Alissa immediately fires a [Charge]d arrow at the corpse adventurers, but an [Earth Wall] is quickly raised in response, blocking her arrow from reaching them.
"Their mage is adept at defending against projectiles," Alissa reports through [Bind].
All of the over forty skellies charge forward, so I order the golems, "Take care of the skeletons." They quickly fly towards a clearing up ahead to set up a defensive line. Ted and Suzy call out their metal battle bodies, but it's only for defense since they aren't actual melee fighters.
One of the adventurers casts [Earth Spirit] and [Water Spirit] in quick succession. Surprisingly, the familiars come out looking cute and completely normal, but their movements lack the mischievousness and liveliness that one would normally expect of them.
Roxanne calls out her own [Water Spirit], looking a bit offended by the fact that such horrific, warped zombies could create a familiar just like she can.
To increase my max MP, I unsummon all the Shads and Hollys, though I do keep one Holly out. Then I summon five earth elemental-wives and order them to create a raised platform for us. Although the skellies can't easily climb wood, some hard, vertical rock should be nearly impossible for them without some kind of aid.
We float towards the platform and remain in place on it as we wait for them to get closer. There's no reason for us to charge forward, so we'll just deal with the skellies first.
Roxanne tries to aim an [Explosion] at the adventurers, but they seem to have a [Dead Zone] enchantment somewhere, so she only manages to partially blow off one of their heads, which quickly regenerates since they're also undead.
An [Ice Lance] is thrown back at us in response, but Roxanne casts a [Fire Wall] in its path, which completely destroys the spell.
"I can't do any actual damage to the undead from this range," she reports through [Bind].
Ciel casts [Judgment], making her glaive glow with a dangerous, white light, and gets ready to fly.
"Impede their movement," I order the girls through [Bind].
Roxanne casts [Lava Jet], unleashing the molten, glowing rock from the tip of her staff, and Alissa infuses her arrows with the same spell. They create multiple pools of lava ahead of the charging skellies, but that only briefly slows them down, and it just isn't enough to be worth them wasting more mana on this tactic.
Alissa switches to [Arrow of Annihilation], which is especially effective against undead, but it doesn't affect an area like an explosive [Fireball] would, so it isn't that great against the thin skellies.
Ciel uses her armor's [Fly] enchantment to rise up above us and gets ready to swoop down on the approaching enemies.
The elementals finish the platform and drop down to join the golems, then the skellies enter their range, and they fire large boulders with [Earth Bullet].
The skellies face their attack without even flinching, and the front row of undead bursts into piles of bones, then their charge quickly collapses as the ones in the back trip on the bones of the broken skellies at the front.
They quickly start to regenerate, so we only have a moment to finish them off before their charge can start up again.
"Ciel," I give her the cue through [Bind].
She swoops down onto the fallen skellies, her golden, glowing glaive slicing cleanly through their forms and completely snuffing out their transparent flames.
Skrellington lowers its flaming head onto the floor, and the ground cracks, sending out dark purple lines that shoot towards Ciel at a frightening speed.
She flies back immediately, and bright purple spears burst out of the ground, darting towards her.
One of them hits the back of her armor, but it doesn't even leave a scratch on it, then the spear bursts into a cloud of noxious gas, and [Rainbow Shield] flares up, repelling the poison.
A few spears come towards us, and we use [Wind Shield] to divert them, then I summon a wind elemental to keep the poisonous gas away from us.
Suddenly, the skellies turn around and sprint back to Big Skrellington, and it feels like it's gathering mana, but I think the corruption is interfering with my [Sense Mana], so nobody knows how much is there or what kind of spell it's casting.
The number of skellies has been reduced to about thirty, so it seems that Ciel's sweep was extremely effective.
Alissa fires an [Arrow of Annihilation] at Skrellington, but another [Earth Wall] protects it.
She grumbles in frustration, then casts [Fly] and goes up high enough to get a clear shot. I snort as I realize that [Earth Wall]'s weakness is high ground.
"We might be able to outlast the undead, but I don't want to bet on it. We need to interrupt that spell," Yunia states firmly.
I wipe away all the mirth within me, then I nod sternly and agree, "Alright, we're diving in." Then I shout to the golems and elementals, "CHARGE! TAKE CARE OF THE SKELETONS!"
Hana summons her wings and leads the way, then I put down a [Gate] "coordinate," and everyone follows Hana with their armor's [Fly].
The corpse adventurers retreat behind the skellies, getting closer to Skrellington.
Alissa fires another [Arrow of Annihilation], but this time, it's blocked by a [Water Wall], though the spell visibly becomes wild as the caster almost loses control of it.
She fires a few arrows in rapid succession, then perches herself on a thick branch. Her little barrage grabs the attention of the corpse mages and allows us to approach unmolested.
"I'll keep the big boy occupied!" Hana shouts through [Bind] and uses [Morph Length] to increase the length of her bastard sword, then follows it up with [Double Strike] as she hits Skrellington's right shoulder, cutting clean through the bone.
Its bony arm falls off, revealing that it isn't a puppet like the elementals, so joint damage can be effective against it.
The earth elemental-wives and golems throw huge boulders ahead, opening a hole in the middle of the mass of skellies, then Ciel swoops in and clears out an area for us to land.
The adventurers face off with us. Four melee fighters against Yunia, Lina, and I, though one of them seems to be an archer without a bow.
Ciel flies around the clearing, preventing the skellies from swarming our position while the golems and elemental-wives help from at range. There are just so many that Aoi has to watch our back, using both her large body and her halberd to crush any of them that approach our position, though she isn't able to finish them off, so they have enough time to regenerate.
Roxanne explodes the first fighter, but [Dead Zone] limits the resulting wound to a mere hole in his right thigh. It doesn't seem to need its muscles to move, so it doesn't slow down even slightly from the injury. Now those are actual puppets, their bodies moving entirely by anti-gravity magic alone.
Roxanne switches to [Ice Lance], but they have [Wind Shield] to protect them from ranged spells, so she decides to attack Skrellington, which is more vulnerable to her spells now that we're closer.
I summon my tentacles and [Equip] my set of weapons, then I stab at the corpse before me with a spear, but he easily defends himself with his shield and stays just out of reach.
Yunia fights a spear and shield user and the weak archer by herself, but they don't leave many openings for her to finish them off, fighting very defensively.
Lina pummels the other spear and shield user, but she isn't overcoming its natural regeneration, though his shield is quickly getting ruined.
My opponent slashes at my weapons, having to use both his bastard sword and his shield to prevent me from skewering him from all sides.
The [Holy Spirit] and [Water Spirit] stay with Roxanne, and they try to trap and finish off the skellies, but their offensive power isn't that great, so the girls just keep them on the defensive.
"They're stalling us!" Yunia anxiously shouts inside my soul space.
"Full power!" I order, and we stop conserving our MP.
Lina, Yunia, and I all cast [Searing Blade] at the same time, then we slice through their shields, and their arms fall to the ground, leaving them vulnerable.
Ciel swoops in, her glowing glaive slicing across their chests, then [Judgment] makes them catch fire.
Alissa releases a barrage of arrows, but they're all blocked by the mage and their familiars, though their attention is drawn away from us for a moment.
Roxanne uses all of her [Mana Control] to instant cast a huge area spell. "[Firestorm]!" She releases it instantly, and the fighters are drowned in a wide sphere of ravaging fire, their [Dead Zone] apparently no longer usable, probably only present on one of the shields on the floor.
The corpse mage interrupts the spell, so Alissa fires a few [Charge]d arrows in response, and three of them get past their defenses now that their mage is distracted.
Skrellington's large, flaming skull falls to the ground, severed from its spine, but the damned undead still manages to complete its spell.
From the cracks on the floor, large, thick, decidedly not lewd purple tentacles burst out. Some of them get zapped by Alissa's [Charge]d arrows that trigger a second later, getting stunned by the spell, but the rest immediately dive in our direction, aiming to crush us.
Giant saw blades decorated with intricate elven patterns and controlled by the golems slice cleanly through most of the attacking tentacles, but they leave two untouched that they couldn't reach with their single strike.
I stretch my soul as much as I can around us and anchor them to the ground, then I harden my soul and cover its surface with dragon scales, then I cast [Discharge].
The tentacles smash through my soul shield, and I feel my head going light from the pain as the corruption attacks my spirit, but the attack has been completely stopped in its tracks, and the tentacles are now stunned.
Not one of my best ideas…
Ciel slices through one while Lina flies up to get the other, then the corpse adventurers lunge forward towards me, their half-charred bodies flaking away, revealing their white skeletons underneath.
Their tenacity enrages me, clearing my head and freeing me from my daze, then I strike them with my tentacles and cast [Heal], making them burst into dust, though they aren't completely destroyed just yet.
"I'll finish this one!" Yunia shouts inside my soul space.
With the way now clear, she charges forward, boosted by her armor's [Rush], and uses her righteous fury to dice up the corpse mage into bits.
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The purple tentacles retreat back down to the ground, then I see them wrapping themselves around Skrellington, reconnecting the limbs that Hana had destroyed.
Motherf...!
Roxanne casts [Firestorm] on the remains of the adventurers, finally releasing them from their torment, though Yunia feels like their spirits might still be lingering.
"FINISH IT!" I shout through [Bind].
I take Aoi's place, and Lina and I protect Roxanne while the rest of the girls attack Skrellington.
Hana assaults the back of its neck, furiously slicing her way through the tentacles to prevent its head from reconnecting.
I crush skulls with my mace and sweep through their bodies with my halberd, taking multiple skellies with each strike, but they keep regenerating and coming right back at us. Though I know that their energy isn't endless, I don't want to wait and see how long they can last.
The earth elementals reach us, led by Jarn as her multitude of arms crush skulls with ease. They form a protective wall with their bodies, and the number of skellies finally starts to diminish.
Suddenly, Roxanne, Aoi, Yunia and I feel a chill go down our spines. We can't sense the mana, but something tells us that Skrellington is spending a lot of whatever powers it has on something.
My eyes are drawn towards the skull, then my vision blurs.
The flame!
Hana's and Yunia's [Rainbow Shield]s flare up, and they groan in pain as their HP is quickly drained away at about five points per second.
"[EXPLOSION]!" Roxanne releases her spell boosted by [Rainbow Crystal], and Skrellington's head splits open, spreading rotten purple meat everywhere and snuffing out the flame. Thankfully, there's no blood, but the corruption skyrockets as the air is filled with noxious fumes.
"DON'T LET IT REGENERATE!" I order the girls, and everyone ignores the skellies in favor of attacking Skrellington.
Hana activates [Draconic Body], her entire right arm growing scales that are currently hidden by her armor, but the most significant change is that her "Strength" is also increased.
She sheathes her sword, then grabs the spinal vertebra peeking out of its stump and rips it out with her bare hands.
Yunia flies towards her and slices apart the spinal cord, making it easier for Hana to rip the disks out.
Lina hacks her way through a shoulder, completely severing it from the rest of the body, then she immediately goes to work on the other.
Aoi spreads her flames, burning up every last piece of purple meat she can find.
Alissa fires [Arrow of Annihilation] at its joints, preventing it from slapping Hana and Yunia with its gigantic hands.
"JARN, GIVE ME FOUR AXES!" I order, and she obeys without any hesitation. She [Equips] them, then throws them a bit too fast for me to smoothly handle, so I have to scramble to pick them up with my tentacles.
Once I've wielded them properly, I fly towards Skrellington and spin, raking through the purple tentacles like huge draconic claws, exposing the white bone underneath again.
GOT YOU NOW!
Aoi follows behind me, spreading fire everywhere and cauterizing the openings, then Ciel comes in with the finisher, her [Judgment]-infused glaive annihilating both the tentacles and the bones.
We cough and gasp for air as our HP continues to drop, so everyone makes a pit stop by Ciel or the [Holy Spirit] to top themselves off on health again.
Skrellington's resistance quickly fades away as its body is quartered, then we retreat, and Roxanne unleashes another [Firestorm], this one swallowing it completely.
As it burns, we clean up the skellies, then we gather back together again to catch our breaths while the air elemental cleans away the noxious gas from the area. Yunia immediately comes over to me and uses [Spirit Touch] to heal my wounded soul, alleviating my pain.
After another half a minute, Skrellington's presence fades away, and Aoi levels up.
"Raaawwr!" She roars victoriously, and we cheer along with her.
I take my helmet and gauntlets off, then I give the girls a proud smile, "Amazing work, everyone. It was a tough battle, but we achieved a complete victory." Then I turn to the golems. "And I'm very impressed with you three. Your quick-thinking saved us from a difficult position."
Ted and Suzy store their battle bodies, revealing the original dolls, which are completely intact.
"We've fulfilled our purpose," Ted starts.
"But we'll never stop our growth," Suzy follows.
"We'll forever search for ways to serve you better," Jarn finishes.
"Well, I believe I speak for everyone when I say that we're glad to have you here," Ciel happily declares, then she snatches Ted from the air and hugs her tight against her armor.
Once my soul is properly healed again, we return to the Officers.
Everyone's a bit speechless, simply too overwhelmed to ask us any questions about the fight. Silvano's triumphant grin is a bit creepy, though.
"Impressive," Cereleia coos in wonder, the only one who still has their wits about them. "So many instant-cast spells… I can't believe that you're all magic swordsmen. It must be the so-called Gift that you're believed to possess." Her high-cheekbones give her a noble air, and the gentle amusement of her expression is such a good fit to enhance her beauty. She's not the "step on me" kind of woman, so she definitely looks much better smiling than looking stern.
Yunia's reply is categorical, though her tone is clearly soft and respectful to the dryad, "We can't confirm or deny it to you, but we'll answer any questions that the Officers may have for us once we're back at the castle."
"Lords and their secrets…" Cereleia hums as she grins.
Almaria holds back a snort as she recovers from her stunned state. "As if you were any different," she wryly accuses the dryad.
Cereleia lets out low chuckles, her hair flowers rustling from the movement of her shoulders. "I won't deny that it's slightly vexing having to deal with others as equals," she casually admits.
We approach the platform, and Silvano creates a ramp for them to come down.
"Let's get out of the corruption before we continue our talk," Sandoro hurriedly suggests.
But Cereleia interjects, her gaze gently falling on me, "Before you leave, I wish to acquire your seed immediately. Your performance has made me very excited."
Both Yunia and Lina nudge me internally, forcing me to "negotiate" a bit.
I grin at Cereleia, somewhat enjoying the words that I'm about to say, "My seed has value, not only to you, but also to many humanoids. Therefore, it's a tremendous waste to give it freely."
She opens her eyes wide in surprise and shares an amused look with the other dryads. "Normally, the opportunity of laying with a dryad is enough to convince humanoids to share, but what would you like in return, then?"
"Knowledge. I want to know who lives here in the forest and where they settle. I'm searching for heretics, specifically."
She frowns concernedly. "I don't have a way to discern your 'heretics' or those marked as Wicked from the common humanoid."
I smile kindly to reassure her. "Then just provide whatever details you can tell us about who settles in here and where they are."
She slowly looks to each dryad, and they both nod at her, so she turns back to me and returns the smile. "Acceptable, if you also agree to share your seed regularly," she adds with a cheeky tone.
I shrug. "We can iron out the details later."
At that, she nods energetically. "Certainly. Do you wish to do it here, outside the corruption, or somewhere that you'd say is more 'comfortable'?" She suggests with a slow, alluring, deliberate tone.
"Here is fine, I'll just pull out my bed."
Cereleia nods slowly and motions back to the path Almaria made. "Please, lead the way."
As we walk, Hana approaches Cereleia with an excited look in her eyes. "Do you mind if I join you two?" She asks with as much politeness as she can muster, which isn't a lot.
Cereleia hesitates for a moment, slightly confused. "Don't you want a male for yourself?"
"No male, ever. Only Wolfy," Hana confidently states, bringing a smile to my lips.
But Cereleia's confusion lingers. "I see… I guess it could work?"
Now it's Hana who frowns in confusion. "You've never done it in a trio?"
It seems like the two are almost worlds apart as Cereleia only becomes more confused.
"A three-… two females at the same time?" She incredulously asks, and her eyes fly between Hana and me as she imagines something. "I can't see how that works since there aren't enough males for the holes at play."
Hana snorts loudly and asks suggestively, "Well, you saw Wolfy's tentacles…?"
Realization finally dawns on the dryad. "Oh~… that could work, yes."
After leaving the corruption zone, we all pass through some intense, anti-undead [Spirit Light] cleansing, finally clearing our noses of the hellish smell of acetone, then I pull out a huge spare bed.
"May I watch?" Silvano politely asks, his pretty, feminine face smiling with a tinge of anticipation.
"Since Hana is participating, no man can watch, only women," I sternly state, and his smile instantly turns upside down.
Sandoro immediately replies, his tone sounding very stiff, "Then, we'll return to the castle."
"I'll… stay at a good distance away to give you some privacy," Alcander adds with the same tone. He can't leave us alone here, so he has to wait for us.
"Call for the priests to exorcise this area. The twisted spirits are still lingering nearby," Sai informs Sandoro.
"You're staying?" He asks her reflexively
"Yes," she shyly replies, her pale, cute face turning slightly pink.
Romy and three other female Lordsguard remain while everyone else leaves through Alcander's [Gate], then the poor man is forced to hide behind a tree and simply wait.
Now that there aren't any naked male dryads in sight anymore, my mood improves quite a lot.
The golems pull out a table and chairs for the girls while Alissa serves them tea. They're all mildly interested in seeing how this will go.
Ciel takes some tea and cookies to Alcander for him to snack on as a sort of apology.
Hana and I un[Equip] our armor and underclothes, leaving us in just our white underwear. As clothing goes, they aren't really enticing, so we immediately take them off too.
Cereleia's eyes scan over both of our bodies, and she seems very satisfied with what she sees.
I underestimate Celeria's experience with love and how good she is at extracting it. We even hear female dryads giggling as Cereleia dominates me. It's like her entire body was made specifically for this, and it's so strong against me that I almost become her toy, almost.
She makes the critical mistake of wrapping my neck and horns with vines, then pulls on them like a horse's reigns. The pain and humiliation activate the dragon within me instead of making me meek, and I give my all to turn the tables on her, then I decide to attack her with my spirit touch.
"Uhgh~…!" Cereleia gasps, then her body seizes up.
I move my hips again, and she weakly squeaks.
What…?
Cereleia stops moving her hand, and I feel her legs starting to shiver.
Holy shit.
I pull out and prepare a long stroke.
"What… how…?" Cereleia moans weakly with her eyes wide open in confusion and fright, but she doesn't try to stop me.
"Hahahaha. This is the power of the dragon!" I shout with a maniacal laugh, then I give her a second-long thrust.
"ANNNGH~…!" She squeaks, her composure completely broken.
"Gih!" Gify shouts in realization.
"HAHAHAH!" Hana laughs out loud, and I quickly give her [Soul Manipulation] too so that we can gang up on the haughty dryad.
"Angh… angh… angh…" She squeaks with every thrust, her composure utterly destroyed, her mouth limply gaped, and her tongue hanging out.
Hana kisses her to prevent even a single drop of her honeyed saliva from going to waste as the mind-broken dryad starts to mindlessly drool.
Her vines loosen, then completely fall off of our bodies.
Like nature spirits, Dryads are very vulnerable to [Spirit Magic], which means that they're also vulnerable to my spirit Weapon!
The female dryads stop giggling, and the forest is filled with murmurs that carry both confusion and awe with them.
Then Cereleia's eyes roll up into her skull, leaving only their whites visible. We've completely dominated her.
I slide out of the completely filled dryad, and we let her unconscious body fall back on the bed.
A small female dryad emerges from a tree and shyly walks towards us. "We need to bring her back into the network," she whispers, her frightened eyes glancing at my dragonator.
Network…?
I keep the question to myself and nod cordially as I take a step back, then Aoi comes over and starts draining the last of my MP, but I don't let her finish me off since I still need some of it.
Hana stretches her body and happily moans, now refreshed from the amazing lay we just had.
The small dryad lifts Cereleia with impressive ease and carries her to the nearest tree, which they both "sink" into.
I turn to the girls and order, "Bring Alcander back. I want to take a hot bath immediately." Then I turn to Alissa and grin. Her time has come.
Intermission 23 – Romy
After we're dismissed, I put on my casual clothes and go to the recreation lounge to relax for a bit.
The boys are playing cards while the girls are braiding each others' hair. Well… the elves dressed as boys are playing, and the elves dressed as girls are braiding. Sometimes, these mustch elves really annoy me with their cross-dressing.
One of the girls, an actual girl, shouts out to me as I approach, "Hey, Romy! How was the expedition?"
I grin and become giddy as I anticipate telling them about it. "It was amazing. You'd never see anything as impressive as that, even in the Arena," I reply excitedly.
"Did you get some?" The girl asks with a raised eyebrow.
I chuckle softly and announce to everyone, "No, but someone did… the Lord did a dryad until she fell unconscious!"
"What the fuck… magic Tool again?" One of the imperial boys asks out loud.
"Yeah. He knows some crazy technique that left the dryad completely helpless."
"Man, that's actually scary. Didn't he do a bunch of Root Lords, too?" One of the weredog boys asks, his tail tucked between his nice ass in fear.
"Magic Tool," the imperial answers matter-of-factly.
"He doesn't do men, right?" One of the elven boys-dressed-as-girls asks tentatively.
"No. None of the Queens do, either, except when it comes to him…" I answer with a serious tone. You really don't mess with the wives of a jealous dragon, so everyone needs to know this simple fact very well.
"If I let him lay with my wife, will I get a position in the Companions?" One of the elven boys innocently asks.
"If the King is smart, he'll let the Commander handle all of the recruiting for the Companions," one of the veteran elven boys answers seriously, and nearly everyone nods their head in agreement. It's easy to let your judgment get clouded when you're doing your own men, and that ruins morale pretty quickly, so the Royals are simply too close to us to fairly give us promotions.
"Didn't the Commander keep his wife from attending the Lordship Ceremony?" The weredog boy lightens the mood, earning a few chuckles from us.
"He doesn't need to lay with the Royals to prove his loyalty," the elven veteran wryly replies.
"I mean, loyalty is loyalty, so maybe he'll see it as 'commitment' to the Lordship if I let the King lay with my wife," the "innocent" elf speculates.
The imperial boy looks at him incredulously. "Wait, what the hell, are you serious?"
"I'll never let him meet my wife," the weredog boy mumbles.
"What?" The lewd elf hums.
"Why would you let him do your wife?" The imperial presses him.
The lewd elf shrugs. "I mean, he quite literally has a magic Tool, doesn't he? It'd be an incredible experience for my wife, like a gift."
"Wow…" The non-elven boys hum and whistle amazement.
"Damn elves…" Another mutters.
"I wish he did men…" Another male elf whispers.
I turn to the lewd elf and interrogate him, "Why do you want to become part of the Companions? I hope you aren't planning to spy on the Queens."
He shakes his head energetically as he denies emphatically, a bit taken aback, "No, no, no, nothing like that…" -Then he suddenly smiles a bit awkwardly- "The truth is… do you think he'd mind if I drank his juice he'd leave in my wife? The Chimeras say that it's incredibly tasty."
"That's only because it's magical and they're… basically magical beings," the veteran calmly answers, not finding the true wishes of the lewd elf to be weird at all.
Then the talk continues on about the King's Tool, and both elf and non-elf theorize together about the lewd secrets of the Royals. For once, the two sides seem to fully mingle, without any reservations holding them back.
Well, would you look at that? A cock to unite us all.