Chapter 37

Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

I decided to add a new trap room to the Second Labyrinth on the first floor of the dungeon using the Death Glyph’s powers. There was one route, not the most direct, that could bypass the Overgrown Room or the Stalactite Room. I added the Life Sap Room there.

Any living creature that entered the room would feel a chill and find the greenish glow of the room to be eerie. Once inside, the doors would all lock. To open the doors, they would have to find four switches hidden in the room. The entire time, the life would be slowly stolen from them, sapping them until they perished.

I decided not to put the monster girls there. The ghosts were too useful not to be roaming one of the labyrinths. They could come through walls and ceilings and floors. They could ambush adventurers who had gotten deep into the dungeon, a new surprise for them to deal with.

I added them to the Third Labyrinth on the second floor. They would join orcs in patrolling that spot. I scattered them about and then released the Void Crystal. I wanted to start searching for more Mana Veins. I had a theory on where I could find some, but first I had other things to do.

I had magic to practice.

I headed to the throne room to work on it. My fingers itched to try out these new spells and understand what they could do. Morana padded after me. She had cleaned up all the cum on her face. The others seemed to have scattered to the dungeon to have fun with the monster girls.

We reached the throne room. Isatu was sleeping in the corner. Although sustaining her human form was way less energy-intensive than sustaining her dragon form, she tended to sleep more than the others. Maybe she was just used to sleep a lot. But her sleeping position reminded me a lot of her dragon form. Curled up, like she tried to cover her snout by her wing.

“And who is she?” Morana asked, blinking in confusion.

“Isatu, the fire dragoness I’ve tamed” I said. “She’s impressive in her dragon form.”

“I bet.” Morana shook her head. “Of course you have a dragon. That makes sense. This is that sort of world, isn’t it.”

“Yep.”

I walked to the map in the floor. I stared down at it to see where everyone was. Garnet had not gotten past the guard room and was doing something with Usiku, Paanee, and Baaghi. I smiled at the sight of them having their fun.

Nina, surprisingly, was swimming with the mermaids. She had Skela and Mase right on her. I wondered what they were doing to my naughty porn star. Mom had a pair of ghosts with her. Were Dusata and Grobi suckling at her tits? Were the ghosts nursing at her and enjoying her breast milk? I hoped they were. Lana Fulmine had Cikhala, the ooze’s dot overlapping hers while nearby Hagane had Philtara’s. Maya and Terra had Duhot and Ipalsi playing with them, the four almost on top of each other. Fara was in the new room I had made for her, having no fun at all. Crystal had found the salamanders. My ice sprite was in the hottest room in the dungeon looking to be just getting ravished by the salamanders. All five were around her.

Well, nothing in the dungeon could hurt her.

I looked around and found Mrs. Lucina had gone all the way to the entrance, a dangerous spot, and had Bhaaloo the werebear and Skamianiela the basilisk playing with her. I smiled at that, glad they were giving them all delights.

If an adventurer party attacked, they would have an annoyed angel to deal with, too. I hoped that didn’t happen.

“This is fascinating,” Morana said as she watched me search through the dungeon for my monster girls. They stood out from the others with their gold dots. The normal monster girls were blue dots. “You have the entire dungeon on here.”

“Yep,” I said.

“What’s that long tunnel.” She pointed to the one shooting off from the entrance.

“Leads to the village of Astovin,” I said. “Easier to get supplies if I can just teleport monster girls to the end so they can buy the food. Halia, Fara, and I need to eat. Mom usually does it since she’s the main cook.”

“That makes sense,” Morana said. “So, you have magic. You can cast spells.”

“He can,” Souleen said, her voice echoing in my mind.

“Wait, we have telepathy, too?” Morana asked.

I nodded. “You can communicate with everyone, a select few, or just one on one. We’re all linked through the Void Crystal. Even Halia and Fara are on it.”

“A party line,” Morana said.

I arched an eyebrow at her. “I’ve heard that term before, but never really knew where it came from.”

“It was back when people used landlines,” Morana said. “You would get a lot of people all on the same line. Like a group voice chat.”

“Ah, something from the nineties,” I said.

Morana nodded. The mythical Nineties. My mom spoke of that as this innocent age before things changed with 911 and then social media. A fun era without all the problems of the day. That was probably bullshit. The past was ever seen with rose-tinted glasses.

“So,” I said to Morana. “What should I start with. Flashy Fire magic or should I do some spooky Death magic.”

“You know what my vote will be,” she said, her nose ring gleaming amid her pale flesh. She arched a dark eyebrow. Her cloak of mist spilled down her back and washed along the floor until it faded.

“Fire it is,” I said, winking at her.

“Ah, I didn’t make specifically say Death, so you’re choosing the opposite of what I meant to be ironic, my Dark Lord?”

“Of course,” I said. “Garnet’s not here. So I feel someone has to be a brat.”

“I would never think you were a brat,” she said. “Annoying, maybe.”

I smiled at her. “You’re relaxing. That’s good. I was real worried when you first appeared. I knew you would be sexy as a banshee, but I wasn’t prepared for your personality.”

“I can be stubborn,” she said, her cheeks darkening slightly. A blushing banshee. God, how adorable. “So, let’s see your flashy fire magic.”

“The spells are all in my soul. I can hear the words. There are some rituals I won’t practice. They are only useful in very specific situations, but the normal spells are generally useful in battle. Though there are a few that are also situational.”

“Such as?”

“A spell to let me walk on ice without slipping,” I said. “I mean, if I’m fighting on a frozen lake, it’ll be useful, but a lot of the time, not so much.”

Morana smiled. “I suppose that would be true.”

“So, like all my powers, it’s all based on Words. I summoned you by using your name, same with the monster girls. The Word that defines you, Morana, is also what defines your shape. Fills that vessel with your will. All our thoughts are based on the foundation of words. It is how we command and shape things. It’s also important since we know that there’s this Incarnation and something associated with her is known as the ‘Word of my Father.’”

She nodded.

I pulled out the first spell in the fire tree. “This is a Beginner Tier spell. Low level, you would say. There are four tiers of strength for us dungeon builders. I’m at the Intermediate Tier, lets me have Level 2 monster girls and cast more powerful spells. Like this!

“Whip and crack, let the lash of Lord Gibil strike!”

Flame lash sent a whip of flame flinging out and slashing in the air before me. Red and orange fires burned through the air. Morana arched an eyebrow. The heat from it washed over me. She nodded, a smile on her lips.

“Very flashy.” She bit her lower lip. “How well is it at transferring energy. It doesn’t last long. Normal fire probably wouldn’t do much damage it brushed someone for such a brief moment. Second-degree burns, maybe.”

“It’s magic,” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “Such a lazy excuse for things. This is why I love sci-fi and hate Lord of the Rings.”

“How can you hate Lord of the Rings.” I stared at her and shook my head. “But you love Star Wars.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s not sci-fi either. That’s fantasy with a techno-babble veneer thrown on it. Especially those new movies.” She made a retching sound. “No, no, Star Trek, and not that new shitty stuff either. Old Trek. Battlestar Galactica, minus those dumb angels or whatever they were, Babylon 5, Earth: Final Conflict, Black Mirror, Space Above and Beyond, Firefly, the Expanse. Lots of good, hard sci-fi out there.”

“Nice,” I said, nodding. “I haven’t even heard of some of those. You’re an interesting girl, Morana.”

“I’m a banshee now,” she said with pride, swelling up.

“A sexy and gothy banshee.”

She snorted. “Gothy? That’s not a word.”

“Sure it is,” I said. “I made it into an adjective with that little Y. Sounds cute, too. Just like you.” She rolled her eyes. “My Dark Lord, you are proving to be so disappointing. You are ruining all my fantasies.”

“I can roleplay for you later,” I said as I dredged up the next spell to use, Blazing Breath. “I’ll conjure a dark cloak, some whips and chains, and then I’ll torment my banshee with all my evil lusts and make you quiver.”

Morana shivered. The mist spilling down her back poured even faster. “Would you truly do that for me? I would love that. Helpless to your passion. You would enslave me with your dark lusts and turn me into your dark queen.”

“I’ll even make a crown for you,” I said. “Something silver.”

She smiled for a moment. “Fine, fine, you have redeemed yourself, my Dark Lord.”

We both burst into laughter. It was a delight seeing Morana laugh. She was always so serious, but now she was letting down that facade she hid behind. Mrs. Lucina had spanked right through the pretension that Morana had hidden behind.

Isatu let out a snort. I glanced at the dragon girl. She was still sleeping. She had hardly stirred. I guessed we weren’t disturbing her. Fire was her element, after all, none of the spells I was practicing right now could harm her.

I faced forward and then spoke, “A gout of flame, let the breath of Lord Gibil burn!”

Flames burst from my mouth and swept over the ground. They spilled out of me, the heat crackling before me. It was like standing before a bonfire, and yet it didn’t affect me like that. I didn’t feel like my face was drying out or anything. The fire vanished in a second, leaving behind air rippling from the heat for a second.

“Very impressive,” said Morana. “You would do well at a carnival.”

I smiled. “Maybe I should take my act to Astovin and entertain the kiddies. Abandon this whole Dark Lord thing.”

“But you’ve promised whips and chains,” Morana said, quivering. “You can’t do that if you abandon being my Dark Lord.”

“True,” I said. “Protection of fire, let the warmth of Lady Lamashtu shield!”

Fiery Blood heated me and made me immune to fire. Not just my own. “I think I could take a swim in magma with this spell going, Morana.”

“You can’t swim in magma,” Morana said. “It’s molten rock, so it’s still way dense. You would just walk on the surface of it. You’d maybe sink in a bit, but it would be slow. You’d essentially float on it.”

“There goes the dream of jumping into Mount Doom and pretending I’m Gollum,” I said, shaking my head. “That was a Lord of the Ring reference for those of you that hate it.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I had nooooo idea what we’re talking about.”

I smiled at her. “Definitely like you now that you’ve come out of your shell. The real you is quite fun, you know that.”