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Story Codes: Fantasy, Magic, Gamelit, Violence

For a list of all the dungeon builder stories click here

Comments are very welcome. I would like all criticism, positive and negative, so long as it’s
constructive, and feedback is very appreciated.

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Click here for Part 9.

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Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

Usiku opened the door to the cell for me. Halia sprang up from her bed like a wary animal, her braided, black hair flowing behind her like an animal tail. She stared at me with wary fear in her eyes that made me wince.

I wasn’t a monster. How to show her that?

“Just bringing you dinner,” I said, holding up one of the wooden bowls in my hand. The stew in there steamed. “Lana cooked it, so it’s pretty decent.”

Halia stared at it as I held it out for her. Behind me, Usiku dragged in a chair and then left, closing the door leaving me alone with Halia. The warrior stared at the food then the door. She looked hesitant. She wore the clothes we’d given her. It wasn’t the sexy garb of a badass warrior chick, but a pair of tight-fitting, leather pants and a low-cut blouse.

She took the bowl from me and retreated to her bed. She sat down on it cross-legged. I grinned at her and sank on the chair. It was wood and hard beneath my ass. This world didn’t believe much in padding. I supposed if you never had it, you got used to being without it.

I spooned up some of the stew with the pewter utensil. The dried meat had softened in the stew and picked up the flavors of the spices. I chewed on it, groaning. It was rather good compared to some of the food.

“What do you want from me?” Halia asked after she had taken a few bites of the stew. She stared at me with her intense, blue eyes.

“I want to convince you I’m not evil,” I said. “I don’t want adventurers attacking me all the time.”

“Because you know that we’ll kill you?” she hissed.

“Because I don’t want to kill you!” I stirred my stew around. “You know, people deserve to live. I’m not harming you, so why are you harming me.”

“Because this dungeon is a festering rot on this world,” she said, heat in her voice. “You are bleeding out the very life-blood of his world and making abominations with it.”

“Abominations?” I asked. “My will o’ wisps and wildhounds are not abominations. They’re cute monster girls.”

“Dangerous fiends that will spill out of here to assert your authority. You’ll be demanding trade. Tariffs. You dungeon builders always do.”

“Always?” I asked. I took a bite of my stew. “There’s never been one who didn’t pose a threat?”

She stared hard at me. “Never!”

“Because they attacked you first, or they were just minding their business when adventurers started breaking into their domain to kill them and loot their strongholds?”

“We have every right to defend ourselves!” She glared daggers at me. “You are attacking my village!”

“I have never attacked Astovin,” I growled. “I have never done anything to anyone in this world, and yet adventurers have found my dungeon and attack me. Like you. Why did you and your companions march into my dungeon?”

“To defend Astovin!”

“You said it’s under attack by oozes and satyrs. Did you see any of those here?”

“That’s…” She frowned. “That’s not the point. You are a threat. You’ll enslave Astovin if you’re not stopped.”

“You don’t know that. You can’t possibly know what I’m going to do. You’re judging me on crimes I haven’t committed. Have no plans on committing.”

“You will!”

“At first you said that you’re doing it to defend Astovin from a current threat,” I said, “to justify attacking me. But now it’s a preemptive attack because I might attack you. That’s moving the goalposts.”

“What?”

“Where you keep changing your goals when you don’t like the information you’re getting. It’s something people do to justify their actions as righteous even when they’re being proved to be the opposite. You attacked a peaceful community. My monster girls have never raided Astovin. I’ve been to your village with Lana. Where do you think I bought the meat in the stew you’re eating.”

She stared down it in shock.

“I heard about the dungeon builder that’s causing problems.” My jaw set. “He’s giving my kind a bad name. He acts just as arrogantly as you adventurers.”

“Arrogant!” she gasped. “Do not compare me to a dungeon builder! I’m nothing like them!”

“Oh, you didn’t break into my home for the express purpose of harming me?” I asked. “You came here to do violence even after I disabled all my defenses, held back my monster girls, and tried to talk to you. Would you even parley with me? No, you just attacked. You attempted to enforce your will on me with violence. Just like that dungeon builder—”

“I’m nothing like you filthy dungeon builders!” she snarled and threw the bowl at me.

It hit my chest and splashed stew across my robe. I felt it soaking me. The bowl fell to the ground and clattered there. She bolted to her feet, staring at me, her arms shaking with rage. I stood up to face her, not wanting to show weakness.

“Are you certain you’re not like a dungeon builder? You use violence to get what you want. You have no regard for another’s land, but trespass to take what you desire by force. You attack the innocent and think you’re justified. That you have the right to do it.” I wiped stew off the front of my robe. “I’ll have Usiku bring you another bowl.”

“I’m not hungry,” she hissed and whirled away from me. She laid down on her bed with her back to me.

“Okay,” I said. “Sulk like a child.”

“Child?” she glared at me.

I looked down at the bowl. “You didn’t just throw a fit because you didn’t like the truth?” I shrugged. “Seems like a child to me.”

I turned for the door when she snarled, “Why are you holding me? Is this a sick game? Are you torturing me?”

“I’m holding you because I hope to convince you I’m not evil. You’re a prisoner because you attacked my home. I think that deserves some amount of punishment. It’s what happens to criminals.”

“I’m not a criminal!”

“Breaking and entering. Assault. Attempted murder.” I reached the door. Usiku opened it. I looked over my shoulder at her. “Seems pretty criminal to me.”

She screeched at me as I stepped through the door. Usiku closed it behind me. She stared at my robe and what was dripping off of it. “I don’t think you are very good at this, Lord Leo.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said and winced and rubbed at where the bowl hit me. “That hurt. She throws hard.”

“She’s a warrior. You’re lucky she didn’t try to strangle you.”

“I have my magic.” I smiled at her. “And you were watching my back.”

That brought a smile to my fomorian. She glanced down at the bars in the cell. I looked, onto. Halia was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. She had her arms folded before her. She was muttering.

“I shook her up,” I said. “She sees herself as righteous. That she has every right to attack me.”

“From what I’ve seen of other dungeon builders, she may have a point.”

I sighed. “We have to change that, or we’ll never have any peace. We’ll never figure out why I was brought here. What possible reason I was given this power. It couldn’t just be so I could be an asshole sending my monster girl to attack peaceful towns, or so that adventurers could break into my domain and kill me.”

“Unless you’re the whetstone.”

I frowned at Usiku.

“You know, what you sharpen a sword with. Someone’s honing adventurers on dungeon builders. Weeding out the bad ones, improving the good ones. They move from dungeon to dungeon, fighting the ones who have been growing stronger and stronger.”

“Yeah, but it sounds like this has been going on for hundreds of years. If not longer.”

Usiku shrugged again. “It feels like it’s over my pay grade.”

“Yeah. It does feel that way.”

I headed to finish my supper with the others. Garnet laughed, of course, at my stained robes. Lana just shook her head and helped me out of the stained clothes. There had to be a way to reach through to Halia.

She would prove useful.

I stirred my spoon around in my bowl. Thinking. How could I get her on my side? I would have to show her my intentions. Prove to her that I wasn’t a threat. There was one way I could do that. One way I could show her the truth of my actions.

“We should go to Astovin tomorrow,” I said. “We’re running low on food again.”

“Ooh, road trip!” Garnet said, her wings fluttering. “I need a new outfit. I’m thinking leather straps that cross my torso and just hide my nipples. And a thong. I need a thong to wear. Then I can go sauntering around looking all sexy but not showing off all the goods, big bro.” My succubus grinned at me. “Doesn’t that sound hot?”

“Straps?” Lana asked, arching her eyebrow. “That sounds like the most impractical garb in the world.”

“It would be so hot!” Garnet leaned back, her crimson eyes flashing bright. “Kweh, heh, heh, I would look like a sexy villainess in an anime. Ooh, yes, yes, just wearing next to nothing and then threatening everyone.”

“We’re not villains,” I growled.

Garnet flinched. Her wings drooped. “I was just having fun,” she muttered. “I didn’t mean I would be a villainess.”

I sighed. I took my succubus’s hand. “Sorry. I’m just annoyed. I don’t want these adventurers attacking my dungeon. But the word’s gotten out. They’ll be more coming all the time. It won’t ever stop, will it? Not unless I can show Astovin and the adventurers that I’m not a threat to them.”

“Any ideas?” my little sister asked.

“Yeah, a few,” I said. “All dangerous.”

 

Halia looked more than a little skeptical when we returned her armor to her the next day.

“What is this?” she demanded. “Are you going to take me to some arena and make me fight for your amusement?”

“Why would I do that?” I asked, staring at her in shock. “Do you think I’m into blood sports or something?”

“Then why are you arming me?”

“Because I’m setting you free,” I said. “We’re taking you to Astovin and releasing you.”

Her brow furrowed. “Just like that, you’re letting me go? After you went through the effort of capturing me? Your plan was to hold me for a few days and then…” She stared at me suspiciously. “What are you up to?”

“Keeping you locked up is never going to prove that I don’t want to hurt you or others. So I need to prove it. I need to demonstrate that I can be trusted. What better way to do that than to let you go? So, get dressed, we’re leaving soon.”

I was wearing different clothes from my obvious wizard robes. Just a pair of wool pants and a hemp shirt. The same sort of garb I saw the local farmers wearing. No armor. No weapons. Lana and Garnet were both wrapped up in dresses and cloaks to try and hide them. Garnet was easier. We undid her pigtails and her horns were hardly noticeable peeking out of her red hair. Her wings were folded up beneath her clothing.

She hadn’t been happy. “It’s too much clothing, big bro,” she had said. “How are they supposed to fall in love with my beauty and then become insanely jealous when they realize only you get to touch me?”

Halia donned her armor. When she was ready, I opened the door for her. I wore her blessed sword on my waist. She stared at that, eyeing it with hunger. I shook my head. If she tried to grab it, Lana and Garnet would make short work of her.

“Usiku, you have command,” I told her. “Keep my monster girls safe.”

“And the Void Crystal?” she asked, amusement on her lips.

“That is a tad important, isn’t it?” I asked, smiling.

“Just a tiny bit.” She smiled at me and then kissed me with passion on the lips.

I groaned into it, wanting to just do things with her. My cock was aching, but I broke it and forced myself to do the responsible stuff. I had to win Halia to my cause. If I could get her at least focusing her attention, and those of other adventurers, on attacking the bad dungeon builders, then at least I could buy myself some breathing room to figure things out.

So I didn’t have to be the cause of any more deaths than I had to be.

We escorted Halia through the dungeon. She walked in front of us. She kept glancing over her shoulder at us, her braid swinging down her back. She wore her bikini breastplate and steel panties. The metal enticingly molded to her rump. She was a gorgeous woman. Fit and strong, but curvy and feminine in all the right way.

Shame she thought I was an evil monster that had to die.

We moved through the traps, all disabled. Then into the labyrinth. My monster girls appeared from their posts. They all beamed at me in delight. None of them seemed to mind the endless waiting in their own sections.

“Good luck, Lord Leo,” said Sviesos, the first will o’ wisp I’d made. She leaned against the wall, her large breasts rising and falling. I loved the way her body glowed, the various hues of incandescent gas that made her form swirling about her in ever-changing patterns of delight.

“Be safe, Lord Leo,” a wildhound said. Marwo darted up to me and hugged me. She licked my cheek, rubbing her petite body on mine. “Come back.”

“I will,” I said. “We’re just buying supplies and returning Halia to her people.”

“Sure,” Halia muttered. She didn’t believe me.

Well, actions spoke louder than words. It was time to prove that.

We fetched our donkey and its cart. I kept it in a side cave that was part of my domain but separate from the dungeon proper. The donkey had a small pasture to graze and seemed healthy, if his coat was a little shaggy and wild. We hooked him up and guided him down the trail towards the village.

The walk was pleasant. Halia trooped before us, looking around like she expected the attack to come at any moment. She kept glancing at me, her eyes falling on my sword. I knew she was contemplating stealing it.

“She’s going to betray us to the village,” Lana said as we entered the farmland.

“Probably,” I said.

Several of the farms looked abandoned, their fields overrun with weeds. That was different. At other farms, there were people holding crossbows in sight. They watched us with suspicious eyes until they noticed Halia.

Then they waved at her.

“You’re popular,” I said.

“My father was a famous adventurer,” she said. “He slew several dungeon builders, including Argian the White, a foul user of light magic who had vaporized several villages before he was stopped.”

I gaped at that. “Why would he vaporize them?”

She looked back at me. “Because he could.”

My stomach sank. What was it about dungeon builders that led them to do the things they did? Mthunzi attacked me to get stronger. He wanted to have a second glyph and to harness my Void Crystal. Why?

Because he was afraid?

Dungeon builders had enemies that attacked us from all sides. The adventurers who thought we were evil and the others like us who wanted our crystals. Fuegin had come to talk to me, but he felt strong. Like he was way above me and had nothing to fear from me.

But others…

They stared down a path that led them to make some bad decisions. Those that cost lives. It was almost like a trap. To get stronger to survive, they had to do evil acts. And that proved they were evil, driving the adventurers to try even harder to kill them. That forced the dungeon builder to do more dark deeds. They corrupted them.

“Argian the White…” I muttered. “Did the villages defy him?”

“Does that make him justified?” Halia asked with a sneer.

“Absolutely not!” The words came out harsh. “I’m just trying to understand. He tried to control them, right? To have an area of the world where he didn’t have to worry about adventurers. He thought he had to use force to bully everyone. And he went way, way too far.”

Halia shook her head. “You make it sound like he wasn’t a monster. An evil thing that just delighted in cruelty and suffering.”

“Because he was just a person,” I said. “Like you. Like me. Or Garnet.”

“She’s a succubus,” Halia said, sneering.

“Rude!” Garnet hissed. “I’m a cute, adorable, and sexy succubus forced to wear this baggy, ugly dress by my uncaring brother.”

“She’s a person,” I said, giving my succubus a hard look. “She just can be a brat sometimes.”

“Yep!” She grinned at me. “That’s why you love me, big bro.”

Lana laughed, a rich and delightful sound.

Halia just marched ahead, bristling.

“When we get back to your village, I’m going to return your sword,” I told her. “We’re just here to buy some food. Not to hurt your people.”

“She is totally going to betray us,” Garnet said. She glanced at me, worry on her face.

“No, she’s not,” I said. “She’s a good person.”

“She’s a mean person.” Garnet then muttered, “Not recognizing that I’m cute and adorable.”

The village came into view, a collection of buildings, smoke rising from several chimneys. The villagers were moving about. There were more men with crossbows around the perimeter. They were worried. This other dungeon builder had been causing problems.

Asshole.

“Lord Leo!” Cysgo sent to me. My newest monster girl sounded agitated. “They’re coming for the village. The oozes and satyrs.”

“Shit,” I muttered. I had positioned Cysgo between the village and the enemy dungeon. She was hidden in bushes, my eyes. “From which direction will they attack the village.”

“South. They are moving along the river. There’s a dozen of them.”

“Halia,” I said, unbuckling the sword belt from around my waist.

She whirled around. “What now?”

I tossed her the magical weapon. She caught it by the scabbard, looking more than a little stunned. She pulled out the weapon and saw the blade. Something crossed her face, a powerful and profound emotion.

“Come on,” I said, spotting the river that ran by the village. “They’re coming fast.”

“What?” she asked, her eyes hardening.

“The enemy.” I pointed at the river. “They’re coming from that way.” Then I sent, “How close are they?”

“Close,” Cysgo answered. “They’ll be on the village soon.”

“Lana, Garnet, get ready,” I said and charged towards the river, breaking into a run. I glanced behind me and saw Halia, gripping her scabbard, running after us.

This was a chance to show her that we weren’t all bad. I couldn’t believe this other guy was raiding a defenseless village. That was fucked up. From the way Halia made it sound, he was kidnapping women, too.

I didn’t want to think about what he was doing with them.

As we ran down the path, there was a group of women doing laundry by the river. They were using the water to wash their clothes, soapsuds floating away on the current from where they worked with skirts tied up around their knees. They scrubbed garments on washboards and dunked them in the river before shaking them out.

Beyond them, the water rippled. And then out of the water oozed a gelatinous woman. All blue, she lunged at the nearest washerwoman. Large breasts heaved before the ooze. Her darker-blue hair had a plastic look about it, like the hair on an action figure. Sculpted to resemble it, but not made of individual strands.

The woman screamed and threw her wet laundry at the ooze. It struck the monster girl’s breasts and slid down her body. Her hair rippled, then grew into tentacles that lunged at the woman and grabbed her before she could dart away.

On the shore, the men with crossbows watching over them cursed. They fumbled to aim. One got off a shot that struck an ooze. The bolt embedded in her breast but then it just oozed out of her. She didn’t even seem to mind. She just sent her hair-tentacles at another fleeing woman.

Out of the woods behind the men charged the satyr monster girls. They were another group of busty women who had pale skin and steel-gray hair with curling horns out of them. Their feet looked hoofed, but the rest of them was all women. Several of them had what I thought were cocks but quickly realized were dildos thrusting from their crotches.

The lead satyr slammed her horn into the back of a guy working his crossbow. He fell to the ground and spasmed. The others turned, struggling to aim weapons before they were charged and gored. In the water, the women screamed as the tentacles seized them.

“No!” I shouted, running as fast I could.

Lightning cracked behind me. I heard Lana’s wings flapping. She had burst out of her clothing. Then the hum of Halia’s blessed sword, the enchanted blade eager for the fight. Anger rippled through me.

This was why I was attacked. Because the other dungeon builders thought they could do whatever they wanted. This man who sent these monster girls was from my world. He probably thought there were no rules here for him to follow. That he could do whatever he wanted.

And now he was stealing women? Pig!

“STOP!” I roared as I neared the river on the opposite side.

The oozes ignored me. The satyrs chased off the defenders. The men fled back to the village, some stumbling after being gored. Others lay on the ground bleeding out. I gathered my magic, the words for the spell forming on my lips.

“Spark of lightning, crackle of electricity, let the wrath of Lord Enlil explode!”

The crackle of lightning shot from me and struck the first monster girl. Her gelatinous body couldn’t withstand the fury of my spell. Lightning sizzled over her flesh. She melted like a marshmallow in the microwave and spread out across the river. The woman she held burst free and splashed through the water to safety.

“Get them!” I shouted and chose my next target.

 

Halia stared in shock at the dungeon builder. Leo had killed the monster girl grabbing the woman. She splashed to safety. Others were in danger. He was risking his own life against another dungeon builder’s forces to protect.

It didn’t make any sense to her, but the women were in danger. So she had no time to think.

Halia roared and leaped into the river. The water splashed around her. It wasn’t deep here, coming up her waist. She sloshed through it as another lightning spear, cast by Leo, slammed into an ooze. She melted away, too, freeing her victim. The other gelatinous monster girls had noticed the attack and dove beneath the water.

Halia froze. Overhead, Garnet and Lana soared while the adventurer shifted, the river stones wet beneath her feet. She stared at the water, looking for the oozes’ movement. There were still four of those nasty things to cause problems.

This was a bad place to be. The washerwomen were escaping only to be stopped by the satyrs who had turned from chasing the men.

Halia moved across the water slowly towards them, tense for the attack. The oozes had all but blended in with the water. She felt like she was surrounded by them. They were moving in for the kill. She held her sword up, poised to strike at them.

The water on her right looked strange. Too thick. She thrust her blade down. The thickness darted away, vanishing from her sight. Halia swallowed. This was a mistake being in here. She rushed waded the river to help the other women.

A tentacle lashed about her foot. She gasped as it yanked hard. She vanished underwater.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Garnet soared over the river. Her owner had killed two of the oozes, but there were still the satyrs to deal with. And they had dildos. That was so interesting. It made Garnet’s naughty pussy just tingle at the possibilities.

The satyrs whirled around, abandoning their chase of the men. They had big boobs, and though their hair was gray, it wasn’t from old age. They had youthful bodies, lean and delicious. A tingle rippled through Garnet, the succubus’s tail swishing behind her.

She was so glad to be out of those ugly, baggy clothes and into wearing something proper. She hummed him delight as she swooped down, forming a whip out of shadows in her hand. She wasn’t like Usiku who could make weapons.

Garnet could only make sex toys. Whips were kinky bondage gear, not weapons to her. But she could still have fun with one.

She landed down behind a satyr racing towards the women escaping the oozes. Garnet whipped her arm, the narrow lash of shadow swiping out and wrapping around the satyr’s leg right above where it turned into a goat’s.

Garnet yanked.

The satyr bayed like a shocked goat as she pitched face-first into the grass growing above the sandy bank. Humming happily, Garnet started pulling back on the leash, dragging the satyr to her. The monster girl thrashed, staring with such anger at her while the dildo thrust out from her pussy.

“Is that a two-headed dildo?” the wicked succubus asked. Her red, bat-like wings fluttered behind her and her tail swished back and forth. She was having so much fun. “Because that’s hot. Did you make that yourself?”

“What?” the satyr asked, sounding absolutely shocked.

“The dildo,” Garnet said, her wings flapping faster. “Did you make it yourself? It’s super neat. It makes me so excited. Huh? Did you?”

The monster girl stared at Garnet like she was crazy. “Who is your master? Why are you attacking us?”

“Because you’re being real cunts.” Garnet struck a dramatic pose. “Kweh, heh, heh! My master is the sexy and strong Lord Leo! He has come to punish you for attacking those poor women. You should be seducing them, not molesting them. It’s wrong. But don’t worry, he shall punish—”

The satyr took advantage of Garnet’s speech to bolt to her feet and charge at the succubus, horns lowered to gore the girl. Garnet gasped at just how rude that gesture was.

“I was monologuing!” she hissed as those sharp horns hurtled at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lana Fulmine soared with Garnet across the battlefield. She stared down at the satyrs. Annoyance shot through the movie starlet. She had seen such predator behavior before. Producers in Hollywood thought they could do what they wanted with young women just like this despicable dungeon builder.

You’re not getting away with it! My number one fan will stop you!

And Lana would help.

Garnet broke off to go after one satyr. She wasn’t as combat-focused as Lana Fulmine. The lightning sprite’s wings crackled with lightning. She fired a bolt down at one of the satyrs. The sizzling lightning struck the monster girl in the face.

Sparks flared. The satyr flew back and hit the ground, spasming. Smoke rose from her face, a blackened wound appearing where the bolt struck. Two of the fleeing women took advantage to leap over the dead or stunned monster girl and flee for the village. Several of the men had rallied and covered them with crossbow bolts while alarms rang from Astovin itself.

“You’re not getting any girls!” Lana Fulmine shouted at the enemy monster girls.

She hardly noticed Halia vanishing beneath the waves. The lightning sprite focused on a satyr driving back the wet women, corralling them to be captured again. The movie starlet’s anger flared. Lighting crackled between the golden strands of her hair. Her wings, formed out of electricity, flared with white-hot plasma.

A bolt sizzled down and struck the satyr in the back. She sprawled forward, kicking and spasming. Lana smiled her triumph as she soared out over the river. Two satyrs dead or stunned, a third distracted by garnet. Things were going great.

As she banked to start her next run, tentacles burst out of the water and seized her by the legs. They yanked hard. She lost her momentum and hurtled down for the sandy bank. She struck hard. Her head reeled from the attack, stars bursting across her vision.

Mind foggy, she hardly noticed the tentacle wrapped around her foot. It dragged her for the water.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things could be going better. Halia vanished beneath the water and Lana crashed on the shore. The four oozes in the water would be an issue. Across the river, the three remaining satyrs were grabbing women to carry them off, slinging them over their shoulders.

“Fuck,” I growled.

“Darkness hides and shadows conceal, let the curse of Lord Zuen fall!” I chanted.

I hit one of the satyrs. She stumbled and tripped, dropping the women that she had picked up. She stood up, looking around, confused. She rubbed at her face like she thought she could wipe off what I had cast on her.

Bursting out of the brush on the other side of the river was Cysgo. My wildhound leaped on another satyr, knocking her to the ground. The two village girls being carried off tumbled across the ground. Free, they scrambled to their feet and ran as the two monster girls rolled over the ground. Cysgo bit into the satyr’s shoulder.

The satyr thrashed and bucked. The pair spilled around each other as they fought. I hoped my monster girl would be all right. I turned to the river. I had to help Lana. She was struggling to move as the ooze pulled her into the water.

I could see the tentacle holding her but not the ooze. “Shadows flow and darkness sharpens, let the cunning of Lord Zuen stab!”

A dagger of shadows flung from me and struck the tentacle, cutting it in half. Lana scrawled from it, rolling over onto her back. She rubbed at her face, wiping away sand. She flexed her wings, each crackling with lightning.

A ooze burst out of the water before her, more tentacles rushing for my movie starlet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Halia thrashed underwater.

The ooze’s tentacles were all around her, gripping her body. She hit the bottom, metal armor thudding on the river stones. It rang hollowly in the water. She kicked her feet, silt rising from the floor then washed away by the current.

For a moment, it spilled over something. A shape.

Halia stared at it and realized it was the ooze. The monster girl blended in with the water, but it was thicker. Fighting against breathing, her lungs burning, Halia kicked again. She was the daughter of Anguin. The great hero who slew Argian the White and Thunder Hammer Gludhug. She would not die this way. She would slay her enemies.

She kicked a rock with her foot, spilling up mud in the process. The current caught it, carrying it away. It spilled over the monster girl. Halia thrust with her blessed blade. The weapon hummed through the water. It struck that thicker patch, sinking into gel.

The tentacles about her body twitched and then tightened. They squeezed about her, compressing her legs and stomach. Pain flared. Bubbles burst from Halia’s mouth. She thrashed in the embrace. Trapped.

But she wouldn’t let herself die here. She would escape. She slashed her father’s enchanted blade through the water. She cut through the ooze’s tentacle. She felt that moment of slicing contact. Then it writhed and contracted. The tentacles holding her melted away.

Freed, she burst up to the surface and sucked in air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lana Fulmine stared at the ooze rising out of the water. One of the creature’s hair-tentacles ended in a ragged tear. She hissed and sent the others at the movie starlet. The lightning sprite struggled to move, but her mind still felt fuzzed by the impact.

Lightning crackled. A bolt struck the ooze from behind. The monster girl’s back arched. Then her body melted. Those big boobs dissolved into sludge that spilled onto the bank, the blue oozing across the ground.

Leo stood on the other side of the river. He looked so strong and bold. Lana smiled at him. Halia burst out of the water nearby. She raised her sword defensively, but Lana had eyes only for her owner. The man who had brought her to this world and given her a new purpose.

A new life that was so freeing and exciting.

The sex. The fighting. Her new form. It was all so enticing. She shuddered as she rose, so happy to be his. He pointed his hand and another bolt of lightning arched across the river and struck a satyr in the ass. She pitched over, spilling out her women.

Leo grinned, looking proud of himself for saving those women.

The tentacles burst out of the water and wrapped about him in a flash. One squeezed about his neck, choking off his shout. Then he was yanked forward and crashed into the river, vanishing beneath the washing waves.

“Leo!” screamed Lana and threw herself at the water.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tentacle gripped my throat. It was wrapped tight about my neck, choking off my air. I thrashed as I twisted along the river bottom. The ooze had me. I could just see her face before me, translucent and dark. She had a look of anger in her eyes.

I had killed her fellow oozes. Their souls would return to their owner’s Void Crystal to be reborn to serve at his whim. That didn’t change that she hated me for it. She was choking me underwater. I thrashed, unable to speak the words of magic.

Unable to fight back with magic.

I had strengthened my body. I grabbed her tentacles. My fingers squeezed about them. They were gelatinous, but they compressed. I squeezed them tight. She just squeezed tighter about my throat. Not even bubbles escaped my lips.

My heart hammered. Black spots appeared about my vision. A lethargy descended on me. My thoughts grew sluggish as my lungs burned. Something shone bright above. I reached up for it. So pretty. My body relaxed as it just grew easier to surrender.

Why fight?

Everything was slipping away. The world shrinking to pinpricks.

A humming sound pierced the water. It buzzed louder. A scream echoed through the water. The tentacles around me thrashed and convulsed. They released my throat. I didn’t care. It was so peaceful. The darkness slid over me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What are you doing? Halia demanded as she yanked her sword out of the dying ooze.

She thrust her left hand into the water and grabbed the front of Leo’s robe. She hauled him out of the river. He sputtered for breath, his eyes fluttering beneath his lids. His body kicked as she dragged him to the shore.

He’s the enemy. Let him drown!

She pushed him on the shore, his head and shoulders. He shuddered, his body twitching. Lana landed, the lightning sprite grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging him the rest of the way out of the water.

“Duck!” she gasped, lightning crackling over her wings.

Halia did, falling to her knees in the water. It rose to her neck. The lightning bolt sizzled over the warrior’s head and struck something. A wet sizzle and then splashes. She turned around to see a melting ooze, the last one, vanishing into the river. The current washed her away.

“Thanks,” Halia said, her voice tight.

“You’re welcome,” Lana said. “I mean, you did save Leo. Thank you for that.”

Halia nodded. She didn’t understand it. If he had died, it would be one less dungeon builder to threaten the world. And yet he had fought to protect the women. They had all escaped now, being escorted back by the men. A few had even grabbed the wounded men, dragging them to get help. One of the satyrs stumbled blind on the other side of the river until she was feathered with crossbow bolts. The other lay beneath the wildhound. She vanished into the brush.

Moans came from the last. Halia blinked at what the succubus was up to.

“Thanks,” croaked Leo. “You saved me.”

“We all make mistakes,” Halia muttered.

He burst into laughter like that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. She frowned at him as she stood up on unsteady legs. He looked out at the river, seeing that they had won. They had driven back the other dungeon builder’s minions.

“Why did you do it?” she asked him. “Are you thinking of conquering Astovin? Is this just you defending what you think is yours?”

“Fuck, no,” he said. He nodded across the river to the villagers. “It was protecting them. Those helpless women. That cocksucker sent his monster girls to kidnap them. That’s not right. Not fucking right at all.”

Halia believed him. She didn’t know what to make of this evil man. He didn’t act like any of the dungeon builders she had ever heard of. But he had power. He had two glyphs, which meant he had killed another dungeon builder. The Dark one, she guessed, who had started operating in this area then until he’d gone silent.

“What do you plan to do next?” Halia asked him.

“That’s a very good question,” he said then frowned. “What is Garnet doing?”

To be continued…

Click here for Part 11.

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