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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 11.

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Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

“That’s it,” Cysgo whispered. She crouched behind a bush and stared out at the cliff wall. We were in a canyon in the hills, the entrance choked with brush. There was a narrow path through them. It was clearly intentional. We were in the dungeon builder’s lair.

A shiver ran through me. My fingers flexed. We were about to attack another dungeon builder. Just blitz his home and overrun him. I sucked in a deep breath. My heart pounded. This would be crazy. I hoped we would be fine.

I didn’t want to lose anyone. “Things still good at the dungeon, Usiku?”

“They are, Leo,” she said with some amusement. “Stop worrying about us and worry about those poor girls. Not even Mthunzi had done something so terrible.”

I nodded. “Where’s the entrance, Cysgo?”

“You see where the wall juts out? It’s behind there.”

I placed my hand on her head between her dog-like ears. The wildhound grinned up at me as I petted her while her tail wagged furiously behind her. I scratched her a few times. Her entire body quivered.

“Okay,” I said. “Hela, you and your sisters scout. We’re behind you.”

“Yes, Master,” she said and then scampered forward, Cysgo and Ci on her tail. They moved with quiet steps. They reached the crack and peered around the corner. Then they vanished around it.

My stomach tightened as I moved up with my monster girls and Halia. Sviesos and Zaibas took up the rear. If this place had defenses against lightning, I wanted them held back. I adjusted my armor. They had brought it for me to wear. I had my lightning spear in hand, the tip crackling with energy.

I had trained for this. Usiku had coached me. I was ready for the fight. More ready than I had been when Mthunzi had assaulted my labyrinth. I reached the crack and waited for the wildhounds’ report. My heart pounded. My sister quivered beside me. Halia held her sword tight.

“We found a door,” said Hela. “It’s iron and locked.”

I blinked. “Does anyone know how to pick a lock?”

“We have you covered, Lord Leo,” Hela said. “We’re good with locks.”

“Wait for us,” I sent.

I went around the corner into the dark room. It was nearly pitch black after a few steps, the daylight falling off sharply. But then the will o’ wisps glowed bright. Blue light spilled from them, revealing the three wildhounds crouched before an iron door. Hela had her claw inside the lock. I heard a click. She glanced at me, arching her eyebrow.

I nodded.

She opened it and we flowed into the room. My heart surged up into my chest. He had the time to restore his monster girls to life. The satyr and oozes could be waiting for us again, all ready to do the fight a second time.

Water dripped from the ceiling of the tunnel. It was cut into the rock. Unadorned with anything. The wildhounds moved forward at a crouch, their heads down and asses up in the air. Tails swished back and forth as they sniffed.

“Look at those pussies,” Garnet groaned. She smacked her lips. “Don’t you just want to devour them and fuck them?”

“We should make as little noise as possible,” Halia whispered.

“Right.” Garnet glanced at me. “You getting horny for some wildhound pussy, big bro? I know I am.”

“You have a one-track mind,” I sent back.

Lana Fulmine snorted and nodded in agreement.

Garnet grabbed my free arm. “That’s why you love me, right?”

“I love you for a lot of reasons,” I thought, staring at her crimson eyes. She had her black hair gathered back into pigtails.

Halia glanced at us and shook her head. “Never knew about dungeon builders and their telepathy. It explains a lot.”

“We all come from his soul,” said Sviesos. “The Void Crystal just gives him the power to make us manifest. Otherwise, it holds us when we are not needed.”

“We sleep then,” Zaibas added. “It’s pleasant.”

Lana Fulmine nodded.

“It’s a labyrinth,” said Hela. “There are branching paths. This place twists and turns.”

“Can you find us through, or do we have to go down all the side passages.”

“Scents are muddled.” I could see them again. They were at an intersection, noses down. “Oozes and satyrs go in all directions from here. They—”

All three went still. Their tails thrust upward. Then they turned to the left and pounced. Hoofs thudded. Growls and baas echoed. I rushed up the hallway at the sound of battle. They fought with satyrs.

We hit the intersection. The three wildhounds fought with two satyrs. One of the satyrs had grabbed Ci and had her pinned against the wall. The satyr’s head lowered to gore my wildhound. Panic shot through me. Magic flowed.

“Spark of lightning, crackle of electricity, let the wrath of Lord Enlil explode!” I chanted as the horns plunged in.

They buried into Ci’s chest. She howled in pain.

The lightning bolt crackled and stuck the satyr. She collapsed smoking. Ci fell over her, bleeding out. Her sister wildhounds pulled down the other satyr. Claws ripped and teeth bit. The satyr kicked and gurgled.

“Lord Leo,” Ci whimpered, her life spilling out of her. “I’ll dream… of you…”

She went still. The satyr she fell under melted away. Then Ci dissolved into motes, returning to the Void Crystal. Despite that, tears touched my eyes. The pain she felt was real. She might not be dead, but she had suffered for me.

I gripped my spear.

Something wet landed on me. It spilled over me, thick and viscous. I gasped as it covered my mouth. It poured into my throat. I couldn’t breathe. I felt the gelatinous goo all around me, suffocating me.

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

Lana Fulmine gasped at the sight of the ooze girl who had dropped down from the ceiling. The blue, gelatinous woman had slid her pussy over his head, distending her hips and belly. Lana could see his face buried into the ooze’s snatch through her skin. He grabbed at her thigh with his left hand, fingers sinking into her flesh.

Fear shot through the lightning sprite.

“No!” Halia gasped. She swung her sword, cutting through a tentacle that lashed out from the monster girl. It fell to the ground with a wet splat. The buzzing blade thrust forward, slamming into the monster girl’s torso.

Did nothing to her.

“Eww, gross!” Garnet gasped, seized by another tentacle. “I don’t want to play hentai with you. Not when you’re smothering my big brother!” Shadows flared in her hands. Then she whipped at the ooze. It struck the enemy monster girl’s gelatinous body, flesh rippling.

Leo dropped his spear. The sparking blade clattered on the ground. Lightning crackled from Lana’s wings. She threw them wide. The energy sizzled over her when the sound of hooves thudding on the ground drew her attention.

She whirled to find a satyr rushing at her from another corridor, horns lowered. She unleashed her lightning. It blasted from her wings and struck the satyr in the chest. The monster girl fell to the ground in a quivering pile.

Leo’s knees collapsed. He fell to the ground. He was on his hands and knees, suffocating. Garnet frantically whipped at the succubus with her shadows. The wildhounds growled, but they were wrapped up by another ooze. She had them in her tentacles and pulled their heads into her body to drown them.

Lana focused her electrical charge. She had to fire her bolt, but he was thrashing so much. Halia cursed and slashed at another ooze dripping from the ceiling, narrowly getting engulfed, too. Her blade cut through a pair of arms, dropping them to the ground. Then she slashed through the torso and did nothing.

“Lady Sherida, aid me!” gasped Halia as tentacles seized her sword arm and jerked her forward.

Lana’s lightning bolts were not precise. If she missed, she could kill the thrashing Leo. Then they would all die. Garnet sobbed, her wings flapping as she fought against the tentacle pulling her in to be engulfed. The ooze laughed.

She enjoyed herself as she smothered Leo.

I have to act! Lana Fulmine told herself. You played Jane Dangerous. What would she do?

She would grab something useful from the environment. She would think on her feet. Whatever she needed would be at hand. A weapon that had fallen, a magical artifact on a pedestal, an innocuous item in her belt pouch. Something that…

Her eyes fell on the silver spear, the tip sparking with electricity.

She picked it up and thrust it at the ooze, aiming well above Leo’s head. The spear tip lanced into the ooze. The electricity arced through her gelatinous body. Her flesh spasmed and roiled. Then she dissolved into a puddle.

Leo ripped his head free, panting and coughing. He sucked in breaths.

“You saved him!” Garnet shouted, tears in her eyes. “Lana, Lana, you saved him!”

“Little help!” Halia gasped.

The warrior woman had her body being pulled into the ooze by her sword arm. Unable to swing her weapon, she couldn’t resist. Her boots slid across the floor. The ooze had a big grin on her face, smiling in delight.

Lana thrust the spear over Halia’s shoulder and into the gelatinous face of the ooze. Her beautiful features spasmed as the electricity coursed through her. Halia stumbled free as the slain ooze melted into a puddle and vanished.

Lightning zapped to the left, strobing the air. The will o’ wisps had rushed to the wildhounds aid. They had shoved hands into the ooze and zapped her. She now melted away, freeing Cysgo and Hela from their own drowning.

“Fuck me,” panted Leo. “That was a good ambush.”

“I don’t like these oozes,” groaned Garnet. “They’re icky. Hentai should be a lot more fun than that. It was scary.”

“Hentai?” asked Halia.

“She’s talking about tentacle sex,” Leo said. “Come on, we have to keep moving. Hela, Cysgo, which way?”

The two wildhounds put their noses to the ground as Leo picked himself up. Lana handed over his spear and then shuddered when he cupped her face and kissed her. A shiver went through her at the feel of her number one fan’s lips.

No, Lana Fulmine didn’t miss Hollywood and making movies. She was doing something important. They would save those poor village girls.

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

“This way, Lord Leo!” growled Cysgo. She pointed to the right. “I smell humans.”

Hela nodded.

“Lead on,” I growled.

They both scampered ahead. Cysgo bounded at the lead. She landed on the floor and it vanished beneath her. She yelped and then came a sickening crunch as she hit the bottom of the pit trap. I closed my eyes as I felt her essence melt away, returned to the Void Crystal.

Hela stopped at the edge, her tail thrust straight up. Of course, there would be traps. I had traps in my dungeon. Hela edged around the hole, peering down. Her body shuddered. I just hoped Cysgo’s death was painless.

I had to make it up to her when I healed her. And Ci, too.

Hela moved slower. She went around another section of the floor. I swallowed, staring at it. I couldn’t see any sign of a trap at all, but I believed Hela that there was something there. I wasn’t about to take any chances. I gripped my spear and kept going.

At the next intersection, she sniffed around and then she moved to the right, moving cautiously. I gripped my spear. I could have thirteen monster girls active at a time. He could have four or five more still around. Where were they? Waiting down dead ends to attack us from behind?

We avoided two more traps as we wound through the labyrinth. And then we came to another locked door. Hela sniffed at it and then shoved her claw in. She fumbled at it, her tail wagging back and forth.

“Come on,” she muttered. “I… Yes!”

She opened the door.

Hooves clopped behind us. Sviesos yelped in surprise then screamed in pain. I whirled to see lightning arching from Zaibas’s hand. She struck a satyr. But the monster girl had already done damage. Sviesos fell to the ground, lightning zapping from her wound. The incandescent gas that made up her body then hissed out of the puncture wounds. She seemed to deflate. She stared up at me.

“Sorry, Lord Leo,” she cried and then she vanished.

Zaibas swallowed. “She hit Sviesos before I could react, Lord Leo.”

“It’s okay,” I muttered. I felt sick that my poor monster girls were suffering. They were protecting Halia and me. We were the only two that couldn’t come back.”

“This room is full of vines,” said Hela. “I don’t like it.”

I wrenched my gaze from where Sviesos had vanished. There could be four or five monster girls left. I flexed my fingers and then I whirled and followed Hela into the room with the vines. It was lit like it was daylight in here. Bright and sunny. The room held warmth. An abundance of natural beauty.

“Life magic,” whispered Halia.

“Yeah, what can it do?” I asked, eyeing the thick vines that hid the stone walls. More creepers spread over the ceiling.”

“Heal,” Halia said. “And control plants.”

“Oh,” I said. Then I groaned. “Oh, fuck!”

The vines attacked.

From every direction, whipping vines surged at us. They slammed into our bodies, wrapping around arms and legs. I grunted, twisting to dodge them. But there were too many of them. They wrapped around my legs and arms. I tried to thrust my spear at them, but they had my limb bound tight.

Garnet gasped, her small titties jiggling as they pulled her arms over her head, seized by green tendrils from the ceiling. Others had her legs and wrapped around her torso. They squeezed about her naked flesh, digging into her skin.

She screamed in pain.

A moment later, so did I. Thorns bit into my wrists, digging at the flesh. Blood welled around where they held my skin. They tore through my socks. Hela ripped at her with her teeth, savaging through the green vines that had seized her. Zaibas crackled with electricity. Her vines smoked about her body, blackening where they touched her roiling, blue flesh.

“Leo!” Lana Fulmine shouted. Her wings flared wide, crackling with electricity. Then she discharged a blast before her, sizzling the vines that surged in at her. They blackened and smoked. Some burst into flames.

But the ones from behind her grabbed her. She gasped as they seized her by the waist, digging into her silver skin. Her golden hair crackled as she screamed out her pain. More surged down at us. Garnet thrashed.

Halia hacked.

She sliced her sword, the blade humming as it danced through the air. It sang as she hacked and sliced and cut her way through the incoming damage. She growled through her teeth and pivoted in the spot, her boots jiggling as she slashed through them all.

“Lightning crackle and hiss, gird me in the love of Lady Uttu!” I chanted as fresh vines squeezed about my breastplate, the metal groaning from the strain.

A field of crackling electricity burst around me. The vines holding me shriveled and sizzled. My little sister screamed, her face contorting in pain. Her leathery wings fluttered. A tendril grabbed one, squeezing about it.

“No, no, no!” she screeched.

I broke free of the scorching vines. I slashed my spear as a sword before me. I cut into the tendrils binding my sister. Fury beat in my heart as I did. I cut with vigor. Halia hacked behind me. Hela tore herself free. She dodged a pair of incoming vines and darted toward Zaibas.

“Lord Leo!” Zaibas screamed.

I cut the vines holding my sister’s wings. Garnet’s red eyes stared at me with such pain and yet with hope. “Big bro!”

Halia swept around Lana Fulmine. Hela reached Zaibas and tore at the vines squeezing about her breasts, blue mist spilling from her wounds. The static aura remained on me, crisping black any vines that surged down to grab me.

It was hard hacking with any control with my spear. It was a stabbing weapon, but Garnet was in trouble. I wasn’t about to let her suffer. I cut her free. She stumbled back, blood spilling around her wrists. She rubbed at them, whimpering. More blood oozed around her waist.

“You saved me, big bro!” she cheered, her eyes shining. She went to hug me but I held a hand out.

“You’ll get hurt. The spell.”

“Oh, right.” She grinned at me. “You’ll never get a girl if you surround yourself in deadly lightning, big bro.”

“Really?” I asked her. “If you’re not my girl, then what are you?”

She giggled, her tail swishing behind her. “I’m your cute succubus. I’m not a girl any longer. I’m something better. Something far, far more adorable.” She formed a heart with her hands and rested her chin on it. “Right?”

“Not the time!” Halia growled. She had hacked free Lana while Hela had finished tearing Zaibas free. But there were still vines surging in on us.

I nodded and then marched forward. “Door!”

Lightning burst from Lana. She fired the lightning out at them, clearing out space before us. Zaibas grabbed tendrils leaping down at her and shriveled them with her powers. Hela dodged, ripping and tearing. Halia hacked. She looked magnificent, her braid of black hair flowing behind her as she fought.

We battled away across the vine-covered room. Halia’s sword sliced vines that attacked from the floor, wrapping around feet. Garnet hovered behind me. My spear slashed before us. Smoke billowed through the room, the plants sizzling and burning from the electricity damage.

We reached the far end. I grabbed the door and yanked it open. Something clicked.

“Big Bro!” Garnet shouted and slammed into me.

My static aura spell zapped Garnet.

She screamed in pain as she knocked me to the side. Something whizzed past me and struck into Garnet. I stumbled and whirled to see a thick arrow had crashed into her chest. It was the size of my fist.

She stared at me with a huge smile on her face, her skin blackened in spots from the magical protection on me. “Gonna take a nap. You better wake me up with a kiss!”

“Garnet!” I shouted and reached for her, dismissing my protection spell.

But she fell back and then her body melted away into darkness. The last to go with that smile on her face. Despite the pain, she had joy. She had saved my life. That ballista bolt would have rammed through me.

I trembled as her cute face dissolved away, the smile gone. My hands shook. This powerful blow struck my stomach. I wanted to throw up. But she was alive. I knew that. She would come back. I just had to win the day. She slept in the Void Crystal.

“She is in there, right, Souleen?” I demanded, clutching my spear.

“Yes, she is,” Souleen said. Concern in her voice. “They all are. Don’t you worry. Their souls are fine. I’m watching over them.”

“Good.” I swallowed. My little sister had taken a blow for me. I should have protected her. “If you can make her feel relaxed or something.”

“Or something,” Souleen said, sounding amused. “I’ll take care of them. You just take care of yourself.”

“Little sis,” Hela whimpered at where Garnet fell.

“She’s fine,” I croaked. I glanced down the hallway. I could see the ballista at the end of the corridor. It had not reloaded.

“Vicious trap,” said Halia. “We need a thief.”

“You need to let me go first,” Hela said. “I’m your scout. I can take it. You’ll bring me back.”

“I don’t want you monster girls suffering for me,” I protested.

“I know.” She smiled at me, her ears twitching. Then she grabbed my shoulders and licked my cheek. “And that’s why we love you.”

“You love me because you were made to love me,” I muttered.

“I don’t think so.” She wiggled against me. “Do you think the monster girls of dungeon builders love them when they’re forced to do dumb things like raid villagers? Do you think they don’t know when their master has no regard for their lives? You love us all, Lord Leo.”

“Yes,” Zaibas said. “So don’t worry about us. If we die, you’ll revive us.”

“So just let us protect you and Halia,” Hela said and then scampered down the hallway. She paused and sniffed at the ground. “Trap!”

“Your monster girls are something else,” said Halia. “I never thought of them as anything more than wild beasts. Things to be killed. But they have feelings, don’t they?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” I asked. “That’s the problem. Humans, even dungeon builders, can do such harm by being selfish. The dungeon builders just have more power to cause more harm.”

I headed down the hallway, stomach tight with caution. We moved deeper into the dungeon. If we were about on the same power level, then we must be nearing the end of this dungeon. Hela padded before us, her cute rump thrust up in the air, tail wagging. Halia walked at my side, Lana Fulmine behind us with Zaibas taking up the rear.

I glanced up at the ceiling. There were holes in it. I swallowed. Was there another level to this dungeon? I realized they were ooze holes. That was how they had gotten the drop on us, dealing the damage that they had.

Hela hit a T intersection. She stepped into it and turned to the right. Then she gasped. She leaped to her feet and stumbled back. She held the horns of a satyr who had tried to gore her. The satyr pushed her back across the floor. Hela strained against the monster girl.

I charged forward and thrust my spear at the satyr. Hela growled, fighting to stop being pushed down the left branch. My weapon rammed in the side of the satyr. She bleated out in pain, blood spurted.

With a mighty heave, she threw Hela back. The wildhound stumbled to fight her balance, her feet dancing. She stepped on a tile. A click echoed. Then the floor opened up and she vanished from sight, falling down a pit trap.

“No!” I screamed.

The satyr fell dead at my feet before she vanished, returning to her owner’s Void Crystal. My hands clenched in fury. My heart pounded with such rage. Another one of my monster girls hurt and dead. I hated this. It was so barbaric.

“It’s okay,” Zaibas whispered. “I’ll take the lead.”

“Wait,” I gasped. “What about you? You’ll just get killed.”

“But you’ll save me.” She smiled at me. “We love you, Lord Leo. We’re all willing to die for you. Garnet. Big Sis Lana. All of us.”

I swallowed against the emotion and nodded. I felt terrible, but they were right. They were magical creatures. Their souls were never gone. I could always rebuild their flesh. I hated how this made me think of them as disposable.

No one should ever be disposable.

I gripped my spear and we pressed on. The tunnels wound and twisted and turned. Zaibas took steps with caution. She braced herself for the traps that she expected to fall on her. The holes in the ceiling made my skin crawl. There had to be few monster girls left. What if an ooze fell on us. Just engulfed one of us and suffocated us in gel.

Zaibas reached a door. She grabbed the handle, her back set. Then she flung it open. Steam billowed around her. For a moment, I expected her to scream, but then it cleared to show a bridge out over the water. It was a warm room. Tendrils of vapor rose from the water.

“What’s the trap?” I muttered. “Rooms this big have traps.”

“Always,” Halia said. “Never trust a room that you can’t touch both walls at once. Monsters or traps are there.”

Zaibas ventured into the room. It was a square, the bridge going out to the other side. It ended at a wall. I frowned as we stepped out with her. I glanced down the side. The water was about ten feet below. A single pillar supported the bridge right in the middle. It had a ladder running down the side to climb out of the water. The pool was a deep blue. The depth was impossible to say. The only door out was to our left. Ten feet above the water, no way to climb up it. the walls were a smooth blue. Everything was wet. Water dripped from the ceiling, condensing from the steam.

“The bridge rotates?” I asked. “Giving you access to the exit.”

“That’s annoying,” Halia said. She peered into the water. “I guess someone has to jump in there and activate a switch.”

“It’s right there, Lord Leo,” Zaibas shouted. She pointed to it. Then she dived over.

“Wait!” I shouted, but she had already plunged into the water. Her bluish form almost vanished into the background, impossible to see.

Shapes moved.

Figures rose out of the depths fast. I could see fishtails swishing and hair billowing. Mermaids with big breasts surged in and attacked Zaibas. She twisted in the water as they seized her. Lightning flared from Zaibas, lighting up the water. One of the mermaids spasmed, but they had tridents they thrust at my will o’ wisp.

“Fuck!” I snarled and undid the buckles on my breastplate.

“Leo?” gasped Lana.

“Going in after her,” I growled and then pulled open my robes. I dropped them to the floor. I snagged up my spear. My wrists throbbed from the vines, but I didn’t care. I dove into the water.

The warmth engulfed me. It was like swimming in a hot spring. The mermaids liked it warm. Zaibas twisted in the water. She dodged a trident thrust at her. Her electricity crackled, but the water was so big, how far could it travel before it dissipated. I lunged my spear into the back of one mermaid.

She stiffened. Blood drifted from her. Two more twisted around to face me. They had purple and green hair that billowed about them, scales matching their tresses. They formed fresh tridents. Zaibas swam at one, hugging her by the neck. The trident buried into her flesh even as she fired her lightning into the mermaid.

The other drew back and threw her trident at me. The three-pronged spear hurtled through the water, a trail of bubbles behind it. I kicked hard to the right. It flashed past me. Bubbles burst from my mouth. I had to breathe.

She formed another one as if she hardened it out of the very water around us.

“Shadows flow and darkness sharpen, let the cunning of Lord Zuen stab!” I shouted, unleashing my magic.

A blade of night flew from me through the water. Not as fast as it normally did, but she was in the process of drawing back her trident to throw it when it took her in between the breasts. Her eyes widened. She stared down at it protruding from her tits. Then she dissolved away.

I spun around to help Zaibas but…

I was all alone in the water.

I kicked for the surface, my lungs screaming. Spots of dankness danced across my vision. I clawed at the water, reaching for the top. Then I burst out with a mighty gasp of air. I sucked it in. Lana and Halia stared down at me, relief on their faces.

“Zaibas?” Lana asked, her voice tight.

I shook my head and swam for the controls. It was beneath the ladder. A wheel. I grabbed it, my feet treading water. How many of the enemy monster girls had we killed? I’d lost track. Did he have more to unleash? I didn’t know.

I twisted the wheel.

The entire structure swung with a grinding that rumbled from deep in the water. It was slow, a ponderous turn as it twisted the weight of the bridge. Lana and Halia both stumbled for a moment before catching their balance.

The bridge aligned with the other door now.

I climbed out, panting. I spilled over the top of the bridge. Halia held my robes for me. She didn’t say anything, but I could see the pain in her face. She had such compassion in her eyes. She had changed so much from that first day I’d met her.

No, she hadn’t changed. I was just seeing the other side of her. Not the adventurer, but the woman. I nodded to her in thanks and slipped on the robe. I knotted it closed. I donned my breastplate and, without a word, we marched to the door.

Lana opened it with a smile. She tensed as she jerked it opened. I expected the click. The firing of a thick bolt into her chest. But nothing. We had another stone corridor. Vines draped down the walls here.

I groaned in resignation.

Lana Fulmine fired a sweep of lightning from her wings. It crackled down the hallway. Her hair crackled as she did. Vines crisped. Parts burst into flames. She stepped out into the hallway, tense, walking before me, head moving.

Nothing attacked her.

Halia and I followed her. My wet boots crunched on crisping plants. Halia held her sword low and ready to slash at them. We moved slowly, cautiously, down the hallway. Nothing attacked us. We reached the door.

Heavy. Metal. Reinforced.

It felt important. I swallowed. The throne room lay beyond. I could feel it. Lana seized the handle. She yanked it open. It creaked upon a large room. The floor was a swirl of green and blue, small mosaic tiles that danced around each other to form intricate patterns that could only be realized from above. Several columns thrust up to the high ceiling. Vines grew across, forming a verdant spiderweb.

A man sat on a throne at the far end. He wore bluish armor that appeared to be made of scales like a fish. He had a warhammer across his lap, water dripping from the end of it. He smiled, his face a swarthy brown. Black hair spilled down around his youthful features.

Two monster girls flanked his throne. A naga with the lower half of a blue snake with white bands. Her hair fell about her lush and vicious face, matching her scales. She had no arms, her human torso as serpentine as her lower half. The second was a lean and feline monster girl. She had a pale body with black tiger stripes across it. Orange hair spilled down around her haughty and gorgeous face. Long whiskers thrust from her cheeks. She smiled, fangs flashing. Cat ears thrust above her head, triangular and twitching while a fuzzy tail swished behind her. She licked her lips, her hand lovingly resting on the dungeon builder’s shoulder.

In the back, a cage held a huddle of village girls all wearing slips that barely covered their bodies.

Anger boiled through me. “I’m here for the girls!”

“Welcome, welcome,” the dungeon builder said. He stood up, tall and strong. “I am Jindag. What an honor to host you.”

His words still echoing, the two monster girls surged out towards us. The naga slithered while the cat-woman, a rakshasa I thought, raced with feline grace. Halia and Lana broke apart, each rushing to intercept a monster girl. Halia went for the naga, leaving Lana to deal with the cat-girl.

I marched on Jindag, my spear gripped in my hand.

“Such a cold greeting,” said Jindag. “I was surprised when you killed my monster girls on the raid. I expected adventurers to protect their women, not my brother.”

“We are not brothers,” I said, glancing at the girls. They all looked broken. Miserable. He had hurt them. Used them. “I am no brother to someone as foul as you.”

“You disapprove of my little harem?” he asked, glancing at the women. “They’re honored to lie with me. I’ll plant strong sons in them. The other dungeon builders have it all wrong. They seek to build their catacombs and control territory, but they have no ambition. They cannot breed their monster girls, not even their companions. But regular women…

“I will supplant the dungeon builders with my descendants. I shall steal their Void Crystals and give them to my boys. They shall spread. My dynasty will rule this world.”

“There’s one little problem with that,” I told him.

“Which is?”

Cold anger roiled through me. I had never wanted to kill anyone in my life until this moment. Kidnapping women to force them to have his children. To harm and brutalize them. It sickened me. “You have to survive my justice.”

“Justice,” sneered Jindag. “Aren’t you and I passed that? Aren’t we above them all?”

“Why, because we have power? Arrogance isn’t an excuse to be above the law. Be above what is right! You are not a god, Jindag. You’re a man.”

“Prove it!” spat Jindag as lightning crackled from Lana. “Prove I am a man!” He gripped his warhammer and began changing a spell, “Life energizes and enervates, let the grace of Lady Ianna empower!”

It was a spell I had never heard before.

I spat out, “Lightning crackle and hiss, gird me in the love of Lady Uttu!”

Lightning crackled in the air around me, a shield. His body grew stronger. He smiled as if he had strengthened himself in some way. I didn’t care. I set my spear and charged in at him, betting I had trained more in combat than he had.

“Waters gush and flow, let the force of Lord Enki sweep!” he roared.

A vomit of water burst from his mouth. A great flood that crashed into the floor at me and then rushed at me with the growling ferocity of a stampede of horses. The floor shook from the force of the attack sweeping at me.

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

Lana Fulmine rushed at the rakshasa. As Leo shouted at the dungeon builder, the lightning sprite focused on her feline enemy. Electric charge built in Lana’s wings. She threw them wide and unleashed her attack.

The thick bolts of lightning sizzled through the air.

The rakshasa leaped over Lana’s attack. And it was no small leap, she bounded high in the air, twenty or more feet. She hit her arc and hurtled down at the lightning sprite in a hissing pounce. Fangs flashed. Claws extended from the feline monster girl’s fingertips.

Lana Fulmine flapped her wings. They propelled her back in a flash.

The rakshasa landed where Lana stood. Claws slashed at her flesh, seeking to rip and tear into her. To rend her into bloody pieces. Magical chanting echoed through the room as Lana danced back. The air whipped before her.

Those claws came close to tearing open her guts. To ripping out her throat. She didn’t have time to gather her lightning as she danced on her feet to survive the scratching fury before her. Pain burst in her leg. Blood welled from three slashes on her thigh.

The rakshasa grinned, her whiskers twitching as they thrust from her cheeks. She licked at her fingers. “Delicious.”

“You’re a kinky one, aren’t you?” Lana asked. Water crashed and roared. It slammed into stone and broke like the sea on the waves. She couldn’t worry about Leo. She had to focus on the foe before her. That was why she was here.

To fight for her number one fan.

The rakshasa shrugged, tails swishing behind her. “It’s a lot more fun, you know, being a rakshasa, than my old life.”

“I couldn’t agree,” Lana shouted and channeled her time playing Jane Dangerous. She spread her wings wide, gathering her lightning.

But the Rakshasa was faster. She lunged in, claws jamming right for Lana Fulmine’s stomach. A blow that would rip through her guts and punch out the back of her. A finishing move delivered with hissing, feline delight.

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

The wall of water galloped at me. Frothing waves broke like the manes of trampling stallions.

My training in fighting paid off. While my mind struggled to comprehend the sudden tidal wave rushing for me, my legs threw me to the right. I hit the ground and rolled out of the way. It struck the back wall and the door, breaking over it and then dissipating as the magic summoning it ended.

I gained my feet in a flash and snarled, “Shadows flow and darkness sharpens, let the cunning of Lord Zuen stab!”

The dagger of darkness hurtled from me straight at Jindag. The dungeon builder flinched from the attacked. It struck him in the chest, punching right through his scale armor and burying deep into his vitals.

I smiled. That was a killing blow. Jindag staggered. The dagger vanished leaving a gaping wound that overflowed with blood. I had never thought I could take such delight in hurting another human being, but those girls in the cage tugged at my heartstrings.

They were all huddled together, whimpering, clutching each other. This animalistic part of me wanted to make it hurt. To torture Jindag to death. Blood bubbled from his lips. He clutched at his wound with his left hand, still holding onto his warhammer.

It was time to finish him off.

I charged forward, spear aimed right at him. I had him. There was no escape for him. My triumph surged through me. He deserved every bit of agony and torment for the pain he had caused those girls.

I would show the world that not all dungeon builders were like this beast before me.

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

Halia and the naga faced each other.

She held her father’s blade in her hand, the blessed weapon humming with excitement. The enchantments on it would cut through the naga with ease. Certainty filled Halia’s heart as they sized each other up.

The naga slithered on her tail. Her large breasts swayed. A forked tongue flicked out. She had no arms, differentiating from a lamia. But that didn’t mean she had no way to attack. Her long tail could batter and strike. She could coil it about and strangle. She had sharp fangs. They would extend when she bit and then would plunge venom into the body.

“You are gorgeous,” the naga said. “You are not a monster girl. You are fully human.”

“Yes, I am,” Halia said with pride. “I’m no…” She almost spat out filthy creature, but after today, how could she think that? Leo’s monster girls loved him. They died for him today. Gladly. They knew he cared for them and were happy because their deaths meant he would live.

He suffered, too. He cared for them all. He had such a generous heart, not like that bastard, Jindag.

Water crashed and surged behind Halia. She heard chanting, Leo unleashing his magic. A grunt of pain. He had drawn blood. It was her turn now. She had to fight this naga. Keep her distracted. Even kill her.

“Lady Sherida, be with me!” she roared and rushed in.

Her blade slashed at the naga.

The serpentine monster girl leaned back, her big boobs heaving. She pulled her body out of the way. Halia recovered, her attacks slashing hard. Furious. She needed to control herself, but those girls in the cages clawed at her.

She knew them.

“Such anger,” the naga purred, slithering back before Halia’s wrath.

“You serve a monster!” roared Halia.

“I am a monster,” the naga said, glancing down at her chest. “I used to be a computer technician. I worked in a call center. But now… Now I am Jindag’s naga! I am his bodyguard. You will not hurt him, human! You will be one of his women! He will put his sons in your womb!”

“I’ll rip his cock off first,” vowed Halia, her blade slicing.

The naga slithered back. She hissed in fury. “Rip his cock off? That beautiful dick! Are you mad! How can you have his babies then?”

“I don’t want his filthy seed in me!”

“You would reject the honor of bearing his child?” The naga seemed horrified. Then glee spilled over her face. “Fine! Die!”

Her throat bulged and then she spat out a gout of greenish acid. Not venom. Not a poison. This liquid hissed through the air at the human warrior, steaming as it attacked the very atmosphere with its potency.

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

I closed the distance, spear leveled, ready to ram it through the bastard’s guts and see his evil end. He didn’t deserve to have his powers. His monster girls. He had more than enough women. He didn’t need to steal others.

Harm them.

Jindag spat out words, bloody froth bubbling on his lips. “Blossom and regrow with life, let the vitality of Lord Dumazid heal!”

The gaping wound in his chest closed. The blood stopped flowing. He stood straighter, stronger. Life magic, I realized. He could heal himself. That wasn’t good. I couldn’t repair the raw wounds the vines had left on my wrists, let alone anything serious.

I would have to overpower him. Keep him from heeling.

I slammed my spear at him.

He swung his warhammer and struck my weapon. Metal clang as he knocked my thrust to the side. I skidded to a halt face to face with him. He raised his warhammer to crush my head in with a fatal blow.

“Sizzling touch, the spark of pain, let the prowess of Lord Enlil stun!” I chanted, thrusting my hand out at him. Electricity crackled between my fingers.

He cursed and threw himself back. His scaled armor rattled. He fell into a fighting stance, fury on his face. He glared at me with such righteous anger. Then he swung his warhammer at me. Water burst from the end and struck me like a whip in the chest, my armor ringing. I stumbled back a step.

I thrust my spear again. He parried, whipping his warhammer back and forth. His brow tightened as he stared at me. I grinned. I could see the worry on his face. My training was superior to his. He hadn’t practiced, but I had.

Usiku had ensured that I had the skill to survive. That I could survive anything the enemy could throw at me. He barely blocked my spear as my attacks drove him back. Worry flashed across his face. I grinned, lightning cracking around me from my protective spell.

“How much can you heal?” I demanded. “How much damage can you recover with your magic?”

He grinned. “You’d be surprised.”

I thrust.

He didn’t bother parrying. My blade slammed into his scale armor. Lightning crackled over his armor. The tip buried through the scale armor and plunged into his stomach. He shook, his eyes wild as he trembled.

“Water’s crushing weight surround, feel the grasp of Lord Enki squeeze!” he cried out.

A ball of water engulfed me. I gasped, my feet lifting off the ground. I was surrounded by the weight of liquid that pressed in on me from every side. My robes billowed around me. Lightning crackled from my static aura as panic swept over me.

He was going to drown me.

To be continued…

Click here for Part 13.

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