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Chimera King Box Set Books 1-3

Page 69

by Atlas Kane


  Having a helmet might be a great improvement. So far, he’d only had a single haircut since coming to Antinium, and he’d done it with a dagger, using the reflection in their pool as guidance. To say it was botched would be an understatement.

  “The Mods are incredible. Finally found a use for that Nilgathi Hide, eh?” Cade asked, looking at the woman who’d forged the item.

  Satemi nodded sagely. “Yes, and I have other projects in mind for it as well. It takes forever to tan, and the poor bastard who took on the Tanner Occupation is loaded up with work for a month straight. I might have bumped the Nilgathi leather up the list a bit. After all, we can’t have our fearless leader looking like a fool all the time.”

  “Wouldn’t want that. So, looks cool?” Cade asked hopefully.

  Ketzal nodded solemnly, Satemi just smiled, and Minda answered by growling at him. Okay, so the girls enjoy the whole authority and power thing. I can’t say I’m upset to hear that.

  Suddenly feeling awkward, he brought up the topic of his latest level gain.

  “I can’t be the only one who gained a level after that fight. Anyone else?” The girls all nodded. Taking down a Level 8 creature and then one that was Level 12 after made for a nice pot of XP.

  Ketzal smiled coyly. “We’ve already allocated our Attributes and chosen our new skills. We’ll tell you when we’re through. What about you though, Chimera Lord? Any new available traits?”

  Cade examined his choices and saw one that was worth reading aloud.

  Orthoptera Core: Adopting the core strength of the legendary locust, your aerial combat abilities improve, allowing you better chances of remaining in control when performing leaps, rolls and dives. If this trait is chosen, your evasive skills will increase as will your Strength by a total of one Attribute Point.

  “I have other good options, but I think I want this one. In a weird way, maybe it will honor the Kotani who fell victim to the ether clouds. Thoughts?” Cade asked, still aware of how Minda was eyeing him with his new helmet.

  Satemi, of course, was the one who felt the pragmatic topic worthy of consideration. “Evasion is always a keen combat strength to have. I say you go for it.”

  Selecting the Trait, the following skills became available. He read each aloud, his eyes flickering with excitement.

  Locust Leap: When skill is activated, your body becomes temporarily powered by the strength of the locust. You may leap up to fifty meters in any direction. Upon landing, your empowered body releases a small shock wave. Shock wave causes minimal damage but causes a Minor Knockback effect. Minor Knockback: Stops or slows any creature for .5 seconds. 10-Minute Cooldown.

  Grasshopper Gallop: When skill is activated, your legs become imbued with the ability to increase your top running speed by hopping every other stride. Total movement speed increased by 100%. Ability to traverse dense jungle increased greatly. Chances to evade attacks increased by 50%. 10-minute Duration. 1-hour Cooldown.

  “As much as I’d love to see you hopping your way around Camp Casmeer, I think you’d better choose the first one, Cade. We are far from done fighting here. Would be useful to be able to bound around a battlefield like that,” Minda said offhandedly, her own interest perking up at last.

  “I think so too,” Cade admitted, selecting the new skill.

  It was a rare situation. Three of his lovely women were looking at him at the same time, and he had 5 Attribute Points to spend. He could ask them their opinion on the matter, or he could enjoy their reaction if he did so on his own.

  He stuck with the same tactic he chose last level with one exception. He placed a point in Wisdom and one in Intelligence. Satemi had the highest Wisdom in their group, but he couldn’t rely on her for her battlefield savvy all the time. And the Intelligence was mostly needed to increase the charge rate of his blast axe.

  Then he dumped three in Charisma and finalized his selection.

  In unison, three sets of lovely eyebrows rose.

  Cade grinned like a fool, not only enjoying the flush of power coursing through his mind and body, but basking in the adoration being beamed at him so intensely he might get sunburned.

  “By the fallen gods of Antinium, I love it when you do that,” Minda growled, her voice having dropped an octave.

  Satemi only moaned her agreement and Ketzal wet her lips unconsciously.

  Reviewing his Character Sheet briefly, Cade was pleased with his progress thus far.

  Name: Cade

  Level: 7

  Strength: 18

  Constitution: 19

  Dexterity: 20

  Intelligence: 19

  Wisdom: 13

  Charisma: 24

  Traits: Lycan Metabolism, Nilgathi Fervor, Alpha’s Fitness, Eel’s Bite, Ape’s Aptitude, Hale as the Horde, Orthoptera Core

  Skills: Culling the Pack, Wyrm’s Wrath, Alpha’s Call, Electric Touch, Earthen Assault, Spider’s Kiss, Locust Leap

  Okay, that was a success. Better finish this while there’s still time to think. “All I have left is my weapon,” he said. “Should be fun.”

  Satemi gave him a sympathetic look. “After Level 6, your soul weapon doesn’t upgrade in the same way. It increases total damage percentage, like always, but no new skills. Those come every other level. I was very angry when I found out. I’m so sorry, Honeycomb.”

  Cade was amused and upset at the same time. Honeycomb? Frowning, Cade shook the distraction from his mind and scanned Mr. McGregor to confirm. Sadly, the woman was right. He scanned the upgraded weapon and noted the few small changes.

  Mr. McGregor Blast-Axe Level 7

  Primary Weapon System - Battle Axe

  Base Damage - 100% of Max Damage

  Damage Type - Slashing

  Attack Speed - Medium

  Mods: Razor’s Edge, Herculean Hammer, Mana Spear, Ratcheting Reach

  Elemental Augmentation: Windtorn

  Secondary Weapon System - Blast Staff

  Base Damage - 100% of Max Damage

  Damage Type - Ether Blast

  Attack Speed - Instant

  Recharge Rate: 14 seconds (Intelligence score 19)

  Mods: Slug Shot, Double Tap, Explosive Shot, Armor Piercing

  Elemental Augmentation: Windtorn

  “You’re right, Satemi, as usual. Well, my recharge rate dropped by two seconds and my weapons are both finally at 100% Max Damage. There’s that at least,” he said, finally dismissing his UVS.

  When he looked up once more, he noticed his companions had gone quiet. The air was thick with an unmistakable tension, and he realized the time for intelligent thoughts and actual conversation had come to an end.

  “Let’s have our treat now,” Minda insisted, gesturing to the table where the yellow liquid looked as if it had finally cooled.

  Cade shrugged and made to take the helmet off. After everyone had complained, Satemi outright slapping the back of the hand that was reaching to remove the battle crown, he relented. “Fine, I’ll wear it. But not when we go to sleep.”

  A great many improvements had been made in Camp Casmeer in the three weeks the refugees had come back with them. Not wanting to wait on more Town Interface summoned structures, the new villagers had been busy building animal cages, additional sleeping quarters, and downright proper furniture.

  On this list of luxuries were utensils. Spoons, really, but very good spoons. The hand-carved wonders were a big improvement from the bamboo chopsticks that had otherwise become the staple.

  Cade was handed a spoon now, a special one carved by a friend who thought the world of Minda. That woman could make friends with a pack of starved hyenas without getting bitten once.

  Each of their close-knit group had a strength that was indispensable. Ketzal seemed to connect to the quiet, the weak, the old, and of course, the animals among them. Satemi’s brash humor and tactical mind made her a favorite among the guards and warriors.

  Gemma naturally connected to the hunters and all those who preferred the quiet of the fores
t to boisterous society.

  Minda, however, got along with almost everyone in Camp Casmeer. She was an invaluable glue in their new society.

  Taking the implement from the beastkin woman, Cade took a mouthful of the yellow liquid, which had begun to firm up. Its texture was like a pudding, but it tasted… it tasted richer than chocolate, brighter than honey.

  “Sweet Christ on a Christmas Tree!” Cade exclaimed, his mouth exploding with a multitude of impressions.

  Satemi took the spoon from his hand, and he barely noticed it. The girls giggled, distantly, and he didn’t pay them any attention. For as soon as he’d tasted the Chorba Beans, his world had turned over.

  Cade pushed the viscous food around in his mouth, enjoying the fatty texture. His mouth grew numb at first, but then seemed to heighten in its sensitivity. He realized that he was massaging his teeth and gums with an eager tongue, enjoying every second of it.

  The “experience” traveled down his throat, filling his chest with ecstatic lava, and pooling in his gut. From there, in moments, each of his limbs were vibrating with profound potential.

  Cade knew he could climb the rock face above their camp, scale the impossibly sheer stone and somehow survive. He could sprint for an hour and not tire. He could fight a pack of raving monsters, though why anyone would choose to fight when they felt like this was beyond his understanding.

  The sound of his own laughter, hearty and unrestrained, tugged at his attention. Then others joined in, the women in the tent around him, he realized. They all laughed together, and he saw them for the beautiful souls they were.

  Suddenly, his mind seemed too clear. His focus came to a fine point, and he looked from one of his beloved companions to the other. They grew silent and held the moment together in honor and respect. This is fleeting, his mind reminded him. Like all wonders of this world, this moment will soon be gone. Do not waste a second of it.

  No discussion followed, for words were slow and cumbersome things.

  Instead, Minda moved toward Cade and crawled into his lap. Her skin and fur stoked a thousand brush fires across his skin, and he gasped at the heat of it. She smiled, and he noted the plump outline of her lips, the slight dimples in either cheek, and the gleaming curve of her fangs.

  Then they kissed.

  No tangle of tongues was necessary. They simply pressed their faces together and felt the Chorba Beans pulse within them. Breathing became a wonder. He tasted her breath on his, and they both pressed into the other with a gentle but fierce resolve. His hands slowly traced her back, sliding over the leather of her vest and skirt.

  Behind, Cade saw Satemi and Ketzal had wisely begun to remove one another’s clothing. Brilliant, he thought. It is for the best.

  Ketzal, leaning forward and kissing Satemi’s long neck, waved her tail behind her. It was undulating with his own soul, and he found he could feel them as well. Distant as they were, he felt Ketzal’s mouth kissing his own neck, felt Satemi’s hands gliding along the demoness’ soft thighs.

  Minda had grown wise, and tugged at his shirt. He raised his arms and allowed her to remove it. They invested a few precious moments in ridding themselves of the encumbrances of clothing.

  Once more, Cade thought to take off the gift they’d given him. Looking to his partner, however, when he gestured, she shook her head. Okay, he thought placidly. You’ll have your Chimera King for the night. I won’t deny you anything, lover.

  When she smiled, a bright and magnificent display of joy, he knew that though she didn’t understand his precise thoughts, she’d intuited their meaning.

  Then she straddled him once more, and she moved around and above him.

  Minda’s skin was a vast map, and Cade noticed each and every one of its amazing features. He found the valleys at the joint between her hips and thighs, and lost himself there. Then the peaked ridge of her spine fascinated him as he worked up towards her neck.

  Below the base of her head, he dove into the soft, fur-lined gully there. She giggled, and he realized he’d been a bit too eager in his exploration.

  They pulled apart a moment, and Cade spent a lifetime looking into the gemstones of her eyes. Gemstones? Her skin was a map? Dear Lord, that fruit was well worth collecting, he laughed to himself. She laughed too, shaking her head, her braids moving around her head.

  Her smile faded, and she reached between them. At that point, his arousal was undeniable.

  Time slowed. Minda put her hand beneath him, slid her fingers back and forth an imperceptible fraction of an inch, and yet Cade felt like she was stoking a fire within him.

  Her mouth parted. Eyes locked to his. She lifted him to meet her. Pressing, a warmth and endless joining.

  Cade’s heart surged, feeling truly at one with the woman who moved over him.

  They embraced, and he held her back, chin resting on her shoulder as Minda rocked.

  His gaze fell on the others. Satemi’s legs were spread wide, Ketzal’s hands busy and loving between them. The demoness had moved from her neck to her breast.

  Cade saw Satemi watching him in return, and again, he felt the pleasure Ketzal was applying to her willing body. Warmth spread like a wave through Cade’s groin, matching his own impressions, and suddenly he could feel the demoness kiss his own nipple.

  The synesthesia pushed the boundaries of what Cade considered to be his own mind and body, yet so focused he remained that not even a moan felt fair to utter.

  As if feeling his own desire, Satemi voiced his pleasure. A clear and resonant cry of arousal came from her mouth, and Cade looked down to see that Ketzal held an orb of glowing power in her hand. The demoness was coaxing it, encouraging it to grow. Satemi’s eyes went wide as her lover at last pressed it into her, cupping her sex, and releasing the force into the warrior’s body. She shuddered, her core tumbling with the climax.

  At the same time, Cade felt Minda seize around him.

  Focusing back on her, Cade watched her open mouth trying to express what she was feeling. Her hands gripped his back, holding him like an anchor as she was lifted up by an enormous wave. At last, the woman found her voice too. She moaned wordlessly. Warmth seeped down his legs from where her own waters had released. Still, she moved above him, the ecstasy that had taken her refusing to let go.

  “I love you,” he whispered. And she closed her eyes, unable to contain it any longer.

  The town of Camp Casmeer knew Minda’s pleasure, knew its extent and quality. Cade couldn’t have cared less.

  Everything stilled around them, and he saw their collective celebration had come to a momentary standstill.

  Cade saw Ketzal kissing more of the life source back into Satemi’s lungs.

  Minda slumped against him, breathing softly. She seemed so small and sweet. He hugged her to his chest, smelling her hair. Then his own body felt an inexplicable urgency.

  He couldn’t sit by and wait any longer.

  Looking at the woman’s delicate nape, her vulnerability and the innocence of how she rested against him, spurred him to immediate action.

  Cade stood, lifting the woman with him. He deposited her atop the furs and pushed her legs open.

  On his knees, he gripped Minda by the waist and lifted her up and onto him. Hair draping below, she let her arms dangle backward. “I’m yours, Cade,” was all she said, and he pressed himself back into her eager womanhood.

  Satemi had pushed Ketzal off of her, and now the demoness was on her knees, bent over, heavy breasts pressed to the furs below her. She moaned as Satemi worked behind her.

  Feeling his voice return to him for the first time that night, Cade could only growl. His throat vibrated with power as he announced his needs. He held Minda’s hips in his hands, and surged forward to clash with her again and again. He felt Satemi and Ketzal watching him as he bathed in love.

  The myriad golden threads that the Chorba Beans had woven through his flesh began to retract. Starting with his fingers and toes, the glow pulled into him, collecting in his pa
lms and feet until those concentrations overflowed. Tumbling next up his arms and legs, it seemed like the world was alight. The yellow of the cooked fruit, the burning gold of the sun, everything was bright around him.

  A reservoir swelled in Cade’s abdomen.

  He was a mountain lake, filled to bursting at the end of a monsoon season.

  He was the lake, and the last drop of water to fall from the sky.

  He was the mountain and the moon above.

  Yet, despite how vast he felt himself to be, he knew he couldn’t contain it all.

  Cade broke, and he cried out his pleasure for the world to hear and to witness.

  Then someone cleared their throat, and a small and mildly drunk voice asked, “What is going on, you guys? And… why didn’t you wait for me?”

  Cade opened his eyes and saw Gemma standing there with the tent flap held open. He was still holding Minda halfway off the ground, and she had her hands pressed to her mouth in an expression of subtle embarrassment. The girls were beside them, covered in sweat and seduction, both looking to Gemma as well. Chagrin was the color of the season, it seemed, and to make matters worse, Cade realized he was still wearing his stupid battle crown.

  Someone walked by outside, and spoke in a harsh whisper loud enough for anyone to hear. “Have some decency! I mean, good on them, but did he need to scream it?”

  “Uh…” he intoned, hoping someone else might help him out.

  “Yeah, we were…” Minda followed.

  Then they all laughed, and Gemma shook her head. Holding up a platter of something large, she added, “I brought you a gift, Cade. I hope you’re still hungry.”

  4

  Going Down?

  No surprise, the town was abuzz with gossip the following morning.

 

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