by Reed James
Bone clunked into wood. She retreated back and smacked into the wall, fending off two skeletons with her shield. The third lunged its fingers forward, sharp ends burying into her side. She gasped at the lucky hit.
“A crit!” she hissed with annoyance and swung a Hard Strike at the enemy.
And missed. She somehow swiped in the gap between ribs and hips, her sword's tip just grazing the backbone. Wasted TP drained out of her. She shuddered. The skeletons pushing her into the corner as they came for her.
“Marcus!” she whimpered.
“Shield Bash!” he shouted and she heard a clunk of wood followed by a solid thunk of ax striking bone.
A skeleton burst into shards.
“Right, right!” she gasped and felt emboldened by his commands. She channeled her pool of Technical Points into her shield and swung it hard to the side. She crashed it right into the skeleton. It reeled back, and her follow-up attack hit.
Only for it to explode, adding more bones to debuff her.
She shouted in pain as fresh wounds ripped across her flesh. Her Hit Points dwindled even faster than her Technical Points.
* * / *
I had two more uses of Shield Bash left to me. Bones peppered me. I'd lost half my Hit Points and five skeletons loomed before me. Maria fought another three, trapped in the corner. She screamed, sounding in pain as they attacked her.
“Hold on!” I shouted and bashed my shield hard into another skeleton. The bony monster stumbled back and clunked into its friend. My ax slammed down hard, cracking through ribs. My arm throbbed from the bits of bone stabbed into it.
More added to them. I would never be rid of this debuff. I followed up with a good swing at the next skeleton, wanting to conserve my last Shield Bash. I hit hard on the sternum. A crit blew it apart, showering its mates with bones.
The remaining three surged closer to me. Their attacks came at me, forcing me on the defensive. Slashes raked down the front of my shield, gouging the wood and damaging it. My armor caught another, stopping sharp finger bones from ripping into my flesh. I growled as my Yell wore off, some of my elation dwindling.
I hit the next skeleton and coughed out its ribs. It stumbled back but didn't burst into an explosion of bones. Instead, it thrust out at me and tore at my neck and shoulder, ripping through copper chains. I couldn't one-shot kill them any longer.
“Fuck!” I groaned and hit the skeleton's arm before it could withdraw. I cut through the bone, enough damage to the body to destabilize the dark magic animating it.
I ignored the detonation and swung at the skeleton on my right. A glancing blow across the skull. A solid hit to the spine, almost severing it in half, then another skipping blow off the sternum that left a gouge but no real damage.
The second skeleton moved around me. I twisted to block its attack only to get hit on my right side. Pain throbbed through me. I was down to a quarter Hit Points. Blood spilled over my armor. Maria shouted in pain again.
“Crap!” I growled and swung hard at the skeleton who had just hurt me. I caught it square on the forehead, caving in the temple. He stumbled into the wall and fell hard.
“Marcus!” Maria gasped, fighting two skeletons now. Her sword swung wildly. She looked bad. I could feel her remaining Hit Points as the party leader. She was dwindling fast. She needed healing right now.
The skeleton rushed at my left side.
* * / *
Maria's Hit Points were almost gone. She was so close to dying. She'd hit both the skeletons, but she was out of TP. They were damaged but not out of the fight. They slashed at her, crashing into her shield. One reached around her and furrowed into her wrist. Another 5 HP lost. She was in the red. She felt death coming.
“Maria!” Marcus shouted.
He charged across the room, taking a swiping wound from the skeleton he fought. Blood spurted from the wound. He was near death, too. His chainmail armor rent by their tearing finger bones. His boots thudded on the ground, crunching over bits of bones.
He set his shield and bashed it hard into a skeleton. It stumbled forward, missing an attack on her. Marcus's copper ax raised now, reflecting Iris's dancing light. He swung the blade down hard. He crashed it into the skeleton.
Killed it.
The burst of bones missed Maria this time. They hissed around her, pinging off the walls, but none found her arm. She had almost gotten them out of her skin. She had a chance as she fought at 3 HP. One blow...
“Damn,” he growled and whirled as the skeleton he fought crashed into him. He slammed back into the wall beside her, groaning.
She stood by him. Fighting at her party leader's side. She felt invigorated by his presence and thrust at her last skeleton. Finger bones slashed down at her, ready to tear her apart. If they landed, she would die. She couldn't be afraid.
Her sword smashed right through its ribs.
The finger bones about to rip into her flesh burst from its hand and peppered across her face. They spilled over her body as fragments lodged into her sword arm, the fresh pain making her feel clumsy.
She lived.
Marcus kicked out at the skeleton, knocking it back. He rushed at it, slashing his ax in a hard swing. He crashed it into its ribs, shattering half of them. The skeleton didn't care. It raked both its hands down at Marcus, clawing him from both sides.
She rushed in to help. He couldn't take these blows.
“Marcus!” shouted Iris.
He swung without fear, his handsome face bursting with confidence. He swung his ax hard and fast. It blurred through the air. The crescent cut through the skeleton's backbone. The top half of its body toppled to the right. It burst into fragmentary pieces, rippling all around him.
She slid to a halt, staring at him in awe. The skeleton's lower half crashed into the floor. She panted, the fight over and...
A rush of energy suffused her. The experience she'd gained in the fight strengthened her body. She shuddered as the wounds she'd taken healed from the growth she'd gained. Her Hit Points shot up to full. Beyond it. She had more of them. She'd gained another Technical Point, too. 16 now instead of 15.
Marcus laughed with her, a glow bursting around him. The scratches and cuts and deep bleeding wounds mended. He thrust his arm up in the air in triumph. She threw herself at him, hugging him tight as the exultation swirled through her.
He picked her up and swung her around, her legs folding back. Her hair flew wildly around her as she laughed in delight. He held her tight as the room spun around her. Then he set her down, the fire bursting inside of her.
She wanted to kiss him. To surrender to those passions.
“We leveled up!” he shouted and turned away. “We can put on our new loot!”
Chapter Ten: Gearing Up
“You look amazing,” I said to Maria as she stepped around the statue in her new armor.
She had on the solid metal bikini now. The bronze metal cupped her round breasts into a pair of lush mounds. The metal had little shimmers coming off it, little bits of light. It seemed on the verge of bursting into a bright glow.
I loved the chevron designs over the nipples, attracting the eye.
The bronze chainmail swung over her pussy and draped her ass. The metal had a more silvery quality than the copper armor, matching her new sword that she swung before her. She smiled as she swished and slashed at the air.
I had my new bronze greaves strapped over my leather pants, the weight solid and guarding my knees and shins. My new breastplate had a shine about it. But it was my ax I enjoyed. It felt right in my hand now, like I had just the right amount of experience to use. The reddish gleam to the metal spoke of the blood this weapon had absorbed from every person killed.
It made it deadlier. More crit chance sounded perfect.
“Just gorgeous, Maria,” I said, approving.
She blushed and gave me a pleased smile. “You look more martial, Marcus.”
“Yeah, I'm becoming a stud,” I said, flexing. “Always gre
at to find loot and wear it.”
“I suppose,” she said. “You make it sound like you've done this before, but you couldn't have been more than Level 4 when you entered the temple. How many adventures have you been on?”
I hesitated. How to explain that I came from another world, that this place was maybe some computer program. I didn't know if my mind was trapped in the system or if my soul had been yanked out of my body and actually transported to a new reality.
Either way, I couldn't say I played many MMOs and dungeon looters back in the day. EverQuest, of course, and big daddy WoW (World of Warcraft). I cut my teeth in Diablo, dominated Diablo 2, and barely found any time to play the disappointing Diablo 3. I'd also played Lord of the Rings Online, RuneQuest, and even a few text-based MUDs way back in the day.
“I read a lot of books,” I finally said. It was a lie I could live with. “They talked about adventures and the joy they found in new loot. How many, uh, Shardhunters did it solely to find the top tier gear they could. Mythic epics and the like. Not like the greens me and you found.”
“Greens?” She frowned.
“Yeah, your magic breastplate or my ax. They're, like, green items. Better than standard gear, but not blues or even purples. And those wonderful, legendary oranges.” I grinned at how she gave me a patient smile. “Doesn't matter. We're still low level. Plenty of time to get better gear as we go on our quests together.”
“Together?” she asked.
“Well, yeah. You've got to find that cure. If we don't find the Shard here, I at least have one I discovered coming through here. We have someplace we can go if this one doesn't pan out.” I rolled my shoulder. “We're party members, right? Were you planning on disbanding?”
“I'm only a Shardhunter to find the Tear of Ethileri.” She said. “Until then, yes, I'm with you, Marcus.”
“Good.” I looked around the room. “We hit a dead-end here. I guess we've got to do some backtracking, but it was worth it for the gear.”
“Maybe not,” Maria said. She moved to the corner of the room opposite the one she fought in. “Look, this stone's not the same color.”
“Damn, you're right.” I came closer. The floor stone was just a slightly different shade from the rest. Like it had been quarried someplace else (or, so the cynical part of me thought, the guy who made the texture for the fake stone didn't quite match the color of the guy who made the texture for the dungeon floor). “Let's see what's there.”
We pried it up and found another ladder leading down. It seemed weird to have in a temple. Did the priests even know about it? They seemed to have gone to their rooms, laid down, and died. A shiver ran through me.
Like one of those creepy cults would. Had they all drunk the fantasy version of the Kool-Aid?
I descended first again, Iris buzzing around my head, providing light. It was a shaft that led down and down. Soon, we were passing down bedrock. Was there something beneath the temple? The ladder creaked with our steps. Maria moved down above me, her chainmail loincloth rattling with her steps. A little light splashed on the walls before her, bursting from her new breastplate bikini.
I stepped off at the bottom. Things scurried out of sight. Long and with too many legs. A creepy shiver ran down my back. I hoped we didn't have to find their larger cousin. That would be unpleasant. The tunnel appeared to run straight ahead. It was so narrow I had trouble standing facing it. I had to turn to the side.
“Must be a secret passage!” Iris exclaimed.
Her wings buzzed and hummed as she zipped down the hallway. Her light bobbed and waved, illuminating the striped rocks. Bands of whites, browns, and blacks were all lain one atop the other, crushed down. Little crystals glinted in the flashing like twinkling stars in Iris's wake.
“Dead end!” she moaned. She zipped up and down around the wall at the end. It wasn't stone, though, but brick. A small line of light ran beneath it, a tiny gap.
“It's a door,” I said. Apparently, my perception was good enough to spot it. Maybe that was the level up. My Intelligence stat had gone up a point for the first time. It was my bad stat, the opposite of Strength, my primary.
I stopped before it and pushed on the right side. Stones groaned and rasped together as the door swung outward onto a large room whose ceiling was lost to the gloom above. Large columns supported it, each one shaped like the Goddess Shuwëmeri, busty and curvy. Their arms held up the ceiling, or so I imagined. You could see just past her breasts before Iris's light grew to dim. Each one looked slightly different, hips cocked in different ways, feet closer or further apart.
“Looks like a boss room,” I said.
“That would be incorrect,” a voice answered from my left.
At one end of the room stood a pair of braziers burning pink flames that shed light onto a woman before the door. She was naked and curvaceous, her breasts bountiful and defying gravity in a way I appreciated. Her large nipples thrust out before her beading with milk. A mane of golden hair spilled down around her placid face. White wings thrust out to the side, pinions spread wide. A glow suffused around her head, a nimbus of bright light that seemed to emanate from her locks.
Her head turned to regard me with sapphire eyes.
“Ah, so you're not the boss?” I asked, my hand ready to draw my ax in case she sprang at us.
The figure shook her head. “I am the door warden, Shardhunter.” Her voice held a melodic and celestial quality, almost aloof but not condescending, managing to have a motherly warmth to it. “Fear not, you only have to face my blade if you try to force passage beyond me.”
It was also not the same voice who'd answered me.
Sitting before the door was a slender woman in purple. Pale-yellow hair fell in a long mane down the back of her robe that clung to her narrow figure. Long, pointed ears thrust out of her hair. They twitched as we approached. She rose with the grace that could only be called inhuman. Not even a ballerina could do what she did. The hem of her robe swayed around her feet, showing off a pair of black, heeled boots. In her hand, she held a white staff that spread into stylized branches at the top. She turned around, her waist slender and her breasts large. They swelled the front of her tight robes. A diamond cutout showed off the inner slopes of her breasts, her pale flesh jiggling as she came to a stop. The robe fell open at the skirt, showing off a pair delicate, lilac panties and matching fishnet stockings held up by garter belts. Her boots rose up past her knees and gave her a sensual appearance.
Her face had the beauty of an ice sculpture. Delicate cheeks. Small lips. Her eyes were slanted and matched the hue of her robes. Long eyelashes fluttered as she blinked them. Other than that, her face showed no emotion. Not even interest.
“Shardhunters,” the elf said, giving hardly a nod to us. “I did not realize another way came down to the Sanctum of Shuwëmeri. The main passage was half collapsed and provided much vexation.”
“I'm sure it did,” I said slowly. She didn't sound vexed. She didn't sound anything other than bored. “I'm Marcus. Marcus Aurelius. And this is my party member, Maria du Marne.”
“It's so wonderful to meet you,” Maria said and darted past me. Her heeled boots thudded on the ground. She threw her arms wide. “I'm so glad to see a female Shardhunter. And an elf! No one has seen an elf in my village since the Shattering.”
“Indeed,” the elf said, not showing any signs she wanted to embrace Maria. “Your village no doubt holds little significance in fixing the ails of this world.” She turned back to face the angel.
Maria lowered her arms and puffed out her cheeks with annoyance. “You could at least introduce yourself, elf.”
“I'm Kulrigiizhai,” she said, her words flowing out of her with the smoothness of water flowing over submerged stones.
“Well met, Kulurigiaz... zhay.” I said, wincing. I knew I didn't say it right. I tripped over all those rocks.
“You may find Kulri easier to say instead of butchering the beauty of my full name.”
Embarrassmen
t warmed my cheeks. Wanting to smooth over it, I glanced at the angel and asked, “So, we fight her?”
“That would be unwise, oh Hunter of Shards,” the angel said, her eyes narrowing. “Not even the broken demons of Rūzem could sweep me from my passage. I grant passage to those who have the right to enter Shuwëmeri's sanctum.”
“And that is?”
The angel drew in a breath and recited poetry:
A vow I swore,
to guard yon door,
behest of life's goddess.
Shuwëmeri's bliss,
A blessed kiss,
May pass beyond my charge.
If not divine,
Your choice sublime,
To drip with male delight.
A woman nubile,
A pussy fertile,
Brimming with salty seed.
To pay my fee,
Share with me,
A taste of cunt fulfilled.
“I... see,” I said, struggling to parse out the riddle. It was a lot harder to do without a chat log before me. I had to remember all of it. There seemed to be two conditions. One to give a kiss if you had the goddess's bliss. He didn't know how to get that, and the other one sounded like the angel wanted to eat a creampie.
“It's a simple riddle, Marcus,” the elf said. “I solved it two hours ago. Sadly, it is not something I can do on my own. But you provide the answer.”
I grinned. “So you don't have Shuwëmeri's bliss?”
“Do I look like I am a priestess? 'If not divine, Your choice sublime, To drip with male delight,' is what's applicable to me. Since I am a mage, I must go with the alternative. I feared I would have to track down one of the orcs and see if I couldn't satisfy their anger with my body and get the seed I need.”
“You would make love to an orc to get past the angel?” Maria asked, shock plainly written upon her face.
“I very much doubt any love would be involved in the rutting,” the elf said.
“Still...” Maria's face turned a little green. “The ones upstairs tried to kill me. Not... do that.”
“Either way, I must continue to explore. If this sanctum holds what I seek, then I would let one of those Rūzem cultists lay upon me and fill my pussy with seed. It is merely sex.” Her gaze flicked to me. “If you are fully functional, I will join your party so that we might slip past this obstacle and to continue our exploration. I have some skill in the matter. You shall find adequate stimulation in me to achieve your climax.”