"Luka... Oh brave Luka."
"Hmmmm.... hmmm. What?" A voice, calling from somewhere. Appearing right in front of me... Ilias! As beautiful as the last time I dreamed about her.
"Luka," she said. "Don't lose faith in yourself. You are a great warrior, and you will be my faithful servant. All you have to do is accept my truth. I love you, and am always watching over you."
I awoke to the smell of morning dew. Another dream about Ilias? I was not sure I liked where any of this was going, but until I had actual answers, I resigned myself to the fact that the only thing to do was to just play this out and see where things led me.
Alice was already up. "You were noisy last night."
"I was?" I asked.
"Kept on saying 'Ilias!' in your sleep," she said. "I thought you weren't a believer."
"I'm not," I replied. "But I keep on having these dreams."
Alice didn't look too happy to hear that, her expression darkening considerably, but didn't seem to want to discuss it further. "Whatever. Make me something to eat."
Breakfast was bread and fried eggs. Pretty good, if I do say so myself. Alice said so as well, probably the only thing she consistently complimented me on.
"Tell me about those dreams you're having." Alice said abruptly.
"There's not much to say. I dream that she appears to me and she says some stuff about watching over me and killing the monster lord and that's about it."
"Hmmmm..." Alice murmured. "She's not content to make slaves of her followers, she wants you to be her slave as well."
"Okay, you've been beating around the bush too much with this. Is Ilias real? Should I be worried that a goddess is trying to make me into her pawn?"
"Just tell me if you have any more dreams," Alice said. "I don't have enough information to tell you what's going on yet. Could just be dreams. That priest was trying to get into your head before you left, so it could just be that. Let's break camp and get going."
So we headed off to Iliasburg. I told Alice that I'd been to Iliasburg once before. It was a pretty cool city, and it had triggered a memory of even grander cities, with buildings reaching so high that I could barely see the tops of them. Alice seemed to be looking forward to it as well, what with all the food and shopping likely to be available there. I wondered about the shopping because she didn't seem to be carrying any money. I hope that didn't mean what I thought it might mean. She especially wanted to see the famous Sutherland Inn, which was known for their Happiness Honey Ama Ama Dangos. I'd never heard of either the Inn or the delicacy in question, but given how large Iliasburg was that wasn't surprising. However, I feared that if she got that information from the tour guide she was carrying it probably wasn't there anymore. Not many inns survive 500 years. Her argument was, how could an inn disappear after only 500 years? It had to still be there. That made me wonder just how long some monsters lived if 500 years didn't seem like a long time.
The day passed uneventfully. I'd feared that it would be another three monster day, but at least until we got to Iliasburg it had been a zero monster day. Well, not completely. As we got close to the city I'd noticed a plant in the ground that looked a little odd. I turned to ask Alice what she thought of it, but she was gone. That tipped me off that something was definitely not right, so I moved on, peering cautiously into the woods on each side of the road just in case the plant wasn't the reason Alice had vanished. Given how poorly I'd avoided being snuck up on two times yesterday, I probably looked over my shoulder and all around so much that a bystander would have thought me incredibly paranoid.
Alice reappeared a short time later and confirmed that the plant had been a monster and that I was smart not to touch it. I felt good about demonstrating sound judgment and made a mental note that I hadn't been called an idiot all day. Or been in a fight. Things were looking up!
As we approached the city near nightfall, I questioned Alice on how she wanted to approach getting into the city. In Ilias Village she had gotten to my house and back out of the village undetected, but I presumed since we were going to be eating and shopping here that being unseen wasn't really ideal. Fortunately, she had a cool ability: she could transform herself into a mostly human form. I say mostly because she retained those weird tattoo-like markings, which I hadn't yet had the nerve to ask her about, as well as her silver hair. It should be good enough, though, I thought. She'd draw some stares, but I doubted anyone would recognize her as a monster.
So we entered the city, and that's where the day went to pot. I immediately noticed that the city wasn't bustling with people at all. It seemed nearly deserted! No, not deserted, I could see people looking out windows from shops and homes, and they looked frightened. What is going on? I ran down the city's main street, with Alice following along behind, until I reached the city plaza.
Noticing some sort of commotion in the plaza, I hid behind a tree on the side of the road. Looking from behind the tree, the cause of the commotion became instantly clear. There was a swordswoman, no, a monster swordswoman, standing in the plaza center. She looked like a mean one too.
"How boring," she said. "Is there not a single strong person in this entire city?"
Three soldiers faced her and they looked scared out of their wits. There must have been at least 30 others, lying prone in the plaza, looking beaten down. Holy crap. Did she do all that by herself?
"You three... Are you going to fight or not?" the swordswoman said to them.
I squinted my eyes and tried to look a little more clearly at the monster. She had some scales and wore a helmet and armor that covered the parts of her body that weren't protected by the scales. A dragonkin? Her sword was gigantic. Wait a minute. I'd heard about this one. Was this Granberia, one of the Four Heavenly Knights? Rumor had it that she was the foremost swordswoman in the world, that no one, man or monster, could even compete. It certainly didn't look like anyone in Iliasburg was competing. She had supposedly slain entire armies by herself. Why was such an insanely strong monster attacking Iliasburg?
I turned to look for Alice. As I expected, she wasn't anywhere to be seen, which was understandable. As powerful as she appeared to be, I could understand why she wouldn't want one of the Heavenly Knights to see her traveling with a human.
"Only you three are left," the woman I now assumed to be Granberia said. "Are you just going to watch while I take control of this city? Or is one of you going to be a hero and try to face me? Well... hurry up and decide!"
Two of the soldiers worked up some nerve and cautiously began to approach her, their swords drawn. The third just cowered in a corner. "That's the spirit." she said to the two braver soldiers. "But spirit isn't enough!"
She raised her sword and it instantly burst into flames. The first soldier didn't back down at all. He swung his sword at Granberia with a grunt. But she was no longer there. She was already behind him. Did she just teleport? I was pretty sure that she did. With her sword handle, she knocked him out before he could even turn around.
The second soldier, cursing, also took a swipe at her. "Slow!" she observed, and brought her sword up. The soldier never completed his swing. I was sure she had cut him in half with the blow she delivered, but when he fell to the ground I saw no blood and he seemed to still be conscious, if barely. Actually, it looked like all of the soldiers were still alive. That was interesting. I wonder why she was going so easy on them?
All that was left was one terrified soldier. "Well," Granberia said to him. "What are you going to do?"
He screamed and ran. Granberia just stood there, not giving chase. "That's a wise choice," she shouted after him. "But in the future, you can't call yourself a soldier or a hero."
The dragonkin swordswoman looked around. "Is that it? Having a city taken over by a monster... There's no complaints?"
Her voice echoed in the plaza. No one rose to challenge her and no one came out of their homes or shops.
Now here's where I let my pride get the better of me. Remember how I've said quite a few times that I don't need to be a hero, that I'm quite happy to run from a confrontation? Well, after Alice's cutting remarks about my swordsmanship, and seeing right in front of me a monster wielding an actual sword, I wanted to show Alice a thing or two. I knew she had to be watching. She had been watching the fight with the slug girl. I knew I wouldn't win, but since Granberia wasn't killing people I guessed that maybe I could at least give a good account of myself and hopefully not get injured too badly. This battle was tailor made for my abilities. And Alice would have to admit I was good with a sword if I so much as made the Heavenly Knight break a sweat.
"Well then," the Knight said. "I've taken control of this city. Next I'll..."
Now it's fair to say that I have a flare for the dramatic. Although I was nervous as hell, I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to act heroic. I may not need to be a hero, but if I was going to make the attempt I at least wanted to look the part.
"Excuse me!" I said, emerging from behind the tree with my sword nonchalantly at my side. I was planning on saying some one liner I dimly remembered from an action movie, but when I saw her face, any idea of saying something cute left my mind in a heartbeat.
She looked right at me. I don't think I've ever seen a more intimidating face in my life, and since her face didn't trigger any memories of other intimidating people, I guess I indeed had never met anyone moreso. Despite that, she was stunningly beautiful. Beauty and power all in one person. What a badass! I found myself admiring her despite my fear.
"What was that, boy?" she said to me. Boy? Was she even older than me? Wait, she was dragonkin so maybe she was a LOT older than me. They were pretty long lived.
She noted my sword. "I see you're carrying a sword. Does that mean you're challenging me?"
"It does," I replied, trying to work some confidence back into my voice. "I won't let you take control of this city!"
"I understand," she said, assuming a fighting position. "Then let's do this! Give me your best shot!"
Do it. Do it. Do it. I thought. Please do it. I took a swing at her and as I had anticipated, she disappeared. I quickly delivered a kick where I expected her to be, and indeed she was there. My foot connected solidly with her midsection. I heard a surprised "oof!" and turned around, very pleased with myself. My self regard at my skill vanished when I saw her just standing there glaring at me. I'd used that kick to send soldiers flying backwards in simulated battles. If it had moved Granberia back two inches I would have been surprised.
Still, she seemed mildly impressed. "Good! Your reflexes are excellent!"
"In fairness," I replied. "I had seen you do that to another opponent. I simply was counting on you trying it again."
"Hmph," she said. "Still, that's the first hit of any sort landed on me since I entered this town of so-called heroes. But I want to see how you handle that sword!"
She swung at me, impossibly fast yet incredibly powerful. Somehow I parried the blow, and thanking whatever gods or spirits persuaded me to concentrate on leverage tactics, wasn't knocked flat by it. She continued to swing at me, each swing driving me back, back, back some more. I was so desperately parrying or otherwise evading her blows that I had no chance of mounting any offense. The initiative was entirely hers. I wasn't sure how I was managing to put up a reasonable defense as hard and fast as she was coming at me. I'd never faced anything even close to this kind of assault.
By the time I had been backed up to the tree I had been hiding behind, she halted her assault. "Excellent! Your form is terrible and your technique is strange but it's been years since anyone was able to stand up to me for so long! But you've retreated too far. Backed up against that tree you have nowhere else to go! So I'll give you a chance to attack! See if you can take the initiative from me!"
I wasted no time, taking a swing, and this time praying that she wouldn't teleport. She didn't. Rather, she knocked my attack aside with contemptous ease. "Slow!" And in the time it took me to take one swing, she responded with four of her own, which somehow I parried. At least I'd managed to get away from the tree and was now retreating back into the plaza.
"Your defense is much quicker than your offense!" she noted. "Who trained you, to make your technique so unbalanced?"
I said nothing, as I had no answer for that. Truth be told, I didn't think my defense was so much better than my offense. They'd always seemed equally good when I was sparring with soldiers.
She resumed her assault, swinging her sword again and again. I was quickly starting to wear down and she didn't even seem to be breaking that sweat I was hoping for. After about the 10th swing of her latest assault, her sword slashed my shoulder. I screamed and backed off. She didn't press the advantage. I examined my shoulder. Surprisingly, there was no blood. The wound had instantly closed, seemingly cauterized. Was her sword enchanted? I remembered that she had caused it to erupt in fire against one of the soldiers. So yes, obviously enchanted. Was it perhaps enchanted to be nonlethal? Is that why all the soldiers were hurt but not dead, Was it why gallons of blood did not cover the ground?
"You want to continue?" she asked, interrupting my thoughts. "I do hope so. But I must warn you, I'm done giving you breaks. I only stop now if you surrender, are out cold, or dead. So choose wisely."
I chose unwisely. My blood was up, a competitive fire I didn't even know I had, as I charged her, but still under control. The enthusiasm of my attack actually caused her to retreat a little this time, and she actually had to back up while parrying three or four of my blows before she was able to stand her ground again. Our swords clashed and remained in contact as we both battled for leverage. My face was inches from hers as I strained. "You're not a hero." she said abruptly. "You're unbaptized."
She pushed me away with ease. Despite the fact she had said she wasn't going to stop, she paused. "Why did you challenge me if you're not a hero?"
"Do I need to be a hero to want to save this city from you?" I responded.
"Hmph.." she said. "I came here to fight heroes, but if you're the best challenge to be found here, I guess you'll do. Even if you're a fake hero."
She attacked once again, but this time with a new wrinkle. After a few blows she shifted her feet and thrust her sword at my neck in a movement that looked quite a bit like the technique Alice had just taught me. Recognizing it as it was happening may have saved my life, as I dodged to the side, her blow missing me completely. If she was surprised, she didn't let on, because the thrust brought her very close to me once again, and she quickly followed it with a forearm to my chin, which was only a glancing blow. I quickly countered with a jab right in the nose. That didn't really faze her either, although it may have pissed her off, because she came at me even harder, cutting my shoulder again, as well as cutting me on the right side with a followup blow. By now she had backed me up to a shop of some sort and I expected that she'd corner me against the shop's wall and finish me, but then she did something unexpected. She went around me, placing herself between me and the shop, and then used the wall of the shop as a jumping off point to bring her gigantic sword crashing down onto my skull. Or at least she would have If I hadn't gotten my sword up and applied every ounce of leverage I knew how to brace for the blow. My sword shattered from the impact and I fell to my knees, exhausted and defenseless.
Granberia looked down at me, finally breathing heavily. "Incredible! You blocked two of my Cursed Sword techniques! I will not see this battle ended yet!"
She turned toward some of the soldiers, a few feebly trying to rise by now. "You!" she pointed at one of them. "Give this man your sword!" His only response was to get up and run as well as he could, stumbling and falling several times in his haste to escape.
Granberia continued to cast around for a sword that she could give me. By now, I had caught my breath and stood up. "Excuse me, may I make a suggestion?"
She turned to me. "What? What's your suggestion?"
"Well," I said. "It looks like you're not trying to kill anyone, and so if we're fighting for the city using non lethal means, may I suggest another type of contest to decide who controls the city?"
"I'm not interested in any other contest. You can surrender or you can fight once I've gotten you a sword, those are your choices!" She turned away, about to approach a soldier and take his sword from him.
"How about a wrestling match?" I asked.
She stopped and turned to me once again. "A wrestling match? Are you serious?"
"Absolutely," I replied. "I'm sure a warrior as great as you is just as skilled in the unarmed combat arts as you are with that sword. Rather than give me another cheap sword that will just break, why not try to make me submit the city to you with your bare hands?"
I'd apparently hit the right button because she smiled and set her sword down. "If anybody touches this I'll rip their lungs out!" She needn't have worried.
She approached me, her arms outstretched. "Oh, you'll submit this city to me, fake hero. You'll submit a lot more than that to me when I'm through with you."
Ulp. I had a guess what that meant. Still, my confidence returned a little. I was even better at grappling than swinging a sword. If I held my own, barely, against the greatest swordswoman in the world, I was confident I could do even better than that in a wrestling match. After all, she wasn't renowned as Granberia, the Dragon Wrestler, so this had to be at least a little easier. It had to be.
She lunged at me and immediately put me in a headlock. A strong one too. She definitely knew her business, even unarmed. But I had a theory about her, which I tested by picking up one of her legs and delivering a back suplex. Yep, lighter than she looks, even with the armor. Strong, much stronger than me, but I had a weight advantage for what that was worth. I can toss her around, maybe. She went down with a grunt, but didn't release the headlock. But it did loosen just enough for me to shift and get on top of her. Inexplicably, I was at a total loss of what to do in the position I worked so hard to get into, thus blowing my chance to gain an advantage. She pushed me off and we stood up again.
I decided to go for a takedown, even though I'd already been in a mount position and failed to take advantage of it, but she anticipated it and sprawled while putting me in a front facelock. Ugh, this wasn't getting me anywhere. She started to really cinch it in too, causing me to fear that I might be forced to submit or lose consciousness. But somehow I slithered my way out of that, which led to HER going for a takedown, and getting it.
Fortunately, she didn't take me down in such a way that she could get to a full mount position, so we rolled around on the plaza for awhile. By now I was having another problem. Her hands, her body, were impossibly soft despite her occupation. I would have expected a warrior like her to have calluses on her calluses, but her hands were baby soft. It was very distracting. This was starting to feel like a grave miscalculation on my part. Not one day after Alice warned me that monsters had magic that enhanced the male sexual response to them, I'd made the mistake of rolling around on the ground with a Heavenly Knight. Even her breath smelled amazing.
Apparently though, my smell was distracting her as well, because she whispered in my ear, "You smell delicious. I'm going to enjoy having my way with you after I force you to submit to me." She licked my neck. Even just that was almost too much for me to take. I wanted to submit to her right then and there. Only my stubborn and competitive nature forestalled that.
Finally though, I gained the advantage I'd sought. I had managed to get a cross armbreaker locked on. If I could crank on it, she'd have to submit lest I break her arm. She responded as any powerhouse would. She stood up and tried to slam me down to get me to break the hold. The impact nearly knocked all the wind out of me, but I didn't release the hold. She began to attempt to slam me down again, but this time fell onto her side, her arm still in the lock, now with no plausible escape.
"Give up Granberia! There's no way you can escape this now! I don't want to break your arm!"
She was clearly in considerable pain. I wondered if I even could break her arm. I was starting to steadily increase the pressure, but her arm was amazingly strong and her bones must have been much harder than a human's. I started to wonder what I would do if she refused to submit.
At last however, after what seemed an interminable time, her struggles abruptly halted and she panted between her teeth, "I give up!"
I immediately released the hold. I couldn't believe it! I actually beat her! She slowly rose to her feet, holding her sore arm, retrieved her sheathed sword, and said to me. "The city is yours. Never in my life have I faced such a valiant opponent. I have no shame for my defeat today, I lost to a worthy opponent. But I warn you, we will face each other again. And next time the outcome will be different. But for now, the victory is yours."
I got on one knee before her and bowed my head. "I would consider it an honor to face you again. Your reputation is well deserved. You truly are the greatest warrior in this world."
"Perhaps," she responded. "But not here and not today. Today the day is yours." And with that, she vanished.
Alice reappeared before me. People also started to come out of their houses and shops. "Is... Is she gone?" a man said. "That monster, did she run away?"
Another shouted and pointed at me, "Over there! That young man drove her away!"
The residents of the city began to surround us. "Thank you!" a man said, "A little bit longer and this would have been a monster city!"
"I saw the whole fight!" a woman said, "That was amazing!"
Now I was starting to get a little embarrassed, and I wasn't really liking the way that Alice was looking at me. It wasn't an angry look, so much as a poker face. I couldn't tell what she was thinking. Which told me that she'd probably have a lot to say once we could get some privacy. Blessedly, the residents of the city didn't spend too long thanking me. Yep, this was definitely the big city, and life must resume as if nothing had happened, because that's what cities do. Which was fine by me, I like a little praise as much as the next guy, but too much starts to get uncomfortable.
Alice finally spoke, although not to me. "Hey, Citizen A over there. I want to ask you something."
A man turned to look at Alice and pointed at his chest. "Citizen A? Me? My name is Cervantes."
"I don't really care," replied Alice. "Where is the Sutherland Inn?"
"Ah, just head to the west from here and you'll see it." replied Citizen- er, Cervantes. "It's such an incredibly old inn, it will stick out."
She finally addressed me. "Heh. Did you hear that Luka? It still exists, like I said."
Sigh. Problem was, an old inn like that was probably going to be way out of my price range. I had brought quite a bit of extra gold for this trip, but I doubted even all I had would be enough to get me one night in an inn like that.
"All right! Off to the west!" Alice said. "We know where we're staying tonight!"
Without even waiting for my agreement, she started dragging me to the west side of the city. Soon enough, we arrived at the Sutherland Inn. It looked even nicer than I had expected it would. I found a sign listing their prices. Yep, definitely out of my range. A baptized hero would get a discount, but I wasn't baptized, so that was out.
"Alice, I'm afraid we're not going to be able to stay here. I just don't have enough money."
"What?" she said. "Ugh. I want those Ama Ama Dangos. Maybe you should have let Granberia take over the city."
A soldier walked up to us, "Excuse me, can you step aside?"
Slipping past us, he walked up to the reception desk. I recognized him as one of the soldiers who Granberia had easily overcome.
"Hey owner," the soldier said. "I'm a hero. Give me the hero rate to stay here."
The owner stood up and started yelling at him. "What stupidity is that? What kind of hero can't even go two seconds against a monster that's trying to invade our city? Out! Out!"
"But..", the soldier stammered. "I... I've been baptized as a hero."
"You call yourself a hero!?" the owner yelled. "You're a fake hero! Get out!"
For some reason I found that kind of satisfying after Granberia had called me a fake hero. The soldier turned around and left with as much dignity as he could muster. The owner turned to us and her expression softened. "Oh, it's you! The one who saved the city! Please won't you stay here tonight?"
"I'm afraid we don't have enough money." I replied.
"Oh posh!' she objected. "I'll give you the special hero rate and bill the rest to Ilias Temple."
"Oh wow", I said. "Thank you, but you do realize I'm not a baptized hero, right?"
"That doesn't matter," she said. "Baptism doesn't make you a hero, your actions do. Come in! Come in!"
"Hmmmm," Alice said. "It looks like you do have your uses. Come on, Luka, don't just stand there like an idiot." She resumed dragging me to the hotel entrance.
The room was immaculate. I certainly hadn't stayed in such a fine room in the last two years and I was reasonably sure I'd never stayed in a room this nice before then, either. I flopped onto the bed, badly in need of rest for my aching body. The wounds Granberia had inflicted on me still throbbed, but seemed like they should heal normally. That sword of hers was really something.
Alice stood in the middle of the room, happily enjoying her Ama Ama Dango.
"Is it good?" I asked.
"It's sweet!" she said happily. Her tail was waving around in what seemed to be a happy motion. I hadn't noticed that she'd changed back into her lamia form. I feared someone might walk in, but she changed back into human form before I mentioned anything to her. As she transformed back, she rang the service bell. The owner arrived to clear off the dishes. We were certainly getting the VIP treatment.
"Hey," the owner said to Alice. "Did you like the Ama Ama Dango?"
"Even though it's incredibly sweet," Alice replied, "it doesn't overpower the flavor of the dango. Absolutely delicious. If you were a monster, I'd make you a duchess."
The owner laughed. "Hahaha. What a strange remark, young woman. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get enough happiness honey, so I can't make any more Ama Ama Dangos. Since Happiness Village doesn't have enough men anymore, I guess there's no helping it.."
Hmmmm. I'd heard rumors about something like that even in Ilias Village. Happiness Village was just east of Iliasburg. Primarily a beekeeping village, they exported their happiness honey all over the world.
"Do you know what's happening over there?" I asked the owner.
"Yes", she replied. "Hmmm. Hey, you might be able to do something. After you beat that swordswoman it should be easy for you. Well then, have a nice rest." Did she say she knew what was happening and then not tell me?
When the owner left and closed the door behind her, Alice changed back into her monster form and turned to me. I was really enjoying relaxing on the comfortable bed. She stared at me for a moment, as if considering what to say next, and then settled on giving an order, which was par for the course with her. "Okay, you. Start talking."
"About what?" I asked innocently.
"About how you beat a Heavenly Knight, idiot, what else did you think I wanted you to talk about!?"
"Oh, that" I replied. "Simple, she was holding back."
"I know she was holding back!" Alice protested. "Well, sort of holding back. She knows several techniques that could have ended that battle in a second but refrained from using them. But those techniques aside, she was coming at you with everything she had. There's no way your garbage sword techniques should have been able to hang with her for even ten seconds!"
i sat up. "Garbage? Those techniques aren't garbage! They worked, didn't they?"
Alice folded her arms and stared me down. "Something else was going on there. Granberia thought your training was imbalanced, but I saw your techniques, your defense shouldn't have been any faster than your offense. She should have been able to filet you! You had magical assistance!"
"Isn't it more likely that I was just desperate? Desperation and adrenaline can make you faster than you'd normally be. If there was some sort of magic going on, I didn't know about it."
She impatiently whipped her tail as she thought. "I didn't sense anything, so maybe you're right. Still, there's something really off about you, even leaving aside your amnesia and whatever spell was put on your mind."
"I'm pretty sure she could have teleported out of that armlock at any time, too." I mused. "I wonder why she didn't?"
"Oh, that?" Alice responded. "That wouldn't have been fair under the rules of your stupid little trial by combat. How could you hope to hold onto her if she could always just teleport away?"
"She did it during the sword portion of that fight." I pointed out.
"That's because swordfighting involves evasion, not holds, so her using that ability was consistent with fair play. Regardless, she only did it to you once. I'm curious, why didn't you try Demon Decapitation on her?"
I thought for a second. "I considered it but decided against it. First, I'm not very good at it yet, I'm sure it would have missed, and then she would have demanded to know where I learned it, which may have meant blowing your cover."
"Blowing my cover?" she said, looking at me quizzically. "Can you speak like a normal person?"
"Sorry, I mean she might have figured out it was you, and I imagine the last thing a monster trying to stay hidden from other monsters while traveling with a human needs is to get on a Heavenly Knight's bad side."
For some reason she found that amusing. Her manner abruptly changed. "Well, you showed good judgment in not using the move. She would have demanded to know who taught it to you and beaten that information out of you. Which would have... blown my cover. You deserve a reward for that. Besides, I'm hungry."
Somehow it flew right over my head what she might be suggesting, tired as I was, and before I knew it she had slithered into the bed and wrapped her tail around me. I screamed.
"Oh, calm down!" she admonished. "I'm not going to eat you, I said this was a reward and I meant it." She pulled off my pants, exposing me.
"In addition, you seem to be really weak when it comes to resisting pleasure attacks. Granberia wasn't even trying and you were having problems. So this is a reward for protecting my privacy, but also special training."
She wrapped me tightly in her warm hand. She hadn't been kidding earlier. My resistance crumbled immediately. If this had been a fight, my journey would already be over. She cooed, "I only grasped you and it's already twitching so much."
She started to rub me very softly. Even with such soft stimulation the pleasure was unbelievable. "Well then, how shall I do it? Shall I just wring it out with my hands like this?"
She started to move her hand up and down, gently massaging me. She was also using her thumb and index finger to squeeze me in tiny circular motions as she moved up and down. With her slow motion movement, deep pleasure flowed through me. I moaned.
"Fufu... how long can you endure my technique? It doesn't look like it will be too long." Staring into my face, she laughed. "You're so weak. Just by doing this little bit, you should see your face."
After about a minute or two of this treatment, I felt a climax building. Alice giggled, "What a weak man. You know you're a very lucky guy, having me do this for you. You have no idea how lucky you are. Now submit and spray your semen on my hand."
I felt like I would melt under her touch. I exploded in ecstasy. It was by far the best orgasm I'd ever experienced. It also took a lot more out of me than a normal orgasm. So this was critical ecstasy. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to sit up after that, much less offer effective resistance if this had been a fight.
"Hahaha" she laughed. "With my hand, you let out so much. Ilias is very mad at you right now." Wait, what? I sure hoped that was a joke.
When my orgasm ended, she licked the semen off of her hands. She sighed in pleasure at the taste. I could have sworn she was exaggerating her movements. Was it to tease me? "A strange taste. Still delicious though. Unusual, but delicious. I can definitely get used to this. But you didn't even last three minutes. I'm certainly skilled, but that's still pathetic. Let me drill out a little more." More? I thought. I was pretty sure that earthshattering climax had spent me.
She reached out to my groin again, and suddenly her fingers somehow wrapped around me like tentacles. No, they were tentacles! I jerked in surprise. "Don't be afraid." she soothed. "This will be something unique. My tentacles creeping around your dick. Just savor it."
Indeed, they were. They were lightly covered in mucus, which provided unparalleled lubrication. But what surprised me most was how good it felt, even though I'd just orgasmed. They were even directly stimulating the tip of my penis, which should have been very uncomfortable. I moaned again. "How is it that that feels so amazing? That would normally be too intense for me to stand." I said.
She smiled at me. "That's more of the magic of monsters. When a monster makes you come, you don't have a refractory period. You can just keep on going, and come again and again, until you are dry. And a monster can concentrate on your most sensitive spots because our magic makes it feel good no matter what. It's an evolutionary adaptation to keep males from jerking away from us or trying to escape. If the sensation was unpleasant it would be harder to get to all that semen."
Her tentacles provided the most unique sensations. "A unique pleasure, isn't it?" she said. "Shall I try this next?"
The tentacles started to vibrate. I was almost immediately brought to the edge again. "What, you already want to explode again? How unbecoming. Oh well, there's no helping it. I'll let you come one more time"
She increased and varied the movements, twisting, vibrating, stroking... It was way too much and I exploded onto her tentacles forcefully. My vision started to go white. I was losing consciousness now. "Of course, there's danger if a monster squeezes out too much. We take your life energy along with your semen. Too much and you can die. So I'll stop now. Or... maybe just one more." she resumed stroking me. I never found out if she got a third dose. I was already unconscious.