by Reed James
His Hit Points surged up as the attacks hurtled down at him. He weathered the assault, swinging his ax, each blow gaining him a few more points of health. But worry rippled through Dëshoma as she launched into her next Arcane Healing.
Her MP dwindled. She had no potions and she could not do another quick cast like that. It was too dangerous for her to be around Marcus. It took Éjyona's gun to keep the zombies from rushing across the vast cave and reaching the spell-casters. Dëshoma knew she would die fast in that fray.
Would her healing be enough to sustain the party with the dead rising up again and again?
* * / *
Twist
The Thief gulped down the potion.
The refined angelic pussy juices surged healing power through her body, restoring rents and bites across her flesh. She had two more of them. She'd need it as she fought back to back with Maria. Twist slashed with her sacrificial dagger.
“This is getting interesting!” Twist hissed as she thrust her dagger into the eye of a zombie.
It slammed a fist at her. She twisted, dodging it and slashed across its throat. It collapsed dead on the ground.
“That's a word for it!” Maria shouted. She thrust, running through a zombie. Then she kicked its corpse off her rapier.
“What's yours?”
“Exhilarating!”
It was a surprising confession from the normally cautious human. Battle lust seemed upon her. Twist could taste Maria's pussy juices on the air, just above the other scents of carnage. The human downed her own potion and slammed the vial into the face of a zombie before running him through.
“My last healing potion!” she cried and laughed. “Come on, you undead cock-suckers!”
Cock-suckers? thought Twist. Since when does she swear?
Twist stabbed her knife, her Hit Points hovering around half, same with Maria. They had zombies around them, rushing in over the ones they killed. It took three blows now to fell them. Her increased attack speed made the difference.
But the gem was growing brighter and brighter. The next wave of revived death would be on them. Twist glanced at it. The barrier of magic around it looked unbreakable. Should she test that? She thrust her dagger, felling an enemy, and then drew three of her Iron Throwing Stars from the straps covering her tits.
With a flick of her wrist, she hurtled them at the barrier. The tumbling metal slammed into the magical shield in a burst of sparks, atomizing the metal and leaving behind only greasy smoke. A shiver ran through Twist.
She would have hated losing her sacrificial dagger testing that.
“We're in trouble,” Twist said.
“We're killing the enemy!” Maria shouted and thrust again, a smooth lunge that ripped through the zombie's heart.
Is she doing more damage than me, too? What sort of potion had she drunk at the start of battle? Twist smiled. She liked this reckless Maria.
“That's right! Kill them all!” Twist roared and stabbed.
* * / *
Kulrigiizhai
The elf's MP dwindled. She had enough for one more spell, two if she used her weakest. That wouldn't do much. No, she was becoming more and more convinced that offensive magic wasn't what was needed here.
That gem on the three twisting tines was being corrupted by the Thūgiz. The barrier around it had destroyed Twist's shurikens. It was clear the God's power directly flowed into the gem. He sought to claim that artifact. Luckily, Priestess Pain was also using it to animate the dead and that slowed the process, draining the Dark God's power out of the gem to revive the zombies.
This might kill me, floated through Kulrigiizhai's mind.
“Let the geometries of space,” she chanted without fear, focusing on the spot right before the altar, “enfold around me and pierce through distance!”
She vanished. For a moment, darkness hurtled around her. Then she appeared inside the barrier, all but a few points of magic left to her. Not enough to cast anything. She stared at the gem glowing brighter and brighter. It was about to discharge again.
She thrust her hand into her pouch and produced a Potion of Mild Angel Milk. She gulped down the creamy substance, the refined breast milk rushing fresh magic through her veins. She shuddered in delight, her ears wiggling as she regained power.
Then with her free hand, she seized the gem and wrenched it from the tines.
Pain exploded through her body. She grew weak as nearly all of her Hit Points evaporated in the torment that surged through her. She screamed as she clutched the gem to her breast. The barrier around her flickered. The zombies staggered.
Then the barrier dropped.
“Get her! Get the gem!” hissed Priestess Pain.
Zombies fighting Marcus peeled off and lumbered for her. Gasping against the torture of holding the gem, Kulrigiizhai focused her mind. She had drunk pain in her training. She had suffered the agony of the Arcane Lash at his hands. She could endure this torment.
She focused her mind through the howling pain. The words stumbled out of her mouth as the zombies staggered towards her. One hit, and she would die. She did not let fear slow her down. She was beyond emotions save one:
Protecting Marcus Aurelius.
The zombies surged in. One bit for her arm. Another swung a limb at her body like a sweeping club. The attacks hurtled down at the elf as the words of arcane power tumbled from her mouth. They engulfed her.
She vanished in a fold of the world.
Appeared beside Dëshoma.
“Lady Kulrigiizhai!” the Cleric gasped.
The gem burst with energy. The pain sizzled into the elf. She collapsed to the ground as the agony overwhelmed her. The gem spilled from her hand and tumbled away. Darkness crashed into Kulrigiizhai, her body taken to her limits.
She hovered at the edge of death.
* * / *
Dëshoma
Kulrigiizhai's Hit Points plunged beneath their limits.
She fell into the edge of death. One more hit, even a little jostle, would send her into death. And Dëshoma could not help her. She had merely enough MP now to cast one last Arcane Healing. She could use another with her magic items. Kulrigiizhai would have to survive on her own. If Marcus failed, they were all doomed.
My apologies, Lady Kulrigiizhai. But you are strong. You can endure the edge of death.
Marcus's ax hacked through the zombies around him. He cut them down. They were falling easily now. He snarled and then slammed into one of the last two flagellants left standing. The enemy died.
She monitored his Hit Points, waiting for the right moment to cast her two spells.
The last flagellant alive thrust a bloody hand at Marcus. He blocked with his shield and hacked. The ax crunched into flesh. The flagellant howled in pain and swiped, raking across Marcus's face, the wound not critical.
A booming Scattershot mowed through a horde of zombies, clearing the space around Marcus. The undead still up were clustered around Maria and Twist, the pair cutting them down even as their Hit Points dwindled more and more.
Priestess Pain whipped herself.
Dëshoma launched into her Arcane Healing, channeling the last of her MP into her miracle. She beseeched Ëshuxeri to protect the man she loved. Blood flicked at him before he could get clear. His armor and shield didn't matter. The sizzling crimson found its way to his flesh and dropped him to critical.
He killed the last flagellant and charged in at Priestess Pain, trusting Dëshoma to heal him. She completed her miracle and engulfed him in positive energy. He roared his triumph and slammed his ax into Priestess Pain.
She moaned in rapturous agony.
Then her flail swiped out to tear at his flesh. It crashed into his shield. He swung his ax and she twisted out of the way, dodging it. Her bloody breasts heaved as her flail hissed through the air to find his flesh and wound him. His Hit Points hovered just beneath half-full.
Dëshoma used her Book of Tears, letting her next healing spell cast without using her Magic
Points. She would top Marcus off and then would be useless. She clutched her bible and chanted the words to Arcane Healing while Kulrigiizhai hovered on the edge of death at her feet.
She hoped the elf's fortitude would hold out.
* * / *
The Arcane Healing bathed my body.
I sensed Dëshoma's status. She was OOM. Out of Mana. I could feel all my women as itches. Kulri worried me the most. She had fallen beneath 0 Hit Points. I had feared that would mean death, but she was in a critical state, unconscious and vulnerable. She needed to be stabilized soon.
I had to put down this bitch before me. If any damage struck Kulri...
I wasn't losing a single one of my women.
“Come on, cunt!” I snarled at Priestess Pain as she dodged my next attack. “I thought you liked getting hit by my ax. Why so coy now?”
Her lips curled back. “Pain must be shared!”
“I'm fucking sharing it with you!” I swung my ax as her flail hissed in. She got beneath my shield and struck my armor. She tore through the metal and lashed at my stomach.
The DoT pumped pain through me. I couldn't afford to lose any more Hit Points than necessary. This was why I had conserved my MP. I unleashed a Fortitude and banished the bleeding wound, keeping it from taking more than a handful of my life.
I restored the damage the DoT caused when my ax crashed into her again.
She reeled back and moaned in pain from the blow to her arm. Blood sheeted her skin. She hissed and then swung her flail. I raised my shield. It crashed once, twice, three times into the metal. Each time, a screeching, metallic rasp filled my ears, worse than nails on a chalkboard. Her fourth attack caught my face.
Stole my Hit Points.
The wound on her arm healed as she inflicted pain on me. My face throbbed from the strike. No healing energy flowed from Dëshoma now. I was all on my own. I snarled through it, and swung my ax, a three-hit combo that drove the Priestess back. She dodged the first. Leaped back of the second.
The third bit into her side.
She snarled and raked my bare forearm, unleashing another bleeding DoT I had to heal with Fortitude. I was below half of my health now. She tore away at my life fast. Her next hit on me healed the wounds I inflicted on her.
“Cunt-munching whore!” I snarled as the pain throbbed through me.
“Pain is life,” she moaned. “You cannot escape it. You can only surrender to it and find freedom!”
“If I cut your damn head off, I'll be free of you!” I slashed for her neck.
She dodged and struck me, my armor blunting the hit but damage ripped through. She plunged me low. Below a quarter of my health now. Things were getting dire. She could see it in my eyes. She chipped away at me, wearing me down.
“I offer you the salvation of agony!” She whipped herself and ripped her flail away bloody. It hissed at me.
I couldn't dodge it. No amount of armor could mitigate the damage. It ate through my resistance. I was about to die. The blood hurtled at me and in that split second, I activated the once per day on my Blessed Ax of Fertile Hew.
I shot up to full health just as the damaging attack slammed into me. For a moment, my Hit Points were in wild fluctuation. They hurtled towards 0 and death's door before rocketing up and stabilizing around the seventy-five percent mark.
“We're coming, Marcus!” shouted Maria from behind. She and Twist were both damaged and nearly out of TP.
“Good!” I snarled and leaped forward and slammed my ax into the Priestess's face.
She reeled back from the critical hit. Blood sheeted down her face. Fury crossed Priestess Pain's face. I swung again, but she dodged it. Then she whipped herself again and flung more blood at me. I couldn't take this damage. I used Shield of Faith on myself.
The blood splashed over my divine barrier. It did nothing to me. It washed around me, an arc that kept going. Screams burst behind me. Twist and Maria's Hit Points both plummeted. Maria's hit critical. She had 3 left. Twist wasn't much better off.
“Fucking bitch!” I snarled, rage filling me from the pain in my women's voices.
I broke the Shield of Faith early and used the last TP I had to slam a Hard Blow into Priestess Pain. She twisted to avoid it, but this attack swung with too much force, too much burning rage, to be dodged.
I hit her hard. Another powerful blow that staggered her. My ax bit deep into her body. She hissed as I wrenched my weapon free. Her blood dripped from my ax while a small surge of Hit Points flowed into me.
She swung her flail and ripped back what I'd stolen and more, dropping me down to near half my health.
Twist came up beside me downing a healing potion. She threw it away and hissed in rage. Her dagger slashed in, hacking fast and tearing into the priestess's flesh. Maria staggered up on the other side.
“Get back!” I shouted at her. “We have this.”
“No!” she snarled, disobeying me for the first time. “I'm killing this bitch!”
It didn't sound like Maria at all. Rage twisted her face. Her eyes were wild as she thrust her rapier forward and rammed into Priestess Pain's chest. The zealot cackled in rapture, her free hand rubbing at her bloody wound.
A bullet hissed past the priestess's head. Éjyona joined us, adding her own fire to the fight. Twist padded to the flank, slashing with her dagger. The flail lashed out, ripping Hit Points from her, leaving bloody wounds across Twist's breasts.
“Cock-sucking whore!” Twist hissed. “Thūgiz's blistered cock, I'll kill you.”
“You dare mock him!” hissed Priestess Pain.
“Why not?” I demanded. “He's the biggest coward in the world. Sends you to do his work while he cowers in whatever shithole he can find.”
“Shithole!” She slashed her flail at herself, shuddered at the pain. She ripped it free. A shower of blood rushing at us. Twist dove out of the way, but Maria and I were right in the path.
Shield of Faith sprang around Maria moments before the blood struck us. Pain sizzled across my body. I dropped below half health while Maria snarled. She was stuck in the bubble, unable to attack or be attacked until it dropped.
“Let me out, Marcus!” she hissed. “Let me finish her!”
I rushed forward. Priestess Pain dripped with blood. She was taking damage fast. I kept up the bubble on Maria and used my MP on an attack. I roared as my ax burst with divine light. I swung it down hard at her.
I buried my ax into Priestess Pain's clavicle. The blow struck hard. She cackled and whipped me. She tore at my face again. Blood dripped down my features as she stole my Hit Points. Healing her wounds forced my ax out of her collarbone.
How much more of this could she take.
I sheathed my ax and drew a healing potion and downed it, then a second. I gulped it down, bringing me back over half health. Twist slashed at her. Éjyona fired, wounding her. The bubble on Maria broke and she rushed in.
“Fuck!” I growled and followed.
The cultist lashed herself again. I used the last of my MP to bubble Maria as it spilled over me. I growled at the pain eating at me. Priestess Pain laughed as she whipped herself bloody. She stared at me with a wild look in her eye, ignoring Twist stabbing her from behind.
“Embrace agony!” she screeched and ripped at her flesh, hurting herself to inflict devastating damage.
It flashed at me. A tide of bloody death. I couldn't withstand this damage. My HP were too low. It would drop me to death's door. Then she would just have to coup de grace me, deliver a finishing blow, and that would be the end of my life.
But I had one more magic item to use.
I activated my Iron Titan's Belt and became immune to the next attack. I threw myself into the tide of blood. It splashed hot over me but did not hurt me. I burst out of it into her face. Fury and shock rippled across her expression.
“You were suppo—”
My ax slammed into her neck and cut her head off. She collapsed to the ground like a sack, her head rolling off to the b
arrier that was still up around the empty tines. I panted, blood dripping from my ax. My body throbbed with pain. The bitch was dead. There was no recovering from—
“Kulrigiizhai!” I shouted, fear for my elf slashing through me. “Does anyone have a healing potion!”
“On it!” Éjyona shouted, the halfling darting to the mage.
But it wasn't necessary. The Level Up surged over us. The power of the Shardhunter swept about us and drove us to Level 19. All the pain throbbing across my body vanished in a tide of restorative magic. It was different from being healed. It was like being remade only stronger. My stats increased. My belief in my cause, the strength in my limbs, the grace of my body all changed. I panted. We'd done it. Stopped the source of the blight.
“Is that the Teardrop?” Maria asked. She raced to where Kulrigiizhai struggled to sit up, restored as well.
Twist bent down and started patting down the dead Priestess Pain, searching for loot. Éjyona stood by Kulrigiizhai, the elf sitting up and nodding. Dëshoma knelt down and threw her arms around the elf, kissing her on the mouth with passion.
I smiled. “Ëshuxeri, I hope you appreciate having Dëshoma as a follower.” I glanced up at the ceiling as I prayed. “I suppose your gods are real. This is a fantasy setting.” I was a paladin. “Maybe I should even follow you. Love's not a bad thing.”
Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt a peace settling down on me. Almost like I had stepped into a refreshing pool of water. Cool, not cold. The perfect thing to enjoy after a day of fighting through a dungeon. I smiled and glanced at my kite shield. Maybe I should—
Movement caught my attention. Across the room lay another tunnel and that bastard stood there. I snarled and leaped forward, rushing at the blue-plumed Warrior. I had gained a level. I was all powered up. Iris darted down to float beside me.
“Marcus!” she said in warning.
“e's not getting away!” I spat. Rock ground on rock. A thick slab of stone descended to block the passage. “Upgrade Holy Strike's damage!”
“Okay!” she shouted.
“Wait, Marcussss!” Twist shouted.
My other women cried out. The stone panel ground down. I ran faster. It was already half closed. I wasn't letting that bastard escape. I wanted answers. Why were Pushijer's followers helping Thūgiz's foul cultists?
