Jonathan A Countyman
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Chapter LXXXIII Challenges, Discussions and Surprises
🕑 Added 2020-07-06 21:57:14 +0000 UTC
Shortly after Umeko left, Arlie heard a knock at the door. She already knew who was at the door, and was not sure why they bothered to knock. Without moving from her favorite chair, she opened the door with a thought. As the door swung open, a familiar face entered her home. Arlie smiled happily, and gestured at a chair, “Ariala, dear. It’s so good to see you. May I ask what brings you to this backwater village in the middle of nowhere?”
She giggled, and settled into the chair while saying, “I heard the good news. You are gracing me with younger siblings.”
Arlie blinked, “Well that was fast, and frankly you are a little early.”
She patted her stomach, and continued, “I’m not even showing yet. Although I did need to talk to you.”
“Really, about what?”
Arlie shifted in her seat, and leaned forward seriously. Although the image lost something thanks to her state of dress, “I have been thinking lately about something that Aurora said to me long ago. At the time no one was worthy or willing, but I think things I have changed.”
Ariala stood up abruptly, “You don’t mean..”
Arlie heard her thought loud and clear. She was not even blocking the broadcast, and simply nodded that she was.
Ariala dropped back into her chair her expression downcast, “But you would not even teach me.”
Arlie wanted to look away, but instead looked her in the eye, “at the time, you just weren’t ready. Now you are, but I won’t for a different reason. The Throne of the Empire is a great deal of responsibility and you don’t need more on your plate.”
“I guess you are right. So I take it that you think Milith might be worthy?”
Arlie nodded, “She is one of three candidates so far that I have my eye on. I am only observing for now, but I plan to test Milith in a few weeks when she finishes healing.”
“Who are the other candidates?” asked Ariala, looking quite curious.
Arlie said nothing for a moment or two, and then suddenly she formed a tight mental link and gave two names. It seemed Arlie wanted to keep those other names under wraps at the moment.
Misaki stretched lazily as she got up out of her throne. She had just finished completing her dungeon and naturally her thoughts drifted back to what she had seen during her short break. Idly ordering Meira to wake Melisa, and to follow her. She quickly lost herself in thought. Tammi and Amy’s encounter earlier that day had been rather interesting to watch.
Tammi had walked in at the perfect moment. It was the end of the day, and she was going to head for bed. Of course, she did plan on asking Amy her opinion on the new name a certain Antgirl had proposed. One that others had heard and were starting to use. Only she stopped quite short when she walked through the door and stared for a minute or two. Clearly not quite connecting the image before her.
Amy had gone through a bit of a change since she had last seen her. The scales only being part of it. That was not all of what had her hung up. No, the fact that Amy was naked, and on top of another equally naked demon with her tail buried in the demon’s pussy was what had her staring. Afterall, she had never seen her sister with a tail before.
That new feature was part of Amy’s transformation. She had undergone a little initiation ritual that would ultimately turn her into a lust demon. A lesser one, but still a demon. That ritual did have the side effect of triggering her family heritage, hence the scales. Misaki had not warned Tammi, because she wanted to see her reaction. Turns out it was just a frozen stare, and then some bumbling comments type of reaction.
Amy had ended up cutting her fun short and put her sister to bed. Misaki figured that she might have a few more things to say when she gets over the shock. Hopefully, the sleep helps, and Misaki planned to check on her in the morning.
As she was leaving her castle, she saw Umeko rush by her, but before she could even say a word of greeting, the nude Draviri was gone. She was not sure why the girl was back, but she had a feeling she was doing something for Arlie. She wasn’t sure what, she just hoped it was not something she would have to be concerned about. So she pushed the brief sighting out of mind and hurried on her way back to her favorite person.
Darious stepped into the sixth floor with the group as tired as the rest of his party. That dragon girl had some rather impressive stamina, and it had taken so many rounds that he lost count to satisfy her. Thankfully she was quite happy now, and they could move on to the next floor.
First, he wanted to rest though, and thankfully the first room of the floor was a safe zone, as it was with most dungeons. He could set up camp there, and they could rest. They all needed it for now, but he was already questioning the usefulness of the Thugs he had brought. Perhaps he should have considered someone else to hire.
At least they were good for setting up the camp, and while they did that. He talked with the rogues, going over what they knew about this floor. It was a labyrinth, but unfortunately they had not been able to get any maps from the guild. They had managed to learn some by talking to the adventurers though. The floor layout changed every once in a while, but not so often that you had to worry about it. So maps were useful as long as they weren’t more than a week and a half old.
Being a maze, and with no map meant they were going to have to map the floor as they went. Not ideal but they could work with that. Chief threats on the floor were apparently spiders, slimes, and traps. Lamias were rare on these floors, but rarely you might encounter them and thankfully the ceilings heights meant he did not have to worry about harpies. Those creatures were very annoying because of their ability to fly. Especially when on narrow walk paths that limit your ability to move, and force you to mind your balance so you don’t fall. Given spiders were the main monster here, it gave him and the rogues a few clues on what they will face.
Spiders rarely go for the straight fight, and tend to lay ambushes for unsuspecting adventurers. Slimes use the same strat, so they just had to keep an eye out. Failure to spot a trap or ambush could prove fatal here. Worse he knew what spiders liked to do with those they captured, and he just did not swing towards spiders. So being milked dry by them just did not seem appealing to him.
Thankfully he already knew about spiders in the dungeon and had prepared the best he could. They liked to use their webs to lay their own traps, block off passages, and even fight to some degree. Spider demons also had a paralytic bite. Those webs were the greater danger, but unfortunately finding Web Dissolving Jelly was rather hard. It was in such high demand that he had only been able to obtain a single jar, and it was not cheap either. As the name of the stuff implies it is an alchemical substance akin to jelly in consistency that could dissolve the ridiculously strong webs of a spider demon. Adventurers in this dungeon often kept some on hand for getting their fellows out of webs. Not every party though was fortunate enough to obtain a jar given how high the demand was, and how expensive it was as a result. The alchemists just could not produce enough for the demand.
He did better on obtaining antidotes for their venom. He had four jars of antidote, and that was plenty. A single jar could hold nearly a hundred doses of antidote. That meant he had far more than they would likely need. At least he hoped so. Honestly what he was most worried about was running out of jelly. Demonic spider webs were no joke, even dragons had to be careful of them. There were only three easy ways to deal with them, the first was with fire. A good choice if someone was not trapped in them. Celestial magic would weaken them, and Web Dissolving Jelly simply broke it right down. Jelly was often preferred as strategic application combined with specially enchanted gloves allowed for the webs to be harvested. Celestial magic and fire both worked but the web was worthless afterwards. Given their strength they had a number of applications. He had gotten some info on the floor from adventurers who made a tidy profit from harvesting demonic webs and selling it on the market.
Before they went to bed, they set up watches and he distributed a jar of antidote to each rogue. Along with a portion of the Jelly they had.
Misaki emerged from her dungeon just as there was a flash of light that signalled the appearance of a new individual at her entrance. Even from behind the elven figure seemed familiar, but since she had not been paying attention inside her halls she did not know who it was.
The figure immediately started cursing, and complaining about something. It took Misaki a full three minutes to figure out what they were displeased about. It seems they had made it all the way to her ninth floor, only to fail when they answered a puzzle wrong. Even better, she learned it was one of her really tricky puzzles that had nothing to do with progressing on the floor. It was just a very tricky puzzle that guarded the lock for a hidden treasure room. Naturally that room hid the best treasure that floor had to offer, but better treasures awaited deeper in the dungeon.
Given the late hour, she was not surprised that there were no guild staff on hand for the poor girl. So she waited with Melisa and Meira for the girl to calm down, and then she approached.
Up close she was able to take in the girl’s features, she was very cute. With light green hair that hung loosely around her face, and fell just past her shoulders. She was bigger than Misaki and that meant she had to look up to see her face. Her face looked familiar, but not so familiar that she could place it immediately. There were some differences but she felt she had seen someone similar recently. Perhaps a relative. Bodywise the girl had a great figure, and was blessed with a chest just a bit larger than the average for an elf. Although it looked a little smaller on her given her height.
The girl noticed them, and spoke first, “You’re Misaki right? You would not happen to know where my sister is staying?”
Something about the way the girl spoke, and the fact she recognized her sparked Misaki’s memory. Her eyes went wide, and she did a double take as her mind compared the girl with the figure they had last she saw them. The difference was rather striking and the change dramatic. Although she had seen larger gaps before.
She nodded dumbly.
The girl smiled happily, “Great! Where is she staying?”
Misaki gulped, and said, “The Flowering Pussy.”
The girl frowned, “Odd name for an inn. Can you tell me where to find it?”
Misaki nodded, and pointed toward the entrance, “Head down five floors, take a right from the floor entrance and proceed straight down the path until you hit a fork in the road. Continue down the left path until you hit the safe zone. You should find the inn near the market square. If you need further help, just ask any of the local demons.”
The girl gave her a blank look for a moment or two, and then started laughing, “That’s a good joke. Where are they really staying?”
