Chapter 28

Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

“That’s it,” Cysgo whispered. She crouched behind a bush and stared out at the cliff wall. We were in a canyon in the hills, the entrance choked with brush. There was a narrow path through them. It was clearly intentional. We were in the dungeon builder’s lair.

A shiver ran through me. My fingers flexed. We were about to attack another dungeon builder. Just blitz his home and overrun him. I sucked in a deep breath. My heart pounded. This would be crazy. I hoped we would be fine.

I didn’t want to lose anyone. “Things still good at the dungeon, Usiku?”

“They are, Leo,” she said with some amusement. “Stop worrying about us and worry about those poor girls. Not even Mthunzi had done something so terrible.”

I nodded. “Where’s the entrance, Cysgo?”

“You see where the wall juts out? It’s behind there.”

I placed my hand on her head between her dog-like ears. The wildhound grinned up at me as I petted her while her tail wagged furiously behind her. I scratched her a few times. Her entire body quivered.

“Okay,” I said. “Hela, you and your sisters scout. We’re behind you.”

“Yes, Master,” she said and then scampered forward, Cysgo and Ci on her tail. They moved with quiet steps. They reached the crack and peered around the corner. Then they vanished around it.

My stomach tightened as I moved up with my monster girls and Halia. Sviesos and Zaibas took up the rear. If this place had defenses against lightning, I wanted them held back. I adjusted my armor. They had brought it for me to wear. I had my lightning spear in hand, the tip crackling with energy.

I had trained for this. Usiku had coached me. I was ready for the fight. More ready than I had been when Mthunzi had assaulted my labyrinth. I reached the crack and waited for the wildhounds’ report. My heart pounded. My sister quivered beside me. Halia held her sword tight.

“We found a door,” said Hela. “It’s iron and locked.”

I blinked. “Does anyone know how to pick a lock?”

“We have you covered, Lord Leo,” Hela said. “We’re good with locks.”

“Wait for us,” I sent.

I went around the corner into the dark room. It was nearly pitch black after a few steps, the daylight falling off sharply. But then the will o’ wisps glowed bright. Blue light spilled from them, revealing the three wildhounds crouched before an iron door. Hela had her claw inside the lock. I heard a click. She glanced at me, arching her eyebrow.

I nodded.

She opened it and we flowed into the room. My heart surged up into my chest. He had the time to restore his monster girls to life. The satyr and oozes could be waiting for us again, all ready to do the fight a second time.

Water dripped from the ceiling of the tunnel. It was cut into the rock. Unadorned with anything. The wildhounds moved forward at a crouch, their heads down and asses up in the air. Tails swished back and forth as they sniffed.

“Look at those pussies,” Garnet groaned. She smacked her lips. “Don’t you just want to devour them and fuck them?”

“We should make as little noise as possible,” Halia whispered.

“Right.” Garnet glanced at me. “You getting horny for some wildhound pussy, big bro? I know I am.”

“You have a one-track mind,” I sent back.

Lana Fulmine snorted and nodded in agreement.

Garnet grabbed my free arm. “That’s why you love me, right?”

“I love you for a lot of reasons,” I thought, staring at her crimson eyes. She had her black hair gathered back into pigtails.

Halia glanced at us and shook her head. “Never knew about dungeon builders and their telepathy. It explains a lot.”

“We all come from his soul,” said Sviesos. “The Void Crystal just gives him the power to make us manifest. Otherwise, it holds us when we are not needed.”

“We sleep then,” Zaibas added. “It’s pleasant.”

Lana Fulmine nodded.

“It’s a labyrinth,” said Hela. “There are branching paths. This place twists and turns.”

“Can you find us through, or do we have to go down all the side passages.”

“Scents are muddled.” I could see them again. They were at an intersection, noses down. “Oozes and satyrs go in all directions from here. They—”

All three went still. Their tails thrust upward. Then they turned to the left and pounced. Hoofs thudded. Growls and baas echoed. I rushed up the hallway at the sound of battle. They fought with satyrs.

We hit the intersection. The three wildhounds fought with two satyrs. One of the satyrs had grabbed Ci and had her pinned against the wall. The satyr’s head lowered to gore my wildhound. Panic shot through me. Magic flowed.

“Spark of lightning, crackle of electricity, let the wrath of Lord Enlil explode!” I chanted as the horns plunged in.

They buried into Ci’s chest. She howled in pain.

The lightning bolt crackled and stuck the satyr. She collapsed smoking. Ci fell over her, bleeding out. Her sister wildhounds pulled down the other satyr. Claws ripped and teeth bit. The satyr kicked and gurgled.

“Lord Leo,” Ci whimpered, her life spilling out of her. “I’ll dream ... of you...”

She went still. The satyr she fell under melted away. Then Ci dissolved into motes, returning to the Void Crystal. Despite that, tears touched my eyes. The pain she felt was real. She might not be dead, but she had suffered for me.

I gripped my spear.

Something wet landed on me. It spilled over me, thick and viscous. I gasped as it covered my mouth. It poured into my throat. I couldn’t breathe. I felt the gelatinous goo all around me, suffocating me.

Lana Fulmine gasped at the sight of the ooze girl who had dropped down from the ceiling. The blue, gelatinous woman had slid her pussy over his head, distending her hips and belly. Lana could see his face buried into the ooze’s snatch through her skin. He grabbed at her thigh with his left hand, fingers sinking into her flesh.

Fear shot through the lightning sprite.

“No!” Halia gasped. She swung her sword, cutting through a tentacle that lashed out from the monster girl. It fell to the ground with a wet splat. The buzzing blade thrust forward, slamming into the monster girl’s torso.

Did nothing to her.

“Eww, gross!” Garnet gasped, seized by another tentacle. “I don’t want to play hentai with you. Not when you’re smothering my big brother!” Shadows flared in her hands. Then she whipped at the ooze. It struck the enemy monster girl’s gelatinous body, flesh rippling.

Leo dropped his spear. The sparking blade clattered on the ground. Lightning crackled from Lana’s wings. She threw them wide. The energy sizzled over her when the sound of hooves thudding on the ground drew her attention.

She whirled to find a satyr rushing at her from another corridor, horns lowered. She unleashed her lightning. It blasted from her wings and struck the satyr in the chest. The monster girl fell to the ground in a quivering pile.

Leo’s knees collapsed. He fell to the ground. He was on his hands and knees, suffocating. Garnet frantically whipped at the succubus with her shadows. The wildhounds growled, but they were wrapped up by another ooze. She had them in her tentacles and pulled their heads into her body to drown them.

Lana focused her electrical charge. She had to fire her bolt, but he was thrashing so much. Halia cursed and slashed at another ooze dripping from the ceiling, narrowly getting engulfed, too. Her blade cut through a pair of arms, dropping them to the ground. Then she slashed through the torso and did nothing.

“Lady Sherida, aid me!” gasped Halia as tentacles seized her sword arm and jerked her forward.

Lana’s lightning bolts were not precise. If she missed, she could kill the thrashing Leo. Then they would all die. Garnet sobbed, her wings flapping as she fought against the tentacle pulling her in to be engulfed. The ooze laughed.

She enjoyed herself as she smothered Leo.

I have to act! Lana Fulmine told herself. You played Jane Dangerous. What would she do?

She would grab something useful from the environment. She would think on her feet. Whatever she needed would be at hand. A weapon that had fallen, a magical artifact on a pedestal, an innocuous item in her belt pouch. Something that...

Her eyes fell on the silver spear, the tip sparking with electricity.

She picked it up and thrust it at the ooze, aiming well above Leo’s head. The spear tip lanced into the ooze. The electricity arced through her gelatinous body. Her flesh spasmed and roiled. Then she dissolved into a puddle.

Leo ripped his head free, panting and coughing. He sucked in breaths.