[Edited] Chapter 38 - Witches Reel With a Wooden Man

Before the dust had even settled, I began rattling off the Words to Unclothe the Darkness. Arx had been performing admirably to facilitate our escape despite the lack of light through a combination of natural gifts and experience, but she would have next to no chance in a melee. Lynnria and I, none at all. We needed our eyes.

And for good measure, I added Efficacy in the Gloom to the mix, though I doubted it would help. Against a wooden juggernaut like this, accuracy was going to be the least of our problems.

While I was busy rattling off spells, Arx rolled off of me and, somewhere mid-Efficacy, she grabbed my ankles and jerked me back just in time to miss the golem’s second descending fist. The jostling, combined with the subsequent deluge of stone chips, nearly broke my concentration, but I just managed to complete the incantation.

Once upon a time, casting and then maintaining so many spells at once would have floored me, but my capacity had improved by leaps and bounds. I no longer felt such basic spells as anything more than a minor hindrance and, now that I had a bit of Energy in my veins, I was able to scramble back and away from the golem with… relative ease. My newly discovered font of Life had been quite the godsend—something I still had a great many unprocessed feelings about—but it had done little for my wounds beyond reawakening the pain of them.

Now that I could see, I was able to quickly take stock of the situation. The golem was slowly straightening to its full height after its failed surprise attack. Its wooden mask was incapable of expression, but something about its posture spoke to self-satisfaction, as though far more aware and cognizant than I had at first given it credit. If it could have, I had no doubt it would have cackled while twirling a villainous mustache.

Behind it, four separate paths branched out in a sort of double-T intersection—a natural choke-point. It had to have known we would get here eventually. All it had to do was head us off and wait. Either we would run straight into its arms, or the collapsing ceiling would take care of us for it.

Speaking of, that particular hazard had in no way stopped while we were… convalescing. I figured we had two—maybe three—minutes at most before it caught up to us again.

Then, the other end of the long corridor was smashed into powder as the multi-ton domino chain passed us by.

Maybe less…

Nervously, I glanced back to the golem, hoping the encroaching structural collapse would break its resolve, but it was unfazed. Running was not its plan. Not this time.

Nor was it keen on waiting out the inevitable.

Arx deftly swayed to one side as another fist parted the air where her head had been. She was quick to return the favor. With a smooth and precise stroke, her scimitar sliced up the automaton’s side right into the pit of its arm before glancing away.

It had been a masterful exchange. Clearly, she had both the Agility and combat experience to go toe-to-toe with the wooden menace, but with her new body, she still lacked the power to seriously injure it. Long before she ever finished chopping away at its carapace, we would be at the mercy of the collapsing maze.

A second arm windmilled through the air, hoping to send her flying with an uppercut, but she somersaulted away not a hair’s breadth ahead of it. The near miss sent my heart into my throat, but my lilim was light on her feet. She would not be caught so easily.

However, now that it had some space, the golem assumed a familiar T-pose.

“Don’t let it start spinning!” I shouted. “Attack!”

“ ‘Snails and tits besides!” she snarled.

Hurriedly, she launched herself into a flying missile-dropkick right into the golem’s exposed chest. The blow had certainly looked impressive, but if it had done any damage, I could not see it. Still, it was enough to momentarily unbalance the ligneous man, disrupting the potentially disastrous move.

“Do something, Donum,” she yelled as she leapt to one side, dodging the return volley. “I’m a Scout, not a front-line fighter. I’m not meant for this crap!”

I did not bother arguing. It would just waste time. We both knew she was all we had.

Another series of booming thud sheralded the latest pass of the crumbling maze.

Shit.

For a moment, I cast about, trying to assemble any sort of plan that might turn the tide. Our only real option was escape but, with the maze violently disintegrating behind us, that meant getting past the labyrinth’s guardian. I had little doubt whether Arx could accomplish the feat, however I would need a sizable opening to make it through. And that was ifI managed to fully heal myself first.

Then my eyes landed on Lynnria. She had collapsed against a wall off to one side and laid… well, not exactly unmoving.

Double shit. When am I gonna learn not to use the Hammer while under the influence?

“Come on, girl,” I said urgently, shaking her. “Come on. I didn’t hit you that hard.”

“Ungh~”

I grimaced at the semi-conscious reply. Her arms and legs were curling and twisting seemingly at random while her eyelids fluttered, and her face had gone slack. Either she was in the middle of one hell of an orgasm, or she was having a seizure.

“I guess I did hit you that hard.”

The wall reverberated like a drum as an arm that might as well have been a battering ram smashed into it, pelting us with chips of stone.

“Any time now,” Arx growled urgently. “I can’t exactly hold this thing with just the one sword!”

“What happened to your other one?” I shouted over my shoulder as I none-too-gently shook Lynnria.

“How would I—?!” Mid-sentence, she was forced to duck nearly to the floor to avoid the ship’s mast swinging at her head. “The last I remember having it was before we got hit by that flood dragon.”

“Is that what that was?”

The golem’s second arm traced an arc through the air as it attempted to flatten her with an overhead chop, and she had to grunt with the effort it took to contort her body out of the way.

“Ahnbe’s tits, man! Focus!” she yelled.

“Right.”

She needed some firepower, and I had a buff for that. I had been holding back on it because of its cost, hoping I could put what Life I had regained toward more healing. But unless I made the sacrifice right the fuck now…

The distant rumbling again rose in pitch, peaking momentarily as it demolished yet another section of the hallway in its wake. A third of the corridor was now in rubble.

No more time for debate.

The Words to Detonating Sap Varnish came quickly enough, but I had yet to practice the spell to the point where casting it felt natural. I had simply lacked the free time and resources to justify the expenditure. So of course, my tongue twisted itself into knots almost immediately.

Then Lynnria’s hand gripped my tunic and jerked me into her waiting lips.

“Three above!” she gasped once I finally wrestled myself free. “That was the single most amazing experience of my entire life! I can’t believe you’ve been able to do that this entire time, and you never once mentioned—”

Her train of thought was abruptly cut short by the clutch of my fingers on her jaw and the subsequent yank of her head toward the fight. I figured it would be quicker than explaining.

“Well… whistle my dick,” she said shortly.

She seemed to be enjoying that particular malapropism. To my annoyance. I tried not to think about it. I had spells to cast.

“Go for the legs!” she shouted as she sprang to her feet—then immediately collapsed while clutching at her ankles. “Augh! What the…?”

“Great. Thanks,” Arx yelled mid-air. And upside down. Somehow, she still managed to make it sound sarcastic. “Now get your boots off and your ass up here!”

Lynnria shook her head in confusion. “Wha…? Donum, I think I need healing. I must have torn something.”

I swore sharply as the broken fragments of yet another attempt at the Varnish tumbled ineffectually from my lips. It seemed clear that some new change had triggered within the girl. How Arx had picked up on it so quickly when even Lynnria had not was anyone’s guess, but I really did not have the time to deal with it right then.

“Boots! Off!” I barked. “They’re pulling your ankles out of alignment.”

Then, I immediately returned to spellcasting.

“What? You mean because I twisted them earlier?”

I nodded absently. It was a convenient lie, but getting her up and moving was far more important than any truth could be. Besides, I had magic to worry about!

Right when the dominoes from hell returned, turning the back half of the corridor into so much rubble, Arx’s flawless dodge streak was finally cut short. The golem’s relentless onslaught had pressed her to the wall, and she was left with no option save attempting to deflect its massive arm with her scimitar. The impact snapped the blade at the hilt, and she was sent spinning past the now-bootless Lynnria.

The girl had been bouncing on her toes experimentally with a pleased little grin on her face—which was all the notice I could pay to Lynnria’s developing situation at that moment—when Arx’s body rag-dolled past us. Whatever brief elation she had been feeling was taken with it. But she was not about to just stand there. Immediately drawing her ‘Earthen bow,’ she pointed it at the advancing golem.

“Dirt!”

With a sound best left to the imagination, the substance in question rocketed directly into what passed for the barrel-man’s face. The impact staggered it, and the golem crashed against the wall before it could regain its balance.

“Ha ha!” Lynnria crowed. “Did you see that, Donum? Right between the eyes! Those months of archery training paid off splendidly, I tell you!”

“He’s got an accuracy buff going, you twat,” Arx growled as she climbed unsteadily to her feet. She had a wicked gash running along her forehead, and she was clutching at her now-useless left arm. The golem’s blow had all but crushed it.

Lynnria pouted slightly. “But that’s cheating.”

“This isn’t a tourney bout. Cheating is the name of the game.” She turned to me. “‘Snails, Donum. Spit it out, already!”

I had been mostly ignoring them through the exchange, instead trying to devote my attention to where it needed to be. Bizarre, magical languages are difficult even when you are not embroiled in a chaotic fight to the death, but I knew that. By that point in my travels, I was experienced enough as a caster not to get frustrated. The spell would come eventually.

So about the time Arx began losing patience, the final syllables to the spell were coming together, and I thrust the result toward her. The sticky substance magically coalesced around her claws where it seemed to emit a dull and evil gleam even through the medium of the two-dimensional, arcade lines my buff provided.

“What is that?” Lynnria asked, faintly disgusted.

“That is what we do when we’re tired of just cheating and decide to start playing dirty,” Arx replied with a grin. “Think you can keep that thing busy?”

Lynnria slapped one end of the wand into the palm of her hand. “For a little while. This thing is kind of draining.”

I turned my head to listen. The destruction wave was turning back toward us.

“We only have a little while.”

“Right…” She turned to point her wand. “Dirt!”

Again, her aim was perfect, and the now disoriented golem staggered against the wall almost like a prize fighter after taking a glove to the chin.

Lynnria grinned and stepped forward, pursuing her prey.

I pulled my attention away from her and back to Arx. She had summoned her arrow in the interim and was busily scraping some of the Sap from her injured hand onto its tip.

“I don’t think that’s going to be enough,” I opined nervously.

“We’ll see. Now, buff me with that healing armament of yours.”

I glanced at the automaton quickly. I had not really used that version of Renewal of Consumption much since the fight with the mutant giraffe, so I was less familiar with its quirks. However, at least in theory, it should allow the spell to draw its fuel source from her opponent rather than me.

“Does it even have Life Energy to drain?” I shouted, brow furrowed.

“Let’s find out.”

I nodded. Better than sitting on our thumbs…

Casting that spell was a mere trifle, especially when I did not have to worry about powering it. All I had to do was rattle off the far-more-familiar incantation then hold it until Arx hit something. As an added bonus, I focused as hard as I could toward making it as powerful as possible. It might have been a fruitless effort, but I knew that when I drew from my own reserves, I was able to tune the flow of Energy to the amount needed for the injury I was healing.

Arx’s arm was broken, and that usually took quite a bit. However, even had she been totally healthy, I was keen on draining as much Life out of that monster as I could.

“Dirt!”

I glanced back to Lynnria’s ongoing struggle. The fight had been going marginally better than Arx’s. The wand seemed to at least affect the golem somewhat, and the mechanical man was now beginning to display some respect for the weapon. By shielding its head with both arms.

“Cheeky bastard!” she yelled when the spell splattered harmlessly against them. Her tail began twitching anxiously as the golem advanced. “What’s the matter? Can’t take it anymore? Tired of getting your skull caved in?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Arx taking careful aim, and I had a sudden flashback… of far-too-few practice sessions… and quite a lot of wildly out-of-control arrows.

“Duck, Lynnria!” I yelled.

“Huh?”

Arx did not wait. “Eyah!”

For a moment, time seemed to slow its relentless march toward eternity. The slight warble I had heard in her pitch caused my ass to clench in horror, and a shout of warning swelled in my throat. It was a useless reaction, born more of instinct than reason. Lynnria could no more dodge that arrow—cleaving its way through the air like a bullet toward her neck—than she could leap to the moon. She barely had the chance to widen her eyes.

But then, the arrow’s path contorted—just slightly—until it looked more like a spiral than a straight line. That slight shift carried it past her, missing her jugular by the breadth of a hair.

The tension broke. Time resumed its natural rhythm. The next thing I knew, there was a wooden thwok, heralding the arrow sinking home… right into the golem’s completely unguarded crotch. Dead center.

I could not help but wince. It was only wood, but still… there was playing dirty and then there was playing dirty.

Arx sucked a breath through her teeth before letting it out again in a relieved sigh. “Hoo… that was clo—nyose~!”

I quirked an eyebrow. Even without the verbal cue, I could have seen from her posture that the spell’s regeneration had taken hold. She was getting fairly used to the secondary effects of my skills, but when something like that slams into you, it can be next to impossible to pretend nothing happened. It’s simple reflex. Hips pull back. Thighs draw in. Arms cross, pressing certain succulent mounds together.

Sexy as hell, too.

But more importantly, we now knew this thing could be drained! And evidently, it could also feel pain. The automaton seemed incapable of making any sounds other than the rattling of its own timber, but the creaking it did make was eerily similar to a howl of agony.

Also, it had begun frantically beating its own groin with a fist, trying to dislodge the now-dissolved arrow and the payload it had delivered. So it was an easy deduction.

Lynnria did not seem to notice.

“Close?! What…? You…! Did you see…?! I ought to…!”

Her sputtering continued for a bit. It seemed that about thirty rather choice epithets had occurred to her all at once, and every single one of them was vying to be first out the queue.

She need not have bothered, though. Her tail was doing plenty of talking already. Up until that point, I had not known it could stand straight up like that.

The general levity was soon cut short when the maze took the opportunity to remind us of its imminent demise. However, this time two rows of ceiling crashed to the ground behind us, pushing a cloud of dust into our faces… and leaving only two rows remaining in its wake. Whatever time we had left to get out of this mess had just been halved in a stroke.

Which finally dislodged a coherent sentence out of the girl.

“Wha… that’s not fair, either!” she shouted, pointing.

It was a useless observation, no matter that I agreed with her whole-heartedly. However, my attention had focused behind her.

The golem had begun swinging its arms about madly and thunderously smashing itself against the walls of the labyrinth. I could allow for a golem being clever enough to head us off at a natural choke point. That kind of cold logic was just exactly the kind of trait I would assume for an automaton. I could even grant one feeling pain… if grudgingly. It was a magical construct, after all, and pain served… a kind of purpose. But frustration? Rage? That seemed a bit much.

Regardless, this one was most definitely pissed.

“It’s spinning up!”

At my yell, Lynnria twirled in place and extended her bow, though I detected a slight tremble in her arm. “Dirt!”

Another clod shot forward, but the golem reacted quickly. It jerked itself backward, tilting the gyroscope of its arms upward just enough to scatter the round uselessly against the wall. The move unbalanced it, and it was forced to reel back a few steps to compensate.

I turned back to Arx. The gash along her head had sealed itself already, but the arm was still hanging uselessly at her side. I knew that would change given enough time, spells and arrows. And with Lynnria’s wand to keep the creature distracted, we had discovered a workable strategy. Eventually, we could whittle the thing down just by kiting it. But with the maze bearing down on us ‘eventually’ was not going to cut it.

We needed more time! Or…

I clutched at my Coin Pouch as something occurred to me. Or to use what we have left more effectively.

Every gamer knows the impulse to ferret away miscellaneous potions and items, just in case. Most often, they lie forgotten, collecting dust in a bag somewhere. Waiting for a rainy day that never comes, rediscovered only after the final boss fight.

Well, it was pouring now. Giant, rectangular boulders in this case, but they counted.

I turned a hard look toward Arx. “Can you fight?”

She flexed the claws on her good hand, still gleaming with unused acid. “F-for younnn, I would f-fling myself laughing into the jaws of death.”

The corner of my mouth tugged upward. “Save the poetics. Inventory.”

“You have ahnn~ idea?”

I quickly found the little bundle, still wrapped in its wax paper, and selected it before glancing back up. From the strain in her voice, the bones of her left arm were finally beginning to shift back into position.

“Dirt!” Lynnria shouted breathlessly, drawing my attention away from the enraptured lilim.

This time, she had aimed low, but the particulate soil only managed to sweep a single spindly leg out from under the golem. It swayed unsteadily and, before it could regain its footing, one of its rapidly twirling fists cracked against the wall, forcing its body to bounce away like a pinball bumper. One more good shot and Lynnria could send the now dangerously unstable automaton to the floor.

But before she could force the word out, her own legs betrayed her, and she collapsed to her knees. She was out of juice.

“Triple shit!” I swore. Gritting my teeth, I swiped the hovering bundle from the air, taking just enough time to rip the pill from the confines of its wrapper, and handed it to Arx. “Here. Swallow this.”

Without a word of protest, she snatched it from my palm and forced it down her throat. “What’s the plan?”

The falling skies almost drowned out the question, and I had to shield my head from the debris peppering my face. I was probably bleeding from a thousand little cuts by that point, but I did not have the time to check. One more pass and we would have to run, golem or no golem.

“Attack!” I yelled frantically. “Hit that wooden bastard as hard and as fast as you can! Fuck! Chew on it if you have to! Let’s drain this bitch.”

A mad gleam lit her eyes, and for a moment, I almost saw the old Arx—the hedonistic berserker. The jaws of death may have opened wide, but she was going to make certain it choked before swallowing her down.

“Yes, my master!”

A strange sort of vibration passed over her body, forcing the highlights from Unclothe the Darkness to redraw around her like crazy. Then she was away. Before I could blink, she was already past the collapsed and exhausted Lynnria and moving so fast the lines could only draw her afterimage.

The golem had just stabilized by that point and hastily attempted to tilt its spinning axis down to protect its legs from the oncoming woman-made-bullet, but it was too late. She was already through to the other side.

As if momentum was a laughable fantasy dreamed up by some dribbling lunatic in his padded cell, her mad dash came to an instantaneous halt. I only saw a momentary blink of her arrested outline before she had reversed course and began tearing into the golem’s exposed undercarriage with her Varnished claws.

The feat left me utterly astounded. I had attempted to identify the pill some time ago and, from the vague impressions the spell left me, I had guessed it was a sort of stimulant. But to this degree? Never mind a haste spell, this was like the Speed Force from Detective Comics had momentarily descended to grace my lilim with its power.

Even so, her claws could only inflict so much damage against the brute. I needed to do my part.

The healing armament had scarcely left my lips before the flashing daggers at her fingers ripped a chunk of the automaton’s Life away. So I added a second. Then a third.

The sudden onrush of so much healing energy and the raw pleasure that came with it made her stumble just long enough for the golem to escape. But the onrush of claws and spells had cost it dearly. Woozy from the drainage, the wooden man careened into the wall. Its whirling fists thundered against the stone only a scant handful of times before snapping nearly in twain against the seemingly implacable structure.

Arx was on it in a second, her eyes gone mad with rapturous sexual climax and the lust for battle. Over and over, I armed her claws. Over and over, they carved furrows through exposed wood. Life surged from automaton to lilim, transforming along the way into greater and greater heights of regenerative power and wild, mind-breaking pleasure.

The golem fought valiantly with what remained of its shattered arms, but it was a pointless effort. Where before it could have broken bones and powdered teeth, leaving a mangled and lifeless body in its wake, now its fists were met only with endless rebounding fury. Each time it slammed her to the wall, each time it crushed her arms, regenerative power snapped her body back into place, and she would launch herself anew into the fray, her claws a frenzied blur.

And behind her, there was me. Shouting the Words to Renewal of Consumption on repeat, like the terrible yet exquisite mantra it was.

Then, abruptly and without warning, she collapsed mid-swing. It was as though her string had been cut. One moment, she had been attacking with abandon, and the next, she was on the floor. Tracers of steam escaped her quivering body like a venting pressure cooker.

The pill had run its course. Its gifts of ferocity and speed had gone. All that remained were the many, many echoes of bone-melting pleasure, stealing her breath and any hope of standing. She was at the mercy of the golem.

Yet the automaton did not attack. It merely stood there, rocking back and forth unsteadily. It too was all but finished. Its wooden shell was in splinters. Its arms barely worked anymore. If the pill had lasted a few seconds longer, she would have drained it completely.

For a moment, the battlefield teetered in a tenuous equilibrium. I had no idea what I could do next. Lynnria was herself still struggling to stand. Arx was a mess. The golem was on its last legs but still extremely dangerous to a little support mage like me. And of course, the final wave of destruction before we were all crushed to death was now crescendoing toward us.

Perhaps it was that none-too-gentle reminder that broke the peace. Our foe could no longer escape its own demise so, like the monster it was, it decided it would take at least one of us down with it.

Before I realized what was happening, it had scooped Arx into one of its arms and began stumbling toward the labyrinth’s ultimate embrace.

“No!” I shouted.

Frantically, I grabbed onto one of my lilim’s legs, trying to jerk her free, only to be met by a splintered elbow. The blow—severely weakened now that we had stolen so much of its Life away—was still sufficient to force the breath form my lungs and send me sliding down the wall. When it got to Lynnria, it paused to look down at her for a moment before delivering a vicious kick to the downed girl’s ribs and sending her careening down the hallway.

Then it continued its halting march forward to be claimed by the stone. A scant second later, a block the size of a school bus crushed them both.

I sat there in shocked horror, barely even conscious of the burning in my lungs. For a few moments, I refused to believe it. We had been winning. For the first time in who knew how long, we had actually been winning! And then… at the final second…

Tears streaked down my chin, unheeded. We had failed. After all that. All that suffering. The pain. The struggle. The long run through the dark. Arx was dead. Again. There was no way she could have survived that, even with the regenerative power in her. It would have been instant. My feeble attempts at rescue had been flattened under implacable rock.

But the maze did not care. It simply kept collapsing in ever widening circles. Lynnria and I were directly beneath the very next one, and from the way she was now clutching her ribs, I doubted she would be getting far. The golem had made certain of that.

As for myself, I still had some Life in me—enough to get me on my feet again, anyway. But not so much as to heal Lynnria, as well. My healer’s intuition was quick to inform me of that much. And to escape alone? No. I could never leave her behind, and even if I could have borne the guilt of it, there were four paths ahead of me. Only one led to freedom. I knew it in my gut.

My ears began to ring. Jumbled, incoherent plans vied with worse ones in a fog of indecision and despair. But then finally, the burning in my lungs became too great, and I sucked in a breath. With it came a new clarity of mind. I had forgotten something. Something critical.

Long ago—or so it seemed, it had only been a few weeks—my Class had evolved. With it had come a strange little ability. Some might think it a trump card, but it was not something I would ever consider using unless my back was quite literally up against the wall.

Once per day, I could sacrifice my remaining Life Energy pool to revive a single lilim.

I swallowed as resolve settled in my gut. I could not believe I was actually considering this. That little phrase: remaining Life Energy pool. The implications chilled me to the bone.

Well… we’re hosed either way. Might as well. When the choice comes between certain death and almost certain death, a person’s survival instinct will leap for the long odds every time. Okay. How do I actually go about using this—?

Scarcely had the decision been made than a series of Words arose from within me. I did not know where they came from. Like the binding ritual, they did not exist within my mind. They Spoke themselves into existence through the medium of my own lips, but it had not been my Will that brought them forth.

They were four in total. Only the four. But they were powerful, heavy things. They hovered in the air for a moment, ethereal yet solid. As if gathering their power. Then there came the light.

Real light. Like the sun. Blinding in its intensity.

Suddenly, my Core ripped open, and—

*****

I opened my eyes… to darkness.

Several precious seconds ticked away while I reoriented myself. I was standing. For some reason. My heart was beating away, strong as ever. I felt hale and completely uninjured, which was an unexpected but no less welcome development. Things were relatively quiet, save the rumbling in the far distance… and the sounds of someone sobbing nearby.

I turned toward the noise only to become immediately distracted by the unnatural swaying at my chest. I blinked a few times and shook my head. For a moment, I cupped my breasts with one arm. I was still a little unused to them being so large, but they had not grown again that I could tell. Sadly.

So why…?

I shook my head again. The last thing I remembered had been sinking my claws into that ‘stit-sucking golem. Then things had gotten… really nice. But fuzzy.

Might have gotten a little carried away there.

So what had happened? And where was the master?

I scented at the air curiously before realizing I could sense him perfectly well—actually maybe a little too well. But that was not important. The connection had opened!

Elated beyond measure, I scurried forward to hold him in my arms, but he was completely out of it. Limp as a doll. And cold to the touch.

“Master?” I called, growing concerned. “My Dearest?”

“Who—?!” a nearby voice shouted in alarm, only to immediately succumb to a hacking cough.

“Who do you think, pet?”

The girl wheezed for a few moments, catching her breath. I could sense disbelief. Confusion. Lots of fear. “Arx? How? You… you died! I saw you die!”

I sniffed dismissively. Me die? Nonsense. I could never die. Not truly. “What happened? Why is Donum so cold?”

“I—I don’t… he cast some kind of spell and… I don’t know. There was this light, and then… then everything went dark and he… he…”

The master’s little plaything ran out of steam for a bit. Her emotions were fluctuating wildly, too fast for me to make sense of. But there was also a raspy sort of crackling in her voice.

Punctured lung? Strange. When had that happened? She had not directly entered the fight that I could recall. But the golem was nowhere around. I could sense that easily enough. Must have run off. Shame. The Gem that thing would have dropped…

“I think he might be dead,” the girl finished finally, cutting into my thoughts. “I think… there’s no way he… We… You and me, we need to get… get out of here.”

My lips curled over my fangs. How dare she? The gall! To suggest leaving him? And with her? Ha! I would sooner light her on fire just to piss on her than—

A wave of dizziness briefly overcame me, scattering the thought.

…No… …mustn’t do that…

I growled softly, anyway. I would let her off for now. But if she were to suggest such a thing again, she would not escape so lightly.

“He’s not dead. I would know,” I informed her. I felt the surge of hope at my words, but I did not much care. She was only a pet.

Even so, the master was not in a good way. Again.

Worse, all the precious Lust I had been saving had vanished. I was barely even horny! Or… hmm. Only the normal amount.

I was always a little wet, after all. For him. ‘Snails, the last few hours had been absolute torture! To feel so much without the satisfaction of having him between my legs? Augh!

My pussy came alive at the thought, itching—begging to be touched. Filled and stretched to the brim!

And a wave of dysphoria came with it.

I rubbed at my eyes. Something was very… off. But the master needed Life. That much I was sure of. And the blocks falling in the distance would not pause just because I was feeling a little strange.

Hastily, I reached for myself only to be met by that ridiculous skirt. I honestly did not know why I was still bothering with the garment. It was completely useless and only ever got in the way.

However, it was a piddling task to hook a claw through the drawstring and discard it. I would enjoy the master’s surprise and embarrassment when he found out. And his private thrill at my daring.

But when I ran a finger through my folds, a chill ran up my spine. That had felt… unusual. Wonderful, of course. But… strange. Almost unfamiliar. But how could that be? I had toyed with myself often enough to know its every contour. Even in this new body.

Distracted, I pressed the moistened finger to his lips but, while pleased by his unconscious suckling, I was no less bothered. What was going on with me?

“That’s… he’s going to be alright then?” the girl asked, cutting into my thoughts.

I sighed. How could she ask such a question? Was she blind? It was perfectly obvious the master needed to again sup upon my well of Life. But perhaps she was blind. Whatever seed the master had planted within her… it had not bloomed fully. Much less borne fruit. That much was clear.

“Yes,” I replied shortly. Then, softening slightly from the alternating waves of hope and despair radiating off the girl, I added, “Eventually.”

My back arched slightly as my finger again sought out the precious liquid within. By the master’s gaze… why did that feel so good? It was almost like he was… here. Awake. And watching me pleasure myself. But more that that…

The scents. The velvety softness of my skin. The delicious heat between my legs… Almost as if he could sense them all. Feeling what I felt… as I felt them.

I quirked an eyebrow at the thought, intrigued. The connection was so very, very open right now. What if…?

I tickled his nose with my glistening claw, smiling now. Can you smell that, my Dearest? The tips of my breasts began to dimple and twist, and I ran a hand over them idly. Can you see me? Or is it more?

“Good,” the master’s pet sighed with relief. “Good. Ha! I guess Grandfather was right, after all. ‘Even the sturdiest of armors can be crushed by a big enough rock.’ Never thought it would be so literal, though.”

I snarled at the interruption. Idiot, blind girl! Still… why did that sound familiar?

“But we still need to get out of here!” she continued. “Those bricks aren’t finished yet. They’ll smash us to pieces if we don’t hurry.”

For half a moment, I did not answer, preferring to instead allow the master to absorb what he could from my finger. I was not quite so full as the last time I had done this, so my gift had probably weakened. Even so, I could sense a bit of warmth returning to his cheeks.

She was right. I was helping, but it was not so fast as to wake him before the maze collapsed on us. I could hear it encroaching even now. But I would not give her the satisfaction of admitting it.

“You don’t say,” I replied coldly.

As quick as I could, I rolled the master’s limp form over my shoulders. Then I hesitated. The girl was in terrible shape. I had little doubt my Dearest could eventually nurse her back to health given time and resources, but we had precious little of those. And with the maze bearing down on us…

Maybe I should just leave her here?

…no…

I rolled my eyes. “Alright, fine,” I said into the empty air. “‘Snails, Master. I’m not a pack-mule!”

“What?”

“Nothing. Come on. Let’s get you up,” I said, hauling her to her feet and slinging her arm over my shoulder.

With that, I led us on, idly humming some tune from a distant memory. A woman had sung it to me once as I lay sleeping. I had not thought of her in quite some time, but it did not much matter anymore. She was long dead. And I had a new Clan.

Besides, I would much rather think about—

“Oop!” I paused as a thrill ran up my spine. Slightly to the left and… “This way.”