"Can you sense anything different?" I question Roxanne as we stare at the dark clouds.
"Well, indoor clouds aren't normal…" she cheekily replies, and I just give her an unamused frown while I chuckle internally, but she still milks the comedic timing for a few more seconds before she gives me a serious answer. "Yes, I feel something different from the previous times she's made storms. It really feels a bit 'wild' and maybe even similar to the Lord's energy."
"I'm glad she seems to be improving," I reply a bit too loudly, and I see Chesa glance at me, but the way her head-tail wags shyly tells me everything I need to know.
Maybe it wasn't too loud…
Oritiki appears at the golem factory as we wait, so Alissa hands off the investigation to her and returns to the core room. Now that everyone is here, I feel completely calm again, making the sleep deprivation bearable, but before joining us, Alissa has to first relay to Belind what happened at the factory and that her brother is fine.
"Oh, it's starting…" Roxanne quietly remarks.
And we all turn to the storm. The first lightning bolt strikes the Lord, but nothing happens. Then we wait a second before the next one falls, but still nothing. Then two fall at the same time, then six, then twenty-…
"SHIT!" Chesa swears.
Then we're blinded by a wall of lightning followed by a hoarse roar, "GRAAAAAAAH!"
Our ears cry as we go deaf again, but it also comes with a big headache that makes us grit our teeth. Then Ciel immediately starts the [Heal] treatment, with Alissa coming first.
Still, the big weird bird is awake, so I watch through the golems' eyes while mine recover, and I witness the Lord writhe as a coat of dark clouds and purple lightning covers its skeleton again. Its human-like characteristics immediately become even more prominent, especially its face, which is like an old man's, with a beak-like nose and a weirdly wide mouth.
Not pretty, but definitely fearsome. The purple lightning effect, coupled with the smokiness of the dark clouds and the lightning skeleton that's faintly visible underneath it all, makes for a very cool sight. It's almost like a Mufasa cloud.
There are still some Hau-Hou royals nearby, and they're leaving us alone since this is part of my "divine quest," but the sudden lightning has them spooked as their guards pull out their weapons, and the blades glow with the pale blue light of Kanal metal. I'm kinda envious that they have Kanal for their bodyguards because they're too expensive to equip our whole Lordsguard with them.
And the tension in the air quickly dissipates as everyone recovers their eyesight. The Lord also makes no movement aside from standing up on its claws, so an awkward silence immediately settles in.
This is my quest, so I step forward along with my wives and guard girls. Then I call out to the big smoky bird, "Greetings! Are you the Lord of Storms?"
Their head slowly "turns" to me, but the way they do so is actually quite unsettling. It seems like they become smoke while moving, and then their body reforms when they stop, so the Lord doesn't really "turn."
Then their mouth moves, and a hoarse but surprisingly gentle old man's voice full of static comes out, "I was given the name Atmostrapi, but I accept the Title of 'Lord of Storms,' even though I have no humanoid divine Blessing to hold it." It's a decidedly male voice, so I'll call him a "he" for now.
"Sounds like old Andraste," Alissa remarks through [Bind], and Lina agrees. One is well-versed in old stories, while the other is in old history, so they know what they're talking about.
And I politely continue, "The Gods sent me here to rescue you, but they didn't say why, though I'm curious how you ended up being captured by the monsters in this dungeon."
He cocks his gigantic head to one side as his gaze becomes cloudy (heh). Then his eyes focus on me again as he calmly hums, "Ah… my mind is clear now. I was fighting with an abominable construct and lost, then fell through my skies and into the maw of this dungeon. They used my essence to fuel their fortress across the sky, and now we're here…"
Alright, first things first. "What did you say you were fighting?"
He lowers his head to the ground to talk at (almost) eye-level with me, basically folding his chest in half into a very weird position, but what's really awkward is to be stared at by his huge face. "A construct, a vile patchwork of life and death, and a bastardization of Hauhuri glory…"
Lina's Reminder: Hauhuri is the old Chimera empire.
Then he raises his head again. "But I find it unpleasant to talk about it. I was merely protecting my acquaintances from an invasion of my territory, but I lost due to my own hubris."
"Perhaps we could help? We're powerful ourselves, and we have our own army," I eagerly suggest.
But the old bird man's response is very negative as he frowns and his tone becomes icy while the purple lightning inside the dark clouds becomes a lot more frequent. "Stay away from my territory. Have you humanoids forgotten what happened the last time you tried?"
We've stepped on a landmine, and Yunia now puts a filter on my mouth to make sure that I don't make things worse.
Then I very diplomatically clarify, "We're not sure who you're referring to. I'm Wolf Ryder, King and Crown Lord of the Eastern High Forest, a land far from here. I doubt my predecessors had much contact with you."
He slowly nods in his uncanny, smoky way, and then his tone softens a bit. "Indeed. The elves visited me once, but still, even though I thank you for saving me, I trust not your kind. This isn't the first time I've been captured, and it's because of how unreliable your 'Sins' are."
And Yunia interjects, starting to feel frustrated with his attitude, "Hold on, there's a lot of history between you and humanoids that we're missing here. Most of us think you don't even exist anymore."
He snorts softly, and his gaze loses focus for a second. "Ah… so it's been that long. Still, nothing's changed."
I immediately become excited again, but that didn't work out well last time, so I breathe in deeply and more soberly declare, "Something has changed. We convinced the Emperor to enact an Edict stating that the Sin of Torture also protects monsters."
But his stern expression turns into a smirk as he scoffs, "An 'Edict'? Hah, that's not enough." Then his tone gradually becomes colder as he leans forward. "Your Sins are merely decoration, a leash to wrangle your most unruly. But when the power is too great to ignore, when the unbounded 'progress' that you worship is threatened, the Sins won't be enough to save me."
Holy shit…
"The Gods must be seeking forgiveness, for they sent us here specifically to save you!" Ciel exclaims, starting to become exasperated.
The Lord raises his head even higher, stretching his body as he leans back, and his old face wrinkles further in bitterness because he can't deny the fact that we've saved him. "Fine, I shall trust your generation. What do the Gods want with me?"
"We don't know, actually, but we're curious about the foe you fought," I cautiously state.
"My territory is vast; the invader could be anywhere by now," he evasively replies.
I suppress a sigh and offer, "We could search for it."
But again, his answer is negative, "No… the shadow of the Hauhuri still lingers…" -he suddenly "turns" his head to the Hau-Hou as they watch from a distance- "and I shall not accept the greed it brings."
Well, this Lord of Storms is quite a difficult character…
The light-blue deer Princess I want to put my dick in is also watching, but I'll have to sacrifice that fuck in the name of our future.
And Yunia guides me as I diplomatically answer and attempt to get through to him from another angle, "We're not looking for treasure; we wish only to seek out potential threats to the Realm. Also, we have sent a gigantic Cloud Snake called Pua to live in the Broken Skies since their home in the ancient dungeon they used to live in was going to disappear. They're a passive being, and we wish for them to be able to live in your territory."
"Hmm…" he lets out an annoyed hum that's so loud it annoys Alissa, but then his purple lightning irises subtly shift, and I realize that he's now staring at Gify, who's on my shoulder.
And the little white griffin puffs up her chest, then bravely defends our family, "Guh gah gus geh."
The Lord makes a brief, annoyed frown, but then he returns to his usual aloofness. "Very well, I shall seek out this 'Pua,' but I'll deal with the invader myself."
HNNNNGH! THIS DUDE…!
And Ciel very sternly states out loud, "Something is likely going to happen to the Realm one day. The Gods have summoned multiple Gifted here specifically to free you while we feel the presence of heretics stalking us from afar."
He seems to enter deep thought, so I follow up with a more neutral tone, "We've met with Gecynd, and my Thread reacted when I first saw her in person, something that has happened again with you."
And he makes a grunt full of static that kinda sounds like a tired exhale. "So it's 'Fate,' then. I shall keep this in mind and owe you a favor, but that's it."
Then his wings wrap around his body, which turns into a tornado of clouds. I wanted to talk more, to convince him to actually fucking describe what that construct was since it sounds suspiciously heretical, but the sudden wind drowns out my voice. Then a huge bolt of lightning strikes the cloud, and the dark clouds disappear into nothing.
He's gone, just like that…
"Well, that went horribly," Lily loudly remarks as she approaches, and even the guard girls feel awkward enough to not get angry at her.
My headache is becoming stronger, so I tiredly request, "Lily, please… but yeah, that went horribly."
She snorts and continues, "Now what? Bad ending because you couldn't stop the big, uh… bird from going off and dying by itself?"
"Gih," Gify chirps with a shrug.
Which stuns Lily and the other earthlings. "How the fuck did I understand what you said?" she blurts out.
"Magic, snort snort," I dryly reply.
But Alissa's headache is growing stronger, so she stares intently at Lily as she requests, "Let's not be crass…"
"Forgive me, but I just came back from near death, so I'm not on my best behavior," the loli brattily replies.
"Haha, very funny," I dryly tease her.
"Now what?" Thant repeats, actually getting impatient at the bantering.
So I give a quick run down, "We're done here. My leviathan is still killing the horde, but the monsters at the entrance have been dealt with, and my Horns will blow up the bridge in a moment just in case, so you can go there if you want some free experience."
"I got, like, ten levels out of that, so I'm fine, I think," Thant declines.
"So, destroying the core is what made me cum? I didn't actually get raped?" Lily casually utters something stunning.
"Holy shit, woman," I blurt out as I reel back.
I mean, seeing Chesa blush embarrassedly like an actual virgin maiden is amazing, but I'm still appalled.
"What did I just say about crassness?" Alissa miffedly questions.
"It is a legitimate question," Lily calmly replies.
So Ciel suppresses a tired sigh and explains, "Our purpose is to grow and Ascend, so we all have a very faint desire to gain Experience. But when there's a deluge of it, the desire becomes pleasure, which then ends in… that."
"I wonder if any of the Lords ever got addicted to that pleasure, because it was pretty crazy," Lily remarks.
And Hana laughs out loud while Roxanne and Yunia chuckle more softly.
"That's nothing compared to what Wolfy does to us! And the orgasm barely lasted a few seconds!" Hana boastfully sucks my Cock… but that's a bad analogy because I really want my Cock sucked.
"He makes us cum so hard we pass out," Roxanne wistfully remarks, wishing I could make her pass out right now.
And then Yunia delivers the killing blow to their morale, "If a Lord doesn't have the sex skills to please their partners better than destroying the core did, then they've failed somewhere."
"You mean literally?" Lily questions Roxanne against her better judgment.
"Literally," the succubus suggestively repeats and waggles her thin eyebrows.
And we hear the pain in her voice. "Oh-kay… since we're back to talking about sex again, I think it's time for me to leave. I'm going to sleep."
"Yes, I do believe we all need it," Alissa remarks absentmindedly.
Then the Earthlings leave, but now there's some movement among the Hau-Hou, and Princess Haotawa comes out from among them and walks toward us.
She has nice, long furry legs with spotted fur that ends in large, digitigrade feline feet, which are wearing a pair of crystal high heels that surprisingly fit her well. Her dress is semi-transparent, allowing us to see that her pussy is definitely not furry, and her nipples are black. But even though I definitely want to fuck this light-blue piece of venison, I'm actually too tired right now to make a significant move on her.
"Royal Ryders…" she courteously greets.
"Princess Haotawa," I huskily answer.
She continues in the same tone, "I apologize in the name of the Hau-Hou. We didn't know that our expeditions into the Broken Skies were seen so negatively by the legendary and honorable Lord of Storms."
"You're not at fault, really. I could've also tried to secure his approval to explore the Broken Skies, but I didn't want to risk it," I more casually reply, then wryly smile.
And she mirrors my expression. "It seems like the Lord of Storms is difficult to please."
We chuckle softly. "I thought the exact same thing," I hum, but then I let out a tired sigh. "But let us leave the bashing of the Lord for another time. There's still the captive Titan I wish to talk to, and then we're going to sleep."
She nods and steps back. "I respect you for wanting to talk to a monster, but I don't wish to partake in this, so I'll be returning to rest."
And we quickly say our goodbyes.
--
Urmeie isn't interested in this, and neither are The Four, so it's only the wives, Belind, Kaatohe (who came because the fight is over and she was lonely), and I. The setting is the guest mansion because fuck being in that stupid white crystal room for any longer than we have to.
Since the talkative Titan is a mage, we put emellanat shackles all over his body and also one over his heart. This should give us plenty of early warning if he tries to gather his mana, but we also put in between us the thick, blast-proof glass that we use during new golem mental evaluation, just in case.
Then Ciel [Heal]s his legs and casts [Purify Body] to wake him up. It still takes a minute for his mind to clear, and then he starts to quickly regain awareness. His first reaction is obviously to glare at us, but it seems that the rage caused by Onslaught is gone because he curls up in an almost fetal defensive position as he warily glares at us.
"{Hello, Titan. What may we call you}?" I calmly request in Reo.
"{I'm the Throat… or I was until you destroyed our paradise}," he bitterly hisses back.
I feel nothing but pity for him, so I merely continue, "{I'm Wolf Ryder, and I'm not sorry. You started this war, and now you've lost}."
"{The Shackles have made us, and the Shackles have undone us}," he cryptically answers, but I think he's making a play on words, and the system seems to have translated it perfectly.
But I just ignore it and get to the point, "{I want to know how a Guardian took control of the dungeon's core like that}."
His chiseled face slowly frowns. "{'Guardian'? Do you mean our God? Well, why would I know that}…?"
"{Even we know of the time before our Gods appeared, for they were told of it by Creation}," Ciel kindly states.
He hums annoyedly but still quietly answers, "{Our Genesis says that God became tired of the Shackles and started a centuries-long journey of subverting them, but it still wasn't enough}."
"The Guardian might've become an Aberrant," Yunia suggests.
And Ciel agrees, "And it would've turned into a real calamity if not for us, though the Emperor could've dealt with the dungeon once he became aware of the danger."
"The Monster King is supposed to control and manage monsters, but isn't it better for him if all monsters become Aberrants?" Lina suddenly voices something puzzling.
But my mind isn't in the best state for this sort of speculation. "Who knows how it really works? I assume the Monster King is also some sort of 'controlled opposition' to maintain the balance of this game-like world."
"'Game-like'? What…?" Belind suddenly asks out loud. I forgot she was here with us.
"It's an Earthling concept that's a bit difficult to explain right now," I kindly explain.
And she's content with that for now. "Oh, I see."
Then I turn to the Titan and continue, "{What about that energy your 'God' used? It felt truly divine, so how did he get it? Was it from the core}?"
"{Why should I answer your questions}?" he tiredly replies and raises his upper lip in a sneer.
"{We can negotiate. Is there something you want}?" I calmly suggest.
"{Death…}" he immediately answers with a dark, bitter tone. Then his mouth moves again, and he attempts to say something, but the words don't come out. He then turns his eyes away as he seems to become conflicted.
"{Say it. You have nothing to lose}," Hana gently encourages him.
He snarls but still spits it out, "{We're very proud of our civilization. I want to preserve it}."
"{I can easily take some of the city islands with me}," I state.
But he slowly shakes his head. "{No. I want you to take some of us}."
The girls and I share a look, but there's an obvious concern, "{Now that is no small thing that you're asking, especially since your kind will still try to kill us on sight}."
He sits up properly, making his shackles tinkle loudly in the mostly empty room. "{We have a group of 'broken' that broke free from the Shackles, but they rejected our God, so they were exiled}."
And Aoi perks up at that.
"{Are you fine with 'heretics' surviving to represent your civilization}?" Yunia curiously questions.
"{They may be faithless heathens, but they were gifted what we desired, and we can't deny that}," he answers soberly.
So I shrug and accept, "{Very well. If they really are peaceful, I can bring them to my territory}."
"{May your Gods curse you if you go back on your word}," he grimly grunts.
Well, I don't plan to, and I'm sure the Gods are closely paying attention to this, so I just nod and move on, "{Do you want to show us where these exiled are}?"
And he actually scoffs in disgust. "{No, I can barely stand your stench from this distance, so I might seriously kill myself if I'm forced to travel with you. I'll just describe the location}."
I'm too tired to react to that, to be honest…
Anyway, the location of the exiled is a bit far, and we don't know how long we have until the portals stop working, so we'll have to send a golem in the beat-up Super Raki, but it'll take some time to get there.
"{Put me back to sleep. I don't want to wait}," the Throat bitterly requests, and we accept because he's a bit insufferable.
--
--
Hall of Fame of Patrons
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