Ben had already been to Grand Noah, and the memories were not great. Not that he hated being violated by the minatourous girl's breasts. It was just that it had happened on national TV, and his parents had seen. And he hadn't even gotten her name! Not her real name, anyway.
Ben and Emma had met up with their two other companions and boarded the plane without incident. Since Angel Halo was no longer being sought, all they had to do was buy luggage for Emma, declare the guns and swords, and put it in checked baggage. Ben hadn't had time to think about what it meant that there was a secret government organization that was aware of everything they were doing, but seemed to be ignorant as to why. He imagined that Promestein was probably spending a lot more mental energy on PROTECT than he was.
The Noah region was a lot more hospitable than the Safina desert. That made the journey to Undine's spring much more pleasant. It took about two days to get there from Noah, with Promestein setting a brisk pace. Despite her lack of field experience, she didn't tire easily.
Ben stared out at the grand spring. So this was where he'd find the third spirit. He wondered what kind of powers the water spirit would give him. Would he be like Aquaman, able to breathe under water and communicate with fish? Promestein snapped him out of his reverie.
"This one's not going to be as easy as Sylph and Gnome," the scientist cautioned. "While the slimes are generally friendly to humans, this is sacred ground and they defend it aggressively. Humans are not permitted in the spring. Unlike Plansect Forest, the authorities won't come even if the carnivorous slimes eat you. We can't follow you in there, either."
"The hell we can't!" Emma retorted.
"If you go in there with Ben, you'll either die, or kill half the slimes fighting your way out. If Ben goes alone, there's a chance they'll let him live, especially if Undine intervenes. That's how Luka got away with it."
"Hey, what's one more super scary thing after all I've seen?" Ben asked. "It's okay, Emma. I'm starting to get used to this."
"Liar!" Emma said, punching his arm. Since Gnome wasn't summoned, it hurt like hell. Ben winced and rubbed his arm.
"Good luck and don't get eaten," Promestein said. "If you absolutely must lose in there, lose to a blue slime. Those are nice. Whatever you do, don't lose to a red slime. They'll dissolve you without mercy."
"Thanks for your always reassuring advice," Ben said sarcastically. "So how do I do this? All I see is water."
"Just dive right in," Promestein said. "The enchantment on the spring will take you right to the cave. It doesn't discriminate. Once you're there, just do your thing. Try to talk your way out of conflict, and if that fails, summon Gnome and Sylph and flail around wildly with Angel Halo. In close quarters you can't miss."
Ben took a deep breath and dove right in. Within seconds of hitting the water, he saw a bright light that encompassed his entire field of vision. Then, without transition, he found himself in a damp cave. He was not alone. Three slime girls turned to stare at him.
"What the hell!?" a green slime yelled.
"What are you doing here, human!?" an orange slime demanded to know. "This is our sanctuary, a safe place. If you have come to satisfy your lust, wait at the shore of the spring. Someone will come to you."
"I'm not here for any of that!" Ben assured them. "I just need to speak to Undine."
"Undine doesn't see anyone," the third slime, a purple slime, informed him. "She likes her seclusion."
"But the world is at stake! I've already got two spirits! They accepted me! I'm sure Undine will as well!"
"She knows you're here and doesn't wish to see you!" the purple slime insisted. "The world is always in danger. It is not the job of the spirits to bail the mortals out whenever they get into trouble. Leave at once!"
"It's not just any trouble! It's Zurith!"
"That name means nothing to me," the purple slime retorted, digging in her heels. "I will warn you one last time, human. Leave, or face the consequences!"
Given that Promestein had only told him about red slimes and blue slimes, he wasn't sure what green, orange, and purple slimes meant by consequences. He decided that he should probably not find out. He drew his sword.
"You dare draw a weapon in this sacred place?!" the purple slime asked. "You have sealed your fate, human!"
The purple slime gestured and a huge wave of purple slime rushed towards him. In a panic, he summoned Gnome. The wave crashed into him and broke against him painlessly. He wasn't even budged.
"Such power!" the orange slime said fearfully. "I don't think we can fight him!"
"There is no need to," a voice called from the darkness. A slime that looked different from the others, blueish-purple, emerged. "Did you say Zurith, human?"
"I did," Ben confirmed. "She's coming back. My friends and I already had to fight a demon a few days ago."
"Undine, who is this Zurith?" the purple slime asked.
"Zurith is death," Undine said gravely. "I can see why Sylph and Gnome agreed to contract with you, boy. The situation is dire if Zurith has returned."
"So you'll join me?" Ben asked hopefully.
"Only if you are worthy," Undine replied. "The power of water is the most difficult to master. As great as the need is, if you have no prospect of mastering my power, then going with you is pointless. I will instead remain here and protect the slimes as best I can."
"I was afraid of this, Ben!" Sylph said in his heart. "Undine and Salamander aren't as easy going as we are! This test might be difficult!"
"Okay," Ben said, addressing Undine. "How do I prove that I'm worthy?"
"Using the power of water requires incredible concentration," the water spirit said. "So in order to have a chance at mastering it you must be able to summon the simpler spirits and use them at the same time. If that is too difficult for you-"
Ben summoned Sylph and Gnome at the same time, before they had a chance to be insulted at Undine's reference to them as "simple".
"How-!?" Undine seemed at a loss for words. "No one has ever simply come to my spring and just… done that! But I am not yet persuaded! You are too weak!"
Tendrils of slime lashed out at Ben. He dodged one, but the other struck him in the chest, dissolving away his shirt. Oh, man! He thought. That was my favorite shirt! He had no time to dwell on the loss, as many more tendrils shot out, Undine advanced on him. Ben dodged attack after attack. He struck back with Angel Halo, but his blows seemed to affect the water spirit not at all. His speed was not as effective as it could be in such close quarters. Before he knew it, he was backed up against a wall. Undine pounced, her whole body enveloping his, leaving only his head free.
"Your speed was impressive," Undine said. "But your skills are nonexistent. Let's see how far you've come along with the power of the earth."
Something in Undine's body changed. He felt tingling all over his body. It was actually extremely pleasureable. He looked down and to his horror found that his clothes had been completely dissolved. Was she dissolving him? No, his skin seemed fine.
"Hmmm….." Undine muttered. "Your earthpower is impressive. I am at full acidity and it's not affecting you in the slightest."
"He has a gift, Deeny!" Sylph piped up. "C'mon, Deeny! Join us! With him, we can beat anybody! Even that mean old demon!"
"I am not yet convinced," Undine replied. "One more test, boy. This will test both your earthpower and your willpower, because the temptations of demons can be strong. All you have to do is break out of my hold."
Ben, confident in his newfound strength, concentrated his earthpower and prepared to break out. Undine's slime tightened around him, but there was more. Her slime was swirling around his exposed penis, giving him sensations he had never felt before. He moaned in pleasure, his hold on Gnome weakening.
"Ah, weak, as I thought," Undine chuckled. She tightened around him even more, increasing the speed of her attack on his penis and massaging the rest of his body as well. "I like you, though. When I am finished with you I will let the other slimes feed and then deposit you on the shore. I wish you luck in your quest."
Ben, realizing that his quest for the spirits was on the brink of failure, summoned a surge of earthpower, explosively breaking Undine's hold. His sudden surge of earthpower was so violent that pieces of Undine splattered all over the cave, mixing in with the other slimes who had been spectators.
"Deeny!" Sylph cried. "Please be okay, Deeny!"
The pieces of slime quickly gathered together to reform Undine, even the pieces that had been absorbed into other slimes, who giggled as if ticklish as her slime exited their bodies.
"You know better than that, Sylph!" Undine scolded. "Spirits are near indestructible. We are the very forces of nature themselves."
"Still, I'm sorry I used so much force," Ben said. "I hope I didn't cause you too much pain."
"You caused me none at all," Undine replied. "In fact, I'm gratified to meet someone who reminds me so much of the last human I contracted with. Come, give me your wrist."
Ben held out his wrist for the water spirit, and she did as Gnome and Sylph had done. Now he had three spirits in his heart. Only one to go! And of course the difficult part, the ring, which they were no closer to finding than when they had started this crazy quest.
"Before you go, human," the orange slime called to him. "When we said that no humans were welcome here, Undine's host is an exception to that rule. Feel free to come here and get pleasured any time."
"Um…. Maybe I'll take you up on that. Someday."
Bidding the slimes goodbye, he walked out of the cave. The next thing he knew, there was another flash of light and his head bobbed to the surface. He swam quickly to the shore, his friends waiting for him and helping him out of the spring.
"So, did you get Undine?" Promestein asked eagerly. "What kind of power did she give you?"
Ben tried to focus, to see what felt different. At first, he couldn't sense anything different. Then he saw a small wave in the corner of his vision. It was Promestein's hand, reaching out to slap him in the face. Barely thinking about it, his face simply wasn't there when her hand arrived.
"Whoa! What was that?!" Ben asked.
"It's called the flow," Promestein replied. "That's Undine's main power. With the flow, you can see what your opponent's are doing before they do it. Between Undine and Sylph, you should be almost impossible to hit."
"This is amazing!" Ben exulted. "Slap me again!"
Laughing, Promstein tried to slap him once again. And again. And again. She missed clean every time. Emma pulled out one of her pistols and cocked it.
"Does it work against bullets?" She asked.
"In theory yes, but could we not test it here?" Promstein warned.
"Aw man, I wanted to see him do that Matrix thingy," Emma whined.
"Ah, the Matrix! I love that film!"
The group turned to see Agent Landon Haven standing right behind them. Emma's weapon was aimed at the PROTECT agent's head in a flash.
"Where the hell did you come from?" Emma asked. "And more importantly, who the fuck are you?"
Haven smiled amiably. "Promestein and Ben have already met me," he replied. "I'm afraid I missed you guys at the Safina ruins, so I went ahead and decided to wait for you at this spring here. We've got some catching up to do!"
"What, were you hiding behind a tree or something?" Emma asked. "I would have smelled you."
"Well, you see, I wasn't actually here while I was waiting for you."
"That doesn't even make sense."
"It's not supposed to," Haven said, flashing that self-assured smile again. "Look, guys, I know where you're going next, it's not exactly a secret. If you went to get Sylph, Gnome, and Undine, you're going to the volcano to get Salamander next. Couldn't be more obvious. So how about instead of forcing me to stalk you, you tell me what the hell's going on here?"
Promestein gestured for Emma to put her gun down. Reluctantly, she assented and reholstered the weapon.
"You show me yours before I show you mine," Promestein demanded. "Who do you work for, and don't just tell me 'the government'."
"That's need to know," Haven retorted. "But let me offer you something better than information which does nothing for you. Let me offer you assistance. PROTECT has considerable resources. Just point us at whatever the threat is, and we'll fight it, together."
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. "It looks like you're going to get to meet the threat," Promestein said.
"What the hell?!" Haven blurted, trying to keep his footing.
Ben's heart sank as not one, but three demons emerged from the ground. One he recognized. Obviously a damned succubus. Despite the way it had been twisted and perverted by her descent into Hell, she retained most of her beauty, albeit a strange, twisted, utterly terrifying beauty. Nevertheless, Ben knew that it wouldn't take much for her to turn a man's thoughts from terror to lust. The second demon was skeletal, with flesh hanging loosely off its bones. It gripped a mean looking cutlass. The third, however…. The third was the most horrifying of all. It looked like a hulk from hell, which Ben guessed it must have been. Where the skeletal demon had no flesh, the hulk was all flesh. And muscle. And rage. Ben barely got Gnome up before it barreled into him.
The skeleton with the cutlass chose Haven as its target. Agent Haven was ready, however, drawing his sidearm and pumping several bullets into it. The demon's rib cage shattered and its jaw flew off. That still didn't stop it. Haven's life was saved only by Emma's sword intercepting the demon's cutlass as it went for Haven's neck. His troubles weren't over yet, however. The undead succubus, seeing that Ben already had a dance partner, fixed her gaze on the only other male in the area.
"You should feel privileged," the succubus growled. "While your friends die in agony, you will experience the most exquisite pleasures."
Haven squeezed the trigger but the succubus was too fast for him, grabbing his gun arm and causing him to fire into the air. She wrapped her other arm around him and planted a kiss on his lips. He gagged at the stench, while at the same time feeling euphoria creep over him as the thing's revolting tongue entered his mouth. Before he could attempt to push her away, she was thrown off of him by another. The living succubus, Ashley, had rescued him.
"Leave this one to me," Ashley said, determination in her voice. Without further ado, she sprang at the demon succubus.
Ben was rolling around in the mud with the goliath demon. It's massive arms struck him again and again. His body, his face, his arms and legs. The blows hurt, but did not seem to be causing him any injury. Emboldened by his ability to take punches from the thing, he used his feet to kick the thing away so that he could regain his feet. He succeeded beyond his wildest expectations, sending the beast flying.
Summoning Sylph, Ben flew at it before it could recover, impacting its midsection with his shoulder. He rained blows of his own down on the creature. In response, it put a giant hand around his neck and squeezed. Ben's breath was cut off immediately. Having no choice but to address the most urgent problem, be brought his own hands to his neck and pried the creature's fingers loose, then grabbed its wrist and threw it, where it impacted a nearby tree back first.
Deciding to try a different approach, Ben drew Angel Halo and made a beeline for the demon. With a roar the demon swung a massive fist at him, but the flow was already second nature to Ben. He didn't even need to try to avoid the blow. He simply went with the flow, altering his trajectory so that he ducked under the fist and performed a spinning slash that cut the demon deeply. With a cry of rage and pain it grabbed for Ben, but he was no longer there. The creature roared its frustration as Ben's sword slashed its back.
Ben marveled at the two energy leeching cuts he'd inflicted. The creature was staggering, clearly weakened. Drunkenly, it took yet another swing at him. Ben caught the fist in his palm and with one hand forced the hulk-like demon to the ground. It looked as strong as ever, but whatever magical essence powered it was mostly gone. It would have had a tough time equaling Ben's strength without Gnome in this state. With Gnome…. Ben raised a fist of his own and belted the demon in the jaw with a right hook that snapped its head back and sent it sprawling onto the ground, where it dissipated into dust.
Agent Haven watched in awe as the dragonkin warrior engaged the cutlass swinging demon. He had never seen a genuine dragonkin warrior in action before, and it was something to behold. Her speed was astonishing given the size of the sword she wielded. She was clearly getting the better of the demon, but nothing seemed to be slowing it down. That is, until she beheaded it with a backhanded swing. Losing its head did slow it down and confuse it, but it kept on swinging its cutlass at her fairly effectively. It obviously had other ways of seeing. Maybe it had never needed to see at all, given that it hadn't had eyes to begin with, just empty sockets.
"Do you know how to kill that thing?" Haven shouted to her.
"I thought I'd try violence!" Emma shouted back. "But if you've got any other ideas….!"
"No," Haven said. "Violence sounds good to me."
"Thank you for your advice," Emma said, as three more quick slashes ended the fight. All that remained of the demon were scattered bones and tattered flesh. Within seconds, the bones and flesh turned into dust.
That left just one opponent. The demon succubus was engaged with her living counterpart. If "engaged" was the right word for what was occurring. Haven stared as the two succubi "battled", by kissing, licking, and groping each other. Emma stood beside Haven, also staring. Promestein joined them.
"Would someone mind telling me just what the hell I'm looking at here?" Haven asked no one in particular.
"That's how succubi fight," Promestein said.
"What good does any of that do?" Haven asked. "I thought critical ecstasy didn't work on other monsters?"
"Succubi also drain energy through their sexual skills," Promestein explained. "That, other monsters are not immune to. Don't be fooled, Agent. If Ashley loses, she'll be a corpse."
"Should we… help?" Haven asked.
Emma backhanded him in the chest. "Pervert!" she said. "If she needs help, I'll help her."
Ashley needed no help. With a cry of ecstasy as Ashley buried her face between the thing's legs, the demon turned into dust. Ashley gagged on the dust and spat out as much as she could, then dove for the spring to drink deeply of the water to try to get the taste of the disgusting demon out of her mouth.
"Oh my goodness!" Ashley cried as she left the spring. "I haven't had anything that disgusting in my mouth in years!"
"Please…" Emma urged. "Don't ever tell us that story."
Ben also joined the group, covered in mud but none the worse for wear.
"The sword works pretty well, doesn't it?" Promestein asked.
"Yeah, it really does," Ben agreed. "Spirits aren't bad either."
"That was all you, Ben!" Sylph exulted in his heart. "Nobody can beat our Ben! Yay!"
"So now who wants to tell me what it is that I've just witnessed?" Agent Haven asked. "Anyone? Promestein?"
"There's a hell and it's trying to invade the surface," Promestein said matter of factly.
"Huh," Haven responded. "Is that all? So why only three? Shouldn't there be a big army of those things? And where's the devil himself?"
"Herself," Promestein corrected. "I'm sure she'll be along once the barrier is broken. For now, the weakened barrier allows some demons to leak through. She's probably sending them after us because she recognizes the threat we pose."
"So is this barrier worldwide?"
"it's a place in the Safina desert," Promestein answered. "Once it breaks, the gates of hell will empty out into the Safina desert. The demons will spread out over the world from there."
"Safina desert," Haven muttered, seeming to chew on that information for a bit. "I guess that's one silver lining. Not many people there. We can deploy the army there to meet them."
"Yeah, there's that at least," Promestein agreed. "So what kind of help can you give us?"
"Jesus," Haven breathed. "I thought the threat was just some god or something. Maybe Ilias acting up again, or the Dark God. I'm not sure what we've got for dealing with Satan herself."
"Zurith," Promestein said. "Her name is Zurith."
"Never heard of her. I'm going to have to talk to the boss. But we'll be in touch, you can be assured of that."
With that, Haven vanished.
"Um….. humans aren't supposed to be able to teleport," Ashley said.
"He didn't," Promestein replied. "He's got an app. That's why we didn't see or sense him when he was nearby. He's obviously got another app that makes him invisible and undetectable. Whatever this PROTECT is, they are playing around with tech that even I can't get access to. At least he seems to be on our side."
"So what's next?" Ben asked. "Obviously we're really in a time crunch here. Should we get Salamander, or go to Yamatai to find…. What?"
"Either Luka or information about his ring," Promestein explained. "I know someone there who can probably give us answers. Like I said, though, she might not talk to me."
"Even though…. This is happening?" Emma asked.
"She may not be aware that this is happening, and furthermore, she might not believe me. Dammit! I wasn't made for this kind of thing. I should be in a lab right now, making tools for real heroes! Ben, I leave it up to you. Gold or Yamatai?"
Ben thought for a moment. "We have no idea what we'll find in Yamatai. We not only don't know where to find that ring, we can't even be one hundred percent certain it will work for me. We know the spirits respond to me. I think we should get the last piece of that puzzle, and then… if it's not already too late, then we'll go find that ring. Assuming it's anywhere to be found."
"All right, you heard him!" Promestein said, clapping her hands together. "let's rush back to Grand Noah. We've got a flight to catch!"
To the group's surprise, they hadn't even needed to buy plane tickets. A chartered jet had been waiting at the airport to take them to Grangold. A helicopter would be arriving in the morning to ferry them to the volcano. Agent Haven had been true to his word. They had the full resources of PROTECT behind them. Whatever exactly PROTECT was.
Since they arrived in Grangold at nightfall, they checked into another hotel. This time it was Emma's turn to share a room with Ben. Ben exited the shower, not even bothering to cover himself. He had accepted that the ladies were thoroughly familiar with his body. He needn't have worried. Emma was sitting at a desk with her back turned, her weapons laid out on cloths. She was busily cleaning one of the pistols. Ben sat on the edge of his bed, watching for a bit.
"Is your sword made of dragonsteel?" Ben asked. "I heard that dragonkin warriors use dragonsteel swords."
"Dragonsteel is rare and expensive," she replied, still concentrated on cleaning her gun. "You either have to be rich, which my family is not, or you have to be an elite warrior, which I'm not. Yet."
"You're not elite?! Are you kidding me?! You're a freakin' superhero!"
Emma stopped cleaning and looked back at Ben. She got up from the chair and sat next to him on the bed.
"You really think I'm that good?" she asked. "Even though I failed to protect you in Plansect?"
"Emma, we all fell victim to that plant's poison. And did you even see yourself in that warehouse? You took all of those guys down! We just followed along behind you! And then you kicked that demon's ass, and then another demon's ass….!"
She interrupted him with a soft kiss on the lips. "Thank you, Ben," she said softly. "You're sweet. But I'm nowhere near worth-"
Ben interrupted her with a kiss of his own, much more passionately. Emma responded enthusiastically, her arms wrapping around him. When they finally broke, Emma looked away.
"Sooo….." Emma said. "That was a thing that happened. I think I'll get back to my nightly maintenance."
She sat back down at the desk and resumed her work.
"You know, you're literally a superhero now," Emma said after a few moments. "You can fly, you have super strength, and super speed. Pretty soon you'll get whatever Salamander gives you. You'll be a whole Justice League all by yourself."
"I'll still need the help of my friends," Ben said. Emma turned around.
"Do you think I'm jealous of you?" she asked.
"No! I didn't mean that at all!"
"Whatever. I'm not. It's not about how strong or fast you are, it's about how good you are. I wouldn't want to just get powers. You know why I was so mad when I got shot?"
"Because getting shot hurts?"
"No," Emma answered. "Because I'd fucked up. I was mad that I got shot and didn't pay any real price for my mistake. Because I have tough skin. Small caliber weapons like that aren't good enough unless they get a head shot. I made a stupid mistake and I got away with it. Just like I made a stupid mistake in Plansect Forest. I didn't react quickly enough. I didn't recognize the danger. I didn't pay a price for that mistake either. You did. It was also you who got us out of the warehouse alive because I missed the scent of the other dudes in the room. Damn cigarette smoke masked all the other smells."
"Emma, no one's perfect…."
"The world is ending. I need to be. Promestein certainly isn't going to step up."
"She's doing her best."
"I guess," Emma admitted. "Finally in a good cause, too. But she's not cut out for this. Ashley sure as hell isn't. So when I screw up, there's not a whole lot to fall back on. I'm scared shitless that I'm going to get us all killed when it really counts."
"So what does it take to become an elite?" Ben asked.
"You have to master at least one element and defeat another elite warrior in combat."
"Have you mastered any elements?"
"Haven't even started learning any," she replied.
"Why not?"
"Can't afford a teacher. Everything costs money these days. It's not like it used to be, where someone would see your potential and help you. Plus my dad wanted a girly girl for a daughter. Why the fuck did you marry a dragonkin then, dad?"
"Your mom is supportive though, right?"
"Mom's dead."
"Oh. You want to talk about it?"
"Nope."
"Oh. Want to talk about that kiss, then?"
"Get some sleep, Ben. Salamander is probably going to give you a hard time tomorrow."
"Good talk," Ben said, as he slipped under the covers.