[Edited] Chapter 9 - The Non-Battle

Please refer to the attachment for the original version with editorial notes.

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Jax quickly popped the pill into her mouth before standing to hurl the prepared package—really just a rock that had been liberally coated with Detonating Sap Varnish—into the burning bed of the middle wagon…

Now…

In my defense… I did not know a great deal about explosives beyond the fact that different types yield different results and have different requirements for using them properly. I did not know the chemical make-up of the Sap, nor what the proper classification of it should be—whether high or low explosive. And I definitely did not know how much of an effect my own skill level might have on any of that. All I knew was that it did have one… and that whenever the Sap met fire, things blew the fuck up.

So with all of that in mind, and the fact that my skill with the spell was still well within the Novice Tier, I had been extremely generous with the application, going so far as to cast the spell three separate times on the rock.

Which was why I really should not have been surprised when the wagon… did in fact… blow the fuck up.

True to the Sap’s name, the entirety of the middle wagon detonated with enough force to not only disintegrate it entirely but to kick the ones adjacent to it down the road in opposite directions several dozen paces. Moments after the shock wave had flattened the grass all around, smoking bits of wooden shrapnel shot everywhere—tumbling up into the sky, thudding into dirt, and shredding the nearby foliage and men alike. The only upside to the whole situation was that, much like what had happened when the Tongue-Flower had used the substance, the fire that had been hungrily consuming the former wagon had been extinguished instantaneously.

There was a pregnant pause after that, the only sound those of hoof beats trailing off into the distance. Naturally, the six-legged horse that had still been harnessed to the lead wagon, somehow shielded from the blast by his own cargo, had decided he had had enough of whatever the fuck that had been, and tendered his official resignation, taking the half-destroyed wagon bouncing along with him, which ended up running over the hostages and scattering its contents behind like a trail of breadcrumbs.

The other two horses—fortunately held far enough away from the blast not to have been affected—became concerned with their brother’s impulsive behavior and decided they should probably follow along just in case he got into any trouble. That there had been a Bandit attempting to hold their reins was of little consequence.

From his short-lived screams, the man was less than appreciative of the trampling.

Everyone else was far too stunned to move—those of us who were still standing anyway. Several of the Bandits had died instantly from the explosion, while a couple of others were heavily injured. Arx had previously ghosted more than a few and the horses had dispatched the one, so there were not many left for us to deal with.

And then… the pill Jax had swallowed took effect.

Seconds after the last of the shrapnel had finished raining from the sky, her body gave off a noticeable pulse, and she dropped to one knee. Trembling from whatever was beginning to course through her body, she gasped as her muscles began to bulge and swell, growing larger and larger with each beat of her heart. Creaking and cracking, ridges crawled over ridges until they finally slowed, and Jax stood, magnificently stretching her new and fantastic body.

She stared down at herself in amazement before throwing her head back and cackling madly. She looked… amazing. Despite having near instantly grown into some feminine Adonis, she still retained that certain curvaceous softness that drove men—and me—wild. Cracking her neck, she glanced back at me, and with a knowing little grin, she winked. Then, without missing a beat, she turned and charged.

Nonplussed at this development, I nevertheless began to hastily assemble my accuracy spell, really the only buff in my arsenal that might have been of immediate use in an open field during broad daylight. However, before I could get the Words out, she had already arrived at the first of the Bandits.

He was still stunned from the explosion, and now having a naked, demonic she-hulk charge him from out of nowhere, he did not even have the presence of mind to draw his weapon.

Nor did Jax, for that matter. She simply speared the man through his diaphragm with her claws and slowly lifted him bodily into the air by his ribcage as her skill began to drink his Life away. Chuckling darkly as the orgasmic fire pulsed into her veins, through our connection, and over to me, she grasped the breathless man by the hair, tilted his head to the side, and ripped his throat out with her sharp teeth. She then carelessly tossed the soon-to-be corpse to one side.

Seeing this, the nearest Bandit, the skinny loai with the top-knot, foolishly hefted a falchion overhead and ran at her, screaming. I admired his bravery, but Jax only needed to casually lift her off hand to summon her axe into the path of his swinging blade. With her newfound strength, she arrested its downward arc as solidly as an anvil.

Startled by the flash of light and the weapon that came with it, the Bandit was totally unprepared when Jax proceeded to spit a wad of flesh into his eyes. The man jerked back, narrowly avoiding his former friend’s fate, though Jax still managed to carve a few lines across his chest. He instantly began to scream as the Detonating Sap Varnish I had earlier coated her claws with took action and, as his muscles seized from the pain—a secondary but far-more-useful side-effect of the skill—Jax’s descending axe cleanly split the man’s skull, silencing him forever.

Releasing the weapon to let it dissolve on its own, Jax quickly scanned the area, searching for new targets. However, soon enough, her eyes landed on the Marauder, who was just coming to his feet after having been run over by the flaming rear wagon. Freed now from his beguilement, the bruised and battered man took one look at Jax’s bloodied form, drew a pair of cutlasses, and roared his challenge.

Jax grinned even as she lazily canted a hip to one side. Sensually, yet grotesquely, she ran a blood-soaked hand over her breast, taunting the man. “Come on then, muckle-nut,” she purred, “I ain’t got all day.”

“You killed-ed Skins and Stink-foot!” the Marauder screamed in his child-like voice. “Now I kills—”

“Hah!”

Arx’s arrow rudely interrupted the conversation by whizzing straight into the man’s ear. He wobbled unsteadily for a moment, not quite understanding what had just happened, but as the arrow melted away, the Marauder’s eyes dulled and he fell stiffly. Flat on his face.

Jax clicked her tongue in annoyance as Arx stepped out of the grass. “Aww~ Why’d ye do that for? Didn’t ye hear? Them ‘uns said as that were Binn! He were famous in Bandit circles with them cutlasses. Some even said he could give a Knight what for!” Sighing, she shook her head regretfully. “I always did want to try me hand at crossing blades with him. Especially like this!” So saying, she began to flex and show off her muscles, though they were already beginning to smoke as the excess mass slowly fell away, returning her to her original form. She grimaced, “What a waste! All of that power just for them two nobodies.”

Arx chuckled before brandishing her own pill between her middle and forefinger. “Fortunately, by the time I had remembered mine, everything was pretty much over with. Can’t believe we managed to find a Pill of Glorious Physique of all things. Do you know what Grade it was?”

Jax shrugged. “Nah. All the Lady said were that it were gonna push me Strength and Toughness to Intermediate for the fight.”

Arx sighed wistfully in response, perhaps in remembrance of her past self, before nodding simply. “Grade I then. Not too great a loss.” Glancing down at her own pill, she mused, “Now I’m really curious about what the other two might be.”

Jax pursed her lips speculatively. “Still… a Pill of Glorious Physique, ye said? How much could we have sold it for, do ye think?”

“Oh… maybe… thirty gold? Forty?” she replied distractedly.

Jax let out an anguished cry before squatting down and covering her head with her hands. “Thirty or forty gold?!” she wailed, “Do ye know how much money that is?”

Arx nodded seriously, “Enough for a pretty wild weekend, I can tell you that much.”

“A weekend?!” I shouted, popping up from the grass. By my own reckoning… that was something like a hundred-thousand dollars. “You drank that much over a single weekend?”

“Not by myself,” she replied defensively. “And besides, it wasn’t only booze. We did other things.” She chuckled and shook her head at the memory. “A… lot of other things.”

Scowling, I plucked the remaining pill from her fingers and deposited it and the one I had been holding back into the Pouch for safekeeping before glancing down at Jax. She was practically in tears over the loss.

I pitied her, though honestly, it was a struggle not to laugh at the situation. The fact that a skinflint like Jax had so brutally been introduced to the old RPGer’s dilemma with one-time-use items was hilarious to me. How many times had I scrimped and saved all those hundreds of elixirs and full-heal potions only for them to be all but useless by the time I got to the final boss?

And most the time, I ended completely forgetting I even had them.

“It’ll be alright, Jax,” I consoled her. “We’ll find others, and then you can hoard them for that perfect situation all you like.”

She only groaned mournfully in reply.

Sighing, I put her out of mind as I glanced at the carnage around us. We had really done a number here. Only a couple of heavily wounded Bandits were left, and the trio of captives did not look much better. They were still tied up and moaning in pain off to one side. I would need to heal them, but the potential side-effect of that spell was not a thing I much wanted to discuss with a bunch of outsiders. Even setting that aside, despite having rescued them and likely saved their lives, we sort of had ended up destroying most everything in the process. And scaring off the horses… with the remaining wagon… which had run over them.

“Well…” I began, “I suppose we should do a quick count. Make sure we got them all. Then—”

Right about then, a smoking vial of something landed right in the middle of us and shattered, releasing its contents into the air. Shielding my nose, I staggered back from the dark purplish smoke even as the sound of triumphant cackling filled the air.

“Ah… not bad. Not bad at all!” a voice crooned tauntingly at us. “You almost won the day. But old Ghaun always gets the last laugh!”

Right about then, the Despoiler stepped out of the high grass. Like most of the rest of the Bandits, he was a skinny laoi, though his greasy, orange-green hair was cropped shorter than most. He was wearing a dirty set of undyed pantaloons and a simple vest over a loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirt. Meanwhile, his hands were resting on the pommels of a short-sword and dagger he kept sheathed at his hips. Licking his lips, he allowed his beady little eyes to rove over the two lilim before him, and he began to giggle in anticipation.

“Look at you lot… traipsing about just as naked the day you were born. I have to wonder… why go through all this trouble? You could’ve asked if you wanted a nice pounding, you know? Me and them what you killed would’ve given you all you could have ever dreamed of, but… more for me, I suppose.” The man giggled again even as he coldly dismissed the passing of his former compatriots.

I gave my head a rough shake, feeling a tad woozy from the smoke… and the beginnings of something stirring in my groin.

Huh? I thought I turned that off.

“Well… no matter,” the man continued. “Whatever you intended, my special aphrodisiac will soon have you on your knees! Begging for it!”

My eyes closed of their own accord at this pronouncement. I will admit, he had me worried there for a moment, but an attack like this? Against us?! I could tell already that whatever it was the man had thrown at us, I had inflicted far worse on myself by sheer accident! The struggle not to simultaneously cringe in embarrassment and howl with laughter was all-consuming, but the man was still gloating! I could not bring myself to ruin it for him just yet.

As I wrestled with regaining some level of mastery over myself, I opened my eyes only to discover Jax glancing back at me with—of all things—a mixture of concern and uncertainty covering her features. “Uhm…” she whispered, ignoring the inane dialog the guy was spouting, “What’s a… a-afro… whatever it were?”

Her question cracked what little self-composure I had left, and a snort escaped me before I could rein it back in. Fortunately, the Lady of Power began explaining it to us in Her various ways, saving me the struggle of actually trying to speak. I did not read it. I knew for a certainty I would break if I did. It was hard enough just waiting for Jax to listen to the message, much less trying to actually pay attention to whatever it was the Despoiler was going on about—doubly so in watching the slowly dawning comprehension spreading over her face.

Hastily, I glanced over at Arx, but she was no help. Her own struggles not to absolutely lose it had forced her to turn away from either of us, but I could tell from the set of her shoulders she would not last long. She was practically shaking.

And of course, with the Emotional Ailment starting to creep into my thoughts, the whole thing was making me horny, to boot. Which only made it the more comical when my member began to swell. The damned thing was like a dopey little dog enthusiastically prancing about at a house party. It might not have known what the hell was going on, but it was certainly happy to be there. A pained wheeze struggled from between my teeth at the mental image.

Of course, the man grossly misinterpreted our collective reactions.

“Yes…” the Despoiler drawled out, still giggling inanely and lasciviously swinging his hips from side to side. “The Lust has you now. You can barely stand with it. I can see it in your eyes. I bet you’re just drooling to see what I’ve got packing under here,” he taunted, firmly grasping his ‘package.’ “If you ask me real nice, I might just show you… After I kill your pretty boy, of course.” So saying, he drew his dagger and began to circle the two of them, making his way around to me.

Collectively, we rolled our eyes, the joke now thoroughly spoiled. If the man had not threatened me, there might have been the remote possibility of his escaping with his life while we rolled with laughter, but now? Whatever I had to say on the matter, the lilim were not likely to let that one go.

With a sigh, Jax tutted regretfully at the man before glancing back at me. “Master?” she prompted.

Nodding, I used Lust Transfer Mark II to send my portion of the Ailment to her. I could tell she was already burning off her own into Life Energy from the trickle of overage spilling over to me and, apparently deciding she had no need for the second dose, she opted to try out my skill’s latest—unasked for but welcome—feature. With a casual twirl of her finger she then passed the Ailment along to the advancing and still monologuing Despoiler. Magnified, of course, as my skill card claimed.

“Which to keep, which to sell. Oh… I can hardly decide. I suppose that’ll have to d… depend on which of you is the m-most… enthusias… tic…?” The man finally trailed off as overwhelming desire washed over him, and his dagger tumbled from his limp fingers, forgotten.

Eyes wide, he began to pant in a futile effort to regain a measure of control over himself. Abandoned of Power or not, he had to have realized what had just happened, especially with how tight his pants were becoming. Trembling now, the Despoiler began to fumble for another vial at his belt, likely an antidote of some kind, however Jax was not about to let the man spoil her fun.

Slinking toward him and swaying her hips exaggeratedly in a sensuous display, she cooed, “Why the hurry, boy-o? Ye was so excited before. I thought ye wanted to show me yer… package.”

He took a hesitant step away from her even as his eyes remained locked on her body. She was liberally stained with blood, bits of the man’s former companions were dripping from her chin and claws, and she had been on the road for days. Even so, she well knew how to tilt and angle what she had for maximum effect from her almost continuous efforts at attracting my attention. And she was not lacking for much.

The man’s fingers finally discovered the vial he had been looking for, and he hastily unstoppered the cork. But then her voice came again.

“This is what ye wanted weren’t it?” she taunted, spreading her arms wide and gently shaking her chest in a mesmerizing display. “What’s the matter? All talk and no action?”

Slowly, the man’s trembling stilled and the vial drooped. He had to know the kind of danger he was in, but it was too late. The provocation too strong. The Lust had him.

The antidote spilled to the ground, casually discarded like a disinterested ape might toss away a bit of dung. The next moment, the man was surging forward, his eyes gone wild with anticipation. His hands were held grasping before him, eager to explore every curve of this wanton creature. Just as Jax wanted.

Even as the man began to paw at her chest, she favored him with a satisfied smile before casually grasping him by the neck. With a quick maneuver, she then swept his legs out from under him and slammed him to the ground. Holding him there for a moment, she chuckled seductively before straddling him.

“Jax…” I called lightly, not at all liking the direction this was headed, “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

“Just a bit of practice, Master,” she assured me. Taking a moment to collect the man’s hands to prevent them from exploring her body any further, she pinned them over his head. Then, glancing over at me with a mischievous smile, she arched her back slightly toward the man, and breathily whispered, “Unless… ye want me to do more? Maybe ye want to watch?”

“Yes! Yes! More!” the Despoiler groaned desperately, stretching his tongue toward the soft nubs that were dangling so tantalizingly close. However, he could not quite get there. She might have lost the effects of the pill, but she was by no means weak. Frustrated, he began to grind his still clothed crotch against her nakedness. “More! Do more! Give it to me!”

Ignoring him, I crossed my arms. “You know perfectly well what my feelings on the matter are.”

Our relationship might have been unconventional and it was certainly hypocritical of me, but that did not mean that I was keen on watching my girl have her way with another man. But she knew that, and I happened to know for a matter of absolute fact that she was one hundred percent loyal. I had a character sheet to prove it!

But even had that not been the case, we had discussed her peculiar lilim-esque sexuality on a few occasions. She might not be showing it, but she was likely more disgusted by the idea of fornicating with this man than I was. She was only teasing me.

“Whatever it is you’re planning, just be quick about it. And don’t toy with the man too much.” It was far too late to beg for clemency—not that I was inclined to. After what he had just attempted, the man was doomed, and in the state he was in, he would probably enjoy every minute of it.

“Yes, Master,” she cooed, smiling brightly. Then, glancing over at Arx, she said in a much more matter-of-fact tone, “Come hold him. I need me hands loose.”

“Hwa…?” Arx replied dazedly.

She had been staring at me raptly, likely enjoying the wave of artificial Lust. She was resistant now, but that did not mean she could not feel its effects. It just took a lot more for her to start losing control.

At Jax’s request, Arx turned. Grimacing, she said, “Ugh…I don’t want to feel his nasty lust all over me! Especially when I’m like this.”

Jax sighed. “Ye got a skill point yet. Ask fer one called Lust is Life. It’ll let ye convert it to Life Energy.”

“What? But I wanted—” Pausing, she shivered slightly and shifted her hips at the thought. Then, with a nervous glance at me, she quietly admitted, “I wanted to get something to help with feeding Dearest next.”

I smiled at the admission. She was cute when she got all flustered. And food is the way to a man’s heart.

“Master be hardly starved no more,” Jax replied, emphasizing her preferred term of endearment. It was a formality thing that was as important to her as it was unnecessary to me. Though I sort of liked it. Privately. “He don’t need such, dire-like, and you need to get rid of the Ailment. ‘Sides, it ain’t like that’s the last skill point yer like to get to yer name. Now, buy the skill and come help me. In a minute, he’s gotta heal them folks what were prisoners, and we can drain this windbag to replace the Life it costs him.”

Oh… I see. Clever. Morbid but clever.

Turning to Arx, I began gently stroking her arm to assure her. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get you something like you were looking for tomorrow.”

“No!” Jax shouted abruptly. “My turn! She’s big enough!”

Arx groaned. “’Snails, Jax. Don’t be that way. You know I’m still behind in Layers!”

Sighing, I turned and made my way toward the three captives, preferring to let the lilim sort that out between themselves. As I approached, I could see that two of them were dressed in a single layer of undyed, rough hempen clothes with simple bits of twine as belts and straps for shoes. They were likely just a pair of drivers the third man had hired to transport his goods.

He was dressed far less crudely, if not particularly fancy. He was just wearing a well-made robe of what looked to be wool, though it was certain to be something else. Neither Jax nor Arx had ever heard of sheep before we came across them in the Dungeon, though they had mentioned some sort of llama-like creature that was similar. In any case, the robe was a dark red and had some simple geometric patterns sewn into it in dull greens and yellows.

I decided to tend to the workers first, as they had been the closest to the explosion and looked to have been hit the hardest by the wagon. As I yanked the bags from their heads, the two laoi blanched on finally laying eyes on their savior, particularly the larger of the two.

I was surprised to discover that it was actually a woman, though I should not have been. The laoi race’s sexual dimorphism was the reverse of humans, and I had seen a couple of their women before. They were not masculine in their features, though compared to the men, their shoulders were rather broad and they tended to be taller.

Curiously, despite Jax having once hailed from their stock, her current form did not look at all like one of their women. It was hard to put into words exactly why, though. Besides the more obvious things like the horns and the claws, there were dozens of other subtle details that, when combined, made it so that one would never confuse her for a member of her former race.

As for the one currently in front of me, it was easy to see why I might have confused her initially for a man. Besides her size, her clothes were quite baggy, so what curves she might have had were well disguised. Which is not to say that I cared to find any. I had more than enough on my plate as it was.

However, she did not know that, and even though she was blushing furiously, she still rather brazenly allowed her eyes to rove all over my naked form. With abandon. Particularly, at what was dangling between my legs.

Abruptly, there was a strangled shout from behind me, and the three of us jerked around.

Jax and Arx were still holding the writhing and begging Despoiler down, however Jax had just embedded her claws within the shoulders of the man—whose ecstatic expression showed only eager anticipation for his emanant fate… if he was even capable of comprehending it. My First was shooting the laoi woman a look that spoke of feral wolves hovering over a scrap of meat. Meanwhile, Arx’s expression was somewhere within the realm of stony.

Clearing my throat roughly, I turned back to remove the rags that had been stuffed into their mouths, not bothering to cover myself. It had been far too long for me to feel self-conscious about it anymore, and besides, what with those two at my back, it would be a wonder if either of the drivers managed to maintain even so much as eye-contact with me again.

“Sorry about that,” I apologized as the two worked moisture back into their mouths. Gesturing at the lilim, I assured them, “They won’t hurt you. They’re just a little territorial is all. And sorry about the lack of clothes. The three of us just escaped from the Dungeon. Our… wardrobe did not survive the experience.”

“Y-yes, master,” the man stammered as he studiously examined the ground between us. His voice had a curious quavering quality, as if he was an old man, though he did not look a day over twenty five. “As you say.”

I sighed at the man’s submissive response. It had not been unexpected. The three of us were a sight, after all, and we had more than botched our first impressions.

Choosing to set that aside as a lost cause, I quickly examined the two of them. The man had been hit the hardest by the blast. Wooden splinters were embedded up and down one side of him, and he was bleeding and swelling from the foreign matter stuck in his arm. The woman’s injuries were comparatively minor, though she was bleeding profusely from a gash along her scalp. Meanwhile, the both of them looked like they had been beaten rather soundly by the Bandits before we had ever arrived.

“I have a healing spell,” I informed them. “If you’ll allow me, I can get you fixed right up. Though… you may feel some… discomfort.”

Technically—or as best I understood it anyway—their susceptibility to its side-effect had to do with whether they accepted my ‘influence’ or not. However, the only non-lilim I had ever cast it on had been… the person Arx had been before. I could no longer remember her old name. In any case, she had always been quite enthusiastic about the whole affair and only ever tried to shut me out when she was literally too horny to function. So, it was hard to know how these two might might react.

At my mention of the possibility of healing, both of the drivers did finally glance up at me.

“W-we can’t pay you, y-your holiness, sir,” the woman murmured fearfully. Indicating the man beside her, she explained, “Pops and me… well, this is the first job we’ve had in a long while. Kind of… at the end of our rope, you know? And now…” She trailed off, sadly.

I blinked a few times at her story. Pops? As in her father? But… they look nearly the same age. Or is that just his name?

Deciding to set that aside, I waved off her concerns. “Oh… no need for any titles. I’m just a uh…” What? Human? Extraterrestrial? Guy pretending to be a deposed noble from some floating island? Ugh, no. Those are all horrible. “Well, I’m no holy man, anyway. And don’t worry about the cost. It’s the least I can do.” Jerking my thumb at the captive Despoiler, I went on, “My heals are fueled by Life Energy, you see. And we have a uh… donor… lined up. So…”

I decided against going into any further details. Strictly speaking, I was not all that comfortable with this, but the man had dug his own grave. We might as well put his Life to good use.

At my explanation, the third man, whom I had yet to unmask, perked up and began yelling to get my attention through the rag in his mouth.

“Alright, alright,” I said. “Hold on.”

As I yanked the bag off of his head, I sat back in surprise. I had never expected to see this particular individual again given the circumstances, but here he was. Out of nowhere.

Favoring him with a bit of a lopsided grin, I chuckled. “Hello, Menda!”