Growth Hero

by Brent Tyman

  I picked up a rock from the many spread out nearby and threw it at the Titan’s head. It’s attention immediately shifted to me and I hurried towards the area I needed it to go. When I stopped and looked back, it had already begun to strike at me with its arm.

  My attempt to duck was in vain, as its wrist crunched into my side. I found myself flying through the air, only stopping when I smashed into a pile of nearby rubble.

  The pain was nigh unbearable as my body rolled down the rubble pile to the ground. It felt like I had multiple gashes and puncture wounds along my entire side. My blood flowed freely, forming a small pool under me.

  “Ahh Jeez,” I wheezed, trying to stand up.

  I turned to see the Titan roar, its mouth opening wide. The fact that there was no visible seam along its mouth as it finished its roar and closed its mouth shut was strange to my eyes. I groaned in frustration as it slowly ambled towards me.

  Clarissa came into view and while I saw that she wanted to heal me, I tried to convey to her to distract the Titan instead. Juliana likely needed just a few moments longer.

  Clarissa threw me a disbelieving look. I could tell she was torn but nodded before turning to face the Titan.

  The massive creature hadn’t spotted Clarissa at all, though she was right beside it. No doubt, the Titan was focused on making sure it ended me. I watched as Clarissa ran to the Titan and slapped her hand on its leg.

  A slight tinge of blue electricity zapped between the blonde beauty and the Titan, which caused it to recoil backward in shock. It turned to kick at Clarissa and before I could shout out a warning to run, Anny blurred into existence and dragged her friend to safety.

  I let out a sigh of relief, finally mustering enough energy to stand up. My sword lay against a pile of rubble a few feet in front of me and I slowly walked forward to pick it up.

  Time to continue the fight.

  The Titan looked around its body for Clarissa and Anny but once again couldn’t locate them. Clearly frustrated, it focused its one good eye back on me and roared yet again.

  At that moment, a giant fireball erupted near us, traveling in a red streak to explode against the furnaces above the Titan. I had expected a limited explosion when the molten Notranal poured out, but instead, Juliana’s magic caused a massive chain reaction.

  The entire ceiling detonated as the explosion ripped down the pipeline. I raised an arm to shield my eyes from the sudden flash of light and watched as explosions ricocheted off each other, forming a giant molten ball that fell towards the Titan.

  It had looked up at the spectacular display and even tried to move out of the way, but was far too late. Green molten Notranal poured down onto the Titan’s head, eventually covering its entire body. Its form was swallowed up in a geyser of brilliant green and orange flame.

  I moved as fast as the pain would allow to a pile of rubble, clambering on top of it as the molten liquid spread out in all directions.

  Explosions still resounded along the ceiling and molten Notranal showered the town. I flinched as the detonations rippled outward from where we stood. I hoped it wouldn’t cause too much more damage to the town—not like the Titan hadn’t been doing a good enough job all on its own, though.

  I winced as one of the walls at the edge of town cracked and fell to pieces, exposing the pipes we had ignited above.

  I stared at the Titan for a long moment as the molten Notranal liquid receded from its body. I was surprised that most of it was still intact, though much of that yellow material from its insides was now exposed. It practically glowed on the floor, illuminating the entire surrounding area.

  Once the molten Notranal had hardened enough, I tentatively took a step closer to the Titan, my sword at the ready. As I approached its twitching form, I hissed through my teeth when I saw it was still alive.

  It slowly raised its head until I could see its eye.

  I wasn’t going to leave anything to chance and quickly pierced its one good eye. It felt like I had stabbed through flesh and its eye leaked a yellow substance. My sword dug deep, but it barely reacted to my blow.

  “Judgement awaits, down below,” a garbled voice rattled. My eyes widened when I realized it was the Titan who had spoken.

  “Wha…”

  “There… Is… No… Way… Out.”

  Every hair on my body stood on end as I processed what I was hearing. Before I could attempt to ask it a question, though, the Titan let out a final garbled death rattle and its head dropped limply to the rubble. I tentatively pulled out my sword and poked it for good measure.

  It was definitely dead.

  “Alex!” Clarissa and Juliana shouted as they ran to me.

  “It’s over,” I said as both women hugged me, one on each side. Clarissa quickly pushed a healing spell into me as Juliana fussed with my crushed armor.

  “Does it hurt? Are you okay?”

  “Much better now with the heal,” I replied with a relieved sigh as the pain receded.

  “That blow would have killed an ordinary man,” Juliana said. “I’m so glad you survived it.”

  “My Alex is no ordinary man,” Clarissa said, pouring additional healing into me. “Does that feel better, handsome?”

  Clarissa was definitely over-healing me at this point, as my injuries were fixed, but damn did it feel good. I held both women around their waist, one on each side, and brought them close.

  They returned my embrace, and we simply stood there, entwined and savoring the moment.

  “Ahh, Alex,” Anny said, “We have compan…”

  “Make way for Daiver Vos Hexladanis! Fear not my Beastkin friends, I will save… you…”

  I looked up to find Daiver, of all people, standing there with the rest of Juliana’s retinue and our lost soldiers. Most of the blood rushed out of his face as he stared at the corpse of the fallen Titan.

  “Dear Gods!” Karl exclaimed, “is that a Titan?”

  “Hey! Hands off uhh, what was his name… ah Karl!” Clarissa shouted. “All of the spoils go to my Alex.”

  “My Lady!” Vencia shouted as she ran to us. “I apologize deeply for the delay. We came as quickly as we could.”

  “Would have been quicker if this dolt hadn’t chased after an Ogre pack that was running away,” Kesara complained.

  “I…but…” Daiver muttered. “My grand plan to save the day… the amount of climbing we had to go through in that tunnel… All for naught? Where is my glory?”

  I was fairly sure that everyone, including the soldiers behind him, rolled their eyes at that.

  It was good to see everyone back together, even Daiver.

  26

  The clean up of the town went fairly smoothly, once we linked up with the missing soldiers. We had less than half the number we’d started with, though, based on my count. That meant the Troglodread had wiped out the majority of them in its attack.

  Despite that, the Beastkin and our remaining soldiers seemed to be in good spirits as they set to work repairing the town. Thanks to the boost in manpower, any remaining Ogres were swiftly dealt with or driven off, making the town much safer than it had been before the Titan rampaged through it.

  Unfortunately, we learned elder Nelroga had perished, when we inquired about his whereabouts. That stunt of his, where he’d charged through the west gate first really hadn’t been a good idea for a Beastkin of his age.

  Grotsanik was the next in line for the town’s leadership and had remarked fondly that the elder had his sword wet with Ogre blood when the Beastkin troops finally found him. I guessed that meant he had taken down at least one Ogre with him, perhaps more.

  I spent the majority of the day helping with any kind of work that needed done in the town, whether that was building a temporary shelter, distributing food or repairing the furnace system that we all but destroyed.

  They only let me touch it because there were so few Beastkin left who had any idea how to work it. I had little idea on the ins and outs of these furnaces myself, but a cat
girl remarked that I was fairly sharp at picking things up, so I had that going for me, at least.

  They mostly had me shoveling Notranal ore into temporary furnaces to provide much needed heat, though I found it still far too humid in town for my own liking.

  Finally, at the end of the day, Grotsanik assigned us a fairly large house to sleep in—my entire party and some of our soldiers. The rest had similar houses set aside for them just down the street. The room assigned to me was similar to my room back at the Windy Wolf in Tringall, with a table, chair, bed and the odd bit of decoration.

  Naturally, given the theme for these Beastkin, everything was made out of stone. I couldn’t imagine the chair was that comfortable. Certainly not if compared to my gaming chair in my old apartment. I was surprised to find I almost missed my cramped apartment back home.

  I was extremely tired from all of the work I had done today.

  There was still much left to do, though. We had at least a few days of hard work ahead of us, as the Beastkin town picked itself back up. By the time I had shed my battered armor, I was ready to head to bed.

  As I did so, a knock on my door caught my attention.

  “Come in,” I called after a jaw-cracking yawn. I sat down on the edge of the bed. Thankfully, it had something softer than a stone mattress.

  Juliana’s beautiful face appeared as the door opened, and Clarissa was right behind her.

  Something I noticed immediately was that both women were wearing very revealing nighties that highlighted their amazing curves. As usual, Juliana sported a red one, while Clarissa wore green. Clarissa’s nightie was the more revealing of the two, showing off heaps of cleavage.

  I was fairly sure it was all but see-through, as well.

  Juliana’s wasn’t much more modest, though. Her nightie showed off her perfect shoulders and presented more than enough cleavage to satisfy my eyes.

  I half wondered if they ever wore any colors outside of the RGB color scheme these nations had adopted.

  Either way, both women looked absolutely incredible.

  “Uhhh…” I blinked. “Just… Wow!” I managed.

  Both women giggled at the glassy look on my face.

  “I told you he would be impressed,” Clarissa purred as she closed and then locked the door behind her. “All tuckered out from hot sweaty work.”

  “It appears so,” Juliana agreed with a smile. “How are you feeling, Alex?”

  “Well, I was tired a few moments ago,” I said, “but seeing you two, especially like that… suddenly I’m not so interested in sleep just yet. You’ve definitely perked me up.”

  “Hmm,” Clarissa breathed, leaning dangerously forward, “I think something else has perked up too, from the looks of it.”

  She wasn’t wrong.

  “Come join me,” I invited, patting both sides of the bed.

  Juliana approached the bed slowly, on my right, since Clarissa had already managed to close the distance and press herself to my left side. Both women latched onto my arms, with Clarissa kissing my neck while Juliana nuzzled my shoulder.

  “I’ve had numerous messages from my Father, demanding that I return immediately,” Juliana admitted.

  I raised an eyebrow at that.

  “What happened to saving the Beastkin from the Ogres and garnering favor from the city state council?” I asked. “I thought that was the entire reason we came here.”

  “As far as my father is concerned, the Beastkin have been saved, and it is no longer our concern,” she said. “He informed me that the city state council is quite pleased with him and the Clan, while also mentioning his distaste that the Hogannans were present.”

  “Reminds me of my own father,” Clarissa smirked. “And no doubt he is enjoying his increased status in Tringall. By tomorrow, he will have moved onto his next machinations.”

  “Even so,” I said, “abandoning the Beastkin now doesn’t sit right with me.”

  “I agree,” Juliana said. “Hence, I told my Father I would return when we find a suitable route out of the collapsed tunnels. I imagine it will take many days to do so.”

  Juliana winked at me, and I laughed at her innocent expression. Clearly, she had taken a few pages from Clarissa’s book to heart.

  “Haha, well I’m glad everyone I consider… well, yeah… family, made it through this alive.”

  I might have been moving a bit fast and too soon, but damn if it wasn’t how I felt. Both women pulled back with surprise, but then seemed to be pleased by the remark.

  Clarissa even went so far as to nibble on my earlobe, making me shudder with anticipation and desire, before her eyes widened.

  “Oh!” Clarissa said. “You have all the Titan parts stored in the Clan storage, yes?”

  “I’m fairly sure that’s what you watched me do,” I remarked, and then rolled my eyes.

  Clarissa had been adamant about my retaining the loot from the Titan. When I had converted its body into loot, it morphed into multiple pieces of yellow ore that shone brightly in the light. The fact that I received more than one surprised me, since I typically only received one piece of loot per monster.

  “Good, we will need to present that once we arrive back at the city,” she said.

  “Present it to whom?” I asked.

  She simply smirked. “Don’t worry about it, handsome, just leave it all to me.”

  She was clearly planning something, but since she wanted to keep it a surprise, I would leave it alone for now. I let out another jaw-cracking yawn, but I could tell the women had more than sleep on their minds.

  “Alex,” Juliana said, a cute blush stealing up her neck. “Would you mind terribly if I slept here… with you, tonight?”

  Juliana’s cheeks couldn’t have gotten more red if they tried, and my heart began to beat faster.

  “Sure,” I said. “Does that mean…”

  “Yes, she wants to do naughty things…” Clarissa snickered, but Juliana quickly cut her off.

  “You don’t have to spell it out,” Juliana said. “That isn’t very… elegant.”

  “Says the woman who asked me how to elegantly lay with Alex,” Clarissa said, rolling her eyes.

  “Oh,” I said. “You two have been talking, have you?”

  “I was on my way to see you handsome, when Juliana waylaid me on the way,” Clarissa explained. “She made a…”

  “Don’t say another word!” Juliana demanded. “I’ll explain it.”

  I watched as Juliana tried to form words as her cheeks heated up. When I laid a hand on her thigh, though, she turned that brilliant smile on me once again.

  “Since Clarissa got her hands on you first, so to speak, I felt it was only right and true that… well…”

  As Juliana fumbled with her explanation, I knew this was the moment. Perhaps all the RPG dialogue I had read had trained my mind to respond to cues on this sort of thing, but none of that mattered.

  This mattered.

  I leaned forward and kissed Juliana, her mouth parting slightly as her tongue danced with mine. My hands slid along her side, eventually tracing her delightful figure up to her breast. This, I cupped gently, which elicited a gentle moan from her.

  “Hmm,” Juliana murmured as our lips parted. “I’ve wanted this for so long. Now that the moment is here, it feels like a dream.”

  I used my other hand to cup her other breast and gently squeezed.

  She moaned even louder than before.

  “Well, I can prove this isn’t a dream,” I breathed, gliding one hand down her stomach. “If you’ll let me.”

  Juliana kissed me again before starting to pull off the remainder of my clothing.

  Clarissa giggled from behind me. “Oh, don’t mind me handsome,” Clarissa said. “Juliana promised that once she gets her turn first, we could both join in for round two.”

  “Wow,” I said, not really believing what I was hearing. “I guess that sleep is off the table.”

  “You guessed right.” She winked.

/>   “Clarissa, would you help me get this belt-buckle undone?” Juliana growled. “I can’t wait another moment.”

  Both women took turns undressing me and kissing me. I thoroughly enjoyed it when I did the same to them.

  Juliana’s gorgeous body was a work of art, that I had to admire once fully revealed, with her elegant curves and breasts proudly displayed in all their splendor.

  With deft precision, Juliana pushed me down onto the bed while Clarissa remained perched eagerly on the edge of the mattress, grinning all the while.

  As I reached for Juliana, my thoughts turned to what I had said earlier. I had left my world with no family to speak off and, while I had known both these women for only a few months, I couldn’t think of them as anything less than that.

  That Goddess had been right all along. This world was better suited to me.

  As Juliana smiled at me, I couldn’t help but feel that this was my home now, with these women. That feeling solidified, when Clarissa eventually joined in.

  My personal goal of getting a harem had finally come true and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the result. These two women were world class beauties, and after all we had been through, I couldn’t imagine a life without them.

  So, this was what it was like… having a family again. While I’d had no control last time, I promised myself I wouldn’t lose my family a second time. To do that, I had to grow stronger. Far stronger than what I was now.

  Thanks to the Goddess, I had the exact right skill to do just that. The only thing I had to do, was grind.

  And grinding was my specialty.

  Epilogue

  Overlord - Black Deep

  “Please, Overlord!” a Fiend cried as it sniveled on the floor. “If I work any longer, the… it…”

  “Then what?” I barked and the Fiend’s whole body shook with fear.

  Good.

  “The Deep Watcher…” It breathed before darting its eyes in all directions. “It’s everywhere, always watching! It hates the machine, it hates it!”

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and growl at the incompetent fool.