more time, but she'd done everything she could to extend the duration.

Ash spoke up, telling her she was missing something. Wind? She wasn't sure how that would help things, wouldn't that just make it blow?

No, until she could both draw in the light and fire off the attack, she didn't think she had the means to produce a proper beam of sorts like this.

Instead she focused on what the system had told her. Condensing was right. Adding fire was right. Drawing everything together was right.

But what if trying the slow release wasn't?

Taking the time to think, she used all of her Analysis skills on Ash, idly hoping to learn more about her new body. If this failed, perhaps it would give her ideas on how to better succeed.

Repeating the process, Torrent focused. If she couldn't make it a beam proper, then she'd release it like a bullet. She gathered the light, condensing it and slowly adding fire to it, and on a whim decided to test what Ash suggested. Mixing in a little of air, compressed into the conglomerate to work alongside the fire, she let the pressure build inside her mouth.

When she felt like she had done all she could with it, she opened her mouth and forcefully ejected the result with as much power as she could, using Magic Analysis on whatever happened.

Delete this

If you ever get an actual base, feel free to ping me. In the meantime though, I can't in good conscious say I'm interested without anything to go off of. especially when it was a joke.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent was progressing well, apparently. That's what the system told her, and it made her perk up a little even as Ash came back with sounds that were hellish to imagine.

But she couldn't focus on that.

Repeating the process, Torrent drew in the light until she felt as full as she could from it. She repeated the process with condensing the light inside her, moving it, preparing to release the controlled, high pressure stream.

But this time she waited. She didn't need brightness, she needed something that was that and pain. So she added heat, using the same power that she drew from to make fire to mix into the light, and then she released the stream and used her magic analysis on the result again.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent was pleased with how the spell had started, even if it didn't seem to do anything yet. But that was, honestly, to be expected at this point. She could only think of a few times she had developed a spell or attack that worked noticeably properly the first time.

Repeating the process, she sat for longer, drawing in more and more of the energy from the light hitting her scales, until she felt that she could hold no more. This time, however, instead of pooling it and releasing it, she gathered it, holding it tight and compressed and separated from the rest of the energies. Once it felt like she couldn't do that anymore, she opened her mouth and imagined poking a hole in the front of the ball, letting it stream out at force, adding her own force and power to it.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent watched as things settled down, as the Goblins were rounded up and the loot taken, and she took her time to use all of her Analysis skills on the Orc. At the announcement about the evolution, she perked up however.

Another evolution? She was pretty close to ten herself, if she remembered correctly. That would be useful, to grow. Moving towards their den, she set herself up by the entrance.

"I'll stand guard while I practice some abilities," she announced quietly. Here, in the light from the morning sun, she focused on drawing in the light as Oberon had talked about. The mana from the light, pulling it in in the opposite of how she pushed things out to make Void. After a few moments of trying to draw it in from the light glancing off of her scales, she tried to channel the energy that she had brought in to her mouth. From there she focused on forcefully shooting the energy out from her mouth towards a nearby tree to see what would happen, using her Magic Analysis on the results.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent watched carefully as the battle continued, her interference nearly giving the goat creature a chance to really turn the tide of this fight, but it wasn't quite enough. Simply put, the creature was outnumbered and the goblins were crafty with their weapons.

There just wasn't enough that she could do to help the creature kill them with her abilities as they stood. Sure, she could try talking to the goblins again and distract them, but she couldn't guarantee that would work. And her earth manipulation abilities just weren't cutting it.

And she was pretty sure her friends had decided to try and trick the goblins into killing themselves on this beast. She couldn't think of any other reason for this charade. They didn't have anything else to gain by weakening the goblins.

Keeping her stealth skills active, Torrent focused on trying to remain completely unnoticeable as she crept forward towards the edge of the brush on top of the small knoll. Scale shift and Muffle would help massively here, and she actively tried to suppress any sound that she might produce.

Once in position she waited, watching, for a goblin to be separated slightly from the others near her and the goat to be busy with another target. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, she darted out from the brush to clamp her fangs around a goblin's neck from behind. As she bit, she blew out a torrent of Wyrm Breath between her jaws as she shook her head violently.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent was mildly surprised, but incredibly pleased, with the results of her sudden experiment spell. The goblin was thrown off, and soon they were too busy fighting with the goat to try and find her.

Perfect.

She saw Ash flit up out of sight into the trees, moving, and she briefly wondered what the drake was up to before she mentally shrugged and went back to focus on the goblins in front of her. There were more of them than the goat, and she wasn't entirely sure if the goat really stood a chance being ganged up on like that. It reminded her of Rattleskull in a way, how they'd all teamed up to take down the big brute. Just more pathetic.

Shaking her head, she tried to think of how she could even the odds. Most of her spells and abilities were a little...loud, she could say. Breath attacks, explosions, even her stealth kill abilities would be hard pressed to keep her hidden and keep their ruse going. The last thing she felt like dealing with were these goblins turning on them before it was too late for them to do anything.

As she kneaded the ground in front of her, however, a thought came to her. She'd been practicing shooting stones the night before. And she'd been extending her influence into the ground in front of her for a short spurt now. And with her Tremor Sense she could feel a ways around her.

What if she combined those? Extending her focus into her Tremor Sense, keeping her eyes on the big brute with the sword. She tried to feel the impacts from his steps in particular, homing in on his position through her sense extended into the ground. After a few moments of watching, as he drew blood on the goat, she shoved her power into the ground beneath one of his feet, trying to make the earth jut up unevenly by an inch or two while making the earth under his other foot compact down by about the same amount. As he stepped after, whether she succeeded or failed, she attempt to continue to disrupt his foot, hoping to cause him to fall to the ground and present an opening for the goat or if she was lucky make him drop the sword.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent watched on, pleased, as her trick seemed to have worked....mostly. There was one goblin who seemed just a little more capable of observing their surroundings. While she would love to respond to Rags, she really wasn't happy about how close to her hiding area that goblin was looking despite her stealth abilities. Did it have some way of detecting her or something? She hadn't seen anything about it in her analysis, but perhaps they were just too low level of skills for her to get an accurate read on the goblin.

Or perhaps it was just that paranoid. Growing up surrounded by killers waiting for a moment to stab you in the back to move ahead. Again she was reminded of how similar to the street gangs these creatures were.

It made her want to just rip out their throats, but she needed to wait and do this smart. Think it through.

If she replied to Rags she risked being found, thanks to that dirty goblin. If she moved she risked exposure, again thanks to that dirty goblin. If only she could open up a Void in its skull from here. That would teach it to be so utterly annoying.

But...if she didn't reply maybe Rags would take offense to it or otherwise see through the charade. Maybe she just needed to inflict a little terror into them.

Torrent thought for a moment before she came up with the best plan she had for the situation.

This would be her first ability that she would try in the field without any prep, not unlike her explosion spell all things considered, but this would also be something different from what she was used to. She needed to be creative with it, smart, and with any luck it would be enough to stop that Goblin from looking for her and put Rags in his stupid place.

She could feel the air around her, with some effort, in a reminder of how she had used it to begin her air breath attack. With a bit of relief she listened as Ash played up what she had already started when she had spoken up last time. Maybe with that the Goblins would be taken off guard enough to not find her?

She still needed to try to add to it though.

Putting her power into the air around her, she pushed her voice into the air. Wasn't sound supposed to be carried through air or something? She felt like she'd heard someone say that once before. And she supposed it made sense. Maybe Ash would know.

She pushed the air with her words, hoping to throw it and help make sure that she could remain undetected.

"Prove your worth of our power. Prove yourself or be a coward," she said, her body tensing in case she needed to disappear, keeping her attention on the goblins and the goat. She wouldn't be taken by surprise if she had anything to do about it.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

---

Torrent watched on from her position, extending her power further into the ground beneath her to loosen up the area in case she needed to dig. As Digbie made his plan, however, an idea of her own came to mind. She couldn't risk showing herself and joining her friends in their den, nor did it seem that Ash was inclined to follow anyways, but she knew what Digbie wanted.

Make them weaken themselves. It wasn't so different from when she'd killed those goblins before the big fight with Rattleskull. And hadn't these goblins thought she was some great demon last time when they couldn't see her? Keeping her stealth skills going she spoke up.

"A sacrifice, yessss," she hissed loud enough for her words to reach the goblins ears. "Yessss, prove yourselves worthy. Prove your strength."