Chapter 62: I'm Gonna Let it…

Two Days Before Invasion…

What was the old argument about Batman? Batman could beat anyone given enough prep time? Anyway, I was short on prep time and I wasn't Batman, but I was hoping that my efforts wouldn't be for naught.

Unlike Lhikan’s first party who had painstakingly explored nearly every inch of the castle only to stumble upon a hole that served as his second party’s shortcut, the incoming enemy didn't have that advantage.

They didn't know the terrain, they didn't have a short cut, and the place they were coming into was laden with so many traps the Vietcong would blush.

We're talking spike traps! Wire traps! Arrow traps! Rolling stones, pitfalls, piles of skeletons laying in ambush with spider reinforcements, and heavy goblin phalanxes for the killing blow. And to add onto the extravaganza! Magic traps courtesy of Ayaka! Although in beta, the spider Matriarch had a skill called Rune Gesture, something that allowed her to create rune symbols in the air and activate spells.

From what I knew of runes, it was like a language, one coded to activate an ability when mana flowed through it.

Applying that logic to the ground, I mimicked her runes, having the five inch drider with Zorin carve runes into the floor.

And with mana from me, I could activate the runes so long as they were in my territory! However the downside was that they could only be activated if the enemy were in my territory, and by then that would mean they would have broken through my other defenses.

Still… it made me giddy.

Is it wrong that I was finding glee in the upcoming massacre? That I was wishing to make quick sand traps and poisonous swamps?

Probably. But they were invading my home! And from Lhikan's memories, their intentions were all but pure.

They wanted to claim a supposed Legacy left behind, one that had long been dismissed until Lhikan returned alive and use it to accelerate their station and hold power over the masses.

As if I'd allow that.

They'd come here seeking treasure and all they'd find would be rubber justice!

Perhaps the only thing that could raise my current mood is if it were a bunch of knife ears marching to their deaths.

Within realism of course, what I really wanted was unobtainable, but I'm trying to stay positive here!

Anyway, sitting atop my fourteen flight throne in Slimey's hand, Ayaka scurried into the chamber, the tiny five-inch monster skittering across the floor to call out to me.

“Um. It's done master!” Ayaka let out, the little drider playing with her spider silk dress.

Great. Slimey.

“Of course mi'lord.” Slimey replied, following the drider leading us into what was once supposed to be a stairwell to the lower levels that was now some sort of secret entrance into a hidden room.

Oddly, the place ahead of the discovered entrance was enshrouded to me, almost like a blank spot to RTS senses. Fortunately squeakerlocation still worked, allowing me to ping the interior and the myriad of fungus and mold ridden furniture being devoured by Ayaka and her spiders.

Entering the room, it was clear to me that this was some form of laboratory given the vials, flasks, beakers, and… oh.

I squeaked, pinging the area just to make sure I was “seeing” it correctly.

There was a skeleton. A demon skeleton judging from the large horns… it was imprisoned in mold, its arms, legs, and body all wrapped up and suspended to a wall, almost as if someone had trapped it.

Wait…

I squeaked again, Slimey bringing me close to the skeleton to inspect the horns on the side of its head and forehead that were so similar to-!

WAIT! I RECOGNIZED THESE HORNS?!

BARBORALL!!!

It was undeniable! The Demon Lord! My archfoe! My nemesis! The bastard that trapped me in the shell of a rubber duck! THAT! YOU! HE! HUH?! WHAT?!

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I took control of Slimey, gaining sight so I could see and confirm with my eyes what I was looking at.

It was indeed Barborall. His telltale horns sold him out, the crack on one of them being from my blade that struck true but failed to hurt him.

How was he here? Why was he here? What happened? How did he die? A myriad of questions began to flood my mind.

Oooh my Lord. I love it when you take control of my body! Slimey sent, her body wiggling as a sense of ecstacy bubbled up.

“HUSH! I'M trying to think!” I barked, eyeing my archfoe as memories of my former life as an adventurer surfaced. The blood, sweat, and tears wasted trying to kill him. And here he was, buried, propped up like some kind of ornament.

*Suck, suck, suck, suck.”

Ayaka hopped onto the demon Lord's head, using her tiny hands to grab mold and stuff her cheeks.

“How did you become like this…” I whispered in disbelief, my hands reaching out to grabbing the skull only to recoil from the burning of the mold.

“Oh, him? He probably died of starvation, or something.” Ayaka replied. “He's been down here for mmmh. A thousand years?”

What.

My eyes settled on the tiny drider happily munching.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, narrowing my eyes and leaning over the happy drider.

“Oh, mmmh. Suck. Suck suck He had a big fight with the Mistress and she splashed a treat vial at her lord.” Ayaka replied, bobbing back and forth as she picked up more mold in her tiny fingers.

“And by mistress you mean…?”

“Oh, Lady Gisellenia.”

Sigh. “And… you know her how?”

“Oh! She created me! And all us tarantuals! Well, hatched me.” Ayaka said absentmindedly, climbing into Barborall's skull through his eye socket, the tiny drider licking the rim of the eye socket clean of mold. “She was very nice. She gave us lots of treats!”

An indiscernible amount of time passed before I regained my senses, my consciousness now back in my rubber shell, the only sound in the room being Ayaka and her spiders slurping up mold.

I…

WHAT?!

WHAT?!?!

WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ANY OF THIS!?!?

Ayaka looked up, blinking several times before swallowing some mold.

“You never asked.”

Inhale.

Slimey.

“Yes my Lord?”

Electrocute her.

“Yes my Lord.”

Ayaka looked up, eyes wide, attempting to turn and flee. But Slimey was quick, zapping the arachnid.

“W-Wwa-ait! WHAT DID I DododoDoDOoDoOooZzzzzzzz?!” Ayaka let out, the tiny drider being fried, her jet black hair going in all directions. “STaHp bulllEEEYInG mEH!”

I turned my attention back to Barborall.

From my guess, he was the victim of an assassination attempt. A tale as old as time, the daughter usurping the father for the crown. There were no visible marks on the demon’s bones except for the ones inflicted by me, but it was clear he had been here for a long time.

So this mold… even a demon couldn't beat it.

This was bad, real bad. If it could hold and beat even the demonlord himself then…

HOLD UP THIS CRAP IS INSIDE ME!

This biological WMD is inside me! B-b-b-ut HOW?!

Oh. Wait. Now that I think about it… that little brat carried me everywhere.

****

Elsewhere, in a castle shrouded by black fog.

“AHCHOO!” A short humanoid figure with four horns let out, adjusting her glasses and wrinkling her petite nose.

“Is everything ok you're highness?” An armored servant clad in gold and black metals asked. The Demon knight on alert.

“No! I think someone is badmouthing me!” Gisellneia hissed. “Find them and exterminate their bloodline!”

“At once!”

***Hiro***

If she created this mold, I probably caught it when she was carrying me around! Gah! That stupid idiotic brat! I'LL KILL HER!

Ehem.

Anyway.

Surveying the laboratory, anything organic or usable had been long since consumed. Besides the flasks and demon bones, there was nothing else to be seen.

Odd that there was no other entrance though… how the heck did they get in here?

Wait.

Aya.. oh right. Slimey, you can stop zapping her.

Slimey frowned, but ultimately stopped electrocuting the tiny drider who laid splooted out, back arched, head back, steam rising off her body.

Hey! Idiot! You aren't dead so answer me!

“M-m-m-”

How did your creator get in and out of this laboratory?

“Mean. So mean to me.” Ayaka sobbed, giving off a tiny hiccup.

Yes yes, now tell me what I want to know before I have Slimey hit you with the bug zapper again.

“MEAN! I'M NOT A BUG! I'M AN ARACHWID!”

You mean arachnid.

“Yeah! That!”

Slimey, fry her again.

“NO WAIT! Mistress Gisellneia used a teleport thingy!” Ayaka exclaimed, hiding in Barbaroll’s skull.

And where is this teleport thingy?

“I dunno.”

Slimey.

“Gladly mi'lord.”

“BUT I TOLDwwwwwwZZZZ wWwWhat u waNTEDZzz to KNOW!” Ayaka cried.

Right. Yes. But this is for EATING MY HUMAN CORPSES!

****

After capturing a crying Ayaka in a helmet and dragging her out of the laboratory, I left behind a few spiders for cleaning, sealing the laboratory in the process by way of collapsing the tunnel to prevent further contamination.

A stop gap measure, one that wouldn't really hold, but it was something to slow the tide of mold within the laboratory, at least, until I could clean it enough to retrieve Barborall's corpse.

There was also the issue in the sewers. Burning was keeping the mold at bay, but instead of heading in my direction, it was moving away from the flames and growing elsewhere…

A problem?

No doubt. But I had no solutions other than to create more spiders. And that would involve Ayaka and impregnat-gross. Hmmm. The spiders like eating it... and besides the downside of getting addicted...

Sigh. One thing is for certain, I couldn't stay in this castle. It was with luck that my dungeon was portable and I wasn't permanently confined to one location. The issue lie now in the how, when, and where I would escape to.

Another contingency plan. Once I had collected the sacks of exp known as adventurers, I would be ready to leave. Provided of course we survived the siege.

It was a wide world out there, and just because I'm a yellow rubber duck doesn't mean I I'm gonna let the world keep me down.

One more day left, time to do some more trap building before my guests arrive.