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Chapter Fifty-Eight
The rain fell on Morana as she kept touching the zombies and ending their unlife.
I'm so glad that Mrs. Lucina is healed, she thought. Seeing the MILF bleeding out from a torn throat had frightened Morana.
Lightning exploded into the zombie ranks.
Morana jumped at the sudden flashes of light. Booms echoed from the superheated air that tore apart the horde. Through the bursts of brilliance, the horde was illuminated. Behind the zombies, larger things lumbered forward.
Morana quivered at the sight of the hulks made of fused bodies. Revulsion washed through her at the sickening sight. The abuse of the dead. She stepped back. The massive things lumbered through the tide of undead.
“Larger zombies are coming!” Morana shouted.
“I see them!” Alizee cried and swooped down. She blasted wind, throwing back the zombies into a group.
Lightning burst into them, ripping apart flesh.
Alizee thrust her arms into the air in cheer before she squeaked and darted to the right. A car flew through the air and almost hit her. It soared over Morana and crashed into the street behind her in a screech of twisting metal and crunch of shattering glass.
Morana shuddered. The hulks.
The undead lumbered at her. She reached out and touched one of the undead. She stole the deathly energy animating its body. It collapsed. She swung her fingers out, grazing another gray, sagging cheek. The body fell down at her.
“Morana!” screamed Alizee.
Morana looked up to—
“Shit!” she shouted and threw herself to her right.
She hit the pavement as a car crashed down where she stood. The hood crumpled. It flipped over and tumbled into Mrs. Lucina's yard, spinning on the roof. Morana pushed herself up, wincing. She skinned a knee and her right palm. She stood, gritting her teeth against the burning pain.
More zombies rushed at her. She touched them. She drained them. She would fight for Leo.
Pain exploded in her back. Morana could not comprehend what threw her down on her side. She lay there, the rain pouring down on her, spasming. Something tumbled past her, striking zombies and bowling them over.
A rock came to a rest as Morana couldn't breathe.
\ / *
Maya gasped as a rock flew past her, thrown by something she couldn't see. The skin on her arms stood. She swept water around her, striking the horde of zombies shambling toward her. They all spun over as she shuddered.
What threw that rock?
Shouts echoed behind her.
She threw a look and saw Morana lying on the middle of the road. Something looked so off about her. She spasmed. Horror shot through her. Alizee swooped down and used her wind to keep the zombies from reaching Morana while Mrs. Lucina grabbed her and dragged her back.
The rock? Maya shuddered at the realization. That rock could have hit her.
She whipped her head around to the horde. Where had that rock come from? It was so dark before her. Something large must be out there. From the darkness, another rock hurtled at her. She swung her massive ball of water before her.
The rock hit it and burst through the water, tearing it from her control. The rock struck the ground near Maya's feet. It shattered. A chip struck her in the leg. She hardly felt the pain. The broken stone skittered past her.
She knew that rock. It was some of the decorative stones in the backyard.
Maya shuddered. That could just kill her. Was Morana dead? Maya gathered her water again, pulling it to her. The undead lumbered at her. She slammed into them, breaking bones with the mass of her water.
She risked a quick look over her shoulder.
Mrs. Maia knelt over Maya, hands glowing with green energy. She healed her.
Relief swept through Maya.
Wood groaned before her. Snapped. She spun around to witness her hosts' house collapse. The roof caved in. Debris spilled from it, striking zombies. More were crushed by the pieces. Maya took a step back, shocked by the destruction.
Then, large chunks of debris were thrown to the side. Sections of the wall slammed into the neighbors' houses. Other chunks crashed down into the street. Maya whipped away the water as something large moved through the ruins.
Corpse giants burst out and lumbered toward her with a tide of the undead around their feet.
\ / *
Mrs. Bella Lucina left Morana in Mrs. Maia's care and rushed back to the zombies.
She had to do something about the hulks throwing cars. She focused on them and fired a blast of light at the nearest hulk. She struck it with the brilliance. Smaller zombies would be disrupted, the light burning out the undeath and dropping the corpses.
Not this hulk. It marched on, unaffected by her light.
Mrs. Lucina swallowed.
Lightning slammed down into the hulk. The brilliance would have blinded anyone but Mrs. Lucina. She could see through the superheated plasma. It didn't hurt her eyes. She watched the lightning blast off bits of the surface, but not enough to do any true damage.
It picked up a car and hurtled it.
Mrs. Lucina was already running to the right. She blasted the zombies coming at her. They dropped. The car struck the road and bounced. She watched it. Mrs. Maia threw herself onto the lawn to avoid being crushed.
Morana...
Was up.
She charged forward. The rock had crushed her. If she hadn't been healed by Zoe, she would have died, but Life was a powerful element. Now Morana ran at the giant with purpose. If anyone could drop that hulk, it was her Death.
She needed cover.
“ALIZEE!” Mrs. Lucina shouted at the top of her lungs while pointing at Morana.
The cheerleader flew over, soaked from the rain, and flashed a thumbs-up. She swooped down toward Morana and blasted wind before her, slamming into the horde of zombies. Mrs. Lucina glanced at the hulk.
Please, let her be able to stop it, prayed Mrs. Lucina. Please, please, wake up, Leo.
\ / *
Alizee soared through the air, blocking for Morana.
She felt like Morana had caught the kick off, and she was clearing the defenders out of her way with blasts of wind. She stuck the zombies, throwing them back. They fell in tangled hordes, sometimes breaking bones.
They struggled to stand. Morana plowed into their heart.
Light and lightning flashed around the flying cheerleader. Mrs. Lucina and Lana Fulmine were helping. They blasted apart zombies. Morana closed on the hulk. The beast picked up another car. Alizee shuddered at how disgusting it looked, made of all those corpses.
It drew back to throw the car.
Lightning struck the vehicle. The blast tore it out of the hulk's hand. It fell back, crushing zombies rushing forward. Alizee laughed and swept out the wind. She threw back the last few zombies between Morana and the corpse hulk.
Morana reached it.
The thing drew back its fist to crush her.
Morana touched it.
The corpses that made up the hulk fell to pieces. They hit around Morana with heavy splats. She stepped back, swaying. The pieces of the zombie hulk, now separated, rose around her. They were still animated.
They surrounded her and lunged in at her.
Alizee swooped down and swirled the wind around them. She hurtled them back from Morana. The goth girl glanced up, her face pale. She smiled at Alizee and straightened. Lightning burst to the right, killing some of the freed zombies.
Then Morana shouted, “Watch out!”
Alizee turned. Another corpse hulk swung a fist at her. Alizee squeaked and jetted forward. She shot across the neighborhood and over Leo's house in an eye blink. She shivered in horror at that thing almost touching her.
More of them were marching toward the backyard where Crystal, Terra, Ms. Trueno, and Hagane fought.
How many of these nasty giants are there?
\ / *
Maya's house collapsed.
Mrs. Maia gasped at the hulk coming out from that side. Morana thought she could kill one, well, the MILF had the power of Life. She could destroy it in a different way. So she darted down the rainy street.
She entered a strange bubble where the rain did not reach her. It all funneled in toward Maya. The young woman gathered the rain and used it to batter and break the horde. She drove them back while she stared in horror at the corpse giant clambering through the ruins of the house.
“Help me get to him!” I shouted.
“Right!” she called back.
She threw water into the horde, battering a hole. Mrs. Maia ran into it, gathering life in her. The hulk stared down at her. It reached out and grabbed the chain-link fences separating properties. It ripped it free and threw it at her.
Mrs. Maia gasped as the net of metal hurtled at it her. There was no dodging it.
Metal clattered as the length of chain-link struck her. It threw her back. Pain exploded in her belly. She landed on her back, broken metal tearing into her guts. She rolled onto her back. Zombies lumbered toward her.
Water whipped them.
“Mrs. Maia!” Maya cried in worry.
“I'm fine!” Mrs. Maia hissed.
The MILF pushed the fence off her, grinding her teeth against the pain. She sent Life into her wound, knitting the flesh. She pushed herself up, whips of water crashing around her. They threw back zombies. The hulk picked up a hunk of wall and swung it at her.
Mrs. Maia ran forward and dove. She landed on the sodden grass and slid on her belly. The debris impacted behind her. She scrambled up, the stench of rotting flesh filling her nose. She rushed at the hulk and reached out her hand.
She touched the knee.
Life flowed out of her. She gasped at how much rushed through her. A torrent of healing energy that surged up through the giant. It glowed green. She attacked each corpse in the hulk, severing the deathly energy. She “healed” them from being zombies.
It collapsed into a pile of corpses.
One struck her, throwing her back. She staggered, her shoulder aching. She swayed. So much energy washed through her. She wanted to lie on her back and pant, but more undead reached for her, needing to be healed.
The fight was not over.
Leo, she thought, wishing for her lover to be alive. They needed him.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Nina Naughty's fire burned the corpse ogre. The flames licked at the corpses as it lumbered forward.
Hagane trembled and shook her head. She charged in and swung at the corpse ogre with her sword, attacking the legs. Nina Naughty focused on her flames burning the flesh. Her hands thrust out before her, feeling the fire through her fingertips.
Terra and Ms. Trueno battled another corpse ogre. The teacher screamed while Terra threw chunks of bedrock at it. The backyard sagged as she ripped up the foundations of the earth. A fence collapsed. A zombie vanished into the ground. Crystal threw daggers of ice, ripping into the corpse ogre.
They kept moving forward. Nina Naughty focused on the flames, but it wasn't burning fast enough. The flames just weren't hot enough to burn bodies fast. She charged the outside of the flesh, but it didn't seem to care.
“What does it take to kill these things?” she demanded.
“No fucking clue,” Crystal hissed and threw more daggers.
Hagane dodged a flaming fist sweeping down at her and hacked at the corpse ogre's legs again. Nina Naughty fought against despair. The corpse ogres were barely being kept back. One mistake, and it was all over.
Leo was helpless in the house behind Nina Naughty. She had to burn hotter for him.
\ / *
Terra's mind raced. She had to do something about the corpse ogre.
The ground sagged.
A zombie fell through the earth. A sinkhole opened, devouring part of the fence to the right. Ms. Trueno's scream slammed into the corpse ogre while Terra gasped. By tearing up the bedrock, she was creating space beneath the ground.
So Terra tore up a lot of bedrock from beneath the corpse ogre. The stones ripped up around the corpse ogre, tearing through zombies. It took a step forward. Ms. Trueno screamed again, bursting normal zombies' heads. The sound only staggered the corpse ogre.
The ground shifted beneath the hulk's feet.
A sinkhole formed.
The corpse ogre dropped into the hole along with part of the neighbor's house. The wall collapsed in, spilling debris that struck the corpse ogre. It was stuck in the ground. It flailed, beating at the ground. Terra smiled.
She turned to the burning corpse ogre. She could do the same.
She opened her mouth to warn Morana when a corpse struck her.
Her arm snapped like a twig. She screamed and hit the ground. She rolled into the back of the house. She whimpered as she stared at her twisted left arm. Bone thrust through the skin. Blood spilled out. The pain assaulted her.
\ / *
“Shit!” Ms. Trueno screeched, her curse killing a zombie.
She didn't normally curse, but seeing a corpse flying through the air and striking Terra scared her. Beyond the ruins of the trampled house and the partial collapse of the other neighbor's home, a third corpse ogre stood. It bent down and grabbed something.
A zombie.
The corpse flew through the air at Terra. It hit the wall above her. The corpse burst into disgusting viscera. Terra screamed and ducked down, her arm hurt. Ms. Trueno gasped and darted for the girl. She grabbed her, dragging her for the open kitchen door.
Another zombie struck the wall nearby, bursting and breaking parts of the siding. Ms. Trueno winced. The burning corpse ogre staggered forward despite Hagane hacking at its legs and the ice daggers striking at its joints.
Ms. Trueno dragged Terra into the house, shouting, “Mrs. Maia! Zoe! Where are you?”
\ / *
Crystal froze the rain and formed daggers to fling at the burning one. A new one was throwing bodies at them. The sinkhole had the last one trapped. That was something. Nina Naughty ground her teeth, her face twisted with focus. Flames burned before them, slowly consuming the corpse ogre.
It was not enough. A corpse was flung at Crystal. She dove to the ground, sliding on the wet grass. It struck behind her, glass shattering. Hagane dodged another flaming punch. This was not working. Panic swept through Crystal.
She pulled her phone out of her jeans' pocket.
Texted, “SOS”
\ / *
Lana Fulmine's phone buzzed as she fired blasts of lightning.
Zombies flooded in from all directions, as did the giants. The hulks made of fused corpses lumbered in at us. How many people did Todlicht kill? Maybe he emptied out the cemeteries, too. There were so many of them.
I blasted more of them apart as I pulled out my phone.
SOS
Crystal's message spun me around. I darted into the house and ran through it. Terra was lying on the kitchen floor with a broken arm. Ms. Trueno rose from her and turned to back outside. Fire burned, consuming one of the corpse giants that fought Hagane.
Another threw a corpse.
Ms. Trueno screamed to blast that out of the air. Marching through the ruins of a house and scooping up another zombie was a second corpse giant. A massive sinkhole held a third one struggling to climb out.
Lana Fulmine reached up into the storm to channel the lightning as Hagane hacked at the burning corpse giant's leg. It shuddered and collapsed, planting a fist on the ground to keep from falling over. Hagane's black hair flowed behind her as she drew back for another attack.
The corpse's thick arm stuck her.
She flew across the lawn and landed in a crumbled heap.
“No!” Lana Fulmine shouted and called down her lightning.
She struck the corpse giant. Her lightning had proved ineffective, but this one had been badly damaged. Icy daggers stuck out in the joints. It was half on fire. This time, her bolt disrupted it enough that the giant fell apart into corpses. The bodies spilled across the lawn and came alive.
Ms. Trueno screamed, bursting their heads. They fell into quivering bodies. Lana Fulmine darted out into the storm. The rain falling down on them never reached her. It froze and rushed toward Crystal, forming another dagger. She threw it at the giant holding back.
It flung a corpse.
Lana Fulmine hit the corpse with lightning. Plasma burst, spinning the corpse. It missed her. She reached Hagane. The girl was twitching on the ground, alive but wounded. Lana gripped her beneath the armpits and dragged her back.
“We have to take cover in the house!” Lana Fulmine shouted.
\ / *
Ms. Trueno screamed, blasting another corpse out of the sky. A second corpse ogre was also throwing them. This was getting too much. Zombies were pouring in around the hulks. Lightning slammed into a group, blasting them apart.
Ms. Trueno rushed back toward the kitchen doors. Lana Fulmine dragged Hagane inside and placed her beside the wounded Terra. They were both beaten up, and they were too close to the open door. Nina Naughty and Crystal took up position there, flames rushing from the burning zombies to engulf new ones.
Ms. Trueno rushed in and grabbed Terra, saying, “We have to get them deeper inside.”
“Right,” Lana Fulmine said, hauling them toward the living room.
They released them and rushed to help Nina Naughty and Crystal. They were flinging flames and icy daggers. Another corpse flew at them. Crystal dove in through the kitchen door. They hit the house. The wall rattled.
Ms. Trueno swallowed. She felt so helpless with the corpse ogres pelting them with zombies.
How can we win this? They'll be destroying the house soon. Is there a way out?
One glance at Lana Fulmine's face told the teacher they had no escape. They were surrounded by a sea of corpses. The tide was rising, and their little atoll was about to be swallowed by the black ocean. They would drown in zombies.
Ms. Trueno wanted to cry, but she had to keep fighting. Keep hoping that Leo would awaken.
\ / *
Todlicht loved the destruction.
They had taken down some of the mega-zombies, as he thought of the fused hulks, but he made a dozen of them. They were coming from both directions. He had depopulated this town. Everyone who entered, died.
Death swirled around them. More zombies stumbled in, drawn by the vortex of death.
It would not be long before Leo was dead. Before Todlicht had his revenge. He smiled from ear to ear, remembering how Leo had stood over him, dominating him. Making him into his bitch. Hatred fueled Todlicht.
He laughed as his zombies stumbled onward.
Chapter Sixty
Mrs. Bella Lucina waited in the Black Room, a dungeon room that had no light. Darkness ruled her. She suppressed her own halo while waiting. With her were Inari the werefox and Akkuggian the darkness dragon. The Light monster girls also lurked in the darkness: choirs, unicorns, aos sithe, and houris.
They all waited for the enemy to reach here. The battle was going badly.
“The group that's penetrated the Deep Labyrinth approaches your position,” Smerta sent.
Mrs. Lucina quivered. It was pitch black in here, but they were denizens of the dungeon. They could see. Her forces were spread out to attack with blasts of light that would not even be seen by the enemy.
“Be ready,” Mrs. Lucina sent to her forces, trying to keep the fear at bay because...
This might be the end. They might die permanently here. She had to believe that Leo would rise from his coma. She had to keep that hope shining in her, or she would be swallowed by a darkness deeper than this room.
“We shall destroy them,” Akkuggian said. “For Lord Leo.”
“FOR LORD LEO!” the light monster girls all cheered.
“Hold until you're ordered to fight,” Mrs. Lucina sent. “Let them face the fear of being unable to see. Let them confront the darkness!”
They nodded around her.
Akkuggian grinned from ear to ear, clearly loving it.
The first monster girl to enter was a volcanic cherfu. Amante, Fuegin's wife. She paused and jumped back out of sight before she could be hit by an attack. They were cautious. That was good. They felt the fear.
A djinn whirled into the room, followed by a bounding raiju, a wolf made of crackling lightning. A snarling maenad and a growling rakshasa plunged into the darkness, followed by a slithering lamia. None of them could see, though. None of them were Darkness monster girls.
The maenad hissed in frustration. The rakshasa sniffed the air, searching for prey.
“Choirs, hit the djinn,” Mrs. Lucina ordered. “Unicorns, charge the maenad and rakshasa.”
The choirs sang light that shot out and struck the whirlwind. The djinn screamed. The unicorns' hoofs clopped as they lowered their heads. Each of the beautiful monster girls had horns thrusting from their foreheads. Their tails streamed out above their cute rumps.
A deva entered.
She exploded with light that drove back the darkness, but it was too late.
The unicorns slammed into the rakshasa and the maenad, impaling the two monster girls with their horns. The djinn dodged the light, so Mrs. Lucina blasted her halo at her, the wind. It was protecting her as the choirs kept singing more radiance at the Wind monster girl.
Motes burst from the maenad and the rakshasa. The unicorns turned to retreat back from the deva's brilliance. The raiju opened her mouth and howled. Lightning exploded from her, striking the unicorn Kin and killing her.
Akkuggian swooped down and breathed darkness at the raiju and the lamia. They were engulfed in the blackness. It roiled over them like an impenetrable fume. The two monster girls screamed inside of there.
Now the cherfu returned, Amante charging past the deva with an animated statue at her side. They rushed for the attackers. An angel soared over them, wings as white as Mrs. Lucina's halo glowed just as bright.
The enemy angel fired her halo at the Darkness dragon.
Mrs. Lucina responded with her own glowing disc. Halo struck halo, deflecting the enemy's attack.
The angel shot her glance toward Mrs. Lucina and threw her halo at her. Leo's angel responded, blasting it out of the sky. The two faced each other, white wings flapping. Their halos flared with brilliance.
They dueled.
The cherfu exploded with fire below, burning Povstanetsa the choir. The other choirs scattered as the djinn crashed into them, killing Zoloto and Nebesa. Akkuggian soared at the deva. Lights flashed while Mrs. Lucian blocked the enemy angel's attacks.
Darkness engulfed the deva.
Her light went out.
But not before the animated statue cut down Rih. Two other unicorns, Sriblo and Chystota, rammed their horns into the animated statue, gouging her metal. They knocked her down and trampled on her.
Light flashed from the enemy angel while Leo's houri brought down the djinn with their own brilliance. Mrs. Lucina's wings flapped as she soared in a spiral around the enemy angel, their halos bursting with illumination, exposing the Black room.
Mrs. Lucina maneuvered her foe until she was in the clutches of the aos sithe. Their attacks brought her down. Darkness engulfed the room. The simurgh standing in the doorway yelped. The dog-like monster girl, who shed healing energy, fled.
Inari the werefox chased after her.
Mrs. Lucina smiled. The Black Room proved effective even with Light monster girls. She landed as Inari scampered back into the room. The werefox wore a vicious grin as she became a redheaded human again.
We won our first battle, Mrs. Lucina thought, joy washing through her. It was a start.
\ / *
Nina Naughty and her forces moved up into the Second Labyrinth to ambush reinforcements in a new spot, guided by Smerta.
“Position yourself at that intersection,” Smerta sent. “They're approaching.”
Nina smiled and motioned to her monster girls. She split her four hellhounds up, putting two on each side. She did the same thing with the fire spirits and the salamanders. The one phoenix took her place beside Nina while the two seraphim waited on the other side. Lastly, the one Ice monster girl, Sukkub the yuki-onna, waited to throw her daggers.
“Now!” Smerta shouted in their ears.
A fomorian rushed by the intersection, hit by flames and dying without even gasping out a sound. A mermaid was hot on her heels, who took more fire. She gasped and fell to the ground, smoking. She burst into motes and washed away.
An ice sprite skidded to a halt and threw a dagger. She took Escolta the hellhound by the throat. Nina Naughty hurled her pitchfork and struck the pale monster girl. She screamed as the flaming tines buried in her chest.
As she died, a lich rushed in and went to throw spectral scythes. The hellhounds yanked her down and crushed her phylactery between her blue tits, killing the enemy. A fairy soared over, firing a beam of light that killed Verna the fire sprite.
The fairy fluttered her wings and spun around, dodging a blast of fire and slaying Castilla, another hellhound. The other two leaped back, snarling at her. The fairy laughed and drew back her wand to fry them.
The salamanders breathed their flames. Fire exploded from the red-scaled monster girls' mouths. Their wings flapped as they bathed the fairy in hellish fire. She screamed and vanished into motes. They hissed in delight.
A cyclops's hammer slammed down in the corridor. The thunderclap threw back the salamanders and hellhounds. The cyclops stepped into view, her armor blocking Nina Naughty's pitchfork. Sukkub's icy dagger hit a chink in the silver armor, burying in the shoulder gap.
The cyclops hissed, her one eye squeezing shut in pain.
A devil appeared behind the cyclops, hitting a salamander with a flaming pitchfork. It burst across her scaled body and did nothing to her. She laughed in delight as the hellhounds yipped with excitement, their petite bodies crouching low.
Bright light exploded behind the devil, engulfing two of the salamanders, Malvada and Horca. When it cleared, a prism stood tall, her reflective body gleaming with rainbow hues. The two salamanders were gone.
“You're being flanked!” Smerta shouted.
Nina Naughty spun around to find a nixie rounding the corner, blood spilling from her wrist to form a crimson whip. Nina threw her pitchfork, but the nixie battered it down with a single attack. Vida the phoenix flapped her wings and shot down the corridor, hugging the ceiling.
She exploded with flames.
The nixie dodged them and flicked up her whip. It struck the phoenix in the leg, ripping through her shapely thigh. Her talons clenched as she screeched in pain. Blood dripped from her wounds that formed into daggers.
Nina Naughty's next pitchfork took the nixie in the chest. The blood daggers, about to fire at the phoenix, became drops of blood that fell to the ground. The nixie collapsed into motes and vanished as they scattered across the floor.
The devil grinned. She loved killing bitches.
A banshee appeared and screeched, finishing off Vida. The deathly wail shook Nina Naughty. If she was a few feet closer, that might have hurt her. Killed her. A flaming pitchfork flashed into her hand as the banshee opened her mouth again.
Nina Naughty's pitchfork took the banshee in the face, driving the fiery tines down the Death monster girl's gullet. She staggered back, the flames burning around her face. The porn star grinned as the banshee died.
“Don't open your mouth that wide if you don't want to take it, slut,” Nina Naughty purred.
Through the banshee's motes, a bugbear charged. The bear-head snarled. Above her soared an erinyes with a razor-whip. Nina Naughty fashioned another devilish pitchfork, her tail swishing behind her with eagerness.
Fire shot past Nina Naughty as she threw her pitchfork. The bugbear bit the flaming times. The fire burned around the bugbear's maw, setting fur on fire. She lunged forward anyway, leaping at the devil, mouth open wide, fire burning around sharp fangs.
“Fuck!” Nina Naughty gasped and flapped her wings, throwing herself back.
She fashioned another pitchfork as the bugbear hurtled at her. She slammed her burning tines into the enemy monster girl's big, yellow tits. Nina Naughty hit the ground, the bugbears slamming down on her, flames burning through the enemy monster girl.
She became glitter that spilled over the devil's red body.
Before Nina Naughty could react, the erinyes's razor whip cut down at her. They slashed into Nina's belly, ripping her open. The erinyes landed on her taloned feet, her wings burning. She screamed in pain and drew back her whip.
More fire from the seraphim slammed into the erinyes. She burned and died, her motes dancing with the fire. A dahu with icy blades jumped through the dying flames and glitter. Nina Naughty rolled to her side, dodging the dahu's icy blades.
Behind the dahu, the garnet in the carbuncle's forehead flashed red. A beam lanced out and punched through Nina Naughty's forehead. The devil blinked and found herself in the peace of the Void.
Well, director, that's a wrap on me, Nina Naughty thought as she fell into the dreamless sleep, perhaps to never awaken again.
\ / *
“Fuck a bear,” Smerta muttered as she stared at the map.
The ambush plan worked, but once the enemy realized it was happening, they made plans. They didn't expect to be hit so early again, but they reacted swiftly. These were Fuegin's monster girls. Fifty years of fighting in this world honed them.
Nina Naughty's monster girls were dead.
Thirty enemy monster girls were in the dungeon. This was not working. Yes, they were advancing through the dungeon at a slower pace, but they were really prepared for an ambush this time. It would not work.
“We just have to hold,” Vern said. The human warrior stood opposite her. He was calm.
How. Smerta wanted to fly apart with the stress. Her heart hammered in her breast. How could he be calm? We're losing.
“Can't give in to the fear, Smerta,” said Sarkz. The dwarf favored her with a bearded grin. “Won't help.”
“I know,” the valkyrie said.
“Lord Leo will join us,” Kassie said.
Hagza nodded.
“Have faith,” Priestess Lysila said. “The Twelve Goddesses are with him.”
Faith...
Smerta had never believed in anything in her life. Not God or gods or that shit, but this was a different world. She closed her eyes, breathing slowly. She didn't know about God, but she knew Leo. He was strong. Tenacious. He did not give up.
She had to keep the faith in him. They just had to hold out. Buy time. When he awoke, he would revive all his dead monster girls. It was only the adventurers in this room that faced a true end, and they did not falter.
Nor would she.
Smerta opened her eyes.
She studied the map. They would soon reach the Deep Labyrinth. They knew the route to take to make the best time. Once there, they would be routed to the Black Room. Mrs. Lucina had taken light casualties.
The room hindered them.
The enemy monster girls must have realized this. They were grouping up as they headed into the Deep Labyrinth. They moved toward the Black Room with care, still wary of ambushes, but they were going there.
They'll overrun her even with the advantage the Black Room gives, thought Smerta. We need our own overwhelming forces, but... There is no time to get them there. So...
Smerta made a decision.
“Mrs. Lucina, retreat to the Aerie,” she ordered. “Now, now, now.”
“What?” Mrs. Lucina gasped, startled. “Okay, retreating.”
Smerta watched the gold dots—Mrs. Lucina, Inari, and Akkuggian—and the blue dots moving out of the Black Room. The black dots were massing before the Black Room. They breached it, ready for the ambush.
The room was evacuated.
The black dots moved through it. A few of them winked out, killed by the traps that existed in the Black Room. They moved to the other side and eliminated the darkness. A simple switch by the exit. They waited there for those who died.
Those three ran through the dungeon fast. That gave more time to get things ready in the Aerie. Smerta nodded, hoping it would be a bloodbath. Finally, with all their forces together, the enemy monster girls proceeded through the exit.
And had to split up to explore.
Mrs. Lucina's force had reached the Aerie. The enemy was again in three groups of ten. One of those groups was about to enter the Stone Fang Room. Terra and the Earth monster girls were there. Smerta hoped it would be a bloodbath.