Season 4 Chapter 22
I sat at the head of the conference room table. My monster girls were here. All my companions plus Smerta and Usiku. I also had asked Kassie, Fara, and Halia to attend. The ghosts had returned from their scouting of the halfling city of Sharithin.
The five ghosts floated around us, their green, translucent bodies hard to see in the brightly lit room. Their ethereal presence lent a strange weight to the proceedings. It was hard to believe this was anything but the direst stakes.
On the table was a map of the city that Kassie had brought with her and the refugees.
"Dark One," Duhot said, "we moved unseen through the city and saw that it is as Lady Kassie has reported. On the ground, the city is patrolled by werewolves that do terrorize the conquered halflings. The skies are full of phoenixes, thunderbirds, and hippogriffs."
"Level 3 monster girls," muttered Halia. She had a resolute expression to her face.
"That does sound bad," said Lana Fulmine. My movie starlet looked across the map.
"We found two monster girl companions in the central building that seemed to be in command," Duhot continued, her ghostly sisters nodding their heads in agreement. "A raiju and a treant."
"Dark One, the halflings are treated horribly," Grobi said. The ghost rubbed her ethereal hands together. "I saw one ripped apart by a werewolf for daring to defy an order."
Kassie blanched and swallowed. The halfling looked down at the table, her slender shoulders quivering.
"How many of each did you see?" I asked, my heart hammering. Level 3 monster girls scared me, but if there was a small enough amount...
"We saw no more than five of each variety," said Duhot. "Including the commanders, twenty-two monster girls are all that hold the city."
"Twenty-two," I said. That seemed doable. "Besides the werewolf ripping one halfling apart, how badly are the others being treated."
Duhot looked down at her floating feet. "Badly."
"There are many dead," Dusata added. "There was a... pile outside the city. Maybe a few thousand have already died."
Kassie squeezed her eyes shut. Fara, who sat on one side of her, put about a hesitant hand and placed it on the halfling. But then my mother hurried around the table and knelt beside Kassie, putting a comforting arm around the halfling and whispering in her ear. I swallowed. This was horrifying.
"Kassie," I said, staring at her trembling form. "Kassie."
She raised her head, her emerald eyes raw and bleeding pain. "Y-yes, Lord Leo."
"Do you have any idea where Sulanga's dungeon lies?"
"N-no." She trembled.
I swallowed. "I know this is terrible to hear, but we need your input if we're going to have a chance of saving the survivors."
She drew in a shuddering breath, my mother rubbing her hands up and down Kassie's arms and whispering more comforting words. The halfling gathered herself, holding her hand tight before her. She blinked back her tears.
"What do you need to know, Lord Leo?" she asked, her voice cracking.
"How is the teleportation circle coming?" I asked. We would need a way to move people around. An idea was forming in my mind, but we would need those circles to work.
"I am ready to test them," she said. She pushed back her chair and pulled out a piece of chalk, which was attached to a string, and a book. She opened it as she knelt on a section of the floor.
She began to draw the circle around her, using the string attached to the chalk as a compass to make the circles. As she worked, I thought about my plan. I worked on it. It was probably doable. The only way to save those halflings in Sharithin.
And I would save them. What this Sulanga bastard did to them was horrible. Cruel.
He was the sort of dungeon builder that caused the world to hate us. I wouldn't hesitate to put him down if I could. But for now, I would save the halflings he had conquered and brutalized. I would liberate them from his yoke.
"Lord Leo, which way is north in this room?" Kassie asked, looking up from her work.
I thought for a moment then pointed.
Nodding, the halfling drew in the symbols, glancing down at the book over and over again. She worked in a clockwise manner, scratching them down at around the perimeter of the circle. She moved slowly on her knees, the scratch of her chalk echoing through the room.
Everyone was quiet, as if they wanted her to have full concentration. Hagane studied what Kassie drew as did Fara, both of them peering down at the halfling's work. I was surprised this could be done in chalk. The one we had found had been carved into stone.
Maybe that just made them permanent. Chalk smudged. You wouldn't want the parts of it to be damaged.
"Okay," Kassie said. She stood up. "I need a volunteer. If I did this wrong, you'll die."
"Ooh, ooh, I'll do it!" Garnet gasped. She jumped out of her chair and leaped into the middle of the circle. "Me, me, me! I want to teleport."
"You teleport all the time when Leo moves you around the dungeon," Maya said, my undine girlfriend shaking her head at the succubus.
"Teleport!" Garnet shouted and thrust her arm up into the air.
"Asud Gu!" Kassie cried.
The circle flared with white light. Then Garnet was gone. Just popped out of existence. My stomach lurched. Even prepared for it, I was shocked to see my little sister just vanish like that. I stood up.
"Ooh, I'm down in the dungeon," Garnet said through telepathy. "Wait, I'm all alone down in Meskalamdug's dungeon!"
"We need to experiment," I said. "How do you determine where the circle goes."
"I think about the one I want it to connect to," she said. "The one in Meskalamdug's dungeon has lost its mate, so it was receptive to a new one." She brushed off her hands. "Once they're paired, they will remain so until one of the circles is damaged."
She wiped her foot over the chalk. "Meskalamdug's circle is open to be connected by another. I can make a more permanent one."
"How long does it take you to make a permanent one?" I asked her.
"If you can provide me with circles that are already formed in the stone, I can carve the sigils in about an hour per circle," Kassie said.
"Come with me," I said and stood up. "We need to test if they'll stay connected to each other after you link them."
"Move them?" Kassie asked. "They'll be carved into stone."
"He can move rooms of the dungeon around with the Void Crystal," said Hagane. "You want to use them for the mission."
"But why do you need the teleportation circles if you can just move rooms around?" Kassie asked as she walked beside me out of the room.
"I can't move myself that way unless it's my Vault," I said. "Since I have to be holding the Void Crystal to do it. And that puts us all in too much danger."
"He risked it with Anguin," Morana said. "The Dark Lord put his life on the line."
"Leo," gasped Ms. Trueno. "That's so reckless. You didn't."
"It was a gamble," I said. "But that's not the only reason. I can't move my dungeon at all when there are intruders in the dungeon."
"You think the enemy will get in the dungeon," gasped Mrs. Lucina as I pushed open the door to the throne room.
"It's possible," I said, the plan becoming more and more concrete. But I needed the teleportation circles to work. It would be easier if I could move them about, but if not, then this should still work. "Come on."
I hurried through the throne room and our living quarters to my Vault. It was crowded.
My monster girls were talking as I grabbed the Void Crystal. Smerta and Usiku were talking tactics with Halia to deal with the Level 3 monster girls. Crystal joined in the conversation, sounding quite eager to fight. Mrs. Lucina and my mother were in deep conversation about how to give aid to the halflings that were in trouble.
"We'll need to get supplies from Astovin," said Mom. "Blankets and food."
"We'll talk to Feya," said Mrs. Lucina.
I grabbed the Void Crystal and made two rooms off the Vault on the right and the left. They each had a magic circle in the middle. Big ones, ten feet across, so that many people could crowd on them at a time. Then I added some stone-carving tools and surveying supplies.
"Kassie, get to work," I said and pointed at one door.
She turned around and blinked. "Your powers are so... bewildering.
"They're neat," said Maya, grabbing my arm. "How are you doing down there, Garnet."
"I found the dungeon," my little sister said. "It was so dark around the circle. I was scared."
"You're a Darkness monster girl," Maya said, rolling her eyes and smiling at me.
"Still scary!" Garnet hissed. "Big bro, can you teleport me back."
"So you admit that he teleports you," Maya said like she had triumphed.
I rolled my eyes.
Kassie found this all so strange, but she was more than willing to work with Lord Leo. He genuinely was concerned about her people and wanted to save them. She had no doubts about that. He was a far nobler man than even she thought.
And so horny.
When Kassie had finished using her tools to inscribe the first circle, a special chisel imbued with Earth magic that made the wedge-like marks, she had come back into the Vault to find Leo fucking the fomorian in the ass, just pounding her hard and fast. Lying on the ground was Maya, her body painted in ropy lines of cum and a happy look on her face. Leaning against the wall, Nina Naughty gasped as Ms. Trueno ate her pussy.
It's a bordello in here, thought Kassie, her cheeks burning as she tried not to look at Lord Leo's muscular ass as he pumped away at Usiku's bowels.
Then Kassie had to step around Garnet fucking Crystal with a dildo made of shadows.
"Pound my cunt, little sister!" the ice sprite moaned in incestuous delight.
Kassie shook her head and entered the other room where the second circle awaited her. She pulled out her chisel from her pouch and knelt in the circle. She started at the north point and pressed the chisel into the stone. It took nearly thirty heartbeats, but it melted the wedge into it. Each character could use multiple wedges or dots, made by the other end of the chisel.
She kept glancing at her book as she put down the archaic spell. It was so fascinating how it worked. She was thrilled to use this. To have rediscovered teleportation. It was such a dangerous field. If the spell wasn't properly formulated, there would be catastrophic results.
But this spell... It's elegance made her shiver.
Speak the word to travel to summon the universe!
The universe responds with light and wind!
The intent to travel is realized!
The circle of transport is created!
The power of wind and light builds!
The purpose to travel shapes the spell.
The teleportation spell flows to the universe!
My will to travel is carried out!
The elegance made Kassie quiver in delight.
"Okay, okay, enough fun," I said and grabbed the Void Crystal. I felt good from fucking Usiku in the ass. I had a plan that I liked, but I wanted to flesh it out. Fucking was a great way to clear the mind. "We're going to get back to planning."
I sent my magic girls to the conference room so I could cool down. Otherwise, I might start the fucking again. I might have a sex addiction problem.
I moved through the living quarters, drawing on my robe. I was cooled down by the time I reached the conference room. Crystal had a very disgruntled look on her face. I don't think she had climaxed before I stopped the fun.
I would have to make it up to her later.
"Duhot," I said, staring at the map on the table. "Where are the two monster girls at who are leading them?"
"They are in this building here, Dark One," said the ghost, stabbing her ethereal finger through the map. "It is a governmental building of some sort."
"The alderman's office, perhaps," said Halia, her breasts swaying naked.
"And where are the halflings being kept?" I asked.
"We saw them working to clear the streets of the damage," said Grobi.
"That's right, Dark One," Nevidena added. "They were all working hard. They looked so scared."
"They're stronger monster girls than we've ever faced," said Halia. "Werewolves and the rest. Even with so few of them, it'll be hard without using destructive means. We can't compromise the city's defenses, either. They'll have to hold the city after we liberate them."
"We'll take horrendous casualties even using only Level 2 monster girls," Maya said. "The power difference between 2's and 3's has to be comparable to 1's and 2's."
"This is foolish," Hagane said. "You should focus on getting stronger, Leo."
I shot her a glance. "They're suffering. We have to free them as soon as possible."
"But how can they hold the city?" Terra asked. "How do we keep them safe after we drive Sulanga's forces out. He'll just revive any monster girls we kill and attack again." My golem gave me a fearful look. "Unless you want to invade his dungeon and fight him."
I shook my head.
"We're not strong enough for that," Nina muttered.
"Dear, no," Mrs. Lucina said. "I don't see how we can possibly liberate this city and keep it free."
"We don't," I said. This was what I had already realized. Why I needed the magic circles. "We are evacuating the halflings."
"You're going to bring them to Astovin, big bro!" Garnet squealed. She bounced up and down, her scarlet wings slapping and black pigtails jiggling.
"How can Astovin take that many people?" Hagane asked.
"I'm not sure," Halia said. "It'll be tough. The food will be stretched thin."
"There will be a risk of famine," Lana said, shaking her head. "They can't stay in Astovin. But rescuing them seems the best plan."
"I can increase crop growth with the Bloom ritual," I muttered. "Get more yield out of them." It was a Life ritual I knew.
"Then we have to do this," Ms. Trueno said, her coppery scales flashing with reflected light as she nodded her head.
"Yeah," Crystal said, "we can't just let them suffer. You have to do this. If you don't, dirty boy, I won't let you eat my pussy ever again."
"Our brother eats your pussy whenever he wants to," Garnet said. "You've never had any say."
"Because whenever he wants to do it, coincidentally, so do I, so I don't object," Crystal said, lifting her head.
I rolled my eyes.
"How do we do it?" Usiku asked. "Evacuate the halflings?"
"And how do we do it without weakening the defenses for our dungeon?" Smerta asked. The valkyrie shot me a fierce look. "The Level 1 monster girls can handle any low-level threat, but if a skilled party of adventurers attacks while we're doing this, or another dungeon builder..."
"Leo, honey, you can change the entrance to the dungeon to only be in Astovin," Mom said. "It's behind the wall and your other guardians. "
I shook my head. "I don't want to do that because I want adventurers to come to the valley and leave the village alone."
"It would only be temporary," my mother pressed. She gave me a pleading look.
Terra nodded, the fine, coppery wires of her hair rustling.
"Your mom's right, Leo," Maya said. "We need to not be worried about the dungeon. Then we can focus on attacking the city. We can even unleash Isatu on them."
"She's a last resort," I said. "I need more mana veins, not to sacrifice the few I have." I had one spare right now. "What we'll do is clear the city of Sulanga's monster girls and before he can regroup, we'll evacuate the halflings into the dungeon."
"And it'll take days for them to get out of the dungeon," said Hagane. "The distance between here, even with a straight tunnel to walk through, isn't something that can be done quickly. It's days of walking. We'll have to repel a counterattack before long, and you won't be able to revive any monster girls or change the dungeon around while the halfling refugees are inside the dungeon."
"Hence, the magic circles that Kassie is working on," I said. "We'll have one in the halfling city. One in Astovin. We'll just need a few hours once we clear the city to get them out."
"The director has been thinking up a plan for a while," said Nina, giving me a wry look.
"Yes, you have," Lana said, an amused smile on her face. "Here I was afraid you wanted to hold the city or attack Sulanga's dungeon."
"I want to attack his dungeon and kill him, but Hagane's right, that has to wait." I looked around them. "We're going to raid the city, free the enslaved, and bug out. We're far enough away from Sulanga that his counterattack won't happen right away. And he'll have to hit me in my own territory. In my dungeon."
"Lord Leo, I am finished," Kassie reported. I nodded, hoping this would work.