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Story Codes: Male/Female, Female Masturbation, Incest, Oral Sex, Exhibitionism, Voyeurism, Monster Sex, Fantasy, Magic, Gamelit

For a list of all the dungeon builder stories click here

Click here for the world map!

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 2.

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Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

Chapter Six

“Investigating Verianithilia is the easiest for me,” I said once we had all the sword cities marked. “I just have to dive a spur of my dungeon from Outpost Tuerien west into the forested lands. I’d like to do this diplomatically. If I can get their king on my side, then he won’t unleash the dragon.”

“King Barianialitha is a wise and calm ruler,” King Thanitis said. “We have met several times, and I have a great deal of respect for him. I have already sent messengers talking about your ideals and to assure him you are not a threat.”

“Would you be willing to meet with him and broach the subject of annexation?” I asked. It made sense. Kalianiathrastia shared a border with my burgeoning empire. Only the Myr River separated my lands from the forested nation.

“I would be honored, Leo,” King Thanitis said.

“And I’ll begin investigating Nerith,” said Siwang. “It will be easy for me to investigate the city with a spur from Outpost 3.”

“Do it,” I said. “Carefully. I don’t want there to be a panic.”

Siwang smiled. “I have an idea.”

His mother Xiongbu arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

“I think Voashire should be next,” Nina Naughty said. “As you said, it’s on the way south. You’re working toward the center of the Shrine Circle. You’re about three outposts from reaching it, then it would be a simple dungeon spur east to Voashire.”

“It would be nice to meet Lady Ianna,” Mom said. My dryad-mommy was a Life monster girl. She wore a wicked smile.

“It is exhilarating to make love to the Lady of your Element,” Maya said. “And you feel it when Leo liberates her from the sword.”

“Oh, yes, it’s delicious,” Mrs. Lucina said, her halo pulsing.

Feya quivered. “I felt it. My cunt quivered.”

“Yessss,” hissed Paanee, my naga. She was an armless woman with blue skin and the lower half of a snake. I claimed her from Jindag, the second dungeon builder I fought and killed.

“Ooh, ooh,” Alizee said, my sylph bouncing up and down. “Look at where Nyimia is in relation to the Shrine Center. It’s just an offshoot west instead of East. A longer offshoot, but still, it would be efficient.”

“It’s on the way to the Wind Shrine, actually,” said Ms. Trueno. My thunder sprite slid her copper-scaled finger from the shrine center, through Nyimia and the Dark Temple to the Wind Shrine in the southwest. “And that puts you very close to Tharak to check if it has the Blessed Blade of Earth.”

“Another possibility after reaching the Shrine Center,” said Maya, “is to head straight west to the Ice Shrine. On the way, you can investigate Kistal if Nerith turns out not to be the right thunder temple. If not, you can just ignore it and get to the Ice Shrine.”

“I hate how the Ice Shrine is close to Fuegin’s territory,” Crystal said.
“It’s not that close to his territory,” Garnet huffed. My little sister fluttered her wings.

“Look at how far north the border is. I’m glad that none of the Shrines are in his territory.”

“The Life Shrine might be,” I said. It was the next shrine in the circle from the Water Shrine on the western side of the world. It lay beneath an island off the coast of Kelias, a city Fuegin ruled. A city he was infamous for razing.

“Parmia is square in his territory,” Nina said with disgust. “You’ll have to enter his territory to get that one.”

I shook my head.

“He wants to see if Fuegin will take the sword and give it to us or betray the alliance,” Terra said.
“It’s a bad idea to tell him,” Bjorni growled. My bugbear was an amazonian woman with a bear’s head. A fierce Earth monster girl.

“No, Leo has to tell Fuegin about the sword,” Chara said. She was an icy snake-girl, her lower half serpent. “That is the terms, yes?”

“Yep,” Crystal said, her arms folded beneath her breasts. “All because of your dumb deal, dirty boy.”

Garnet slapped both her hands down on the table. “It is not a dumb deal. Big bro, let me spank her!”

Crystal arched an eyebrow at our little sister.

“Crystal, it’s done,” Maya said. “He made the alliance. Leo has to tell Fuegin this sort of information. He promised.”

“All except how the swords work with the shrines,” Hagane said, implying I wasn’t fully an idiot.

I ignored the words and said, “We’ll tell him about the Sword. Where else should we look?”
“Ahavoire looks easy,” said Terra. “You just have to run a tunnel northwest from the dwarves to get to Grand Havolim Lake and the sword.”

“And I am still driving my tunnel toward the Earth Shrine,” Siwang said. “On my way south when going for the Metal Shrine, I could swing out to encounter Azika in the Little Teats than shoot for the Ruins of Mizan.”

“Those ruins sound dangerous,” said Xiongbu. Siwang’s mother shook her head.

“We can use our monster girls to scout for the Sword and sneak it out with the dragon not even realizing that we’ve done it,” Munjan said. “Why fight her if we don’t have to?”

I nodded. “That’s a good plan.”

“After you claim the Blessed Sword of Life in Voashire, you can detour to Torvaka on the way to the Lightning Shrine to see if it’s the Earth Temple that holds the sword,” Hagane said.

“The other Earth Temple candidate is very close to the Wind Shrine,” noted Mrs. Lucina. “How strange that they would be so close together.”

“Opposites attract!” Alizee cheered.

“Maybe not here,” said Hagane, “but they are close. It’s an extension of the same passage you’ll use to reach Nyimia. It’s definitely worth checking out Tharak and eliminating it early. Then you can keep going southwest and see if Shela holds the Blessed Blade of Fire.”

I snorted. “Yeah, let’s hope so because Builder’s Grave is even farther beyond the ring of shrines than Shela.”

My mother rubbed at her arms. “I don’t like that name.”

“Yeah, let’s avoid it if we can,” Maya said.

Fara nodded, a serous look in her eyes.

I leaned back in my chair. “On the note of communication with Fuegin, I’ll have to set up an embassy with him.” My eyes slid to my raiju. “Vilkas, I have a mission for you.”

She smiled at me. “Of course, Lord Leo.”

Chapter Seven

Fuegin turned the page of Fauraliiithiliana’s journal.

She had destroyed it to keep him from getting his hands on it, but thanks to the Life ritual, Restore the Destroyed, he could read everything that the elf had written into it, including Leo’s secrets about the shrines. This was something new.

Something that Fuegin had not come across in his fifty years on this world.

Leo had found one of the shrines connected to the First Builder’s dungeon.

So that’s where he got his Thunder glyph from, thought Fuegin as he turned the page.

He had found the Light Shrine by the Twins and believed to know where the others lay, extrapolating on those two points. Leo had been going to test one that was beneath the ocean. None of the theoretical points lay in Fuegin’s territory, though one might be beneath an uninhabited island off the cost of his lands. Another was south of his territory. The shrines ringed the world, forming a

massive circle.

A circle…

Thunder was at the top with Light to the right of it on the arc. Fauraliiithiliana speculated the one left of the arc, the counterclockwise position, would be Water. That would be the eleven o’clock position. That was a good way to think about it. Thunder was twelve. Light at one o’clock. Leo had used the Blessed Blade of Light to liberate Lady Sherida. It was possible he had done the same with the Blessed Blade of Water and Lady Ninli.

No wonder he said he had started something only he could do. That was another worry. Will a Goddess transfer with the builder’s death?

If this was truly the solution, than it was a frightening one. If Leo died before completing it, what happened to the Goddesses who had been freed of their swords? These powerful Saints were already trying to kill Leo and had come close on several occasions.

He had stirred up something that terrified the Gods.

Fuegin smiled. “Damn, he really has figured out the solution.”

Fauraliiithiliana had been searching for places where the Blessed Blades could be housed, but she had only started when he had attacked and disrupted her search. He had no idea if she found what she was looking forward to. Her notes in her journal ended there.

He flipped back to the passage. “The Blessed Blades cannot be handled by a builder or a monster girl. Only a servant native to this world can handle it.”

That was… a problem. Fuegin had never bothered to bind humans to him. He hadn’t known that was a possibility until Leo. Another thing that the young man had figured out. It worried Fuegin. If he was not careful, it was all for naught.

The door to his study opened and Regara entered. His mother entered, a mermaid walking on two legs. She could go back and forth between having a sleek and gleaming tail of purple or having scaled legs. She had long, purple hair, large breasts, and gills on her neck. She was the first woman Fuegin had ever lusted for.

Had ever jacked off to.

His Water companion.

“Yes, Mother?” he asked.

“Spiarie reports a raiju has penetrated the edge of the elven woods,” she said. “It’s probably Leo’s raiju.”

Fuegin leaned back and smiled. “A raiju is too flashy and obvious to be a scout. An envoy?”

“That’s what my daughter-in-law thinks,” said his mother. She sat on his lap, her arm going around his neck. He felt the pleasant pressure of her rump on his cock. “How goes the research?”

“I’ve learned more today than I have in fifty years on this world,” he said.
She smiled. “So it was a good idea to spare the boy.”

“Maybe.”

She kissed him.

He groaned at the feel of his mother’s lips on his, his cock rock-hard beneath her. Fifty years with his harem, and they always kept things interesting. He stroked her scaled legs as she squirmed on him, her tongue dancing with his. The forbidden desire for his mother had him throbbing in need.

He hungered for her.

He had to feast on her.

Fuegin broke the kiss with his mother and lifted her off his lap. He sat her on his desk, pushing the restored journal to the side. She wrapped her scaled legs around his head and pulled him forward toward her honey-flavored twat.

He had Level 1 mermaids, but none of them could form their tails into legs. The lesser copies of companion-level monster girls were never as powerful or as useful.

Fuegin buried his face into his mother’s pussy. He reveled in the honey-sweet flavor of her incestuous pussy. His tongue slid through her folds. He loved the smooth, slick feel of her scales on his face. She held him tight to her as she moaned.

Her big boobs jiggled over his head. She groaned, tossing her head from side to side. She pulled him tight against her twat as she groaned, loving the way his tongue danced around in her. He licked her. Feasted on her.

He wanted to drown in all her passion.

His tongue flicked about in her. He stroked through her folds, licking and lapping at her with such hunger. She shuddered as he did that. His tongue licked through her delicious folds. She was such a treat to feast upon.

“Oh, that’s it,” she whimpered. “Oh, Fuegin, yes, yes, you’re such a treat. Mmm, just feasting on my pussy! My only son. Such a stud!”

“Such a delicious pussy!” Fuegin growled.

He feasted on her with passion. He stroked through her folds, loving the flavor of her snatch. His mermaid mother quivered as he licked at her. He lapped at her with all that he had. It was such a wonderful treat to devour her like this.

He flicked his tongue up and down her folds. She moaned, her head tossing from side to side as he lapped at her with all that he had. He wanted to drown in her honey-sweet delight. He lapped up her thick and creamy juices as she moaned.

“My son!” she gasped as he brushed her clit.

He stroked over her bud, enjoying the texture of her pearl. He polished that delicious orb nestled in her clam. He lapped at her as she moaned, her boobs jiggling over his head. He stared at those wondrous mounds, so hungry to feast on her.

To lick her up. It would be such a delicious treat to drown in her cunt cream. To have her passion gushing out of her and soaking his mouth. He nibbled on her clit, her head tossing. Her purple hair swayed around her shoulders.

“Oh, my delicious Fuegin,” she moaned. “Oh, such a good boy! Yes, yes, you are! Oh, that’s amazing!”

He suckled hard on her clit.

“Mother of God, yes!” she howled, her pussy juices gushing out.

She drowned him in her pussy cream. He licked up that flood of her cream spilling out of her. It was such a delight to have her cumming on his face. He was so thrilled to make his mother climax. He reveled in the incestuous moment.

“Fuegin!” she squealed.

His mother’s juices soaked his mouth. He loved her cream spilling out and soaking his mouth. He licked up every drop of her he could. He lapped up the passion, savoring her entire body quivering with her passion.

She was delicious.

So amazing.

“Fuegin!” she whimpered. “My boy! I need you in me!”

His dick lurched.

He rose, her thighs slipping off his shoulders, and opened his robes. She smiled at his brawny body. He had bronze skin and eyes that glowed like coals. He had reshaped himself to be Fuegin the Inferno, the Black Flame of Nyias, and the Razer of Kelias.

His mother licked her lips as she wrapped her purple thighs around his waist and pulled his dick toward her. He was much bigger in this world, something his wife appreciated greatly when she discovered that delight.

Amante was his first companion. He had resisted the temptation of his mother, but he had finally summoned her when he gained his Water glyph. How he had reveled in her. Like now as his cock nuzzled into her clam.

He thrust into her snatch and growled out in delight, “Mother!”

“My boy!” she moaned as she leaned back on her elbows. She closed her eyes, her pussy clamping down on him.

He savored the taboo thrill of being in his mother. He throbbed in her twat as his hands slid up her sides to her bountiful breasts. He kneaded his forbidden mermaid’s breasts. His thumbs swept over her hard nipples.

“Mother of God, yes!” she moaned. “Fuck me! Fuck me so hard!”

He grinned and drew back his dick. She held him tight. It was so wonderful to have her pussy around his dick. She massaged him with that lovely cunt. He buried his dick back into her twat, her snatch caressing him.

It was a fabulous rush to fuck her like this. He pounded her cunt with force. He enjoyed the way that she felt around his dick. That incestuous sheath massaged him as he fucked her deep and hard. He pounded her with all that he had.

His nuts slapped into her taint as he squeezed her breasts. His taboo mermaid moaned as he hammered her cunt. He fucked into her again and again, loving the amazing feel of her pussy around his dick. He fucked her with all that he had. It was so good to bury into her again and again.

It was just amazing to have her cunt around his cock. It was an incredible rush to bury into her snatch. He loved the feel of her cunt around him. She gripped him with that amazing snatch. He fucked into her again and again.

She gripped Fuegin’s dick with her delicious cunt. His nuts slapped into her cunt again and again. It was so amazing to fuck her like this. To bury into her cunt with all that he had. It was a delicious moment to bury into her.

Fuegin reveled in this moment.

“Oh, my boy,” she moaned, her pussy clamping down on him.

“Yes, yes, that’s it,” he growled and fucked into her snatch. “You’re going to cum on me, Mother!”

“Oh, yes,” she moaned, her pussy clamping down on him.

He grinned at her as he fucked her pussy. She felt so amazing around him. He loved fucking into her twat hard and fast. He buried into her with such passion. He thrust into her with force, her taboo snatch massaging him.

He hurtled closer and closer to cumming in her. He would unleash all his spunk into her pussy and flood her with so much passion. It was so good to thrust into her. He pounded her with all that he had. It was so amazing.

It was delicious.

It was an absolute thrill to thrust into her cunt again and again. Fuegin ruled over her pussy. He pounded her twat with hard thrusts. It was an absolute delight to bury into her cunt again and again. It was a pure delight.

Every thrust brought him closer and closer to erupting into her. He wanted to flood her pussy with all his cum. Just every blast of his spunk. He would dump so much into her snatch. It was an incredible moment to fuck her snatch.

“Oh, yes, my boy!” she gasped. “Mother of God, yes!”

Her pussy convulsed around his dick. She felt so good rippling around him. He loved every last second of that heat rushing through him. He buried into her pussy and spurted his spunk into her. He flooded her with all that he had.

It was so good to dump his load into her pussy. It was a delight to have all that pleasure rushing through him. He groaned with each eruption. He flooded her with his taboo seed. She spasmed around him. Milking him.

“Why am I not surprised,” said the purring voice of his wife.

He spurted more and more of his cum as Amante stepped into his view. His wife shook her head, her black body riven with fiery cracks. She looked like cooling magma given the form of a beautiful woman, her hair a mass of burning flames.

“We have an intruder, and you’re fucking your mother,” Amante said.

He fired the last of his cum into his mother’s pussy and growled, “She’s not here yet.”

“She’s already on the outskirts of the city,” Amante said. “She’s running fast.”

“Well,” Fuegin said and ripped his cock out of his mother’s pussy. He sank down into his chair. “Then I should be ready to greet her.” He closed his eyes and focused his will. “Mirror and reflect, let the brilliance of Lady Sherida copy.”

Illusory Doppelganger was such a useful spell. It conjured a double that he controlled while his real body became invisible. Ultimate Light Magic. He stood from his unseen form. His wife draped herself over his lap while he puppeteered the illusion.

His mother followed him out. He was met by Zorra, his werefox cousin, and Clara, his own raiju. She was his best friend’s sister. He had always had such a crush on her. She crackled with lightning as he headed down the corridor. His Earth companion, a carbuncle named Sister Granata, waited. She was a nun that had taught him. Now she was his lover. She had gray scales and white hair with goat horns. In the center of her forehead was a garnet.

“My son,” Granata purred. She still called him that even though she wasn’t a nun.

“Sister Granata,” he said through the illusion.

“She’s near the library,” Spiarie reported. She was one of his arachne that he had strung out through the woods. They were adept at moving through trees swiftly.

“Good, good,” he sent and left his dungeon to enter the library proper. It was the seat of his government in the conquered city. He already had a throne set up here. He seated his illusory double on it, his three monster girl companions ringing it.

It was another ten or so minutes before Vilkas was escorted in. She was like Clara, made of crackling lightning in the shape of a woman. She strode toward him and dropped to one knee, bowing her head.

“Lord Fuegin, I am Vilkas,” she said, her voice ringing true. “Lord Leo has sent me to be his envoy to you. He wishes to meet with you soon. He has identified where one of the Blessed Blades may lie in your territory.”

“Oh,” Fuegin said. “How soon can we meet?”

“We can meet right now,” Vilkas answered. “I can speak for him. Or, I should say, he is speaking to me, and I shall relay his words.”

Fuegin nodded.

“Fuegin,” she said, her eyes closed as she concentrated. “You conquered a city called Parmia. There is a temple to the Lord and Lady of Metal.”

Fuegin frowned.

“The Forge,” Liegra his prism supplied. She was watching the meeting from an alcove. “We conquered the city to control the production of weapons for adventurers. It is famed for its steal.”

“Yes, yes,” Fuegin said, several memories bursting in his mind. The Blessed Blade of Metal… He had killed its last bearer, a dwarf with a humming blade. A quicksilver sword that could change shape. Fuegin fought the urge to rub at his side. He had taken a deep wound in that fight and had nearly died. It was only several months later that he had taken Parmia. “I remember conquering the city. My forces were attacked by an ancient metal dragon that called the city home. I slew the dragon instead of taming her. I never did understand where she had come from.”

“Then it is where the Blessed Blade of Metal lies,” Vilkas said, relaying her owner’s words. “Search the temple. You will need a human, dwarf, halfling, or elven servant to pick it up, though. Neither you nor your monster girls can touch it.”

“Not a problem.” Fuegin smiled. “And I have to deliver it to you, Leo?”

“I know how to use them. What is required of them. I already possess two. Sadly, this only works if one builder has all the swords.”

Fuegin was very much afraid that was the case. At least Fauraliiithiliana’s journal did not mention any benefit to Leo for claiming a Goddess. He had gained no new powers or additional monster girls. He had just… liberated her.

“I will provide your raiju with a house here in the city,” Fuegin said. “So that she may be available if we need to communicate. When you need to speak with me, she merely has to inform one of my monster girls.” Fuegin thought for a moment before adding, “She is not allowed near the library unless summoned, but she has free range of the rest of the city and the forest if she wishes to stretch her legs.”

“She will not go near the library nor any entrance to your dungeon,” the raiju said. She smiled. “Nope, I won’t. I’m Leo’s ambassador.”

Fuegin nodded and released his spell, knowing that Leo knew about how it worked by now.

He opened his eyes and stared at Amante sitting on his lap. “We need to inspect Parmia and the Forge.”

“Interesting,” she said and rose off his lap.

He picked up the journal and headed into his Vault. Soulita sat up. She smiled at him as she sat on the Void Gem. He gripped the black jewel and shifted his vault to the portion of his dungeon beneath Parmia. He had a castle here manned by his monster girls. As he released the stone, he realized it had been a decade since he had visited Parmia.

“We have to make a grand entrance,” said Fuegin as he shifted Anu, the Governess of Parmia, to him.

“Of course we do,” said Amante.

Anu appeared. She turned and dropped to her knees. A simurgh monster girl, she had rich-brown skin and large breasts. Golden hair spilled around her face while dog ears thrust out of her tresses. She folded her golden wings around her like a cloak. An aura of rejuvenation emanated from the Life monster girl, the passive ability of her kind.

“Lord Fuegin, you honor me with your presence,” she moaned, staring up at him with a bitch’s love and loyalty.”

“Ready a procession,” he said.

She smiled and said, “It is underway. My girls will make sure that the city is in awe of your presence, so…”

Anu opened her mouth wide, her tongue thrust out.

Amante laughed and opened his robe. She grabbed his dick and said, “Pets always want their rewards.”

“Yes, they do,” said Fuegin as Anu swallowed his cock eagerly.

He scratched her between her ears. They twitched as she suckled on him. She nursed with such delight on his dick. It felt so good having her do that. She hummed around his cock. He groaned at the force of her suction.

She bobbed her head, working her mouth up and down his dick. She slid down him then worked back up him. Her ears twitched as he kept scratching between them. Her tresses felt so silky on him while her healthy aura revitalized his flesh.

Amante walked around the pair, a smirk on her lips.

“It’s a pleasant way to pass the time,” Fuegin said to his wife.

“For you,” she said.

He chuckled as he watched her body. She was so exotic in this form. He did not know if she still lived in the other world. If he lived, either. Fifty years… They would be in their seventies over their. Did they have children? Did they have easy lives? Difficult ones?

Why was he thinking about that now?

He had something better here. He wasn’t some poor laborer. He had power. Domination. He had given his wife luxury. Treasures. She wanted for nothing in this world. She was his queen. He could have conquered the world, but…

He had grown obsessed with unraveling the mystery of the Incarnation when she appeared to him before the fire consumed him. Begging for his help. She needed a hero. So he had come here to be her hero.

Only now Leo was succeeding in that goal.

That young man…

Anu bobbed her head, working her mouth up and down his dick. Fuegin growled out in delight as the simurgh suckled on his cock. She loved him with her tongue and her fierce suction. Her eyes shone up at him.

He had won her from Quqa Treeborn. One of his earliest conquests. He had gained his Life glyph from Quqa. Anu had served him faithfully for fifty years. He rewarded her with the governorship position. She ruled the humans of Parmia.

“Damn,” Fuegin groaned.

She suckled harder, whimpering around his cock like a bitch in heat. She was one. Always horny for his big dick. She swirled her tongue around his rod. He shuddered, enjoying the way that she nursed on his dick.

It was fantastic.

Glorious.

She stroked her tongue around his cock. It was a fabulous moment. Just incredible to have her suckling on him like that. He rose toward his orgasm. His nuts tightened as his moans echoed through the Vault.

Soulita watched on, rubbing at her pussy. She massaged her twat. Her fingers thrust in and out of her flesh. He smiled as he watched her, his simurgh swirling her tongue around his dick. He gripped a fistful of Anu’s hair.

“Mother of God, that’s good,” he growled.

“Flood her with what she craves,” Amante cooed, her thighs wet with her excitement. “Give your bitch her reward.”

Anu suckled so hard, begging with her eyes just for that.

“Yes,” Fuegin growled. “That’s so good. Yes, yes, that’s amazing!”

He erupted.

“Mother of God, Anu!”

He pumped her mouth full of his jizz. Spurt after spurt of his cum shot from his dick. The pleasure slammed through him. It felt so good. He loved every last second of this heat surging through him. It was a magnificent moment to enjoy.

Just a wondrous treat to have all that pleasure rushing through him. He erupted again and again. It was a fabulous moment of bliss. Just exciting. He loved every second of that rapture crashing into his mind as his simurgh gulped down all the cum.

“Damn,” he growled. “You are so delicious, Anu!”

He fired the last of his cum into her mouth. She moaned, sucking at him to get that reward. She popped her mouth off his cock, her wings spreading wide. She flapped it and rose to her feet. She licked her lips.

“The procession is ready, Lord Fuegin,” she purred.

She turned and marched out of the Vault. It connected with her own private residence and the barracks for the monster girls that served here. A company of orcs and animated armors were the main guards with a squad of giants ready to intimidate the people.

Anu led them unerringly through the trap-infested labyrinth of the castle to the central courtyard. Adventurers still would attack him. Almost daily, during some seasons. It was frustrating. They rarely lasted long.

He was powerful.

But that had a price. He had to spread his power out. He had to keep his provinces from revolting. If a city stormed his dungeon, that amount of bodies could clog things up. Wreak real havoc. More than a few dungeon builders had fallen to the mob.

He would not suffer their fate.

In the courtyard, a platoon of orcs awaited in their full armor. They bowed. As did the four animated armors who would hold the palanquin on which he and his wife would sit. Lastly, two giants stood by the gates. They would lead the procession at their full height, clearing the street.

“Lord Fuegin,” all the monster girls said, such joy in their eyes. They were all so glad to see him.

He smiled at them and took his ease on the palanquin. His wife took her seat beside him. “To the Forge.”

“Yes, Lord Fuegin,” the giants said. They pushed open the gates.

Sirens sang out from the battlements. He always had a small group of sirens in all his occupied cities. Their songs manipulated the people. Controlled them. Kept them passive. Partially. It was hard to keep an entire city controlled by sirens. It took a lot of them.

The giants stepped out of the gate and grew to their size. The orcs went next with more arrayed around the palanquin. It was always a risk to go outside himself, so he muttered a few defensive spells as they were taken out. Static Aura and Granite Flesh were his main defenses.

The orcs formed up the rear of the parade, the gates booming shut behind them. The sirens serenaded them. Around his castle was a hundred meters of cleared space before the buildings. The people in the streets fled into the nearest buildings.

They were afraid. That was good.

The scent of metal and smoke filled the air. The forges went day and night. They made all manner of steel and iron goods that brought money to the city and into his own coffers. The street led to the Forge in the center of the city.

Many of the buildings near it had to be rebuilt because of his duel with the ancient metal dragon. He had not anticipated her being here. That was a shock. He had only ever encountered one other dragon. He had tamed her. His death dragon. He had disturbed her cave on accident.

Fuegin wished he hadn’t killed that other dragon, but he didn’t know he could tame them at the time.

The humans peered at him out of the houses. They bowed as they passed. He gave them stern looks. He didn’t appear human with his burning eyes and bronze flesh. He wanted them to fear him. Fuegin took great pleasure in it.

A cowed population was a safe one.

The Forge loomed ahead. Built of a black stone unlike the rest of the city, it stood out. The front of the building was open to the air and had mighty forges. Naked priestesses worked the bellows of the blast furnaces, their bodies gleaming in sweat. Steel was poured into bars to be forged into many different items. The best artisans were priests here.

They all dressed like blacksmiths in heavy leather aprons, their arms powerfully muscled. They made intricate, decorative items of steel that nobles used to adorn their homes from their gates, to the frames of their windows, to even the pokers for their fire places.

The work slowed as Fuegin’s palanquin approached. Not all of it. Some were in crucial stages of it. High Priest Faron stepped out. He was even older than Fuegin remembered, a stout man with muscular arms and a large belly. He had balded, too, in the last decade. He wore only a leather apron, though it was a fine thing with the imagery of the Lord and Lady of Metal worked into the front.

“Emperor Fuegin,” Faron said. The giants flanked him and the orcs parted so Fuegin’s palanquin could be brought before them. The man’s voice was reedy with age. “You honor us.”

The animated armors set the palanquin down. He rose from it. Faron drew in a breath and swallowed. Fuegin knew his fiery cloak and burning eyes frightened people. It was why he cultivated the look. He had a reputation for being capricious. In his youth, he wouldn’t hesitate to burn a man or woman alive to remind his subjects who he was. As he had grown older, he’d grown weary with the effort tyranny required.

It no longer seemed worth it.

I’ve grown soft as an old man. It was startling to realize that he was an old man. He should be a great-grandfather relaxing in his twilight years.

“I learned a curious thing,” Fuegin said as he motioned Faron to walk inside. The Forge rang with hammers of the other smiths. They glanced up from their work for a moment but did not stop. The priestesses worked the bellows.

Young women. The future wives of the smiths.

“Your Majesty?” Faron asked. “Would you care to enlighten me?”

“I have learned that there is a great secret here.” Fuegin glanced at him. “Something your predecessor neglected to give me. You would not be so foolish as to deny it to me.”

Sweat broke out on Faron’s forehead. A bead dripped down to his eyebrow.

“You do not wish to suffer Emperor Fuegin’s wrath,” Amante said as she strode on Fuegin’s other side. She looked quite hellish in the forge surrounded by the ruddy glow of fires.

“N-No,” stammered the priest. His breath quickened.

“Then you will fetch me the Blessed Blade of Metal,” said Fuegin.

“That was lost fifty years ago when you killed Kagzi during the razing of Kelias, my emperor,” Faron said.

Fuegin nodded, that memory rushing back through him. The dwarf had been a challenging foe. “When she died, his sword vanished. So where did the Blessed Blade of Metal go, if not your temple? This is the Forge, the grandest temple of the Lord and Lady of Metal.”

“Do not make my lord ask again,” Amante said. “Else your flesh shall fire the furnace.”

The old man closed his eyes. He had… resolve. The old Fuegin would have thrown him into the furnace. No, he would have found the man’s granddaughter and thrown her in first. Now, he just didn’t have the patience for this. There was a faster way.

So he whispered, “Seductive song, let the voice of Lord Ishkur dominate!”

Siren Wail dominated the man, utterly stealing his free will. The man stared at Fuegin with such eagerness. He was enthralled by the dungeon builder. Faron, High Priest of the Lord and Lady of Metal, would betray even his deities for Fuegin.

“Fetch what I want, slave,” said Fuegin. So much faster.

Faron bowed his head and turned. He headed deeper into the temple. The other priests were watching now. Those who could stop working looked nervous. They glanced at the orcs that filled their temple.

Anger burned in their eyes. They had heard. Some of them were gripping their hammers. The moment was about to happen. They would not let the Blessed Blade of Metal out of their temple. They just waited for the first one of them to grow a pair.

Fuegin glanced at Anu. “Kill them all.”

She bowed and barked orders.

The orcs sprang forward, swords appearing in their hands. The priests shouted. The priestesses screamed and ran naked from the slaughter. The giants seized those who fled and bashed their bodies against the paving stones. The orcs hacked down the priests while the animated armors stood guard around Fuegin, Amante, and Anu.

An orc died.

A second.

But that was it. The priests were slaughtered. Blood bathed the temple. Fuegin stared at the slaughter and nodded. It had been a long time since he had committed an atrocity. They were inefficient, but lessons had to be taught.

And it was a quicker death than throwing them in the furnace or setting them ablaze himself.

“Mount their heads before the fortress,” Fuegin told Anu. “The fate of all traitors.”

“Yes, Lord Fuegin,” she said.

Amante glanced down at the form of a dead priestess. She rolled her over and stared at the vacant eyes. An orc had gutted her. Amante shook her head and sighed, “Such a waste.”

He nodded. “It just isn’t as satisfying as it used to be.”

Slaughter had truly lost its charm.

The high priest returned with a look of mad adoration on his face. He held the quicksilver blade in his hands, rushing through the puddles of his own slaughtered priests and priestesses. Some of them would be his kin.

He no longer cared. He was utterly Fuegin’s thrall.

The dungeon builder desired greatly to grab the sword, but he knew that would be a mistake. “Follow.”

“Yes, Lord Fuegin,” the man said, cradling the sword.

Fuegin witnessed the true soul of the priest in his eyes. The man was screaming in the depths of his mind. I did warn him. So did my wife.

Fuegin mounted the palanquin as he pondered how to deliver this to Leo. For now, he would let this play out. If there was a way to steal the goddesses from Leo, he would destroy the boy, but…

Perhaps he had grown too old. Fuegin felt like a grandfather who just wanted to enjoy the fruits of his labor and see his grandchildren prosper. Sadly, he had not a single child in this world. Leo was a better man than Fuegin. Maybe, just maybe, he should be allowed to succeed.

Maybe.

Still, Fuegin found the idea of giving up all that power grating.

To be continued…

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