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Chapter Forty
Macka's twin tails swished back and forth, lightning flashing between them. She was eager for the fight, Munjan's first cheerleader. The chosen one. His favorite. She would not let him die. She was eager for it.
“You're almost to the Lightning monster girls,” Munjan reported as she raced through the dungeon with Sjanja, Noca, and Tira behind her. “They're engaged with the Level 3's. Taken heavy losses.”
“We'll drive them back!” Macka sent, brimming with confidence.
Macka rounded the corner and burst into a large room. A fireball slammed into Vanikas, the will o' wisp bursting into motes. Nearby, an enemy jotunn swings an icy club, crushing the fly Laizymasa, splatting the quetzalcoatl into paste. Acid slammed into a thunderbird named Nudziuginti. Another thunderbird, Smulkusa, had her head ripped off by whip of water. Macka surveyed the enemy, spotting seraphim, kappas, jotunn, and hydras.
Macka hissed and fired lightning from her tails.
It slammed into the jotunn, blasting her back. She fell and exploded into glitter, but another rushed through her, swinging an icy stave at Macka. The catgirl darted to the right, rolling across the floor and came up, her tails bristling.
She fired more lightning and leaped through the sparkles.
Violence flowed around her as Tira unveiled her four flaming swords and slashed. She carved through all three of the hydra's heads while Noca tangled up a burning seraph in nets of shadows. A second net engulfed a kappa. Sjanja slashed with her metal swords, slaying a hydra.
A jotunn's icy club crushed her head in.
Macka hissed, her tails rubbing together and sparking lightning.
Fire roared, striking Zvaigzde the will o' wisps, but not before she shot off a blast of plasma that struck the seraphim in the face. Macka wanted to take down that seraph, but a kappa whipped water at her. She jumped to the right.
Acid struck Macka.
She hissed as the hydra's spit sizzled on her side. A jotunn rushed at her, taking advantage of her agony. Macka had to focus. The ice club raised up to slam down on her and end her life. Munjan's face flashed in her mind.
Flaming swords carved through the jotunn.
Tira whirled past, her four swords leaving trails of flames. Water wrapped around Tira's waist. She gasped as the kappa yanked her back right into the swinging blow of another jotunn. The icy blow crushed Tira's head, destroying her.
Noca's net of shadows tangled up the kappa. She gasped, twisting around it. Macka hissed, pushing herself up on her hands and feet. She fired her blast of lightning, killing the kappa. A vicious triumph crackled through the nekomata.
Fire rushed at Macka. She rolled across the ground, the pain fading. She blasted the jotunn with lightning. The icy giant fell to the ground and spasmed. That was the last of them down, but it was now just her and Noca.
The succubus shouted, “Team Munjan!”
“Team Munjan!” Macka cried.
A shadowy net took down a seraph. As the flaming monster girl fell, Noca leaped forward and fashioned a massive dildo out of darkness. She beat the seraph to death with that dildo, slamming into her.
Another seraph blasted Noca with fire. The succubus threw her dildo at the flames. They burst apart. She jumped back as more flames followed. Macka quivered, her tails swishing. Her side burned from the pain.
She fired a blast of lightning at the seraph, who ducked beneath it. Fire exploded at Macka. She tried to dodge, but the acid eating at her side slowed her down. The flames struck her in the breast and washed over her face
“Team Munjan!” she hissed, her hair burning.
The flames mixed with her motes.
\ / *
Noca trembled. She was the last one alive in the room.
Her tail swished. She had to escape.
Her wings flapped. She soared for the exit. Hope flared in her heart, but only for a moment. Water wrapped around her waist. A kappa yanked her back. She slammed down on the ground, rolling over her wing. She found seraphim and hydras over her.
Flame sand acid surged down at her.
“I'm sorry, Munjan,” she sent with her final moment.
\ / *
Vina reached the room with the Water monster girls. There was a large pool that the hippocampi could swim in, with the slimes and kelpies walking the perimeter. The maenad licked her lips, excited for the fight. Her blood sang with that mad rush.
“GO TEAM MUNJAN!” she cried.
The Water monster girls squealed, “GO TEAM MUNJAN!”
She nodded at their excitement. She rolled her shoulders and looked around, ready for the fight. Senka, Kitty Delight, and Ordaziti were right behind her. Vina nodded for them to fan out and get ready for the fight.
“They're about to enter, Vina,” Munjan said. “Sixteen monster girls. Good luck, because it already went badly in the Lightning Room. It's down to Macka and... Well, just Noca now.”
Oozes jumped up to the ceiling and gripped the wall. They moved into position to drop down on the enemy monster girls and drown them. The kelpies' throats bulged like frogs, readying their acid spit. The hippocampi bobbed on the surface of the pool. They would fire blasts of water to knock down the enemy.
A giant led the way. Luckily, they were not at full size. Blasts of water struck the giant in the knees while the acid struck her in the face. She screamed, forming a shield out of iron as her flesh melted. She blocked the blows, shielding those behind her.
Kitty Delight vanished into the shadows as the giant died.
Three more giants poured in, followed by four ogresses in stone armor. The three oozes dropped from the ceiling, engulfing the three giants' heads. Those staggered, trying to beat the squishy monster girls.
Vina grinned and charged forward into the fray. She yelled, so excited for the fight. She targeted the nearest giant, thrashing about. The maenad would rip through the giant's knee and drop her to the ground.
Hissing with fervor for Munjan, Vina drew back her claws to—
Vina died before she knew what happened.
Chapter Forty-One
“Griffins!” Ordaziti cried, the valkyrie pointing her icy sword at the blur streaking away from the dead Vina.
A griffin, moving at insane speeds, had struck Vina in the back before she could take down the giant. The water monster girls dove into the pool, narrowly avoiding griffin claws. The surface rippled with turbulence.
The monster girls popped back up and spat. Kelpie acids struck the wings of the griffins. The room wasn't big enough for them to fly at their full speed for long. They had to pause at the walls and turn. They were vulnerable.
The griffins shrieked as their wing joints dissolved. They crashed to the floor. The griffins pushed themselves up, their tawny manes of hair almost bristling. Gray-feathered wings hung limply. They stood on taloned feet, claws scraping at the grounds, their big tits heaving.
Kitty Delight burst out of the shadows and slammed her hoofs into a griffin's head, caving in the monster girl's skull. The baku porn star did a back flip before her black-skinned form vanished into the shadows again. Senka pounced on another, the sigbin biting the griffin's neck.
She sucked on her blood, a vampiric sort of monster girl.
“Team Munjan!” shouted Ordaziti.
The giants staggered, the oozes suffocating them while ogresses rushed toward the pool to club the kelpies and hippocampi shooting acid and blasts of water. Ordaziti charged forward in her icy armor, her blonde hair streaming behind her.
The valkyrie slashed at the nearest ogress. The Earth monster girl shifted her stone club, parrying the blow. The ogress snarled, standing taller than the valkyrie. Yellow-skinned, the ogress's huge tits heaved as she drew back her stone club and slammed it down at the valkyrie.
The blow would crush Ordaziti.
So she wasn't there to be hit.
She was faster, dodging around the ogress's blow and slashing her ice sword into the back of the enemy monster girl's knee. The ogress screamed in pain, her leg folding beneath her weight. As she fell, Ordaziti swung again.
Her ice blade blurred in a flash of pale-blue. The ogress's head flew from her shoulders.
A beautiful song swept over Ordaziti. She swayed as the music enraptured her. A group of busty women with three, gray-blue fox tails bounced into the room. They sang, Thunder monster girls. Ordaziti swayed to their music. It was just so beautiful. She didn't have—
A blow struck her. A horrendous screech filled her ears. She hit the ground, ice shattering around her. The valkyrie rolled, her tits exposed. A griffin streaked from her, the monster girl's talons had shattered Ordaziti's breastplate and broke the charming effect of the kitsune's song.
Ordaziti threw her sword at the back of the griffin. It took the monster girl in the back. She gasped, her rump clenching before she vanished into motes. The blade struck the ground, shattering into shards of ice.
The valkyrie fashioned a new one and pushed up her feet. She regrew her armor, hiding her breasts.
Chaos boiled in the pools. Kelpies attacked hippocampi, blasting them in the face with acid. Anandi, Smita, and Catane died, killed by the charmed kelpies. Anger boiled through Ordaziti. That was not how Munjan's monster girls should die.
She charged the kitsune.
Kitty Delight appeared behind one of them, leaping out of shadows and burying her horns into the kitsune's back. They burst through the kitsune's chest, marring a perfect breast. Her song cut off as she became glitter that the baku leaped through.
Senka leaped at another, the sigbin's lips stained in blood. That kitsune turned into a small, blue-gray furred fox and darted away. Senka landed on her hoofs, her small breasts quivering. She hissed in annoyance.
Lahana killed Patni, kelpie on kelpie violence.
An ogress cut off Ordaziti before she could reach the kitsune. A stone club flew at Ordaziti's head. She raised her sword and parried the club, using her blade's angle to deflect it to side. In the background, the giantesses suffocating died.
The oozes spilled off them only for one, Lahara, to be hit by Lahana's and Prastuta's acid, the double blast killing Lahara. The ooze vanished in motes. Ordaziti hissed in fury, the kitsune still singing. Both were in their fox forms, still able to charm.
A second ogress closed in on Ordaziti from behind. As she fought to keep the first from smashing into her, a club struck Ordaziti in the back, shattering the armor. The blow staggered her. She hissed and recovered.
Both ogresses attacked.
Ordaziti twisted her body, taking one blow on her shoulder pauldron while she stabbed her sword into that same ogress's chest. Her blade buried deep as the club battered through the icy protection and struck the valkyrie.
The ogress died as Ordaziti screamed in pain. Her left arm went limp, her collarbone broken. She hissed at the agony and turned to face the other ogress. The earth monster girl grinned and drew back her club, swinging hard.
A blast of acid from Ananda struck the ogress in her face. The ogress staggered, screaming as the acid devoured her flesh, Ordaziti's sword flashed, burying in the enemy monster girl's throat. The bigger foe died, motes showering around the wounded valkyrie.
“For... Munjan...” hissed Ordaziti through the pain. She wanted to cry. Especially as Ananda died, killed by the two kelpies still charmed by the kitsune. Those thunder monster girls were pissing off the valkyrie. “FOR MUNJAN!”
One of the kitsune died, the song ended. Ordaziti staggered, not sure who killed the enemy. Vaju the ooze jumped on the third kitsune. Her song cut off as her fox form thrashed around inside the ooze. The kitsune took on her human form.
Vaju flowed around her, smothering her face. The oozes killed in horrible ways.
Good, thought Ordaziti.
The two kelpies, Lahana and Prastuta, regained control. They looked furious. They spat at an ogress, driving her toward Senka and Kitty Delight. The pair of them were bounding around the ogress, attacking her and jumping back while the acid burned across her skin.
Ordaziti marched to the kitsune suffocating inside of Vaju.
The valkyrie buried her blade into the kitsune's breast, killing her. Vaju dropped to the ground, her body bouncing back up into her human form. She flashed Ordaziti a grin before she gasped, noticing the wound.
The ogress died.
“Defended,” Ordaziti sent to Munjan.
She had two oozes, Samudri and Vaju; two kelpies, Lahana and Prastuta; and two companions, Senka and Kitty Delight. That was all that had survived the fight. She grimaced against the pain even as she thrust her sword into the air.
“Team Munjan!” she cried.
“TEAM MUNJAN!” the other's cheered, Senka even jumping in the air and doing a double high-kick. She touched her hoofs before she landed with a clop. She licked her bloody lips, looking eager for more. “TEAM MUNJAN! TEAM MUNJAN!”
“There are sixteen more monster girls heading your way,” Munjan said. “And the dungeon is being invaded with even more. We're back up to 48 intruders.” He paused. “Motherfuckers! The enemy's reviving his fucking monster girls and sending them back in.”
Sixteen... Ordaziti wanted to collapse at the thought. She took a deep breath against the pain and said, “Get ready, girls, Team Munjan's in for a fight.”
“TEAM MUNJAN!”
A drumming sort of clopping filled the hallway. The valkyrie frowned at that. Both Senka and Kitty Delight glanced down at their hoofs. They were both goat monster girls, one of Death and one of Darkness. They backed away from the entrance as the sound grew louder.
“Horses?” Ordaziti asked, her brow knitting. Her pain faded.
“Dullahans?” asked Kitty Delight.
“What's a dullahan?” Senka whimpered.
“Level 4 Death monster girls,” Ordaziti said, her stomach roiling. “They ride black horses and throw their heads which explode.”
“They're headless horsemen,” added Kitty Delight. “Like from Sleepy Hollow.”
Ordaziti had no idea what she was talking about, but Kitty Delight was an American, not Serbian like Munjan and his harem of cheerleaders. The valkyrie readied her sword; the drumming grew louder. The two oozes jumped to the ceiling while the kelpies readied their acid blasts.
The first dullahan burst into the room and threw her head. Acid struck her in the chest, burning a hole through her breast. Her head screamed in pain before it struck Ordaziti in the chest. Light flashed and...
The valkyrie floated in the Void, dead.
\ / *
The explosion that killed Ordaziti threw Senka into the pool. The sigbin gasped, kicking water. She broke the surface. The first dullahan, horse and all, vanished into motes, dead. Three more galloped into the room.
This is what being a monster girl is like? Senka thought, terrified.
An ooze drooped on one dullahan, gripping her head, while another threw her head at the pool. Senka and the kelpies all dove beneath the surface. The explosion burst across the top, rippling with deathly energy.
Wait, I'm Death? Senka realized. Can they even hurt me?
She pushed off the bottom of the pool with her powerful legs. She could jump as a sigbin, bounding about like a mountain goat. She burst out of the water and landed on the ground. She was ready for the fight.
Kitty Delight teleported behind a dullahan and yanked her off her horse. The pair fell to the ground. Senka spotted another wheeling her rose around. Her head reformed in her armor. The sigbin charged at her.
Lightning blasted through the room, exploding from the crackling wings of a new group of monster girls. One blast shot at Kitty Delight as she thrashed with the dullahan. The porn star rolled the dullahan over so she took the blast instead.
Senka jumped and slammed her hoofs into the chest of the dullahan, throwing her back. The monster girl slammed into the wall. Her pale body struck the ground. Her head rolled away, the fiery hair spilling around her face.
One of the angelic monster girls crackled with lightning. She held a blade made of the same material in her hand. Electricity arced from her. Senka jumped, but her skin prickled. The blast struck her in the side.
She screamed as she spun through the air, her body spasming. She landed hard, something snapping, then she was tumbling into the Void. She didn't realize what had happened. She was just floating in a peaceful place, sleep falling on her.
Did I die?
\ / *
Munjan sighed. Kitty Delight was still alive. Lahana and Prastuta, the two kelpies, died. Their dots winked out. Then the two remaining oozes perished, Samudri followed by Vaju. That left Kitty Delight alone.
She bounded around the room, her dot flicking from spot to spot. The black of the enemy monster girls reacted to her various appearances as she burst out of the shadows. They chased her, but it didn't last long until he felt Kitty Delight's death. She just couldn't dodge forever. There were too many of them.
And the few monster girls killed in that fight were already re-entering his dungeon. Despair pressed down on Munjan. He glanced at his best friend. Melin stood on the other side of the map, sweat beading his forehead.
“We're so fucked, Melin,” Munjan muttered.
“Siwang and Leo's dungeon are still fighting,” Melin said, shooting a look of confidence. He stood there, back straight. “It's not over.”
“Leo's unconscious,” Munjan said. “Our strongest ally, and he was taken out before the fight even began. Goddamn, it was a fucking trap trying to revive the Incarnation. Fucking bitch set us up. Maybe it was all a sick game. Just watch us dungeon builders struggle and die.”
“Maybe,” Melin said. “But we're not dead.”
“Yet.”
Chapter Forty-Two
The enemy had reached the door to Siwang's throne room. He had concentrated his forces here. His strongest monster girls and himself. He already had the spell ready to go on his lips, his opening blast for when they burst through the door.
Caihong's sweet song rose from her lips. Her slender arms spread wide, her rainbow-hued hair almost shimmering with her words. Her wings flapped as she inspired us all with her beauty. Siwang drank them in.
“We are going to win,” he said. “We are going to drive back the foe and buy time for Leo to recover.”
His monster girls nodded. They were ready for the fight. Xiongbu's mist spilled off her body, her claws ready to shred. She vanished into the floor, moving into position to ambush the first ones through the door.
Jinzi twirled the end of her golden chain, the short and busty gnome-MILF ready for the fight.
Lei shone in her silver armor, her hammer ready to smash.
Guang shone even brighter, her body made entirely of light.
Yinfu stretched, her big breasts jiggling. She was ready to whirl into flames.
Jinu's hoofs clopped as she shifted her weight, the nightmare ready to leap through shadows.
The throne room door shook with blows.
“Let's crush them,” Skrige said. Siwang's second cyclops. She was covered in armor just as magnificent as Lei's.
“Yes,” Kyuuma hissed. The erinyes held her razor whip, her black-feathered wings spread wide. She stood on taloned feet, ready.
Siwang had a beautiful force of his summoned companions and those he claimed from other monster girls. His two dragons were ready. They were in their MILF-forms, gorgeous and scaled and ready to breathe ice and lightning on the enemy.
“I'm ready for the role of a lifetime,” shouted Baoshi, the Hong Kong actress rubbing at the garnet in her forehead.
“Yes!” gasped Muyang. The pair often co-starred in movies together. The dahu held her sword of ice, ready to bound with grace across the battlefield like she was in a wire-fu movie. “We shall shine like never before!”
The door burst open.
“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!” Siwang shouted as the metal doors exploded inward.
The lightning struck the rakshasa leaping through the shattered entry. She screamed as she died. Arcing Lightning shot from into the next monster girl, a nue. Then a fairy. Finally, it struck a sylph. They all became sparkling motes that showered the next monster girl to charge in.
They flooded in as his monster attacked. Xiongbu burst out from the floor and tore into an adlet, the dog-like monster girl screaming in pain as claws tore through her. Guang's blast of light from her eyes struck a gleaming ice sprite. At the same moment, Lei and Skrige charged forward with their hammers.
They swung their weapons with thundering booms, killing a gorgon and another fairy.
The red gem on the carbuncle, who was standing in the entrance, flashed with light. She was about to attack, but Yinfu swept over her. The ifrit, now a fire whirl, burned through her and charged at a red cap whose red hair flowed behind her while she gripped a pair of hooked daggers.
Cruel things.
Muyang bounded forward only for a flash of light from an angel's halo cut through her belly. She hit hard on the ground, her life spilling out of her. She was moments from dying, but Siwang was not about to let that happen.
“Life revitalizes and mend, let the restoration of Lord Dumazid mend!”
Bow of Life fired a golden bolt. It struck her and healed her. As Muyang's wounds healed, Jinzi's golden chain wrapped around the angel's neck, snapping it. Sparkles glittered as the chain fell to the ground. Flames roared and struck Jinzi.
A shesha's fiery spit. The cobra-like monster girl hissed her delight as the gnome died. Siwang felt the first of his companions falling, anger boiling in him. He thrust his hand out at the shesha as she slithered forward on her red-scaled tail.
“The sharpness of ice cuts, let the razors of Lord Anshar slash!”
Razor Ice swept gleaming shards that ripped through the shesha's breasts and neck. Blood spurted as she died. Jumping through the motes was the enemy Fire dragon, her red wings flapping and hurtling her forward. Flames exploded from her breath.
Kati, a rakshasa, yowled in pain as the fire engulfed her. She collapsed to the floor and died before Siwang could start the healing spell. She was gone, a second monster girl lost. The enemy had sent in the monster girls so the dragons could sweep in.
Kao, a sigbin, leaped at the dragon and wrapped her arms around the monster girl. The vampiric monster girl bit, sharp fangs tearing through scales. Blood spurted as the sigbin feasted, yanking the Fire dragon to the ground.
A baku leaped out of the shadows to Siwang's right and stuck the Static Aura around him. It discharged, throwing her back. Her hoofs smoked, and she hissed as she rolled on the ground. Her muscles twitched. It hadn't been a lethal discharge.
“Hurtling down the mountain, let the boulder of Lord Abzu crush!”
Boulder Fall dropped a large rock on her, shattering her skull and sending her to the Void.
Fire flashed. A pitchfork struck Siwang, his armor ringing. The flames burst around his side. He spotted the devil, but so had Verja. The manticore's stinger struck the devil in the neck. The enemy monster girl collapsed, spasming. Frothy spittle bubbled from her mouth as the poisoned barb killed her.
The devil wasn't the only target of Verja's sting. Her scorpion tail, curved to aim over her head, fired again and again. She struck a selkie and a lich. The selkie screamed and fell to the ground, thrashing. The lich didn't even notice the wound as she rushed at the manticore.
Spectral scythes swept from the lich.
Verja flapped her wings, but the scythes cut through her. The pieces of her fell to the ground and vanished. Siwang ground his teeth. The battlefield was chaotic. Kyuuma's razor whip tore off an enemy simurgh's head. The poisoned selkie lunged for the erinyes but collapsed.
She died along with the devil.
Siwang focused on the lich. She threw out spectral blades at Kyuuma, who threw herself to the ground to avoid them.
“Life revitalizes and mend, let the restoration of Lord Dumazid mend!”
The same bolt of healing energy that saved Muyang hit the lich. The Death monster girl screamed at the positive energy. Her phylactery between her breasts shattered. She died, collapsing into motes that washed over the ground.
Lightning struck Siwang.
The blow sizzled over his armor and hit his stone skin beneath. The blast threw him off his feet. He grunted and rolled on the ground. He came up to see a lightning sprite being torn apart by Xiongbu. The rest of his monster girls were mopping up.
Mei killed a succubus with a blast of fire.
Tukeni's screech killed the Light dragon while Shandian's blast of lightning killed the Life dragon.
Baoshi slew an ice sprite with a blast of red from her forehead garnet.
Tao strangled the other nue while a shade was struck by a blast of Hynderi's lightning.
It was over, and he had only lost three of his monster girls. Siwang pushed himself up and still felt the alarm ringing. He still had intruders in his dungeon. He moved to the map and saw that they were re-entering his dungeon.
They regrouped in the entrance. They would advance, but more swiftly. They knew the path. Had dealt with the paltry defenses Siwang had raised. He stared down at his blasted armor. He had to recast a few spells.
How many times can we survive? He asked himself. And is there a better plan?
The enemy monster girls moved out.
Chapter Forty-Three
Alizee floated over the dark street. It was fun to fly. The cheerleader's blonde hair spilled around her while her pleated skirts fluttered. She wasn't wearing any panties, which made floating up above thrilling in an exhibitionist sort of way.
Stay focused, she told herself, glancing at the town. It was going dark. Street lights winked out in grids that moved across the town. Don't be a ditz. Todlicht is coming.
As the darkness devoured the town, she spotted moving lights.
So she pulled out her phone and quickly texted, “The town is growing dark. There are cars fleeing.”
The power went out beneath her.
“It won't be long now,” Lana sent. “Everyone ready?”
“Me and Maya are ready!” Garnet reported while Terra's three dots appeared.
Her message popped up, reading, “Nothing yet in the backyard. Do you see anything?”
Alizee sent a GIF of Jim from the Office shaking his head.
Thunder boomed overhead. She glanced up only for rain to come crashing down on her. She squealed at the sudden downpour that soaked her cheer uniform in a flash. Her teeth chattered. Lightning flashed down. Another boom of thunder shook the night.
She felt that. Her arms prickled.
Squealing in fright, Alizee zoomed down to the ground. To the Baldwin house. She wanted Leo to hold her before remembering he was still unconscious. She landed on the porch and found Lana Fulmine stepping out of the house. She stared at the downpour.
Alizee, through chattering teeth, said, “It'll... be... soon.”
Lana Fulmine nodded.
\ / *
Terra had her hand pressed to the grass of the backyard, feeling the earth, sensing any tremors. The enemy was out there. She had to be ready. Had to be vigilant. The rain came crashing down on her. She ignored it, soaking her clothes.
She and the earth were one.
A faint tremor reached her.
“Crystal, you're in charge of texting,” Terra said. “They are coming.”
“Got it!” Crystal answered. The sounds of her virtual keyboard clicking as she typed were barely louder than the drumming rain. “Sent!”
Lightning flashed. Thunder rumbled.
Terra closed her eyes, ignoring what she saw. It only mattered what she felt through the earth. Her body grew distant, cold in the rain. She sensed the movement coming closer. It was distant, but neared with every heartbeat.
How long? Terra thought.
\ / *
“Terra says they're nearing,” Crystal texted.
Morana shivered as she stared at her phone, reading the group chat. She stood on Mrs. Lucina's porch beside the MILF. Morana rubbed at her right arm with her left, the prickling intensifying. It wasn't the cold.
It was death.
They approached.
Morana texted, “Yes, they're close.”
The goth girl wished she could see them. The street lights were out. The rain was pouring. There was so little light in the world. She turned her attention to looking up the street. The water gurgled in the gutters.
A chill permeated the air from the rain. She ignored that, focusing on that deathly cold. She stepped out in the rain, ignoring it on her skin, and moved out into the center of the street. She let the rain pound on her as she felt the world.
Death came closer and closer. The grave encircled them like a rotting fist. Any moment, it would squeeze shut and crush them. Death wasn't sexy and exciting like when she was fantasizing about being a perfect corpse, never decaying.
Young and beautiful forever.
She had touched death now.
She did not want that. She wanted to live a long time, even if that meant growing wrinkles.
\ / *
Maya stood in her bedroom. It faced the backyard. Her hosts were gone. She swallowed, hoping they were still alive and they had just fled. It was heartening that there were people who could still flee the town. That had escaped Todlicht.
Why didn't we do anything about that? she asked herself, but...
By the time they knew, it was too late.
A phone chimed with an alert.
“Crystal and Morana say they're close,” Garnet reported.
Maya nodded and turned. She headed out of her room and to the bathroom. She stopped up both the sink and the bathtub. She turned on the faucets. She didn't want to flood the house, but she did need the water that would gather in them.
If they were close...
As the sink started to overflow, she pulled it toward her. She gathered it around her arms. Same with the water in the bathtub. She would have a reserve to use as a weapon against the zombies, like in the mad dash from the hospital.
“Neat,” Garnet said. She held up her fingers, and shadows danced around them. “We're going to kick some zombie butt! Kweh, heh, heh!”
\ / *
Mrs. Bella Lucina could hardly see Morana standing in the middle of the street. It was so dark.
So she sent out a ball of light. She threw it out over Morana's head. It glowed, revealing the girl in the hospital gown being drenched by the rain. She didn't seem to care. The threat must be close. Lightning flashed in the distance.
Over the drum of rain, Bella heard something.
A squishing sound. Not just once, but piling on itself. She shuddered, realizing it was the sound of rotting corpses approaching. Hundreds of them. This was it. She stepped out into the rain. It drenched her, but she ignored it.
She was too afraid and too excited to worry about the cold. She crossed the gutters running with water and joined Morana in the middle of the street. She stared down it toward the entrance, waiting for it to begin.
The stench of death washed over her. She fought against her churning stomach as she waited for them to pour down the street. They had to hold off the dead for as long as they could before falling back to the Baldwins' house.
Wake up, Leo, she thought. Please, please, wake up.
\ / *
Crystal smelled death.
She stepped into the rain and froze the drops splashing on her. The ice flowed down her arms and fashioned into blades. Knives. They felt comfortable in her hands. She fashioned more blades out of the falling rain, slipping them into the waistband of her jeans.
“They're here?” Crystal asked, the scent of rotting flesh almost overpowering her.
Terra nodded. She rose, lifting a hammer out of the earth. Dirt spilled from the bedrock weapon. She held it with ease as she stared out into the darkness. Crystal shuddered and shoved a knife beneath her left armpit to hold it.
She pulled out her phone and texted, About to engage in backyard.”
She shoved her phone in her pocket as the sound of squishing steps rose above the rain.
Chapter Forty-Four
Morana waited eagerly in the dungeon for her turn to lead Squad Unending Beauties against the invaders. The Life Sap Room brimmed with death. Anything living would be assaulted by negative energy.
The goth banshee was ready for the fight. Ready to see what happened to those monster girls.
“They are splitting up into three groups again,” reported Smerta. A general message. “They are moving through the Second Labyrinth. Morana, they should reach your room first.”
Morana grinned and looked at her monster girls, saying. “Squad Unending Beauties, we are going to massacre them.”
They cheered.
“I love this room,” Geista said. The shade looked eager as she drifted around the room. She was a blue shade, similar to the green of the ghosts that were stationed in here. “Pity I couldn't put Todlicht in here.”
“True,” Morana said. He was causing problems in the other world. She needed to focus. “Lemures, be ready to pounce on the living. Ghosts, rise up from the floors. Vampires, enjoy your meals, and Dullahans, blow up any that make it past them.”
The dullahans at the back all grinned. All four held their heads in the crooks of their arms, red hair spilling down their thighs and over the flanks of their horses. The lemures moved into position as the ghosts vanished into the floor.
So did Geista.
Morana drew in a deep breath, not that she needed the air to sustain her, but so she could scream.
“They're on you,” Smerta sent.
An orange-furred fox bounced into the room, her fur paling gray. The lemures leaped at the fox, but she jumped back inside the doorway. A bugbear snapped her head down, jaws wide. The monster girl's bear-like head tore through Porta the lemure's throat and ripped it out.
She died as the bugbear vanished.
“They're retreating,” said Smerta.
“What?” Morana was shocked, but then she grinned. “That's right! You face the Dark Lord's undying brides! You're going to die in here!”
The dullahans shouted for joy while the lemures scampered back, smiling despite the loss of Porta.
But, wait, if they retreat, should we follow, thought Morana. Not sure, she sent to Smerta, “Do we follow?”
“Hold, for now,” said Smerta. “Let's see what they do.”
Morana nodded. She held her breath for her scream. She would get her chance to shriek. The enemy would die. She could not wait. She was feeling so good. They were going to defeat Leo's enemies and save the day.
\ / *
Mrs. Zoe Baldwin smiled at the news that the group had hit the Life Sap Room and had pulled back.
She waited in the Overgrown Room. It was thick with vegetation. Satyrs, treants, werebears, werewolves, and hydras prowled through the greenery. Vines hung about, twitching and ready to strangle anyone who entered here.
“A group of ten is almost to you, Mrs. Baldwin,” Smerta sent to the dryad.
Mrs. Baldwin nodded, though Smerta could not see. “We're ready.”
She melted back into the vegetation. She could hear the enemy monster girls coming. Fuegin had betrayed her lover Leo. They had made a pact, but Fuegin wanted to be the one to save the Incarnation. He had schemed to make that happen.
Somehow, believed the Dryad, he had put Leo into a coma.
Amante entered first, ruddy light glowing from the cracks in her obsidian body. She instantly flashed with heat. Flames exploded from her, striking the plants near her. Vines reaching for her became ash.
Behind her, a raiju and a maenad charged past. The raiju was in the form of a wolf made of crackling lightning, while the maenad ran low, her white hair streaming madly behind her. She cackled as the veins surged for her.
They seized her and choked her.
The vines reaching for the raiju flinched back from the current, smoking.
Amante advanced, her flames burning. Hydra spit shot from the vegetation and struck her obsidian skin. She screamed as her breasts melted. Lava poured out of her like blood. She staggered as another blast struck her in the face.
She died.
A treant screamed. Vrakash fell back from the raiju, her branches smoking. The bitch tore her apart. In the chaos, a simurgh and a rakshasa charged into the Overgrown Room. They were Life monster girls, too.
Mrs. Baldwin was ready. As the rakshasa twisted past the vines, the dryad's roots grew. Hidden by the vegetation, the rakshasa never saw the dryad's attack until the roots seized the rakshasa's ankles. With a yowl, she fell to earth. More roots grew around her, pinning her down.
Bakara and Seeng, a pair of satyrs, gored the thrashing rakshasa and dispatched her.
The raiju bounded deeper into the room, the hydras spitting at the lightning wolf, trying to get her. She was too nimble. Mrs. Baldwin cast her gaze about for the simurgh, looking for her. She spotted the maenad dying and becoming motes, but the dog-like monster girl had escaped.
“The group that Morana fought is rushing to your room!” Smerta shouted across the telepathy. “They're about to enter. Two of them.”
A werefox bounded into the room. Already, fresh bramble shot for her, but the fox was small and nimble. A shiver ran through the dryad as she didn't see a second monster girl enter at all. Her heart lurched.
A death monster girl?
Panja the werebear roared in pain and died.
“Shade!” Cheekha, the werewolf, sent while she howled in pain.
Her cries cut off as she died.
A thunderous roar ripped through the room. The surviving plants in the entrance wilted and died from the deathly shriek of the banshee. She also caught two satyrs, Havas and Khur, along with a treant named Supaaree.
Mrs. Baldwin retreated deeper into the foliage, nearing the hydras. Each had three heads that were looking in different directions. The dryad's heart hammered. Death monster girls were their natural antithesis.
The blueish shade rose up before her, hands reaching to throttle Mrs. Baldwin.
“No!” the dryad gasped in fear, flinching back.
The shade screamed instead. She vanished in a burst of motes. Bhavya, one of the four hydras, nodded to Mrs. Baldwin with two of her heads, the third spitting acid at the raiju still rushing through the foliage.
The banshee shrieked again, and more plants died.
Flowing past the banshee came an erinyes and a bugbear. They took up positions before her, guarding her. The erinyes swung her razor whip before her while the bugbear, a tall and busty woman with a bear's head, roared, ready to kill. A carbuncle and a deva appeared behind the trio, one firing ruby light and the other lightning.
A djinn swept past the monster girls, her whirlwind briefly engulfing the banshee and her guard. The howling wings tore through the vegetation, sucking up the thorny vines and slashing branches. Mrs. Baldwin threw herself down, the suction almost yanking her off her feet. Vegetation fell on her.
She could do nothing about the djinn, but the others...
She spotted Chaandi the werewolf stalking forward. She was in her beast form, ready to rip and tear. Mrs. Baldwin had to create an opening as she lay beneath the debris. Her toe roots surged out as the erinyes scanned the vegetation. She spotted Doodh, one of the satyrs.
Now, thought Mrs. Baldwin.
As the erinyes drew back her razor whip, the dryad struck.
Her roots seized the erinyes's bird-like feet and yanked. The monster girl fell back, landing hard. Chaandi launched her attack, slamming at the banshee from the side, her teeth tearing into the monster girl's throat and slamming her down. Without a throat, the banshee couldn't shriek.
Doodh scampered in next. She lowered her head and plunged her horns into the erinyes as she struggled to get up. They ripped through the monster girl's heart. Before the satyr could get clear, the bugbear grabbed her and ripped her apart.
Mrs. Baldwin crawled on her belly, the djinn's whirlwind throwing chaos.
A lamia slithered by, spitting ice.
Mrs. Baldwin found a tree and rose, pressing against it. She peered out, looking to regain some semblance of a fight. Things had gone badly here. She spotted the raiju bounding through the vegetation, burning plants.
How to take you down?
Pain burst in Mrs. Baldwin's back.
She gasped as something struck her from behind. She fell forward and landed on her stomach. She glimpsed hoofs landing by her. A nightmare vanished into the shadows. The dryad gritted her teeth, struggling to stand.
She couldn't move her legs. Her back felt weird.
The raiju pounced on her. Mrs. Baldwin screamed as the electricity shot through her before the jaws crushed down on her. She spasmed before the agony ended in a flash. She floated in the Void, her soul falling into sleep.
Will I wake?
\ / *
Smerta fought against the despair.
She was in command of the resistance, and they were losing.
The combined enemy monster girl forces mopped up the overgrown room. They took heavy losses, but that didn't matter. They would just keep coming and coming and coming. Leo was still unconscious. Smerta didn't know what to do.
The adventurers passed. The same weight was on them.
The other ten monster girls not involved with the Overgrown Room were about to enter the Stalactite Room. They were avoiding the Life Sap Room entirely. It was too lethal for any monster girl that wasn't Death.
Should I reposition Morana then? thought Smerta. It is a pity that the Life Sap Room cannot be avoided.
The surviving enemy monster girls spread out from the Overgrown Room while that third group was about to breach the Stalactite Room. Smerta watched their movement, pondering what to do next. Would she doom the dungeon?
Or hold out long enough for Leo to recover?
“Fuck a bear,” she muttered.