Monstergirl Quest Book Three

by Darknight, C. S.

  I fought against my growing exhaustion with all that I had, even as I knew that I’d fall unconscious within seconds. I crawled over to Pandora, weeping, and I ran my fingers across her cheek.

  “Pandora, you can’t leave me,” I whispered, then put my lips onto hers.

  That was when she finally drew breath.

  RESTORATION SKILL INCREASED +20

  RESTORATION LEVEL REACHED: MASTER

  WAR MAGE LEVEL 16 REACHED!

  WAR MARGE LEVEL 17 REACHED!

  She gasped, sitting up straight, her midnight-black eyes once more full of life. I held her tight, laughing in disbelief, and the rest of the Mananymphs threw their arms around her as well. I continued laughing in blessed relief until, finally, the world went black and I passed out from exhaustion.

  *****

  I woke up sometime in the afternoon, groggy and hardly able to sit up, and I realized the Mananymphs were all sleeping around me.

  Pandora was laying across my chest, nuzzling up to me, sleeping soundly after being brought back from the brink.

  I ran my fingers through her dark hair and smiled. This time, when I tried to make a save point, the world rippled as it always had before, and I breathed a long sigh of relief.

  Part of me had started to fear that my saving abilities had been completely severed, and knowing that it wasn’t the case was a huge load off my shoulders.

  However, waking up brought to light a very sobering reality. Fighting the Emperor was nothing like taking on the Dark King. The Emperor hadn’t been lying, because it seemed as though he had no qualms about taking me on, face-to-face. The Necromancer had preferred a more pragmatic approach.

  The Emperor was far, far more dangerous an opponent.

  Despite all that, and very nearly losing my life to the powerful wizard, I had to admit that we’d come out ahead, at least this time.

  Yeah, the Emperor was extraordinarily powerful, but I’d managed to take him on, blow-for-blow. I proved that while he was strong, he certainly wasn’t invincible, even if he was far more powerful than the Dark King had been.

  The only problem was that the battle had cost me the Spirit Stone. I’d have to find another Gaia Stone or Gaia Gem in a hurry, though I hadn’t the faintest idea of where to look.

  I glanced off to the side and winced when I saw the dead body of Corvus Gavrus. I said a silent prayer for him, wishing that I would have been able to revive him as I revived Pandora. By now, he’d been dead for far longer than an hour, so there was nothing I could do. The old mystic had done a lot for us. I’d honor his memory in the coming battles looming ahead.

  I got up to stretch, then grabbed a water skin and headed out to the trees. I took in a long breath of fresh air. The day had gotten comfortably warm in the time that I’d been asleep. The forest was peaceful, the sky a deep shade of blue.

  “You’re awake,” Pandora said behind me.

  I only realized now that, at some point after I’d fallen asleep, Pandora ditched her leather assassin’s outfit for her more comfortable kimono. My heart filled to the brim the moment I laid eyes on her.

  She walked cautiously, like she might lose her footing. I met her halfway, taking her hand in mine.

  “You have no idea how nice it is to see you,” I said.

  She smiled bashfully and the wind caught her dark hair. The sunlight coming down from the treetops made the multicolored surface of her fairy wings sparkle. She tangled her fingers in mine and we walked back to the treeline with the other Mananymphs sleeping soundly at our backs.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked.

  She sighed. “Tired, but fairly well,” she said. “I keep feeling as though I’ve woken up from a terrible dream.”

  She leaned against me and I slid my arm around her. I handed her the water skin and she rested her head on my shoulder as she drank.

  After coming so close to losing her, there was no way I could keep my mouth shut any longer. I tightened my grip around her waist and pulled her closer. I brushed the hair from her delicate face and fell in love with her all over again.

  “Pandora, you know that I love all your sisters,” I said. “But you mean something different to me.”

  “You’re just trying to flatter me, Earthman,” she said sheepishly.

  “No, I’m serious,” I said. “Since I’ve been here, you’ve been my rock. I’d be lost without you. Whenever things look dark, you’re the first one there to help light the way. And today, when I saw what the Emperor had done to you…” I swallowed the ball in my throat. “Pandora, you took a blade that was meant for me. You took it right through your heart. I almost lost you.”

  Her unblinking midnight gaze was locked on my own. She ran her fingers down my cheek. “And in bringing me back from death, I nearly lost you,” Pandora said. “I was there, you know. My spirit, or my soul, you might call it. I watched as you revived me, Earthman. You had no guarantee that my sisters would have been able to aid you. You knew very well that the spell could have killed you. And you did it anyway.”

  “And I’d do it again, without question,” I answered.

  She stepped closer to me. “As I’d jump in front of the Emperor’s blade all over again,” she answered.

  Then I couldn’t take it any longer.

  I grabbed Pandora by the hips and lifted her into my arms.

  Chapter Fourteen

  As our lips came together, our kiss felt like far more than just a show of love or passion.

  As I held Pandora tight and felt her firm body against mine, her soft curves in my arms, our kiss felt like an act of defiance against mortality itself.

  I ran my fingers through her dark hair and she whimpered in delight as I kissed her madly, and she moaned a desperate little moan when she felt my erection pressing up against her body.

  Wrapped up tight with one another, we tore each other’s clothes off. Within seconds, I’d ripped off her kimono, freeing her lithe, naked perfection from the confines of her clothes. At once, I lay her down on the ground.

  I kissed her harder, more passionately. I kissed her because I’d almost lost her and I would never let that happen again.

  She coiled beneath me, writhing and sensual, and the bare picture of her body was never more hypnotic than it was at this moment.

  I cupped her breasts in each hand, taking turns sucking one while massaging the other until her entire body curled tight beneath me. She had to clap her palm over her mouth to keep from waking up her sisters.

  Yet I didn’t stop, never even paused for a breath as I kissed my way down the porcelain sculpture of her belly.

  Her fingers tangled in my hair and she whispered, “Take me, Earthman,” as I trailed my tongue over her belly button. She shuddered as I licked the horizon of her waistline and, by the time I kissed my way down to the treasure between her thighs, she was already as wet as a morning flower covered in dew.

  Devouring her eagerly, her nectar was smeared across my lips within seconds. Her legs snapped tight around my neck as she came, with her bare breasts heaving as she tried to draw breath.

  Eager as I was to push my way inside of her, Pandora made me pause, just for a moment.

  Her legs were still trembling from the force of her orgasm when she placed her hands across my bare chest. Up on my knees, she kept me at bay as her eyes drifted down to my erection.

  She was down on her hands and knees before me. Her twinkling midnight eyes glimmered with sensual beauty as she took my erection into her soft, wet, small mouth.

  I threw my head back and suppressed a scream as she sucked upon me, as she ran her delicate tongue up and down every square inch of my mass.

  Her fairy wings fluttered and I clenched my fingers in her dark hair, gritting my teeth, refusing to let myself explode just yet.

  Somehow, I held back, and now I was more determined than ever to return to the slick, wet canal of her sex.

  I pushed her onto her back once more. She spread her legs to welcome me. As I angled my tip a
gainst her slickness, it entered as easily as ever, and I grunted in bliss when I returned to the smooth wetness of her treasure.

  I couldn’t pull my eyes away from her midnight gaze as I thrust myself into her. “Pandora, my god…”

  “Earthman, claim me…”

  She wrapped her arms around my neck, threw her legs around my waist, as if she intended to pull me so deep that I could never find my way out.

  I planted one hand over her shoulder, gripping my fingertips into the grass. The other hand slipped beneath her, supporting the small of her back as she arched her spine to meet my thrusts.

  Her mouth opened wide and she convulsed as I brought her to orgasm again. In response, the walls of her sex wrapped themselves around my mass, and I couldn’t hold back for even one more second.

  The moment I exploded inside of her, Pandora pulled my mouth to hers, locking our lips together in passion.

  My entire body shuddered and convulsed as I spent my long-simmering seed deep into her warm insides.

  She wrapped her legs tighter around me, kept one hand on the back of my head and the other down upon my back, pulling me rhythmically inside of her as my seed continued to drip into her slickness.

  When we were finished, we simply remained there, tangled up with each other, peppering each other’s lips with soft, sensual, long kisses. Overhead, the warm sunlight filtered down through the tree branches and bathed our naked bodies.

  I could have stayed like this forever.

  “One day, when all of this is over, I’d like you to do me one favor, Pandora,” I said.

  Slowly, gently, she ran her fingertips up and down the length of my spine. The aroma of our lovemaking was thick in the air, and I didn’t think anything ever smelled so good.

  “And what would that be, Earthman?” she asked.

  “I’d like for you to come back to Earth with me,” I said.

  At that, an acute look of shock shot across her face. She looked at me with eyes that were both desperate and pleading. “You…you mean to return to earth, once our battles are won?” she asked.

  I laughed, because I guess I could have phrased that better. “Oh, Pandora, you’ve misunderstood me,” I corrected her. “I want to go back to earth but, you know, just to visit.”

  “I thought…I thought you were saying that you wanted to leave our realm to return to your own,” she said, still not convinced that I meant otherwise.

  I ran a finger down her cheek, across her lips, then let my finger settle on her chin. “Do you really think I’d leave you behind for anything?”

  She blushed, giggled, and pecked me on the lips with a quick kiss. “No,” she said. “Even an idiot Earthman would never be so foolish as to do that.”

  I laughed. “No, I don’t think I’m that much of an idiot,” I said. “But for a few days, I can show you where I lived, I can show you where I grew up. I can even let you inside that little shop that I own, where you first approached me.”

  Pandora’s grin was wide and quietly excited, despite her exhaustion. “I’d like that very much, Earthman,” she answered.

  But only a few moments passed before I realized we had company. And no, it wasn’t the other Mananymphs.

  Then I heard it, rustling sounds out among the trees. I cursed under my breath. With Corvus dead, his illusions around the forest were gone with him.

  Now, any force of Imperial Legion troops would have been able to sniff us out far easier.

  I growled in pain. My joints popped and my muscles ached as I fought to my feet. Though leveling up had restored my stats, I was still fairly weakened, and would be for some time to come.

  Even so, it was time to get back to work.

  Though my amber longsword was destroyed, my enchanted orcish war axe would still see plenty of action. I glared ahead at the rustling bushes, and I could just make out the Imperial Legion armor on the men approaching us.

  Yeah, I was weak at the moment…but I was still pissed the hell off.

  I threw on my clothes, donned my mage’s robe, and Pandora did the same as those troopers crept quietly toward our position. I drew the enchanted orcish war axe with my right hand and charged up a TK force bomb in my left.

  If these assholes were looking for a fight, they picked the wrong time to pick it with me.

  Their muted footfalls drew closer. I clenched the Soulguard and the TK magic pulsed. I was going to crush the skull of whatever unfortunate Imperial die-hard poked his head out of those bushes first.

  Luckily, I hesitated.

  That was a good thing, because if I’d attacked the moment I saw his helm poking through the bramble, I would have killed Piper.

  “Dude, what the hell are you doing out here?” I shouted to the nerdy young squire.

  He threw his hands up in fear when he saw me, battle-ready and with a ruthless look in my eye. Robbin appeared next to him, and I saw that both of them were wearing poorly-fitting legionnaire’s armor.

  “Lord Gamemack!” Robbin said. “It’s us, Robbin and Piper!”

  I laughed, slowly letting the relief set in. “Yeah, I can see that guys,” I said. “What are you two doing?”

  “W-W-W-We’ve brought help, sir!” Piper said, then gestured back to the legionnaires climbing through the woods behind them.

  It was strange, seeing these men in Imperial armor ostensibly coming to our aid. However, my mood changed completely when I saw the man who was leading them.

  It was Erhoff, the Imperial war mage. He strode through the dense woods, offering me a grim smile as he thrust his hand out toward me. “Champion, we’ve come to offer you support, aye, and good news as well,” the grizzled war mage said as we shook hands.

  “Well, I’m happy for the help, and even happier for the good news,” I answered. “What’s the good word, Erhoff?”

  “Gamelord, have you yet heard of the growing Red-Hand Revolt?” he asked.

  I nodded. “I learned about it, yes,” I said. “Though I’m sorry to hear about Sir Pernicus. He didn’t deserve what they’ve done to him.”

  The old war mage grimaced. “No, no he didn’t,” Erhoff said. “I’d long-despised that man, but when the reality of the Empire’s nature showed itself to him, he did the right thing.”

  “Is he still alive?” I asked.

  “Barely, I suppose,” Erhoff said. “But we can’t help him yet, not until we help you. Gamelord, you must know that when you return to Homehold, you’re going to have help coming from the inside.”

  That was when I noticed the curious faces of the twenty-or-so legionnaires behind him. They didn’t exactly appear as if they trusted me just yet, but the whispers I heard among them made me think they were willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. I turned to Erhoff’s men.

  “You all have taken a great risk in coming here,” I said. “You all have my thanks.”

  Of all the men, I only recognized one or two from our run-in in the woods a few days back. The rest were fresh-faced, driven to betray their old officers after witnessing the Emperor’s brutality. I’d make sure to work hard to gain their trust.

  “So tell us, Champion,” Erhoff said. “When do we march on Homehold?”

  “Very soon,” I said. “I’ve got three separate armies joining me any hour now. The wood elves of Woodhaven are sending their army. Greenbeard, leader of the spriggans, is coming with his forest folk. And then, best of all, the mighty orc warlord named Gorrok is riding north as we speak.”

  When they heard that last part, the men whispered nervously amongst themselves. I couldn’t blame them. I was sure most of them had never had good relations with an orc before.

  But Erhoff threw his head back and laughed. “Lads, the Champion gives us a great gift,” he said. “It’s been years since I’ve had the pleasure of fighting alongside an orc. Boys, there ain’t a stouter force to have fighting at your side than those folk. But now, men, it’s time for us to show our true colors.”

  The war mage turned to his men as he drew a da
gger from his waist.

  “This is for Pernicus!” Erhoff shouted. “This is to show our wicked ruler that, evil as he might be, the proud, true legionnaires of the Empire stand for justice, not for brutality! We are the Red-Hand Legionnaires!”

  The men roared in excitement as the war mage sliced open the palm of his right hand. With the blood billowing out, he roared along with them as he slapped his bloody palm across his breastplate.

  One by one, the rest of them did the same, until we were surrounded by a small legion of Imperials with bright red handprints on their chests.

  Chapter Fifteen

  However, none of this meant that the invasion of Homehold was going to be easy. The Emperor must have seen this coming, so, Erhoff explained to me, he’d bolstered Homehold’s defense force by several thousand men.

  “Aye, Earthman,” Erhoff said. “By the time we reach the gates of Homehold, they might be nearly ten-thousand strong behind the walls.”

  I sighed at that. Ten thousand legionnaires…but how many would remain loyal to the Emperor?

  Erhoff had an estimate. “The Red-Hand Legionnaires are at least one-thousand strong, as it stands,” he said. “That’s plenty to help us breach the gates.”

  The war mage told me that he was something of an informal leader of the group, along with several others. They’d already developed a strategy, and one of the reasons Erhoff had come to join me was to fill me in on the particulars.

  While they’d had no idea that I’d be returning with such a massive invading force, the Red-Hand Legionnaires had been preparing for my return. “We’d figured there’d be a chance that you’d raise at least a small army before your return,” Erhoff grinned. “Lucky for us, you didn’t disappoint on that front.”

  They’d pulled some strings to ensure that, regardless of shift rotation, there’d always be a few Red-Hands manning the city gates. This meant that when our forces eventually charged the gates, the Red-Hands would be there to let us inside.

  Then, the moment before we breached the gates, the Red-Hands were going to cut open their palms and brand themselves with bloody handprints, to show that they weren’t hostile to our forces.