Chapter 62: 62. Under the Mountain, Part 8: Imp

62. Under the Mountain, Part 8: Imp

The two of us descend from the cavern ceiling on a dragline, me in a silken harness, and Spindle clutching my armor from behind like a crane claw. This gives us another good view of the camp. Sure enough, there are several Lizardmen screwing each other in the vicinity. By the look of it, a few of them have vaginas—Lizard-trans-men? Actually, I don’t hate the idea. Could be an interesting lay if the opportunity presents.

We land stealthily on the building’s roof without causing a ruckus. Looking around, my best avenue for access is the ventilation, so I pop the grating with my spear, unsummon my armor to fit, and crawl inside. My arachnid companion follows behind me.

“Ara ara, what on earth are you wearing? Spindle loves it!”

“Really, oh, thank you! I’m trying to highlight the shape of Alex’s ass without revealing too much. That way, you want to see what’s underneath all the more!”

“You’ve certainly succeeded… And the rubies are a nice touch.”

“Will you two stop with the panty shoptalk? This is the stealth portion of the mission!” I reprimand Flou and Spindle for their banter. I sigh; at least they’re bonding.

“Sorry, Alex,” my Fuzzy Slime underwear apologizes.

“Don’t worry so much. Spindle is certain your paramour is fine. ‘Love conquers all,’ you know.”

“In my experience, a giant fuckoff weapon tends to help.” I slow to take a corner on my hands and knees, and Spindle ‘clumsily’ faceplants into my rear, directly into my pussy. Several times. “Mmm,” I can’t help getting a little horny with the threat of discovery.

“Vermillion, shh! I hear voices.”

It’s your fault for touching me there!

“…And then?” a screechy male voice like rusty nails on a chalkboard says. Ugh, that’ll kill a boner.

“The aberration produced dozens of tentacles that attacked our patrol!” a Lizardman says (their voices have a bit of an accent from the reptilian muzzle). “They stung, bit, and struck us, but our armor held strong.”

“Then where is my human-aberration prisoner?” the screechy voice mocks.

“Er, that is, the battle seemed to be in our favor, so I was ordered to prioritize retrieving the female Kobold to prevent her injury. But I suppose the aberration must have escaped!”

“No.” The screechy voice sounds coldly displeased. “Several patrols are late reporting to base. I suspect the aberration is responsible.”

“H-how could one human possibly neutralize that many Lizardmen? It’s not possible!”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion. Be silent.”

“Hrk!” The Lizardman makes a choked noise and pained grunts.

“You there, Kobold girl, why did the aberration protect you?”

“…”

“Answer me.”

“Kyaaa!” *Cough, cough*

That’s Opal’s voice! I crawl faster, heart hammering as their voices grow louder each second as I near them.

“Well?”

“…”

“I said answer me!”

“Kyyyaaa!!!”

I’m going to murder this guy!

“Had enough?”

After gasping for breath, Opal says, “…I’m bearing her child.”

“Ah, now I look closer, those tattoos on your belly… the mark of Echidna…”

“Flou, Blood Star!” The Red Slime flows into my hands and morphs into her battle form, breaking through the ventilation shaft so our group tumbles forth. “Olindia, wreck their shit!”

I summon my armor as I land and survey the situation. This is the showroom of the old cookware store, but all of the furniture has been pushed to the walls or torn apart and repurposed to create a large open space. Burning sconces illuminate everything in flickering yellow light, making me think the Imp doesn’t have low-light vision.

I find him standing against the far wall. He looks like a twisted Goblin on steroids dipped in tar. At four feet tall, he doesn’t seem that impressive, but his nine-inch cock is sporting a few spikes I’m confident are as hard and sharp as they appear. Yikes.

Five Lizardmen vaguely surround where I fell. A doorway stands behind me. Opal is a few feet beyond them wearing a cursed black collar. Four nude humans, two men and two women of variable ages, cower in a pentagram of runes near the Imp. They all have black collars and no fire of rebellion left in their eyes, just a thousand-yard stare.

“The aberration… Echidna, whatever you are,” the Imp says, “You were born human, which means I, Malik the Mystical, can finally reach the third-tier!”

“That won’t work,” I say, relishing any chance to rain on his parade, “I’ve already been ‘Hunted’ by an Ogre.”

“Oh, that’s right, the Human Hunter path works that way… no matter. Mine is the Human Subjugation path. Whether you’re a virgin or a whore, when you’re my slave it counts for me all the same. Capture her! Kill the Webling.”

The Lizardmen spring into action as pink tendrils sprout from my armor. I go for a spin attack, but these reptiles heard how I’d dealt with the other patrols and are more cautious of me. They’re also slightly faster, more muscular, and better armored. The elites all dodge backward out of range. Meanwhile, the Imp conjures mystical black runes with sooty purple auras in the air. I’ve never seen magic like that in action before… Focus.

Wolf Rush!

One of Olindia’s pseudopods tether a Lizardman and I dart toward him, bringing Blood Star down on his head before he can cut through the tentacle and escape. The resulting splatter has the remaining four ready to scatter for dear life and limb.

“Throw your lives away to stall her! I command it!” Malik the Imp says, and their collars radiate dark energy.

“Ahhh!!!” the four elite Lizardmen scream as they’re forced to face me in hopes of quick deaths. “Die for the master!”

Wolf Rush!

My Earth Magic can manipulate the floor tiles here to an extent, allowing me to trip one of the reptiles. An uppercut blow from Blood Star embeds the next Lizardman halfway into the ceiling while Olindia parries and harries the remaining enemies trying to impede me with their bodies.

“Guards! Reinforcements! Where are my Lizardmen???”

A glance reveals Spindle has made herself useful despite avoiding combat. She’s blockaded the doorway with layers of silken strings. Lizardmen on the other side are hopelessly attempting to cut or push their way through and getting caught in her webs. They might think to grab a torch soon, but she’s bought us some time. If not for her, dozens or even hundreds would be pouring through that door.

Spindle flashes me a fanged grin and four thumbs up.

“Just grab her!” Then he addresses me, “Human, this is your last chance to surrender and become my sex slave!” I don’t bother giving an answer.

The three remaining Elite Lizardmen lunge at me with no regard for self-preservation. I swing Blood Star to sweep them all away, but the timing of their attacks is staggered so I only send one flying into the wall with a wet crunch. I trip the first reptile in the lineup by putting a Multitasking focus on Earth Magic. That leaves me open for one Lizardman to land a few attacks that have no hope of piercing my armor.

“Perfect,” Malik says.

Predator Sense flares, but I don’t see what’s aggravating it. Then the middle Lizardman explodes in a shower of gore as an orb of dark energy with a sooty purple aura penetrates his center of mass. It’s headed straight for me! I couldn’t see the Imp shooting the projectile with his minions in the way!

Wolf Rush!

Too late to dodge effectively, all I can do is lean aside slightly. It hardly matters as the orb eats through my armor on contact and blows a foot-diameter hole in the right side of my chest. Blood bursts from my mouth as my right lung is demolished.

I go weak in the knees. It takes all my concentration and focus to keep from blacking out as I fall. Fuck, this is the second time I’ve died today.

The last Lizardman approaches me with a ladle wickedly warped into a shiv. He rears back to plunge the steel into my open chest cavity. If he hits my core… I try to concentrate enough to use magic, but it’s no use. The pain-shattered fragments of my will refuse to coalesce in time despite Slime Multitasking.

Sticky silken threads latch onto the remnants of my arms, and I’m hauled away as the shiv plunges onto the vacated tiles ruddy with my blood. The pink glow of Olindia’s healing magic finally kicks in; the pain fades, I gasp, and spit a wad of flesh and blood to clear my throat. I unsummon and resummon my armor to repair the damage.

“Oh, good! Spindle worried about you, Vermillion.”

“Alex!” Opal exclaims.

“You’re supposed to be dead!” Malik shrieks.

“Did you seriously just kill your own dude to land a sneak-attack on me?!?”

He scoffs. “Yes, and it would’ve worked if you weren’t a freakish Echidna. These reptiles are disposable trash. Like this Kobold girl… Embrace your lover so you two can die together!” Malik starts conjuring another dark magic orb.

“Kyaaahhh!!!” Opal’s black collar releases sinister energy, causing incredible pain, but she doesn’t move. “N-n-n-no!”

“What? You can’t… Useless reptile! Just stand there while I blast you. Let’s see whether the Echidna is willing to sacrifice herself for a Kobold!”

This bastard wants me to push Opal out of the way, taking the hit myself. The last elite Lizardman stands before me to make things more difficult. Except, I know how reliable a certain Webling is at this point.

Olindia tethers the armored reptile so I can crush him with impunity. Malik finishes weaving his dark ball of death and magic around the same time and throws it at Opal. More spider silk adheres to the Kobold girl, and Spindle yanks my lover out of the projectile’s path midflight.

“Still here, still awesome,” the spider girl says while the black orb punches a large hole in the wall. If the Lizardmen find that hole and widen it… I’m running out of time.

Thankfully, this guy is out of goons for the moment, and he’s unarmored.

Flou shoots the spikes on Blood Star’s crystal wrecking ball at Malik, catching him off-guard. Purple aura flares on the Imp’s naked skin along the lines of a black magic runic pentagram, and the darts veer away from his vitals. They still draw blood, rattling the caster, and there’s plenty of crimson fluid about for Flou to replenish her weapon-form’s mass.

Wolf Rush!

I dash forward, even using my Pitcher Treefolk Vines to close the distance faster. I swing Blood Star to bash him across the room. Crystalized blood connects with flesh. Malik goes flying.

He lands in a heap of tangled and broken limbs next to his human slaves. Inky blood leaking from his wounds pools around him. “Y-you f-fucking bitch. You ruined everything. I s-should’ve gotten to evolve today. Instead, I’ll have to start over!” Malik addresses his slaves, “Die for me.”

“Die for the master!” the mind-broken humans moan. Then they snap their own fucking necks. Black runic tattoos spread over their skin from their collars, and they shrivel up like mummies.

The slave collars swell with dark energy, pulse, and scatter into smoking black runes that flow into the fallen Imp. Malik’s body thrums with power as his limbs crack and bend back into shape. He stands on legs that lengthen and thicken by the second. He lifts arms that bulk with muscle before my eyes and laughs with glee, voice deepening while retaining that grating quality. His cock engorges to twelve inches of schlong with wicked thorny growths.

“This strength could’ve been mine for always, but you refused to bend the knee.” Malik straightens his crooked form, having reached the stature and build of an Ogre. Black and purple flames cover his fists as he strides toward me. “I’ll have to introduce you to the addictive pleasure of being torn apart by my cock.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Bad End, indeed.

The brute swings a fist at me while I swing away on my vines. The punch hits the ground, cratering the tiled floor and sending up a shower of burning rubble. An Ogre-equivalent monster with magic this deadly makes for a formidable opponent. My armor is basically useless. My evasive maneuver does give me a chance to quickly take stock of the situation.

Spindle is webbing the hole Malik’s black orb made in the wall just in the nick of time to stop a Lizardman from crawling through. I think I heard the reptiles at the main door say something about fire, though, which means things are about to get worse. On the plus side, Malik is shrinking at a barely visible rate.

Sacrificing his humans for strength increased his power, true, but it’s a temporary boost. I could wait him out if I had the time. Unfortunately, there’s a mob of Lizardmen outside who want my head. Stalling is not an option.

I have one Multitasking focus on Blood Magic to wield my weapon, leaving me two focuses to summon weapons and magic. Not to mention my Slime familiars.

Flou shoots crystal-blood spikes from the morning star’s surface. The projectiles continue to veer away from Malik’s vitals, stabbing into his bulging arms and legs. I throw spears one-handed that similarly fail to find a weak spot, drawing blood and sticking from his flesh like porcupine quills. Olindia’s tentacles actually cause him to scream in pain when they connect, their jellyfish stings delivering a slow poison, but that makes them priority targets for him to crush in his flaming hands.

Those tentacles aren’t replaced once they’re destroyed. That second healing must have really exhausted the Pink Slime girl.

Wolf Rush!

I try to force an opening by charging in, then darting to his flank while destabilizing his footing with Earth Magic on the tiles, swinging upward with vines anchored to the ceiling, and aim a strike at his shoulder. Black runic wards slow the impact for a brief moment that lets him catch the mace’s head in his flaming palm.

“Ahhh!” Flou screams as part of her body gets burned.

Malik laughs and prepares to throw a punch at me when he’s hit in the temple by a piece of broken tile. How did it slip past the wards?

“Ow.” He turns to see Opal picking up broken tiles and pieces of rubble to chuck at him. “Hold still, lizard.”

“Kyaaa!!!” Opal’s black collar pulses, causing her pain as she attempts to rebel.

I kick off Malik’s shoulder to get some distance, yanking Flou out of his grip while his focus is elsewhere. The Red Slime pulls at the pools of blood on the floor to restore the mass she lost to the dark flames.

In his anger, Malik turns to charge at Opal when he’s stopped short. His legs are webbed to the ground! As I watch, Spindle shoots sticky threads from her abdomen that tie and tangle the big Imp. He struggles to break free, wrenching his body violently. The spider girl underestimates his strength and is heaved into the air by the very strings she spun.

The overgrown Imp backhands her and Spindle crashes into the wall with a crunch. She falls and doesn’t rise.

I see red as my lovers are threatened once again.

An ember spear flies from my fingers, its course bent from Malik’s organs and arteries by wards, but it shatters on impact to scatter burning coals across the flammable webbing draped across his body.

“Fuuuck!!! You bitch!” Malik screams and pats himself but can’t extinguish the natural flames with his black-burning palms.

“Flou, shoot your spikes the second before impact!”

Wolf Rush!

I spring forward, tether my vines to Malik’s chest, and leap at him with an earthen pillar stepstone as the green cables reel me in, everything adding to my acceleration. The spines on Blood Star fire at the Imp in mid-swing. The purple-glowing black runes on his body flare and the projectiles are diverted, but I’m not concerned. I figured out how Opal’s attack managed to hit him. The wards can be overwhelmed and need a few seconds to recharge, creating an opening.

Blood Star smashes into Malik’s face at full speed.

I land at the same time as the Imp’s headless corpse.

*Decapitated the Imp – One Profane Mark!*

How was that only worth one mark?

Opal rushes over, embracing me fiercely as her black collar shatters. I hold her, comforting the little Kobold girl for a moment as she cries in relief.

“Spindle!”

I run to the spider girl’s side to inspect the damage. She’s unconscious and bleeding from multiple compound fractures. Black and purple flames cling to her in places until I smother them with Blood Magic, the only liquid I have lying around, but the darkness sinks into her skin and spreads as I watch.

Concentrating all my Multitasking focuses on the job, I connect with and bring forth a type of magic new to me with an effort of will, “Pink Slime Restoration.”

My hands glow with soothing rosy light that penetrates her motionless form. Spindle stirs as her bones are mended and her limbs straighten into natural angles. The dark energy, however, continues to course through her being before my eyes.

“Spindle, speak to me!”

Spider silk pours from her spinneret in filament threads that begin cocooning her body. “So loud, she’s trying to sleep.”

“You’re okay,” I say and sigh in relief. Webbing continues to weave itself across the spider girl’s form. “You’re evolving, aren’t you?”

“She just hopes it’s something good.”

I chuckle. “Want me to tuck you somewhere safe?”

“Spindle hoped you’d carry her like a princess.”

“Maybe later. I need to see what it’s like out there, now Malik is dead.”

Opal pipes up, “With the collars gone, you’ll be a hero, Alex!”

“The collars… gone?” Spindle ponders the implications groggily. Then her eight eyes widen in horror. “Vermillion, you have to run!”

“No,” Opal disagrees, “Malik was a terrible leader; the lizard-folk will celebrate once they learn of your deed.”

“Run…” Spindle whispers before falling asleep as the silk cocoon completely covers her.

Before I can waste much time wondering what she meant, the sound of screaming reaches us.