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Chapter Sixty-Six
“Metal missiles fly, let the spikes of Lord Nabu pierce!” Siwang shouted as the pieces of his treant turned into motes.
The metal spikes ripped through the gorgon and the fire dragon behind her. The dragon screamed in pain, blood spurting from the wound to her shoulder. She staggered and glared daggers at Siwang. Her mouth opened wide.
Lei rushed the wounded dragon and slammed her silver hammer into the foe. She crushed the fire dragon's breast. She died. Siwang smiled. They were almost out of the dungeon. He ran after Lei, the cyclops leading the way.
They rounded a corner to find the asura waiting with her four swords. Blood daggers flew past Siwang for the asura, but the monster girl's flaming swords parried them. She grinned as Siwang considered the right spell.
Tukeni screamed.
The asura wilted and died.
A red beam struck Siwang. His static aura crackled. The carbuncle lurked at the fire end, her gemstone flashing again. Siwang found the spell. The words spilled from his lips before the carbuncle could fire.
“Night devours, let the corrosive shadows of Lord Zuen burn!”
Corrosive shadows engulfed the carbuncle. She screamed as she died. Siwang kept racing forward. He was so close to the entrance to his dungeon. He constructed a plan in his mind. A gamble, but if it was true, it could turn the tide.
We need some luck, he thought.
“Siwang, I'm awake,” Leo sent.
Siwang almost burst into laughter. Ask, and you shall receive, he thought. “Good, good. I am clearing my dungeon. Hopefully.”
“The same,” Leo said. “Good luck.”
“You, too,” Siwang said and rounded the corner to find an angel and a lich waiting.
The angel's halo flared. The disc of light rushed at Siwang. At the same time, a beam of light flew past him and struck the lich in the face, burning through her skull. She collapsed, a death blow for most monster girls.
“Strong and durable, let the strength of Lord Nabu shield!” Siwang shouted.
A metal shield appeared before him. The halo slammed into it. Light flared, and a deep, gonging sound boomed. The shield vanished. The angel glared at him while the lich's phylactery blazed red between her breasts, repairing the damage to her face.
The halo flared, but Jinu leaped out of the shadows before the lich. The nightmare's hand shot out and grabbed the phylactery jewel in the chest of the lich. She ripped it out. The lich gasped before she could react and burst into motes.
A chill raced through Siwang. Xiongbu ran through him, becoming momentarily insubstantial. She rushed at the angel. The angel's halo fired at the wraith. She jumped into the wall, vanishing from sight. The angel gasped as Siwang smiled.
A moment later, his wraith burst out of the wall. Her claws ripped into the angel's breasts, tearing through those gorgeous mounds. Siwang ran forward as the angel hit the ground, screaming in pain. The wraith tore her apart.
Siwang jumped over the body as he reached the entrance to his dungeon. That was it. He ran up the stairs and stepped outside. He was in the heart of Astovin Village. Across from him was another dungeon entrance.
He wanted to rush in there, but... The builder is going to be far to the south. It would take months of travel on foot to reach him.
Nameusmabimuda did not hesitate. The ice dragon leaped over Siwang and landed at the entrance of the dungeon. She breathed a mighty burst of ice into the dungeon. The monster girls racing up the stairs screamed. At their lead was the Life dragon.
Motes burst into the air as an erinyes, a sylph, and a selkie all died. An adlet and an ice sprite survived the attack, immune to the freezing damage. The Life dragoness breathed on herself, repairing the damage to her green-scaled body.
“The breath of death kills, let the exhale of Lord Nergal slay!”
As Siwang finished his words, Spectral Breath flooded into the enemy builder's dungeon, devouring the Life dragon, the adlet, the ice sprite, and the simurgh rushing up to aid them. They all died screaming.
I know where his dungeon lies, Siwang thought. I know exactly where the entrance is.
Without a thought, he burned a mana vein to create a spot of instant teleportation. He had never done it, but Leo had described the process. He felt the connection and vanished. He appeared before another dungeon entrance hidden in jagged rocks to the south.
“Retreat to the throne room!” he sent to his monster girls. “I'm going for the builder.”
Siwang entered his enemy's dungeon. No more reinforcements. No more reviving his monster girls. All his forces had to do was survive the next wave of monster girls. He had to be faster. It was dangerous.
He chanted the words for Static Aura and pressed into the enemy's domain.
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Munjan burned through his monster girls. He was down to only his Wind monster girls. He had lost Life and Darkness now, too.
Lucas's companions made the difference. They kept reviving. They held back the enemy's Level 4's. It was the only reason Munjan was alive. He paced in his throne room, wondering how long they could keep up this war of attrition.
Once Leo dies, I'm dead, he thought. And if Siwang falls first, then the monster girls attacking his dungeon will be on mine.
Munjan breathed deeply. He just had to have hope. Hope that—
“Munjan, I am awake,” Leo said.
Munjan blinked. Is that my imagination?
“Are you holding?” Leo asked in his voice.
“Is this real?” Munjan asked, standing there stunned. “You're really awake.”
“Yes, are you holding?”
Munjan burst into almost hysterical laughter. He slumped back and fell onto his throne. Melin gasped and rushed over. Munjan couldn't help it. The stress. The strain melted from him. He just wanted to lie here like a limp fish.
“Munjan?” Leo asked.
“I'm holding with Lucas's help,” Munjan answered and grinned at Melin. “The man is up.”
“Lord Leo?” Melin gasped.
Munjan nodded. He wanted to keep laughing, but there was a fight still going on in his dungeon. He had to coordinate it. With a grunt, he pushed himself off the chair and... Hugged Melin. He closed his eyes as Melin returned it.
“We're going to live,” Munjan whispered. “We're going to fucking live.”
Melin laughed with him. They were like brothers. You couldn't help but feel that way when you passed monster girls between you. Munjan held the hug for a moment longer before breaking it and marching toward the map.
“We still got a fight,” he said.
Melin nodded and headed back to the teleport circle.
On it, Munjan noted Lucas's companions gathering in the Wind room. That was the last line of defense before the throne room, but... A reckless plan shot into Munjan's mind. He smiled and walked across his map.
“It's time to shift the balance, Melin,” Munjan said. “Stay here.”
Melin grinned and nodded.
Munjan would cleanse his dungeon.
He broke into a sprint as the fight already begun. He just cleared his throne room when the first pixie died, Hellaya. Abhijanaya and Dimbakosaya followed. He rounded the corner, passing lethal traps.
Levakanna the harpy died.
Munjan took the left at the intersection. He built this dungeon. He knew it.
Pritivanna the hippogriff died.
As Munjan ran, he cast his buffing spells.
“Lightning crackle and hiss, gird me in the love of Lady Uttu!”
Static Aura crackled around his body, the first defense he ever had. Like Leo, he had come to this world via a lightning strike.
Ayubovana the pixie died.
“Strong and unyielding, let the granite of Lady Ki enhance!”
Strength of Mountains filled his limbs with power. He could lift those mountains himself.
Sinahava the harpy died.
“Hard and enduring, let the rocks of Lady Ki defend!”
Granite Flesh hardened his skin. It felt strange to have that. His body stiffer.
Palamu the harpy died.
“Steel wards with unyielding strength, let the defense of Lady Nisaba protect!”
Metalcoat engulfed him in a suit of armor. It clanged and clattered as he ran, the visor restricting his vision.
Birinda and Idiripatkaranna the hippogriffs died.
“Life energizes and enervates, let the grace of Lady Ianna empower!”
Revitalize flooded him with more energy. He ran faster now, running down a long corridor.
Golu the pixie and Ura the harpy died.
“Incarnation of flames, let the passion of Lady Lamashtu embrace!”
Flamebody transformed his inner flesh into flames that had to be put out before he could die.
Kantavaka the pixie died as he turned the corner.
“Air preserves, let the love of Lady Tiamat sustain!”
Deep Breath let him hold his breath longer. Once, Leo had been dropped into a pool of water. He would have drowned if he hadn't had this spell.
Garbhasaya the pixie died. He had only two of them left. They would hold.
“Positive energy flows, let the passion of Lady Ianna spread!”
Healing Aura spread from him to not only heal his wounds, but his allies.
Satutu the harpy and Kuda the hippogriff died. They were the last ones.
Munjan rounded the corner and darted into the chaos. Monster girls fought. Fire exploded. Lightning crackled. Light flashed. He hardly had time to think as a kappa stared at him, water rising from her head.
“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!”
Arcing Chain struck the kappa and blasted a hole through her chest. It arched into a jotunn, shot toward a kitsune, and blasted a houri out of the sky. They all died in flashes of motes. Munjan smiled. He was here to defend his temple.
Ice crashed into the wall. Flames roared. A dullahan's head exploded, the shadowy flames roiling over the ceiling. Munjan strode into the chaos. He brimmed with fury. He would smite all these bitches with his magic.
“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!”
He struck a dullahan as she raised her head to throw it at him. She burst into motes. The spell struck a griffin streaking through the room before hitting a giant. The monster girls died. It hit a cherubim, but that did nothing to her.
A lightning monster girl.
Bella's spectral scythes ripped that cherubim apart. She glanced over at him and flashed him a motherly grin. He nodded as the monster girls died. Kitty Delight—Lucas's version, not Munjan's—fired her poisoned stinger and struck a houri who screamed in pain.
“Hey,” Sweet Sasha, the porn star turned into an erinyes, said as she landed beside him. “Welcome to the fight.”
A deathly explosion burst before Munjan and Sweet Sasha. A dullahan's head. Static energy crackled around him, protecting him from the deathly energy. He walked through it and scanned for the bitch who threw her head at him, the motes from Sweet Sasha dancing around him.
Hagane the fomorian rammed a boar's spear into the back of a giantess. She wrenched it free and turned. A jotunn crushed her with an ice hammer, crushing her purple body. She screamed and landed on the ground, bursting into motes.
She and Sweet Sasha would be back.
“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!”
Munjan shouted, striking the jotunn. It arched through a pair of seraphim with burning wings and struck a singing kitsune. A hydra's spit took Kitty Delight in the face, killing another of Lucas's porn stars.
Morana the dryad strangled the hydra with her roots, crushing all three throats. Munjan shook his head at how bizarre Lucas's versions of Morana and Bella and Garnet were. It was like a bizarro world watching them fight.
Munjan shot Arching Chains. The enemy monster girls died.
“And now I'm back!” Sweet Sasha shouted as she soared into the room, swinging her chain whip.
So were the enemy reinforcements. They were killed and sent back into the fight.
“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!”
Munjan defended his dungeon with a smile on his face.
“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!”
Chapter Sixty-Eight
The light called my name. I was glad to leave behind this fucking darkness. That other me—the fantasy me—landed me in this shit. Well, I mean, it was probably that asshole Todlicht thanks to trapping Morana, but...
Todlicht was also fantasy-me's fault.
The light, though, called my name. It was so familiar. A warmth engulfed me. It hugged my entire body as I reached the light. The heat contracted up my legs and down my torso until it was only gripping my hard cock.
A silky, hot sensation.
A pussy sat impaled on my cock.
I groaned and opened my eyes to find Halia panting on me. Her boobs swayed. I felt so good. I had just cum in her. She gasped in delight as I groaned and pushed myself up on my elbows. She squealed and embraced me.
“You're awake!” she cried. “Lord Leo!”
The entire house shook.
A terrible boom echoed from below. Wood groaned. Rain drummed on the roof. Lightning crashed outside. I could feel the undead around us. They were a blight on this world, and it all emanated from a singular point.
“Fuck,” I growled. “I have to find Todlicht!”
“I'm with you!” Halia said, the paladin sliding her pussy off my cock. We were upstairs in the master bedroom. “This way!”
She hopped off the bed. I rolled off after her, feeling energized. My body buzzed with energy that I had never felt. She raced ahead of me, cum running down her thighs. I followed her, rage burning through me.
That fucking fantasy-me landed me in this shit, and now I would clean it up.
\ / *
Halia raced out of the master bedroom, her breasts bouncing before her. Warmth flooded down her thighs. Her prayers had worked. Her feverish worship of her Lord's cock had summoned him back to her. She had served her purpose.
Lady Sherida, thank you for giving me a second chance with this wonderful Leo, she prayed.
Shouts echoed from the first floor. She charged down the stairs, Lord Leo right behind her. He heard her pounding behind her. She was so grateful for that. The front doors were open. She charged out onto the porch, the rain pounding the world. Through flashes of light, she spotted the chaos in the street.
Zombies poured onto the street from all directions except the house. They pressed toward it. Maya whipped water to the right, slamming into zombies and breaking their bodies. Garnet threw out shadows to disorient the enemy and slow them down.
Maya dodged a corpse that crashed down at her feet thrown by...
A hulking zombie made of many bodies fused together.
To the left, light flashed. Mrs. Lucina fired her brilliance while Morana danced through the dead, touching them and killing them. Halia held out her hand. A sword of light appeared. It was identical to the Blessed Blade of Light in feel and weight, but this...
This was no mere blade. It was Lady Sherida's gift.
“Left!” shouted Lord Leo.
Halia charged to the left, cutting across the lawn soaked in water. She hit the street, the gutters flowing like overflowing streams. She raised her sword, passing Mrs. Lucina and Morana, and charged into the fray.
“Leo!” Mrs. Maia shouted. “Leo, you're alive!”
“I am!” he shouted. “Later! Halia, cut a path through the enemy!”
“Yes, my Lord!” she cried and hacked into the zombie horde.
The blade of light slashed into the horde, cutting through putrid flesh with such ease. She laughed at the gift Lady Sherida had provided. Empowered by radiance, she carved her way through her foes for her Lord.
“Leo!” shouted again.
“Leo!”
“Big perv, you're awake!”
“Dark Lord Leo!”
“Yes, yes, go, Leo, go!” Alizee cried as she swooped over them. Wind slammed down into the foes, bowling them over.
\ / *
I followed Halia into the horde. Her blade of light slashed through the air. Not a lightsaber but a longsword of radiance. It shone bright with purity. The zombies fell dead around her as I charged after her.
The rain pelted me, and I did not care.
I felt Todlicht out there. I needed power, though. He had so much to bring to life all these zombies. I had to kill him. My skin prickled with the energy in the air. The atmosphere was alive with a powerful charge that crackled...
Above.
Lightning flashed through the clouds above, lightning up the black, exposing the roil of the clouds for a heartbeat. I remembered that moment in the classroom when the lightning had shattered Ms. Trueno's window and struck me.
The moment I diverged from fantasy-me.
Lightning was our element. The one that Incarnation bitch gave me. The air was alive with it. The zombies reached for me. I thrust my arm up into the air. I connected with the power in the sky. I was a conduit for it.
The lightning flashed down and arched from me. Thunder boomed around me. Heat blazed through my body as a dozen bolts of electricity shot from me. Blue-yellow light flashed. Zombies exploded as the power flash-boiled their putrid flesh. Steam rose from the bits.
More rushed at us.
I smiled and thrust my arm into the air again.
\ / *
“Leo!” Alizee squealed as the lightning exploded from Leo and destroyed the zombies.
The thunderclap slammed into the flying cheerleader. She gasped as she spun through the air and landed hard on the asphalt. Her ankle twisted. She screamed in pain and ended up on her belly. The rain drummed down on her.
BOOM!
Another blast of lightning detonated through the horde. The heat washed over Alizee. The zombies still alive closed in around Leo and Halia. They continued charging toward the entrance to the cul-de-sac.
Alizee lay in the middle of the carnage. Zombies saw her and lurched at her. She pushed herself up and screamed. Her right ankle folded again. She landed and stared at her foot twisted in a horrible angle, her ankle swelling.
“No!” she sobbed as the zombies reached for her. “HELP!”
\ / *
“Alizee!” Morana shouted as she staggered from the thunderclap.
She was down in the horde of zombies. More lightning crashed down on Leo. Another burst of heat washed over Morana, the pressure wave almost throwing me the soaked goth girl from my feet. She had to help Alizee.
The cheerleader was down and not getting back up.
The zombies that survived Leo's attacks pressed down on her. Morana leaped over corpses hacked into pieces by Halia's frightening sword, limbs still alive and crawling with fingers. I touched a zombie lurching out of the rain at me, ending the power animating its body.
Morana reached the horde and planted two hands on the nearest zombies. They dropped dead. Alizee screamed, wind whipping around her body as she lay curled into a wet ball, her clothes soaked to her body. All Alizee could do was keep the zombies back.
Morana could do more.
She touched zombies. They dropped down. She darted in, brushing another pair and felling them. She grabbed Alizee. The cheerleader gasped in relief as the goth girl dragged her to safety. Morana backpedaled.
Light slammed into the zombies, blasting them back. Mrs. Lucina's work.
Lightning crashed down deep in the zombie horde. Body parts went flying. Leo and Halia were gone, pressing deep into the horde. Morana could not follow. She didn't have the power the pair of them had.
“Kill him!” Morana shouted. “Dark Lord Leo, you murdered that bastard!”
\ / *
I glowed with lightning after the fourth strike came down.
I summoned more, energizing my body. I blasted apart the zombies, blowing them from my path even as I charged my body with the power of the storm. Halia flowed before me, her longsword of light hacking through the zombies.
I obliterated them with another lightning strike.
We kept running through the storm. The rain steamed off my body. With every strike, I felt stronger. I brimmed with the power that I would use to murder that motherfucker. He had ruined my town and put Morana into that coma.
He tried to steal her soul.
He tried to murder all the women that I loved.
“BASTARD!” I roared as I thrust my arm into the sky.
Lightning slammed down into me and shot out around Halia. The zombies before her vaporized into red mist. She surged forward to a hulking zombie made of corpses. A giant. It swung its massive arm like a club.
She flowed to the right, her braid of black hair waving behind her like a tail. She struck through the arm, hewing it off in a single blow. Her breasts heaved, the rain pouring down her body. She slashed again, taking out a leg.
It collapsed to the ground.
Her blade slammed into the creature's chest. Light exploded through the gaps in the body. It fell apart, the pure radiance banishing Death from the creature. I grinned as we scrambled over it. There was the main road.
Lightning crashed down onto me and shot out into the ranks of zombies. Chunks rained down around us as we saw him. He stood there across the street on the sidewalk, a pale corpse wearing shadows. Death dripped from him. I could hear a thousand souls shrieking inside of him.
He had devoured so much life.
“TODLICHT!” I roared as I marched up to face him.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Maya stood on the bridge in the Aerie, waiting for the enemy to return. Isatu clung to the rocks above the entrance, ready to breathe fire down on the monster girls as they poured in. The dragoness hung upside down, her wings spread wide, her claws dug into the bridge.
Maya did not expect to survive the next encounter.
“I'm coming!”
Maya froze. That voice. She wanted to cry. “Leo?”
The djinn burst into the room. As she started to swirl into a whirlwind, Isatu bathed her in fire, killing the djinn. Maybe others. An animated statue dove through the trailing end of the flames and raced across the bridge.
Mrs. Lucina's halo took the metallic monster girl in the neck, breaking off her head.
A deva took to the air as Isatu breathed fire again. Paanee and Chara's spit took the flying monster girl. Acid sizzled on her wing while the ice buried into the deva's breast. She tumbled off the edge of the bridge and landed below.
“Leo! Leo!” Maya screamed in her mind as the battle exploded.
The prism fired off a blast of light before Isatu's flames killed her. The beam struck the armless Paanee. The blue-scaled naga vanished into motes next to Maya. She just stood there in shock at the fact that Leo spoke to her.
“Big perv, where have you been!” Maya shouted.
“Waking up,” Leo answered.
Simhaya the griffin slammed into the maenad as she sprang out, throwing the white-haired monster girl off the side of the bridge. Before the griffin could climb into the air, a red beam lanced through her body.
A carbuncle's attack.
The carbuncle stepped onto the bridge only to be hit from both sides by Sriblo and Nezaymana. The unicorns had waited pressed against the side for a chance to kill a monster girl. They buried their horns into the carbuncle's body, penetrating her gray scales.
She died.
A banshee wailed and killed the unicorns.
Isatu's fire engulfed the banshee as she stepped out. Through the dying flames, a fairy and a cyclops appeared, the former taking to the air while the latter rushed across the bridge, raising her silver hammer. Maya had to focus. She had to watch the battle.
The shade rose out of the bridge before Maya, reaching with her chilly touch. Maya threw herself back, landing on the bridge. Her watery body rippled from the impact, her backside flattening for a moment. The shade leaped at Maya.
“Life revitalizes and mend, let the restoration of Lord Dumazid mend!”
An arrow of life struck the banshee and killed her.
Leo marched out onto the bridge covered in metal armor. He was awake. Alive. Her boyfriend stood there, proud and strong, as he marched toward her. Maya nearly melted into a weeping puddle. They would live.
They would win.
\ / *
Maya smiled up at me as I strode out onto the bridge. It was chaos in the Aerie. Isatu burned a lamia. Monster girls flew through the skies. It was time to end this. Smerta had given me the basics. Fuegin and another builder had attacked.
It was not a coincidence.
This had to end. I was too damned close to protecting the Incarnation. This was the Gods' last hurrah. Some final gambit using dungeon builders that they had in the works, a problem in the background I didn't even know about, while the Saints had me distracted.
“Death slays, let the finality of Lord Nergal despoil!”
Blight, Ultimate Death magic, swept down the bridge before me, killing a devil, angel, mermaid, and a fairy. The lich survived. She shot spectral scythes at me. I marched on and focused on her gemstone.
“Life revitalizes and mend, let the restoration of Lord Dumazid mend!”
The arrow of life shot past the scythes and struck her gemstone between her blue tits. She died. Her spectral scythes vanished before they hit my protective magics. I kept walking. I would clear my dungeon and take the fight to Fuegin.
Sparks sizzled as flames engulfed me. I recognized the source. Amante, Fuegin's cherfu wife. She was made of obsidian covered in black stone. The fissures burned. She gathered her fire for another attack.
“Fuegin is really the Gods' dog?” I demanded. “Is he that hungry for power?”
“He's forced to!” she shouted and threw another blast of flames at me.
“Crackling fury, let the lightning of Lady Uttu transform!”
I became ball lightning and zipped out over the spiked pit. What did that mean? Forced? What leverage could the Gods use to force Fuegin to do something?
I shot over and struck Amante. She screamed as lightning coursed through her body. She burst apart, magma splattering the ground before melting into glitter. I kept flying and slammed into a rakshasa and an ice sprite.
I became human again.
Smerta charged by me in her ice armor. I brought her along. She deserved to fight. I smiled at her when something struck me in the back. My armor groaned. I staggered from the blow and spun around to find a nightmare landing behind me.
She thrust out her hands to send her shadows at me and put me to sleep.
“Thunder bursts, let the passion of Lord Ishkur explode!”
The thunderclap ripped her body apart. She flew back into motes that danced around an asura with four swords. She charged at me, the fight raging around us. A bugbear killed Ljosa. Isatu burned a dahu. I faced the asura, a fomorian, a maenad, a nixie, and a cyclops rushing with her. Reinforcements?
“The waves rage, let the seas of Lord Enki protect!”
Azure Dance sent a massive wave that swept all of them off the bridge and into the pit. I marched on. A raiju bounded into view and rushed at me, opening her mouth to fire a blast of lightning at me. Wind blades slammed into the electric wolf.
She flew off the side.
Smerta slammed her blade into the whip of an erinyes. The valkyrie fought hard. She had served me ever since I killed Led. That was so long ago. I was still new to this. They had used some smart tricks on me.
Inspired some of my tactics.
Smerta's icy blade hacked off the erinyes's head.
A werefox bounded around Smerta. Not a dangerous monster girl, but they were swift. They could pounce and bite with those sharp teeth. I focused on the werefox, deciding what spell would be the best for her.
Colorleach.
“Color of life fades, let the shadows of Lord Zuen leach!”
The fox's fur went gray. She squealed and landed on her side before she became white and then was gone. Not a hue of her left. Motes sparkled through the air as she returned to the Void. A nasty spell.
Useful, though.
\ / *
Leo swept past Smerta. She grinned and followed him out of the Aerie. They too took the fight into the dungeon. He broke into a run, and she followed. The valkyrie held her frozen sword, her blonde hair streaming past her.
Now she could fight.
No more watching the maps.
“Reinforcements are about to round the corner before you, Lord Leo,” Fara sent. The elf was watching the map now.
“Lightning explodes, let the destruction of Lord Enlil detonate!” he chanted.
Lightning struck a monster girl before Smerta could even tell what species she was. The bolt shot around the corner, killing more of them. Motes danced through the air. Smerta smiled in satisfaction as they closed on the intersection.
“You killed three!” Kassie sent. “There are four more around the corner. An ambush, Lord Leo!”
Smerta was eager for the fight. Ready to kill. Of course, Leo had his own plans.
“Crackling fury, let the lightning of Lady Uttu transform!”
He became a ball of lightning and shot past Smerta. He rounded the corner in a flash.
“Fuck a bear!” snarled Smerta as she ran to catch up. She rounded the corner only to find him alone. He had killed them all.
They raced on.
“They're grouping up at the next intersection,” Fara sent. “One is scouting ahead. Probably the shade.”
“She's in the floor or ceiling,” said Kassie. “She's a hundred feet down the straightaway from you.
“Lightning flashes, let the passion of Lady Uttu fly!”
Leo became a bolt of lightning and flashed down the hallway to the intersection, going past where the shade was.
The moment he appeared, he roared. “Thunder bursts, let the passion of Lord Ishkur explode!”
Smerta felt the pressure wave of the thunderous boom. If she weren't Leo's monster girl, that would have ruptured her eardrums, maybe even cracked her ribs. The overpressure wave certainly would have blown her from her feet.
“That killed all but the scout,” Kassie said.
The shade burst out of the floor, reeling. She was behind Leo. Smerta closed the distance and cut her down with her icy blade. It was elemental damage and affected the Death monster girl. Leo hadn't even turned around. He just pressed forward.
“Leo!” the others shouted behind Smerta as he raced ahead.
They reached the stairs and climbed up to the Third Labyrinth. They passed through the Gale Room and into the tunnels. No sign of the enemy monster girls now. They would be regrouping to take him all at once.
In minutes, they were rushed up into the Second Labyrinth. They ran past triggered traps, open pits, fallen slabs of stone, bursts of fire that left behind scorch marks, and the remnants of acid that dumped on the enemy.
“They are massing in the Lightning Pillar Room,” sent Fara.
The open door to that room was around the corner.
“Stay,” Leo said to Smerta and the others.
Smerta nodded.
“Light can bend, let the lie of Lady Sherida hide!” He vanished from sight.
She stacked up at the end of the hallway. Maya stepped up beside her. Isatu fluttered her wings, wanting to get in there. Smerta understood. He was walking in alone, but he was also unseen. He had a plan up his sleeve.
Thunder boomed.
Fire exploded.
Lightning crashed, strobing with light.
Monster girls shouted. They screamed. A deathly chill washed over Smerta.
“They are dead,” Fara said.
Smerta grinned and rounded the corner to find Leo standing in the middle in his armor. He was muttering something. Lightning crackled around him as he replaced his defensive spell, Static Aura. Then he marched on.
Smerta and the monster girls followed.
Chapter Seventy
I left behind the Lightning Pillar Room when Siwang sent, “Leo, I'm entering the second builder's dungeon, I'll leave Fuegin to you.”
Second dungeon builder? Who the fuck was that?
“Good luck,” I sent.
“And to you,” he answered.
A second dungeon builder? What builder had the strength to challenge us? Fuegin and Wai the Drowner were the last two dangerous builders in the world, and I defeated... My blood ran cold. No, I defeated Wai, but I never killed him.
“Fuck,” I muttered, remembering the builder to the south. I focused on Fara and sent, “Fara, are the monster girls coming back?”
“Yes,” she sent.
I glanced back at Smerta, who stood at the lead with Maya right behind her. They would not be a help. I needed them to keep me safe, so I commanded, “Retreat to the Deep Labyrinth and hold the dungeon against anyone else.”
“And you?” asked Maya. “You can't go alone.”
“You can't stand against Fuegin,” I countered. “No one who doesn't have Ultimate Magic stands a chance.”
Maya trembled, but Smerta nodded.
“I know,” Maya whispered and threw herself into my arms. She hugged my armored form. “Such an idiot, big perv.”
\ / *
His arms slid around Maya's body as he said, “I know.”
Then he broke away from the undine and spun. He marched ahead in his armor, strong. The air crackled around him. He marched out of her view. She drew in a deep breath. The dungeon shook with a thunderclap.
He engaged the enemy.
He defeated four Saints on his own, she reminded herself.
She turned and headed back into the dungeon's depths with the others, her body rippling with her fear.
\ / *
I stepped out of my dungeon in the mountains. I remembered the first time I did that. I stared out at the world. I could see Astovin in the distance, down the slope and in the valley. There was another dungeon, though.
Fuegin's dungeon.
It thrust up before mine. A group of Level 4 monster girls was lingering outside of it. They stiffened, surrounding a group of adventurers. They stared at me in shock. The leader wore armor of stone and wielded a hammer. An elf in white robes and a human in black both gripped amulets around their necks. Mages. A halfling wielding two swords paled.
“Run,” the man in the stone armor said.
They turned and fled for the Fuegin's dungeon. They wanted to escape. I didn't care about them. They were just adventurers. They had no business in a fight between builders. Maybe Fuegin copied me and recruited his own.
I don't know why. I did it more to save myself from killing the adventurers who ventured into my dungeon, and to use them to deal with low-level builders who were a threat to the world. Any builder at my level could wipe them out with a spell.
“Lightning flashes, let the passion of Lady Uttu fly!”
I cast Electric Jumps and appeared inside the dungeon. I turned around to the adventurers and the Level Four monster girls. The monster girls brandished weapons. Level 4's were far more dangerous than they.
“The sharpness of ice cuts, let the razors of Lord Anshar slash!”
I killed a devil forming a pitchfork.
“Night devours, let the corrosive shadows of Lord Zuen burn!”
Dripping Shadows engulfed a kappa preparing for the attack.
The adventurers scrambled for cover as a hydra spat me. I sidestepped the attack and spat out the words to Volley of Stakes. “Metal missiles fly, let the spikes of Lord Nabu pierce!”
The hydra died while the adventurers rushed toward my dungeon with a seraph, dullahan, ogress, giant, cherub, houri, kitsune, griffin, and a jotunn following them. They would attack my monster girls. Those level 4's could cause problems.
I hesitated because I might kill the adventurers. They were mortals. Idiots in the wrong place at the wrong time. My followers could handle them. My adventurers could fight them if it came to that. It didn't matter. I was in Fuegin's dungeon now.
He could no longer revive his monster girls.
I let them go, sending to Smerta and the others, “A group of nine Level 4 monster girls accompanying adventurers entered the dungeon. Let them exhaust themselves on the traps and in exploring the dungeon. If I kill Fuegin before you face them, we'll see if we can get them to surrender.”
“Surrender?” Smerta asked.
“We should be merciful,” Maya said.
“And I want to know what the fuck is going on,” I growled because who the fuck were these adventurers?
\ / *
Therodin ran into the dungeon, moving faster in his stone armor than he ever had in his life. He invaded Leo's dungeon, his heart racing. The monster girls followed them down. Leo the False was awake and shredded them without effort.
What was going on?
First, Barany was invaded, and now Fuegin.
“Let's just kill him ourselves,” Therodin growled. “If we reach the core, we can end Leo the False once and for all. His monster girls are almost depleted. Right.”
The seraph nodded. “Fuegin believes him to have a handful of companions left. Only a few should be holding the dungeon.”
Ril smiled. “Let us end this.”
Therodin, with his elf-lover at his side, marched into the dungeon. He would deliver the death blow once and for all. This would end. This would finally be over. The world would be saved. What an intoxicating thought.