Chapter 12

Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

Power swept over me as I locked eyes with the gorgon. A hardness wanted to sweep over me, but my innate magic pushed back. I resisted the effects of her petrification gaze. A gorgon. That was what Medusa was in Greek legends.

This creature worked just the same way.

I wrenched my gaze away from hers, panting. It hurt to look at her, but she couldn’t petrify me. Halia was another matter. She held her shield up and looked at me, her face pale. I swallowed. Was this a marauding band of monsters or had a dungeon builder attacked my domain?

“The others are basilisks,” whispered Halia. “Their breath—”

“I saw,” I growled. “Lightning crackle and hiss, gird me in the love of Lady Uttu!”

The lightning crackled around me, forming an aura of defense around me. My other women spread out, electricity crackling through Lana’s hair. Maya stepped up, her body rippling. She had a look of fury on her face.

Mom shook her head, her bountiful breasts jiggling. Her toes began to grow into vines. We would have to take care of these monster girls and protect the people of this village. Astovin didn’t deserve to have this tragedy befall it.

“So, her gaze petrifies?” I growled as the gorgon hissed at me. She charged me, the basilisks rushing at her flanks.

“Yes,” Halia answered. “Her eyes can entomb all but the most powerful adventurers.”

“Let’s nip that in the bud.” I concentrated, the words rising out of my soul. “Darkness hides and shadows conceal, let the curse of Lord Zuen fall!”

Darkness appeared over the gorgon’s eyes. She stumbled, her snakes hissing and snapping. Her hands shot up, rubbing at the magic obscuring her gaze. The Blind spell was a useful one. That was a threat removed.

“I took care of her eyes, Halia!” I growled, gripping my spear. “For Astovin!”

I charged forward.

Mrs. Zoe Baldwin rushed at the nearest basilisk. The one who had petrified the mother. That offended the dryad. To turn children and their mothers into statues was a crime that had to be dealt with. Never in her life had she felt so furious.

She had righteous anger screaming through her as she rushed at the basilisk.

The blue-scaled monster girl slowed her charge and drew in a breath. A gout of noxious fumes burst from the basilisk’s mouth and rolled over the dryad. Mrs. Baldwin gasped as the vapor rippled over her body.

It caressed her, but it didn’t affect her. She didn’t have to breathe it in. It left her feeling dirty, like a layer of grime coated her woody body, but she wasn’t human any longer. She was a magical being. A monster girl serving her hunky son.

“Bitch!” growled Mrs. Baldwin when the breath attack faded.

The basilisk hissed in frustration. “I don’t need my breath to rip you apart, twig!”

“Twig?” Mrs. Baldwin’s toes grew into the ground, roots that dug through the soil. “I’m bustier than you are!”

“But you’ll snap like one!” the basilisk growled and rushed forward.

The dryad’s roots burst out of the ground and seized the basilisk by the feet. The scaly monster girl snarled as they yanked her up short. She fell on her face before Mrs. Baldwin, the enemy bracing her fall with her hands. The dryad shook my head at the basilisk and bound her feet more securely.

“Mmm, you have been a bad girl,” Mrs. Baldwin said, her toe-roots wrapped tightly about the basilisk’s ankles. “You need to be disciplined and—”

The basilisk lunged upward and slashed with her claws. They ripped into Mrs. Baldwin’s belly. She screamed as her woody flesh tore. Golden sap oozed out over her skin, the pain slamming through her body.

Risking a glance over her shield, Halia saw Leo and the other monster girls charging out. The gorgon clawed at the darkness in her eyes. Halia smiled. Her lord was a powerful mage. He would defeat these monster girls and find a way to stop them.

Halia went to spring when she heard footsteps. She whirled to see a basilisk had come around the other side of the smithy and charged her. The monster girl drew in a deep breath. Halia gasped and threw up her shield.

The monster’s poisonous breath spilled over her shield. The paladin held her breath and closed her eyes as the black gas billowed around her. The heat swept over her legs, but her upper body was warded by her shield. Still, she felt the gas attacking her lower extremities.

“Lady of Light, give me the strength to endure the foul breath of this creature!” she prayed, her entire body shuddering.

Light girded her body, a minor protection. It wouldn’t save her from taking a full blast, but it was enough. Her heart pounded in her chest. Basilisks and gorgons were some of the most dangerous monsters out there. They were Earth monsters.

Her heart pounded. Lessons from her father echoed in her head. “Your shield is your life. While your sword will slay your enemies, your shield will protect you against the dangers. Embrace it. Cherish it. If you do, it shall not fail you.”

The breath stopped. With a cry, she darted forward, her father’s blessed sword buzzing in her hand. She rushed at the garishly colored basilisk. The monster girl gasped, her pink-scaled breasts heaving. Halia swung her weapon in a hard swing as she closed the distance.

The basilisk flowed to the side and dodged Halia’s sword stroke. The monster girl’s claws slashed in. Halia pivoted to bring her shield around, but the basilisk sliced at her right side. Her shield was out of position.

The claws ripped into her side. Pain exploded. Blood spurted from the wounds. Abdominal muscles tore. Halia gasped and staggered. The shock slammed into her as her life spilled down her flesh. A wave of cold washed over her.

She gritted her teeth and screamed through them as she staggered to face the basilisk.

Garnet flapped her red, devilish wings. The succubus launched into the sky, her spaded tail swishing behind her. The basilisk charging at her slashed at the empty air where she had just stood. Laughing, Garnet landed on the roof of a house.

“Missed me!” taunted the succubus. She thrust her rump over the edge of the roof, legs bent. Then she shook her ass down at the basilisk. “Kweh, heh, heh, I’m right up here.”

SMACK!

A handprint burned across her right butt-cheek from where she spanked herself. “You can’t get this succulent ass. You’re down there and I’m up here!”

“Bitch!” the basilisk snarled, Garnet’s lust magic spilling around her.

“Mmm, you’ll just have to stare in frustration at my gorgeous and perfect ass and my juicy cunt.” The succubus shuddered, her wings rustling. “Kweh, heh, heh, you want to eat that tight slit and you can’t. You’re down there and I’m here!”

The basilisk snarled and then threw herself against the wall. Her claws dug into the exterior of the house. Garnet whirled around and blinked as the basilisk’s claws tore into the adobe-like exterior of the medieval building.

“No fair climbing!” the succubus cried out in dismay.

I blinded the gorgon. Black patches covered her eyes. I smiled.

She didn’t care. Her snakes hissing, she charged down the village road at me. I gripped my spear as she hurtled at me. Her body undulated with a sinuous grace, her round breasts bouncing before her. I gripped my spear and stabbed.

The weapon lanced out at her blind body. She couldn’t see with her petrifying gaze and she spun around my spear’s crackling tip. She closed in with me, her snakes on her head all coiling up as they prepared to strike.

She was on me.

Two dozen or more snakes hissed and lunged at me, their mouths open. Each one had slitted, reptilian eyes. I had blinded her, but not her snakes. They hurtled in at me, fangs flashing, and struck the static aura crackling protectively around my body.

Sparks burst from each of the triangular heads. The gorgon screamed in pain and staggered back. Her snake-hairs all hissed and recoiled back, scales scored in spots. Some fell limp while others staggered and twitched. The spell fizzled around me and died.

I drew back my spear and stabbed it at her as she recoiled in pain. The electrified tip hurtled at her stomach. Her hands seized the haft before it buried into her chest. The muscles in her arms bulged. She stopped my thrust.

Then she ripped it out of my hands. I gasped, thrown off-balance by the weapon being torn for my grip. She spun it around and stabbed it at me. I struggled to regain my center of gravity and dodged to the side.

The blade slammed into my guts.

I gasped at the cold shock that plunged into my abdomen followed by the pain and crackle of electricity imbued in the spear. My body convulsed. I threw back my head and screamed out my pain. The gorgon laughed.

Lana Fulmine’s electric wings carried her over the foul breath of the basilisk.

The lightning sprite twisted in the air, her golden hair flowing behind her. Electricity arced between her strands. She landed behind the monster girl. Her wings spread wide. The air crackled with static energy.

A blast of lightning sizzled out at the basilisk.

Crying out in dismay, the scaly monster girl dove for the ground. She tumbled on the hard-pack dirt of the village road. She rolled and came up unscathed before Lana. The basilisk hissed and slashed her clawed fingers at Lana Fulmine.

Maya certainly never thought in her life she would be fighting a monster girl.

A basilisk.

Maya also never thought she would be an undine, a being made entirely of water. Her liquid flesh rippled with her agitation. How could she defeat the basilisk before her? The monster girl slashed with claws that sought to rip through her flesh.

While she didn’t have organs or blood or bones, she still could die. Every blow would tear water from her body. Lose too much, and she would fall apart. She could feel that, knew that about her new existence as Leo’s newest companion and lover.

She couldn’t block the attacks. She didn’t have weapons. Only her body. She had to dodge and dance, trying desperately not to get torn by the basilisk’s claws. One caught her side, ripping away a handful of her water that splashed the ground. The thirsty soil drank it up, a bit of her life lost.

It didn’t hurt, though.

She had to do something. A plan. Think, Maya hissed at herself. Be smart about this. You can’t let her beat you.

She sensed something. A source of water deep in the ground. She turned her head and spotted a well. A stone wall in a circle with a frame built over it to support a rope and bucket attached to a hand crank.

She darted for it.

Claws slashed down her back, tearing away more of her life. She pounded for it, the basilisk hissing behind her. She reached it and whirled around to see the basilisk barreling for her, scaly breasts heaving.

This better work, thought Maya because it didn’t sound like it was going well for them.

Pain rippled through Mrs. Zoe Baldwin. The dryad’s sap-like blood spilled down from her torn open belly. Her root-toes squeezed tighter about the basilisk at her feet. The monster girl hissed and lunged up to tear the MILF-dryad apart even worse.

Mrs. Baldwin hugged the basilisk to her, pulling the monster girl’s face between the dryad’s large and milk-heavy breasts. She held the scaly enemy to her and squeezed. She closed her eyes, hating doing this, but the pain pulsed through her.

“No!” the basilisk howled as the dryad squeezed about her with the strength of an oak tree.

“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Baldwin whispered.

Claws raked down the dryad’s back. She screamed through her clenched teeth as the struggling basilisk fought to save her life. Bones creaked as the dryad squeezed harder. Mrs. Baldwin clamped her eyes closed.

A loud pop cracked from the basilisk. Her body went limp, her spine broken. For a moment, the dryad held the monster girl’s limp body against hers. Then the basilisk’s melted away, her dead body vanishing, sent back to her dungeon builder’s Void Crystal.