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Story Codes: Fantasy, Gamelit, Magic

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 18.

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Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

Chapter Forty-Three

I left Garnet to play with the new monster girls. Three more companions. I had to think about where to put them. Fara fell in beside me as I left the Vault. My elf held her journal before her. She had made several notes on there.

“I touched your Void Crystal while you were enjoying your bugbear and rakshasa,” my elf said. “I felt your new reserve of power. You are right, it wasn’t that much, but it’s a start. If you truly want to find all the shrines, you need to fight dungeon builders. It’s the only way.”
My hands folded behind my back, my jaw set.

“There are hundreds of them scattered across the face of the world,” said Fara. “Little despots causing problems. One dies, another springs up.”

I nodded, hating it, but she was right. I had to grow my dungeon across this entire world. I was in the northern middle of it, too. Close to some shrines, but as far as possible from others. Not all the dungeon builders were evil. They were just… forced into a meat grinder.

So was I. To achieve the Incarnate’s goal, I had to find all the shrines. Which meant I needed power. I had to kill my fellow dungeon builders. She wanted the strongest, didn’t she, through this Darwinian process.

Was she even worth saving?

I had to hope that doing this would stop her from summoning dungeon builders to “protect” her.

“What does Fuegin do with the dungeon builders that appear in his territory?” I asked.

“Kill them,” Fara said. “He sends in his monster girls, much like you do. It gives him more power, and allows him to stop any rivals from appearing.”

So why did he pick me? whispered through my mind. Because I was new and naïve? He wanted to learn the secrets, but now I’m holding back on him.

But if he thought I didn’t trust him, would he come to destroy me? Who sent that dragon?

“It’s not just me that needs to kill dungeon builders,” I said. “We need Siwang to get stronger. To gain more mana veins. Perhaps use his dungeon to reach different shrines than mine.”

“You trust him a great deal, Lord Leo,” Fara said.

“He’s tied to me like you are.” I smiled at Fara. “I trust you.”

She blushed. “I love you.”

“Love comes in many forms. In my world, the Greeks had multiple forms. A word for the love between friends and brothers, romantic love, the love of others. Compassion for them.” I smiled. “Love is too complicated to have just one meaning, one expression, one—”

“Lord Leo!” Bittaraya gasped in my mind, the harpy sounding shocked. Disturbed. “There’s an army of humans marching in from the south!”
* \ * / *
Halia studied the three dwarves as they stared at the Void Crystal. Sarkz grabbed it and held up the black gemstone. He hefted it, chuckling evilly as he did it. “The mages down south will shower us in gold.”

“And you’ll drink and gamble it away in a fortnight,” said Hagza.

“Mmm, yes,” said Vargi. “It’ll be a party.”

“That’s what you’re going to do?” Halia asked, not hiding the scorn in her voice. “Drink and gamble away the money.”

“Can’t spend it if you’re dead,” said Sarkz. “Sooner or later, we die. Like poor Fiztin and Garzan.”
“Don’t forget Daliza. And Big Vath.” Vargi laughed “Oh, he was a fun priest. Worshiped the Lord and Lady of Metal. He’d turn himself into iron and just belly flop on the monster girls. Crush them.”

“Until that salamander melted him,” said Hagza. She studied Halia. “What are you getting at? What should we be doing?”

“Fighting the dungeon builders!” Halia cried. “The evil ones. The rogue ones that prey on the world. Like Berg!” She spat. “He got a taste of power and abused it. We put him down, and it felt good!”

“Lord Abzu’s stony balls, it did,” Sarkz said. “But we need a new party. Got to recruit a priest. A rogue.”

“No, you don’t,” Halia said. “Serve Lord Leo. Join with the adventurers that have signed up. With the ones we’ve trained. Fight dungeon builders with monster girls at your side.”

Sarkz tossed the crystal up in the air and back down. “Serve a dungeon builder?”

“Serve Lord Leo,” Halia countered. “Serve the man that wants to bring peace to this world. To change it. He has a plan to end the scourge. To stop them from coming.”

“Does he,” Vargi said, eyeing Halia. “You speak true.”

“As the daughter of Anguin of Astovin and a Paladin of Sherida, Lady of Light, I do,” Halia said.
Vargi glanced at Sarkz. She arched her eyebrow.

He glanced at Skale, the quetzalcoatl smiled back. “I feel buggered by a stalagmite,” he muttered. “But… Beats losing at dice.” He tossed the Void Crystal to Halia. “We’re in.”

She caught it. With this, Kassie could fashion reservoirs for any mages she trained. So could Hagza. The dwarven mage shrugged. They were in. Halia had succeeded at her mission. As Lord Leo’s reputation grew, more would come.

They would sweep through the world, popping out of his tunnels to save villages and spread his power. She could see it. Little outposts that would thrust out of the world manned by monster girls and led by the companions that Lord Leo picked up.

He might have a lampetia, a chalkydri, and a bugbear serving him now.

“Then let’s get back,” Halia said. “Your people need to know they’re safe. That Lord Leo will protect them from the builders. That you protected them.”

“Aye, we did,” Sarkz said. “Let’s go. Got two days of traipsing through the wilderness ahead of us.”

They made their way out through the dungeon. It was dead now, but the traps could still be triggered. At least the non-magical ones. They retraced their steps, Skale slithering at the lead. “I must,” she had insisted. “I don’t want any of you hurt.”

In an hour, they were out and moving down the goat trail when Lord Leo shouted in her mind, “Get back here fast, Halia! An army’s coming up from the south to attack Astovin!”

“Kill me,” gasped Skale. “I have to return to Lord Leo.”

Halia swallowed and drew her sword. She swung in a humming arc. Skale’s head parted from her shoulders. She vanished in a blur of motes.
* \ * / *
Skale died.

“Fuck,” I growled as I burst back into the Vault, interrupting Garnet fucking Daleitha with her strap-on. “Army’s coming!”

“What?” gasped Garnet. “But… but… new monster girls to fuck!”

“They don’t care,” I growled, my heart squeezing in fear. Why did Skale just die? I grabbed the Void Crystal, panic threatening to devour me.

An army and Halia was in danger.

“Skale, appear!” I cried.

The quetzalcoatl spun out of the darkness, her wings fluttering. She sat on her coiled tail, her breasts rising and falling. Dread crushed my heart to pulp as she shot me a worried look. Halia was in danger. She had been—

“Halia killed me to send me back,” the quetzalcoatl reported. “I have to be here to help fight. An army?”

“That’s what the harpies are reporting,” I growled. I had to think. To plan. “People of Astovin, retreat to the safe houses. Farmers, abandon your fields. Retreat into the city and the protection. An army is coming. It’s not safe. I will defend you all. I will keep you safe. Feya, I want to know when every last soul is in the bunkers.”

“Yes, Lord Leo,” Feya reported.

“An army,” gasped Bjorni. “There are armies in this world.”

“I guess,” I growled. “Paetu. What is going on out there?”

“There is a large army marching from the south. Thousands of men with knights on horseback. They have flying banners with yellow mermen on blue cloth.”

“Fara, yellow merman on blue cloth. Who’s banner is that?” I demanded to the elven scholar standing by me.

“The King of Myreman.” She glanced at me. “Myreman never marches their army. They keep it to protect the fertile plains around Myrecilla. Someone convinced the king you must be a major threat, Lord Leo.”

“Fuck,” I growled. An army? A fucking army? “First things first, we need to get the people inside and the gates shut. We’ll man the walls with monster girls.” I hesitated. “I’m sealing the main entrance to the dungeon.”

“You can do that?” Fara asked.

“There has to be an exit,” I said. “In Astovin. I’ve avoided it. I don’t want adventurers messing with the villagers. Now…”

I gripped the Void Crystal and sealed it off. I sent select groups of monster girls onto the walls. They were my walls. I made them. I could put monster girls on them. Orcs, will o’ wisps, werebears, basilisks, yuki-onna, salamanders, and sphinxes. I emptied the Aerie and put all the flyers there onto the walls to take to the sky.

“How long until the army arrives, Paetu?” I demanded, my heart beating.

“Hours, my Lord. Hours.”

“Siwang, we have a problem,” I sent to my count.

I nodded. At least we had time to plan.

Chapter Forty-Four

“Thank you for bringing my people to safety,” Mayor Bevlin said as I moved through the long hallway where we had brought in the people. It was off my throne room, behind the full defenses of my dungeon.

“We might be under siege for a while,” I said.

“That’s what worries me,” said the mayor. “While our stockpiles of grains are here, we had to leave our livestock to graze on the green in the village center. And the army will burn our fields after they harvest what’s ripe to feed themselves. We will have famine.”

“I’ll create farmlands underground,” I said. “Use the Fertile Lands ritual to make it the best farmland ever. No one will ever be able to destroy Astovin’s food supply after that.”

“Underground, my lord?” Astonishment filled his face.

“I have the rituals to shed light and to make the soil fertile.” I clapped him on the shoulders. “We’ll make it work.”

“Thank you, my lord,” he said, bowing low.

“And once it’s planted, I can use Bloom for it to grow so fast.” I hurried out of the throne room. “Come, to my Vault. You’ll have to advise me on how much farmland we’ll need.”

“Of course, my lord.”

The mayor had never been in my private quarters. He passed my companions all in discussions. Several maps of the village were spread out on tables as they were discussing battle plans and deployments. Fara held a list of all the monster girls.

It was a lot of work figuring this out. I left it to my companions while I worked on remolding the dungeon. I reached the room and grabbed the Void Crystal. The mayor gasped in awe as he stared at it. His hand trembled.

“I’ve heard of them,” he said. “The Black Souls of the Dungeon Builders.”

“Our connection to the Void.” I grabbed it. “That’s Souleen, she’s a piece of the Incarnation, the being who summons us.”

“Hi!” Souleen said. She glanced at me. “An army? Tens of thousands of soldiers.” Worry rippled through me. Could my monster girls handle that? So long as we kept them off the wall and out of the dungeon, I could refresh my forces.”

“The golems will buy us a bit more time,” I said. “I sent them towards the army. They won’t be laying siege to us until this evening. We have work to do. If this turns into a long siege, we’ll need food.”

I gripped the Void Crystal as the mayor talked me through making the farmland. I created massive farms beneath the living area. Huge fields dominated the level with support pillars and massive lights to be as bright as the sun. I used all the power I gained from Berg to fill it with good soil. I moved the seeds in the storehouse down to it.

Then I would head down myself to start enchanting it so the crops would grow fast and plentiful.
* \ * / *
Siwang sat down at his seat on the council table with his three companions. The mayor of Astovin was here along with all of Leo’s twelve companions plus Smerta. Maps were unfurled on the table, Hagane studying them. Fara and Kassie were chatting off to the side.

“I wish Halia was here,” Siwang muttered to his mother.

Xiongbu nodded, her black mist spilling down her. “Do any of Leo’s companions have any military training?”

“Not that I know of.” Siwang sighed. “Where is he?”

“Creating farmland,” said Garnet. “My big brother is making sure that we’ll have food if we get besieged. We still have an hour before the army’s here.”

“They’re fighting the golems,” Smerta said. “They won’t last long, but they’re better than nothing.”

“With the dead soldiers, Leo could animate them as skeleton warriors,” Morana said, a smile on her lips. “An army of undead to serve the Dark Lord.”

“Yes!” Garnet squealed.

“Leo would never want that,” Maya said. “You all know that. He had a hard enough time with the skeleton horses.”

“It would be a good use of the dead,” said Hagane.

“Desecrating their bodies?” gasped Lana Fulmine, her lightning wings fluttering. “No.”

“Yeah, gross,” Terra agreed.

“Pretty metal, though,” said Nina. The porn star had her feet on the table and leaned back in her chair, her red breasts quivering.

“We cannot do that,” said Mrs. Baldwin. Leo’s mother had a disapproving look on her face matched by Mrs. Lucina’s and Ms. Trueno’s. The latter had the expression only a disappointed teacher could have.

“No skeletons,” Alizee said. “That’s creepy, Morana.”

The banshee shrugged. “I know Leo wouldn’t want to do that…” She trailed off as Leo marched in, the hem of his robe dusty. “Hey, Leo.”

“Do I want to know what I wouldn’t do?” he asked as he sat down.

“Nope,” said Maya as Garnet said, “Definitely not, big bro!”

“Okay, okay, what’s the plan?” He glanced at Hagane.

Siwang leaned forward, eager to hear it. This time, he had to be involved. His monster girls might be only Level 1, but they trained with Leo’s. Sparred. Learned to fight. Practiced with his adventurers. Siwang ached to contribute.

He ached to become stronger to truly help Leo’s plan to save the world.
* \ * / *
Hagane pushed up the frames of her glasses. They had no lenses and were even a part of her body in a weird way. She felt comfortable having them. She glanced at Siwang sitting with his three companions. He watched on eagerly.

“We’ll need to use all our forces, Leo and Count Siwang,” said the animated statue. “I propose the following deployment of our monster girls.”

She tapped the map of Astovin, the four walls with their three gates drawn around the collection of buildings. She traced the north wall.

“Here we should deploy the will o’ wisps, unicorns, sphinxes, leprechauns, and the animated armors,” Hagane said. “We split up the Level 1, 2, and 3 monster girls to try and create a balance of units that we hope will compliment each other.”

“Okay,” Leo said, smiling at Hagane.

A crystalline quiver ran through her metallic body. “For the north gate, the rock elementals who already command it supplemented with Siwang’s lemures.”

“Done,” said Siwang. “I’ll let my monster girls know where to go.”

Hagane nodded. “Now for the east wall, the satyrs, basilisks, werebears, werewolves, and yetis. The east gate is guarded by the hellhounds and Siwang’s choirs.”

“Good, good,” Leo said. He stared at the map, his face hard. “South wall?”

“The wildhounds, orcs, ghosts, kelpies, and aos sithe. With the goblins and Siwang’s cockatrices guarding the south gate.”

“Who does that leave for the west wall?” asked Leo, his brow furrowing. “Damn, I have too many types of monster girls.”

“The more the merrier,” Alizee whooped.

“The arachnes, oozes, yuki-onna, salamanders, oreads, and sirens,” Hagane supplied. “Which leaves our air force: the quetzalcoatls, thunderbirds, phoenixes, harpies, hippogriffs, and vampires.”

“Okay, and what about companions?” asked Leo. “And the ones I’ve gained from other dungeon builders. No mention of them.”

“Our strategic reserves,” Hagane said. “You deploy us when and where we are needed.” She flicked her eyes to Leo then glanced down to Siwang. “I recommend that you two stay close to your Void Crystals. To maneuver monster girls. Revive those who are killed. Keep the walls manned. The rest of us will be in the city itself.”

“And me?” asked Kassie.

“Stay by Leo,” Mrs. Baldwin said. “In case he needs to join the fight. The adventurers and the aquatic monster girls will be the last line of defense for Leo.”

Hagane stared at Leo, waiting for him to object to being told to wait in his Vault.

He sighed. “Fine, fine. But how am I supposed to monitor the battle? Just listen to it? Worry?”

“The Scrying Ritual,” Hagane answered.

“Okay.” Leo stretched. “Sorry, Siwang.”

“It’s fine,” said Siwang. “I am used to waiting in one place. I should return to my dungeon.”

“Kassie,” Leo said and rose. “I’ll deploy you for the battle. It’s a good plan, Hagane.”

She smiled for only a moment. “Thank you.”
* \ * / *
I released my Void Crystal. The last of my monster girls were deployed. I had emptied the dungeon. My companions were all out in Astovin. I had Kassie and Fara with me. I added some comfortable chairs for them to sit on.

“You think this will work?” I asked. “That we’ll hold against an army of ten thousand?”

“Advantage does go to the defender,” said Fara. “I think we have good odds.”

“Good odds,” Kassie muttered. “Should you summon Usiku and the defenders of Sharithin?”
“Not unless I have to,” I said. “I gave them to protect your people. I don’t want to break that promise if I don’t have to. Right now, the enemy is outside the walls.” I rolled my shoulders. “Well, I need to make the Scryer.”

“I could probably replicate the spell with the right magical circle,” Kassie said as I closed my eyes. “It’ll take some research, though.”

I didn’t have time for research.

“Lord Shamash and Lady Sherida, create an eye for me to peer out at the world. Let me see through it. Let it gather the light of the world and send it to me.”

It wasn’t a long ritual to cast like Fertile Lands and Bloom. I only had to repeat the phrase twice before a distortion appeared in the air. It hovered there. I could see through it. But it wasn’t useful here. Luckily, I could move it through my dungeon.

Once it was outside, I lifted it above Astovin. I sank into my chair, seeing two things at once. I closed my eyes and watched the army breaking apart into elements to encircle the city. The fields they passed burned, just like Mayor Bevlin predicted.

The setting sun glowed red through the black smoke, an angry orb dripping in blood. I watched, the world growing darker and darker. My monster girls spread out on the wall, ready for the attack to come. It took the army an hour to surround the city. The formations of soldiers with spears marched in rectangles. Cohorts of knights moved with them and lots of archers. At the back, came wagons full of supplies guarded by more cavalry.

The archers soon were deployed. As the sun began to set. Arrows fired at the walls. They raked my dungeon. My monster girls hunkered down behind the battlements. Those that had range attacks peeked out to return them.

Lightning from the will o’ wisps, balls of acid from the kelpies, shards of ice from the yuki-onna, and roars from the sphinxes. Soon, my monster girls started dying, struck by arrows. Ordita, Malvada, Rih, Belyy, Orka, Seeng, Tuar, and Svyte.

I restored them to life and sent them back to the wall.

The sun set. But the attacks didn’t stop. The archers kept firing arrows at the walls. Harassing fire that claimed a monster girl every ten or twenty minutes or so. Gwyllt, Panja, Philtara, Spaika, Neredza, Kin, Pica, Hota, and more.

The archers died, too. Attacks struck them. The flying monster girls dove down at the enemy to attack them, quetzalcoatls firing blasts of lightning, phoenixes balls of fire. Feathers from the hippogriffs. It didn’t do much at all. The night passed as I watched, my stomach churning.

We killed their archers, but it was hardly anything. Their camp surrounded the city. There were so many of them. I spotted a large pavilion that runners rushed in and out of. The king would be there with his generals.

“They’re softening us up,” Hagane said. “They’ll assault us when they’re ready. Probably in the morning. Are they building any siege weapons?”

I moved my scrying sensor to the army where the wagons were being unloaded. Heavy pieces of wood were being bolted together by men working by torchlight. They were far from the wall, screened by archers and soldiers.

“Yes,” I said. “All around us.”

“They’ll assault us tomorrow,” said Hagane.

I hated that. Knowing a massive attack was coming. Something had to change. I didn’t like this being on the defensive. I wanted to get out there and take the fight to the enemy. To end this war in one fell swoop.

My monster girls were dying. Tarkiyusis died.

I gripped my Void Crystal and revived her before sending to Siwang, “I want to have another meeting. I have an idea.”
* \ * / *
A half-hour later, I set down at the head of the table. “I don’t like our plan. My monster girls are dying.”

“Leo, this is a war of attrition,” said Hagane. “We just have to let them exhaust themselves. The city walls are strong.”

“They are not used to dungeon builders doing this,” Kassie agreed.

“Why are they even here?” I demanded, frustrated by the night spent reviving monster girls and watching them die. “Since when do armies do this?”

“It is rare,” Fara said. “Most armies are held around the big cities. The major ones. The capitals of kingdoms. The places most dungeon builders can never attack.”

“They can,” Mayor Bevlin said. “Fuegin destroyed two kingdoms.”

“He is an outlier.” The elf glanced at me. “Like Lord Leo.”

“This is all my fault,” Vilkas growled. I had brought all the companions in this time. I had a daring plan.

“What?” Alizee asked in shock.

“The soldiers we blundered into on our scouting mission must have scared them,” Vilkas said. The crackling woman lowered her head. “I am so sorry, Lord Leo.”

“No, this must have been building for a while.” I leaned back. “But I think the siege is a bad idea.”

“It’s the only idea we have,” Hagane said.

“Ugh, I bet it was that snake Lord Shorvin.” My older sister shook her head. “I bet he ran down to the king. That’s why we’re stuck in this mess.”

“It’s possible,” Mayor Bevlin said.

“Does it matter?” asked Siwang. He stared at me from the other side of the table. “We just have to outlast them. Keep the civilians safe. Use the walls. We can revive our forces. The king can’t.”

“So we just kill tens of thousands of men?” I demanded, anger surging through me. “Men who don’t have a choice to be here? They’ve been ordered to their deaths. I’m supposed to be fine with killing them?”

“They’re our enemy, Leo,” Maya said, putting her liquid hand on my wrist.

“Yeah,” Nina said, a fierce look on the devil’s face. “It’s us or them!”

“But they’re being forced to fight,” Alizee said, pain on her face. “This isn’t like our world where armies are volunteers. They were conscripted to fight us, right? Just peasants given weapons.”

“Some of them definitely are,” said Fara.

“That’s horrible,” Mom said. “Being forced to fight. That’s just terrible of them. How could they do that to them?”

“Siwang is correct, Leo,” Hagane said in her cold voice. “We have unlimited forces so long as they don’t breach the walls. They are holding. You have established the farms, so we have a food supply. They can’t siege us out, and we are mobile. If need be, we can relocate the entrance to the dungeon.”

“Abandon Astovin?” I asked in shock.

“We have secured what truly matters from Astovin,” said my animated statue. “The people.”

I leaned back in my chair. It was such a passive plan, though. A war of attrition.

“If we’re mobile, then let’s attack the capital and seize it!” Garnet gasped, Jumping up on her chair. Her red wings spread wide, her hands on her hips. “Ooh, we can take the queen hostage. You can seduce her and cuck the king while we get him to surrender. We’ll break his will! Kweh, heh, heh!”

“No,” I said. “Attack the capital? That’s just wrong. That’s the opposite of what we’re doing!”

“Yeah, too far, Garnet,” Morana said.

My little sister wilted. Her wings dropped. “Sorry, big bro. I just got all excited at you being an evil overlord. You could finally by the awesome anime demon king that you deserve to be!”
I studied Garnet. “Go on the offensive, though… That isn’t a bad idea.”

“I thought you just said it was the opposite,” said Morana.

“Not the capital,” I said. “The army. We are mobile. I could open a tunnel in their midst.”

“Yes!” Smerta cried in delight. My valkyrie popped to her feet, her large breasts swaying from side to side.

“Let me redeem myself, Leo, and lead it,” Vilkas begged, the lightning hottie crackling with energy.

“I’d love to lead it,” Baaghi added, licking her chops.

“Massster,” Paanee hissed. “This is a plan. I like thisss plan.”

“It’s a dangerous one,” Maya said, a concerned look on her liquid face.

“Very dangerous.” Siwang studied me, his expression looking flat. He folded his hands before him. “We expose ourselves.”

“But that’s Lord Leo,” Xiongbu said, patting her son’s wrist. “He will do it.”

“What do you propose, Lord Leo,” Fara asked. My elf stared at me.

“I was thinking—” I started to say when Feya screamed in my mind.

“They’re assaulting the wall in force!”

To be continued…

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