We enter a familiar bare wooden room filled with water. Then we close the door and all hold hands. The floor lights up and I lose consciousness.
--
I wake up, still standing in the same position, just before thousands upon thousands liters of water flood across the floor and push us away from the center. We easily hold our grips against the tide and stay together, then we start taking in our surroundings.
It's the High Forest, but the ginormous trees aren't as tall here and the countless branches that make up their "trunks" aren't arranged in the usual tidy patterns, but instead, they grow wildly in all directions. Most of the trees have some elven-made artistic arrangements using some of the branches, but at least half of the branches that make up these huge trees are still "wild."
The glowing plants display their usual variety of colors, so we know that it's currently daytime, but the wilder canopies block even more of the sunlight than the current High Forest does, so it almost feels like nighttime to us.
"Nothing like a brief jog to get the blood pumping," Hana says and sighs wistfully.
Ciel smiles wryly and adds, "The thrill of being chased isn't that bad, either. But I did feel safer with our setup this time since we're currently invulnerable to magic. Being chased by the Symbols of Envy wasn't nearly as fun as this was."
But the others aren't feeling quite as chipper as her.
Roxanne groans and complains, feeling a little dizzy, "Everything in this dungeon is uncomfortable, even the teleports."
"How long were we passed out? It feels like I just woke up from a full night's sleep," Alissa questions.
"I didn't look at the watch before we entered, so I have no idea," I say.
Lina frowns as she walks out of the wet area around us. "The air is stuffy and stale, and the ground is all mushy," she complains.
"More than the usual for the High Forest?" Ciel asks.
"Yes."
"The clouds aren't moving," Alissa comments while looking up at the sky through one of the few holes in the canopy.
"There are no 'statues' in the trees of the High Forest," I comment and point to a lewd statue of two elven men sharing some butt-love.
"What a shame," Roxanne says and adjusts her glasses to see it better.
We start drying ourselves off and I reestablish the perimeter with the Hollys. The only areas that didn't get wet were our heads because of the [Water Breathing] bubble.
I send one of the Hollys up above the canopies so that she can search for a mountain range. That's our target.
This level and the one before it are thought to loop on themselves. You can pick any direction and one day you'll reach the mountain range. Then you can pick the opposite direction and you'll eventually end up on the opposite side of the mountain range again.
This level only has one exit, but Elaria's level has multiple. We thought that the tilting grass was a clue to the direction of our target and it seems that we were right.
"Every detail is a clue," I comment absentmindedly, then I get an idea. "Lina, do you know if the glowing plants here are any different from those you can find in real High Forest?" I ask.
She stops, butt naked, and looks towards the plants. Her lithe and pale body shines in the few rays of light as she scurries over to a plant. Ciel follows her and casts a [Clean] to finish drying her off, making the little girl shiver all over and moan cutely. Then she spends a few intense seconds looking at the glowing plants.
"No idea," she finally answers, flatly.
Ciel chuckles and shakes her head, then walks away and continues drying her clothes.
There's a small spot where the sunlight hits the surface of a flat, giant root, so I pull out a carpet so that we can all sit there while we dry our clothes. The padding of our armor is the most annoying part to dry because of how thick it is.
Gify decides to reappear on the carpet so that she can take a short nap in the sun.
I lick my lips as I watch Lina's cute little ass shake as she dries her cute little panties. I slowly and silently place my clothes on the carpet and stalk towards her.
I cover myself in black fur and grin like a maniac.
--
Innocent and distracted, the gloomy little angel pays no attention to her surroundings and doesn't notice the approach of the big bad werewolf. The monster is not known to spare any mercy for his prey, so only a terrible fate awaits this pure beauty.
The evil monster suddenly pounces…
And lands right in front of the raven-haired angel, briefly startling her.
He grins as she takes a step back and covers her mouth with her own panties. She notices what she's doing and quickly switches the panties for a simple shirt, now blushing heavily.
The werewolf's dark, evil eyes sweep over her entire body with a lecherous and slimy gaze, defiling her with a mere look.
"What is a pretty thing like you doing here, all alone, in this evil forest?" The werewolf asks. His voice is a low growl, full of intensity, yet he still shows absolute control over his own emotions.
The gloomy angel tilts her head cutely, not understanding the question at first, then it dawns on her and she averts her eyes downward, suddenly scared of the werewolf's implication.
"I'm merely drying myself, I'm about to leave," the angel answers in a crystalline voice, so perfect and innocent that it would give an erection to any evil men that hear it.
The werewolf may not be a man, but he's evil, and his long, thick, pink monstrosity emerges from its sheath like a weapon being drawn. Her current nakedness makes her feel threatened by it, as if a sword is being drawn against her neck, but it's only a penis.
"Leave?" The werewolf asks as he frowns in worry. "Oh, but this forest is full of dangers. Big, evil monsters that would make such a little girl like you bleed from every orifice and any new one that they open."
Then the werewolf grins from ear to ear and his eyes bear such an intensity that the girl's legs start to tremble under his gaze.
He chuckles slowly, savoring her fear, then continues, "But you see, I'm a guardian of this forest. I can keep you safe, if you pay the price."
"W-what is this price?" The angel asks but she doesn't really want to know the answer.
The werewolf's pink monster touches her lips and the smell of semen invades her nostrils. "Let me play with you for a short while."
The angel doesn't want to do this, but the manly scent of the werewolf invades her mind and takes control of her. Her innocence crumbles as she opens her mouth and timidly sucks on the fleshy limb.
Her mouth tries to swallow it whole, but barely manages to take in a third of it. She desperately bobs her head, trying to quickly bring an end to this disgraceful situation, but the werewolf stops her and shakes his head.
"No, no, no. That won't be enough. It seems that I'll have to use your other hole."
The angel's little hand can barely wrap around half of the thick cock, so how is it going to enter her tight entrance?
The answer: not easily.
"HAAAAHN~!" The angel moans loudly as the werewolf invades her depths. The monster may have taken some pity on her by reducing his girth, but she's so small that he's still having some trouble.
With a generous application of lube, and being aided by the shameful juices of the angel, the pink monster finally slides in and the angel falls silent.
Disgraced, corrupted, and defiled. The angel is used like a mere doll as the werewolf pumps her wildly on his spear. He guides her up and down his long shaft as if she weighed nothing. Her toes curl in orgasm, but quickly go limp as her mind goes blank from the pleasure.
Her womb slowly adapts to the invader and her voice comes back. She sings with such innocent and perfect high-pitched moans that would make evil men orgasm just from hearing them, and this wolf is one of them.
Her insides are quickly coated with his semen, which overflows from her currently very cramped womb and mixes with her own juices and cream. To her relief, he finally vacates her depths, but then he shoots out more of his seed, tainting her body with rope upon rope of cum.
He lets her fall to the ground like a used doll and cackles an evil laugh, then he walks away and leaves her splayed unconscious on the forest floor as a Symbol of Obscenity. This time, she was spared the worst of the wolf's lust, but not for long.
The wolf will honor his words, though. She'll always be "safe" near him, but that doesn't mean that she won't be defiled again. The wolf doesn't see this treatment as a bad thing, but instead considers it a service for her. After all, she's the one being fucked senseless.
--
Alissa claps excitedly. "That was amazing. Excellent performance!" Her claps have a bit of stickiness to them with her own lewd juices coating her fingers.
"I just [Clean]ed her, you could've at least shot it at Hana," Ciel complains.
"Or me!" Aoi exclaims and starts to eagerly clean Lina's body.
"Not sure if that was acting or actual fear," Hana says.
"They say that the best actors fool themselves into genuinely feeling their character's emotions," Roxanne says.
"Well, I wouldn't want to be an actor in a romantic drama, then," Alissa says.
"Now it kind of makes sense why actors come to the temple so often to pray," Ciel says.
Aoi quickly cleans Lina's skin, then her dexterous tongue cleans her insides too. She also gets a little bit of cream as a reward for a job well done.
--
While we talk and get dressed, Holly finds the mountain range, but also encounters something unwanted: adventurers. It's not just that we'll have to meet up with dangerous people, it's that their continuous presence there means that there will undoubtedly be a few Weepers nearby.
We sit down to meditate and recover our MP through [Redirect Mana] while I think it through. Recharging mana this way is tiring and not very good for our mana organs, so I'm trying to avoid it whenever we can recover our mana by other means.
I don't want to spend a night here near the Weepers. In this dungeon, their modus operandi hasn't seemed to change, not that many people have confirmed it, but their intensity definitely has because everyone is near or going towards that mountain range.
"We found our target, let's move. I want to get there before night falls," I order.
"Can't we just sleep outside the dungeon with [Gate]?" Roxanne asks.
"I'd prefer not to use mana for that."
The lazy succubus seems a little annoyed, but accepts my reasoning.
--
Not long after we restart our jog, a Giant Centipede comes directly towards us. Its long and sharp-looking horn is tainted with blood and green mucus, proof that it has killed before.
I frown as I glance at our anti-monster crystal. Monsters seem to acquire resistance to this crystal with age, and in a dungeon filled with monsters that haven't been properly culled for a long, long time, it seems that there's a large number of old monsters roaming around.
The horned monster lowers itself to the ground and its hundred little legs give it frightening speed. But like most stupid monsters who can only rush in a straight line, Alissa blinds it quite easily with her arrows.
"Wolfy, sync us!" Hana asks.
Through [Bind], I guide Hana and Aoi to fly in sync, then they land on the Centipede and strike the head of the monster with their polearms at the same time. The poleaxe and the halberd crack through the shell of the monster and bury themselves deep into its head.
With a grunt of effort, I make them both use all their strength to pull their weapons free while Roxanne prepares an [Ice Lance]. With its path unimpeded, the thick stake of ice goes straight through its brain and cracks the carapace at the underside of its head.
--
The giant horned monster didn't stand a chance.
"Woo! Awesome! Level up!" Hana exclaims and the girls cheer.
I get a little bit dizzy from all of their emotions heavily flooding into me and immediately release their "strings."
"Wolfy?" Alissa asks worriedly as she steadies my shoulder and supports me, not that I was about to fall.
"Using [Bind] that way was a little more straining than I thought it would be. You girls have to be more in control of your own emotions. Otherwise, I'll get into a blood rage, just like you."
"Oh, shit. Sorry, Wolfy," Hana apologizes.
"Okay. I'll be better," Aoi says with a nod.
"We have to practice fighting with [Bind] more," Ciel says.
"Agreed," I say with a sigh.
Another thing to add to the list… I feel like those xianxias with training arcs that last for decades aren't that far from the truth…
Then a black sludge starts to seep out of the monster's joints and the girls move away from the corpse so that Alissa has a better shot.
A number of small blobs of dark slime form under the Centipede's corpse and Alissa pops them one-by-one. The rancid smell of dead Corpse Stealers is strong enough that even my anti-scent stone won't be able to deal with it, so I store the Giant Centipede and we continue quickly jogging towards the mountain range.
--
Soon after, we encounter a group of five zombie adventurers making their way towards the mountains. Feeling pity for them, we decide to put them out of their misery.
The mage and the archer fall to Hana and Aoi's synchronized attack, putting much less strain on me this time as they manage to control themselves better.
Before the three front line fighters can react, I slice off a leg at the knee from the lightly armored man while Lina crushes a knee of the more well-armored one. The last one is a spearwoman that Ciel attacks, but she doesn't manage to wound it with her first strike.
Mine and Lina's opponents flail about wildly, trying to crawl towards us to attack, but we just stay away and easily keep them at a distance while we wait for their burst of anger to fade. A cornered and desperate enemy is more dangerous than a cautious one.
Alissa's arrows are ineffective against these zombies unless she can fire at their chests, so Ciel has a quick bout with her opponent while Hana and Aoi spend a few seconds flying around for a flanking attack.
Ciel tries to go for a disabling wound, but the zombie's burst of speed is enough to make her cautious. The Corpse Stealers try to use minimal energy while traveling, making them look like shambling corpses, but when it's time to fight, they have speed comparable to a living person.
The female elven spearman gets her leg pinned to the ground by Hana while Aoi decapitates her, but that's not enough to make her stop moving.
Ciel sinks her spear into the zombie's chest and the Corpse Stealer struggles within.
"[Judgment]!" Ciel casts and the blade of her glaive glows, then flashes. The sound of searing flesh can be heard as the Corpse Stealer stops struggling and liquefies, then slowly seeps out of the zombie's body.
My target stops flailing, leaving itself exposed. After a short cast of [Discharge] followed by a quick stab to the chest, the Corpse Stealer starts bleeding to death.
Lina breaks the arms of her target then caves in his chest, nearly squashing the monster inside and allowing for Alissa to fire an arrow at it.
While the last two Corpse Stealers are still dying, we pile up the pale corpses and Roxanne casts a [Firestorm] to cremate them.
Their equipment is tattered and lacking in maintenance, so we don't even think about salvaging anything. The most valuable things they had on them would've been their potions and coins, which were most likely dropped where they died, but we don't feel like searching for them.
--
Through my perimeter Hollys, I spot a ramp that takes us up into the canopies of the trees and onto a small network of walkways that reach between them. They appear to be crude platforms of bark grown directly out of the trees.
It beats walking around the tangled mess of roots and mushy earth down below, so we climb up the ramp.
We're met with a nest of five Feral Goblins who decided that sleeping among the leaves was better than burrowing in the ground and we quickly dispatch them. Now that all of the girls have ranged magic, nothing but armored foes can even get close to us.
At least these goblins didn't have Corpse Stealers inside them.
Then an Uspidor swings by and Roxanne requests that we take a small detour to kill it.
How do you kill a mass of tentacles and eyes without damaging them too much? With a big "fuck you" icicle, that's how. Now, the challenge is: how do you get it to stay still long enough for Roxanne to hit the damnable Weepers' dream? You just pin it in place with anything that you can.
"Hm… maybe coming up onto these walkways wasn't the best idea," I comment as I look around at the dangerous sections that lack railing.
"You think?" Lina asks, slightly flippant.
"Sorry," I say as I cringe.
We approach the Symbol of Decay/Uspidor and I summon two metal dragonoids with spears.
The messy ball of tentacles swings about casually, totally unaware of us, so I disable the anti-monster crystal just in case it decides to go away.
We stop at a wide area of the walkway that seems secure enough for the fight and Alissa moves ahead.
I use a little mana with [Grow] to raise small, camouflaged barricades for us to hide behind.
After a minute or so of marching, she gets her eyes on the monster, spotting it as it swings through the branches. Even when I look through her eyes with [Bind], I find it rather difficult to see the monster. It's not just [Hawk Eyes] that allows her to notice it, but she also has experience with tracking the most minute movements at the edge of her vision, and using those small glimpses to correctly identify her target since she can't rely on [Sense Presence] for everything.
She leans close to the edge of the walkway and takes a knee. Her eyes lock on the target, hidden behind leaves and she nocks an arrow. Then she spots a clearing ahead of the monster's path. She leads the target, draws the bow, and fires at the clearing.
I finally get a good view through her eyes as a blotched ball of tentacles receives an arrow in one of its many eyes.
"KIEEEEH!" It screeches in pain and anger, then immediately changes its direction, now swinging towards Alissa.
She races back to us at full speed and it doesn't take long for her to run past us. The monster lands on the walkway and uses its many tentacles to run with a freakishly alien gait that makes the Leixes look "normal."
"NOW!" I yell.
Alissa stops and launches another arrow; the dragonoids jump out of the foliage from each side and thrust with their spears, pinning the monster to the walkway; Hana and Aoi jump up from behind the barricades and launch themselves forward for a savage dual strike with their poleaxe and halberd; Lina and I fire [Earth Bullet] after [Earth Bullet]; and Ciel stands in the middle and holds it back with a massive [Wind Hammer].
The squishy ball of flesh is flattened like a rubber ball, then pinned to the ground by the dragonoids. Hana and Aoi chop off a few limbs, but Aoi takes a step back and activates [Wind Shield] because the monster's counterattack is too strong for her to handle.
A tentacle tries to whip at my azure dragon, but it comes so slowly and awkwardly that she turns off the [Wind Shield], then snaps at it and bites it off in one clean move.
Tentacles wrap around the dragonoids and they start to melt, despite their metal armor.
The wood that the monster is pinned to starts to sizzle and melt, loosening its binding spears from the walkway. The dragonoids remove their armor and create another pair of spears, then they use them to bind it to the walkway again. Then they remove the loose spears and stab once more, rebinding it at the cost of their bodies, which start to melt from the touch of the Symbol.
Alissa pops all of the eyes on its front, and now only a single one near the bottom is left facing us. Alissa's view of that last one is blocked by Hana, so there's no easy way to blind it.
Roxanne's mana starts to spiral out of control as a person-sized ice stake starts to float up from behind her barricade.
"Retreat," I order through [Bind].
"[ICE LANCE]!"
Aoi and Hana jump backward and fly away at the same time as the huge stake shoots off at a nearly instantaneous speed and impales itself right through the middle of the Symbol's body.
The ball of flesh becomes an eldritch donut and it starts to wiggle wildly. Its limbs lose their strength and it falls to the ground, then after a dozen or so seconds, they stop moving at all.
"It's dead," Alissa says.
"Nice!" Roxanne exclaims and rushes towards the monster. She pulls out a silver flask and scoops up some of the slime, then immediately starts to observe it with her enchanted glass piece. "Oo~h… this is a rare mana signature!"
"It might be pretty valuable, then," I say. Then I see Roxanne's glasses glint as she stares at me with wild eyes. "But maybe we don't need to sell it," I hurriedly add on, a little nervously.
"Yes, we don't," Roxanne says, flatly.
Then I store the monster's body before even more precious fluid is wasted.
--
The trails we left of our footprints, the sounds of battle, and the smells of dead bodies attract a different danger.
A clowder of Gatuns makes their way towards us, quickly. Ten little murder kitties are coming over to play.
I pull out the dinghy and we get ready to fly away, but first I want to try something.
We pull out our Christmas wreaths that Gecynd gave us and hang them on our necks, then we wait.
The first black kitty finally sees us and slows down, looking a little confused. Then the others follow and stop.
The biggest kitty leaps out of the pack and lands in front of us. It growls in suspicion, but curiosity killed the cat, so it endangers itself to satisfy its impulses by coming closer.
Ciel looks a little worried since she was bitten by one of them once before, and I don't blame her.
I pull out a small piece of raw meat and throw it to the cat. Its angry scowl and sharp eyes are immediately replaced by a dreamy-eyed cat, purring happily as it chews on food.
"That was fast," Hana comments.
"These necklaces help a lot," I say.
The small piece of meat is quickly eaten and its demeanor towards us changes completely. It elegantly sits in front of us as its tail lazily wags near the ground.
"Awn… it wants to be our friend…" Alissa says, easily reading its feelings through the enchanted necklace.
It meows loudly, in agreement with her words.
We get out of the dinghy and the other curious kittens come over to investigate.
I share some of our meat with the girls and we feed the Gatuns. With them all a little happier, we get to move closer and pet them.
The big kitty rolls over for me to pet its belly and I squeak internally. "Who's a good murder kitty? Huh? Who's a good murder kitty? Yes, you are, yes you are," I say in a baby voice as I pet it.
The kitty can somewhat understand the meaning of the word "murder" and it takes pride in being a monster killer. It purrs loudly, sounding pleased at the compliments.
Lina and Alissa chuckle at my silliness, but what can I say? I'm just a pet guy who misses my two dogs very much.
Hana somehow manages to get into a wrestling match with hers. Because she's armored, their claws don't hurt, but she wouldn't mind even if they drew blood.
Alissa calmly brushes the tail of one of them. As an expert in tail-brushing, she knows how good it feels.
Roxanne mounts hers and it starts playfully bucking around as she holds onto its neck for dear life, yet she enjoys it, somewhat.
Ciel is a little nervous, so she stays with Lina and pets it along with her, showing some courage in facing her slight fear of Gatuns.
The murder kitties have scary, pointy, and sharp claws; their faces are large and full of dangerously large teeth; their menacing eyes hold cold-blooded killing intent; but they behave like huge cuddly kittens who just want to play.
I've never been near a lion or a tiger before, but the Gatuns seem to be even more dangerous than those animals since they hunt down goblins and even orcs. They are also smarter, which means that they are more deadly… but also that they can play more.
Ah, my heart.
--
Time flies by quickly and we spend almost half an hour playing with the cats, but we don't have any more time to waste here.
"Alright, it's time to move," I say and the girls nod.
With a little sadness, we explain to the Gatuns that we have to go. They understand and meow with longing. It's rare to find friends in this place, so they have to enjoy their good times when they come.
We make our way towards our target and they go the other way, purposely avoiding the area full of murderous humanoids.
A short encounter, but magical nonetheless.
--
Soon after that, we get close to our target and meet with the first adventuring parties.
--
--
Hall of Fame of Patrons
The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:
Oracle Maximillian Hübner.
Prince PreownedFIN.
Lord Andrew Meyers.
Lord Hope.
Lord Samuel Lim.
Lord Bill.
Lord Novgarod.
Lord DJ.
Lord Cidant.
Lord Ashadun.
Lord Michale Erwin.
Lord Joxsan Herrera.
Lord Enrique Peña Gomez.
Lord Vampmire.
Lord Braidborn.
Lord Bakerdea.
Lord Kalsted.
Lord Yeeteris Dedmeem.
Lord D4rk Sheep.
Lord Nevarec.
Noble Salty Panda.
Noble Evil.
Noble Yamibomb112.
Noble Maurice.