"Is she going to be ok?" I asked Jill with a worried expression, but Jill just smiled at me and pointed down while also backing away out of sight.
As I looked down in my arms, Mikota curled in an adorable pose. Her face pressed into my chest and shirt, in a place the leather armor didn't cover. Mikota pulled her face away for a second to look up at me and make eye contact, and a blush started to burn in her face, but she buried in back into my chest.
I could see what Jill was doing, pawning off Mikota's affection onto me. I could hardly be mad at Jill, with the adorable woman in my arms. I turn to the sound of Jill, calling me.
"They found the next level!" Jill said excitedly.
I knew she had been the most worried about everyone's safety, and it was good to see the smile on her beautiful face. I tried to put Mikota down, but she gripped my shirt, and I relented. I followed Jill towards the small lights that had replaced the roaring torch, and the place felt overly quiet.
"Good Job, everyone! This advantage was exactly what we needed. This method cut the time we thought it would take down a lot."
"What do you think will be down there?" Mikota asked from my arms.
"Monsters!" everyone else said at the same time, and then we all started to laugh.
"We didn't see any up here, so it's only logical that they would be below because something made that noise last night," Kyrin explained.
We all walked down a set of stairs, and below was a room with a single door. We looked around the room quickly, but there wasn't anything in it besides and a couple of empty wooden barrels. Everyone prepared themselves for the expected fight, but I kept Mikota in my arms, able to use my magic without needing my hands.
Considering what our abilities could do together, just having my face uncovered was more than enough. Sasha and Kyrin approached the door and opened it partway to try and get a look inside. The door slammed shut, and both of them threw their shoulders into the door.
Suddenly the sounds of the dead cried out, and I felt a shiver run through Mikota.
"How bad is it?" I asked them, coming forward to help brace the door with my magic, but before I could do anything, the door exploded with pressure.
Chapter 49: Jilly and Me
Living dead skeletons pour out of the door and immediately started attacking. They were easy enough to kill, but the numbers were becoming overwhelming in the stairwell area. Sasha added light magic to her claws, and any undead she touched instantly fell to a pile of bones, while Kyrin wreathed his blade in flames and cremated the bone warriors.
"Everyone, fall back to the stairs!" I yelled.
Mikota gripped me tight with fear as I smashed skeletons with rock fists that rose from the ground. Jill used her Water magic to create a wave that pushed the undead back so everyone could get behind me.
"Is everyone on the stairs?"
"Yes, you can do it now," Jill let me know from behind us.
"Ready?" I said with a grin to Mikota, who still had a scared look in her eyes.
"Mmhm."
Mikota pulled my shirt up and pushed her cool hands against my stomach, and then I felt the darkness mix with my magic. As the skeletons tried to get up, I inhaled deeply. When I expelled my breath, a cloud of brown and black gas spilled from my mouth.
As the vapor touched the undead, the preservation magic that held the bones intact after every fight was destroyed by our Decay magic. The bones chipped and cracked, ages of damage and wear piling on in a moment. The army of bones reduced to piles of chips.
"Whoa," Mikota had her hands and arms wrapped around my waist under my shirt.
As the last skeleton crumbled, I got a hot feeling inside me as Mikota's cool and smooth arms pressed against my bare skin. I tried to lift her higher, but Mikota held tight and buried her face into the area just below my belly button. Blood trickle from my nose, caused by the Mach speed of my heart. As I heard the girls coming back down the stairs and I tried to put Mikota down again, she just held tighter and pushed her face in more. Then I was asked a question that made me undergo the legendary transformation technique: Total Body Blush!
"What's poking into my back, Dave?" Mikota asked with a wicked smile as she looked into my eyes.
As my body started to puff steam, I saw the girls and Kyrin crowded around, giving me very pointed looks. I practically drop Mikota as my pure instinct kicks in again, and I run. The girl voices trailed after me as I partially run into the broken door frame. As I flee like a frightened wild animal, all reason had left me. It was one large room with another stairwell at the end, so I aimed for that, wanting to flee the crushing embarrassment of what just happened.
These marble stairs were nicer than the stone one leading down from the other levels; I thought as I ran two steps at a time, hearing the girl's voices telling me to wait and not to be reckless. That was easy for them to say. They hadn't been on the receiving end of that embarrassment. No, they were just the pointers and laughers.
I didn't even notice until it was too late, when a gate slid down over the stairwell exit, just as I passed over it. I turned around and seen four bears covered in twisted tree branches and roots coming from their feet, while leaved branches stuck out of each back—Gnarled Bear Trees. Just like the lady had said from the market, come to think about it, she was the only one in the whole place that would talk to us, but my thoughts were cut when I heard Jill scream out in pain behind me.
I turned around to see Jill on her knees and clutching her hand that was smoking, with the other girls around her. I tried to come closer, but Jill shook her head with tears in her eyes. The gate had some kind of offensive magic barrier separating us. Growls from behind me forced my attention back to the problem at hand.
The four bears were advancing. With each step, their roots grappled for purchase. My thoughts raced as I tried to figure out how to use my magic to defeat these things. Every scenario I played in my head left me short of power to finish them all. Finally, I called to the earth and brought the element around my body as the bears charged.
Looking like a stone-Knight, I charged, slamming one of my fists down on top of the first bear's head, creating and forcing an earth spike into the brain with the connection as the bear went down, the next closet bit into the stone armor and scrapped my flesh with its teeth. The stone bracer exploded with spikes of rocks, killing the bear instantly. The other two were almost to me as I got up, charging them both and getting between their intersecting paths.
I lift my stone covered arms and rammed them down both bears mouthes. Their teeth clamped down, and I could feel the teeth sinking into my flesh, then I let loose with all the magic I had left. Instantly the biting stopped on both arms as hundreds of stone spikes exploded from the gnarled wooden flesh and the bears fell off my arms, along with all the stone armor I was wearing.
I vaguely remember the sound of the gate sliding back up, and the girls cry as they rushed to catch me, as everything went black.
When I came to, a fire was built, and I could smell some kind of potato soup Maxine had brought. I felt my head lying in a soft lap, and I opened my eye's looking up. Jill's tears almost blind me as I looked up into her beautiful face that was filled with tears.
"Please don't ever do that again! What were you thinking?!" Jill cried, and I sat up, taking her in my arms and holding her close.
"I'm sorry, Jill, I didn't mean to scare you like that, but I told you I could protect you," was all I could really say, considering that I didn't want to get into what got me into the predicament.
Jill held me tightly, not wanting to let go, then she looked up into my eyes. My breath caught as she moved to pressed her lips into mine passionately. As we kissed deeply, our tongues slightly brushing, I pulled her body into mine and held the back of her neck. As our passion slowed, my mind was pulled away to that day when Davey met Jilly.
I had been playing just outside of the village when I heard the little girl's screams. I was only eight-years-old at the time, but I ra
n to the cries. When I got there, a girl I had seen around the village named Jilly was being cornered by strange wolves with horns. I ran forward, creating an earth hand to slap away the wolves, so I had time to get to Jilly.
"Davey! What are you doing! These are thunder wolves! Why didn't you go get help?!"
"You got me here, just call me big bro. I can protect you!"
The wolves leaped at us, but I create large fists made from dirt and rock, beating them away. Finally, they started using Lighting attacks, but the walls of dirt I created just absorbed the attacks. The wolves we now held back and beat down, so they made a yipping retreat like a bunch of coyotes.
I turned to see a wide-eyed Jilly staring at me.
"How did you do that alone?"
"I told ya, just call me big bro! I can protect you."
From that day forward, we spent all of our time together, playing and exploring. It wasn't until my mother died that things changed. It happened right after we had stumbled upon some runes with a large strange mosaic. When we touched it, we were taken to a room with 5 jars filled with moving golden lights.
Somehow when we let go, we knew what needed to be done, the message drilled into our minds, and even now, I could recall the message. Collect the other four and find the souls to rise up and away from this dreadful prison. It was at that moment that we stopped being children. My mother dying was just the push before jumping.
Jill became the mother figure in my life as we traveled for years, and yet our feelings for each other only appeared after Sasha joined us. No matter how the events turned out, I held her here and now in my arms. When our lips finally pulled apart, Jill put her head into my chest that was only covered by a thin shirt, and closed her eyes.
I kissed Jill's forehead and held her close as I watched the fire dance and the girls mill about getting ready to serve soup.
Chapter 50: Dropping Rocks
We all ate and then got some sleep. Jill stayed in my lap, curled into my chest while I lay up against one of the walls. Mikota was practically lying in Jill's lap while the rest of the girls curled up next to me. Kyrin offered to keep watch part of the night, and Sasha would trade-off, but it turned out to be quiet, without noise.
I awoke hot, and both my legs had fallen asleep to the point where I would need a minute to even be able to walk. Jill's face was pressed into my neck, and I moved my face to kiss her cheek, and everyone started to stir. I could feel the prickling pain in my legs begin as Jill turned her face into my lips to give me a kiss before pushing Mikota off her lap.
Everyone pilled off, and we got our stuff packed back up, and I noticed Sasha against the wall. She was supposed to be on watch, but she had slid down the wall and was obviously asleep. Once my legs started to work again, and the pins and needles wore off, I crept over to Sasha.
She looked cute, laying there defenseless as I sneaked over to her side. I used the earth to glide over soundlessly, but when I was centimeter's from tickling her, I stopped. Sasha's eyes were open, and she had a wicked smile, her claws were the same distance from my face, and my fingers were from her sides.
"Bad, Dave! Trying to sneak up on me?" Sasha grabbed me after she retracted her blades of doom from my face.
Sasha pulled me into a kiss that took me off my feet and into her lap. With her leaning over me and me laying in her lap, the whole thing felt wrong, but I didn't fight the passionate kisses. When she was finished with me, I was rolled on to the ground and left, as she went and helping others like nothing just happened.
I heard Maxine laughing at me, but when I got up, everyone was ready to go. We all walked to the end of the long chamber and headed down another marble set of stairs. Each of my arms was held tight, my Mikota and Jill, to prevent me from turning animal and running off again. I tried to reassure them that they didn't have to worry, but they both just smiled at me as I was dragged along.
As we moved down the stairs, it started getting hotter, not like with Kyrin's torch, but instead like a gradual rising of the greater temperature than usual. I looked down at Mikota, and she was doing all right. Jill was on my other side, so she could cool her if needed. Near the bottom of the stairs, we could see an orange glow coming from the next level.
"Woah, what is this place? It's massive!" Sasha exclaimed as she walked into the room.
As we all followed her out, I could see what she had meant. The path stopped, and stairs continued down at least fifty-meters down to a massive steel platform hung from Ogresteel chains, a black metal with red veins with magical properties that weaken magical power. This was going to be a problem because there was no other exit other than a three-meter wide hole in the ceiling center.
"So, any idea's on how to deal with this?"
"Those chains are going to make everything that much harder, but the worst part is we don't know what will appear until we go down there," Jill pondered on the information, but Mikota was squeezing my arm.
I looked down at Mikota, and she was already sweating and staring to look faint. She put her arms up like a little girl. Even though she was twenty-four, her small frame made her look too cute to resist. I scooped her up and turned to Jill, who had already got Maxine's help, borrowing Wind magic to make a cloth wet and cold. Mikota started to moan provocatively, and I had to poke her with my finger to make her stop.
"Owe! Don't do that!" Mikota complained, squirming in my arms.
"Then don't make noises like that!"
"Oh? You Like those?"
"I will drop you."
"I surrender! I will try to stop," Mikota promised with her hands pushed together in front of herself.
I looked up to see the girls staring at us with slitted eyes.
"Are you two ready?" Maxine asked with her hand on her hip? Or do we need to wait a little longer?"
"Ya, Ya, let's go!"
With no plan, we started down the stairs. I could feel the sapping of the Ogresteel, and I could see wary looks on all the girl's faces as it affected them. It was a long walk down the countless steps, and there was no sign of any monsters yet. When we got to the bottom stage, we all gathered before going forward.
"OK, everyone! On three, we will jump the last step, so no one gets separate!" Jill told us in a louder voice.
"One!"
Our voices chimed, and a rumble started.
"Two!"
More shaking as everyone prepared to jump.
"THREE!"
As we all jumped, the scream started coming from below, and it cut through my soul as I landed. The sounds were so much more crushing this close, and a dark shape pulled itself out a massive hole below the huge hanging platform in the wall. The dark thing crawled up, and It showed itself to be a gigantic centipede.
The screams came from the thousands of skulls that lined the undead creatures back, crying out in pain with otherworldly screams of despair. Kyrin sent gouts of fire at the beast, but it did nothing to it. Unstoppable, it climbed down a chain and onto the platform.
"Stay moving and make it hard for that thing to move! We need to do something about that sound!"
"I'm on it!" Sasha yelled as she pulled away from Maxine's hand.
Sparks crackled as she extended her claws. Sasha dashed forwards, but not at full speed, the screams of the dead weighing her down. When she got close, the undead creature turned its head and sprayed acid, but Kyrin and Jill sent steam in a cloud that was just able to dilute the acid and cause minimal damage to Sasha.
Bursting from the cloud, Sasha slashed at the monster but was kicked away by a leg. I tried to send spikes of earth into the centipede's body's underside, but the effect was lessened. The ends only slightly pierced it, and it was getting harder and harder to use magic, period.
"Dave, what are we going to do?" Jill asked with a panicked look ask Kyrin fought the massive thing back with massive strokes of his fiery blade, even that was only partially effective.
Before I could answer, Kyrin faltered and was caught off guard, an armored l
eg bashing him back, and then it dove for him. I told Mikota to let go, and I dropped her but allowing her to catch her balance, then I ran for Kyrin. The black-armored monstrosity had knocked him back far, but I was still too far away, and my magic was having little to no effect.
Just before the undead centipede reaches Kyrin and I was still out of reach to help, I heard a familiar stone grinding growl from above.
"BANG!"
The Impact knocked everyone off their feet as the platform rocked from the massive rock troll that just smashed into it. The bang had silenced the cries of the dead, and I could hear the disgusting tearing and pulling noise. When I got up, Grock was tearing the centipede's chitin shell off the body and ripping the insides out. Kyrin had gotten up and was coming over to me, offering his hand to get up.
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