Chapter 41

Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

“That was a great fight,” Zobens said as she stretched her back, her large, green breasts thrusting out before her. “That paladin had skills. I got a good hit on him, then he bashed his shield in my face and rammed his sword through me while praying to Lord Nabu.” The orc laughed. “Who got him?”

“The ghosts did,” I said. “With your orcs fighting him from all sides.”

“Those ghosts scared the piss out of them, Lord Leo,” said Slepkavi. The other orc squeezed her big, green boobs, her nipples hard. “Grobi, you and your sisters destroyed their mages.”

“The living cannot stand our embrace,” purred Grobi, the ghost floating nearby. Her translucent, green form had a soft smile on her lips. “Unless they are the Dark Lord and his minions.”

“You all did amazing,” I said. “I would love to properly reward you three, but things are dire.”

“Yeah, those fuckers moved through the dungeon too fast,” said Slepkavi. “They knew where they were going. You got to redesign everything.”

“We have to prepare the defense of Astovin,” I said. “Anguin’s coming for it.”

“He didn’t know about the ghosts,” said Zobens, an evil smile spreading on her lips. “Those adventurers were shocked to have them rising in their midst.”

“No, Anguin has no idea I have ghosts,” I said. “Maybe that will help turn the tide of our next battle.”

“Maybe.” Zobens looked around. “Where do you want us, Lord Leo? Back to our spots in the Third Labyrinth. Do we have time for R&R.”

“Go get as fucked as you want,” I told her. “You’ve earned it. Maybe frolic with a mermaid.”

Zobens laughed. “Maybe I will, Lord Leo.” She smacked me on the ass. “It was a pleasure to fight and die for you.”

I nodded. I was getting used to sacrificing my monster girls. Expending them. Slowly, I was coming to see them as resources, as pieces on a chessboard. A callousness that worried me. I had to honor their sacrifices. It was why I revived them and brought them here to be thanked by me.

I woke up the last two from the Void Crystal. Smerta and Feya appeared. Led’s two companions, his favorite wrestler and his bitter wife. Feya spun into existence and looked just so disgusted, shaking her head. Smerta had a look of cold fury on her face.

“Anguin?” I asked. “Are you pissed at him?”

“Does a bear take a huge, steaming shit in the woods?” Smerta asked. “They knew our defenses intimately, Leo. Too intimately. I want to find that dark bastard, rip off his head, and use his neck as a latrine!”

Feya winced but nodded. “I have never seen a party move with such precision through the dungeon, Leo. Not here and not in my ex-husband’s dungeon. It must be redesigned.”

“We have bigger problems,” I said. “Astovin is in danger. Anguin is going to attack it, or so Halia believes. She’s his daughter. I trust her. If she thinks it, then it’s a good possibility he’s going to rip through there. We have to be ready.”

“Then we shall be ready,” Smerta said.

The door to the vault opened. Fara walked in, her black hair swaying as it fell over her small breasts. She had started going naked like the monster girls, her ears twitching. It took some getting used to being nude all the time, but after a while, it felt strange to get dressed.

In her hands were diagrams. She began unfolding them on the floor without much ceremony. It was a map of Astovin that she had inked four spots on it. They bracketed the square in the middle of the town, each one on a major street that led to it.

“I propose you build exits to your dungeon here, here, here, and here,” she said, tapping each of them. She pointed to another tunnel she drew that ended at the outskirts of the village. “You’ll have to extend your dungeon from here. You’ll have to do some tests. Make sure that you’re not coming up in the wrong spot.”

“How can I do that?” I asked. “It’s not like I can see where my tunnels are going. And what if I disrupt the street. Leave evidence.”

“You can’t,” said Fara. “You’re going to have to extend your dungeon beneath the town and be ready to create the breach when he comes for you. Get right beneath the streets then thrust stairs out. You might damage buildings, but if Anguin is coming to butcher those people...”

“Right,” I muttered. “I need to move myself down there. We’re going to redesign the dungeon.” I grabbed the crystal and concentrated. I did something ballsy. Something insane. I moved my living quarters and vault from their current position to beneath the exit of the Astovin tunnel. I added stairs and a set of doors leading up the tunnel along with a concealed door to hide it.

“We moved,” Fara said, looking around. “Right? Where are we?”

“Some place insane,” I said. I had just brought the most important location past all my defenses save my monster girl companions. “This is going to be ballsy. We’re going to have to do something bold to defend this town.”

“Uh ... why does the throne room door lead to a dead end?” asked Garnet. “Big bro, I was coming up to play with you and give you a relaxing massage, and now I can’t get to the living quarters. Where are they?”

“Beneath Astovin,” I answered.

My mind hurt with all the gasps of surprise and shock and worry from my women. None of them seemed at all happy about it. Those in the living quarters burst into the vault. My mother had on an apron, flour covering her hands. Mrs. Lucina’s big boobs heaved. Nina Naughty wore a look of such shock. Hagane shook her head.

“What are you doing, idiot?” Maya asked, marching up to me. My undine smacked me in the back of the head.

“What I have to,” I said, shooting her an annoyed look. “Astovin’s in danger. I swore to protect it. I’m the only one that can’t be moved by the Void Crystal, and I have to be here. I need the Crystal on hand to do last-minute adjustments when Anguin attacks, so ... Here we are. It’s temporary.”

“Souleen!” gasped Maya. “Please say you don’t agree with this madness.”

“Leo is the Dungeon Builder,” Souleen said. “I know he will always protect me. I am not worried.”

“Thank you,” I said, nodding to my busty, little Soul of the Void Crystal. The piece of the Incarnation who brought me here. I grabbed the Void Crystal and started making the adjustments.