Halia shook her head. "You make it sound like he wasn't a monster. An evil thing that just delighted in cruelty and suffering."
"Because he was just a person," I said. "Like you. Like me. Or Garnet."
"She's a succubus," Halia said, sneering.
"Rude!" Garnet hissed. "I'm a cute, adorable, and sexy succubus forced to wear this baggy, ugly dress by my uncaring brother."
"She's a person," I said, giving my succubus a hard look. "She just can be a brat sometimes."
"Yep!" She grinned at me. "That's why you love me, big bro."
Lana laughed, a rich and delightful sound.
Halia just marched ahead, bristling.
"When we get back to your village, I'm going to return your sword," I told her. "We're just here to buy some food. Not to hurt your people."
"She is totally going to betray us," Garnet said. She glanced at me, worry on her face.
"No, she's not," I said. "She's a good person."
"She's a mean person." Garnet then muttered, "Not recognizing that I'm cute and adorable."
The village came into view, a collection of buildings, smoke rising from several chimneys. The villagers were moving about. There were more men with crossbows around the perimeter. They were worried. This other dungeon builder had been causing problems.
Asshole.
"Lord Leo!" Cysgo sent to me. My newest monster girl sounded agitated. "They're coming for the village. The oozes and satyrs."
"Shit," I muttered. I had positioned Cysgo between the village and the enemy dungeon. She was hidden in bushes, my eyes. "From which direction will they attack the village?"
"South. They are moving along the river. There's a dozen of them."
"Halia," I said, unbuckling the sword belt from around my waist.
She whirled around. "What now?"
I tossed her the magical weapon. She caught it by the scabbard, looking more than a little stunned. She pulled out the weapon and saw the blade. Something crossed her face, a powerful and profound emotion.
"Come on," I said, spotting the river that ran by the village. "They're coming fast."
"What?" she asked, her eyes hardening.
"The enemy." I pointed at the river. "They're coming from that way." Then I sent, "How close are they?"
"Close," Cysgo answered. "They'll be on the village soon."
"Lana, Garnet, get ready," I said and charged towards the river, breaking into a run. I glanced behind me and saw Halia, gripping her scabbard, running after us.
This was a chance to show her that we weren't all bad. I couldn't believe this other guy was raiding a defenseless village. That was fucked up. From the way Halia made it sound, he was kidnapping women, too.
I didn't want to think about what he was doing with them.
As we ran down the path, there was a group of women doing laundry by the river. They were using the water to wash their clothes, soapsuds floating away on the current from where they worked with skirts tied up around their knees. They scrubbed garments on washboards and dunked them in the river before shaking them out.
Beyond them, the water rippled. And then out of the water oozed a gelatinous woman. All blue, she lunged at the nearest washerwoman. Large breasts heaved before the ooze. Her darker-blue hair had a plastic look about it, like the hair on an action figure. Sculpted to resemble it, but not made of individual strands.
The woman screamed and threw her wet laundry at the ooze. It struck the monster girl's breasts and slid down her body. Her hair rippled, then grew into tentacles that lunged at the woman and grabbed her before she could dart away.
On the shore, the men with crossbows watching over them cursed. They fumbled to aim.
One got off a shot that struck an ooze. The bolt embedded in her breast but then it just oozed out of her. She didn't even seem to mind. She just sent her hair-tentacles at another fleeing woman.
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